The shape of her core had changed.

Yuriko grimaced. How?

Well, it was pretty obvious, now that she thought about it. The Radiant energy and the copious amount of Chaos she absorbed. No doubt Fri’Avgi had something to do with it too, and the most obvious culprit was Damien.

She almost reached out to talk to him but froze. The skies, the wind, and the earth were watching. Maybe if he spoke again, whatever it was that pressed down on her would redouble its efforts. She still couldn’t tell when Damien was around or if he slumbered.

Her core. From golden flames, it shrunk into itself, forming embers. Well, a single huge one. She tugged at her Animus and instead of tongues of flame, embers flowed out and bent to her Will. They stretched into strands and she wove them as easily as she did before. There was barely any change in how it reacted and shifted. Well, maybe it was a bit faster? It could be that her own skill had increased and she just didn’t notice.

A change in how her core manifested was something far more serious than aesthetics though. It represented a fundamental change in how she saw herself. From burning flames to banked embers. What did it mean?

She shook her head and withdrew from envisioning her Anima. She moved her observations to her body instead.

Strange. Pockets of Radiant energy were now nested at several points in her torso and limbs. It was often a single mote that barely responded when she pulled. In fact, it felt as if she was trying to pull out a fingernail when she did. There was a warning of imminent pain if she pressed too far, or pulled too hard.

As for her heart, there was a huge chunk of Radiant energy there, nearly as much as the reserve in her Facet. Even more interesting, at the centre of it was a particularly dense mote. When she focused on it, she felt a pull. The closer her focus went, the larger the mote seemed, until it grew bigger than her field of view and she was drawn into an empty space. It was easy to exit from there though, and there really wasn’t anything to it. Just a golden sphere of Radiant energy.

Maybe it was the Radiant Essence Damien talked about?

Well, she didn’t know, and pondering about such things only made her head spin and hurt. So, she pulled out of her retrospection and used Anima Refinement instead. There were still bits of her that were cracked. Little fractures too small to see easily, and overlooked by the initial rush of distilled Chaos. The bigger fractures had to be healed over first, lest her Anima fracture and break. Still, small cracks eventually grew into bigger ones.

She drew from Fri’Avgi’s reserve of distilled Chaos. It was a veritable well of the stuff, and she didn’t know how much the artefact could hold. A bit of her was scared that it would overflow and flood her with the Chaos, leading to Chaos poisoning, death, or change. A single mote of distilled Chaos was enough to heal over a largish crack, and it was more than enough to heal many of the micro-fractures. She nudged the motes, letting them seep in. Her Anima took them in, ate it, and formed more of itself, healing and growing in the process.

Maybe she would reach the threshold here? She couldn’t help but smile at the thought. Of course, she needed the strength and power to venture into the Chaos Sea. She needed to find her Da. But…

Couldn’t she venture into the Chaos Sea now?

How long had she been exposed a while ago? If she didn’t have the ability to withstand the Primordial Sea’s corrosive flows, she would have died already.

No. She felt it then. Her life had been a candle burning in the wind. Though the flame had fuel and burned merrily, the winds would snuff it out given enough time and strength. She held out against a Chaos Storm but she knew better than anyone that she only managed it due to Fri’Avgi’s reserve of distilled Chaos and the Radiant energy that levelled things to a manageable extent.

She needed to become a Knight in truth, not just in power level.

She used Recovery to heal her wounds. Bruises and abrasions peppered her skin where her clothes didn’t protect. Her dougi and hakama had become a bit threadbare, and she didn’t have spares with her. Oh, why didn’t she have her backpack with her?

While she did that, she divided her attention to Tiernan. The cadet officer was the picture of health. No wounds, at least, not from the Chaos. She had been quick enough to protect him. While she was at it, she catalogued her supplies. Plasma Lancet, belt knife. Ration bars. Tiernan had one in his pocket, so that made three for the both of them. It would barely last a day.

From the look of things, she was doubtful of possible forage. A quick check of her condenser canteen showed barely an increase in the contents. The canteen was only half full to begin with and the water level barely rose a notch. She had enough to slake her thirst for half a day, maybe. As for Tiernan, he had a metal flask hidden under his uniform coat.

He was armed with a belt knife, and a Plasma Lancet. He had some kind of utility tool inside a pouch hanging off his belt but Yuriko didn’t know what it was. It looked like a quarter-circle thing made out of metal, brass, had several pointy things, and a glass lens. Well, he also had a first aid kit, needle and thread, some kind of ointment, and tablets of some sort.

Her thoughts ground to a halt. She just identified everything he was carrying without even looking in his direction. She shivered at how easy and natural it was. She also knew that she could just as easily look past his clothes.

She shoved that thought firmly at the back of her mind, stomped on it, stuffed it in a box, locked it and threw away the key. Er…did this mean that other Knights could see with such detail using their Protective Field? A question for Damien, for another time. Though she wondered if he would answer her honestly.

Several minutes passed before Tiernan stirred and regained consciousness.

“What happened?” he moaned while cradling his head. “I passed out? From what?”

“I don’t know,” Yuriko answered. “I have a guess, but that’s about it.”

“Oh. Uhm, sure.”

“Listen.” Yuriko said after an awkward moment of silence, “You said we need to get back to the Ebon Horizon, right? I have no idea how to go about it.” She gestured to their surroundings, “Everything looks the same,” she grumbled. There were no visible rises or dips in the terrain she could see, and everything was that dreadful, uniform grey. “Do you have any idea how to get there?”

Tiernan sighed and nodded, though only after a moment, he blushed and said out loud, “Yes, I do. It’s part of my Heritage.”

“Oh. Do you mind telling me?”

“No, not at all. Though I’d like to know yours since I’ll reveal mine.”

“Sure.”

“My family has always been sailors since the founding of the Empire. We travelled above the Chaos Sea, and sometimes beneath it, as well. We’re… below the Light Zone. How deep, I’m not sure. Dusk, at least.”

“From how grey the skies are?”

“Well, yes. In the Zone of Dusk, the light of the Radiant Sun and the Luminous Moon barely touch. No matter the Waypoint that forms, it will always have this kind of light.”

“Oh.” Yuriko sighed. She could barely feel a trickle of Radiant energy here. Nothing really, aside from what she had inside. It meant that she would have to rely on Animus blades or Fri’Avgi instead of forming a sunblade. Either way, she would have to ration her very limited supply. Or maybe she could induce the Radiant energy to convert from Chaos? Like what happened a while back? But how, though? She only had the vaguest idea. What, was she supposed to throw a mote of Radiant into a pool of distilled Chaos? She had a lot of that in Fri’Avgi, but…

“...anyway, part of my Facet allows me to mark a location and be able to know what direction to go to get there.”

“You’ve marked the Ebon Horizon?” She asked excitedly.

“Of course.” She could feel him grinning widely for a moment, before it faded away, “But I can’t tell distance. Well, the Ebon Horizon is one, and Realmheart is the other. Our ship is that way.” He pointed about thirty degrees right from where he faced. Or about a hundred and twenty degrees from where she faced. Then he pointed directly to his right, and sixty degrees upwards, “That’s where Realmheart is at. But the feel of it is much fainter.”

“Thank you,” Yuriko smiled.

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to wander around lost. Again. Thank you for pointing the way.”

“Oh, you’re welcome.” He scratched his chin, right where a few strands of hair grew. He only had fuzz on his lip and on his chin. Sandy brown like his hair. “Well, shall we?”

“Yes.” Yuriko easily got to her feet while Tiernan groaned as he stood.

“My leg fell asleep,” he complained.

“Walk it off?”

“Yeah, no sense waiting.”

Yuriko nodded, “Stay within my light.”

“Uhm, yes. Can you expand it a bit more? I feel that I’m being a bit too intimate with you.”

“No, that’s as far as it goes. For now.” Yuriko shrugged. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Oh. I apologise. I didn’t mean to complain.”

“It’s nothing.” Yuriko said.

She focused on her Animus and drew it out of her core. She shaped an Animus blade, following the pattern set by the sunblade such that the resulting weapon would have a handle, too, instead of staying attached to her fingers. Pale golden light shaped itself into a side-blade. Well, it was slightly shorter than the usual weapon, but it couldn’t be helped. The maximum length of the blade depended on how far her Anima could expand.

“Is that your Facet?” Tiernan asked, eyes shining brightly. “Wow, can it cut through steel? Can it burn though Wyldlings?”

“Er, I haven’t tried to cut steel,” Yuriko replied, “But it can kill Wyldlings. And, no, this isn’t my Facet. It’s something I learned from it though.”

“Oh, does that mean you could teach others how to do that?”

“Er, yes. I suppose I could.” Yuriko coughed. “Well, shall we get going?”

“Oh…ah, yes, of course.” Tiernan moved over to her left. The Animus blade was held at her right.

He oriented himself to the correct direction and waited for her to follow. When she nodded at him, they started walking.

For the first few minutes, Tiernan frequently bumped into her arm, or stubbed his toe, or managed to step into her heels. It didn’t hurt, of course, but he always devolved into sputters and apologies. After the twelfth time he did it, Yuriko told him to stop apologising and focus on walking properly. It didn’t help that she felt uneasy too. Not only was she unused to anyone walking that close to her, but she couldn’t help feel the invasion of her personal space. By a boy, too.

The strange circumstances they found themselves in weighed in on her mind. Though she could easily split her focus now, though not as much as how many strands of Animus she could control.

She combed her fingers over her hair, the silky feeling against her palm soothed her somewhat.

“Ah.” Tiernan said, interrupting the silence, “Do you mind me asking how old you are, Miss Davar?”

“Fourteen.”

“Eh? You’re…oh.” She could feel his face flush. “I didn’t think you were younger than me.”

“Why, how old are you?” Yuriko asked curiously. “Seventeen?”

“Turning sixteen in a few weeks, actually.” He grinned.

“Eh, why aren’t you at an Academy?”

“Why aren’t you?” he asked stiffly.

“I should be. Except for an accident.”

“Oh, my apologies.”

“It’s nothing to apologise for. Er, sorry for prying.”

“Oh, don’t. I’m a cadet officer in my internship,” he said. “I’m not from the Big Four though. I’m enrolled in a specialty school, Rosmann Merchant Marine Academy. In Realmheart.” He said that last bit with a prideful tone.

“I see.” Yuriko hummed. “I’m enrolled in Sharom, actually.”

“Oh. Uhm, you must hold the record for advancing to Knight at such a young age!”

“I’m not, actually. It’s a bit complicated,” she added before he could continue asking.

“Oh.”

The terrain didn’t vary at all. If it rose or dipped, it did so at such a gradual slope that she didn’t notice. They had fallen into silence again, as the air around them grew a bit more oppressive with noise. As if there was someone slumbering and any noise could wake them. She got the feeling that if they woke up, she wouldn’t like it. No, not at all.

She spotted it before Tiernan did. A silhouette in the distance, maybe a couple hundred paces away. She grabbed his arm, and slammed her palm on his mouth to squelch his startled scream. His pulse raced and he trembled.

“Shh. There’s something there.”

She pointed, and he looked. He didn’t calm down, of course, and she was readying herself. If it came to a battle, she wouldn’t lose. But…Tiernan would perish if he left the shelter of her Anima for too long. Well, perhaps the silhouette wasn’t hostile.

Not everything in the Chaos wanted to kill her, right?