“Why is it so empty?” Yuriko asked as she exited the tunnel. Avos Zarek’s path led to the rather familiar outskirts of Synkrasia. The ceiling perfectly reflected the outside skies, with the Luminous Moon setting, and the Radiant Sun just about to peek from the Eastern Veil. The past few days, and the foray into the Chaos lake had clearly played havoc with her timesense since she thought it was closer to midday rather than nearly dawn. None of her companions complained, or even put up much of a fuss.

All of the unawakened, and some of the awakened, followed behind Aunt Layla and were headed to the surface. Unsurprisingly, none of the beastkin perished, though Rolland had broken an arm and singed half of his fur. Kassy was as pristine as ever, while Rolland’s little sister, Tuska, had lacerations and abrasions across her limbs, as well as a scratch down her cheek.

“We’ll still follow you,” Kassy said brightly when Yuriko spoke to her after the battle. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long while, and I’ve a hunch you’ve still to lead us to great fortune.”

“I see,” Yuriko answered shortly. They’d spoken of remuneration before…well, Saki did. Her Shadow Guard and handmaiden had insisted on a contract, and one had been written up even before they entered the Zarek Mountains. However, following them down into Synkrasia, and considering what they’ve faced, Yuriko wanted to let them know that they were free to go if they wanted to.

Still, she drew some measure of comfort in their presence, since they were material to allowing many of the unawakened of her group to survive during the hectic melee.

And they were actually far better scouts than the marines that Aunt Layla lent them. The initial group of marine scouts that she met, the four that survived, had joined, as well as six volunteers. They were steadfast men and women, and they brought with them extra supplies and munitions. Yuriko absently patted the Plasma Lancet on her hip, as well as the extra three jade cartridges. She’d declined the offered Plasma Caster as that just wasn’t part of her toolkit now, but the Lancet would be useful for more discreet fighting.

They did give Gwendith and the others Plasma Casters, so at least her friends had more Imperial weaponry.

“Kassy, could you and your family scout the immediate vicinity? This isn’t how I pictured our return to Synkrasia would be,” Yuriko said.

The city looked pristine and had absolutely no sign of habitation. The trees on the boulevards were there, laden with fruit. The ground was littered with fallen leaves and flowers, but the cobblestones and buildings were in good repair. She even detected relatively fresh paint and cement covering previously damaged walls.

The scouting revealed the same as her initial impression. The city was empty.

Even Sorren’s Hollow held no sign of habitation. All of the buildings had been emptied, all signs of life, such as furniture and food, were absent. The defensive turrets on the walls were still there but had been gutted. The Warforged had cleaned the city completely of human life.

And it looked like they retreated back through the portal afterwards.

The gates that blocked the inner city were closed and locked, but it was easy enough to scale the walls and open them from the other side. All sixty-two of them entered the inner city, found their way into the portal courtyard and gaped at the artefact.

It was a ringlike structure, currently unpowered. Yuriko looked for the pedestal that held the controls and fiddled around with it, trying to recall what she remembered of how it worked. Damien had given her those memories, but the portal had been active then, and she didn’t really do much with it, now that she thought about it. She could see, with her Chaos Sight, that the runescript inlays were intact, and she easily zeroed in on the input crystal.

The annoying thing was that both Fri’Avgi and Damien were silent. Her artefact spirit was drained nearly dry from the battle, and a couple of days of being fed distilled Chaos wasn’t enough to awaken her. Damien hadn’t spoken at all, though she still felt his consciousness at the back of her mind.

Still, pushing her Animus in the crystal input, along with her Intent, allowed her to intuit how to activate the thing.

With a high-pitched whine, the portal slowly powered up. They gathered across the courtyard from it, unwilling to risk a mishap. The start-up process lasted several minutes, and afterwards, she felt the pedestal prompt her for her destination. There, she drew a blank until Damien finally said something.

Siderious.

‘What’s there?’

What you’re looking for.

He fell silent again right after, and Yuriko sent that into the pedestal. The metal rings flared with power and several stabilizing fins and rods popped out of the ground. Arcs of Animus, Chaos, and assorted other energies she couldn’t identify filled the air.

“Are you sure this is safe?” Gwendith asked.

“The Warforged used it,” Yuriko said.

“Yeah, but they’re made out of living metal.” Gwendith retorted. “I…how sure are you that we’ll find what you’re looking for through there?”

“Pretty sure,” Yuriko said, though a bit hesitant. She only had Fri’Avgi’s word, and her intuition, and perhaps the proddings of the Threads of Fate.

The space between the ring, the struts, and the rods, eventually stabilised into a rift. It was opaque, but Yuriko was certain it didn’t just open into the Primordial Chaos Sea. Even better, she felt Fri’Avgi stirring within her Anima, almost awakening, but certainly drawn by whatever was behind the portal.

“Well, last chance to back away,” Yuriko said to Gwendith, who pouted cutely at her.

“No, I’m coming with you.”

Yuriko looked at the others, finding her friends giving the same opinion. The marine scouts eyed the portal with a little bit of trepidation but were resigned to fulfilling their duty. The former Federation guards and awakened civilians were the ones showing the most hesitation, so Yuriko said, “Adept Hurin, why don’t you and your men secure a foothold here in the city? There are no threats here, and there's more than enough supply…”

The man looked a bit shamefaced but eventually agreed. They spent the next hour splitting resources apart and determining who would actually accompany Yuriko and the others. The awakened farmers, down to three people now, expressed interest in studying and growing food in Synkrasia, while Braden and Orrin’s friend Izna Weyr, determined that he might as well follow along. The beastkin chose to come with her, of course, as well as a couple more Intermediate Spirit Binders. In total, from the sixty-two, thirty-three men and women were willing to step into the unknown portal that would take them to their Fate.

Yuriko took a deep breath, ensured that her Anima was ready to protect her, took Gwendith’s hand, and Saki’s, who linked arms with the others, forming a long chain of people, then stepped through.

____________

Within the depths of the Chaos Sea, roughly a dozen Waypoints from the Rumiga Plane and the Rumiga City Chaos Channel, a trio of Chaos ships were in a wary standoff with a much bigger armada. The Vagaris Legion’s Green Swan was at the point of the formation, and the Legate was frowning at the insignias painted on the opposing ships’ hulls. They were Imperial vessels, no doubt, but he didn’t recognize the armada or the Legion. He and his fleet, reinforced by the Solamnus Court’s volunteers and warriors, had swung around the Rumiga plane and were headed deep into the Telurian Court’s territorial Waypoints in an effort to cut the enemy’s head off. It was a couple of Waypoints ago that they spotted the out-of-place Imperial armada, which mainly consisted of assault cruisers and troop carriers, with nary a proper battleship in sight.

Still, the Imperial signal for friendlies had been given and he had ordered his small fleet to stop and wait. Being the bigger fleet, the other side had the initiative, and it wasn’t long before a signal for a meeting request came through. Legate Jiro Segawa, as well as his Tribunus Maruko Manuella, stepped out into the open Sea and flew over. Well, Jiro used his Domain to protect and carry Maruko. He did not feel an opposing Domain from the other side, but that didn’t reassure him. All Legions had Legates that were in the Knight Dominus level of power, even if not all three hundred of the Knight Domini in the Empire commanded a Legion.

One of the ships, a relatively sturdy-looking assault cruiser, moved to the forefront and opened a gateway within its Protective Sphere. The two of them alighted on deck and were greeted by hand-to-heart salutes by the sailors and marines alike. Then, a flustered-looking woman emerged from the bridge and greeted him with a salute.

Jiro checked her insignias and found them to hold the same as the ones painted on the hull, as well as the insignia for captain, fleet admiral, and Legate.

“Sonja Orgilles, Legate of the temporary Legion, and commander of the fleet,” she introduced herself. “You are…Legion Vagaris’ Legate, Jiro Finley Segawa?”

“The very same. Temporary Legion? Is the war around Rumiga that bad?”

“Yes, sir.” The woman was clearly not one of the Knight Domini, otherwise, her insignias would have informed him of the fact. All of them knew each other, after all, and they met once in a decade in Realmheart. “What is your command doing out here instead of inside Rumiga?”

Maruko cleared her throat and indicated the need for privacy, but the size of the legion’s armada was heartening. With their and the Solamnus Court’s help, their chances for success just rose immensely.

As for their chances of survival…well, that remains to be seen.

____________

Inside a different kind of Fysalli, separate from the Telurian Court’s home, and a few Waypoints distant from the battlefront, a cocoon hidden near the Fysalli’s heart began to unravel as its occupant’s Corpus had finally completed regenerating.

White flames tinged in gold burned through the thread, and soon a muscular woman emerged. Her hair was white with tips of gold, and embers flitted around her. Curlicues of flame danced on her fingertips as she stretched and yawned.

The remnants of the cocoon spun and formed a fresh set of robes for the Chaos Lord, and on every inch of cloth, the same motif repeated over and over. White flames with a core of gold.

The Fysalli was a barren one. A volcanic island surrounded by boiling seas. No life was inside, but Chaos churned on every inch. The woman inhaled and a vortex of ambient Chaos formed around her, slowly filling her Chaos Well.

She meditated for several days, focused on filling herself, as well as reforging her bonded weapon, a war maul called Burning Embers. She thought to change its name, but nothing spoke to her just yet. But at least, she was firm with her own title.

The Devotee of Radiant Fire picked up her weapon and gave it a few experimental swings. Radiant energy, once anathema to her existence, now bent to her Will. Well, only by a little bit.

And now that she was finished putting herself back together, it was now time to fulfil her new Master’s command.

___________

Incoming Notification

[Administrator Cylfyra]: Authority check…Arrivals possess sufficient Authority. Opening Portal Seal. Activating scanning protocols in transit. Warning. Fragment of the Supreme detected. Preparing welcome protocols.

…

[Administrator Belladia]: Insufficient advancement detected. Diverting incoming portal to trial site. Fragment is disallowed from entering the Siderious unless the proper key is possessed.

…

[Administrator Cylfyra:] Dormant key detected with fragment. Override.

…

[Administrator Belladia]: Override of initial protocols. Secondary procedure enabled. Fragment holder assessment. Assessment complete. Compatibility is below stated requirements. Set destination to secondary trial ground.

…

[Administrator Cylfyra:] Acknowledged.

…

[Administ… Supervisor Shylynn]: Override. Fragment holder reclassification from benign to hostile. Solution. Exile. Override code *** *** ***. Solution locked. Compile and remove from logs.

…

[Administrator Belladia:] Acknowledged.

…

[Administrator Cylfyra:] Acknowledged.

End of Book 9