“I see something. A structure,” Selene Nimdahl said when she reported back. The entire group was moving at a steady pace west, following the movement of the Radiant Sun’s reflection on the ceiling. Yuriko was at the centre, along with most of the others. The beastkin were at her left and right, a couple of dozen paces away, while half of the marines were acting as rear guard.

Edison, Douglas, and Darren were walking behind her, their eyes darting to and fro, and every now and then, one of them would cough violently.

“It’s all the pollen,” Edison complained. “It was snowing back home, but here, it’s like the growing season all over again. Achoo!” He scrubbed his nose. “I think I’m allergic.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” Douglas complained. “It might be the…er ambient Chaos?” He held up a finger and conjured a ball of light, but the edges of his cantrip quivered as though something was pressing down on it all over. A moment later, the orb collapsed. “Teacher, the ambient Chaos, it’s like pressure? I mean air or water pressure?”

Yuriko glanced at Douglas and shrugged. “I suppose, except it’s ambient Chaos. I’ve personally never considered air or water pressure to be any kind of factor.”

“Oh, why not?” Douglas asked.

“Most planes feel the same and only ambient Chaos pressure, iarvesh, varies depending on how deep we are in the Chaos Sea.”

“Chaos Sea? Can you tell us more about it?” Douglas seemed pretty interested.

“You might want to talk to Horace or Seran. They’re ship’s marines and they travel across the Chaos Sea for most of the year.” Yuriko laughed. “I’ve only ventured across the Sea once, and that was only a year ago.” She looked for Seran and found him amongst the rear guard. Seran was one of the younger marines, but still held a leadership position amongst them. Still, he was at least half a decade older than she was. “Do you mind answering Douglas’... well, Edison and Darren’s questions about the Chaos Sea?”

Seran nodded affably, “Not at all, Lady Yuriko.”

“Thank you.”

The three Karcellians moved a bit away from her, though her perception still allowed her to listen and watch them.

In the meantime, she listened to Selene’s report with part of her consciousness, devoting the rest to keeping watch and to sort out the runescript words of the Depths.

“The building is about a longstride away, close to our path. It’s a small blocky structure, with a closed door.” Selene said.

“You didn’t try to open it?” Yuriko asked.

“It was warded with runescript patterns.”

“I see. Thank you. Bring us there, please.”

Selene nodded and adjusted their heading southward. A few minutes later, Yuriko saw the building and examined it with her perception aura. The stone blocked her aura, as she expected, but the door…well, it allowed her aura to penetrate a specific part of it. The control panel. As her Anima filled the space, she deciphered the instructions written in Old Imperial. “It’s a lift to the lower levels.” Yuriko triggered it to open. There was an outside panel that could be toggled by hand too, but the difference was…

“Commons. Command Center. Armoury. Orchard.” Yuriko murmured as her Anima brushed against the toggles within the panel. The switch was set to the commons.

“But the panel only has one button,” Gwendith observed.

“You need to use Anima perception,” Yuriko said.

“Ancestors,” Gwendith muttered, “That’s something I have to work on.”

“You might need to be in Actualisation to get that kind of sensitivity,” Yuriko remarked. As agile as Gwendith’s Animakinesis was, she knew that the other girl’s perception aura wasn’t as acute. Gwendith mentioned that it gave her an extended tactile sensation more than anything else, which was unlike Yuriko’s, which encompassed all of her senses. Heron was the same as Gwendith, but even worse. He could only feel pressure through his Anima most times. He could feel shapes through it too, if he focused.

Yuriko couldn’t quite recall when she started perceiving through her Anima, but she was certain it began at her Second Growth Phase, though only in a blurry sense. By the time she became Actualised, she could substitute any of her senses with her Anima.

It depends on one’s gifts and leanings. Damien whispered.

‘Oh, you’re finally awake?’ Yuriko snorted mentally.

For now. But…my head is splitting. Too many memories and not enough space in your head. I can’t talk much or stay active, not unless you want me to lose everything we gained.

‘No, you’re right. Go back to sleep, or something.’

Damien didn’t deign to respond by the time the lift’s door opened to reveal a bare chamber within. It wasn’t quite big enough to fit all of them inside comfortably, but it was tall enough that Yuriko was able to lift half of her party and allowed them to operate the lift without splitting them all up.

The others murmured in excitement as the lift chamber dropped. Most of them didn’t feel it, but Yuriko’s Anima was able to perceive how fast they were going. Faster than one of the Karcellians’ aircraft, definitely. Given that, it took nearly a minute before the lift stopped and the doors opened to a place called the Commons.

As they piled out of the narrow chamber, Yuriko noted that the corridor was much bigger than she expected. The ceiling was at least five storeys high, and the tunnel was more than ten paces wide. It was immaculately clean, with not a speck of dust on the ground or the walls. And of course, they weren’t alone.

Almost as soon as they came out, Warforged drones took note of them. They were barely worth the name Warforged, however, as these ones had manipulator hands and, er, broom? They were also carrying open backpacks that were filled with chunks of stone.

The drones froze when they detected Yuriko and the others, then, the lights that served as their eyes blinked and shifted to a reddish hue. The drones retreated from them hastily, though not in disorder.

Yuriko remembered Damien’s visions and extended a tendril of her Anima and touched the construct with it. The body was resistant to her perception, but there was a point at the nape of their necks that allowed her Anima tendrils to slip inside. Within its head, she reached the same control panel with a single switch. It wasn’t labeled but she flipped it to its opposite setting, which immediately caused the drone to freeze. A moment later, part of the interior compartment opened up to her Anima tendril.

It was an orb with a complex arrangement of runescript lines that made the one she witnessed in the Chaos tunnel look simple. When Yuriko touched it, she instinctively knew how to give the drone orders. She knew that she could move her consciousness into the construct, though her body needed to be in a meditative state to do so, or if she could separate a strand of consciousness. The latter was impossible at the moment, and she’d need to be at a higher Anima strength to do so.

She also knew that she could simply give the drone orders and it would follow as much as it could. And most important of all, she knew what its current orders were.

The drones were to keep the hallways clean, and they were to bring debris to the recycling factory. Then, they were to head to the manufactory and bring materials to a different hallway and repair the damage. There were also several points of interest in the drone’s internal map, and one region immediately drew her attention. It was the residential block.

One major point of concern, however, was that the drone’s map, large as it seemed, was only part of the entire thing. The map was labeled, Siderious East, Outer. Who knew how many other regions were there?

Then, she felt something else. A different Will pushed against hers within the drone’s control orb and promptly kicked her out. When she came to, the drone was already speeding away. It, and probably the others, ducked into a side corridor, which was promptly sealed by a door that dropped down from a recessed nook.

“Yuri?” Gwendith grabbed her shoulder and squeezed. “What happened?”

Yuriko answered absently, “I took control of the Warforged. I got a map, but it’s only a fraction of the place.” She shook her head. “Siderious is probably as big as a continent.”

“Truly? That’s incredible!” Douglas gushed.

Orrin and Braden exchanged glances and asked, “Do you know where the portals are? We might need to return to Rumiga in a hurry.”

Yuriko scrunched her nose in thought. “It was noted in the map, but…it wasn’t in the main region.”

“What do you mean?” Orrin followed up.

“It’s partitioned from the main region. So I don’t know how to get there.”

“Oh.”

Gwendith cleared her throat. “What now?”

Yuriko looked down the large hallways and closed her eyes and recalled the map the drone had in its memories. There had been an indicator of its location, but the map wasn’t that detailed. They were a bit far from the residential block though. Her thoughts turned to the lift. “The secret control panel allows access to the command centre, so it’s best we go there.”

Orrin raised an eyebrow, “Why didn’t we go there first?”

Yuriko looked away, “Ehehehe.”

She noted that all of them rolled their eyes, so she sniffed in annoyance, “Whatever, let’s go!”

And again, they all piled into the lift chamber. However, when Yuriko tried to trigger the command centre toggle, the switch wouldn’t accept the command. She was wary of forcing it, but she did increase the strength of her push. Nothing.

“I don’t think it's working,” she finally said out of frustration.

“What about the other choices?” Heron asked.

Yuriko tried the Armoury, and the lift doors closed. A moment later, the thing lurched and then sped away. They were moving laterally rather than vertically, and she wasn’t sure which direction the lift went. Consulting her mental map, she noted that the Armoury was actually closer to the residential block than the commons, so it was a good choice.

When the chamber opened, they spilt out into a hallway that was sized for humans rather than giants. Right across the lift was another door. It was ornate, made out of bronze, inlaid with silver and gold stylings. Prominently displayed in the middle was an image of a blade and a shield, as well as what looked like an old-style helm.

Heron strode towards it and pressed against the panel between the doors, and pushed. It opened easily, suspiciously so. But once they were fully opened, and the interior lights turned on, the reason became apparent. The place was empty.

They all shuffled in and checked. The antechamber was empty, but there were three other doors. When opened, the first door revealed a long chamber that was equally empty. There were racks and storage shelves. No dust, so the Warforged drones had been here, and probably took the weapons too. The second door was the same, but the third revealed a chamber filled with full-body armour.

Yuriko and the others hurried inside while her perception aura encompassed the entire chamber. However, as before, the walls were resistant, while the armour pieces themselves were far more difficult to penetrate. At least if she pushed against the pieces themselves. Since there were gaps for the eyes, neck, and limbs, she managed to get around the restriction and examined the interior. There wasn't anything strange inside though, except for the fact that there were no runescript lines along the majority of the surface, just input points at vital regions. A rather prominent runescript node was set near the neck, and as far as she could tell, it said, “Adjust and seal.”

Heron touched the armour in the stand. The ones near the door were empty, but the rest were there. There were nearly fifty sets lined up along the chamber, and there was a label at the head of each stand. Light Infantry Armour.

“Kind of heavy for infantry, isn’t it?” Yuriko muttered.

“You’d think that, but no.”

For a long moment, Yuriko couldn’t place who said that, but then, realised that it wasn’t the voice of someone in her group. It was familiar though, and when she turned around, she saw someone wearing the infantry armour at the doorway. He was well within her perception range, but she didn’t notice at all.

And when he removed his helm, which came off with the hiss of escaping steam…

“Dad!” Heron yelled, then tackle-hugged Balliol Muryh.