The Sanctum of Life and Death, the Watcher’s domain, with its fancy name and dual nature, wasn’t something a child like Ashley could enter easily. Were it not for the Seeker of Delight’s blessing and protection, she would have dissolved into little particles as soon as she stepped past the Tidelands’ Mid Marches, not that they even went that way.

Ashley had been surprised when they pierced the barrier, though it wasn’t as if it had been a paper-thin divide. No, the planar barrier was at least a longstride thick, of hazy mist, and solid light. Whenever the Radiant Sun set to the west, the barrier became a kaleidoscope of golden flame. But that was also when it was at its thinnest, or so the Seeker said.

As soon as they stepped into the Chaos Sea, a square pace of dirt materialized beneath them. The Seeker directed it into the churning Chaos, Yuriko’s gorgeous face on the Chaos Lord was strange, Ashley thought. Her classmate had always been aloof and imperious. Yuriko didn’t deign to look down on them, no, there was no need to. Ashley, and everyone else, knew that they were inferior instinctively.

The Seeker’s face had a derisive smirk, which made Yuriko’s face that much more attractive. Alright, she was infatuated with the girl. She could only admit to herself. The odd thing was that she wasn’t attracted to other girls except for Yuriko, and now this twisted, dark version of her. Though at times, her thoughts were muddy, just a single look at those red eyes drove away her doubts.

Yes, she had come back to herself once the creature had inexplicably let her go, but the memory of the pleasure she experienced…

There was no way she would forget it. Any touch but the Seeker’s would feel shallow; not even the original would affect her that way. That rush of pleasure, so sublime…all colour seemed faded afterwards.

She recalled sitting in her room, trying to recapture that pleasure. It seemed hollow. She tried to sing to the earth, to the seeds, and to leaves. Though they responded to her call, what had brought her joy and happiness, now brought only emptiness. She couldn’t bear to live in such a grey world.

So she left. She felt a slight tether in her Anima that led her back to the Seeker and after convincing the other, the two had left Rumiga for something far more wondrous.

They drifted atop the square pace of land. The Chaos Streams buffeted against the Seeker’s Protective Field, even as Ashley’s Anima quivered in fear. The Chaos was nature in its rawest form. There was no shelter for the weak girl, and she was in the midst of the storm.

She didn’t know how long it took, perhaps a day, probably more. A couple of weeks? She couldn’t tell. Out in the Chaos, the Radiant Sun did not shine and the Luminous Moon didn’t show her face.

Until she abruptly found herself in a garden. A double row of monstrosities eyed her with surprise and hostility. Ashley drew herself up, ready to sell her life dearly, but the one who lay claim to it didn’t even bat an eye.

“Come,” the Seeker called. Ashley followed in the other’s footsteps.

They entered a secluded part of the garden and there was a divide in the middle that couldn’t be more jarring. A throne made of pink veined marble stood between the two halves, with a strange-looking man sprawled in the middle.

Ashley couldn’t help but stare. He had quite the long and slender limbs, with wavy silver hair that barely concealed his jade green eyes. Those eyes. They bore down at her, seeing through her secrets.

Ashley shivered. The man was dressed in a long black flowing coat that fluttered in the wind. He had his forearms bared, and Ashley could see strange patterns tattooed on it. It looked much like runescript but the pressure it exuded was so much that she was forced to avert her eyes. The moment she did, she forgot what the patterns looked like. She glanced up and stared. Were the patterns different? She couldn’t tell.

On the man’s left cheek were a crescent moon and a silver sunburst pattern.

“And what do we have here? Seeker of Delights. You’re the last one I expected to do such a thing. And you returned without finishing your hunt.”

Ashley started to ask what the man meant but Seeker shot her a glare, and her mouth shut with a painful click of her teeth.

“I come this way since my path through the plane is barred. I merely wish to present my respects before I leave. And this one came along with me, of her own free will. ”

The man, the Watcher, Ashley’s subconscious said, straightened on his throne. “Truly?”

“Yes. I asked thrice.”

“You, human child. Do you come here of your free will?”

“...uh, yes,” Ashley stuttered.

“Very well. I accept your sacrifice,” the Watcher grinned.

Her what now?

“Do you accept her, Seeker of Delights?”

“I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“An odd time to choose a thrall.”

“I have never sought one out.”

“She is your responsibility. You know she cannot grow beyond you, right? You are still pitifully weak, Seeker. Don’t let yourself be shackled to your current form.”

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“...Understood.”

Ashley’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. She couldn't move her body either, as if there was a weight pressing into her.

“You may go.”

The Seeker bowed, turned on her heels and left.

“As for you, child, there is no more time for regret.” The Watcher gloated. “Another one of your kind turns from the Radiant Sun and embraces the Abyss.”

Ashley’s feet rose above the ground, and she found herself floating. She crossed over to the side of death, with the Watcher walking languidly in front.

“Ah, when was the last? Three hundred years ago? Perhaps a bit longer? Ah, the passage of time in the Chaos is hard to track. I can only look at how much the planes have crumbled to know how the years pass…”

Ashley tried to squirm, to escape. She felt it now. Fear.

The deathly landscape gave way to heat. A castle, black, above a hill. Inside, they followed a stone staircase, down in the bowels of the earth, and into a chamber of stone where a cauldron, big enough to hold ten of Ashley, hung from a hook. At the base, stygian blue flames burned.

The cauldron’s lid slid open, and the Watcher floated up, dragging Ashley along with him.

“Go and be reborn. Melt and burn the excess and come out.”

With a casual flick, Ashley careened inside the cauldron. The lid covered the mouth with a final clang.

She could still hear his voice though. The inside was as dark as she expected. Her heart pounded in her chest so quickly that it almost ripped itself free of her bosom.

“Burn and be reborn. You will be one of us.”

“A Lord of Chaos!”

A flash of heat was the last thing Ashley felt. So strong it melted her clothes, her skin, her muscles, down to the bone! So fast she didn’t even have time to scream. And then…there was nothing.

______

The Seeker of Delights left the garden and the Fysalli with mixed feelings. She could feel it near her core. A pinprick of light revolving, beating in time with that girl’s heartbeat. She felt it, the moment when Ashley was thrown into the Furnace. She shuddered and pushed away memories of her own time there.

The moment she exited the Fysalli, the deeper connection cut off and she only remained aware of the girl’s presence. The time it would take for Ashley to…evolve past her weakness depended on how strong the girl’s will was. The stronger the Will, the longer it took, and the longer it took, the stronger the resulting lord. Seeker heard from the rumour mill that Whisperer took nearly a decade before she came out.

Ah well, how long would it take for her to circumnavigate Rumiga? Seeker focused on her immediate needs. All well and good that she brought back someone to bolster their numbers. Natural born Wyldlings took too long to grow sapient, and even then, most didn’t outgrow their base instincts.

New Anima were born in the Chaos every second, and of those that could form a Corpus, most died to predation. Those that survived washed against the tides and arrived at the border of a plane, where the tempering that came with it, winnowed the chaff from the wheat. Those who survived grew and evolved, only to face even more culling.

Of the best of the best, they were taken by the Great Ones and forged anew.

Seeker traversed the Chaos as quickly as she could. Days passed, marked only by the creation and destruction of Fysalli. The Etcher of Sorrows, her longtime companion and weapon, drank in the destruction. Not all Waypoints that formed around the Seeker were benign. A couple dumped her in the middle of a war, both sides created wholesale out of blank cloth. The taste of their anger and hate was hollow.

Still, they dared raise their blades against the Seeker, and Etcher bathed in their blood, and grew all the stronger for it. Not as much as when it bit against true flesh, but enough drops of water would eventually make an ocean.

Days passed. Weeks. Perhaps seasons. She couldn’t tell unless she entered the plane. She had finally reached its northernmost point, where a giant funnel drew in the Chaos Sea and spewed it all over Rumiga’s absolute North. Well, she cannot pass this way. The churning waters would tear her Corpus apart, perhaps even her Anima. She wasn’t strong enough yet.

She skirted around the tip and made the long journey southeast.

The next Waypoint she entered wasn’t empty. A being with four arms, long black hair, and skin-tight clothing recoiled when the Seeker materialised from the Chaos. It…he...drew a couple of sabres on either hand and presented a buckler, one on the upper left hand, another on the lower right. Red eyes narrowed as he beheld the Seeker, who drew her greatsword reflexively to protect herself.

“Seeker of Delights. Baron of the Telurian Court.”

“Breaker of Bonds. Baron of the Asheron Court.”

“Will you give way?” Seeker asked.

They appeared on a rope bridge spanning a yawning chasm. Either end disappeared in the mists and the Seeker knew that if she retreated and exited the Waypoint through the exit behind her, she would have to detour several Fysalli before she regained the ground lost. Going through the Asheroni would leave her just one Fysalli short of entering Rumiga’s northeastern Tidelands.

“No, my way is beyond yours,” Breaker said. “I would offer to step aside but I feel the Waypoint will not let us pass amicably.”

“Agreed.” Seeker held her greatsword high.

“To battle!” Breaker rushed Seeker, weapons held low, bucklers positioned to deflect her downward slash.

With a grin, Seeker rolled her shoulders, and the blade swung behind her and came up as she completed the revolution, under the guard of the Breaker.

The Asheroni started when he saw Etcher appear. His cloven feet skidded to a halt, while the rope bridge swung from his aborted momentum. He leaned back just enough that the blade passed an inch from his chin, and as soon as it did, he slashed with his sabres, high and low, longer arms compensated for his weapons’ shorter reach.

Etcher arrested its movement and slashed right back down, glowing fiercely with the Seeker’s Essence. This time, the bucklers caught the weapon but they weren’t enough. The weight of the Etcher of Sorrows was more than enough to break past the Breaker’s guard. Blue blood painted the air as a deep gash cut through the Asheroni’s clothing from left shoulder all the way to his hip.

Breaker staggered back, sabres dropping to the bridge’s wooden planks. The guide ropes prevented it from falling off though. Small mercies.

“You have this duel,” Breaker said begrudgingly.

“Giving up so soon? Unusual.”

“Heh, if I hadn't been wounded in a previous fight, I would have given you more sport.”

“Ah. A pity.”

He picked his weapons from the planks and sheathed them, spun around and moved. “Come, I haven’t the time to tarry.”

“Much obliged.” She flipped Etcher over her shoulder and allowed it to connect to her back, before following the Asheroni.

“What brings you Telurians here on this side of the woods?” Breaker asked curiously.

“Ah. A hunt.”

“Humans?”

“A specific one.”

Breaker started to rub his hands together. “Interesting. Need some company?”

Seeker eyed the other warily. “My quarry is mine alone. But it’s unlikely she would be unaccompanied.”

“Then, a bargain?”

“One should not be struck in these circumstances.”

“Ah, apologies for my rudeness.”

“I am not averse to one.”

“Then I welcome you to a seat at the table.”

Seeker nodded her head sharply. While she needed to face her quarry alone, the pleasure she’d derive from being overwhelmed by numbers paled in comparison to a proper duel. And the Watcher never said she could not ask aid from the other Courts.