It took everything Yuriko had to force the rogue Radiant light to heel.

One thing that was immediately clear right after the transformation of the inert ambient Chaos particle was that it didn’t hold her Will. Most of her touch had gone to igniting the smallest of particles and that had expanded and consumed the surroundings. The Radiant light was powerful enough to burn the contents of the tent to a crisp, and she was pretty sure that Desire, as a Chaos Lord, would be heavily injured if not killed outright.

The one saving grace was that she had taken the particles and ignited them while within her Anima, and it was her aura that kept the Radiant energy contained. It was too much for her to absorb, exceeding the limits of her reserve by at least tenfold. All that from that little particle?

Sweat beaded and fell down her face, some going into her eyes and stinging them with salt. She couldn’t even spare the effort to direct her aura to sluice away the sweat as she had thrown every last cubic inch of her Anima to suppress the light.

“Yuri?” Gwendith stirred from her meditations and went wide-eyed when she saw the orb of Radiant light and Yuriko’s expression. “Wha–” she swallowed her words and gulped, clearly wary of distracting her.

Desire had also awakened, and was eyeing the orb fearfully. She edged away from the tent. Saki was snoring.

The orb of light wobbled dangerously and even though Yuriko did her best to absorb and release the light safely, it kept producing more of itself. She…had to get rid of it, but if she just let it go now, it would turn into a powerful explosion that would consume everyone within.

What could she do?

Ah! She squeezed down on the orb and deliberately opened a hole at the top. All at once, the orb turned into a beam and pierced the tent’s ceiling. Then it ignited the rest of the fabric even as a beacon of Radiant light blasted all the way to the clouds. As soon as the thing ran out, Yuriko used her kinesis to smother the flames, but of course, the tent was ruined.

“What’s going on?”

“Are we under attack?”

“It came from the tents!”

“Eh? What’s happening?” Saki yawned as she sat up. She stared up at the wide hole and blinked in confusion.

Yuriko sagged down as a terrible exhaustion sank into her bones. Motes of Radiant light lingered and slowly fizzled out, leaving light streaks as they wandered around the interior. Yuriko could feel them, even though they weren’t under her control. She could feel them… and she could make them hers.

She pulled absently with her mind and called them into her body. The Radiant light obeyed her as though they were motes that had been created by her Essence or motes that she had absorbed and processed from the rays of the Radiant Sun. They were different from what she used in that they didn’t bear a mark of her Will. Yet they obeyed her as though marked.

I guess congratulations are in order. Damien’s voice was dry with humour, Though you always make a mess of things. Don’t drink the Ambrosia yet, you need to solidify your control. And finally, we can begin to work on your next level Body Forging, Radiant Body Refinement.

She could practically envision him rubbing his hands gleefully.

“Yuri! Are you alright?” Gwendith grabbed her by the shoulders.

“Ah, yeah,” she murmured, but her head lolled and her vision started to fade. “Just… tired…”

She barely had the impression of Gwendith lifting her into her arms before she fainted.

_____________

Marron scribbled down the details on the sheet of paper he had in front of him. His request for a leave of duty for the next Season was very much needed now that the family was mostly complete, and he knew that he couldn’t rely on either of his brothers to handle Yuriko’s paperwork. He also couldn’t let her handle her own paperwork, since she’d never done anything of the sort before. She was too young to have reached the Knight level, and the details for that procedure had not been included in her education. That would have been taught in her last and fifth year, but since she decided to cut her education short, then it was up to him to do the paperwork.

Not that he wasn’t going to drag her around with him while they filled and filed the necessary papers in the town hall. Niamh had graciously offered her help. Their youngest brother, Rami, would need to prepare for his Atavism Ritual, and they also couldn’t rely on Matron Rosie, their next-door neighbour, to forever keep an eye on the kid.

A few days ago, the two of them had formalised their relationship, with Marron asking Niamh if he could court her. The excitable girl had just rolled her eyes and said, “Aren’t we well past that point in time?”

Then she lunged and kissed him, blasting every other thought out of his mind. He didn’t quite know why she liked him, but well, he found out that he got used to Niamh’s presence and thought that what they had now could work. He wasn’t quite ready to take giant steps forward but a little progress every day, solid and steady steps, would suffice.

He finished filling out the details of his leave request and absently fingered the silvery bracelets on his wrists. Yuriko’s gift from the Inner Courts. His younger sister had given each of them a set, an added layer of protection other than the usual forceweave. It had taken a few days to invest enough Animus to fill its reservoirs but the safety and security they represented eased some of his worries.

‘She didn’t mention these in her debrief,’ he thought idly.

Then again, these weren’t artefacts in that sense. They were ancient Animatech, that’s for sure, but definitely not Anima Telum. He had researched Anima Telum laws in the Empire when Yuriko had first found that huge greatsword and he knew what qualities something must have to qualify as an artefact. For one, they were unique, so that ruled out the Animus Armour sets Yuriko gave him.

Still, the things still fell under archaeological relics, though he supposed these didn’t qualify since they aren’t a ruin that the Empire is currently in charge of. He was pretty sure they were free and clear to own the things, but there was no harm in keeping things quiet. Plus, the things were really discreet and looked like nothing more than matching jewellery sets.

Now, the arming sword that Yuriko also brought up with her could qualify as an archaeological curio, since the Empire no longer made such primitive weapons. Still, it was a good souvenir for their adventures. Well, long story short, as long as Yuriko didn’t mention it in her after-action report and Marron also didn’t, then there was little the Imperial Bureaucracy could catch. It wasn’t as if Yuriko was part of the militia or one of the legions.

Hmmm. That was the odd thing. His sister hadn't mentioned anything about joining Vagaris at all. What changed her mind, he wondered.

He was just about to hand over the paper to Decanus Dumont when a bright flash illuminated the night skies. Instinctively, he turned towards where Transport 5 was located, and where his tent and Yuriko’s were, and he was aghast to see a thick beam of golden light rising towards the skies. The paper fell from nerveless fingers before he got ahold of himself, and caught it before it went into the mud. He shoved it onto the desk and took off without a backwards glance.

Cries of alarm and concern rose up, though at least there were no cries of pain. Thank the Ancestors.

He was pretty sure that the light came from Yuriko’s tent, and was gratified to see that he was right. And he got more worried afterwards. Thankfully, he saw Gwendith Sharine climb out of the tent with Yuriko in her arms. Unconscious.

He rushed up to them and before he could say anything, the girl with the golden corkscrew curls said, “She’s fine, just…uh, exhausted, I think.”

Marron gazed down at his sister’s sleeping visage. Gwendith was right, she didn’t look hurt at all. Her skin glowed with soft golden light, and…was that a smile on her lips?

‘Ancestors, Yuri, what did you do now?’

The tent had a wide hole on top, and while it wasn’t completely ruined, it would take several days for the self-repair runescript weaving to fix that much damage, not to mention it would need more forceweave to use as raw material.

“Here, take her to my tent, you four can sleep there, I’ll stay outside.” The skies were clear for once, though since it was mid-Season, that wasn’t a guarantee at all. If it rains, he’ll just take shelter in the transports.

Shaking his head, he watched as the girls entered the tent before he made his way back to the command transport to finish filing his, and Niamh’s leave.

___________

Krystal Farrow Zorin resisted the urge to yawn, whistle, or hum. The night watch was always boring, especially the first watch that started just after dinner and lasted for a few hours. Militia protocols usually had two to three people rotating in each watch segment but with a small squad of ten, that wasn’t usually followed. Also, since they were in territory that was deemed a low combat zone, ambushes were unlikely to happen.

Unlikely, but not impossible. The past year of battle and danger had taught her never to assume they were safe. Not even when they were behind sturdy walls, and not even when they were in the city. Danger and death could jump out from any corner, and Krystal was determined not to be caught with her panties around her ankles.

Anyway, her current watch partner was a militia man named Patrick Olivier, and while he wasn’t an officer, he had nominal command of the cadet squad. Well, oversight, rather than command. Heron was actually their designated five-man team leader, just as Asami Lawson Devi was the other five-man team leader, although she took precedence as squad lead by virtue of her noble clan.

The funny thing was that the girl deferred to Heron and only a blind fool wouldn’t see that she was pining for the big boy quite heavily.

Krystal’s instincts practically roared at her. To tease, to prank, or simply to enjoy the troubles Heron faced, especially now that her best friend wasn’t here to distract him.

She couldn’t help but giggle under her breath before she could stop herself.

She glanced down from her perch. The rocky overhang she was on wasn’t much higher than a couple of paces, but the terrain west of Faron’s Crossing wasn’t too hilly. The harvest was already done, and only a few fields had crips that could survive the cold Season of Water, even if Western Rumiga didn’t have the extreme weather and climate of the East. Besides, it was bad luck to plant outside of the Season of Earth.

That meant that most of the fields were filled with weeds and grass. Pasturelands for the flock. She saw the silhouette of a goat herd a longstride away, settled on a hillside. The skies were clear, at least, so she wouldn’t get wet on her watch.

It was unfortunate that Mikel’s watch came right after hers. They wouldn’t be able to cuddle until well past midnight.

Hmmm, was that a campfire she saw?

Frowning, she surreptitiously used Enhanced Sight and stared in the direction she saw the twinkle of light from. She shaded her eyes with her hands, knowing that the telltale glow of Animus behind her eyes would give her away should someone stare in her direction.

She waited for several minutes, and she was rewarded when someone moved and the campfire was unblocked from her vier. It was several longstrides away, and to the south. Perhaps other patrollers? Could be infiltrators too.

Well, she wasn’t about to go sneaking out in the dark, so she mostly checked on the campfire every now and then, and when it was time to change shifts, she pointed it out to Mikel.

“Who d’you think they are?” he asked while covering his yawn with a fist.

“Don’t know,” Krystal said tersely, “I’ve a bad feeling though.”

And of course, that was when something unusual and frightening happened. A beam of golden light shot towards the skies from the mountainside. Krystal felt her jaw drop in astonishment and fear as she clutched at Mikel’s arm.

“What in the Chaos is that?!” Mikel spluttered.

The beam lasted only for a few seconds, but the afterimage when it faded away lingered. Worse, Krystal could still see the beam when she closed her eyes, and she probably hurt herself by staring.

“Go rest,” Heron’s deep voice said. He had the second watch, too. “Use Recovery if you need to. I think that seared my eyeballs,” he muttered sourly. Then, his lips pursed thoughtfully. “Is it just me or does that remind you of…”

“What?” Krystal asked.

“Yuriko.”

“You always have her in your mind,” Mikel snorted. “I doubt it. Go to bed, Krys. We’ll take over now.”

“Right.”

Krystal sighed. On a hunch, she looked towards where the campfire was, to see if that stirred up the hornet’s nest. And it looked like it did.

Silhouettes shifted and stirred, with not a few staring and pointing towards the Zarek. And Krystal’s Enhanced Sight picked up every detail of the backlit figures. They certainly weren’t wearing militia outfits or legionnaires for that matter.

Hostiles. Right in the middle of Imperial territory.