It’s been more than a decade, Edmund Sevier thought, since he’d let his hormones and gonads do the thinking instead of his head. He certainly wouldn’t have hesitated in helping the beleaguered Verdanians, but he wouldn’t have expended a rare relic, the Debilitating Orb, to do so. That had been the surest way to help, but it also meant he lost a precious single-use weapon in the process.

The orb was one of the many relics found in Synkrasia, though most of the others were of a…civilised nature rather than for war or battles. The one he used wouldn’t really hurt anyone, but it did send out several pulses of debilitating light that were effective even against the Warforged. There had been a total of four such orbs found here, with two sent back to Ekelus for study, and one used as a test. The last was his to use for defence, having been the one to find the cache in the first place. That he hadn’t hesitated to use it for a pretty face and a tight bottom made him overly critical of his mental faculties.

Plus, he wasn’t really sure how old she was. Among the professional circles he dwelt in before leaving Ekelus, it was well known that advancing Anima strength, whether through focusing on one Spirit Bond or spreading it out, kept one at the prime of their lives for much longer. Old Professor Mullins was at least two centuries old, and even though he hadn’t advanced past Adept rank, the same as the one Edmund was at, he was still hale and hearty and looked like an unbonded man in his fifties, rather than a decrepit centenarian.

He had watched for quite a while when they fought off the Drones, and as far as he could tell, Yuriko Davar and her brother were both veterans, as was the other one who dwelt in the shadows, Saki. As for the last girl, Gwendith, she had a hard set to her eyes, but wasn’t quite as effective in battle, even if she used a strange technique. The Chaos Lord did as they wanted, and he wondered what bound her to Miss Davar.

He glanced back at them as they meditated and used their techniques to heal their wounds. Miraculous power, he thought. Although it wasn’t enough to mend broken bones, bleeding wounds were easily taken care of. A war maker’s technique.

It was only when he donned his monocle that he found out why he was having such feelings. He wasn’t sure if Miss Davar did this on purpose or it was simply how she was, but she gave out minute pulses in the ambient Chaos. It was difficult to spot, but with the ten times magnification and refinement afforded by his spirit-bound tool, he could just make out the tiny details. He didn’t know what they did, of course, but based on his emotions and physical reactions, it was easy enough to estimate.

Coupled with the fact that her features were sublime…he wasn’t sure if he was attracted because of her Chaos pulses or just from how beautiful she was…

Oh no. He shut his eyes and manifested a filter within his Anima. It wasn’t easy, but it was much like creating a breakwater to weaken the waves coming to shore. There were precious few oceans within Rumiga and the only real one was south of the Federation. The ocean butted up against the planar veil, so it was really nothing more than a very large lake. Still, it had waves and was salty, so it was an ocean. Some professors debated and called it a sea instead, but since there was no land beyond it, and it was as wide as the entirety of all seven city-states’ territory, most agreed with the designation.

Either way, when the storms came, the waves grew big enough to damage the structures set on the shore, so a breakwater had been made. It weakened the waves to the point where they were mostly harmless. He built breakwaters around his core, solidifying Animus into several rows to fight off the pulses and waves. Well, it worked. Except even without those waves, she was still exceptionally beautiful. And with the bias already there…

“...We’re all ready. Shall we head to this settlement?” Marron Davar said, jolting him out of his thoughts.

“With pleasure,” Edmund answered reflexively.

“Thank you,” Yuriko said, and her slight smile set his heart racing.

‘Land gods help me.’ Edmund prayed. “This way,” he said out loud, even though he hadn’t really been to this part of the sewers before. They would have to go back to the surface before they could exit the Foreign Quarter and enter the Crafter’s District. The sewer lines weren’t connected. Well, they’d have to head west no matter what anyway.

The main branches of the sewers were easily twice as big as the side pipes, so it was easy enough to find their bearings.

He carefully peeked around a corner to gauge if the Warforged were still there, but the tunnels were empty. He kept a surreptitious eye on Miss Davar as they walked, though since he led, he could only catch a glimpse every now and then.

As far as he could tell, the Chaos pulses were universal, and all of her companions, brother included, absorbed the pulses and didn’t seem bothered by them. Or maybe they didn’t even notice. As for Marron Davar, he somewhat found it improbable that they were truly siblings. Well, both of them were taller than he was, and Edmund was just above average height for Ekelians. Their features were just too different. He would have thought anyone related to Miss Davar would also be quite the looker, but apparently not

Ah, he was particularly vulnerable, Edmund realized. The majority of those who lived in Sorren’s Hollow were men, and none of the women was loose. “Tsk.” He clicked his tongue and tried to wrench his mind out of the gutter. Were his breakwaters already eroded to uselessness?

Ah. The pulses grew in force and number according to where she put her attention. And right now, she was looking towards him as he led them to Sorren’s Hollow. He didn’t have the skill to envision his Anima while walking at the same time, but he constructed more breakwaters by sheer feel. He may not be a Sorcerer, but he was an Adept at Animus manipulation. With his defences up, he could feel his mind clearing a little. He wondered if she did that on purpose?

Perhaps she did, but her innocent act was quite believable. Well, it might not be after all. But he really couldn't judge properly at the moment, and he couldn’t trust himself either. He could only hold everything within and keep his mouth shut…

“Is it far?” Yuriko asked.

“Hmm?”

“Your settlement?”

“Ah, no. Not at all. We can reach it before the Radiant Sun’s projection disappears.”

“Alright.” She looked a bit pensive for a moment, then continued, “What caused the projection, you think? It’s the true sun and not a fake. I’m sure of that.”

How could she be, he wondered. He said as much and she shrugged.

“I can tell.”

“Well,” Edmund answered slowly, “Vaeril said as much, and we grow crops in the village, and since they grow healthy, we assumed so. As for how, well, we’re under a longstride of stone and earth, at least, but I suspect the top of the city is a Fysalli or some other quirk of the plane.”

“You’ve been here long, yes?”

“Nearly a decade.” Edmund said proudly, “But it’s been like that since. Ah, Sorren’s Hollow and its important inhabitants were already here by then. Although there were a few expeditions from the Federation before.”

“The Federation know about this place before?” Marron asked abruptly and Edmund cursed his loose tongue. But he didn’t want to lie either. And it wasn’t as if he was in the militia or the armed forces. Ekelus ran an all volunteer force anyway, but there were old conscription laws that could force him to join.

Well, until Lucian and the other excavators from Garamus came, he hadn’t even known that all of the city-states had declared war. Still, that mattered little to him at the moment.

He didn’t answer Marron’s question, but the man didn’t seem to mind anyway.

“We go up here,” Edmund said, pointing at the stairs ahead. The tunnel curved away to the left beyond and he knew that it would double back or lead to a pillar, a large chamber with a huge hole in the middle that led deeper into the earth. One could hear flowing water underneath, which presumably led to an underground lake or maybe directly out of the plane.

The way the sewers were laid out was reminiscent of flood control structures rather than human waste disposal. How or why they’d expect flooding in a self-contained underground zone, that didn’t have any kind of unnatural precipitation, Edmund hadn’t figured out. There were no answers in any of the texts recovered, nor were there any explanations in the murals. There were a few in the Garrison Zone that depicted armies battling against other armies, though the opponents were carefully altered to look utterly inhuman, hence, easier for recruits to hate.

“This will lead into a maintenance building near the edge of the Foreign Quarter.” He said. “The gate to the Crafter District should be nearby.”

“How do you know the district names?” Yuriko asked.

“It’s labelled,” Edmund answered with a smile.

“Oh, we didn’t see any when we entered,” the other blonde woman, Gwendith said.

“You may have missed it,” Edmund answered easily, “although I haven’t been to that exit tunnel in the past year. The Warforged, you understand?”

“Hmmm, you still haven’t said why they wouldn’t let us leave.” Yuriko pointed out. “I would assume they were there to block the way into their base.”

“They will come out in force if you try to exit. We’ve lost several men who tried it before.” Edmund shook his head at the Garamus faction’s hardheadedness. They were all war-crazy rotters, as far as he was concerned. They spared no thought to safety and only a few of those who tried it survived. He didn’t say that out loud though.

However… Watching this little group of five fight the Warforged gave him hope. They were clearly one of the stronger teams in Verdania. Miss Davar alone could fight an Athrodius, and there were only a few of those in Synkrasia. The Drone numbers could be managed with proper fortifications and numbers.

He told himself that was why he helped them. They could finally be free. Not that he would actually leave, no. But the idea that he couldn’t leave even if he wanted to was the one that grated on his sensibilities the most.

The maintenance building was empty, of course. There were no tools, though the furniture remained.

Miss Davar ran a finger across a chair's armrest, frowning at the dust that stuck to her fingertip. A moment later, a puff of golden light removed the dirt.

“Shouldn’t these have decomposed away?” Gwendith asked.

Edmund knocked his knuckles against a table. Thok, thok!

“It’s still solid. There are runescript carvings underneath, to preserve.”

Yuriko’s eyebrows rose. “Oh, interesting.” She made to kneel and look underneath, but her brother grabbed her shoulder.

“Not the time, Yuri.”

“Oh, right.” She answered with a charming blush. Edmund sighed and hoped his infatuation would eventually die down. He knew how these things ran their course, and he knew that if he tried to avoid her, he’d only fuel his passions to greater and desperate heights.

The main street outside was also clear, though he could hear the tapping of Drone footsteps. Maybe from a couple of blocks away. The passage through to the Crafter’s District was clear, and they made haste through it. Each section of Synkrasia was separated by walls, though they weren’t that high, merely three paces or so. They weren’t thick either, just a pace wide.

After they entered the new district, the Verdanians stared at the different architecture with some confusion. The buildings in the Foreign Quarter were elegant and large, at least along the main thoroughfare. The ones farther from there were more modest. Towards the opposite side were the warehouses, though those became inns and dwellings closer to the opposite district, the Fiery Blossom District, or the entertainment quarter, Edmund knew. That place was filled with theatres, gambling houses, and pleasure houses, though they were quite empty now.

In the Crafter’s District, the dwellings were multi-apartment buildings or shophouses. The boulevards also didn’t have as many fruiting trees, but they were still there.

“We’ll have to go through the sewers again.” Edmund said quickly before they could wander off, “There are still Drones here.”

With that said, they entered the maintenance building and returned to the safety of the darkness beneath.