The flight back to Nirlith City took twice as long, but dawn was still a few hours from coming. Yuriko, clad in her hastily made Animus dress, was deep in thought. Monica had taken Cillian back in her arms when she was able to cast her flight spell. The older woman kept glancing at her every few minutes. Yuriko was tempted to ask, but the winds of their passage made it a bit inconvenient to converse.

Nirlith City had a few lights visible from above. There was a long strip along the side that was brightly lit, and Enhanced Sight told her that it was the…pleasure district.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this district was that women were not the majority of tenants. More than a few muscular Sha'ledras were lounging on balconies or posing on street corners despite the late hour. The few customers out and about stayed in the shadows, but one particular set caught her eye.

'Are those students?' she wondered.

She recognised one of them, despite the hour. What was Julietta Abad doing talking to a scantily clad Kutin tribesman? Hmm, well, it wasn’t Yuriko’s business butting her nose into someone else’s proclivities, but it didn’t look like an amorous encounter. Julietta and the cat-kin man only talked for a few minutes before the girl left.

Well, peeking at her students wasn’t what she was here for. They were already heading towards Nirlith’s hospital, though with a bit less urgency than she expected.

“As long as they’re already away from the contamination, that’s enough to arrest the mutation,” Monica said. “I’m still a bit weary from everything we did and a little bit of caution is needed.”

They brought the victims to the emergency healing room and that was where Yuriko’s duties and responsibilities ended. She didn’t know these people, though from the badges, they were adventurers. Monica thanked her and promised to visit her after Cillian and the others were seen to, though she was asked to inform the Adventurers’ Guild.

A quick trip and a word to the receptionist was all it took, afterwards, Yuriko went back to her home with a sigh. As soon as she entered the living room, she saw Ryoko sitting by the sofa with a cup of tea. The handmaiden jumped to her feet, looked Yuriko once over then said, “Where’s your dress?”

“Ahahaha…” Yuriko laughed sheepishly.

“Is it with someone else? A young man perhaps, or another young woman?” There was a teasing smirk on Ryoko’s face and more than a little bit of envy. Yuriko held in a sigh.

“No, it got burned when I took an Elemental form. There was an emergency.” Yuriko held up a hand. “I’ll tell you about it over breakfast, but I’m a bit tired.”

“Of course, young mistress.” Ryoko paused, then shrugged. “Well, there are more dresses you can try on.”

Yuriko just nodded, headed to her bathroom and did her evening ablutions, then slept like a rock.

The next morning, she was still up with the sun. It was a school day so she had a lesson to teach. Oh, Olivia might have asked someone to teach in her place, but since she was here, it was better to do her duties instead of malingering. She did her morning meditations, and then a warm-up stretch.

Training the sword had changed for her. Instead of physically doing the stances, all she had to do now was immerse herself in the Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords and internalise it. Most of what the Ennoia could teach her only needed her Intent and Will, but then again, she didn’t want her close combat skills to suffer either. Resonating with the Elements was no longer difficult, and she thought she could resonate with Elements other than the four she already knew. She could feel a hint of Metal and Wood after all.

That, more than anything else, excited her. Four Phases could become six, and she knew that by broadening her Ennoia, her rate of progress would increase. Still, deducing which movements and what kind of mindset to induce resonance would take a while. She already figured out a bit of Metal, but that was easy since swords were made of that stuff. What distinguished Metal from Earth was the key that she hadn’t really figured out yet. She might have to go to that other academy to find out since Niria did not teach Metal or Wood elements despite having a few staff members who had that affinity. There were no students of Metal or Wood, so that was that.

Her class was much the same. She eyed Juliette and wondered what the girl had done last night, but didn’t find the need to invade the other’s privacy. That afternoon, some students had scheduled mentorship sessions and it was nearly four o’clock by the time she was done. She settled in her bedroom to continue studying True Connection. Learning to cast that spell was high on her priority list.

It took the rest of the week. She suffered through hours and hours of headaches and nauseated feelings until she was able to cast the spell. And so she did.

________

The Xothan blue robe stared at Gwendith and Heron for a long moment. She was escorted by a couple of grey-robed combat slaves, each one carrying a rifle and an arming sword. No, a sabre, Gwendith thought, the blade was curved. She didn’t train in the sword, despite Yuriko’s best efforts. Making daggers fly with her mind was just simpler and better. And besides, her lover’s sunblades were also controlled by her mind as well as her body, so she wasn’t one to talk.

The blue-robed woman approached her and stopped half a dozen paces away. The grey-robed men blocked the alley and stood with their arms folded across their chest.

“You are…adventurers? Mercenaries?”

Gwendith tapped the badge on her arm.

The blue-robed woman nodded and said, “You are the ninety-ninth group to enter the city. There is only one more slot left before the beginning of the tide.” She paused, then continued with a slight uptilt to her tone, “Are you affiliated with any nation?”

Gwendith hesitated for a long moment, but it was Heron who answered. “We’re from Ni…Bresia Republic.”

The Xothan frowned at him but answered as if Gwendith was the one who spoke, “This…Bresia should not be here.”

“I know,” Heron said, similarly ignoring the woman’s tone and rudeness. “We are here because of an accident.”

The Xothan woman glanced at Heron, then shook her head, spun on her heels and walked away, leaving only a few words, “The rules of engagement are in the central square.”

The three Xothans left, and Gwendith exchanged glances with Heron. Wordlessly, both of them, followed by an invisible Saki, made their way towards the square in front of the castle. The city was in much better repair than the outside, but still showed signs of neglect. Tiny cracks spiderwebbed across the stones, potholes on the streets, and dirt covered the drainage canals.

As they approached the square, Gwendith froze when she felt a strange buzz rattle her mind. “Wha–?”

“Gwen? Can you hear me? Heron?” a voice said in her ear, an unforgettable and unmistakable voice.

“Yuri?”

“Gwen!” Yuriko squealed. “Oh, finally, I got this rotting spell working! Can Heron hear me too?”

“I can,” Heron said with more than a bit of amusement in his voice. Tempered with longing, of course.

Gwendith’s heart and mood lightened and she couldn’t help but smile brightly. They were supposed to go to the square, but that could wait. Contact from Yuriko!

“How did you get the spell through the Chaos Fount’s veil?” Gwendith asked eagerly. The three of them moved away from the street and sought some privacy. “Wait, we’ll find a campsite first before we continue!”

“No, no, I can’t keep this up for long,” Yuriko said. “My head’s pounding already.”

“Oh, alright,” Gwendith said. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” Yuriko said. “But anyway, where are you three? It’s been a couple of weeks.”

“”That long?” Gwendith frowned. “We…was it two weeks already?” She asked Heron, who shook his head.

“Temporal dissonance?” Yuriko asked. “Ah, that must be why the spell’s so hard to keep hold of,” she muttered. “Where are you?”

“A Fount called Braxxon Ruin,” Gwendith said quickly. “We entered by accident through the Hillside Burrows. There are altars underneath the hills that contain slabs. Six of them merged and led us to a rift. We don’t know where this Fount is, but we suspect that it's between the Ishodir Empire and the Xotha Matriarchy. Soldiers from both sides were fighting when we arrived…”

“Alright, alright, you don’t have to rush so much,” Yuriko laughed. “How are you three?”

“Not too bad,” Heron said. “We haven’t found…Life Essence yet, but that’s what we’re aiming for.”

“You don’t really have to do that…” Yuriko said.

“But we do,” Heron said simply. “And we will.”

“Oh. Uhm… do you need my help?”

“We’re fine,” Gwendith said. “Just do what you usually do. Uhm, how often can you cast that spell?”

“I can probably hold on for a couple more minutes,” Yuriko grumbled. “And we can talk every evening. Or morning.”

“Mornings work,” Gwendith said. “That’s what we did before. It was lovely to hear from you, Yuri, but don't overstrain yourself.”

“You don’t want to keep talking?”

Gwendith could hear the pout in Yuriko's voice and she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Don’t strain yourself,” Gwendith repeated. “And we all look forward to your voice again tomorrow.”

“Alright,” Yuriko said. “I will. Stay safe, all three of you.”

“We will.”

Gwendith’s smile faded when she felt the contact terminate. She turned to the other two and grinned. “Well then, shall we continue?”

The depressing air was gone, and she felt much better. Not at a hundred percent, but closer to normal anyway. At least she could look forward to hearing from her love every day! Or maybe every other day? Either way was good!

_______

The shard containing the hint of divinity, his hope for Ascension and salvation, twinkled mockingly inside its containment unit. Edward Turner couldn’t keep the growl from escaping his lips. Weeks had passed since he acquired the thing, and weeks of nothing too.

Subjecting the shard to force didn’t help. It only grew stronger and tougher. Edward had to siphon the Elemental energy away from the shard before it returned to its original state. He tried to envelop it in a field of quick-flowing time, but nothing happened. Thousands of years passed within the sphere, the effort so easy that he wondered if he had suddenly advanced his Truth, only to realise that Time did not touch the shard as it did anything else. Thousands, millions of years could have passed and the shard would not have been affected.

His early experiments failed, he had to resort to examination. Hundreds of hours, thousands, had gone by and he felt no closer to figuring out what kept its energies contained. Energies that contained knowledge. He was sure of it!

Divination spells he cast all told him the same. The shard was the key. Or the locked gate, perhaps. What he needed was the key, and for that, he needed something that resonated with its frequencies. He pursed his lips as he stared at the shard. It had an Elemental attunement, but he wasn’t sure what affinity was required. He cast a spell to check.

It was a basic affinity checker, used to know what affinities a Novice Magi was most suited for. The spell created a grey orb and when he touched it to the shard, the orb shifted colour.

From grey, it turned bright white, then darkened to yellow and gold. Elemental Light?

It was better than nothing. Light was a complex Element and it had so many variations that no two Light Affinity Magi were alike. Even the shade of the light produced varied for each one. And there was the fact that Light Magi were much rarer than the common elements.

He penned a letter to his grandchild.

“Gather all the Light Affinity Magi you can find and bring them to me.”