A short while later, Leon dropped onto one of their collapsible chairs with a groan of relief.

"I seriously can't thank you guys enough," he said again, looking in between Kur, who had introduced himself, to Nar and Viy, who had guided the exhausted party back to their camp.

"Again, just doing our duty," Kur said. By now, Nar had spent enough time with his party leader to tell a friendly, if somewhat still reserved and cautious tone. "I'm really glad we could help you."

"And I that you guys heard us!" Eum said, his eyes closed. "I knew someone was nearby, but I didn't know where in this fucking rain!"

The furry sapient was unceremoniously sprawled on the floor besides Leon, and didn't look like he had intentions of getting up anytime soon. In the brighter yellow lights of their camp, the delver had revealed himself to be completely covered in a fine, but luscious light-gray fur, with dark-gray stripes running the length of his muscled bare back and arms. It turned out that Eum was wearing nothing but tight-fitting shorts. Not even footwear to protect his furry, clawed feet, which raised a lot of bewildered eyebrows in their tent.

Leon threw the furry sapient another glare and proceeded to share another apologetic look with Kur, who just smiled and waved it off.

The closest of the aura lights flickered, catching Nar's attention, and he wondered if it was due to the rise of ambient aether coming off their guests.

"Ah… Sorry about that," Leon said, tracking Nar's stare and confirming his suspicions.

"It is what it is," Nar said, shrugging.

"What is… Oh. Yah, no use worrying about that," Kur said, eyeing the flickering light. "But more importantly, what happened out there? Our guide told us those cacklers don't usually show up this close to the boundary…"

It was a polite way to word it, but it was clear that Kur wanted to understand what in the world had just happened to the hapless party, and Leon sighed and passed a hand over his wet, golden-brown hair.

"Where do I even begin?" he muttered.

In the light of camp, the human male revealed a tanned light-brown skin, and what Nar had thought were light brown eyes turned out instead to be shimmering and shifting golden and rainbow hues that immediately betrayed an aetheric origin. And once Leon had divested himself of his heavy, but sleek white and golden armor, his figure had revealed itself to be slim, but well-muscled.

There was no doubting that both him and Eum were heavy front-line fighters, though Nar was still in shock that Eum would be wandering and fighting around the jungle in what basically looked like longer, skinny underwear.

Just then, there was a startled cry from beyond the hasty curtain they had raised besides the showers, and all of them glanced over.

"Shhhh! It's okay, love. It's just a couple of ticks," Leta said from behind it. "Era, can I handle this while you look at those two? I don't need any skills or aura to remove them, just some needles, and it would be one less thing for you to deal with?"

"Please! That would be so great!" their aethermancer healer said, her tone as dreamy as before, even if a little tired now. "Honestly, thank you so much. You too Rel!"

"Don't you worry. And once you're done with those two, we can help you clean them," Leta said. "And the water should be hot enough to wash now, I think."

"I'll check!" Rel offered.

Gratitude sounded once again from behind the curtain.

"You guys are too kind," Leon said, his tone strangled, and he inclined his head at Kur once again.

"Not at all," Kur said, awkwardly.

"We're happy to help!" Tuk said, beaming at the aethermancer.

Leta had already checked Nar and Viy, and the latter was currently having a quick wash in the shower with some cold water. The rest of them now sat in a half-circle facing Leon and Eum, with Kur and Nar directly opposite the two aethermancers.

"Well, my name's Leon as I said, and this rude bastard at my side is Eum," Leon started. "He's my cousin and I apologize on his behalf."

"I'm not a bastard," Eum said, not bothering to open his eyes. "And I'm honest. Not rude."

"It's fine," Kur said, chuckling. "No need to worry about that kind of stuff with us."

Nar couldn't help but smile at the furry delver. Eum sounded like a piece of work, but a nice piece of work.

Kinda like Mul, Nar decided.

"Our healer's name is Era, and the one who just screamed is Calli, my older sister," Leon introduced.

"I hate bugs!" came a retort from behind the curtain. "Especially when they've got their teeth in me and are sucking me dry!"

"Fair," Tuk said, grimacing with some painful and very recent memories.

"As for the two who passed out, the other tygaris… Uhm, that's Eum's race," Leon said, motioning towards the sprawled delver with his chin. "Her name's Medis, and she's Eum's older sister. And the last one's Mach, a vanore."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Kur said, and quickly proceeded to introduce the people from their side.

"Me and Nar are going to spar," Eum said dreamily.

"Just go to sleep, you idiot!" Leon hissed at Eum.

Kur cast Nar a confused look to which Nar returned a tired smile.

"He just wants to spar. It's fine by me," he said.

"Nice!" the tygaris said, giving him a lazy thumbs up.

"You don't have to," Leon said, raising his hands apologetically.

"Training is training," Nar said, shrugging. "You can never have enough of it."

"Fuck yes!" Eum said, opening his eyes and sitting back up. "I knew you were one of the good ones!"

Nar could only laugh at that.

His eyes, though… I wonder if that's also aether, Nar wondered, considering Eum's shimmering light green eyes. Is that something that happens to aethermancers? The aether just shows through? I didn't see it on the others though…

Leon shook his head.

"That aside… We've been plagued by misfortune almost from the very moment we entered the jungle," Leon said. "You guys are part of that big batch of Tsurmirel apprentices that came in yesterday, right? Well, two days ago, technically."

"That was us!" Tuk said. "The whole ship's in here!"

Leon nodded. "We came in that night after you guys then."

"You came in at night?" Kur asked, his eyebrows shooting up.

The tank groaned and rubbed at his eyes.

"I know it's folly, but it was part of our assignment," he said, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat, the plastic creaking in protest. "Like your Scimitar, our academy also trains elite delvers…"

"I… See. And your… Masters, is it?" Kur asked, receiving a nod from Leon. "They demanded that you come in here at night? Crystal. That's kind of crazy. Even for us."

Eum chuckled chestly. "Crazy is just our day to day."

"Well, not that we can't relate," Kur said, grimacing at Nar.

"And your guide was okay with that?" Sarke asked, speaking up for the first time.

It was Leon's turn to grimace.

"He wasn't very happy about it, no. But we paid him really well," Leon said, his glimmering eyes dimming. "Though in the end…"

Eum passed a clawed hand over his face.

"I still don't understand what happened back there," he said, his tone ushed, and now devoid of its previous frolicness. "He was right there! In the middle of us. And then, he was just gone… Poof! I blinked and he was just not there!"

"What?" Sarke said, frowning. "And this was when you were getting chased by the cacklers?"

Leon nodded. "Next thing I know, he was dead and gone from our party status, and the cacklers behind us were…"

He sighed again, heavy, as though it was coming from his very soul.

"I don't want to say it was not our fault, but I really don't understand how it happened!" he said, his tone miserable. Almost desperate. "He completely vanished from my [Awareness]! And not to be vain, but I have 32 fucking points in it! I really don't get how that happened!"

"32?" Sarke whispered, her brown even more deeply furrowed. "That's not low… And there shouldn't be anything in the Jungle Tops capable of doing that. Not unless you met a rare beast, and that's practically impossible this close to the boundary."

"Right?" Leon asked, desperate for reassurance. "And we've been hit by wave after wave of beasts! First it was a flight of catuatus! Then the tygalos came out of the stream and ambushed us in the jungle! Then the rinalys came… And when night fell again, we were exhausted!"

"And that's when the cacklers hit you," Sarke said, folding her arms.

"We had just set down camp, hoping to get a bit of sleep," Leon said, weary. "And suddenly, we hear them coming at us. Six herds of them! Our guide had never even heard of such a big gathering before! We didn't even have time to pack up… And our spares were all with him. As well as our backpack…"

"Crystal…" Tuk whispered.

"You must be very strong to have held on for so long," Tun rumbled, from where he stood with Teb and Tuk, leaning against the table that held their water boiler-purifiers in the kitchen area.

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The tygarys flexed on arm at him.

"We are the best in our batch!" he gloated.

"And we are stuck in a jungle, with no guide and no camping gear," Leon grunted.

Sarke shared a look with Kur.

"Well, it's obvious that we're not just going to abandon you in here," Kur said. "You're more than welcome to join us. That said, we'll need to talk about your goals in the jungle and other stuff… Mainly that we are auramancers and you are aethermancers."

Leon's eyes lit up.

"I have no words to express how grateful I am!" Leon said, bowing his head. "And first and foremost, I swear by All The Radiants that we are not like that. We have no issues whatsoever with auramancers! None at all!"

"None!" Eum said. "That's shit's not cool, and we're cool."

"That's… That's good, then," Kur said, exhaling slowly. "For tonight, it's late. Get yourselves taken care of and healed. And sleep, we'll stand watch. Tomorrow we'll discuss things."

He glanced at their tents. "It's a bit late to put up one of our spare tents, but if you don't mind sharing with…"

"Kur, let me make sure that this dies here and now," Leon said, placing a hand over his heart. "Please, turn off the lights, I don't want to damage them."

"I… What?"

"Just do it," Sarke said, in a hushed tone, her eyes widening.

"Alright…" Kur said, and he motioned for the lights to be turned off, plunging them into pitch darkness.

"Hey, what gives!" Viy shouted from the shower area.

"Turn off all auramancer tech! Leon's about to vow!" Eum shouted, his green eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Oh!" Era said. "Quick, turn that off! That one too!"

Vow? Nar asked, frowning in the dark. Vow what?

"I, who go by the name of Leon, paladin of the Order of the Great Winged One, swear that I and mine have no issues with auramancers whatsoever," Leon suddenly spoke, his eyes glowing golden, pink and rainbow in the dark. "We have never discriminated against Between-Nexers, and we never will. To do so goes against Church doctrine, and my greatest teacher and role model is an auramancer! So, me and mine will be honored to fight and delve alongside you. Furthermore, I vouch that myself and my companions are all in good standing under the Blessings of the Great Azzin. If you accept us, we will lay our lives on the line to fight alongside you, to do all to ensure the success of this delve, and that we all leave here with our lives! I swear it by my patron and by my path! It shall be so!"

Suddenly, a small six-winged bird of bright, glowing feathers of golden rainbow light manifested above his head. The bird had two sets of triple glowing eyes that matched Leon's, and it opened its beak to issue a piercing cry.

Nar gaped at it, as the others stepped back in startle as a wave of weak aether radiated forth, prickling against their skin. Kur raised his hand to cover his eyes in fright, but Nar's quiet [Instinct] told him that there was no threat from this manifestation of aether.

A paladin… Nar thought, recalling his recent chat with Leta. And that vow must be binding!

"You-you can believe him," Sarke said, her scales aglow with gold. "A paladin of the Order of the Azzin is… He's trustworthy. With my life, I swear it. You can trust them."

"Holy Crystal," Cen breathed, staring wide at the manifestation. "Is that… Is that a spirit?"

A spirit… Nar thought. Crystal… So, this is a spirit?

The sense of pureness but also raw power emanating from the bird seared into his retinas, and rattled Nar's every fiber. It was all painless, but there was no denying the implicit scouring threat of that mighty light. This being was one of the Divine Radiant Hierarchy, and while that light promised to protect all those under the blessing and protection of the Radiants, it also promised swift and brutal eradication of all those who dared to challenge Them.

Kur swallowed and jerked his head in nod. "We would be delighted to delve alongside you all. And I promise that as long as you pull your own weight, and look after ours, we will do our all to do the same for you guys. We will do everything in our power to get us all out of here alive, well, and successful."

The bird's wings burst into radiance, and then it was gone, plunging them into darkness. In the silence that followed, the rain was deafening upon their tarp.

"You uh… Can turn the lights back on now," Leon said, suddenly feeling awkward.

"We'll really have to figure this conflicting shit out, though," Eum said, as the lights came back on.

"It is not as bad at your levels," Sarke said, eying Tun as he powered up one of the lights again. "As long as we set down some ground rules, be mindful of each other, and take turns, everything will work out."

Leon nodded.

"We'll have to figure out the fighting though, that will be more complicated" Sarke said, passing a weary hand over her short, skull spines. "But that's not a talk for two in the morning."

Leon nodded. "And just to make sure, our guide… We…"

Sarke shook her head. "No point in going back for the body. It will have been part of the contract."

"Right," Leon said, his eyes dimming.

Damn… Poor guy, Nar thought, his stomach clenching at the memory of those mandibles. It hadn't been a good way to go, though such was the life and potential death of a delver.

"I'm assuming you're going to need to use aether to heal?" Kur asked.

"Please… Our party probably works a little differently than what you're used to, and I'll tell you everything in the morning," Leon said. "But for now, just know that our healer doesn't really heal us, so to speak. Her element is one of sleep and dreams, and that's how she heals us. Her healing is all about putting us to sleep and massively boosting our bodies' natural recovery and HPs during sleep to heal us."

"Oh, wow," Tuk breathed.

"That's really cool," Teb said, glancing at the shadows of the people behind the curtain.

"So that's what you meant by just needing a good night's sleep," Nar said.

"Yes… But that also means you won't be able to use your auras while her [Embrace of the Night] is up," Leon said, looking down, guilty. "It's an AOE skill…"

"It's late anyways, so no one's doing anything tonight other than go to bed or stand watch," Kur said. "We can discuss everything tomorrow. For now, get yourselves cleaned and healed up. Though maybe for tonight, it will be better for you guys to all sleep together in one tent then, so you can heal."

"Yes, that would be best," Leon said. "Sorry for the bother."

Kur shrugged. "We're ex-Climbers. We're used to sleeping all together anyways. Do you need food? We have some rations…"

Leon shook his head. "We have enough to last us the week. Afterwards we will hunt and forage for ourselves, don't worry."

Kur snorted.

"It's the same for us then," he said, shaking his head. "Crazy masters."

"Crazy masters," Leon muttered in agreement.

"Alright. Work away then," Kur said. "We'll chat in the morning."

Leon stood up and glanced down at Eum.

"I'm going to check on the others. You come and shower first."

"On it."

"Sej, Sarke. What do you think of them?" Kur asked, as the aethermancers left the circle.

"You can trust a paladin's vow with your life," Sarke said without hesitation. "They are the protectors of the Nexus, and the military commanders in charge of its defense and the Navy, as well as all other military orders within the Church. It is their entire life's calling to protect the Nexus and serve the Radiants, and they receive immense power in exchange for immense sacrifice and devotion."

"That's as much as I know too," Kur said, sighing.

"Especially for a paladin of the Order of the Azzin," Sarke added. "That's the second most powerful and prestigious of all the orders, only behind the Paladin Order of the Holy Crystal Itself. And his that patron is no joke either. It's one of the Golden Flock, under the Radiant God Azzin Itself, and it's at least a Medium Order spirit…"

"They were strong," Nar said.

"Damn. Alright," Kur said. "That's good to know, then. And that we can trust them."

"That said," Sej said, from where the others were still busy earning them XP. "There's something about their story that doesn't add up."

"Their dead guide?" Tun asked.

"Yes. I'm not sure of anything in the Jungle Tops that could've pulled off something like that. Not with 32 points in [Awareness]," Sej said. "Maybe one of the rulers of the domain could've had… But then, none of them would've lived either."

"You think they are lying?" Kur asked. "But the vow…"

"No, they're being honest. And that's what worries me even more," Sej said, who had obviously been filled in by Sarke while they talked with Leon and Eum. "Plus, getting attacked by all those herds… That's not normal. Not right by the boundary, at least. It makes me worry about sabotage."

"Sabotage?" Row asked. "You mean someone is trying to get them killed? A sapient?"

"Sarke, their gear…" Sej said.

"It looks pricey," Sarke said. "Really pricey."

"That's what I thought," Sej said, sighing.

"What's that… Oh," Kur said, his face falling.

"Yeah, these people aren't poor," Sej said.

There was a moment of silence.

"Do you mean we just took in a bunch of rich kids?" Mul asked.

"That's exactly it."

"Uh… Define rich?" Jaz asked. "What are we working with here? And can we get a reward?"

"Jaz! I swear to… Shut up and keep working!" Row snapped.

"I don't know about a reward," Sarke said, hesitantly. "But I'd say they're very, very rich. Elite aethermancer academy, plus very, very expensive looking gear, and the exorbitant price their guide must have demanded? And then, there's their names."

"Their names?" Kur asked.

"Only the rich care so little about name length to take on such short nicknames… Even for me, Sarke is as low as I'll go, and that's only because my name is quite long for a place like the Brightnight, where communication often needs to be fast and urgent," Sarke revealed. "So, yes, to risk being confused with ex-Climbers is… Is a dead giveaway of those who had never had to live with that concern."

Wow, Nar thought to himself. So, it's that bad, uh? That she doesn't even want to be mistaken by one of us.

"A month's tuition in their academy is probably more than I've made in ten years as a guide and gatherer," Sarke continued. "A lot more. These people are rich, rich, and their gear alone is worth more than I have in my life's savings."

"Holy shit!" Tuk said.

"But what does that mean to us?" Kur asked. "And their guide? You are implying that they have enemies, aren't you? Are they nepo babies? Nobles?"

"Nobles?" was their general cry.

And Nar hoped that Leta, Rel and Viy, who were still behind the curtain helping out Era with the wounded, were keeping straight faces.

Though the fact that nobody out here is talking is probably a dead giveaway of mental chat, Nar realized.

"I'd say they are at least scions of a rich family. Probably a well-off guild or corp, so nepo babies is my guess. Meaning, their parents will have enemies," Sej said. "And it's possible that they're being targeted here. If they die in the jungle, their bodies will be gone in minutes, and for an almost purple domain, no one will ask too many questions or look into it too much. The Brightnight is brutal, and deaths happen all the time."

"I thought the guardian was watching, though?" Nar asked.

"There are ways around it," Sej said. "But not for people of good character and standing."

"Crystal," Kur muttered. "So we might get caught in the crossfire, then."

"Not might. If they are being targeted, so will we," Sej said, her tone dark.

"Fuck's sakes," Mul muttered.

"And before you suggested it, we really can't just let them go," Sej said. "Even with my suspicions, we can't ignore a call for the Crystal's Mercy. That is something that people would be able to find out, and now that would flag us as suspicious… And we don't want a rich family coming after us for revenge. They would be in their right, and we would die."

"Well… Shit," Tuk said. "Are we screwed then?"

"No," Kur said quickly. "We'll just need to be more careful. Plus, we're not going to abandon anyone in the dungeon."

Especially not if a rich, all-powerful family is gonna come after us for it, Nar thought, frowning in the direction of the curtain. This whole thing has just gone down the Pile.

The silence that followed Kur's words was heavy in their minds, but no one disagreed with him. Powerful family or not, it just wouldn't be right to abandon the aethermancers to die either. Plus, Kur had already given his word.

"One thing, though," Gad at last spoke. "Do they look strong?"

"If their party leader and tank has 32 points of [Awareness], which I don't doubt," Kur said. "Then that's a lot more than you or Tun have. And we can expect them to be at our level since they're in the Jungle Tops, right?"

"You can. And if they're in an elite academy, you can expect them to be very strong," Sej said. "Paying or not, the weak get kicked out without mercy to preserve the reputation of the elite academies."

"That's good, then," Gad said. "That means that we now have a third, and strong party with us. We can hunt rares."

"What?" Kur asked in shock.

"I was actually going to suggest that too," Sej said.

"Really?"

"Yes. Your performance against those cacklers was very good," Sej said, smiling. "You guys are also elite delvers yourselves, no doubts there. And with another elite party joining us, we would be idiots to not go after those rewards. This is an opportunity we shouldn't waste!"

"But… They're aethermancers?" Cor asked.

"It's a pain in the ass, I won't lie. But if we can make it work, our gains in this dungeon might just increase exponentially," Sej said. "We will need to see what they bring to the table first, of course, and besides, we won't just chase after a rare tomorrow. Everyone still needs to level up a good chunk before we even actually consider anything like that. In the meantime, we can see if there are ways for us to work together."

"That's even if they're open to do it in the first place," Tun said.

"Elite delvers always strive for the best results," Sej said, chuckling. "Especially if they're here on assignment. Losing their guide will already give them grounds for failing it, so they will probably have to do everything in their power to turn that around…"

"Fair," Kur said. "Anyways, it's getting late. Those who fought and harvested will get cleaned and sleep. The rest will stay up on watch."

"I'll stay on watch too," Sej said. "Like I said, I don't anticipate problems, but, just in case."

"Thank you," Kur said, nodding at her. "Hopefully, the rest of the night will be quiet."

Sej snorted in their minds.

"Word of advice? Don't ever say that. The dungeon might take it as a personal challenge."

Kur rubbed his forehead. "I'll remember that. By the way, that aether blast, it didn't wreck our boiler-purifiers did it?"

"Oh, shit!" Sej said. "It's built sturdy, but you better check it!"

"Great," Kur muttered.

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