Yuriko kept at a brisk walk, devouring paces every second. The tunnel was too monotonous and at some point, she felt nauseated from feeling as though she was walking in circles. That wasn’t inaccurate in the sense that the tunnel spiralled upwards. After the first few turns, she’d lost all sense of direction.

The skies were covered, the light was from the crystal panels, and even those slowly disappeared as the longstrides wore on. For some reason, her time-sense felt a bit off. She couldn’t tell how many hours she’d been walking, and the only times she took a break was when she felt hungry. After the last Body Forging, her appetite had grown. She made the redbone stew twice a day now, which meant she only had two weeks’ provisions instead of four. A bit worrisome.

“Perhaps I should go back and gather more redbones…”

Admittedly, the thought of making the trek twice more was disheartening.

“I won’t be too late to return when I have half left,” she decided. Though really, she just couldn’t stand the idea of going back.

She must have walked for days. She couldn’t really tell. Using up all of the Radiant energy had been a mistake. Now she couldn’t even relieve her boredom. She ate when hungry, slept when tired, and trained the entire while. Straining her body was no longer necessary. She was as strong as she could be without sacrificing something else. Not unless she progressed to Knight, anyway.

She walked and walked. And walked. How far would she have to go? It took her ten minutes to walk a longstride, and fifty to walk a league. She could run that distance in much less time, of course, but with no idea of how far she had to go, she didn’t want to waste her stamina.

She only realised that she’d been in here for a week when she counted the remaining redbones. The tunnel remained the same. A wide corridor with a tall ceiling. A canal with slow moving water by the side.

“Rotter.”

She had no choice now. There was no end in sight and no source of provisions. She supposed she could go on short rations, but she didn’t think she could last that long. She’s still a growing girl!

Urgh. Her slacks felt tight. Even her breast band felt tighter. Forceweave had a certain give, but she’d either grown fatter or taller--and she definitely didn’t get fatter. She could see the contours of her muscles on her biceps and forearms even if she didn’t clench. If anything, she’d lost that layer of fat that made her skin look soft. She wasn’t sure she liked it.

Oh, and there was three inches of leg showing from above her low cut boots. Her footwear pinched, too. After a while, an ache developed in her feet so she had no choice but to stop and remove her boots. Oh. There was a hole in her sock.

“No wonder,” she grumbled.

Her feet were nearly an inch larger than her boots now. How much did she grow over the past year? Well, there was no way she could put these back on. But then she didn’t want to just throw them away.

In the end, she tied the laces together and hung them on her backpack strap. Then she walked barefoot. She let a bit of her Anima exude from the bottom of her feet, just for the added protection.

“Oh, have to go back...”

She spun on her heels and trudged back to the base of the spire.

“Oh, Ancestors…”

Between one step and the next, that moment in time when she lost sight of the world when she blinked, she was in a different place.

Yuriko’s jaw dropped as she looked around. She was in a circular chamber twenty five paces wide, the ground was composed of fine sand and the walls were made with blocks of stone.

“What?” she gasped.

The ceiling was shrouded in darkness, even as her Anima flare illuminated the rest of the chamber.

“How?”

Grrrrink!

Stone skidded against stone with a deep rumbling sound. She whirled towards it, and found a section of the wall sliding open.

Thud. Thud.

Yuriko backed away from the opening, eyes intent on what manner of creature would appear. Thoughts of how she got here were shoved at the back of her mind. Her Anima flared to cover her entire body, and Animus blades shimmered into existence.

A hulking thing walked into the chamber.Glowing runescript covered wooden slats. Yellow orbs in shadow comprised its eyes behind a bucket sized helm.

“A Colossus?” she wondered. “Who’s there?” she called out.

The construct reached behind its back and drew a wooden club longer than she was tall. The construct was more than twice Yuriko’s height, and in the narrow confines of the chamber, there was nowhere to run. Mechanical clicks sounded out from the Colossus.

“Who’s in there?” Yuriko yelled, but no answer was forthcoming. Instead, the war machine leaned forward and lunged, club held over its head.

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Yuriko’s eyes narrowed in anger. It was painfully slow. Slower than Heron or the twins, much less Senior Kale. She waited for it to arrive, and circulated the fourth sword dance Intent with the third dance’s pattern.

Blam! Whoosh!

Sand sprayed all over the place. The grains bounced against her skin but the club missed her by a wide margin. She propelled herself within the Colossus’ reach and slashed at the left knee in quick succession. The Animus blades created an afterimage. A shimmering barrier formed over the wood, but her initial slash cut through it, while the afterimage, the second blow, dug into the wood.

The area cracked and blackened. Yuriko scooted around the Colossus, unleashing nearly a dozen strikes with both blades. Darkened wood blossomed across the slats, but the runescript patterns remained intact. She propelled herself away as soon as the construct moved its leg even as it tried to swipe at her. Her hair stirred as the wind of the club’s passage disturbed the air.

The Colossus raised its weapon overhead, and brought it down with thunderous force and blinding speed. A cloud of sand obscured the thing’s legs. Yuriko retreated further back. As soon as it gathered itself for another smash, she dashed back within reach, dodged a swipe by leaping over it, and gouged it’s passing arm by stabbing down midair.

Sparks flew from the impact point even as the tip of her Animus blade broke. With a thought, it quickly reformed. She slashed its left leg several more times, but none of her attacks did more than blacken the wood.

Grnnnnnk!

A glance revealed another section of the wall had opened and soon after, another Colossus charged out. This one had a metal spear in hand.

“Swarm fodder!”

She dodged around the first one’s continued blows. It’s body was too big and she used it to protect herself. It hadn’t tried to squish her yet. Oh, speak and it happens.

The Colossus’ leg, which was wider than she was, jolted forward, sweeping an awkward kick at her. Caught in mid leap, Yuriko could only slap it in an attempt to deflect. The leg shifted slightly, though she was propelled away. Right into a spear thrust.

The sharp point pierced into her Anima and slowed, giving her the chance to twist out of the way. The Colossi set themselves on either side of her, just far enough away from each other that even if she huddled inside one’s effective reach, the other could easily deal with her.

It took all of her flexibility and agility, as well as the second dance’s instinctive movements, and her thickened Anima, to stay uninjured. She danced on the edge of death. The sounds of cutting air, the displaced winds, were what gave her little forewarning. She couldn’t even counterattack!

Grrrink!

Yuriko’s blood ran cold. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see another wall slide open. It let in another Colossus. This one carried a gigantic sword, though like Fri’Avgi, it didn’t have an edge. When it came close enough to strike it added another layer of attacks that she had to avoid.

Sweat flew from her brow as she dodged, ducked, and parried each of the attacks. Everytime her Animus blades slapped against a weapon, the reverberation made her feel numb. Her flared Anima saved her skin more times than she could count, but even as the weapons slowed, she could feel a twinge inside. There were no cracks yet, but with the rate she was being pummeled, it was only a matter of time.

Oddly enough, the addition of the third Koinos made it easier to defend. The third one’s blows were so wide that the other two had to adjust not to get hit. A glimmer of an idea, seized in the desperation of the moment, formed.

She ducked closer to the club wielder and waited for the swordsman to make it’s wide swing. She grunted as she deflected the blow straight into the second Koinos’ spear.

Toing!

The metal haft bent from the force of the blow!

Thud!

“Ahh!” The club, thicker than her leg, smashed into her side. Her vision whirled as she flew like a kite towards a wall. “Ugh!” She bounced off the stone and rolled on the sand. She pushed herself off the ground, every moment she lay still could be her last!

Twack!

Incredibly, the second Koinos smacked the third with its bent spear while the first one stomped towards her. The swordsman snapped its fist at the spear wielder in reprisal.

“Are they insane?” Or do they think she was already done for?

Gritting her teeth, she leapt to her feet and lunged at the first Koinos, dodging to the side as it smashed overhead. She kicked off the ground, easily jumping over the Koinos’ shoulder. She stabbed her Animus blades into the holes of the helm, feeling resistance as she drove her blades in deep.

The Colossus shuddered as smoke rose from the helm. The limbs convulsed, but that didn’t stop it from trying to reach up at her. Yuriko changed her Animus rotation pattern into Boost, reared back, and kicked the head with all of her considerable might.

Crack!

The helm flew off, but that wasn’t enough to down the thing. She could see a hollow space inside. The other two Colossi closed in on her as another brilliant idea popped in her head. She jumped inside the hollow neck feet first.

Her Anima gave her enough light to see. The Colossus was hollow, though thousands of runescript lines glowed with power inside. She shoved her arms into the thing’s armholes and through sheer muscle power, forced it to move to her will.

Bam! Thonk!

The Colossus shuddered as blows from the other two struck it. The wood splintered at her sides. She wrenched the limb around and felt it collide with something. More blows deformed the Koinos, and a few minutes later, she jumped out the same way as it started to collapse.

The other two were beating down on the first. While they were distracted, she circled around them, then jumped on the swordsman’s back. A sharp kick dislodged the head and she slipped inside. This time, she just lay about with her fists, fracturing and deforming as many of the runescript lines as she could reach. The lights eventually flickered and died while the Koinos froze. She clambered out and did the same thing to the last one.

“That’s it?” She yelled derisively, mostly propelled by adrenaline and rage.

She looked at the walls. The ones that had let the Colossi inside had already closed in the middle of the fight. Now that there weren’t any threats, she had time to think. She plopped herself down on the sand, panting in exhaustion.

How and why had she been brought here? The ease at which she had transitioned from the long hallway into this deathtrap terrified her. Was she in the Tidelands? Or the Chaos Sea? She focused on the ambient Chaos in the air. It didn’t feel denser than Kogasi. The Koinos heads were scattered all over the arena. The eye holes were empty and the outer runescript was dead.

There had been nothing on Colossi in her curriculum, though she thought that there was a branch on Colossi Core training in Agaza. For Sharom, there was an elective on Colossi Animatechnology. That was terms away though. She wasn’t even sure if what she fought was really Colossi. How did they move without a Core pilot? She was also pretty sure that the torso of a real Colossus wasn’t hollow.

Grrrrink!

Her head snapped towards the sound of another wall section opening. She angrily got to her feet, ready to fight to the death. Several moments later and no enemy came out. Instead, an inviting light shone from the tunnel. Why wasn’t she just transported?

With an internal shrug, she picked up her backpack from where she had dropped it at the beginning of the fight and ventured into the only exit.