Yuriko didn’t expect to enjoy the dance, but she did. It was mostly thanks to the food, if she were being honest with herself. And the way Finan grinned at her while she gorged herself on those baked salmon with cream cheese puffs, he knew it as well as she. The dancing was nice, too, even if she had some misgivings about the freestyle dancing.

No, it was when those girls crowded around Finan, hence leaving her alone to fend off a different group of suitors, that she grew uncomfortable. All of them had that slightly glazed look behind their eyes that spoke of how the Mishala Mien affected them.

Even as she fended them off, it got her thinking. Back in Rumiga City, she had been the subject of such things. Were they affected by her Mien then? For that matter, were her childhood friends affected, too? She didn’t know, and it gnawed at her heart. Krystal and Mikel. More recently, Heron, and the twins. All three of them were quite attentive to her. Was it because of her Mien?

What if, when she returned to Rumiga and saw her friends, she saw that same glazed look in their eyes? What would she do then?

She’d even seen a shadow of it behind Reinhardt’s eyes. So was he courting her because her Mien convinced him to?

She shook her head as she entered the ladies’ room and did her business. She lingered in front of the sink, slowly washing her hands as her thoughts whirled. She didn’t have an answer. She wasn’t even sure if her Mien had been active throughout her childhood years. Maybe a fraction of it? Her emotions were balanced on the tip of a needle. The Mien was a part of her. But it wasn’t something she wanted. She hated being deprived of her freedom. And from the resonance she felt from Damien, it was one thing they were in complete agreement of. No one will chain her. Not against her Will.

What about the chains you bound yourself with?

‘I’ll deal with it when I have to.’ Yuriko snorted. She knew. Deep within, she knew. The bindings of her love for her family. Mum tugged and yanked at those chains with careless impunity.

Cousin Miya had said that the members of the Mishala Clan were even more vulnerable to a stronger member’s Mien. It was harder to resist and easy to follow the instinct to obey. Yuriko had that, too.

One thing she gained from all of that meditation and, well, relaxation was that she’s had time to think and ponder. Being away from danger and battlefields helped ease her troubles. It was hard to believe that just half a Season ago, she had been fighting for her life.

Distractions. The Mien.

She remembered how Mum’s Mien touched her. She also distinctly remembered wanting to confront her about how she got shoved into Sharom’s Elite class back in Rumiga, but when she saw Mum…well, it was difficult to be angry. Difficult to move away from the path she had laid out.

That was strange, too, how she could think of these things now. If she was under the complete sway of someone’s Mien, she wouldn’t even be able to think of dissent. Not one drop.

The Radiant takes all and turns it into its own. The Radiant Sun takes all aspects of Chaos and turns it into lifegiving Radiant Light.

‘Alright. I still don’t know what that means,’ she thought to Damien ruefully.

You will learn. In time. You are close.

And you still can’t figure out how to expand your reserves. Are you too taken with your boyfriends to think?

‘Shush.’

Huh, you’ve spent more than enough time with that Shatran boy. Enjoy a challenge?

‘I guess…’

Ah, is that attraction I sense? A little bit of infatuation? You see a challenge and can’t help but batter yourself against it? Hie hie, I understand, girl. I’m like that, too.

He paused, waiting for an answer, and Yuriko muttered, ‘A little bit.’ He guffawed before fading away to whatever hole in her Anima he actually hid in.

Still, Damien’s shift from serious to joshing was enough to shake her out of her black mood. Well, she should return to the party anyway. She thought she saw lavan berries and cream parfaits in the serving area.

Mouth watering, Yuriko dried her hands and left the room. She had only taken a few steps when she suddenly felt it. A thrill of terror running down her back, a premonition of danger, and a hint of bloodlust. Her Anima was always condensed just under her skin, it would stop anything from piercing past it. An excellent defence against any strike. Except for the one that brushed the back of her neck, a tickling finger, and a jolt of power that plunged her immediately into darkness as she felt all of her senses get cut off.

An attack? How? Why? She was on the campus, in Realmheart! Who would dare and why would they attack her?

She felt her body tilt as she started to fall, only for someone to scoop her up. She couldn’t feel the touch, and only her body changing position was felt. Wait. No, it wasn’t her body. It was her Anima!

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Whatever it was that shrouded her mind, it didn’t stop her from feeling through her Anima, and it was currently condensed in her body. Wait, now wasn’t the time for idle thoughts!

She tried to flare her Anima out, hoping to push away however it was. When no other attack came, she sighed in relief. But when she felt herself being moved, her panic returned.

Where were they taking her?

No, no! What could she do? Her heart pounded thunderously in her chest, and she could feel sweat beading over her forehead.

What had hit her? It was the back of her neck, she was sure. But her Anima! Shouldn’t it have protected her? Wait! Her Anima…

She was in the dreamscape as soon as she realised it. At the centre of her world, she saw the borders, and she saw it. No, two of them! Darkness coated things wriggling inside, perpetuating and spreading. It had quickly spread throughout her body, locking her limbs in place.

She needed to fight them off! She tried to cut them down, forgetting that she was naught but an image in this place. It was her Will and Intent that moved her.

Where the things touched were numbed. So much so that she couldn’t even tell it was there.

Radiant takes all and turns it into its own.

She withdrew all of her Radiant energy then threw them into the black tendrils. A moment later, all of it was gone, and she was glutted with Radiant. Her Anima flared and she fell even as her assailant was pushed away. She spun and landed on her hands and feet, then leapt away.

As her vision cleared, she bit off a curse as a figure shrouded in shadow, nearly invisible really, if not for the fact that her flared Anima was surrounding it. The shadow hissed and boiled, even as the figure attempted to reach for Yuriko, fingers covered in arcs of dark light.

Midleap, Yuriko solidified a foothold and stomped down on it, propelling her directly at her assailant. Anima condensed around her fists, while her Animus started on her sword dances. The process took only a few seconds, but everything was happening too fast. Only her Anima’s movement was ready. But she couldn’t hesitate.

She attempted to deflect the fingers, slapping at the wrist, and when those fingers twisted to touch the back of her hand, Yuriko gritted her teeth and sent motes of Radiant energy to that point. They cancelled each other out in a brief puff of light. She saw the figure recoil in surprise, but only for less than an instant.

She was still in midair, the other twisted and lashed at her with her other hand. Yuriko ignored it and punched at the head with her left fist. The hand grabbed her wrist, attempting to twist and wrench her aside, but she thickened her Anima coating and spun it around her arm, making the other’s fingers bounce off. As she felt her knuckles connect, she condensed another foothold to brace against.

The figure turned its head, deflecting her punch towards the side. It retaliated with a knee to Yuriko’s tummy, but her hardened Anima blocked the blow, though it still made her tumble back.. As soon as the figure left the light of her Anima, it faded into the shadows, out of sight. With parts of it condensed, Yuriko’s light only reached out to half its normal width.

“Help!” She yelled. Or tried to. It was as if her voice was absorbed by the air and nothing came out. “What?” If not for the sound travelling through her own skull, she wouldn’t have heard anything.

A shadowy fist entered her Anima from behind, and Yuriko spun into a back fist, knocking the blow away. She lunged towards it and caught a glimpse of the shadow towards her right. She corrected her course, and threw another punch, still missing. But something had changed.

Her blade dance was up and running! Her fists changed into knife-hands and the coating of Anima took on an edge. With the second dance ascendant, she intuited the next strike to come, and she caught hold of the fist coming her way, then she yanked the figure towards her light. With equal strength, the other twisted its wrist and wrenched it out of her grasp. A kick was aimed at her shin, which she coated with dense Anima and took it.

The kick transitioned into a leap away, and once again, her assailant was in the dark, invisible to her senses. She spun in a circle before she moved to put the wall at her back even as she kicked her pumps off. Yuriko thought to bring Fri’Avgi out, but the academy’s hallway wasn’t that broad.

“Show yourself!” she growled and this time whatever blocked her voice was gone, but only silence answered her.

For a few tense minutes, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden, she could hear footsteps, giggles, and voices coming down from the hallway to the dance hall. The unnatural shadows were gone, too. Huh, why was there someone lying next to the ladies’ room door?

“Eh? Lady Mishala, what’s going on?”

“Who’s that there?”

“Ahh! A body?”

The gaggle of girls ran towards her. Yuriko reigned in her Anima and looked for her shoes. The kidnapper had disappeared. As for the man on the floor, one of the girls reached down and touched him.

“He’s alive, I think. I don’t see any wounds.” The girl, a redhead with green eyes and freckles across her nose and clad in a yellow dress, said, “Call for help! Quickly!”

One of her companions pulled out a red messenger crane, activated it and let it fly.

“Huh, isn’t he one of your own?” The girl asked Yuriko, pointing at a sigil, the Mishala Clan’s cross-hatched stripes and five-petalled flower, embossed on the man’s lapels.

Yuriko, her heart still racing, approached and looked at the man. His face was quite plain, and she didn’t recognise him at all. But she’d hardly met everyone. “I don’t know…”

The man was still out cold, and if he wasn’t of her clan, she would have left already. As it were, she didn’t know what to do. Her instincts screamed at her to look for her attacker and fight. Her common sense told her that that was foolish. The figure was as strong as her, and more skilled too. Worse, she couldn’t see any sign of her passage, even as her own footprints marked the floors. A bit of the carpet was even smouldering. She quickly stamped it out before it burned more.

A few indecisive minutes later, Miya, along with her date, that young man Yuriko had sparred with during her catch up test, rushed down the hallway.

“Yuri!”Miya gasped, looking at the man. “Tsk…taken out without a fight.” Her face twisted in derision.

“Are you alright?” Miya asked after a moment, her eyes taking in her dishevelled appearance.

“I’m fine. Someone…tried to attack me. I think they wanted to take me away.”

“Oh. Let me take you home.” Miya said after a long pause. “I don’t think your mum will like this.”

“Yeah…” Yuriko murmured.

“Wilford, take care of this,” Miya said, but she didn’t direct her voice to her date.

Yuriko jumped when another figure appeared out of the shadows. Only the Mishala sigil on his lapel stopped Yuriko from grabbing Fri’Avgi out of her Anima.

The man bowed, his eyes glittering, then picked up the unconscious man. Then he disappeared into the shadows again.

“What…?”

Miya frowned.

“At home.” She reached up and wrapped her arm around Yuriko. “Let’s go.”

Yuriko nodded mutely, then let herself be led away.