The next couple of days passed by in a blur. Yuriko’s classes had been cancelled and the students were preparing to weather the coming Chaos Storm.

“It’s expected within five days,” Master Alfein announced when she met them in the classroom. “Classes will resume afterwards. For now, prepare your emergency supplies and make sure you stay indoors as much as possible.”

She passed out pamphlets that gave safety protocols for before, during, and the immediate aftermath of the storm.

“Continue practising your Animus manipulation exercises during the storm,” Master Alfein continued, “as long as you’re inside the shelter. You’ll find it easier to do so than otherwise. Dismissed.”

Yuriko read through the short pamphlet. The very first thing listed were warning signs that the storm was imminent. In the upcoming days, the Radiant Sun would be overshadowed by powerful Chaos Streams. The main difference between the storm and what was usually seen at night was that the streams would move in the same general direction. That and the atmosphere would reflect it.

However, within the hour of its coming, the skies would return to normal. And when it came, the planar barriers would crack.

“This doesn’t happen across the Zarek,” Yuriko muttered.

“That’s because it’s usually far from the storm,” Emyr replied.

Yuriko looked up at him, blinking in confusion.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t realize I said that out loud.”

Emyr gave her a slight grin. “It’s alright. Most Chaos Storms lash the areas near the planar barrier plus the Tidelands on Rumiga’s western edge blunt any storms coming in from that direction. Here, the Chaos channel ‘neath the mountain acts as a conduit. It practically makes any storm worse”

“Oh, I didn’t know that, thank you.”

“No problem.” Emyr glanced behind him. “Er, how’s your Animus manipulation technique going?”

“Well, it’s progressing,” Yuriko smiled. “I’ve almost gotten through the first tier.”

Emyr nodded. “You’re quite gifted.”

Yuriko just shrugged and gave a slight smile in return. Everyone kept telling her that, but it felt hollow to her.

“Pardon me, I have to return home.”

“Of course.” Emyr nodded with all of his gangly awkwardness.

He was quite different from his older brother, Yuriko idly thought as she grabbed her bag and left the classroom. The pamphlet continued to list down some necessities she should consider packing. Rations and water were one, just in case she suddenly found herself trapped somewhere. A weapon and forceweave clothing.

“Do they expect us to fight the storm?”

“In case of a beast awakening,” Emyr piped up again from behind her.

“Er, thanks.”

She saw Orrin when she arrived at the entrance hall. The blonde boy spotted her at almost the same time. His eyes darted behind her and then narrowed.

“Yuri!” Orrin bounced up to her. “Headed back to the Willow?”

“Yup, then I’m off to shop.”

“What are you getting?”

“Ration bars.”

“Er, ick?”

“Bad as they taste, they’re the most compact and nutritious food that’s easily portable and would never spoil.” Yuriko pointed out. “And, er, I’m grabbing a bunch of spices too.”

“May I suggest the Provisioner’s Lane?” Emyr butted in again.

“Oh, who’s this?” Orrin asked flatly.

“Emyr Kinnock,” Yuriko introduced, “my classmate.”

“A pleasure.” The silver-haired boy nodded to Orrin but with the difference in their heights, Emyr was practically looking down at the other boy.

“Orrin Foster.”

“What’s in there?” Yuriko asked easily.

“You can buy ration bars at Holtzer Hall easily enough but for quality spices in sealed containers, you’ve got to purchase them from the best suppliers. Those can last you for decades and the spices would be as fresh as if you’ve just bought them today,” Emyr answered.

“I see. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Would you like me to point out the best places to buy there?”

“I’m sure I can manage.”

“I see. Well, I’m at your beck and call,” Emyr bowed again before he finally left.

“What’s with him?” Orrin asked quietly.

Yuriko shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

The two of them parted ways when they reached the Academic Roundabout. They agreed to meet after lunch at the campus main entrance so they could go shopping together. Yuriko brisk walked back to the Willow with most of her mind focused on Damien’s words.

When she thought about it, it made sense when he said that straining her Anima was the correct way to go. Marron and Kato described to her how they advanced before she left home half a season ago.

Facet improvement or unlocking and inlaying a new Facet was the typical way to go about it. A proper Heritage was vast and almost impossible for a child to use in its entirety, hence the Facets. By unlocking a tiny bit of it, the Heritage was much more manageable. Thus, improving a Facet meant unlocking more of the Heritage that was already connected. Inlaying a new Facet meant that she’d have to search for an aspect of her Heritage and proceed to unlock from there.

Unfortunately, her Heritage was so obtuse that she couldn’t get a proper read on it. Even her current Facet was mostly unknown. She could use it, but of course, she didn’t understand it. That meant she couldn’t go the way of improving her current Facet to advance to Apprentice. Not without a lot of meditation, deduction, and discovery.

“My Heritage consists of clear guideposts,” Krystal had said to her one time, “All I have to do is head over, read the instructions and do it. It helped that it’s my Dad’s so my path is practically the same.”

“Mine is of multiple burning loti,” Mikel said when Yuriko asked him. “I take the seed and plant it in a different part of my Anima.”

For the two of them, they already had the necessary qualifications to advance. However, for Krystal, she wanted to advance in a different direction than her guideposts, and for Mikel, he wanted to understand more of his first Facet before continuing. They just needed to decide when to do it and it would be done.

Yuriko envied them.

She arrived in her room soon afterwards and she changed out of her uniform and into a blouse, hoodie, leggings and a short skirt. She penned a quick note to Mikel on a messenger crane and sent it on its way. Afterwards, she headed to the cafeteria, expecting to find Krystal and the other girls there.

She picked up lunch on a tray that had a block of compressed ground beef fried in hot oil, a couple of dinner rolls, a small platter of leafy greens, and a mug of sweet tea from the cafeteria counter and glanced at the tables. Krystal and Danika weren’t there though Maryn, Ishika, and Millie were.

“Hiya.”

“Oh, hello, Yuri!” Millie smiled.

The four of them settled down to eat though Yuriko didn’t pay much attention to the others’ chatter.

“...well, we’re on holiday until next week, probably,” Ishika said brightly. “I don’t know about you but I’m more than ready for a break. Haaah! I’ve never had such a busy schedule even back in preppy!”

“That can’t compare at all,” Maryn protested. “Besides, it’s nice to finally learn more about our Heritages. I think I’ll be ready to advance by next week. My cap just reached fifty.”

“Oh, you got less than fifty in the Ritual?’ Millie asked.

“Forty-nine!”

“Ouch!”

“Yeah, well, I had to buy a Zoi elixir from student affairs. It made my stomach hurt,” she whined.

“At least you’ve got your Heritage ready to boost you up,” Ishika said. “I still need to work on mine. I think I need to inlay Empowered Strike before I continue.”

“You could advance then inlay?”

“Master Dinia said I should inlay one offensive and defensive option first. That’s going to eat up my reserves though.”

“Why would he say that?” Yuriko couldn’t help but ask.

“Huh, oh. Well, you know my Facet is actually similar to Leader Yoran’s and the way she used lances of light to cut down those Wyldlings was so cool! Master Dinia said that I should inlay Empowered Strike now so that when I improve my Facet, I could focus on making those two techniques work together!”

“Oh.”

“What about you, Yuri? Are you advancing soon? You’ve got the highest cap amongst us!”

“Sadly, no. I still haven’t progressed in improving my Facet. It seems my Heritage is an older one and it’s not easy finding out how to advance through it.”

“A pity,” Maryn said slowly. “Well, take your time, it’s not as if we’re on the front lines right now.”

“We’re in Sharom,” Ishika said. “We won’t be put into combat unless we ask for it.”

“Yeah, but that’s a bit boring though,” Yuriko said.

“Huh. I admire your grit but I’d rather not look for trouble.”

“To each her own.”

Mikel hadn’t replied by the time Yuriko finished lunch, and with Krystal and Danika absent, she assumed that it had something to do with classwork. Well, it was time to meet with Orrin, and probably Braden, anyway.

She absently patted the safe pouch under her shirt. She had a hundred Sovereigns in there--a single silver crown an octagonal coin with milled edges and a small hole in the middle. She had about ten Sovereigns worth in her belt pouch, too, in silver pennies, and copper marks, though she doubted she’d need to use the smaller denomination. Hopefully, it would be enough to purchase her necessities.

She briskly made her way out of the dormitories, around the Academic Roundabout, and into Learner’s Pass. There was a gatehouse with a resting area not too far from the actual gates. Not seeing either twin there, she picked an empty bench and continued with her thoughts.

Since she didn’t have a guidepost or a handy object to pick up, then it was up to her to find a way. She’d spent weeks trying to inlay the sword pattern in her mind but still no luck. She closed her eyes briefly to envision her Anima and check on her Heritage lines.

“Eh?”

She gasped. The sword pattern’s glow had diminished. She could barely make out the parts she’d already inlaid from the rest of it and it seemed…dead to her. She prodded at it with a strand of pure Animus but aside from a brief flare-up, nothing.

“Great,” Yuriko muttered.

She leaned back and sighed. The skies were dark and what she could see from under the partial roof were the striated dark clouds and the deep purple and blue hues of the Chaos streams. The light of the Radiant Sun barely passed through the cloud cover, and along with the cold wind, made her shiver.

“Focus, focus.”

Damien said that she neglected training other aspects of her Anima, specifically, those for power and for endurance. Well, he called it extrusion and persistence but she thought that was what he meant. The first probably referred to how much Animus she could use at one go and the second how long she could keep the same Animus active.

Most of her training, especially before the Atavism Ritual, was in getting the most out of her limited supply. She had about ten lumens worth back then, enough for three shots out of her Plasma Caster. Only when she used melee techniques did she consider how persistently she could use her Animus. The sword dances had terrific reusability.

Starting the technique needed five strands. She only used as little Animus as she could get away with on each strand. The dances were all about control, and the thicker the strands, the harder it was to do so. As evidenced by her attempts with the braided cords, it was much more difficult that way.

“I should work on extrusion then.”

The problem was that she didn’t know how to identify Anima strain. How would she know that she had done enough? Would she have to train until she passed out from having an empty core? Da had always emphasized that she should never leave herself completely empty.

Perhaps...draining her Animus in one go was the way to do it?

No, no! That’s too dangerous! Especially now that the Chaos Storm is coming. Well, perhaps she could try it after the storm, just before she slept. For now, she should focus on her manipulation exercises, and maybe figure out an extrusion exercise.

She held out her hands, palms facing the sky. She pulled at her core, drawing as much Animus as she could in a single strand. She managed a tenth easily, though when she moved it, it was sluggish. It didn’t help that she kept it Pure.

She pulled more out of her core, into the strand. Lumen after lumen, though in truth, she could barely discern how much a lumen’s worth of Animus was. Soon, she held a fifth of her entire reserve in a fat ball hovering outside her core but still within her Anima. She willed it to follow along her shoulder and into her arm. Down to her forearms, then her wrist. To her palm, and then…outside!

Golden light shone past her skin as the Animus bubbled out of her palm. She couldn’t extrude too far away from her skin, keeping it a mere couple of inches away otherwise it would start to disperse. She formed it into a flat disc, spinning above her skin. She kept at it, adding a bit more Animus every now and then.

She kept her eyes staring, unblinking. The edges of the disc grew as she added more to it, until, eventually, it passed the threshold.

It kept right on spinning. It was Pure Animus, untainted by any kind of Intent. The only imprint is that it is hers. It was golden. She kept it up for a few minutes, until the edges started to fray, and the golden sheen lost itslustrer, turning into a redder colour.

With a thought, she pulled the disc from the centre, down into her palm, and into her body. She could feel it. Cold from the Season of Air’s chill. Windy.

About half of her Animus had been stained by the ambient Chaos, losing much of what made it hers.

“It’s in a halfway state?”

It wasn’t her Animus anymore, bereft of her Intent as an anchor, Pure Animus dissipated into the ambient Chaos once it was too far away from her Anima.

“By making it spin, it got tainted instead?”

Holding the ball of Animus inside her, she estimated it contained nearly a third of her entire reserve. Quite a lot to just let go of. She gathered the remaining Pure and pushed out the tainted. One side of the ball turned to her usual gold while the other side started to change. It became redder and redder until it shifted hues into a pale green. Acting out of instinct, Yuriko squeezed the ball and the green intensified, eventually separating from her Animus.

The ball shrunk by a third and the green-tainted Animus was minuscule--a single mote of light. Green light. That looked like the motes of light from a Wyldling’s shard. A mote of green light that came into her body from when she used Fri’Avgi to kill swarmlings, Wanderers, and that Hunter.

“Distilled…Chaos?”