The Meeting 5

// Please read the Author thoughts. //

Standing in front of the three ascended beings, Raian appeared tense and anxious, though on the inside he was carefully considering his options. 

Deceiving them was out of the question, he didn't know whether they could see through his deceit or not, but he wasn't willing to take the risk and face immediate death from any of these three monsters sitting near him. 

So, he started hatching a plan, anything that could extend his life and complete his first nightmare, his well-rested brain started processing information as much as it could trying to form a decent enough one to tag along these warriors.

While standing still he tried to make a logical plan but then he threw that plan away. In the dream realm logic was one of the things you shouldn't try to rely on. From the information he bought before entering the nightmare he read many things that made him question his plans to clear the nightmare but none of those things matter anymore. Humans could make the impossible possible and Raian was trying to make it happen right now.

The captain broke the silence with a simple question. 

"Name?" 

"Raian ma'am." 

"Interesting name," said Gemma looking towards him. 

"Rank?" 

"I am a foot-soldier ma'am." 

"Proof of identity.?" Just as he planned after being asked by Gemma, Raian started his performance. He was betting it all on the medallion he had inside his memory storage to start the spark that would ignite the fire. 

Raian grabbed his right shoulder acting shocked as he couldn't grab anything on his shoulder. Then pretending to rummage through his armor unlocking it then dropping it to look inside his clothes. After not finding anything, he acts as if he suddenly remembered something.

"Oh, that's right." 

Awkwardly stretching his right hand out to Gemma "I must have dropped the physical badge during my ascent of the mountain, but I have a memory badge to prove myself so if you could just grab my hand." 

Looking at the hand that was raised towards her, Gemma suddenly thought' Wait I'm sure we don't hand out memory badges to foot-soldiers that would be a huge waste as we don't have that much manpower to waste on these simple tools.'

she hesitated right before shaking Raian's hand, but she received his hand anyway. The reason being that she was an ascended and he was at best an awakened, the power disparity between them was the reason Gemma didn't reject the memory transfer from Raian. 

[You have lost a memory] 

As Raian expected the foot soldier medallion was successively sent to Captain Gemma and he had successfully delivered the spark he pinned his hopes on. 

Receiving the medallion Gemma instantly summoned it on her hand, looking at it as her eyes glowed emerald she saw no indication of any danger. Further appraising the medallion, she read the description. 

[Foot-soldier medallion: a unique piece of medallion that documented the creation of the Holy Church, this medallion was given to everyone who saw the beginning of a new era regardless of rank.] 

"You have a very interesting medallion here, although it's worthless to us the history geeks in the church would love to have it, as it represents the beginning of the whole church." 

Admiring the medallion a little more than looking at Luciel who was feigning indifference, she knew he wanted to check the medal as Luciel was a bit of a control freak in nature.

"His identity is secure." As she transferred the memory for Luciel to inspect Gemma confirmed the identity of Raian. Geralt let out a deep breath. "I guess that's it lad, you get to live, now let's talk about how to…...?"

"Please let me stay." interrupting Geralt mid-speech Raian had to force himself in as his plans were failing to work, the medallion although important to the church its value was divergent. While it might be important to scholars and artisans it didn't hold the same value to warriors or knights in the church. Seeing as his plan won't go through, he had no choice but to force the issue himself, so he had to act right now. 

Raian began pouring his heart out. He gave up on his plan, straying from his logical path he had to find a new way to convince the three masters to take him in, if he didn't act now, he might be kicked out of the group, which would mean losing his aspect dooming his subordinates that are waiting for him to comeback.

Raian could try to follow them alone. However, he didn't have enough information to make a decision like that.

So, he spoke up, saying that he wanted to help, even if it meant sacrificing his own life.

Geralt, one of the masters, was hesitant to let Raian stay, citing his weakness. But Raian insisted that even the weak have something they excel at and that he would do his best to support the group in any way he could. 

Geralt warned him that he was running towards his death, but Raian was determined to stay and help.

Gemma showed interest in Raian's passion and asked him why he wanted to risk his life to support them. Raian answered truthfully, stating that he wanted to return alive but returning alive meant nothing if he didn't achieve anything. In their hometown, people valued reputation above everything else, and while survival was important, he felt he had to accomplish something to secure his future. 

While Raian spoke the truth about the situation, he only mentioned the parts that didn't involve his modern world. He was uncertain of what would happen if he failed to complete the nightmare. The most likely outcome was that he would simply die.

On the off chance that he survived and returned to the real world, it would have been a wasted opportunity. Over the past week, he had come to realize the true importance of being infected by the Spell. In order to change the fate of himself, his subordinates, and the people living in the slums, he had to live and return with power. That was the only way he could secure his future.

Geralt was moved by Raian's passionate speech and wanted to take him with them. Gemma was neutral, as Raian's addition didn't affect her plans much. However, the chance of Raian accomplishing something made her lean towards letting him stay, even though she knew hoping for a miracle was foolish.

After all Hope is the first step on the road to disappointment.

Luciel had no choice but to follow the majority, who were against leaving Raian as they moved. He didn't want people with great potential to be wasted. Seeing Geralt and Gemma agree, he reluctantly said, "Fine, if the kid wants to die so badly, let him join us."