Movement echoed behind her. The situation--danger, imminent and heavy--was familiar enough that she knew what the sound would be without looking. Gideon would have his violin out, the delicate wood pressed to his neck, bow poised at the strings. Ilias would pull his thumb across his talisman with a quiet prayer.

And, as expected, within the breadth of a heartbeat a shimmer of magic appeared before them. A large, golden eagle burst into existence, her extended wings casting long shadows across the grassy field. Her wicked, gold-tipped beak shone like fire in the dying afternoon sun. She flapped once, then coasted down to settle on Ilias' outstretched arm--

Before vanishing.

Their group shared a look, confusion clear on Ilias face. Within the second, the expression shifted into fear. Whatever had happened, it wasn't intentional.

Sia grasped her magic, a buzz settling into her veins as the familiar tingle of divinity shifted through her. For her, it felt like the coolness of a midsummer moon, warm and inviting, but dangerous. Her grip on it slipped, however, as within the same second the very earth itself trembled beneath them. Sia stumbled. The first lizardmen threw themselves from the brush. The aforementioned corruption was sickeningly obvious in the throbbing, black veins that coated their bodies, as well as the ichor that seemed to cake their bared fangs. A thick, circular membrane flipped out, encircling their necks as they hissed--only to fall as the earth recoiled beneath them.

A hole, impossibly deep and gapping, and torn the ground open. The bottom was black, leaving no sign of how far the sudden fissure truly fell.

"What the actual..." Sia began.

A shiver of unease stole her spine as she caught sight of Aaramis clenching his fist. The earth snapped shut again with a sickening crunch from flesh and bone.

Gods. Sia had seen earth magic before. It was powerful, certainly...but, had it always appeared so effortless? As if the flick of one's wrist was all that was needed to fell potentially A-ranked monsters?

Perhaps it was a good thing she hadn't hit the djinn.

A few lingering lizardmen turned to run, only to be skewered by rock that jolted from the earth with a snap of Aaramis' fingers. Silent, he stepped forward to study the dangling bodies. A frown lingered on his lips, before he glanced over his shoulder.

"Divine magic?" he questioned, before his frown deepened. "Where's the summon?"

It was a fair question, even if asked a bit rudely. Celestial beasts were capable of cleansing corruption in the same way a cleric could. And you had to cleanse it, otherwise the infection would continue to seep into the land, taking over anything that neared it.

Ilias edged forward, his back brushing Gideon's shoulder. Sia wouldn't have been surprised if the man was trembling--his expression certainly reflected the awe sweeping through her.

"She, uh. She was here, but she..." Ilias swallowed audibly. "I don't know."

Aaramis grumbled under his breath, his eyes sweeping over the rest of them in what was quickly becoming a familiar, critical manner.

"Anyone else have divine magic amongst you?"

She swallowed a retort, aware that further irritating the unsettlingly, overwhelmingly powerful djinn would be a poor choice.

"I, I do."

The look he gave her clearly asked why she was answering instead of cleansing the lizardmen, so she stepped forward while once again summoning her magic to the surface. Instead of coating the air, however, she simply murmured a prayer under her breath, before settling a shimmering hand over one of the creatures. It took a minute longer than she would have liked--Sia had less opportunity to use her cleric abilities than her offensive magic--but the black veins slowly retreated from the monsters' skin.

She could feel Aaramis' eyes following her as she worked, but did her best to ignore them. It wasn't as if she were doing anything odd--cleansing was the earliest cleric skills a priestess was taught.

As she worked, she spied Ilias handing his talisman over to Gideon, who scrutinized it doubtfully. No doubt he was anticipating he wouldn't find anything. Summoning was a unique art. There were very few who were skilled in it, and even fewer still outside the craft who knew the details of how it worked. Sia, herself, only knew it required blood.

Gideon murmured something about the problem likely being Valda and not Ilias, before handing it back. Ilias sighed.

The bard approached her the moment Ilias had his talisman put away, his eyes skimming over the number of corpses that Sia had dragged the corruption from.

"Can we do anything?" His words were accompanied by a pointed glance back. No doubt he was looking at Aaramis. Sia ignored the eyes burning into her back and moved a glowing hand to the dangling scaled foot of the next body.

"No, there isn't much to it," she explained. "Just time and magic."

It was one of the main reasons she avoided using her cleric abilities when she could. Gravity magic also happened to be extremely draining--her father had always explained it as being too divine to easily handle--so reckless use of her cleric skills always ran the chance of leaving her defenseless. In this situation, however, she felt reasonably confident that without a random twist of fate, there was no reason for her to be concerned about their safety. Instead, it was much more likely they would cull too many lizardmen for the valley's liking, given that not everybody was infected to the brim with corruption.

"Who is your deity?" Aaramis demanded.

Sia glanced at him, incredulous and glad she had removed her holy symbol in the carriage. "There's no way you don't know that's considered a private issue."

"Is it Aether?"

Surprise flickered through her, followed by a heavy dose of apprehension. "Aether's a mad god."

"That's not a no."

There was a thump of Gideon handing off his instrument case, before he stepped forward, violin tucked to his chest. His foot landed in lizard innards, a fact the man didn't seem to mind as he stared up at the djinn. Anticipation swirled in her chest as she realized Gideon was done.

"Sia's patron is no business of yours, Aaramis." He narrowed his eyes, fingers tapping rhythmically against his bow, just enough pressure on the strings for a stray note to appear. "You've made it clear you're not here as a friend. I would advise you not to overstep your bounds with acquaintances. Your reputation would suffer if it were to get out how rudely you question younger adventurers, no?"

Aaramis tore his attention from Sia, giving Gideon a slow study, before amusement interrupted his typical frown. His arms folded over his chest, brow slowly raising in response to the challenge.

"Are you threatening me?" he questioned.

Sia paused, torn between completing the cleansing and backing up Gideon's defense of her. Warmth separate from her magic overtook her chest. For some reason, she hadn't expected him to be upset on her behalf.

"I'm not one for threats," Gideon replied conversationally, another note materializing next to him as the first burst in a shower of golden sparks. "This is a warning. I'm no match for you in terms of sheer power, that's evident enough." He gestured at the lizardmen corpses that littered the ground around them. "But my guild mates are family, and I won't allow you to harass them."

Aaramis tilted his head, studying Gideon with that same, bemused expression, before he laughed dryly and dropped his arms.

"Loyalty is a good trait, Rose. I'll leave it alone. The answer was clear, anyways."

Gideon waited a moment, then lowered his violin and nodded. He didn't move from between Aaramis and Sia, though, only walked closer to her. Sia shivered, before returning to her task. The sooner they were done, the sooner they could be away from the djinn's everything. Having someone associate her with Aether was the last thing she wanted.

"Let's call it a day once we've finished up here," Gideon said, addressing the whole group. "The light's dying and we could all use the rest. We'll be at this for another week, there's no rush to finish tonight."

As she finished up the last lizardman, Sia nodded wearily. Her eyes slid from Gideon over the others, taking note of how Aaramis was frowning once again, but said nothing in protest. The tense state of his shoulders, however, told her that he was likely annoyed by the events. Not that it mattered. The man was rude enough that--for once--Sia didn't care.

So, she let her magic fall from her hands as she stuck close to Gideon.

"I won't be any help on the walk back," she told him.

It had been too long a day without her anticipating so many rites to perform--and her stamina had always been what she lacked.

Aaramis snorted, but made no comment as he turned on a heel, before starting back towards the village.

"You did more than enough," Gideon replied. "I'll take over guard duty from here."

And with that, he signaled for Ilias to fall into step beside them and followed Aaramis. Sia cast one last, uneasy glance at the lizardmen corpses before darting after the others.

It didn't occur to her until she got into town that--as an outsider--Aaramis and his companions had no reason to know about the corruption.

Even Gideon hadn't known. Yet, that djinn...

'There's something off about him.'