“Ashley?”

The Songstress of Heartfelt Desire froze. The name tickled at her mind but not as much as the woman who looked at her now. Yes, she slaughtered all of her honour guard and looked almost ready to kill her too, but that face was…familiar.

No, it was more than familiar.

It was etched into her Anima, the face of the one who created her and gave her new life. Her erstwhile master, the Seeker of Delights. But she was dead. That much Desire knew. Even the Telurian Duke, He Who Watches and Waits, had affirmed it. The flames of Seeker’s life had faded away and there would be no rebirth for her.

Desire wondered if her life would be snuffed and devoured like the others. She couldn’t help but stare at the golden greatsword, the devouring artefact, held low at the woman’s side.

The Seeker's visage…or rather, the face that the Seeker had copied, stared at her with incredulity, and not a little bit of impatience when Desire didn’t react. What could she do anyway? The woman had killed every last one of them and the only wound she had was the one on her arm. A thin scratch that barely bled.

She couldn’t help but stare at it. There was a droplet of blood beading over the slice. It was crimson, of course, as every human’s blood was, but this one held a glimmer of gold. Radiant light. Hateful light, as the Watcher said. It was the light of the Traitor Sun when it turned its face from its children and gave power to their enemies.

Hereditary memories flooded Desire’s mind but she fought them down. She didn’t want to die, and if she was careful, she would live. Hopefully.

“Who are you?” the woman asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion and hands tightening on the sword’s hilt.

“I am the Songstress of Heartfelt Desire,” she answered honestly. “I am not Ash…”

Her voice choked off, as if unwilling to say the name. What? Why couldn’t she say it? Ashl… even her mind stopped her from saying the name! Why?

“You…are you Ashley Gin?” The woman said as her eyes roamed over Desire’s face.

“No.”

But the air around her echoed and rippled oddly, and Desire suddenly felt faint. The woman noticed and snorted.

“You look like Ashley if she was already in her late teens. Not so little anymore,” the woman added glancing down at Desire’s front.

Desire wasn’t that tall for a Chaos Baron, middling really. Even the woman towered over her by at least a head. But she was at least curvier. Oh, why did that feel like an affront to the natural order?

For that matter, where was the terror-inducing aura the woman exuded? It had taken all of Desire’s Will not to turn tail and run. Only her duty to keep the Interceptor safe had locked her feet.

Ah, the thing hummed and crackled, filled with Chaos that it diverted back outside its zone of control. It was impossible to keep safe now. Yuriko would destroy it.

Eh? How did she know the woman’s name? Or was it even her name?

“Yuriko…” A low hiss escaped her lips.

The woman, Yuriko, jumped. “You know me… You are Ashley! I heard that you had disappeared from Faron’s Crossing!” The artefact disappeared from her hands and she reached out to grab Desire.

She flinched and tried to step back, but Yuriko was faster than anything she had seen. Once that hand grabbed her shoulder, it squeezed and pressed Desire down. She looked up at Yuriko’s concerned face. She was so beautiful.

“Eh?” Her Anima…something was attacking her. No, no, it wasn’t that. Her Anima was opening up! Tendrils from her core reached up, towards Yuriko’s hand, and then entwined into the glow surrounding her.

Yuriko froze and looked at the interaction, her eyes glowing with the telltale signs of Chaos Sight.

As for Desire, all hostility had fled. The Seeker had been her creator and her master, but Yuriko defeated… no, devoured Seeker’s power. It was inside her now, and Desire knew what that meant.

She dropped to her knees and bowed her head.

“Master.”

And with the words, all resistance and suspicions fled, and the only thing left was adoration and…desire.

_________

“Eh?”

Yuriko muttered when the Chaos Lord, Ashley Gin, she was sure, went down on her knees and called her master.

Ashley Sommer Gin had been a short and childish teen, back when they went through the Atavism Ritual together. She also didn’t join the training camp or headed to Rumiga City to attend the Imperial Academies there. She had opted to stay in Rumiga to help on their family farm.

This woman, Songstress of Heartfelt Desire, had Ashley’s brown hair and eyes, and her cute button nose. But she wasn’t that short or childish. Yuriko hadn’t been to Rumiga for around two years, but maybe Ashley got into a growth spurt…

No, wait. This woman was clearly a Chaos Lord! How?

Yuriko felt sick to her tummy. Were the ones she killed once human too?

“Get up, please. I’m not…I’m not your master.”

“You are,” Ashley said with a bright smile.

There had been a hint of melancholy behind her eyes before but now, they glimmered with joy. There was a brief moment when Yuriko detected the blankness of Aspiration behind Ashley’s eyes though. It was gone now, replaced by complete and utter devotion. No, she didn’t want that, but she didn't know what to do either.

“Hey, now! What’s this? You’ve caught one of them?”

Yuriko and Ashley turned their gaze down the hillside, where a couple of humans walked up towards them. The man who spoke looked vaguely familiar and when she met his gaze, he flinched and made to step back. But he took a deep breath, steeled himself and continued up. His companion, a woman with dark blue hair and crimson eyes glanced at him, and at the two of them before following behind the man.

The man spat to the side and gave Ashley a disgusted look.

“You should kill her before she tries the same to us.” He said grimly as he lifted his Plasma Caster and aimed.

“Hold,” Yuriko said quietly and the man froze, frowned, swallowed, then nodded.

“You intend to take her captive?” the woman asked carefully.

Yuriko returned her stare at Ashley and saw something which disturbed her more than anything else in the world. She saw trust there and the desire to obey. It wasn’t her Mien, or at least she didn’t think it was.

Oh, who was she trying to fool? It was probably her Mien. But this was also Ashley Gin, a childhood friend who had disappeared and had turned into a Chaos Lord. Sure, she denied it, but Yuriko didn’t think she was mistaken. This was Ashley Gin. But what could she do about it?

With a sigh, she realised that she’d probably have to take the woman with her. Take her back to her family in Rumiga and see what could be done. Perhaps Celebrant Ramus would know what to do with her.

“You call me ‘master’ but what are you, really?” Yuriko murmured.

In response, Ashley bent down to the ground, and with her hands, caught Yuriko’s foot. And then she kissed it. Then she sat up and looked at Yuriko with an upturned face.

“You are my liege and I am yours to command. Please, accept my fealty and obeisance.”

“How?” Yuriko asked, still too shocked to think clearly. But then, knowledge somehow entered her mind, from Damien, she was sure. Almost without thought, she cycled her Animus and brought it up to her lips, then she leaned down and pressed it against Ashley’s forehead. The woman’s bright smile and tears of joy lit up the space around them, quite literally, in fact.

“Well, I’ll be burned and tossed in the Abyss,” the man muttered and the other woman nodded along.

Yuriko could feel a connection to Ashley…no, Desire. That’s what she wanted to be called, not by her mortal name. Knowledge flowed back up through the initiated link and Yuriko’s core and her mind absorbed and parsed through the flow. This was Ashley Gin, but she was more and less than that.

It was all so complicated, and she had to push it to the back of her mind to avoid getting overwhelmed. In fact, she had to focus on something else anyway.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The two glanced at each other then gave her a short bow.

“We are…irregular scouts recruited in the past week,” the man said. “I am Sheamus Dorn, an adventurer from the Coalition plane of Chelda.”

Sheamus was heavily built and a bit taller than Yuriko. The woman, who had introduced herself as Kalla Jura, was from the Imperial plane of Ziter.

“With all due respect, thank you for coming to our aid,” Kalla said.

“We thought we were goners. The other three are trying to see if the Chaos skiffer could still be salvaged, but this,” he gestured towards Desire, “er, her team had ambushed us. I suspect that more than a few irregular scouts have met their demise here.”

“You don't seem angry,” Yuriko pointed out.

“I’m not,” he grunted. “I got drafted straight out of a holding cell, to which,” he fidgeted, “er, I realise that this is late and probably something you’d rather put behind you, but I apologise for my actions back in Coltherstone Fortress. I can only say that I was deep in the cups and not in my right mind.”

“Huh?” Yuriko frowned as she squinted at him. He had been familiar. Ah! The one who touched her hair without permission! “That was you, huh?”

He swallowed nervously then bowed even lower, “I apologise! Uh, I got thrown into jail for my trespass and punished to join the scouts, but still, what I did was unforgivable.”

Yuriko waved a dismissive hand. “If you say so. Er, I won’t forgive you, but there’s no need to dwell on this. We’re not somewhere safe. We can discuss this at length once we’re in Rumiga if you even want to go to the plane.”

“I see,” Sheamus muttered. “Well, our mission is to find an alternate route to the plane anyway. If you’d like, we offer you passage with our Chaos skiffer, er, if we can repair it.” He finished with a chuckle.

Kalla coughed and looked pointedly at Desire. “What about her though? She’s, uh, she’s a Chaos Lord.”

Yuriko looked at Desire and sighed. “I knew her before she became…this. I think her family would like to see their daughter again. And maybe the Church of Everlasting Order can figure out a way to change her back.”

“Master,” Desire said easily, “if you want to go to Rumiga plane, there are many paths inside. Two Chaos Channels under Telurian and Asheroni control as well as a recently discovered Chaos Spring that they took control of. The invasion is well on the way, however, so it may not be a good idea to enter so openly.”

“Invasion?” Yuriko yelped.

“Yes, master. From my understanding, the Telurian and Asheroni have planned this for decades. I don’t remember that far, but I know that there are humans that are our allies.”

“The Federation of Allied City-States?” Yuriko guessed. Unless it was the Northern Barbarians? Come to think of it, didn’t the Seeker of Delights work with the Iron Skin Tribe? She was sure those barbarian raiders lured her to where the Seeker was.

From what she remembered of the political climate back home, the city-state directly south of Rumiga City, Ivala, had never formally terminated their declaration of war. Hostilities had cooled down enough, but she remembered the southern forts near Aegeas Plains had been one of the possible internship locations.

“Hostilities reopened after all,” she muttered.

“No, master,” Desire said, “it’s not just the Federation. From what I heard, it’s also the Northern peoples and…rebels.”

“What?!” Kalla yelled. “Rebels? That’s impossible!’

“Clearly, it is,” Yuriko sighed, “but do you have proof?”

“No, Master, I’m sorry. I’m just relaying what I heard from the courts.”

“We’ll need to report this,” Kalla muttered.

“You think they don’t already know?” Sheamus asked, “Doesn’t your empire have a strong grasp of its people?”

“Enough,” Yuriko said evenly and all three obeyed. “Let’s see if your skiffer still works. Otherwise, I’m heading directly through the Sea.”

“Of course.”

Yuriko nodded, then summoned Fri’Avgi out of her Anima. All three backed up warily, but she turned towards the large sphere. With a grunt, she drove the weapon straight into the centre, and the thing shattered into thousands of fragments.

“Let’s go.” She said as she sheathed Fri’Avgi back inside.