Cass came out of the void with a start. It was never normally as forceful as they had been with him that time, but he understood why.
He’d made them promise. He’d made them confirm that they were going to do it. Did they give him a timeline? Not really, but he’d gotten his foot in the door. He was going to be able to see his sister and her family. Even if he couldn’t communicate with them, it was the first step.
Cass stumbled getting up, and a helping hand was there in a heartbeat. Firm, supportive, Cass almost expected it to be Edgar since that was who came with him last time. When he did look behind him it wasn’t to find the pretty face of a blonde man with concerned, unnerving blue eyes.
Instead, he found the rather stern and concerned face of a tousled red-haired knight, his green gaze wide, observant as he scanned the area for any dangers. His grip tightened slightly as Cass continued to stare at him. He finally turned his gaze towards Cass, his brow furrowed.
"Are you alright? How did your conversation go?" He asked, then swallowed. "Sorry. I shouldn’t assume you spoke to them right away. I know it’s hard for some people to get an audience with them." He seemed...flustered? Why?
Then, something clicked in his mind. Oh. Lord Ridgewood came from a religious family that were known for producing holy knights. His family had probably tried to speak to the gods a lot. He had no idea how one became a holy knight, but maybe you had to speak to at least one god to do so? Was he being flustered because that was a sensitive topic in his family?
Cass reached out, grabbing onto his shoulder with one hand, causing Lord Ridgewood to look at him.
"Gideon, I’ve always gotten an audience with them. It’s okay. My talk went well but...they would like to speak with you." He did his best to sound as solemn and serious as he possibly could. Why?
A little bit of revenge on his part.
If he was right and it was a big deal that he was able to speak to the gods, he wanted to make the man sweat just a little bit. Make him afeared of a conversation with the gods. It might be a scary conversation for him, honestly. Cass didn’t know.
Was it a big deal to be elevated to Saint status?
Cass laughed internally. He fucking knew it was, he was just trying to downplay the fact that gods were letting the original protagonists just...leave the story and promoting two other members to their status. They were making a mess of the story.
At this point, maybe he didn’t even need to defeat the demon king. He could just befriend the fucker and hope Cassian’s mom kept him distracted.
It was a pipe dream, but hey, these were weird times for Cass and the story. Pretty much anything could go right now. Cass was naked and afraid as far as it came to the story. Unless some things were unavoidable truths, but Cass would have to wait to figure that out.
The next dungeon was a week or two out from even rearing its head.
When Cass looked at Lord Ridgewood, he looked shaken. Afraid. Cass felt a little smile touch his lips but he made sure it didn’t spread. He patted Lord Ridgewood’s shoulder encouragingly.
"You’ve got this. They want you where I was." Cass told him, shifting so that he slipped past Lord Ridgewood and watched as the man stiffly turned to Cass, his eyes wide and shaken.
"They want to talk to...me?" He squeaked out. Cass gave a laugh as the Priest who was with them looked about as shaken as Lord Ridgewood was behaving. There was a good chance that the Priest didn’t even know that Cass was a second hero.
He wondered what would happen if he found out that there was soon going to be a second Saint. In the same generation?
Oh, the world truly was going to shit.
Cass stepped back, even going so far as to sit down on a pew and crossed his legs. He gestured with one hand for Lord Ridgewood to step up and bow, just as Cass had. Lord Ridgewood looked like he was being marched to his death.
"Go on." Cass ordered. He watched as Lord Ridgewood panicked, before he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He counted to five, Cass watched his lips twist, before he nodded, and opened his eyes. He met Cass’ gaze one last time as a normal holy knight and turned, knelt and bowed his head.
Cass couldn’t hide his smirk now that Lord Ridgewood had his back to him and his head bowed. Cass gave a quick glance around, noticing that enough time had passed when he was down and speaking to them that the family and co had cleared out. He wasn’t at all surprised by the sudden presence that he could feel at his back.
"Did everything go smoothly, my Lord?" Byron asked softly. The Priest didn’t react to Byron, so Cass had a feeling that he was still invisible. That made Cass’ chest warm slightly. That was a tricky question to answer. Had things gone smoothly?
They could have gone smoother.
"I think they went...well. However, what’s happening right now is a consequence of that." Cass said, subtly gesturing towards Lord Ridgewood.
"Are you going to clarify, my Lord?" Byron asked. Cass chuckled, about to open his mouth to tease him when suddenly a beam of light shot down from the sky and illuminated the whole area. It was so blinding that Cass had to close his eyes, worried he would go blind.
It happened so suddenly that Cass had no time to brace himself for it either. He also felt a sudden wave of anger. No one had told him that was going to happen. Not a single god had said a damn thing, and Cass wanted to curl his lip up at them.
Was that their way of getting back at him? Not warning him about something that he wouldn’t have any fucking clue about? Those petty fuckers.
Cass was on his feet as soon as he could see, moving towards Lord Ridgewood, worried that the man was hurt, in danger, anything. The Priest was flat on his ass, and Cass knew that it was only a matter of time that others came rushing in.
They could all feel divine powers, they would certainly know what was going on. Cass was pissed.
"Gideon! Are you alright?" Cass asked, grasping the other man by the shoulders. He was shaking, trembling, his breath labored. "Gideon?" Cass asked, more worried now that he could feel how much the man was shaking.
"I, ugh, I’m fine. I...did you know?" He asked, turning his gaze up towards Cass. There was a sense of betrayal there that surprised Cass and Cass hardened his expression.
"I had no idea that it was going to be like this. Mine was rather...tame, all things considered." Cass muttered. "I thought it would be something like that. You know, the soul moves up, gets marked, comes back." Cass said and Gideon couldn’t comprehend Cass’ words for a second. When he did, the betrayed look eased and he closed his eyes. Cass could feel how his weight shifted and he leaned a little heavier against Cass. He let out a soft chuckle.
"I understand. I...my body feels so light." He muttered. "Like all impurities are gone." Cass was rather interested in hearing about that. He had never spoken to Lady Ava about it, but this would be a great time to learn how things differed from a holy knight versus a Saint.
"That’s very interesting." Cass told him and watched as Lord Ridgewood opened and closed his eyes slowly, then turned his green gaze to Cass and gave him a dazed, happy smile.
"It is, isn’t it?" He said. Cass felt his tongue grow thick and heavy in his mouth as he lost the ability to speak for a moment. He wanted to say something, anything at the moment but that was when several doors to the main hall slammed against walls and it sounded like an army was coming towards them.
"What the hell happened?" Cass flinched. That was not Duke Vespertine, the High Priest of the temple. That was the second last person that Cass wanted to see right now.
Lord Ridgewood’s father, Duke Ridgewood. Cass could feel how the man in his arms stiffened. It wasn’t helped by the fact that the man was coming out of the gate swinging. He was accusatory, not even nice. Cass knew that he was keeping things a secret for his own quiet, but damn did he want to shove his whole hand up this holy knight’s ass and move him around like a puppet. The moment he found out that Cass was a hero, he would regret the way he spoke to him.
The same way his son had.
Cass turned his shoulder, angling himself so that he was still supporting the stunned, shaken Lord Ridgewood, but that he could see Duke Ridgewood as he approached. Great. The man wasn’t even alone. He looked to have a few knights with him as well, and Cass could see that they were already seeing red.
They weren’t here to help, they were here to capture.
"Where is the High Priest?" Cass demanded, ignoring them entirely. The Duke’s steps faltered for a second, before he continued down the long red carpet towards the dais and the steps that Lord Ridgewood and Cass were on.
"He’s on his way. He had to soothe a few worried patrons. What are you doing, Lord Blackburn? You aren’t welcome here." Cass was surprised by the bitterness in his tone. Then again, he really shouldn’t be. Everyone spoke that way to him outside of his close knit circle.
"I thought the temple was open to everyone." Cass shot back, disbelieving. The Duke’s gaze narrowed and Cass watched his gaze dart to his son, and then back to Cass. Something calculating formed there and Cass tightened his grip on him reflexively.
This fucker wasn’t about to claim that Lord Ridgewood was his son now that he was sure something was bestowed upon him by the gods, was he? That fucking fucker. Cass could see the gears turning in his dumb knight head.
"It’s open to the innocent. I think you are far from it. Especially after corrupting my son." He snarled and Cass honestly felt shocked. What?
Corrupting his son? What the hell was he referring to? How the hell had Cass even done that?