“Oy, oy, don’t you have any detection Spells?” Charlene poked Kiyo’s side. “Those Chaos Lords escaped the bombardment, you know.”

“One of them was crushed,” Kiyo rolled her eyes. “It’ll take a while for them to regenerate a Corpus. And no, I don’t have any ‘detection Spells’! There’s honestly no such ‘general purpose’ Spell you know. I know how to search for water and minerals but not Wyldlings.”

“Boo!”

“You’re acting quite…er, unlike yourself.”

Charlene shook her head. “No kids.”

“Ah.”

The two of them had returned to Bellton Hold after spending most of their reserves fighting the two Chaos Lords. A legionnaire handed them a couple of vials of dust tonic to help them recover. Kiyo combined the vial with a resonance meditation technique and, coupled with the dense ambient Chaos, had pretty much recovered to full after a couple of hours. So she headed to the cafeteria to grab a bite to eat and found Charlene there, as well as some of the other Knights stationed in the Hold.

In the meantime, reports from patrols have pinpointed varied leaks in the undercity, along with more incursions. Where the Wyldling were coming from, aside from the Channel, was a mystery. Manpower to search the tunnels had been organized, but Kiyo was worried more Chaos Lords would arrive.

It took a Knight to fight them toe to toe, though a non-combat oriented Chaos Lord could be taken down by a specialised team of Journeymen, or perhaps even Apprentices. The latter was highly unlikely though.

“We’re on standby for the rest of the storm,” Charlene announced, tapping her cup of black tea with an idle finger. “This is an unexpectedly strong raid for a storm.”

“And yet here we are relegated to standby duty,” Kiyo pointed out.

“Proper pacing.”

“Ahaha. Well, I’ve little experience fighting directly with Chaos dwellers, they’re relatively rare near Realmheart.”

“Oh, what’s life like there?”

“Quite a bit more luxurious, I’d say.” Kiyo shrugged. “Politics is pretty bad though, the Empress’ children, the Pia’Vasi, each have their own factions and the kind of mischief they get up to causes more trouble than anything else. My Clan’s up to their collective armpits in that political quagmire. I’d rather spend my time out in the outskirts, less trouble that way.”

“Oh, news of them doesn't reach here that often.”

“I’m not surprised. The Imperial Bureaucracy makes sure none of the dirty laundry leaves Realmheart’s shores. The Pia’Vasi who are really capable have long left the Capital and served as the Ruling Monarchs of the core planes.”

“Oooh! Interesting.” Charlene yawned. “Ancestors, I’ve got to take a nap.”

“Well, get going. No one’s called for us yet. I suppose the legion’s flushing the tunnels now. Oh, Agaza had their cadets serving on patrols right? Have you received word of their safe return?”

“No, not at all. Or rather, I haven’t had time to check. Cleaning up the Channel took up too much of my mind. Well, Silus is in charge of them, not I.”

“Hmm, I feel we’re overlooking something.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. Just an unpleasant feeling.”

“Well, take a nap. Refresh your mind, and perhaps it’ll come to you.”

“I guess.”

Charlene left the table while Kiyo finished off her dessert. The honey cakes weren’t so good, she decided, but she wasn’t one to waste food.

Just as she was about to return the tray to the bussing area, a messenger crane flew up to her. Actually, a crane flew up to everyone in the cafeteria. Curious, Kiyo tapped it on the head and read the contents. Then, she tossed the tray to the shelf, uncaring that she missed and the plates and utensils clattered on the floor. She, and everyone else, were running, Animus Fields roiling in bitter emotion.

______

“How much farther before we reach the Hold?” Yuriko asked, running easily behind Heron, with Mikel moaning and complaining while being carried over her shoulder.

“Let me down! I can run by myself! This is embarrassing!”

“No. You’ll only slow us down.”

“How about carrying me too?” Krystal huffed, plainly winded from running.

When they ran from the Chaos Lord, the cadets scattered into small groups. It hadn’t taken long before the creature sent spiders to chase them down, and this time, the cadets didn’t attempt to fight. To do so would only delay them and get them caught.

The paths split every now and then and each of the cadets wordlessly chose to scatter, hoping to bring word to the Hold, even if some of them were captured. Yuriko and the other four Faronners ended up in a small group of their own.

For the past few minutes, the sound of their footsteps were the only things they could hear. Mikel’s Field flickered from depletion while the other three’s Fields had already dimmed. Still, they had nothing else to do other than keep going.

A moment later, Yuriko spotted lights, Animus glows in the distance. She let down Mikel and readied her weapon, well, Krystal’s side-blade.

‘Oh, Ancestors, I’ve lost Heron’s blade, and my blade broke. Kato’s gonna kill me…’ She thought.

A few moments later, the light sources came close enough that they could see what they were, and immediately, all five of them relaxed.

“Chaos,” Danika growled, “finally!”

A group of legionnaires clad in red coats and dark trousers and armed to the teeth with a variety of Animatech devices, came into view. The lead scout took one look at them, flashed a hand signal to his team and they came to a floating halt. Each of them was standing on a metallic grey half-circle etched with what must have been hundreds of lines of runescript except they were so small that they blended together into one sinuous line.

“Cadets from Agaza,” the scout said, ‘and one from Sharom.”

“Sir,” Heron saluted with fist to heart, Yuriko and the others followed suit half a heartbeat behind. “Our squad encountered a Chaos Lord. It has captured multiple cadets and we just managed to escape. It is roughly a couple of longstrides back there. Last contact, ten minutes.”

“Understood. Keep at your current course. If you find other cadets, instructions are for you to return to Bellton Hold. Failing that, seek safety in the shelters.”

“Thank you, sir!”

Yuriko and the others gave way and the entire group, a platoon of forty men and women, zoomed past them. Once they were out of sight, a weight was lifted off Yuriko's shoulders and she sighed in relief.

“I suppose, that’s that,” she muttered.

“Yeah. Let’s keep moving.” Heron said.

Mikel had regained enough strength that he could walk, and since the Legion had arrived, they didn’t have to push too hard. It took maybe another half hour of walking before they arrived at the gates of Bellton Hold under the mountain. The gate opened as they arrived, and more legionnaires came out on their Disc Floaters.

“You’re back. Good,” Master Antiga greeted as she exited and caught sight of them, then with a raised eyebrow she addressed Yuriko, “Miss Davar, I’m surprised at you putting yourself in danger.”

Yuriko nodded. “I wanted to help.”

“I see. Well, you’re safe now. Take shelter. If we’re to find and rescue captives, time is of the essence.” With a parting nod, she was gone.

The sentry waved them through, directing them to a resting area and instructing them to wait for debriefing. When they were finally out of danger, Yuriko sighed, closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. One thing was clear after everything that happened. She was still weak.

______

From across the plane, the Chaos storm lashing the eastern half was nothing more than slightly inclement weather. For the Seeker of Delights, the increase in ambient Chaos was so minute that it didn’t even register. It's been a couple of weeks since she entered the plane through the Tidelands and after capturing the little girl and milking her for information, she knew that getting to her quarry was no simple matter.

Frankly speaking, she was on the wrong side of the plane and if she wanted to get to the other side, she could not cross it. The Zarek Mountains, the raised spine of earth, was more than a set of high mountains: it was the domain of Avos Zarek.

The Mountain Tortoise had long been bonded with the land, long before the Imperials arrived, and even before the Confederates. Perhaps the only ones who knew of the time before Zarek were the aboriginals of the north. Seeker coughed, finding flecks of blue blood in her fist. She didn’t have much time left before she needed to return to the Chaos.

Patrols by the local militia had grown in number following the disappearance of the girl. Seeker held in a sigh. That girl was standing behind her after all, with a strange look in her eyes and a happy smile.

“Why don’t you go back?”

“I belong here.”

Seeker sighed again. This was what happened if she got too drunk with her new power. She did things that she didn’t intend.

“I’m leaving.”

“I want to be with you.”

“You’ll die if you leave the plane.”

“Then change me so I can survive.”

Seeker turned to stare at Ashley Gin’s face. The little girl stared back with earnest eyes. “Why?”

Ashley smiled, “I just want to.”

Seeker snorted as she turned around, “Do what you want. But know this, if you leave with me, you leave your humanity behind.”

She left the thicket she had been hiding behind and walked towards the barrier. She didn’t need to return to the Tidelands to leave the plane, the barrier let things through it to the Chaos. The opposite wasn’t true, of course.

A few moments later, she heard Ashley following behind her, booted feet crunching the fallen leaves and twigs. Seeker didn’t look back but she smirked. A willing thrall was far preferable to a slave.

The barrier glimmered as they approached. It was an opaque wall, though it often reflected the colour of the skies. At night, when the accursed Sun hid its face, the barrier became translucent. When it did, it showed the Chaos streams beyond. Seeker breathed in, taking as much of the ambient Chaos as she could but the rather sterile air burned her nose and throat instead. Her Essence Well had dwindled to dregs.

She’d spent the last couple of weeks looking for more information. It wasn’t as if she kept Ashley with her the entire time. No, she drew out what she needed then left her. Easier to kill, really, but very little pleasure in crushing someone so weak. She was the Seeker of Delights for a reason, and if something didn’t delight her, she lost interest quickly.

So she had already forgotten Ashley Gin after she left her, if not for the fact that the girl found her just a couple of hours ago. The eyes were the window to the Anima, and through it, Seeker saw that the other had awakened something else inside.

When she was less than a pace from the actual barrier, she turned back to Ashley and asked, for the third and final time, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The Seeker’s Essence boiled inside her. She reached out a hand and grabbed Ashley’s. When she pulled away, a red glow suffused the other girl’s hand and slowly spread out to her body. A few minutes later, her body glowed red, and the next moment, the light drilled into her.

“Oh.”

Seeker coughed and even more bloody flecks were left on her palm afterwards. She was honestly too young and weak for something like this, but hey, who’d turn down a free meal?

“Come on.”

She walked into the barrier, feeling a mild resistance that easily gave way when she pushed. The planar barrier was several hundred paces thick, and anyone trying to leave the plane that way would have to fight through the pressure. Ashley followed her a few minutes later. Together, they left Rumiga and returned to the Primordial Chaos Sea.