Astral Flow

Chapter 12

Upon awakening Ryder was greeted with the sound of commotion coming from the first floor. His tired eyes fluttered open as he sat up in confusion, what was with all the noise? Had he slept in and missed something important?

After stretching and yawning loudly he walked out the door only to be greeted by a familiar maiden, Eleanor stood there facing away from his door.

"Eleanor?" He asked in complete surprise. "What are you doing here? What's going on?"

Quickly she turned around, shocked she missed the sound of the door swinging open. "Ah, Ryder! It's good to see you again after so long! I was standing guard like Sir Feros asked me to!"

"Stand guard, why? What's going on down there?" he tries to peek around the corner, now getting slightly concerned as to what's going on.

"Tis a celebration, or rather a send off I suppose..." Eleanor corrects herself as she looks down the hall. "Everyone has gathered in the dining hall down below before the big raid today."

"Seriously? They're already acting like we've won..." he hangs his head a bit, now very worried about what'll happen. "I hope they aren't expecting too much of me."

"They do I'm afraid, you're being heralded as a champion of the people by Yuria" she lets out a tiny laugh "and many have already been getting excited about meeting said champion."

"That... honestly explains a lot." Ryder sighs once more before fixing his posture. "Well, hopefully they saved their so-called champion some food." he says while walking past Eleanor and towards the stairs, only stopping once he reached them. "You coming or what?" he says while waiting on her "If everyone is celebrating you should too."

Though a bit surprised Eleanor meekly nods in agreement before following him down the stairs. There the noise and commotion only gets louder as people come into view, many in the tavern and some even hanging out in the main foyer.

At first they don't notice Ryder's approach but as he passes people many begin to whisper and talk about their "champion" who will lead them to victory.

Suddenly a voice calls out, "Ryder! Over here!" as he looks over he sees Oto standing with Lily and Feros, a smile on his face.

Not wasting a moment the duo quickly slinks through the crowd over to where the group was waiting. The commotion only grew as Ryder's presence was fully registered to everyone.

"Good to see you again, wish we could've met up sooner but I've been busy helping a few friends." Oto says while holding out a cup of what appeared to be juice to Ryder. "You've been keeping yourself busy even while going off the grid."

"Oh you have no clue." Ryder yawns again and thankfully takes the drink, chugging it in one go much to everyone's surprise. "Still, why didn't anyone stop Yuria from spouting this champion nonsense? I'm not exactly an expert at anything."

"Simple really, that kind of stuff boosts morale through the roof." Feros interjects, motioning to the rather talkative crowd before them. "Just have a look around."

Sure enough morale did seem to be sky high, everyone was talking and laughing with jovial faces, each one excited to head off into battle.

How did Yuria manage this? This would essentially be a death march most likely if Ryder failed and there's no guarantee things would go to plan.

"Just relax, I can tell you're overthinking things." Oto says while pouring him another drink. "You'll have us to back you up as well, so surely things won't go too terribly."

"Wait, all of you are?" Ryder looks around at the group confused. "Seriously?"

"Yup! We all agreed to give you the backup you needed! The others can handle the boss after all." Lily says with her usual smile now back and brighter than ever. "Everyone here has agreed to give it their best since you will be too."