The bodies of the dead nameless were scattered at the bottom of the cliff. Several were burned, showing little but charred bones and a few were in pieces that sat on muddy puddles. There were still bits of ice lingering, however, and they didn’t show any sign of melting. Yuriko thought that they wouldn’t until a few days later, but that was merely a hunch.

The rest of the bodies were cut up, stabbed into, or crushed. She looked up but couldn’t really catch sight of anyone. Perhaps the battle had driven her people from the edge. A worm of worry wriggled in her tummy as she considered that. If the nameless had reached the top, and when she considered the state of the remnants, then they had definitely engaged in melee.

‘Hey, feed those to me,’ a high-pitched whine said in her mind. It wasn’t Damien.

Wordlessly, she summoned Fri’Avgi, who let out a squeal of delight, thankfully she only heard it in her mind rather than an actual physical sound.

‘Feels nice out! We gonna kill something?’

“I thought you wanted to absorb them?” Yuriko nodded towards the nameless corpses.

‘Eh? Uhm, they look too dry, now that I got a good look.’ A humming sound filled Yuriko’s mental hearing, ‘On second thought, no thanks. Too much work for too little gain.’

“Alright.” Yuriko sighed as she sheathed the loquacious Anima Telum back inside her.

Fri’Avgi giggled, ‘It feels so nice inside you.’

Yuriko rolled her eyes and walked up the cliffside, using her Anima to grip the surface. She could have jumped up quickly, but she still felt a bit off balance after defeating the two Chaos viscounts. And Fri’Avgi’s awakening, of course.

The artefact spirit’s first words still rang in her mind.

‘Hungry.’ Then, ‘Who’re you?’

A gut-wrenching moment when she felt her bond to the artefact begin to pull apart, and then, Hey! You’re awake! Which came from Damien.

“Old man. Huh? But, why are there two of you? Clone? No… hmmm, never mind.’

Those somewhat ambiguous words sent a shiver down her spine, but since she still had Firehead…Wielder of Divine Flame, in front of her, she opted to take care of that first.

In her mind's eye, she saw Fri’Avgi’s animating spirit, a little girl clad in flowing robes. Or rather, the spirit was genderless and androgynous, and when she asked, Fri’Avgi just shrugged. Feeding her the rest of the Weaver’s bodies caused the little spirit to fall into slumber, waking fitfully when they came across the nameless.

As for her pact with the Wielder…well, hopefully, it will bear good fruit.

A moment later, she jumped over the lip and found herself on a plateau. Her eyes zeroed in on her people, nearly a hundred paces away. The nameless’ bodies were scattered behind the low wall, but that wasn’t what she focused on. Instead, it was the bodies of the dead. A quick count showed a dozen. Broken limbs, shattered heads, or bodies split in half. Bile rose up her throat, but she forced it down.

Gwendith saw her almost immediately and waved. Heron, Braden, and Orrin were tending to the wounded. All four looked uninjured, though when Heron stood up and moved to another patient, he limped slightly.

Desire’s voice, her song, washed over her and she felt a bit of her worries and sorrows reside. Sheamus was leaning against a rock, looking worn down. Asami…where was Gwen’s cousin?

Yuriko found the green-haired woman, along with four other ex-guards, digging trenches. No, graves. Saki, as usual, had faded from sight. Yuriko had no doubt that her Shadow Guard had gone on to her next task, scouting and security. She was also sure Saki had helped with the battle here, otherwise, more would have died.

“Was this wise?” she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she moved towards the dead. Saki had informed her of the Chaos Lords, which had given them precious hours to react and create an ambush. If not for her, more would have died.

She was questioning whether it would have been better for her to engage the enemy alone, however. She was sure she could have defeated the lot by herself. Then, no one would have died.

No. She couldn’t think that way. Not only was it dangerously arrogant, but that attitude invalidated her friends' and followers’ choices. She couldn’t do that. She wanted to keep her family and friends safe and protected, but never at the cost of her imposing her Will upon them.

That’s right. Everyone has a choice, and don’t make it for them. Damien’s words were encouraging, but why did Yuriko feel a tinge of mocking in them?

“You’ve won,” Gwendith said with glee as the smaller girl rushed to embrace her. Yuriko absently noted the floating ice daggers hovering behind Gwendith, borne by her skills and Anima. The weapons were copied off Yuriko’s sunshards, and she was happy that Gwen was able to do so. None of her friends could. Well, except for Heron, but that was his Facet.

“It wasn’t hard,” Yuriko muttered, “but not easy either.”

“Good.” Gwendith smiled, which turned into a frown when she looked at the casualties. “Those nameless fought harder than we expected. Especially considering how you dealt with them before.”

Yuriko shrugged uncomfortably. She had dealt with all of the nameless during Faron’s Crossing’s siege, and unfortunately, it meant that few of the warriors there were able to experience how strong those Chaos Lords were. Easy enough to say that they were weaker than barons, yet stronger than Hunters, but the exact point could only be determined by experiencing their strength directly—yet another point wherein she failed by succeeding.

Still, there were other things to consider. The revelations the Wielder of Divine Flames gave her, as well as the fragments Fri’Avgi revealed…

“We must speak…” Yuriko began, then frowned and shook her head. “No, that can come later.” She headed towards where Asami and the guards dug the graves. They looked at her when she arrived, the guards adoring, while Asami with squinted eyes.

Yuriko sighed again, then used her kinesis to help dig. The ground was hard, mostly stone and gravel, instead of sand. Her Anima seeped easily into the ground, and just as easily pulled them out. In short order, there were a dozen rectangular graves in a row, each a couple of paces deep.

The dead were lowered carefully inside each grave, a few flowers plucked from cacti tucked into their hands. The ex-guards lowered their heads and murmured their prayers. Their ritual was different from the ones she’d heard from the people of Bella but were no less heartfelt.

“...let your Anima be cleansed by the land gods, and return to be born again. The sky spirits watch over you and allow you to renew your bonds for your eventual return…”

She let the words wash over her as she mouthed the platitudes along with everyone else. She noticed the remaining guards looking at her back, felt their heartbeats settle in her presence. Once the mourning rituals were done, she and the rest continued on their way southeast. The caravan was at least several hours away, but it wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours for them to arrive.

Sure enough, she saw a dust cloud after an hour of walking, and they caught up at the second hour. Her friends updated the beastkin who had been left to guard the civilians. Gwendith, Heron, and the twins lingered around her but mostly kept silent. She felt their hopeful and concerned gazes on her back.

They made camp an hour before dusk. The desert grew terribly cold during the night, not that she particularly felt it, but a single glance at a shivering night watchman was enough, not to mention the steam clouds released from breathing that quickly dispersed in the dry air. The wagons were set in a circle, and the cook fires hidden in pits. There wasn’t much wood to build the fires but what little existed was nursed to last longer by those adept at controlling flames.

“Something’s been bothering you?” Heron asked as the entire team gathered for a meeting.

Yuriko nodded. All nine of them were in one of the wagons. Yuriko’s light encompassed the entire thing, and she made the edges hard enough that sound didn’t escape from it. She kept her perception as dull as possible though, dull enough that she couldn’t feel what was under everyone’s clothes. Ancestors knew she’d had more than an eyeful by accident. She’d long run out of blushes by now.

“The Wielder of Divine Flames surrendered to me and gave information.”

Orrin asked, “How can you be assured what she said was the truth?”

Yuriko glanced at Desire, and the others followed her gaze.

“Did she bind herself to you, master?”

“Yes.”

“Then she would be incapable of lying.”

“So what did she say?” Braden followed up.

Yuriko shuddered. “Her master, the Telurian Duke, is behind the Empire’s troubles. And his goal is more than dominion. He wishes to…bind the plane to his Will, and use Rumiga to fuel his ascension.”

Shocked silence, followed by heavy swearing.

“...He’s a Duke, how could we even fight him?” Heron growled.

“More importantly, aren’t Chaos Lords that high have trouble inside the plane?” Orrin said, then added, “We have to get word to the Legions!”

“You think Agminis could handle it?” Braden asked doubtfully.

Yuriko shook her head. “The Duke has Agminis occupied. We’ll need help from Vagaris or the other Legions.”

“How will we get word though?” Sheamus asked. “As far as I know, the Delovine Legions are trying to break the blockade. We can’t get word to them unless we exit the plane and go to their staging area.” He rubbed his goatee. “And only the three, er, four of us can walk the Chaos Sea without protection.”

“You can ask the prince,” Orrin pointed out. Braden and Heron frowned.

Yuriko nodded. Yes, she could. She looked at Saki.

Her attendant pouted. “I don’t want to leave you alone, young mistress.”

“She’s hardly alone!” Asami said acerbically.

Saki ignored the other and stared into Yuriko’s eyes. “But I will follow your Will.”

Yuriko sighed. “We have other options, but it's best to cover our bases. Since Finan has a Chaos ship and managed to get here, he certainly could head back and bring aid. In the meantime, we’ll be heading to Synkrasia and recruiting the Warforged.”

“I will return as soon as I can, young mistress,” Saki said with a bow. “It might take a couple of weeks though.”

“That’s fine,” Yuriko murmured. She summoned Fri’Avgi on her lap and poked the red gem between the crossguard. “Hey, show that map, would you?”

“Why are you talking you your sword?” Heron asked. “Ah-!”

Golden light spilt out of the red gem and formed a map. The desert and its surroundings were merely blobs, but the mountains were quite detailed, along with a city fortress sitting in the middle of a valley in Zarek’s southern boundaries. From there, there was a tunnel from the middle of the city that went all the way down, to where she assumed Synkrasia would be.

Of course, she could just ask Avos Zarek for passage, but she didn’t have a bounty of Chaos shards to pay for the privilege.

“I will follow behind, young mistress,” Saki said with a smile. “Do you wish to pen a missive to your fiance?”

Heron and the twins jerked at those words, followed by Saki’s teasing giggles. They all frowned at her while Yuriko rolled her eyes.

“I still don’t acknowledge that,” she said, then hummed. “But I suppose a letter with my Animus signature should ensure authenticity.”

“...Synkrasia is underground right?” Braden asked nervously, “Are you certain this is the correct course? If you get these Warforged on your side, are they even enough to help us fight off a Chaos Duke? That’s a Duke! It’s…well, impossibly outside of the plane and if he could come in here…”

Yuriko nodded. “The Warforged aren’t enough. But that’s not my…our ultimate goal.”

“Then what is?”

“Within Synkrasia is a portal, a doorway to another place,” Yuriko explained. “It's what’s there that we need.”

“And what is it?”

Yuriko rubbed Fri’Avgi’s hilt. “I don’t know. But Fri’Avgi tells me it's something strong enough to match a Chaos Duke. That’s what we need.”

“Oh. Alright then.”