The next day, the Commuter Tram continued on its way from the miner’s camp. Centurion Lleufer, Decanus Cavin, and the two other Colossus Core pilots who didn’t introduce themselves, not where Yuriko could hear anyway, gave them a salute as they left.

Yuriko rubbed her gunky eyes while she stared out the window. They didn’t have a place to refresh themselves and she was feeling out of sorts. The fact that she tossed and turned last night, frequently awakened by horrid dreams, probably had a lot to do with it, too.

She couldn’t quite get the image of the Grunders’ blood, as red as her own, from her mind. No, they weren’t just Grunders, they weren’t just beasts. They were people, unfortunate people who’d lost their humanity and will to a parasitic monster. Their consciousness had been subsumed and there was nothing left human in them. Yet…

She couldn’t get it out of her head that underneath the stone exterior, it was flesh and blood. The swaying of the Tram as it made its way through the narrow and uneven road. Every now and then, the wheels fell into and rose out of the deep grooves on the road. The seat falling out from under her and bouncing her about made her bottom sore. It did bring her out of her funk though.

With a sigh she turned to Kato who was still dozing and poked his side, eliciting a yelp of protest.

“What was that for?” he grumbled.

“I have a question.”

“Good for you.” He grunted before turning over.

Poke.

“Quit it!”

“Why?”

Kato gave a wordless growl, scrubbed his face with his palm and raised his seat out of its reclined position.

“Alright, little sis, what’s bothering you? It’s not about the Grunders, is it?”

“Not really, no,” Yuriko shook her head. “The night after the Harvest Moon, I had a strange dream. It was the golden Silhouette…”

“The who?”

“The Golden Silhouette. What I call the Ancestor who appears when I activate my Facet.”

“Oh, of course.” Kato scratched the back of his head. “Well, what about it?”

“Well, most times the Golden Silhouette cannot speak, except for during my dream while I was in that coma, but anyway…”

“Wait, what? You had a long dream while you were knocked out and you didn’t mention it to us?” Kato gave her a hurt look.

Yuriko rolled her eyes. “I didn’t remember all that much, just bits and pieces. You know how dreams are.”

“Fair enough, continue.” Kato yawned into his hand.

“Anyway,” Yuriko glared at her older brother, “ that night, I dreamed of the Golden Silhouette in his original form and…”

“Wait, wait, original form?”

“Kato. Please. Let. Me. Finish.”

“Why?” He gave her an insouciant grin.

Yuriko’s hand darted into his side, pinched and twisted.

His howl woke up the rest of the passengers.

“What’s going on?” Master Antiga.

“Nothing, I’m sorry,” Kato answered while trying, and failing, to get Yuriko’s hand off his side. “Enough, I yield,” he hissed out of the side of his mouth.

“Hmmph!” She snorted, and finally let go.

“I feel a bruise forming,” Kato whined.

“Serves you right for ignoring your little sister’s plight! Hmmph!”

“Fine, fine. Please proceed with your point.” Kato rolled his eyes.

“As I was saying,” Yuriko glared pointedly at him, “I dreamt of the Golden Silhouette that night and also during my coma. The difference is that both times, he tried to talk to me.”

“And what did he say?”

“It’s garbled as if he was talking through a crowded, noisy room. One thing I was sure of was that he wanted me to become stronger.”

“In what way?” Kato asked with a frown, “There are many paths to strength. Any specific method he was pointing to?”

Yuriko shrugged. “I took it that he wanted me to strengthen my physique further. I’ve already gone through one round of Strengthen Physique but I can’t seem to get the second round going.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Kato pressed his fingers against his eyes, “You’ve inlaid Strengthen Physique? How do you even have the Animus for that? You did that without consulting me or Marron? Have you even talked to Armsmaster Byrne about this?”

His tone got louder and louder. Yuriko clamped her hand over his mouth before he could start shouting. He glared at her and grabbed her hand, pulling down to get it off him. She let go after a couple of futile pulls, giving him a pointed look.

“It’s not like that,” she said quickly. “You remember that the Golden Silhouette altered my techniques? Well, the Strengthen Physique Set, including Recovery and Boost, were changed. I didn’t inlay any of them.”

Rubbing his face, Kato stared at her hand with a strange expression, eyes slightly widened, and jaw, slack. He grabbed her hand and started squeezing while staring at her. She obliged and put on some pressure. When she had exerted about two thirds as much as she could, he paled and let go.

“My sister’s turned into a musclehead,” he lamented, waving his arms furiously to fend off her revenge pinch.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“Hmmph!”

“Anyway,” Kato chuckled, “what your Golden Silhouette said is good advice, especially if it doesn’t force you to inlay any other techniques.”

Yuriko nodded seriously. “Yeah, I know. It just takes a bit longer in battle when I want to use my techniques.”

“That’s a weakness,” Kato noted, “but at least you know it and can try to find a workaround. Was that it?”

“No, the other thing he said was that I shouldn’t inlay.”

“What?” Kato yelped. “Are you sure? That isn’t right.” He started frowning. “Now, I’m not so sure following that Ancestor’s advice is good,” he grunted. “I understand holding off an inlay since once it's done, it’s incredibly hard to undo, but not inlaying at all? That’s foolishness.”

“I know,” Yuriko replied. “But still, all of the things that the Golden Silhouette taught me were as good as or even better than the techniques I already know. Besides, I don’t think that he means me any harm. I mean, it’s my Facet that was responsible for conjuring it.”

“You’d be surprised at how some Facets ended up harming their users,” Kato snorted. “Take what you learn from the Golden Silhouette with a grain of salt. You don’t have to rush inlaying other techniques but don’t forget that to advance beyond Novice, you have to either expand your current Facet or inlay a new one.”

“I know, Kato,” Yuriko said with a disappointed sniff.

She honestly didn’t know what to think. Or even what she wanted to hear from her family. She also didn’t know if she wanted to follow the Golden Silhouette’s advice or not. She had a vague impression of how he used his Animus to strengthen his Anima during her long dream, but she couldn’t remember much of the details.

Was it when he exuded his Animus outside of his body? What did he do with it? She couldn’t remember. Well, she decided not to inlay any techniques in the meantime. Not because of what the Golder Silhouette said but because there wasn’t a need for her to inlay anything new anyway.

Satisfied with her decision, Yuriko turned to watch out the window, to observe the rest of their journey. Since they didn’t reach the other side of the Zarek Mountains yesterday, they would conceivably do so at around noon. From there, if she remembered the itinerary, it would only take half the day to reach Rumiga City.

Only if nothing else happened to delay them further.

Growing slightly nervous at the thought of taunting Fate, Yuriko offered a quick prayer to the Ancestors.

“Please let us arrive safely in the city,” she murmured and offered a minute of silence. Once done, she looked out the window again.

Away from the camp, the road was surrounded by trees. At some point, some branches scratched against the Commuter Tram’s body while the leaves left smudges on the windows. The road meandered across the valley, eventually leaving it through the other end. They climbed up a steep road, crisscrossing and zigzagging its way up the mountain face until they crossed a low ridge. From there, Yuriko could see the wider Rumiga Road.

The side road they were on slowly made its way downhill. Yuriko yawned to relieve the pressure in her ears. From here, she could see that some rubble had fallen across the Rumiga Road, but Koinos Colossi had already started clearing it.

The giant war machines were now being used for construction but it made a lot of sense anyway. The four-pace high Colossi were strong enough to carry boulders bigger than a person, and they could easily toss them off the road too. The loose earth should have been more of an issue, but some of the Core Pilots must have had a Heritage or Facet focused on moving earth since she could see the brownish mud peel away from the stone and cement road by itself. If she looked closely enough she would have probably seen an Animus glow around the earth.

At one point, the Tram had to move off the road to get around the Colossi while it was still clearing the dirt, boulders, and broken foliage. That rightly shook her off her nap as the Tram bounced all over the place.

After that point, the road just kept going up and up. The incline wasn’t that steep, otherwise, the Tram wouldn’t have been able to climb, but for the next hour, there were no dips or downhills on the road. Yuriko’s ears keep popping after every ten minutes, so she kept yawning.

The view of the sunny skies was at least reassuring. The clouds scudded low, giving her the illusion that all she needed to do to catch them was to go out and reach up. If she squinted her eyes, she could just make out the Chaos streams beyond the skies, colours washed out by the harsh rays of the Radiant Sun.

One moment, they were going up, and the next, it was downhill. She honestly expected a spectacular view, but no. Right in front of them was a curve in the road avoiding a tall cliff face. They trundled downhill, and again her ears keep popping every ten minutes or so. Her jaw was sore from all the stretching.

It was midmorning, pretty close to noon, when the view she was looking for finally made itself known. They turned down a curve and it was there. The ground next to the road just fell away and they were treated to the sight of long rolling hills, green fields and woods, and a hint of what must have been the city.

She could see a tall mountain, or maybe a plateau, she wasn’t really sure, covered by greenery. The most eye-catching thing was the huge cleft as if a giant sword had cut into the mountain. She could see the Rumiga Road cutting through the fields and going around the hills. She could even see villages and towns dotting the landscape.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Kato said while staring out the window. “Best part of the trip, really.”

Yuriko nodded mutely.

The view soon disappeared as they turned down the road, the trees, if not the mountain wall, getting in the way. A couple of hours past noon, they finally made it through the Zarek, winding up in the town of Misttyre.

From the herds of goats and sheep, Misttyre was a mirror image of Horswick. They stopped at the station, right next to an inn called the Wandering Minstrel. The lot of them made their way inside with a groan, and the innkeeper, a stout, pot-bellied man with a jovial laugh, handed over keys.

“We expected you last night!” he laughed. “Lunch is ready but if you want to freshen up, please help yourselves.”

“We leave in a couple of hours,” the conductor reminded them.

Yuriko trudged up to the common bathroom, regretting the fact that it only had showers instead of a tub. She scrubbed and rinsed her body, luxuriating in the warm water, but the call of her tummy was stronger than the desire to linger. She was back in the common room after only half an hour.

Kato and the twins were already seated around a squarish table, a basket of bread and dishes of butter, and sliced roast pork with a bowl of gravy on the side set in front of them. Of course, they didn’t wait for her and were already deep into their plates.

Yuriko elbowed her way into the table and piled up some pork and bread on her plate. She filled her mug with goat’s milk from a pitcher and started eating. Since she hadn’t been training the past couple of days, she didn’t need to eat too much to feel full. Still, there were crumbs left from the platters by the time they were done. Afterwards, the four of them just lazed about while waiting for the departure call.

They filed into the Tram when it was time. She was eager to finish this long and exhausting travel. The rest of the afternoon, the Tram made good speed down the road. The farms and fields weren’t that different this side of the mountain, though it was far more likely that the farmers here lived on farmsteads instead of in a village.

The area was much more hilly, too, and there were more farmstock wandering the pastures than wheat fields. Already, she saw cattle with brown hides, some with black and white, and even a variety with flaming red fur. The horns on the red-furred cattle swept straight up, probably half as long as she was tall.

The sun had set into the Zarek Mountains by the time they finally arrived in Rumiga City. It was huge, and millions of people lived there. She could barely imagine that amount on the streets. Faron’s Crossing barely had ten thousand.

They were on the circumferential road, avoiding the lower part of the city. The Mid Ring was their destination, carved into the cliff face and built on lower plateaus. The Lower Ring was a warren of alleys and shanties, with a couple of major thoroughfares wide enough to accommodate the Commuter Tram.

From the road, she could see the hustle and bustle of the people, and Yuriko couldn’t help but stare. The crowds were so colourful!

Kato tapped on her shoulder and pointed at the front viewport.

“We’ve arrived.”

The Tram pulled into the station and soon enough, the doors opened.

“Thank the Ancestors,” Yuriko whispered. They had finally arrived.