Sadeen had grown rather tired after observing the wall for several hours. Having concealed herself at a nearby ridge, she watched as the Wyldlings struggled to breach it. At irregular intervals, a passageway would open at the base and some of the swarmlings and Wanderers would rush inside. The door would remain open for several minutes, allowing dozens to a hundred to enter, and then it would snap shut with such force that anything at the threshold would be crushed.

With some morbid fascination, she watched the Wyldling’s bluish blood seep out of the wall, whose surface was apparently porous enough to simulate a bleeding look. Motes of aspected Chaos drifted from the corpses and were pulled into several funnels that opened up about five paces above the ground.

If she didn’t know any better, Sadeen would have assumed the fortress, or whatever lay behind the wall, used the aspected Chaos to power itself. That was dangerous though, as such Chaos would inevitably degrade whatever filaments and etchings that comprised the runescript weaving. Better to use Chaos Shards and dust rather than the raw stuff the Wyldlings’ corpus was made off. As for those little treasures, they were either retrieved by the Wyldlings or trampled down into the ground.

As for the energy attacks, after a couple of hours, they stopped.

Her connection to her husband still indicated that he was behind the wall, so she knew that she needed to enter. Except, if she followed the Wyldlings inside a tunnel, who knew what kind of kill zone she’d end up in?

However, the gathering funnels were too small, barely a fist wide. She looked up. The wall was tall enough that it blocked out the sun’s rays right after its zenith. She could try to head all the way up and cross it like that.

Looks like it was the better option than going into the tunnels…

Sadeen opened her battlewings and shot herself up into the air. Three pairs of thin, gossamer wings moved her directly upwards and she crossed twenty paces or so for every second she was in the air. she didn’t know the height of the wall, but it was probably more than a league. The wind grew fiercer and colder as she ascended, and her proximity to the wall meant she had to struggle with a crosswind.

Thankfully, her battlewings and robe protected her from the inclement weather and conditions. The air thinned as she got up higher, and it grew harder to breathe. She twisted her Animus to compress the air around herself, gathering the dispersed air within a hundred paces of her location.

Upwards she flew, and all the time she was worried about the Whisperer’s attack. None came and that only made her more nervous. Still, it didn’t take that much longer until she saw the top of the wall. And with a burst of anticipation, she punched through the covering clouds and emerged in the sunlight.

“Fallen Sun,” she muttered darkly.

The wall reached not much higher than the clouds, but…it was actually an entire building, not just a wall! The stone extended all the way as far as she could see. It had a slight slope, so it was actually more of a dome than a flat ceiling, and there were certainly no openings that she could see. Plus, from how the ambient Chaos moved across the dome, who knew what sort of tricks and defences this place had against a flier?

Slightly dejected, she moved just a bit closer to the wall until it was within her reach.

“Oh?” she murmured. There was an Animus flow underneath the stone. It was just visible to her Chaos Sight. Unable to help herself, she reached out with her hand…and as soon as her fingertip touched the stone, Animus flared.

A powerful force pulled at her, but she had just enough control over the ambient Chaos around her that she was able to resist getting splattered on the wall.

Hexagonal patterns appeared right in front of her, and the next moment, an opening appeared. It was a tunnel, and it visibly sloped downwards. Sadeen’s eyebrows rose as she beheld the path.

“So it seems the Threads of Fate want me to enter,” she murmured. She glanced around her, but only saw the endless sea of clouds. Shrugging, she slipped in, alighting as she did. The tunnel wasn’t wide enough to accommodate her battlewings, so she folded them back into her robe.

As soon as she stepped inside the tunnel, Sadeen felt a prickling behind her. Her eyes widening, she spun on her heels, only to find the Whisperer careening towards her. Sparkles of light shed from an oval screen, clearly a camouflaging technique.

How did the Chaos Lord hide from her senses?

Sadeen stumbled back in shock even as Whisperer’s fingers were only inches away. The wall slammed shut and severed the Chaos Lord’s arm up to the elbows. At the same time, the floor beneath Sadeen turned steep and extremely slippery.

If she had not been surprised, if she even had a little bit of attention to her surroundings, there would have been no way for her to slip and fall. As it were, her slippers slid against the surface and Sadeen landed on her bottom. She careened down the slide and by the time she got ahold of herself, her speed was already breathtakingly fast.

A glance back up showed her that the path had been sealed, but still, she worried. A Chaos Lord’s Corpus was merely a shell, and their true consciousness lay within their Anima. If the Whisperer had compressed her consciousness, her core, into her hand, then there was a distinct possibility for her to reform her body around the severed arm rather than her body regenerating a limb. Not all Chaos Lords were capable of that, but the possibility existed. Still, what kind of intelligence did this place have that it reacted instantly to both of their presences?

“I think I need to get to the Core and find out,” Sadeen muttered as she slid along. It took much less time going down the slide than flying up the wall, and by the way her ears popped, she reckoned that she had found herself back on the ground level, or close enough to count. The slide levelled out and she slowed naturally and came to a stop right next to a doorway. Convenient.

Getting to her feet was easy so she did so and dusted her bottom. She fixed her clothes primly before she climbed out of the side and exited the chamber.

_____________

She Who Whispers in the Light stared wordlessly at the wall in front of her. The material wasn’t plain stone but was mixed in with varied gems, metals, Nyctferrum, Orichalc, Electrum, and Blythe’s Silver. Among other things. The sheer value of the materials within this thing was worth more than a kingdom.

Still, the potent mix meant that her Domain was blocked by it. Anybody’s Domain would be limited in such a way unless they had the key.

Her left arm ended in a stump but she barely paid it any mind. Instead, her focus was on the severed limb, on the other side of the wall. Anima, Animus, and Domain were blocked from crossing it, but a Chaos Lord’s Anima was different. More specifically, hers was different from a typical Marchioness. Her Ennoia of Light…

Behind the thick wall, on the floor, ignored by the fortress’ animating spirit, the flesh writhed. Every particle quivered and changed, melted into goo, and then joined together. It sculpted itself into a small figure, the very likeness of the Whisperer, except it was only eleven inches tall and completely naked.

The homunculus opened her eyes and grinned.

____________

Yuriko woke up half suffocated by how tightly Gwendith had her limbs wrapped around her. Sometime during the night, the other girl managed to use Yuriko’s arm as a pillow, then she hugged her tightly and squeezed, nuzzled, and nibbled. All in her sleep.

Having someone lying on her arm all night meant that the limb was well and truly numb by the time she managed to wiggle it out from under the trap. Pins and needles up…ah!

Escaping the snuggle was harder than she expected, and Yuriko had to resort to using her kinesis and her pillow. But she managed it after a while. Gwendith gave disgruntled murmurs but continued to sleep.

With a wry smile and a soft caress across Gwendith’s brow, Yuriko left her bed and did her morning ablutions. Her mind already whirled with what she had to do.

While she couldn’t hear the thudding of the cannon shells, she knew that the night hadn’t been peaceful. The skies remained dark, however, with low clouds and incessant drizzling. A fortunate side effect of the Dome being fully active was that it also kept the rain away…

On the other hand, they needed some of that precipitation for the plants, right? Hmmm.

Breakfast was ration bar porridge. Again.

It was always ration bars now, and not even a bit of spice to change the flavour. The herb garden had been denuded and given over to create more bars, and the process stripped it of all taste. Still, the fabricator could make a bar from a handful of parsley or onions and the resulting matter would be nutritionally balanced enough for growing kids and elders alike. If the taste weren’t so bland she would have been more interested in the process and how to replicate it.

Chaos-shaped food is similar, Damien cut in. Not without a lot of knowledge and training to impart flavour. Even then it’s not really worth the effort.

‘What, do you just shove your food and swallow without tasting?’ Yuriko shot back sarcastically.

No need to eat, you know. Once you’ve reached the proper threshold. All you need is ambient Chaos and the Will to use it. Damien chuckled for a few minutes before his voice faded away.

“Has Saki come back?” she asked Ryoko.

“No, my lady. But I don’t think she’ll be out too long.”

“Did she even return last night?” Yuriko frowned worriedly.

“No, my lady.”

“Ancestors! She shouldn’t have!”

“You gave her a task. She will complete it,” Ryoko said with a bright smile, which made Yuriko feel even more guilty.

She sighed, “I don’t mean that she couldn’t take breaks!”

“Oh, don’t worry, young mistress,” Ryoko chirped. “We know how to take care of ourselves. How can we serve you our entire lives otherwise?”

“You…you don’t need to do that.” Yuriko’s mouth was suddenly dry.

“But we insist.”

Yuriko closed her eyes and grumbled to herself. She should find their binding threads and sever them so that they aren’t forced like this! She was just about to sink into the dreamscape to do so when…

“Young mistress, I have returned.” Saki materialised out of the shadows and made Yuriko jump in her seat.

“Ancestors, Saki! Don’t frighten me like that!”

“Hie hie, apologies, young mistress, but don’t you see me with your glow?”

“Not when it’s dispersed like this!” Yuriko groused.

The most she could perceive were movements, shapes, and patterns. Colours were practically muted, and concealment via an Ennoia of Shadows would definitely go unnoticed.

If she really wanted to make sure nobody would sneak up on her, Yuriko should keep her Anima flared out and fully dense. However, that meant that her own defences were compromised. That and she would be glowing bright enough to catch the eye. She’d rather be discreet, for now.

“You’ve found it?” Yuriko asked eagerly.

Saki nodded solemnly. “Yes, young mistress, but…there are complications.”

Yuriko shook her head. “I expected as much. Are the emplacements far away?”

Saki nodded. “Yes, but that’s not the only thing.” She shook her head, “Let us head over to the town hall and the maps so I can mark the emplacements.”

“There’s more than one?” Yuriko asked sharply.

“Yes. There are four with at least twelve cannons between them, spread out over a wide area. And,” Saki said grimly, “All of them are under cover. Only the muzzle is exposed, everything else is under several dozen inches of stone and earth.”

Yuriko clenched her fists. But then, she grinned. This was also a challenge.