The door to the humble priest's house creaked open, revealing the trio's return to the surface world. The bright morning light washed over them, forcing them to squint after spending hours in the gloom. Outside, the rest of the Templar squad was waiting. Gideon, the burly sergeant major, stood at the front, his scarred face a mask of deep relief, though tinged with an even greater worry. Behind him, like a gathering storm, Captain Valerius watched them, his face pale with fury, his jaw clenched so tight it looked ready to break.
"Captain!" Gideon exclaimed, his deep voice resonating with unconcealed relief. "Sergeant! Priest! By the Flame, you're alive. We've been searching for you for hours without rest. The cave… the entrance completely collapsed. We thought you were…" His voice, normally as steady as a rock, broke slightly.
Valerius interrupted, stepping forward, his voice as sharp as a dagger's edge. "What happened in there? Why was the entrance sealed so… permanently? And why does the priest look like the only one who spent the night in a warm bed while we feared for your lives?" His gaze swept over Ari from head to toe with a contempt that was almost tangible.
Thalassa stepped forward, positioning herself between Valerius and the other two. Her new figure, now hidden beneath the Templar armor that seemed to fit her in a dangerously perfect way, stood tall with an innate authority. Her face was serene, but instead of avoiding the confrontation, she locked her blue eyes directly on Valerius's, her gaze as cold and firm as ever. Ari, behind her, could feel the tension coursing through her via their bond, but on the outside, she was the very picture of a captain in command.
"There was a cave-in, Captain," she said in a calm, clear voice that brooked no argument. "The cave's structure was unstable. We were lucky to find another way out before the whole thing came down."
Disbelief etched itself onto Valerius's face, but he didn't back down from her gaze. "Another way out? One that, by some amazing coincidence, leads directly into the priest's basement? How conveniently fortunate!"
"Fortune favors the prepared… and the devout, Captain," Ari interjected, deciding it was his moment to shine. He stepped up beside Thalassa, adopting his best enlightened-man expression—one he had perfected over years to get free drinks and the sympathy of the town's widows.
"Brothers, sisters," he began, his voice taking on a mystical, resonant tone that he hoped sounded deeper than he felt. He raised his hands to the sky in a gesture that was meant to be devotional but looked more like he was drying his armpits. "It was not worldly luck that saved us from the earth's clutches. No! What we witnessed was a miracle. An event of such magnitude that your minds could barely comprehend it."
He paused, taking a breath. "In the deepest darkness, when all hope seemed lost, when we faced the abyss of oblivion… a presence enveloped us. A manifestation of the Pure Light in its most radiant form! It spoke to us with a voice like a thousand silver bells, it showed us a new and sacred path we must follow, and it…"
Just as Ari was about to describe the "spirit" in greater detail (which in his mind still had the form of a celestial woman with a gravity-defying figure), Vespera acted with lightning speed. She lunged forward and clamped a hand over his mouth, smothering the rest of his ridiculous sermon.
"Mmph! Mmphfff!" Ari protested, his eyes wide with indignation.
Vespera smiled nervously at the other Templars, her face a little pale, but her grip on Ari was unshakable. "Apologies. The priest is… overwhelmed. The divine excitement, you know. The experience was very… intense for his pious spirit."
She leaned into Ari's ear, her warm breath grazing his skin, a sensation that sent a shiver down his spine despite the situation. "Shut your mouth right now, you idiot," she hissed fiercely through clenched teeth. "Your plan is terrible. It's the worst lie I've ever heard in my life. If you keep this up, Valerius will accuse us of heresy and have us hanged before noon."
Ari tried to protest again, a muffled sound vibrating against her palm. "Mmph!"
Vespera smiled even wider at the others, then her voice became a seductive purr that traveled directly into Ari's mind through their new and wonderful Consort's Bond.
Listen to me carefully, my dear future husband, she thought, the words laced with a venomous sweetness. If you shut your mouth this very instant and leave control to me and Thalassa, I solemnly promise you that tonight, I will let you explore every inch of my new succubus form. You can… play… with my breasts as much as you want. No limits. Do we have a deal?
Ari froze. His eyes, once full of indignation, widened into saucers. The offer echoed in his brain, erasing all other thoughts. Succubus breasts. No limits. His head nodded vigorously—once, twice, three times—with the docility of a lamb on its way to paradise. He stood perfectly still, Vespera's hand still over his mouth, his eyes now shining with an almost feverish anticipation.
With Ari effectively neutralized, Thalassa retook control. Her face was no longer that of a captain in a tactical situation, but that of a woman who had made a decision that would change her life forever. She looked directly at Gideon, her most loyal subordinate, to deliver the news, completely ignoring Valerius's fuming presence.
"There was no spirit, Sergeant," she said, her voice firm but tinged with a vulnerability no one had ever heard from her before. "There was… a revelation, yes, but it was personal. Not divine." She paused, gathering her strength. "The fall, the darkness… we almost died down there. And in those moments, when you face your own mortality, you realize what's truly important in life."
Her gaze drifted for an instant to Ari, who was still docilely "kidnapped" by Vespera. "I realized that my life as a Templar, my duty, my oath… all of it has kept me from the only person who has ever truly mattered. I've spent eight years chasing honor and rank, when my real home, the only cause I would truly fight for, has always been right here."
Valerius snorted in disdain. "What in the hells is she talking about? The lack of air in that cave has addled her brain."
Thalassa slowly turned her head and fixed her gaze on him. Her blue eyes were like two shards of ice: cold, sharp, and absolutely unbreakable. There was no fear in them, only a will of steel. "I'm talking about him," she said, her voice cutting, every word a blow. She gestured with her chin toward Ari. "Priest Ari and I… are lovers. We have been since long before I ever dreamed of putting on this armor."
The declaration struck the squad with the force of a thunderclap in a clear sky. The silence was absolute, so complete that the buzz of a lone insect sounded like a roar. Gideon's jaw was hanging open, his face a picture of pure confusion. Seraphine, the elf, raised an eyebrow with almost clinical interest. Valerius's face went from the red of rage to the stark white of absolute shock.
Thalassa continued, her voice now resonating with the power of her irrevocable decision. "I almost lost him forever yesterday. And I realized in that darkness that I'm not willing to risk that for another day. Not for an oath, not for a rank, not for anything." Her gaze swept over her soldiers. "Therefore, I have made a decision. Effective immediately, I am resigning my commission as Captain of the Silver Flame Templars. My service is over. I'm staying here. I'm going to marry him."
Just as Valerius looked like he might collapse, his mind unable to process the magnitude of what he was hearing, Vespera released Ari and stepped forward, her face lit with a new and fierce determination.
"You can't do that!" she exclaimed, her voice trembling with an unexpected emotion.
Thalassa looked at her, genuinely surprised by the interruption. "Excuse me, Sergeant?"
"You can't just… decide you're keeping him for yourself!" Vespera repeated, her cheeks flushed but her gaze firm. "I also…!" She stopped for a second, taking a breath, but then determination blazed in her eyes. "I want him too! Ari has been my best friend since the day I came to this town! He listens to me, he understands me! He saved my life down there! He risked his own life for me!"
Thalassa stared at her, stunned. "Vespera, this isn't a competition. This is my decision."
"Of course it is!" Vespera retorted vehemently. "If you're resigning for him, then I'm resigning too! I'm not going back to the capital to watch you live the life I also want! I'm not going to let you have him all to yourself! If anyone is going to marry this idiot, it'll be both of us!"
The surreal scene unfolded before the astonished eyes of the Templars. The two most formidable warriors in their company, the Captain and her Sergeant, were arguing heatedly. Not over strategy, nor honor, nor glory. They were arguing over the town's perverted priest, who, at that moment, was quietly sporting the biggest, stupidest, most triumphant grin of his entire life.
Thalassa looked at Vespera. She saw the unyielding determination in her eyes, a loyalty and affection as deep and genuine as her own. She saw a friend willing to throw everything away for the exact same reason she was. With a sigh that was a mixture of exasperation and a strange understanding, she surrendered. "…Alright," she said, the word barely a whisper. "Both of us."
The scene's focus shifted to Valerius. His face had passed through all the stages of shock: denial, boiling anger, and now, a humiliation so profound, so public, it was almost tangible. The two women he had desired, competed for, the jewels of the order, had just chosen—in front of everyone—a scrawny, sarcastic town priest over him, a Captain of noble birth.
No… it's not possible, he thought, his mind a whirlwind. Him? That worm? Both of them? MARRYING him? It's a joke. It has to be a joke. Or… or he's bewitched them. Yes, that's it. While they were in the cave. He's a warlock. A heretic hiding in a priest's robes. I swear by the Flame, I will destroy him. I'll unmask him and reclaim them… I'll free them from his control…
But he said nothing. The humiliation was so complete it had stolen his words. His face a mask of thunder, he simply turned and stalked away, followed by the pitying and confused stares of the other Templars.
The trio was left alone in front of the house. The squad, now under Gideon's temporary command, began to pull back to prepare for their march back to the capital, leaving their two former leaders behind. They had won. Their lie, as absurd as it was, had been accepted as an even stranger truth.
Ari walked up to them and, with a brazen grin stretching from ear to ear, he slung an arm around each of their shoulders, pulling them close. "Well, my dear and devout future wives…" he said, his tone filled with uncontainable satisfaction, "…it looks like we have a wedding to plan."
Thalassa and Vespera looked at him, one with a weary resignation but a spark of relief in her eyes, the other with a mixture of lingering embarrassment and an excitement she couldn't hide. Their new life, the strangest one of all, had just truly begun.