When Yuriko finally made it to Shillogu Lake, which took her only a couple of hours instead of the several days that it had taken her team back then, she skidded to a halt at the banks, staring at the pandemonium. There was a light fog just above the lake, which had obscured the view from the skies, otherwise, Yuriko would have seen it already. She couldn’t recall it that had been normal before, but it was here now.

The lake was quite shallow except for the very centre. The water within a hundred or so paces from shore only rose up to her knees, and that had been back when she was shorter and younger. There were hidden depths, of course, where stepping on one could result in a fright. Or a broken ankle should it happen while running. Either way, those underwater traps were ignored by the combatants.

Across the lake, she could see barbarians back to back, trying to fend off constant charges from gigantic boars. Shillogu’s kin.

Unlike the Avos, however, these ones didn’t have tentacles sprouting from their backs. Instead, narrow quills that were about two and a half paces long were laid flat towards the rear. The boars didn’t come close to hacking range, and instead, stopped a dozen paces short, spinning around to fling their impressive quills at their targets. Several barbarians, those with grey skin, were already pincushions, though, from the way they acted and broken off parts, the quills weren’t as deeply embedded as was obvious.

The barbarians were retreating northwards, across the lake. The waters blunted the boars’ charge, spraying enough water to form rainbows. Every once in a while, one of the beasts would throw a javelin at a quillboar, but the Avos-kin either dodged it or used their large tusks to deflect. She counted a hundred barbarians along the lake against a dozen boars, but the Avos-kin’s size made it seem that they outnumbered the barbarians.

Along the banks, an entirely different battle happened concurrently. Chaos dwellers, Wyldlings and a smattering of nameless, clashed against a small militia group, who, upon closer look, were more than familiar. However, the Animus expressions were not.

Motes of orange light spread across the battle and touched the barbarians. Many were snuffed by Geists, reflexes, or simply the toughness of the skin, but those that ignited turned into a conflagration that almost always turned the victim into a living torch. The fact that they were burning distracted them enough for one of the others to carve them to bits.

But the militia wasn’t a full team. There were just four people, four of her childhood friends, and of course, the Avos Shillogu himself. They weren’t fighting the barbarians but a four-armed Chaos Lord. The question of why they were here would have to wait as Yuriko prepared to give aid.

But then, she hesitated.

The Chaos Lord was a baron. Weak enough to die from a single sunshard. He was strong enough to push her friends, though, and she was determined to help when they actually needed it rather than interfere in a fight they had well in hand. Instead, she turned to face the quillboars and the barbarians and went about sending those cretins to the Pure Lands.

__________

The day after Avos Shillogu rescued Krystal’s team from the Chaos Lord, she still felt a bit lost. And worried, of course. With what the Avos said, she couldn’t help but think of what he really meant. Would his reinforcements arrive in Faron’s Crossing? But the siege was barely there in name. Kadracki Rangers made sure that no farmers would be able to plant during the Season, and with it being a third of the way through the Season of Earth already, any harvest would be late, even if the siege was broken this very day.

No, she didn’t think the Avos meant the siege of Faron’s Crossing or the Watchtower. And she was determined to find out and help where she could. She intended to head to the Shillogu Woods the next day, but her unnamed Ennoia prodded her not to go alone. Not that she was so foolish, even if it would be easier to avoid notice by herself. Besides, she was sure Mikel would sit on her if he found out what her plans were.

So early the next morning, she sought him out and found him, of all things, training. He found him in the gymnasium at their old school, jogging around the quad. Zeyn and Danika were with him, and he waved at Krystal as soon as she entered.

“Hey, Krys! You’re up early.”

She shrugged, “A lot in my mind.”

He slowed down just as he was about to jog past, and instead, ran circles around her instead, much to her annoyance. She knew he knew that she got irritated by what he did, especially since her sensitive nose caught a whiff of his sour sweat. Exercise sweat wasn’t a scent she liked at all. Still, he mostly did it to get back at her teasing, so instead of trying to trip him in retaliation, she merely folded her arms under her ample bosom, knowing that he’d get distracted all on his own, and shifted slightly to the left so that he’d trip over a rock. Heh.

Sure enough, Mikel’s gaze was drawn to the movement of her breasts as he adjusted his circling, and he did trip over the pebble. Except he managed to regain his balance after stumbling.

“Tsk.”

“Hah!” Mikel yelled triumphantly, but he did stop running, which had been her point. Totally, yeah.

“You done?” she asked in a frosty tone, and her boyfriend just smirked.

“Alright, so what’s on your mind?”

“What the Avos said.”

Mikel’s gaiety faded and he asked, “What did you see?”

Krystal frowned and said, “I haven’t…”

Mikel snorted, “Yes, you have. I know that look. You just don’t like what you think is going to happen.”

Krystal sighed and nodded. “I hate that you know me so well.” She muttered, “Something’s going on in Shillogu Woods, I don’t know what, but I know it's important.”

“So let’s go,” Mikel said. “Right now?”

“Uhm,” Krystal closed her eyes and invoked her Facet and Ennoia. The darkness of her mind suddenly shifted into a misty domain where thousands of golden strings passed within a pace of her. She couldn’t see much in the distance, but her eyes were drawn to a few strings that seemed shinier. There were several like that, but one was so intense that she had little recourse but to touch it.

Her mind was pulled along as the string tugged at her, though it stopped once they moved only a few paces away. Then, the strings wrapped around her head, poked her temples, and sent…images and ideas inside.

In one picture, the mountains crumbled into valleys. In another, cliffs turned to lakes. In a third, water drained from rivers leaving empty bedrock, and in a fourth, reality shatters and Chaos flooded inside.

Shivering, Krystal forced her vision to find the root cause, though she soon found them obscured. Instead, she found a different thread where the land remained as they were and people still lived in their cities. After that brief glance, she saw herself alongside Shillogu, except this time, the boar was larger than a three-storey inn. His tentacles and tendrils extended for longstrides and he strangled what looked like Chaos Lords in the distance.

Then, the image shifted to Shillogu in his current body, but his hide was scored with dozens of wounds as he fought Chaos dwellers and humans alike.

After a long moment, Krystal blinked her eyes and found herself back in Faron’s Crossing, leaning against Mikel, while he stared in concern. Zeyn and Danika were right behind him, both carrying towels and drinking bottles. Danika pushed hers into Krystal’s hand.

Feeling nauseated, Krystal squeezed a mouthful to gargle then spit out. Mikel rubbed her back, while the other two simply waited.

“Visions?” Danika asked, her tone steady and expectant. The first time Krystal had spoken of her foreseeing, the woman had been doubtful, but after so many times when she’d been proven right, Danika had come to trust in what Krystal saw.

“Yes. We…we need to help Avos Shillogu.”

“Of course we should, but how?” Zeyn asked.

“He’s fighting off an attack by Chaos dwellers. And possibly Kadracki or Haveenians. I didn’t see them properly.”

“Just us?” Zeyn frowned. “We should get more people.”

“We should,” Krystal said. “But I don’t think we have a moment to lose. We should go now.” The team had broken up as soon as they finished their raiding mission, but then again, it had been nothing more than a temporary measure. Faron’s Crossing couldn’t afford her defenders leaving, so the council had adopted a mission board for volunteers. “Tell someone at the council but we have to go now.”

“Alright,” Zeyn said. “I’ll leave a mission request then catch up with you three.”

It took a couple of hours before they managed to leave Faron’s Crossing and make their way north. Even so, it still took a few days to reach the Woods’ edge. They followed the logging road into the Woods for a few hundred paces before forging ahead. Krystal distinctly remembered the shallow lake where Shillogu and Yuriko fought off that Chaos Lord and that place had been the focus of her visions.

With her was not only her three childhood friends but also a contingent of militia…well, actually just the rest of the last team. After posting the notice, and letting the town’s leadership know what they were up to, they sent the rest of the team after. They caught up a day out of town, and Kale Kinnock was more excited than anything else.

“A real fight,” he said. “And a chance to repay the Avos for saving us.”

All in all, it was a week after the Avos saved them that they arrived at the banks of the shallow lake. And it was a good thing they were careful and didn’t just barge into the open.

A veritable horde of barbarians were busy at work trying to deepen the shallow banks. They were shovelling mud out of the lake bed and dumping it a few dozen paces into the forest. Several nameless were doing that, too, and though the two sides stayed away from each other. The barbarians worked mechanically, with blank faces, and untiring speed.

Krystal used her Facet and Ennoia again, though this time she only got a glimpse of what they should do. They had to move east.

She led the way, keeping to cover. The ruined village was along that way, but it was full of barbarians who used it as their base. She had an inkling that they were to do something about them.

But what? They were only ten people, none of them Knights. Although she didn’t see Chaos Lords, the nameless were more than enough to challenge them.

She nearly screamed when a tendril wrapped around her leg and pressed against her mouth. Other tentacles did the same for the others, and Krystal stilled herself when she realised it was the Avos. Still, the feel of the tentacles made her shiver.

They were drawn away from the trail and brought to a clearing about fifty paces from the bank. It was one filled with boars of all shapes and sizes, with the Avos himself in their midst.

“You’ve come,” he said in a rumbly voice. His large eyes narrowed as he beheld the ten Journeymen. “I would have hoped for more.”

Krystal fought the urge to roll her eyes and thought to herself, ‘If only he’d been clearer in his intentions.’ Instead, she said, “We’re all the town could spare. The Haveenians and the Wyldling Wave kept the others busy.”

“I know. But I feel the touch of the Threads of Fate pushing me to act,” Shillogu said. “As though the land itself craves battle.” He shook his giant head. “I welcome your addition to the fight, now come, we do battle!”

And with that, more boars emerged from the thickets and the whole herd charged towards the lake.