That night, Yuriko dreamed. It was strange, really, since she didn’t activate her Facet yet, the Golden Silhouette was there that night. It also wasn’t in the form it typically took to demonstrate techniques to her, rather it was in its original form.

It was a masculine figure with a perfectly sculpted physique who stood a head and shoulders taller than she was. The light that composed its body was contoured in such a way to make every muscle evident and he clearly wasn’t wearing anything. Thankfully, that bit of detail was covered in shadow.

The Golden Silhouette had no expression on his face. Most of his features were obscured but his eyes were quite clear. Yuriko abruptly realised that the silhouette looked far more defined compared to the last time she saw this form. Back then, it only appeared to her as a giant man-shaped shadow.

He seemed to be talking to her but there was no sound. The only way she could tell he was speaking was through the shifting of the shadows where his mouth would have been.

“What are you saying?” she found herself asking.

The silhouette’s eyes widened in surprise then narrowed to slits. He tried speaking again but he realised she still couldn’t hear him. Shrugging, he gestured around them.

Around them was a strange grey fog. It was unclear what they were standing on but, with a sweep of his hand, the fog began to disperse. They were in a...cave?

Yuriko had been certain she was dreaming but, based on how lucid her thoughts were, she began having doubts. She would have been wary, of course, of having a strange creature in her head, especially now; yet for some strange reason, she could tell that the silhouette would not hurt her any more than her own hand would. Not without her direction anyway.

There was no more light than there was before; it was the silhouette who provided the soft, golden glow that gave the place any kind of definition. He spun on his heels and walked away. He glanced back a moment later when he noticed she didn’t follow. He gave her a sharp nod and an unmistakable ‘come hither’ gesture.

Yuriko, despite the strangeness, followed him. The cave, filled with stalactites and stalagmites, wound down a singular passage. There were no creatures inside--no bugs, bats, or rockwyrms, though it may have been because she was only dreaming.

After some time, they reached the end of the cave or, more accurately, the tunnel. The passage opened up to an artificial wall made of a strange, pale stone, with double doors in the centre that formed a grand entrance. The doors were made of some golden metal, five paces high and three paces across. On the sides were golden pillars inlaid with green jade patterns, strange fractals that tugged at her mind, hinting at secret knowledge she was ill-equipped to understand or even remember. She had forgotten what the shapes looked like the moment she turned away.

The Golden Silhouette pushed at the door but despite his Herculean efforts, it didn’t budge. He looked at her, eyes asking, without any doubt, for her to attempt the push.

With some trepidation, she walked up to the doors. There were square panels on each one where the silhouette had placed his hands. They were positioned at around chest height for him but Yuriko had to reach up to almost eye level to touch each panel.

She felt her Animus surge as her hands touched the golden alloy, coursing through her body in torrents, draining her dry almost immediately, but it was apparently enough. The doors swung open and a rush of golden light emerged from behind them. It was simultaneously her Animus yet inexplicably not. It penetrated her Anima, merging with her source, which flared in response. It was too much. Too much.

The golden light overwhelmed her senses and the last thing she saw before blacking out was the Golden Silhouette’s pleased smile.

It was well past sunrise when she woke up. Krystal was crouching beside her bedroll shaking her shoulders. Yuriko blinked up at her wearily.

“Oh, thank the Ancestors,” Krystal muttered. “You wouldn’t open your eyes no matter how hard we tried to wake you up. How are you feeling? Anything sore? Painful? What, what?”

“I’m…uh, I’m not feeling anything strange,” Yuriko said carefully. The truth was that she felt anything but tired now that her eyes were open. She crawled out of her bedroll, stretching her limbs as she did. “Haaah…” she yawned. “I had a strange dream but nothing wrong otherwise.”

“Oh, that’s fine then. Come on, I made some breakfast,” Krystal said happily. “It’s rare for you to sleep in though. Hee hee.”

The three boys were already around the campfire, bowls in hand, slurping loudly. Yuriko walked up to them and filled her own bowl. Bits of wild onions and other forest vegetables floated in the ration bar porridge though a distinct lack of meat made it far less palatable than she would have liked. Still, it was better than eating cubed dry rations.

“Anything happened on watch?” she asked them.

“Quiet,” Mikel said easily. “No movement from the swarmlings, not in our direction at least. It's a good thing they’re pretty insensate at night.”

“Which might honestly be our best bet to get past them,” Orrin observed.

“Yes but we’ll have trouble navigating the forest,” Krystal pointed out, “and we’ll need to rest during the day when they would be most active. If we do that, we wouldn’t be in as good shape as we should be to fight them off.”

“There’s that,” Mikel said.

“We could always just carve our way past them,” Heron offered.

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“Only if we want to die,” Orrin said flatly.

“I’m just kidding.” Heron shook his head. “I know as well as any of you there’s no chance we can do that.”

“The sun didn’t rise in the west did it?” Mikel muttered.

Yuriko smiled as they bickered: it meant they weren’t as nervous as they’d been before. She didn’t think that Heron had a sense of humour though, from his quips, she figured he was at least trying.

She mulled over her dream...or was it actually a vision? Dreams don’t stay long in the waking mind and this one remained crystal clear. If she weren’t so hungry, she would have inspected her Anima already. Well, now that her belly was full she intended to do just that. Well, after her morning ablutions.

She sorely missed her bathtub, honestly, she felt she was starting to smell a bit ripe already. The stench of sweat and dirt were certainly wafting off the boys, along with a strange musky scent that she wouldn’t have detected if she hadn’t enhanced her olfactory senses while practising. Of course, Yuriko couldn’t distinguish her own scent from theirs but she couldn’t imagine it being any less pungent. Next time they encountered a brook in relative safety, she swore she would take a bath. As for the condition of their supplies…

“How much rations do we still have?” Yuriko asked.

Krystal frowned. “Not as much as I’d want. We have no idea how long we’ll be stuck here. We have enough rations for a full meal for about a week between the five of us. I’d suggest we start supplementing it with forest fare as soon as we can.”

“You’re the expert on that,” Yuriko said. “What can we do?”

“For starters, we can harvest more of the lavan berry bushes. Even if the fruits are still green, mixing them in the porridge would still make both more palatable. As for meat, well, if we can snare some of the wild fowl or search for nests with eggs, that should do. We could also hunt and butcher deer or boar for venison,” Krystal rambled.

“Let’s pluck the low hanging fruit first,” Yuriko decided. There was a lavan berry bush just a few paces from where they camped and it was filled with green berries. “Well, excuse me, I need some privacy.”

Getting up, she gave her bowl and spoon to Orrin and fished out a shovel from her pack. The soap would last for several weeks as long as she was careful. She glanced at Krystal who pointed in the direction of a nice, secluded spot.

Half an hour later, she came back to camp feeling much relieved. The others were in the process of packing up their things. She did so for her gear but stopped to consider her Anima.

She detected nothing wrong with her cursory inspection except that her core had shifted a bit in its imagery. Before it appeared similar to a campfire. Now, while it was still a collection of flames, the centre of the flames had taken on a different hue. Though it was still close to the yellow-orange of glow of fire it seemed to have taken on a few shades of gold as well, she thought. The only other change she noted was a minute alteration to her Facet: at the centre of the stylized sun, there was a small dot.

Yuriko scratched her nose, befuddled. As long as nothing felt out of the ordinary she figured all was well.

She channelled some Animus into her Facet and she was brought into the mindspace where the golden silhouette displayed varied Animus techniques and martial arts to her. The silhouette was in its familiar form--that of a feminine figure that Yuriko was increasingly sure was supposed to be an image of herself though in some distant future. The silhouette looked more fit than she was now and with a bigger bosom, but that was about it.

The silhouette displayed something new, however. It performed the circulation pattern for Recovery then Boost and, afterwards, it started another pattern. In this one, the strands of Animus were separated into eight, the maximum Yuriko could control at the moment, and each one drew a fractal pattern near her core. Each pattern was different and completed nearly at the same time, then cut off from control and left to drift. That was the extent of the simulation. Yuriko had no clue what would happen afterwards.

She opened her eyes when Krystal called her.

“Yuri, we’re all ready. What were you doing? You’re the only one left!”

“Oh, uhm, sorry.” Yuriko blushed. Why was she so absentminded today?

With some help from Orrin, she quickly packed up her bedroll and other belongings. They huddled once she was done.

“Where to?” Krystal asked.

“We can either head east or west,” Heron started, “but I would suggest east so we don’t run into the planar barrier. It can’t be more than a couple of leagues west of where we are.”

“Agreed. We don’t want to be cornered that way.” Yuriko agreed. “Let’s head northeast then. I think the swarmlings would continue to push north.”

With their direction set, the team erased as much of their traces as they could their from the campsite before they headed out. It was a couple of hours after sunrise but with the thick forest canopy, only a few errant sunbeams could be seen. Yuriko felt herself drawn to them as they walked, taking the chance to bathe in the light, tilting her face up to the sun every chance she could.

She’d always loved feeling the warmth of the sun on her skin. It calmed her mind and simultaneously made her feel more alive. She unbuttoned her jacket to allow the sunlight to touch a bit more of her skin. She would have rolled up her sleeves too but that would also leave her arms vulnerable to attack.

Having abandoned the idea of heading downstream, Krystal led them across several animal trails that wound generally eastwards. Every now and then she would wait for them, use up some Animus then direct them to a different path.

They didn’t rush, finding the need to preserve their fighting strength. Yuriko conferred with Orrin and Mikel on their Animus techniques while they marched.

“Does your Facet work with empowered weapons?” she asked Orrin.

“Yes, I think so. But that’s a bit hard for me to do.”

“Can you operate your Plasma Lancet and your Facet at the same time?”

“I think so, but to what purpose? My Facet wouldn’t increase the speed of the bullet enough to make much of a difference, especially beyond ten paces or so.”

“So you’re either using your Facet by itself or your pistol. Maybe find a way to combine its use?”

“Easier said than done. But it's food for thought.”

Later, Yuriko walked next to Mikel.

“What’s your Facet like? Is it the same as your mum’s?”

“Not completely,” Mikel admitted. “My initial Facet is more of a spray of flames rather than controlled waves. I can’t really do more than point my fingers at a target and let loose.”

“Oh, then range?”

“Five paces is ideal. More than that and the fire gets too spread out. Look, I’m working on my control, but it's honestly difficult.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Miki,” Yuriko patted his back, “constant practice is the key to improvement.”

“Right,” he answered flatly.

Heron glanced at them, a hopeful look on his face. When Yuriko didn’t come closer he asked, “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Hmm, oh no need. I’ve fought you enough times to get a good grip on your capabilities. Unless you had a breakthrough last night?”

“No, nothing much changed.”

“I thought so.”

As they continued walking, the trees felt like there was a bit more space between them and they came across more clearings, too. With the canopy letting in more sunlight, it meant the undergrowth they had to move through was a bit thicker.

When Krystal came back into sight, Yuriko motioned for her to wait. Krystal nodded.

“Let’s head southeast. Maybe we’ve gone past them already.”

So, Krystal changed their intended path. The paths they’ve traversed so far had generally sloped up gently and they headed into more hilly terrain. The hike southwards was a bit easier on their feet, but it exercised different muscles on her legs. She honestly wanted to run, she wanted to train. The hike alone wasn’t enough to push her limits.

Krystal abruptly halted, raising a hand for silence. Grim-faced, she waited for them to catch up with her before the next bend in the path.

The sounds of the forest had once again stilled, Yuriko realised. Her questioning gaze was met with a nod and a hand sign.

There were Wyldlings nearby and it might not just be swarmlings either.