For the next couple of days, Yuriko maintained her strict training regimen. She woke up before dawn, ran a league around town, accompanied by her friends mostly, though it was Heron who had, lately, been consistently joining her.

Krystal had to be dragged out of her house, Mikel could barely keep up and could only join sporadically, while the twins needed to rest and recover. As it was, on the Fortieth Day of Fire, Yuriko and Heron were the only ones running.

His stamina had increased and he was finally able to keep up with her pace. The use of Recovery technique had hastened his improvement just as much as it did Yuriko’s. After the run, it was flexibility training for her.

“How are you even able to do that?” Heron asked incredulously.

She was on her stomach, arching her back until the tip of her toes touched the top of her head. This was after she had done a full split, side split, and other stances that stretched her ligaments and tendons to the limits and pushed them just a little bit further.

“Constant practice?” she grunted--her form didn’t lend itself to ease of speaking.

“Ow!”

When she glanced at him, Heron had attempted to do a split. He was barely halfway to the ground and from how his face twisted, he couldn’t go much further without straining something.

“Don’t push beyond your limits!” she yelled at him. She watched carefully while he tried to go down a bit further but he soon gave up with a relieved sigh.

“Just do this every day,” she said, “if you want to train your flexibility. But, I’m not sure your build needs it.”

“I was just curious.”

“Well, talk to our instructors before you do any specialized training,” she said offhandedly. She assumed another stance, whipping her leg up straight such that she was standing on one foot while the other was above her head. She caught her ankle and held the pose for a count of ten, then switched over to the other leg.

Once she was done with her routine, she sat in a meditative pose and activated Golden Recovery. Her Animus drained into her physical body, providing relief from the small aches and pains she accumulated during her exertions.

She could feel herself growing stronger. The difference was minute from day to day but every little bit helped. As long as she didn’t backslide, she felt this accumulation would eventually lead to something incredible. Anyway, the Golden Silhouette indicated that she needed to grow stronger and this was the only way she knew right now.

She also wondered when she could use Strengthen Physique again successfully. The first time she did it, it had a powerful effect but it hadn’t been successful since. She tried last night, too, but other than consuming a little bit of her Animus, nothing else happened. She had a feeling that something was missing, but for the life of her, she couldn’t tell what it was.

Still, since she couldn’t find a solution to it, she pushed it to the back of her mind. She occupied herself with pondering what the next step to progressing with her Anima Strength should be. She had no ideas when it came to the Heritage. Aside from the lines lit up by her initial Facet, the rest of the pattern in her Anima was impenetrable. She experimented with some of the unused terminus points but her Animus strands didn’t even last a blink of an eye before they were cast out.

After she finished with Recovery, she picked up a couple of training blades and practised her sword dances. Heron was still meditating by the time she completed the dual sword dances. Shrugging to herself, she went to grab Fri’Avgi and began practising with the greatsword.

Heron finished in the middle of her practice. He watched her for a while, his hands twitching.

“Spar?”

“I don’t have a practice spear.”

“Oh.” Heron paused. “Well, how about at the training hall later?”

Yuriko shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

“Great! See you later then? First hour after noon?”

Yuriko nodded. Heron waved goodbye and made his way back to his home while Yuriko wandered into the kitchen in search of breakfast. Her tummy had started growling furiously as soon as she finished training.

Kato had grilled some bacon, sliced cheese, and dinner rolls.

“Since when did our house become a training facility?”

Yuriko felt some heat on her cheeks. “Uh..”

“I’m kidding,” Kato laughed, “though I still think you’re better congregating in the training hall. But I suppose they don’t open this early.”

“Well, we usually spar there.”

“Huh.” Kato gave her a measuring gaze from across the kitchen counter. “That boy, Muryh?”

“Heron Muryh. He was our Warder during the training camp.”

“Ah of course. Heron. So…he’s been hanging around you these past days?”

Yuriko shrugged. “What of it?’

“Hmmm, what about those golden-haired twins?”

“What about them?” Yuriko asked with a frown. “Orrin Foster was our team’s Controller. Braden was wounded during the fight against the Will of the Wave. I’m just helping him during training.”

“Don’t you think he would be better off seeking help from the instructors?”

“I didn’t ask to train them, they just joined in on my morning training.”

Kato sighed then chuckled. “Don’t ever change, li’l sis. You’re way more amusing this way.”

“Eh?”

“Nothing. Eat. I could hear your guts growling all the way here.”

“Whatever.”

After she finished breakfast, and before Kato left the house for the day, she asked him, “What were your examinations for Agaza like?”

Kato snorted. “Annoying. You don’t need to take the comprehensive exams if you’ve got a good recommendation letter. You just need to take the specific Academy challenge. Why?”

“Armsmaster said I could avoid whatever Mum decided by getting into the top percentile.”

“Ah. Did he mean the comprehensive exams or just the specific?”

“Comprehensive.”

“Ah, then you’ll have to take all the exams for each Academy.” Kato tapped his chin with his finger. “That’s troublesome.”

“Oh, why?”

“Well, it would take a lot of time and you’d have to do the written and practical exams for each of them. That will take a while. That also means we have to head over to Rumiga City earlier so you have time to do those.” He started muttering to himself. “Caera won’t be returning there until near the end of the Season. Ancestors.”

“Sorry,” Yuriko whispered.

“No, no. It’s fine. You’d better apply for the examinations as soon as you can.”

“But the town hall is closed. Tomorrow’s the Harvest Festival.”

“Well, do it the day after tomorrow then. Or wait, on the forty-fourth day since offices would be closed the day after. Well, we could leave on the forty-fifth. I hope Marron’s back by then.”

“What about Rami?”

“Matron Rosie will watch over him. Swarm fodder, why isn’t Da here?” he grunted as he smacked his hand on the kitchen island. Shaking his head. “I hope whatever it was they’re looking for is worth it.”

“I just wish he’d come back,” Yuriko said wistfully. “More so, I wish we knew that he’s alive.”

“Don’t worry so much,” Kato said, somewhat unconvincingly, “I’m sure he’s fine.”

_____

“What are we going to do?” Amiri asked anxiously while staring at the viewport. She flinched when the slit-pupil of the eye turned to stare at her.

“Calm down,” Sarra said. “It is…it is not yet hostile.”

No sooner had she said it that the Eye’s pupil expanded so that it was shaped like an almond, then narrowed into a barely discernible slit.

Ptang! Dong!

The vessel shook as something struck it, and the inside rang as though it had been struck like a gong. Virgil’s hands flew to his ears and he winced in pain.

“COME OUT! REVEAL YOURSELF, TRAITORS!”

Balliol shoved Virgil’s back. “...Go…fear…der…”

The still echoing sound drowned out whatever he was trying to say. Sarra stumbled; her leg still wasn’t in its optimum condition. Amiri’s eyes were blazing red, her teeth gritted in anger while Craig clung to the control panel.

Once the vessel stopped ringing, Virgil winced and pulled his hands from his head. “What…”

Before he could say anything else, the Eye started expanding again.

“Rotter, come on!” he exclaimed, running to the airlock.

“Wait!” Sarra gasped. “The vessel isn’t damaged. Don’t open the door!”

Virgil shook his head. “How long will this thing last?”

“Burning Moon! Let’s see what this thing can really do!”

Amiri grasped the control panel, her Animus flared around her, before it funnelled into the absorption studs on the chair.

“Wait!”

The skiffer lurched, pulling against whatever held it down. For a moment, Virgil thought that they would remain stuck but, with a heart-stopping wrench, the skiffer shot out from under the Unformed’s eye and blasted away.

“FOOLS, YOU CANNOT ESCA…!”

The voice faded out after a few moments. Amiri’s Animus heated the room to a nearly unbearable degree.

“Control yourself!” Virgil yelled.

She shook her head and with a titanic effort, she pulled the flaring halo into a controlled cyclone.

“Balliol, get into the chair!”

Virgil sat on the other station and summoned his Animus. Balliol did the same and the Ocean Skiffer stabilized its speed. Amiri’s strength had started to flag but with the addition of the two men’s power, she was able to ease up her usage.

“How long can you keep this up?” Sarra asked.

“An hour,” Amiri grunted. “But we’d all be drained by then.”

Sarra nodded and walked out of the bridge. There was a rear viewport just past the airlock. Virgil focused on regulating his Animus core. Every breath brought in Chaos from the outside and it took all of his focus to make sure it didn’t overpower his Animus. It was worse now due to the fact he was spending so much of it at once.

“I don’t see anything.”

Sarra came back to the bridge after five minutes. The rest of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“This is the first time I’ve seen one of those,” Amiri said. “They don’t seem as dangerous as the Legion made them out to be.”

“Don’t underestimate the Unformed,” Sarra admonished. “You don’t know what they’re capable of.”

“What are they capable of?”

“I don’t know.”

Amiri rolled her eyes while Virgil and the other men grinned. “Fine, keep it a  secret.”

“No, no. That’s not what I meant,” Sarra snorted. “I honestly don’t know. The Unformed are what the Chaos Lords were before they entered the planes and took shape. Or, rather, they are the true lords of Chaos. Each one of them has different abilities and even those could change at a whim. The only constant, really, is that they can shape the Chaos Sea to their will.”

“So can we,” Amiri pointed out.

“To an extent yes. But they are like fish to the sea, while we, well, like humans trying to swim,” she trailed off.

“Nevertheless an apt comparison,” Virgil grunted.

“Well, compare all you want,” Craig said crossly. He had black bags under his eyes. “I need to sleep.”

“I guess Amiri’s pulling double duty next,” Sarra nodded.

“Yeah, yeah.”

Once the other two left the bridge, Virgil shifted in his seat. Providing power to the Ocean Skiffer was a dull job and one he couldn’t do anything to alleviate. If he were on the pilot’s chair he could have amused himself by watching the passing Chaos streams. As it were, he could not forget the vision he saw when they first encountered the Eye.

He dearly missed his daughter who was growing to look more like Sadeen every day. Only, his wife wasn’t such an airhead. No, Sadeen was sly as a fox. Like a lavan berry bush, enticing one to pluck the fruit, unaware of the razor-sharp thorns underneath. No, Yuriko was more like him than her mum but that may be more because Sadeen barely spent time with them.

He never realized that marrying a Mishala Clan woman would involve this. Nevertheless, he didn’t regret it. He had four wonderful children to raise and, well, the love of his life still returned to him regularly.

He was jolted out of his reverie when the skiffer suddenly shuddered. The Animus he channelled into the jade studs abruptly backwashed into him, sending a spike of pain into his palms and forearms.

“What in Chaos?”

“YOU THINK YOU CAN RUN? FOOLS, NOTHING CAN ESCAPE MY SIGHT!”

Amiri grew pale while Balliol cursed soundly. Virgil sighed and unstrapped himself from the chair.

“It was worth a shot,” he muttered. He ran into Sarra and Craig in front of the airlock. He and Sarra exchanged a knowing glance while Craig looked terrified. He gripped his Plasma Lancet tightly.

Virgil formed a small Field around himself, extending less than an inch beyond his skin. He stepped into the airlock and waited for the chamber to cycle before the outer door opened.

Outside, the Chaos swirled in obtuse patterns, dazzlingly bright with different hues. He took a step, imagining earth to step on. A disc of dirt, nearly a pace across materialized under his feet. It disappeared as he stepped off and a new patch appeared where he placed his foot.

The Ocean Skiffer was bound in chains of shadow that extended into the light around them. The Eye was but a hundred paces away, floating above them. It turned to stare at Virgil.

“WHO ARE YOU?’

“A citizen of the Empire,” Virgil said simply.

“A WORM.”

“If you believe so. As you can see, I am not one of the traitors you speak of.”

“YET YOU RIDE THEIR VESSELS.”

“What would you have me do? These are one of the few things that can sail the Chaos Sea.”

“TRUTH. VERY WELL, I SHALL TAKE YOUR VESSEL AND LET YOU GO ON YOUR WAY.”

“That cannot be. We do not have any means to travel otherwise.”

“YOU TRESPASS ON MY DOMAIN. YOU FOLLOW MY RULES.”

“We come in peace.”

“LIES. YOUR KIND NEVER COME IN PEACE.”

“We are not one being. Each of us has our own Will. How may I persuade you to let us through?”

The slitted pupil of the eye drew a bit closer to Virgil.

“YOU SEEK TO BARGAIN?”

“Of course.”

“BARGAINS ARE FOR THOSE BETWEEN EQUAL POWER. YOU. YOU DO NOT QUALIFY.”

Virgil’s back was soaked in sweat and his heart pounded in his chest furiously. But he kept his face calm

“I may not be your equal but the one who stands behind me is. The Eternal Empire of the Righteous Order. You cannot swim in these waters without knowing its power.”

For a long moment, the Eye remained still. And for that timeless moment, Virgil wondered if this was his last moment alive.

“VERY WELL. WE BARGAIN.”

It was all he could do not to let his knees fold in relief. “Tell me, how may we call you and what can we do for you?”

“I DO NOT HAVE A NAME AND I DO NOT WANT ONE. AS FOR WHAT YOU CAN DO… THERE IS AN ITCH I NEED TO SCRATCH AND SOMETHING PREVENTS ME FROM DOING SO.”

Keeping his hands still and his voice even, Virgil talked until his throat was parched. But in the end, he returned to the Rose’s Thorn and they were allowed to continue their journey.