Yuriko lounged in the palace suite, sitting next to the window and gazing out into Lucenti City. The Palace of Light was in the exact centre of the city, or rather, the old city. A hundred years of expansion had changed the shape from a spoked wheel into a weird oblong.

At least, that was what they told her on the way.

The wooden bridges were one of the few ways to move in Lucenti. The City was over three longstrides wide and built vertically. Multiple dwellings were on the same great tree, sometimes five or more. The trees were big enough that the dwellings didn’t encroach on each other.

The palace itself was built across several great trees and rested on a platform made of living branches that were somehow coaxed to form a net underneath. There was very little stone used in construction; she observed a little bit of steel with the rest of it being primarily living wood.

Yuriko’s room faced the east and a break in the canopy allowed the Radiant Sun’s rays to come through her window. She sat in a meditative pose inside the pool of sunlight wearing next to nothing, allowing her skin to absorb as much of it as she could.

Sadly, there was a limit to how much Radiant energy she could cram into her body using Damien’s Physique Refinement, as he called the Body Forging technique’s next step. The space between her Facet filled up completely with Radiant energy after an entire day of soaking sunlight when she only had her face, hair, and hands exposed. It filled up in just over an hour when she sunbathed naked. Coincidentally, that amount of Radiant energy was the daily limit of Physique Refinement.

The amount of Radiant energy Damien took up when he spoke was about as much as she absorbed while clothed, so it wasn’t an issue of him wasting it by yakking away as long as she was in the sun. When her Facet was full, her skin began shedding the excess Radiant energy in the form of a glow. Actually, no; when her stores were half full, she started subtly glowing and the fuller it was, the brighter the glow. As such, it made her look like she always had her Anima flared when it was full and she was still taking in sunlight.

Funny that. She hadn’t noticed.

You’ve had the ability since you first inlaid, Damien said primly.

“Oh.”

Well, now she was almost full and she had also finished her daily Refinement, what was she to do with the excess? Practice, of course.

She put on her clothes and sat on a chair. She focused inwards and started to create an Animus blade. But, instead of using only her Animus, she followed Damien’s advice and threaded the strand with a sliver of Radiant energy. Almost at once, she felt the difference in handling the varied energies within her.

The first time she tried using the Radiant energy to augment her Animus blades had been before she entered the spire and she hadn't reached her training cap. Also, she added the energy after she already formed the blade. Perhaps it was because she'd already incorporated it into her Refinement but how she handled it felt different now.

Animus bent to her will, forming an Intent. When she used a technique, the sword dances, for instance, the Animus changed according to the patterns. She didn’t know why or how this happened, just that it did. When it came to the sword dances, she thought the pattern was how the body was supposed to move when fighting with a sword, though that didn’t explain why it still worked even if she wielded any other weapon. Perhaps because there was a similarity in movement no matter the tool? She wasn’t sure, though she felt that she touched upon a profound truth when she did so. But it was a bit elusive. It was like peeking at a picture behind a thick curtain. Sometimes, the wind blew the drapes and allowed a sliver of a view, giving her a glimpse of what lay beyond but when the wind shifted or stopped, the view disappeared.

Radiant energy was significantly…different.

For one thing, there was no way to manipulate it without mixing it in with her Animus. Then that strand of Animus became something else. The colour of her Animus had always been gold, but when it mixed with the Radiant, it became speckled with brilliant white. And then, the strand became…wilder? No, not quite that. It was as if it became heavier? No, no. It didn’t have any weight actually but it became harder to bend and move. If it went forward and she wanted it to turn right, there would be a bit of a delay before the strand turned. As if it wanted to keep going straight and was only bending because she bludgeoned it into doing so.

Having it moved from her core to her hand was then an exercise in foresight. She had to tell it to bend and turn a heartbeat earlier than it should.

Once she had it in her hand, she started to form the Animus blade on her fingertips but this time, the Radiant Animus resisted.

‘Follow the pattern, rotter!’

No, it wouldn’t bend! Or rather, why was it turning in that direction?

‘Hey, hey, don’t make patterns on your own!’

It was a good thing the initial Animus already had the Intent to turn into a blade. The Radiant energy took that Intent and interpreted it on its own!

Before her hand materialised the shape of a side-blade, complete with the circular guard that was made to connect with a Plasma Caster, a thirty-inch blade, with a single edge. The side-blade was straight and had a sharp point. The last three inches of the blade was actually sharp on both edges.

Her flared Anima covered the Animus construct, but when she retracted her Anima, it didn’t shatter or dissipate. Of course, it looked like it was made of solidified sunlight and shed as much light as her Anima did, so there was no mistaking its ethereal nature.

“Huh.”

It was orders of magnitude better than the one she made with just pure Animus. And without having to contain it in her Anima, she could be more flexible in her usage. She could throw this thing around if she needed to. And she could condense her Anima into a protective shell without her weapons breaking apart on her.

“I wonder if something will happen to Fri’Avgi if I fill her with Radiant Animus?”

She was half tempted to summon the artefact now and experiment.

Thock, thock!

“Come in,” Yuriko called out.

She had the Animus blade on its tip, balanced on her fingernail when Rhox entered the suite.

“Elder Yuriko…” the snakekin broke off with a gasp, her eyes riveted to the golden blade.

The conjured weapon was practically weightless. Yuriko worried that the lack of heft would mean any blows would have trouble penetrating its target, but then again, her original Animus blade burned more than cut. Perhaps this was the same?

She tested the edge on a piece of paper.

As she expected, the mere touch burned a hole into the sheet. It smoked and blackened, then caught on fire. Yuriko smothered it with her palm before anything else burned.

“Yes?” Yuriko asked. She was loath to dismiss the blade as it took nearly a fifth of her Animus reserves to make it, and a similar fifth of her Radiant energy capacity. In battle, dual-wielding would be costly. Well, maybe she could form a different shape?

“Elder?”

“Uh.” Yuriko blushed.

She had drifted into her thoughts while Rhox spoke, hence, she didn’t hear anything.

“Apologies, please repeat that?”

She made an attempt to reabsorb the weapon but as she had expected, it was impossible. The nature of the Animus had already changed. The weapon dissolved into motes of golden sunlight.

“Uhm, Elder Otlaca wished to invite Elder Yuriko to a state dinner with the rest of Lucenti’s Elders.”

“When?”

“Tomorrow evening, at the second hour past sunset.”

“I see. And of my request?”

“Forgive me, Elder, but Commander Otlaca insists on having this presentation.”

“Very well. Tomorrow evening then.”

“Thank you, Elder Yuriko.” Rhox bowed herself out of Yuriko’s suite.

‘Well, that was annoying.’

Yuriko had asked for word on a foreign merchant caravan or failing that, directions to the nearest Emporium that catered to off-plane goods. Otlaca’s response had been to send servants with exotic wares to her suite.

She had been here since yesterday and other than letting her free reign of the palace, she had been discouraged from leaving. Oh, they didn’t expressly forbid it, or Ancestors’ folly, try to physically bar her way.

No, but the entreating looks, sad, wide eyes, and the near prostration when she tried to leave, as well as lamentations on their punishment if the guards or servants let her out of their sight, had been quite uncomfortable. She didn’t want to be the cause of their loss of employment, or worse, punishment.

So she had stayed in her rooms after an initial tour of the palace. Most of the space was devoted to the varied machinery of government, as well as staterooms and guest rooms. The Elders had been sequestered in their own private meeting ever since Otlaca returned and Yuriko had been left cooling her heels.

The Hanging Gardens, the elaborate sculptures, and the beautiful waterfall art could only take her attention for so long. She had also found a library, but other than the fact that most of the books, bamboo scrolls really, were mostly written in the Mezgarin language, the few that were in Wojan made her eyes water and her head spin.

The scrolls in Wojan were mostly fanciful tales of an adventurous merchant who got into all sorts of trouble looking for the best deals. It was clearly a work of fiction, though it did name the nearest planes around Bella, which were Egros and Riwuc planes. Egros could be accessed from the Chaos channel found near Viterra to the north, and Riwuc, to the west, inside Tiath City.

From the fanciful tales, Egros was a land of exotic birds, tall mountains and deep valleys, while Riwuc was a relatively tamed plane filled with humanity. That meant that Yuriko probably had a better chance of finding a way home if she headed west to Tiath.

Still, that was a lengthy journey in itself. Not only would she have to pass by Vizugmon City, but she’d have to cross an inland Sea that was as wide as the Zarek Mountains were long.

When Rhox left, a couple of servants entered carrying a couple of trays.

“What’s that?” She asked.

“A token of regard from Elder Hiaqrass. She wonders if Elder Yuriko has a sweet tooth?” the servant, a Buwak female, answered.

“Elder Irseso also sends her regard,” the L’tik servingman bowed.

“Place them on the table, please.”

The two bowed, complied, and left the suite when they were done. She walked up to the table, pulled out a chair and took a seat before she removed the covers.

“Oh,” Yuriko murmured. “Oh my...”

Elder Hiaqrass’s gift was a dozen chocolate truffles.

“Oh my, indeed.”

She grabbed one and gobbled it up. It had a bittersweet shell, but once it melted, it released a caramelly goodness that made her swoon in rampant pleasure. She almost forgot to open the other Elder’s gift, which turned out to be a platter of sugar covered fruits that were completely inferior to the chocolate.

“How can they…? Oh, maybe they grew chocolates here!” she gasped.

Hmmm, maybe her stay wouldn’t be a waste after all.

_____

Anda had lost half of his weight. He had run--no, sprinted nonstop from when they had been ambushed until he arrived in Vizugmon City. He was alone and he didn’t see his ambushers. But he carried with him a few of the crossbow bolts which had a rather incriminating maker’s mark.

The Reviled.

It had taken him three days instead of a week but he hadn’t slept a wink. The guardsmen in Vizugmon were startled at his appearance, and more than one had exclaimed, “You’re alive!”

“Take me to the Council! I have urgent news!” he gasped.

For once, the taciturn guards didn’t hem and haw. They brought him to the Council’s Palace. He was lucky that they had been in session when he arrived.

He was given food and water that he inhaled in less than a second. He was given more until he was satisfied but the weakness of his overstrained body would not be overcome so easily.

He was let into the council chambers and his eyes riveted to one of them, Councilman Gusar of the Tigris. A distant relative.

“Delver Anda, you are alive. Incredible; we, and the entirety of the city, thought you and your team had perished. Many brave teams perished between the last Tide and the one before that…”

“Councilman, forgive the interruption,” Anda said, “but I bring grave news. Lucenti City has discovered an entrance and built a fortress in the Labyrinth. They have diverted a significant number of devilbeasts and I’m afraid they are gearing for war.”

Councilman Gusar, and the others of the Council of Seven, gave him an incredulous look.

“Do you have proof?”

He offered the crossbow bolt from the Reviled.

“They have broken tradition and worked with the Reviled. Please…I don’t know if the rest of my team survived. We had been imprisoned and through sheer fortune, managed to escape. Only, we were ambushed. I left the Labyrinth from the entrance near Lucenti. There’s no mistake!”

“Now, now. One cannot act on the words of a single man,” Councilman Miyoshi of the Iona scoffed. “You think we will declare war on Lucenti and Grieford just like that?”

“Perhaps if we have more proof,” Councilman Gusar interjected, “but I don’t think we will be remiss if we mobilize our standing armies.”

“Hmmm, we will need to update our weaponry in that case,” Councilman Hanze of the Tigris mused, even as his eyes glinted with greed.

“Indeed, if we are going to fight a war, we will need more warriors, arms and armour.” Councilwoman Naoko of the Kutin purred. “Which means we must levy higher taxes to fund this.”

Anda shivered at the naked greed displayed by the city’s leadership but he could do nothing. Gusar gave him a knowing nod and soon enough, he was dismissed from the chambers with the only resolution being that a team would be sent to the Labyrinth to investigate his claims.

As for Anda, he was going home to sleep.