Not a dozen blocks away from the wall and the barracks, dozens of Femorants scurried down the roads and alleyways. The buildings were of varying height, but somehow, from what Yuriko could see, they progressively grew taller the closer they were to a pillar. It meant that looking from where she was, all she saw was a continually taller set of buildings that were somehow concealed from the original entrance tunnel to the cavern.

She and Saki were on a rooftop, and unlike the typical Imperial architecture, it wasn’t flat. The answer to why an underground dwelling needed a roof was simply because water sometimes dropped from the ceiling, or maybe pebbles, rocks, and dust. Critters and bugs too, as she had the misfortune to witness. A white drop of something foul splattered right in front of her, missing her condensed aura by a couple of inches. She’d reeled back from the stench her perception aura took, but luckily, that movement saved her from getting shat on.

A quick glance up showed a critter, a bat, probably, flying a few dozen paces above and feasting on floating insects or something. Ick.

And that was why there were still roofs on a house built underground. She snorted in amusement, even as she focused on observing the ants.

The ones closest to the wall looked like they were patrolling. They were in clumps of three or four, though the next group was just a dozen paces away. They had the same body shape as the ones they encountered in that dead-end cavern, but there were other variants too.

The ones they fought previously were roughly a pace and a half tall, with a thick abdomen half a pace long. Their bodies were slender and compact, and they had three fingers and a thumb on each hand. Their feet were more reminiscent of the insect they resembled, with two long spiky toes. Their faces were a blend between a human’s and an ant’s. Compound eyes, two main ones and another minor pair to either side near where the ears would have been. They had no noses, just breathing holes, but from what she remembered of Natural Sciences, their antennae served as smelling appendages. Their mandibles folded neatly so that they tucked in seamlessly with their faces, and only when they opened would their mouths be revealed. Those were little more than small holes, but behind the main mandibles was a small, manipulator set.

She could see those details when the Femorants on patrol ate things, little amber-coloured gobs, that they took from their roughly sewn satchels. Each and every one of these Femorants had little bags slung across their shoulders. They weren’t armed, however, with the ability to shoot flammable spit, they hardly needed one.

In every five or six groups, there was a variant Femorant that seemed to be in control of the smaller ants. They were head and shoulders taller, nearly half again as wide, and their torsos were built like the Antid Wanderers with bulky muscles and arms. Their abdomens were shorter and stubbier, while their hind legs were bulkier, just not to the same extent as their upper arms. They walked with upper arms folded over their torsos but their heads didn’t swivel. Instead, they stared straight ahead while their antennae swished to and fro.

Yuriko carefully pulled back, making sure that her light was as subdued as she could make it. Saki also had her shadowy Animus spread out, though none of it touched her. Her Radiant energy would melt the shadows with the merest touch. Instead, the shadows were spread out and contained whatever scent trails the two emitted.

Once they were several blocks away from the ant line, Yuriko muttered, “Seems like a foolish way to patrol?”

“Isn’t it?” Saki snorted. “Young mistress, by doing what they’re doing, there’s no chance anyone can easily slip past the streets.”

“I wonder if they’re trying to get to Synkrasia too?” Then she shook her head. “No, I don’t think so. How intelligent are these creatures anyway?”

“Femorants…” Saki mused. “They’re not very common in the Stable Planes, much less the Core Planes. I believe they are staple prey to adventurers and are often found in Fysallis?”

“I encountered them before, remember?” Yuriko said. “In Kogasi plane. They weren’t bothered by the Radiant Sun or Luminous Moon, unlike what the text underneath the tower implied. Unless these aren’t anathema beasts?”

“Maybe? Who really knew what old ruins really mean?” Saki shrugged. “Perhaps we should ask the adventurers within our group for information? That lecher Sheamus and the beast-kin?”

Yuriko rolled her eyes at Saki’s casual insult. “Sheamus isn’t a lecher.”

“Oh, you’re sweet on him now, mistress?” Saki grinned. “Ah, I get it. He’s already tightly bound, isn’t he?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Yuriko huffed and Saki giggled. “Anyway, don’t insult him.”

“Alright, I apologise, young mistress,” Saki answered flippantly. Yuriko just sighed.

As they walked back to camp, they continued to chat and plan, “I think we can find our way to Synkrasia by accessing the city’s core buildings. Perhaps there’s a path there. From the trail of electrum thorns, we can assume that this place and that city are connected. Somehow.” Yuriko muttered.

“It’s strange how Synkrasia is suddenly inaccessible when just a couple of Seasons ago, we were easily able to get there,” Saki commented. “Avos Zarek isn’t answering any summons either. For that matter,” Saki pursed her lips, “I don’t think any of the Avos have answered any calls. I’m sure His Highness would have made the attempt, especially after that flooding disaster.”

“The flood…” Yuriko closed her eyes for a moment and recalled their near drowning when the River Caradec suddenly disgorged flood waters. She had assumed that it was due to the unceasing rains, but then again, the Caradec had never flooded like that in her lifetime. “What do you think happened?” Saki had only mentioned a few of Faron’s Crossing’s affairs while they travelled across the Zarek.

“Unknown. No Avos answered the call while I was there, and His Highness bid me to bring the fabricator to you as soon as possible. And the chocolate,” Saki grinned.

Yuriko ignored Saki’s teasing tone and murmured, “I wonder what’s happening in Eastern Rumiga. The barbarians, the Chaos Fortress Baratrum, and the Ivalans…”

The threat posed by Wielder of Divine Flames’ former master trumped everything else though, which was why she was in this delve rather than reinforcing the town. But she hoped Finan had informed the authorities in Rumiga City of the news her attendant brought.

_________

Iola Melanthos Brygos couldn’t leave the Gemheart Chamber, not for a minute, or even for a moment. It was only the power of her Domain, backed by her Reperta of Crystal, that was just a little bit away from evolving into a Dominus, that kept the crucial artefact from falling completely into corruption. By cycling her Chaos Sight and viewing it through the lens of the crystalline structure of the Gemheart, she could finally see the Watcher’s strings extending from the multiple points of corruption, and vanishing into the Veil and beyond. But multitudes also extended out towards Rumiga’s surface, empowering who knows what manner of creature.

She had to destroy the Gemheart, but doing so carelessly would also rupture the planar Veil. And when the Chaos Sea flooded the plane, then nothing would be left.

Well, it's a bit of an exaggeration since the secondary Gemheart was still in the Watchtower. It would hold the plane together, but only for a limited time. It would act as a breakwater against a Chaos Storm, weakening the forces that sought to lash the land beyond. But even a breakwater would be overwhelmed should the waves prove too high.

If she failed and caused catastrophic damage, the other Gemheart would buy time. But better not to fail in the first place. And for that, she needed more than a few things.

Tock! Tock!

“Legate, the Ducal heirs are here at your request.” Tribunus Agatha Seran Kaspar, her second-in-command of Legion Agminis, called out.

“Enter,” Iola answered tersely.

Three people were behind the door. Agatha, her petite yet severe aide, Lucille Sybil Kinnock, who had long surpassed her father, the current Duke Kinnock, and Mori Kozu Esras, Duchess Esras’ most distinguished son. The Duke and Duchess of the rival houses were nearly ready to pass power onto their heirs, and they merely await the Capitol’s permission. Something they were unlikely to ever get now. Still, that didn’t mean that Lucille and Mori were hampered in taking command of their respective houses’ forces.

Forces that they wasted in their schemes and in-fighting.

Iola couldn’t help but sigh when she looked at them. The Imperial Mandate had been handed to one family, one house. Which actually split into the two houses now, a couple of decades after Rumiga City’s foundation.

She wasn’t sure what the root of the split was, but there were more than enough rumours that had become truth, at least according to the history books. Realmheart didn’t intervene since a petition had been sent not long after the split, which resulted in the current mess. Both houses wanted the original mandate to themselves, of course, viewing themselves as the rightful heirs. Their origins had been the ones who’d developed and tethered this plane, after all.

Well, that had been more than a century before her birth, and it was of no matter now.

“Greetings, Legate Brygos,” Lucille said politely while her counterpart, Mori snorted. But he bowed too. While they were the heirs presumptive, they were not holding office yet. And both were below her in Anima strength, with Lucille a Knight-Commander and Mori, a Knight-Captain.

“What is this about?” Lucille continued, then froze as her eyes caught the Gemheart, and more importantly, its state. “Ancestors!”

“And our Nyctferrum were wasted, apparently,” Mori said bitterly.

“Indeed,” Iola said through gritted teeth. “A Chaos Duke had infiltrated and struck a grievous blow. He had bewitched my sight and I wasn’t able to see the true state of the artefact until recently.” She gestured impassively. “As you can see, there is little hope of salvage.”

“So, what? The Gemheart will fail? And with it, our connection to the rest of the Empire?” Mori growled.

“It has already failed. We are under siege, are we not?” Iola sighed. “What a time for Vagaris to be away.”

“You Legions!” Mori spat. “Far more concerned with your pleasures instead of your duties.”

Iola’s eyes flashed and her temper, which had stretched thin over weeks and Seasons of short sleep, frayed, “You speak to me of frivolities? You and your houses vie for supremacy while the rest of the city burns! Can you not put aside your petty ambitions for the good of all?”

Her Domain pressed down on everyone, dropping the insolent Esras and Kinnock heirs to their knees. Lucille’s face paled, but she didn’t utter a sound while Mori whimpered. Still, Iola had not been without fault. If only she had seen through the Watcher’s tricks…

She pulled back her Domain. Agatha had not been affected, but the petite woman coughed.

Iola shook her head again, then decided to ignore the awkward air in the room. She didn’t really have enough time to waste on this farce. She had to devote it to setting up a cascading failure point in the artefact such that it would crumble to pieces rather than explode with the combined Chaos gathered after centuries of use.

“You must evacuate the city,” she finally said, and as expected, the two heirs protested.

“...all of the relics! The centuries of development!” Mori complained.

“Fortifications gone. The Chaos Channel?” Lucille asked instead.

“Both would have to be abandoned. I must destroy the corrupted Gemheart. You have until the end of the Season of Earth. I dare not wait longer, nor do I dare allow our children to undergo the Atavism Ritual with the Gemheart in such a state.” She said grimly.

“Where do we go?” Lucille asked, “The southern front is still at war, and the northern barbarians are pressing us. The nearest town to set up…” She hummed while visibly calculating things, “Shallowhall is only a few longstrides away. Would the distance be enough?”

“It should be safe.” Iola grunted, “Lucille Kinnock, I’ll need you to send backup troops to the Watchtower. Do not let that Gemheart fall too, or all would be lost.”

Lucille eyed Mori Esras, then grinned. “I will go myself, and I’ll bring any who would come with me.”

“Very well, see that you do.”

Iola waved them away and focused her attention back on the Gemheart. Her few minutes of inattention had already deepened the corruption. Carefully, she extended her Domain and Will, tweaking a few runescript lines here and there, and being oh so careful not to touch the corruption for longer than a moment.