After gaping at the reflection of the setting sun, Yuriko’s perception aura alerted her to several disturbing things.

The tunnel they used to enter the chamber exited at roughly five paces above the cavern floor. There was a sloped pathway towards a low wall, but there was also a pit that provided a gap between the tunnel and the wall. She couldn't see the bottom, which meant it was definitely more than nine paces deep. The path was narrower than the tunnel, though it tapered so that nobody would fall accidentally. Still, there weren’t any guard rails to prevent such a fall.

The tunnel exit had pieces of rubble and there were gouges on the wall. It wasn’t readily apparent through the naked eye, but she could tell with her perception that there were broken lines of runescript inlaid all across the hall. The rubble could have very well been drop doors that would block the tunnels too. And, a glance to the left and right showed that there were more paths across the pit, though most of what she could see within easy sight led to blank walls.

The internal wall looked to be about three to five paces high at places, though there were gaps and crevices that made it look lower. It was clear that nobody had maintained this place for years, if not centuries.

Now that the Radiant Sun had set, and the reflection of the Luminous Moon was up, she could also see a thick pillar directly in the cavern’s centre. Where it touched the ceiling an eye-straining effect was shown. Parts of it reflected the skies, while parts of it were bare stone. For the former, it looked as if the pillar was an isolated tower instead.

There were five other pillars that had the same effect. The westernmost one’s illusion had degraded to such a point that it looked like there was a ring of stone floating in the sky. The others had speckles of rock floating in midair.

The way they were angled, she could only see a few of the buildings perched on the pillars. The ones behind the wall, and in fact, the majority of the place, were hidden from easy sight, especially now at night. Still, they couldn’t exactly stay in the narrow hallway.

“Saki, come with me and help me explore what’s there,” Yuriko began, but Gwendith’s hand on her arm caught her attention.

“Better for all of us to proceed, at least until we’re sheltered behind the wall. I…have a bad feeling,” Gwendith muttered as she glanced down the hall they came from.

“Dangerous not to scout,” Yuriko said, then shook her head. “Allow the two of us to secure the entrance first.” She pointed to where the bridge path entered the wall. It looked to be a portcullis of some kind, rather than a full gate.

“Be careful.”

“Allow us to accompany you,” Heron interjected, pointing towards Rolland and Kassy.

“As you wish,” Yuriko said noncommittally. “We’re wasting time. Let’s go.”

With that, she marched down the bridge path, though she was wary of it collapsing. Her perception aura assured her that the stone bridge was solid, so she was confident.

The gap wasn’t something she could easily leap across at nearly fifty paces. Well, she could glide across if it came to that. By the time she neared the portcullis, she was several paces below the battlements, and finally, she could see into the entrance tunnel. The wall was much thicker than she expected, nearly as much as the distance between the entrance tunnel and the portcullis.

The metal gate wasn’t completely down, and there was a gap barely a pace high underneath. There were grooves along the wall’s side which secured how the portcullis dropped. Bent metal bars jammed the apparatus at several points, which locked it in place.

A quick check told her that the entire portcullis was just over three MiJin in weight, far too much for her Animakinesis to move by itself with any semblance of speed. Using her muscles coupled with Anima enhancement, she could lift it, giving her the confidence that they wouldn’t be trapped should the thing fall. Well, she could also cut it to bits with her sunblades or Fri’Avgi anyway.

She ducked under the gap and strolled down the tunnel. The Luminous Moon was a bit more than half, so the light was more than enough to highlight the tunnel’s end. She spread her Anima to its fullness, allowing her perception to dig into the stone, which revealed a plethora of murderholes. Thankfully, there was nobody on the other end so it wasn’t dangerous at all.

Once they reached the end of the tunnel, she peeked and scanned the surroundings. There was a clear space just at the terminus, roughly twenty paces to a side, and then there were barricades and half walls surrounding it. The barricades looked to be clumps of soil with bits of rotted cloth sticking out of them, while the walls looked to be stone, but crumbled to uselessness.

“Looks safe,” Yuriko muttered. Heron stood behind her and nodded in agreement, trusting in her Anima perception to see it.

“Seems like it,” Kassy grunted while Rolland shifted to his hybrid war form and had his nose in the air.

“I smell bugs,” he growled. “Thick in the air…but also, strange. Old, and new.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“The Femorants?” Yuriko asked with an arched eyebrow. It wasn't that surprising really, since they fought a nest, or was it a raiding group, a few days ago.

“Yes,” he growled, “but not like the ones from before.”

“How so?”

He shook his muzzle. “I don’t know. Sharper, more acrid.” Then he growled. “They smell strong.”

“Oh?” Yuriko murmured. Femorants were barely a challenge for her now. But then again, if they were weak, why would they be labelled as anathema? Or is it simply because they are hard to root out?

Rolland grinned at her, “You’re emitting that scent again. That bloodthirsty and spicy scent. Hurh hurh hurh.”

“Spicy scent?” Saki and Heron couldn’t help but exclaim, and both of them reflexively turned towards her and sniffed, while Kassy was nodding in agreement.

“Wha…” Yuriko grunted before glaring at Saki then Heron, who both had the grace to blush. “What do you mean?”

"What I said,” Rolland answered, “Exactly what I mean.”

“But I don’t smell anything?”

“You can hardly notice your own scent,” Kassy explained while giving the wolfman a pointed stare, “and you’d need to have incredibly sharp senses as well as the apparatus to discern what you sense. Pure humans such as you three…well, unless you train heavily, you won’t beat our noses.”

“If you say so,” Yuriko muttered, feeling a bit discomfited when both of the beastkin teasingly took deep breaths and grinned at her. “Enough of that.”

“As you command.” Kassy bowed.

“Heron, can you go back and ask the others to move in?”

“The horses won’t fit under the portcullis,” Heron pointed out.

“Ah, right. Let’s take care of that first then.” She turned towards Saki and the beastkin. “Please scout the surroundings. Look for shelter and hostiles.”

“Yes, mistress,” Saki answered and the beastkin echoed.

After nodding, she spun on her heels and marched back towards the portcullis. Heron flexed his biceps, grinned at her, then grabbed the bottom of the thing and pulled.

Crrrrrk!

The bent runners crunched, then broke. Then, the full weight of the thing fell on Heron’s hands, and his knees buckled. The portcullis dropped, but he managed to keep it from slamming shut. His back, legs, and arms strained, and his Anima intensified, forming into threads to support his body rather than protect it.

“Urk!” He grunted. His muscles bulged as he strained, while Yuriko blinked at him, dumbfounded. “Little help?”

“Oh! Ah, right!” Yuriko gasped as she stepped up next to him and grabbed the bottom. With his strength, both of them were able to push the portcullis up with little issue. Of course, the problem was that the latch that would have held it up was broken too.

Sunshards materialised around her and stabbed into the runners. She melted the connectors, then said, “Drop it.”

“Huh, oh!” Heron waited until she let go before doing the same. The portcullis slammed down, then began to fall outwards. Yuriko grabbed the metal railings with her hands and her Animakinesis, hoping to prevent it from slamming on the bridge and giving out a loud clang that would echo throughout the city. Heron grabbed it too, and both of them gingerly lowered it down, then twisted it to one side and pushed it to the side so that it laid down on the ledge surrounding the wall.

“We ended up breaking it anyway,” Yuriko muttered.

“Yeah. Sorry. Wasn’t thinking,” Heron sighed.

“It’s alright.” Yuriko laughed as she slapped his shoulder. “You’re stronger than I expected.”

“Ah, thanks.”

“Well, let’s get the others.”

It was a simple enough matter to get everyone within the shelter of the wall tunnel. It was just wide and long enough to contain everyone. Kassy came back to the entrance square and nodded towards the side.

“There are empty barracks over there. Roof’s intact, so are the walls. No furniture inside, but we have our camping gear. We’ll all fit inside, and be easily defensible.”

“Good enough for temporary quarters?” Yuriko asked.

“Definitely. Are we headed towards the city centre?”

“That’s probably where we’ll find answers and perhaps, a path to Synkrasia,” Yuriko said easily.

“Are you sure though?” Gwendith asked as she walked up to the two of them.

“Not at all.” Yuriko grinned, “But it seems a safe bet.”

How big was the city? After that first glimpse during the setting sun, it seemed as if this place was at least as big as Haveena, which was even bigger than Rumiga City. The multi-tiered nature of this place meant that it was probably meant for a denser population too. From where they were, at the entrance square, there was very little she could see. The buildings beyond were tall and nondescript, and the streets and roads weren’t labelled. Unless she got up on the roof or the curtain wall, she wouldn’t be able to get a better look at the lay of the land. But that was fine. Secure a camp first, then scout. Slow, but sure and steady steps.

The barracks was built right next to the wall, and perhaps into it as well. The rest of her people made their way inside, then cleaned up the place and set barricades on the two outer entrances. As she expected, there were stairs deeper inside that led into the wall and up towards the battlements.

The spiralling stairs turned to the left, which meant they were supposed to defend against those coming from above.

…how did she know that?

She was pretty sure siege architecture hadn’t been part of the classes she took in Sharom or the Reserve Officer Training.

Damien?

Shaking her head, she decided that it was probably more of his memories. But this didn’t really have the taint of his personality though. Strange.

The stairs were somewhat dusty, and both sets were blocked by rubble, so there was little use to them. There was no need to barricade the stairwells or try to clear the rubble. There would be easier places to use, or she could simply scale the wall from outside if she really needed to.

The civilians and ex-guard both worked hand in hand to clean up the empty barracks. They gathered the rotten pieces of wood, what little was left, and threw them into the stairwells.

She stood outside the barracks, carefully keeping watch. The side street wasn’t broad, but the opposite buildings were much smaller than the barracks. Most of the buildings along the alley were in bad repair, with gaping holes in the walls and absent doors. The barracks were surprisingly intact compared to the other structures.

An hour later, Saki and Rolland turned up, coming from opposite sides of the alley.

“There’s a Femorant nest,” Saki said immediately while Rolland nodded in agreement.

“How many?”

At that, her Shadow Guard frowned. “I don’t know. There were too many and nary a gap between them to slip into. They…aren’t that affected by the illusory lights above, and they flow down the roads in a steady stream.”

Yuriko frowned.

Enough Femorants to cover the roads? What were they doing here? She had a sneaking suspicion that finding the answer to that question was how they’d reach Synkrasia. And the other question was, how many would she have to kill to find out?