Jacqueline Sayer Yoran channelled her Animus into her Facet, generating a thin lance of coherent light. She directed it into the tip of her index finger and pointed it at a Hunter. The Wyldling’s visual camouflage wasn’t enough to deter her senses, and the light lance punctured the creature’s brain before it could even react.

“One down.”

Her Field technique incorporated an aspect of her Facet, bending light away from her form. The only weakness was the bit that came to her eyes, making it visible to anyone she stared at. A necessary aspect, since if she were completely invisible, she wouldn’t be able to see either. Increased perception using other senses would get rid of such weakness, but she wasn’t there yet.

A Hunter in the Shallows was a rare thing yet she had spotted a dozen of the creatures slowly making their way into Rumiga. Worse, the Hunters weren’t the only ones there. She could see a veritable wave of swarmlings covering the land, with the taller Wanderers sticking out of the tide like rocks.

“Don’t tell me it’s another Wave?”

Jacqueline felt her head start to ache. The last one was barely a year ago. Wyldling Waves didn’t occur that often, and never within the span of a year! As for what she was doing in the Tidelands alone, well, she was preparing for her breakthrough to Knight.

The remaining Hunters scattered, heads turning to and fro. Jacqueline moved as soon as she released the lance. A slow, careful slide to her left. Fast movement left ripples in the air or disturbed the ambient Chaos too much. The Hunters could sense it. It didn’t help that she was too close to them, merely a hundred paces. Her light lance lost too much effective power farther away.

Well, it wasn’t as if she could stop the Wave by herself but she was going to winnow the chaff as much as she could before retreating. Maybe this was why the barrier between the Tidelands and Rumiga was acting up. Too many Wyldlings.

On second thought, the swarmlings and Wanderers were getting closer. As soon as she had the least amount of Hunters looking her way, just a couple left, Jacqueline ran. At the centre of her thoughts were of home, which she struggled to keep there while images of Wyldlings, death, and blood tried to overwhelm her senses. Ahead of her was the Veil, particularly thin across the Tidelands compared to the rest of the plane.

Gobbets of acid, stone bullets, and gouts of fire flew through the air and crashed against the ground. The nearest one exploding a mere two paces to her side. The path ahead of her was clear so she risked a glance behind.

Lurkers spat acid, while the Antid variants threw rocks at her. As for the flames, one of the Hunters conjured fire between its hands and projected it at her. Jacqueline leapt, spinning midair until she faced back and shot a light lance at the Hunter before she landed still facing the veil and continued running. Another glance showed that the Hunter had either avoided her shot or blocked it somehow.

“Tsk.”

She would have to try again. That Wyldling may be on the cusp of sapience and Rumiga didn’t need another Chaos Lord running around. She attempted the same manoeuvre, but this time, she shot five lances out of her hand. The flame wielding Hunter threw up a wall of flame that ate away at Jacqueline’s Animus.

“No use.”

She dodged left and right. Her attempt had allowed her pursuers to catch up. The nearest one was merely a couple dozen paces behind. She kept up her Field even as she approached the Veil. Bands of colour appeared and collapsed towards a spot on the barrier, exactly where she intended to exit.

More stone shards, acid spit, and bolts of fire followed her while she desperately dodged. The Veil betrayed her exit point, however, so the Wyldlings still knew where to aim. As she came closer and closer, her speed dropped as the very air seemed to thicken around her. She pushed with all of her strength and Animus, willing herself home.

Ptang!

With the sound of shattering glass, all resistance disappeared and she burst out of the Tidelands and onto the empty field. Her eyes sought the Watchtower, finding it about five longstrides southeast of where she emerged. Without a backwards glance, she started running. The Veil would slow the Wyldlings down even more than it did her. She had an hour. Maybe. More if they stopped.

At her best speed, it only took five minutes to cover the distance. The sentries were unexpectedly lax. For that matter, they weren’t even acknowledging her.

“Hey!” she yelled.

The two boys jumped as though spooked.

“Who’s there?” one of them said while his face paled.

“Oh, for--” Jacqueline snarled. She’d forgotten to drop her light-bending Field. “Company Leader Yoran.”

“Oh, ma’am!”

The sentries saluted.

“Keep an eye on the Veil. I saw a horde.”

The sentry gulped and nodded even as she hurried through the gates. She stopped by the guardhouse to pen a quick report to the Vice-Comm, as well as another one to the Intelligence Division. After a minute, she made another copy to send to Armsmaster Byrne who had returned to Faron’s Crossing after the turn of the year.

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Honestly, a report wouldn’t have been necessary if the Wyldling horde had burst right out of the Veil after she did, but from the colours and patterns displayed, it didn’t seem likely. So, it was no longer an emergency.

She didn’t exactly need to report this to the Vice-Comm but Jacqueline had served for quite a long time under Commander Davar, and that man would have paid attention to any sighting in the Shallows. Maybe Stuart would do the same. It was a futile hope, she knew, but as long as she observed the proper forms and procedures, she would be safe from censure should everything devolve to Chaos.

She gulped down a jug of water as she made her way up to the Commander’s Office. The Watchtower was a hundred paces tall and the only way to get up to the office were ramps and stairs. Her quadriceps ached by the time she got up to the right floor. Her Animus was depleted from the quick fight and flight, less than a tenth left. She’d still have enough to use Recovery at least, otherwise, she’d be stiff and sore tomorrow.

She knocked on the door and entered as soon as she heard, “Come in!”

Theo Rani Stuart was a redheaded stocky man. The Vice-Comm had a haggard look on his face though, and his goatee was untrimmed. “Leader Yoran. What do you want?”

“I came to report a possible Wave, sir.”

Stuart frowned. His grey eyes glimmered with annoyance.

“That’s not possible,” he stated clearly.

“Maybe, but I got chased by ten Hunters, dozens of Wanderers, and thousands of swarmlings in the Shallows.”

“But there are no signs!”

“I know what I saw,” Jacqueline insisted, “and it wouldn’t hurt to raise the alarm.”

Stuart fingered his chin, tugging at his red goatee.

“Huh. Yes. It doesn’t hurt to be ready.” He stood up and muttered under his breath., “Maybe this is just what I need.”

Jacqueline kept her face smooth but she wanted to frown. Did he want another war?

“Go get rest. Who knows when they’ll appear.”

“Yes, sir!” She saluted, spun on her heels and left. Whatever happened now was out of her hands.

____

Yuriko carefully filtered stream water through her camisole and into her stew pot. As she travelled west, the grassland gradually turned into a savanna. The trees were low and twisty things compared to the forest she left behind, and the grass was low, barely reaching up to her thighs at places.

The air was drier and she grew thirsty more often. Her makeshift condenser canteen could no longer satisfy her needs so she had to resort to filtering and boiling water. She found a thicket of bamboo along a shallow stream. Each one was as thick as her arm and it was hollow inside. She cut up several pieces, bore a hole in one end, then plugged it with a peg she whittled. She bound the things with leftover rope, though she made more from grass.

She’d been at the same camp for days now, even as she scouted around for the next water source within a day’s march. There was no use rushing, she thought. She’d been travelling for half a Season now and the spire looked as distant as ever. Who knew how long she’d have to walk to get there?

She tried to estimate how far she’d come. She walked three or four leagues at least, per day. Maybe slower, sometimes faster. She could certainly cover that distance easily if she rushed, but not at the cost of safety.

She has been attacked several times now. Mostly by those burrowing beasts. There was always a pair of them at the same time. At least they seemed to be territorial animals. After she killed or fended off a pair, she had to cross five or so leagues before another would attack. Visions of the underground filled with those monsters made her shiver.

Each time she killed one, Damien directed her to harvest the vertebra. She had a handy collection in her hip satchel by now.

“What are these for?” she kept asking.

You’ll find out soon enough.

He didn’t say anything else and no matter how she pressed, he didn’t say anything else. She was tempted to just leave the things instead of collecting them, but he always screeched in her head if she tried to leave without harvesting. She didn’t need the headache. Well, it was quick and easy anyway.

The creatures seem to notice her by the vibrations she made when she walked. They also couldn’t seem to tunnel through solid rock so she tried to make her camps on top of boulders, outcroppings, or other hard surfaces. If there wasn’t a stable surface it was easy enough to create one using Fri’Avgi and the third sword dance.

Food was another problem she had lately. The underground beasts were entirely inedible. No matter what she did with the meat, it just stank too much and was foul to taste. She had exhausted her limited supply of spice back when she was in the forest long ago, but even if she still had some, she had the feeling that no amount of salt, pepper, and assorted herbs would make it palatable.

Well, these things probably hunted something else on the surface, otherwise, why would they have that kind of tactic? Sure enough, she spotted some kind of deer or antelope, as well as a herd of bison gathered around a waterhole. And there was a snappy mouthed river lizard too.

A thrown stone was enough to break an antelope’s leg so she had supplies for the next week or two.

It was unusually dry for the Season of Earth. Normally, there would be showers for a couple of minutes every afternoon back in Faron’s Crossing, all the better to help the wheat and oats grow. But here, she’d be lucky if it rained once a week. Granted, it was close to the Season of Fire.

Huh, in a few weeks it would be a year since she awakened.

As she waited for the water to come to a rolling boil, Yuriko reflected on the past year. From the very start, she had wanted to receive the Davar Heritage and be a ranged striker like Da. The Threads of Fate had given her something else.

She’d fought for her life more times than she could count, and she’d made friends with kids she wouldn’t have normally given a second glance at. And then she got a perverted old man living in her head who sometimes deigned to give her advice on how to achieve her dreams.

I’m not perverted. You’re just a prude.

“No, I’m not!” Yuriko yelled.

For someone pretending to be a pure little girl, you’ve got such a foul mouth, too. Hehehe.

“I’m not pretending to be anything.”

Right. And don’t tell me you don’t enjoy the attention the boys are giving you.

“Why are we talking about this?” Yuriko growled.

Oh, it’s simple. Your Radiant energy is full and it’d be a waste if I don’t use it.

“Radiant…energy?”

Ahahaha.

“Come back here and explain, you rotting pervert!”

Ahahaha. See, potty mouth!

“Damien!”

Only continued laughter answered her.

Radiant energy. From the Radiant Sun?

Yuriko envisioned her Anima and looked at her Heritage and Facet. At the centre of the Radiant Sun pattern of her initial Facet was an empty circle. It also contained Fri’Avgi’s pattern that she used to store the artefact in her Anima.

The empty space was no longer empty but was filled with a golden light. Almost full anyway. It was almost the same shade as her Animus. Close enough that she had taken it to be her Animus instead of something else.

Was this why she enjoyed spending so much time basking in the sun? And why, now that it was full, that she felt bothered by the heat? How would she even use this thing?

Evidently, Damien used it to speak with her. But even as she looked, the empty spot in the middle of the pattern filled up with light. Was this also what Damien expended whenever he took control of her body?

Since when has she been able to gather this Radiant energy? And more importantly, how would she be able to directly use it?