Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Yuriko shook off her melancholic thoughts and settled back into her seat. She briefly considered watching a movie, but upon browsing the selection, didn’t find anything she wanted to watch. Not for the next couple of hours anyway. She glanced out the window and down into the fluffy white clouds.

She’d soared at these heights by herself before, but it was a distinctly different experience to do it within a flying metal machine. The aeroplane wasn’t quite as luxurious as a Chaos Ship meant to be lived in for Seasons at a time, but it was pleasant enough. There were ten seats in a row, four in the middle and three on either end. And she counted roughly forty rows across a couple of decks. There were only a couple of dozen people in first class—considering the ticket price was nearly ten times as much as economy class, it wasn’t at all crowded. She could even see a couple of vacant seats towards the back. Ah, the ten seats in the row were in the economy deck. Where she and the others were seated had barely four or five seats across the space.

Her perception encompassed the entirety of the aeroplane, but she tried not to invade anyone’s privacy. She was quite interested in watching the pilots operate the plane, but most of that involved flicking on switches and watching the instruments after they took off. With little else to do, she settled into pondering the mysteries of the world. That duelist’s technique was interesting and wasn’t at all similar to her own sword Ennoias. For one thing, he didn’t focus on offence. Neither did he focus on a particular kind of sword, which was what Radiant Flying Blades was. Instead, his focus was on footwork, though probably with the caveat of having to hold a blade while doing so.

No matter how much she looked or perceived with her Anima, she couldn’t figure out how he moved from one point to the next. It wasn’t all that overt either, unless he crossed more than a dozen paces at once. Even then, it looked more like the space between one step and the next just wasn’t there. No patterns, no runescript lines, nothing. No discernable esoteric energies either, so perhaps everything was happening within his body or Anima, where she couldn't get a glimpse of it.

She remained on the same pillar assigned, and the boss monster didn’t even try to jump towards her. Her perception wasn’t focused solely on the creature, but spread out amongst all the combatants. She intervened no less than a dozen times over the past five minutes to save lives endangered by recklessness. Most of it from the Sha’ledras marines, actually. They weren’t at the Knight level, and while they all had awakened Anima, it was at the first Growth level at most.

The ships were protected against her senses, though. There was a thin film of energy that repelled her perception. The slightest push and static shock pushed her perception away. She could press, and when she did so, the strength of the electricity increased in proportion.

Most of her interests remained in the duo of archer and duelist. It took a bit, but she determined that both of them shared the same foundational techniques. She couldn’t dissect it from mere observation, of course, and it would take her actually engaging them in battle before she could gain any insights.

The boss monster continued to harass each pillar, switching targets every couple of minutes or so. Even after another hour of battle, it still hadn’t made an attempt to attack her. Its carapace was peppered with jagged holes and craters; most of the damage had been dealt by the archer, Dria. The duelist was named Sandy? Eavesdropping only gave her nicknames…she paid little attention to the musclemen, and the Sha’ledras of the Hartdel Defiant grew quite skittish wherever her gaze lingered.

It took another hour before the battle finally ended. It was Dria who dealt the finishing blow, but only because the others had managed to destroy the boss’s legs. The corpse ended up on one of Hartdel Defiant’s pillars, but as soon as the death throes ended, everyone else made their way there. The Sha’ledras began to gather at their ships, and the wounded marines were brought back from where they retreated during the battle.

Yuriko crossed over and landed next to Gwendith, who was flushed and grinning.

“Had fun?” Yuriko asked quietly.

“Yeah, I guess,” Gwendith chuckled. “It was rather invigorating.”

Considering she spent most of the past couple of hours running and dodging the boss monster and the occasional counterattack, Gwen didn’t look all that tired. Yuriko could feel the other girl’s Anima reach subtly expand. She and Heron were both just beyond twenty paces now, and she wondered if they had the same limits in Actualisation at a hundred paces. She knew that the Concave Ancients utilised Anaflexio when they couldn’t grow their reach organically anymore, but her lovers weren’t exactly natural Ancients.

Yuriko absently patted her hip satchel. The flask of Ambrosia was only about a tenth full—for optimal growth, the more they could take at once, the better the results. That was still more than a year away, probably, and it was also the reason why she was hesitant on just leaving Astoria.

Her show business career was great for increasing her fame. Adulation, obsession…and perhaps even worship, were what created Quintessence, but connections fade over time if she neglected to maintain them. She was able to pull a droplet of Ambrosia every four and a half days now, and the intervals were shrinking. But she knew if she just up and disappeared, the connections would snap. Not immediately, of course, and since Astoria had recorded media, veneration might never fade away completely.

She sighed. It was a moot point at the moment. She didn’t know how to exit Astoria. The last time she was stranded in a similar plane, Irvalla, she had to resort to using a portal to return to Rumiga…

Oh. There was a way back. The Irvallans were invading, and so, there must be a path to their homeland. If she back traced, she could return to the portal site and use it to return to Rumiga!

… but it would also mean abandoning her children.

She sighed and pushed the conundrum at the back of her mind. She didn’t even dedicate a single strand of consciousness to it, as she had no new information to ponder. Forcing her thoughts to dwell on it only meant going around in circles.

Ilvara, Carina, and Devotee met with the others in front of the corpse. The boss wouldn’t begin to disintegrate unless the shard inside was removed. There was a technique used to harvest materials from it, and it would stop the disintegration of the salvage, but it must be applied as soon as the parts are separated from the corpse. Carina said the technique could be used as a spell, a device, or even a consumable like an ointment or elixir. They hadn’t bought any, of course, and the green-haired delver didn’t know the particulars of the spell. They could buy a device or a grimoire when they return to the station.

Evidently, the archer-duelist duo didn’t possess a method for harvesting either, but the delver group did. But apparently, the Sha’ledras either knew a method or had something to use for it, considering how their representative was haggling fiercely with the other three groups.

Yuriko noticed the duelist, Sandy, looking at her with more than passing interest. Hmmm, no, at her arming sword. The Arclight Sword was sheathed at her waist, and while it wasn’t the fanciest of swords, it was serviceable and well-used. That was enough to draw interest from another swordsman, she assumed. He wasn’t the only one who stared, come to think of it. The other group of martial artists had no less than two swordsmen, one with a longsword and another with a greatsword. Sandy’s weapon was a sabre with a handguard. It looked like it had some runescript enchantment, but it was subtle enough that it gave out no visible light.

Seeing her regard, the young man strutted towards her and Gwendith. Her lover noticed his approach and appraised him with pursed lips.

“Greeting…Lady Yuriko?” Sandy said, then glanced at the Sha’ledras, “I assume you are from a different Conclave than the knife-eared?”

“I am not from a Conclave,” Yuriko admitted easily, “and we've crossed paths before with these specific Ancients of the Conclave of Conquest.”

“Conquest?” Sandy mused. “A troubling group. But you're not affiliated? That's rare.” His accent was different from Carina and other denizens of Shangria Station.

Yuriko simply shrugged.

Sandy coughed. “Ah, forgive my lacking manners, I am Alexandros, a wandering duelist. I couldn’t help but notice your sword, and I wonder if you would grace me with a spar?” His words were polite, but he was smirking. Alexandros was taller than she was by about five or so inches, though his boots probably added an inch just from how thick the soles were. He had light brown hair and hazel eyes, and looking at his face, Yuriko couldn’t help but feel a sense of familiarity.

Gwendith sensed the same, but with the billions, perhaps trillions, of people in the Great Continent, there were bound to be people who looked like those she left in Rumiga.

‘He looks like your brother, I think…’ Gwendith sent through a silent, mental communication.

‘Perhaps he does,’ Yuriko agreed. ‘He feels familiar, too.’

‘Coincidence? Is the Davar family spread out across the vast planes, worlds, and realms?’

‘I don’t know, but that side of my family are all wanderers.’ Yuriko admitted, ‘Who knows, perhaps a branch split off all the way back?’

‘Would they even be your relatives then?’ Gwendith chuckled, ‘Probably not, eh.’

‘No, I don’t think so.’

‘You want to fight him? He is quite talented.’

‘I do, but…’

‘Yeah, not quite the right time, huh?’

“I welcome the challenge,” Yuriko finally answered. “Although we should wait until all the business is done.”

“Of course, milady,” Alexandros answered quickly, “after the spoils are done? Or would you prefer to rest until the morrow?” There was a mocking lilt to his tone, and Yuriko couldn’t help but chuckle.

“If anything, it is you who should rest. You’ve fought for hours on end and it wouldn’t be sporting to spar with one of us exhausted.”

“Ah, of course, so gracious.” He nodded. “In the next biome then, upon sunrise?”

“Midmorning would be better.”

“Of course. I accept.” He sketched a bow, spun on his heels and strutted away. Her gaze couldn’t help lingering on his calves and bottom. He was wearing tights, after all. Gwendith elbowed her and chuckled, and Yuriko hummed in thought.

She also noticed Dria glaring in her direction, and she scoffed when Alexandros approached. Yuriko couldn’t quite hear what the two of them said to each other, except afterwards, both of them looked back at her with challenging looks. Huh.

Apparently, Ilvara and Carina finished the negotiations. The Hartdel Defiant forked over several canisters they retrieved from one of the ships. The martial alliance delvers began to carve up the carcass, only using the canisters when they pulled something interesting out of the monster.

Yuriko observed the process carefully as the others joined the butchering. The Defiant didn’t help, but packed up and moved towards the central pillar where the gate to the next layer opened. The portal widened to accommodate the ships, but only after they slotted several shards into the frame.

An hour later, her incarnation body in Astoria jolted out of her reverie. The aeroplane turned and started to descend. But it was still a couple of hours before the landing was supposed to begin.

Desire and Scarlett were both napping, and none of the other passengers seemed to notice. At least until the intercom buzzed.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking…”