“Hurry, around the corner!”

The strange man pulled Yuriko along as he spoke. Her light illuminated the room they were in, which she had assumed to be a cellar, but no, she was mistaken. The stairs had doubled back twice, and once they were at the bottom, a short passage led to an intersection.

The man’s grip was rather firm, but it was easy enough to break away. He glanced back at her and nodded towards the tunnels.

“Don’t fight them now. They’re following, but they won’t stay to look as long as we’re out of sight. Hurry, please.” He directed his plea to the others who were looking a bit spooked. “Oh, pardon.”

The man reached up and removed his hood. It was only then that Yuriko realised that he had been concealed from sight in some way. Anima perception bypassed such protections and since it was dark undercover, she hadn’t really noticed.

At his prodding, the five of them hurried down the passage, and then took a right turn as soon as they came upon an intersection.

“Deeper, please,” the man whispered and they continued to the next one, this time taking a left. “This should be good. Please stay quiet, and uhm,” he looked at her pointedly, and then glanced at Gwendith who was also glowing with her pale bluish pink light, “can you remove the light?”

Yuriko hesitated. Collapsing her Anima against her skin would undo all of her Animus outer reserve runescript weaving. It was always a pain to reweave the patterns, taking more than five minutes for every bundle. It also meant she wouldn't be able to use her outer reserves or take advantage of increased Animus regeneration.

“I can hear them,” he continued in a lower tone of voice, then looked at her with imploring eyes.

They were underground, well, more underground than usual. Limited space. She could hold the line easily. But…

Her brother was wounded. So were Gwendith and Saki. Her attendant had almost died, and was ready to, in fact. Desire was nearly out of Chaos, and from how hungrily she looked at Yuriko, she was probably this close to jumping her.

With a soft sigh, Yuriko slowly compressed her Anima. She wondered if she could somehow keep the runescript weaving intact, but no, the excess Animus won’t fit within her. Huh, how about if there was no Animus stored? She can’t empty them now, but maybe she could pre-weave them as soon as she could?

Motes of light shed from her body as excess Animus flooded the air around her. It would take a while for it to denature into ambient Chaos, perhaps a few minutes to an hour for the denser ones. The light show ceased easily enough so it wasn’t an important point. As for Gwendith, well, she had little trouble contracting her Anima. It had grown, Yuriko knew, to five inches now. Hers had expanded by a single inch.

The man pressed his finger against his lips, indicating the need for silence. Yuriko leaned against the wall and focused on her breathing. She wasn’t quite tired, but her pulse had been racing.

The skittering sounds of the metal creature’s feet banging off the stone echoed down the tunnels, but they soon faded away after a few minutes of tense waiting and harsh breathing.

When the sounds disappeared, the man conjured an Animus orb that created a dim light. The man coughed into his hand as he looked at all of them and his eye lingered on Yuriko’s face for a bit. “That was amazing.” He said, finally.

Yuriko had been cycling Recovery while waiting, and having just come out of a light trance, blinked at the man slowly. For some reason, he reddened.

“Thank you for your help,” Marron said in a voice still thick with pain. “Is it safe to linger here? I think we all need a bit of Recovery.”

“Oh, of course. The Warforged do not normally enter the sewers. We can take our time here. Ah, where are my manners,” the man chuckled as he moved towards the centre of the tunnel, or sewer as he said. Yuriko had never been in one and didn’t even think sewers would be this big. “I am, well, was, Professor Edmund Sevier of the Ekelus Academy of Archeology. Now, simply a refugee and prisoner here in the lost city of Synkrasia.”

He gave an elaborate bow, with his left hand sweeping to the side, his right tucked close to his chest. His knees bent, and he put his left foot forward as he bent his waist. The effect was strange and a little bit funny since his cloak fluttered about, hiding bits and pieces of him from regular sight.

Now that her Anima wasn’t flared, Yuriko couldn’t see past his strange concealment cloak. She could see his face, his arms, arms and his boots. As she initially noted, Edmund was a middle-aged man, though from how her instincts reacted, he may be older than he looked. She couldn’t gauge his Anima strength without fighting of course, but his Animus manipulation was smooth and practised. His face was unlined and serious, but his eyes held an amused glint. He also had a neatly trimmed beard, though no moustache.

“You’re from the Federation?” Marron remarked.

“Was, as I’ve said.” Edmund straightened out from his bow.

“I see. I am Knight Marron Mishala Davar, Faron’s Crossing militia, attached to Outpost 8, joint legion command.”

“Well met, sir.” Edmund nodded before sweeping his gaze towards Yuriko and the other women, “May I have the pleasure of being introduced to these exquisite ladies?”

Gwendith and Yuriko exchanged glances. The other girl rolled her eyes but shrugged. “Gwendith Devi Sharine. From Rumiga City.”

“Yuriko Mishala Davar.”

“I am the Songstress of Heartfelt Desire, bound body and Anima to master Yuriko.”

“Saki Mishala, attendant to Lady Yuriko.”

“Oh, by the land gods and the sky spirits, I am honoured my Lady.” He grasped Yuriko’s hand and bowed over it, though thankfully he didn’t try to kiss. Yuriko felt her cheeks redden slightly, and she distinctly heard Marron’s teeth start grinding.

“I’m not…” she started before Gwendith nudged her with her elbow. She nodded slightly when Yuriko glanced at her. “Ahem, a pleasure,” she finished curtly,

“Your prowess in the field of battle is incredible,” Edmund said again. “But, I must be a bother. Please, recover and meditate. I will keep watch.”

“No need for that,” Yuriko said hastily, “I am unharmed.”

The man nodded and moved a bit away from the others. Marron settled into a seated meditation pose, while Desire stalked up to Yuriko.

“Master,” she said plaintively.

With a sigh, Yuriko held up her palm and pulled distilled Chaos from Fri’Avgi’s storage. The artefact’s store was still plentiful so she didn’t mind this at all. Afterwards, she fussed over Gwendith and Saki’s wounds, overseeing the two’s mediation and use of Recovery. She bandaged some of the nastier cuts and helped stem the bleeding. Marron wasn’t too badly injured, now that Yuriko got a closer look, but his use of Recovery was splendid.

As soon as Desire topped up, she began to sing her hymn of healing, which helped ensure that there would be little to no scarring on the women’s and Marron’s skin. As for Yuriko, even if she had been wounded, she found out long ago that no matter how deep a wound got, her body always stitched itself back seamlessly.

When the others were deep into their meditations, she walked up to the Professor who was peering around the corner they came from. When he heard her footsteps, he pulled back and nodded.

“No sign of pursuit. You are an incredible warrior, Lady Yuriko, to match the Athrodius in battle and to treat the Warforged’s Drones as though they were mere flies.”

“Athrodius? And Warforged Drones?” The words felt strange on Yuriko’s tongue as if she knew the deeper meanings of the labels. The feeling was fleeting, and she shook her head slightly as it faded away.

“Yes. The humanoid Warforged is called an Athrodius, while the quadrupedal ones are called Drones.” Professor Edmund said. “An Athrodius is between the Adept and Master level, by Federation reckoning. The Drones are a step up from Intermediate.” He must have seen the confusion in her eyes, “Ah, Intermediate is equivalent to Verdanian Journeymen, I think, Adept to Knights, and Master the step above that.”

“Ah, thank you.” Yuriko said after a moment, “You’re rather forthcoming, aren’t you?”

Edmund shrugged, “Why not? You five are probably going to be stuck here in the foreseeable future.”

“Eh? Wh-what do you mean?”

Edmund sighed, “I don’t know how your group managed to enter Synkrasia, but the Warforged will not allow anyone to enter or leave the city. Ever since they were unleashed a couple of years ago, at least. If you try to leave via the tunnel you came through, they will come out in force to attack.” He casually stroked his beard, “Well, maybe you’re fast enough to escape. You’re certainly strong enough, my Lady.”

Yuriko shook her head, “I can’t leave my brother and friends. You are alone here?”

“Oh, no, no. Of course not. The members of my expedition numbered a dozen fine young men and women. But also, the settlement of Sorren’s Hollow lives just at the edge of the city. They’re trapped now too, and we’ve been trying to figure out a way to either escape or seal the Warforged’s gate.”

Yuriko’s eyes widened. “Ah, that’s probably what Avos Zarek wanted us to do.”

“The great land god asked you to come?” He nearly exclaimed, “That’s great! Perhaps you and your group can help us after all. Well, I intended to bring you five to Sorren’s Hollow anyway, but this solves multiple problems.”

After that, he practically bounced on his heels while they waited for the others to finish. Yuriko began to rebuild her outer reserves.

Hmmm, while it was possible to pre-make the weaving, she was limited to only a single chain. That’s a hundred extra lumens she could immediately deploy if she had been forced to conceal her Anima.

Things would have been much simpler if she could prevent her Anima from shedding so much light, but whenever she thought about finding a way to get around it, she suddenly felt that it was antithetical to her. The feeling of revulsion was so strong that she almost always diverted her thoughts afterwards. She wasn’t even sure if it was something she inherited from Damien, or if its something inherent in using Radiant energy and having its Essence tucked away in her core.

She was also a bit closer to figuring out how to get the Radiant Ennoia. Or at least, she hoped so. Constant immersion in Radiant light lets her feel more familiar with the esoteric energy. Ah, there was that odd walking rhythm of the Stonetoise too. She had a hunch that it would help her Jade Mountain practice too.

Well, since she couldn’t do sword practise now, she focused on the feel of the Radiant energy hiding deep within her body. The warmth, the comfort, and the power it let her feel were quite soothing.

“You weren’t surprised.” Yuriko abruptly said.

“Huh? Pardon?” Edmund turned to her.

“When Desire introduced herself. You weren’t surprised that she was a Chaos Lord or that she is allied to us.” Yuriko said firmly.

“Oh, uhm.” Edmund fidgetted. “Well, I’ve met my fair share of non-hostile Chaos Lords. And more importantly, there are other Chaos Lords in Sorren’s Hollow.” He added quickly, “Friendly ones.”

“I see.”

Yuriko tapped her lips with her fingers thoughtfully. As long as they didn’t attack her or her friends, then she wouldn’t retaliate. The fact of the matter was the implications of what Edmund said about them being stuck here, hadn’t quite sunk in yet. She should be alarmed, and angry at the Avos for dropping this on them, but…

She had been stagnating. The last time she’d noted any improvement in her Anima, or her skills and techniques had been during the battle above the plateau. The weeks of waiting in the Frozen Camp, while relaxing in a sense, was also boring.

Oh no. Her impulses and cravings were getting stronger, and she didn’t need to recall her second incarnation to know that if she gave in or indulged too much, she would walk off the path she wanted to follow. She certainly didn’t want to be a butcher.

She swallowed and told herself that she would be more careful. The problem was that her impulses and instincts were sneaky. She often found herself acting before she thought better of it.

Or maybe it’s part of growing up. Damien’s amused voice cut through her spiral of worries. Lighten up child. I’m here, and I can stop you before you cross the line.

‘I…thank you.’ Yuriko murmured. She only got a sleepy assent before Damien faded away.

“I think we’re all ready,” Marron said as he stood up. He stared at Yuriko and Edmund with a slight frown. “Shall we head to this settlement?”

“With pleasure,” Edmund answered with a wide smile.