Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Yuriko nudged Scarlett and Desire awake.

Both women jerked slightly at her touch, and while Desire immediately honed in on what the intercom conveyed, Scarlett glared blearily around for a long moment before she heard the announcement.

“...a state of emergency has been declared in the State of Prismatic Light. Flight 458 is rerouted to the closest airport, Thornton National Airport. Rest assured that Astorian Air will bring you safely to your closest destination and apologise for events beyond our control.”

The captain repeated his statement once more before the intercom silenced, though the rest of the cabin erupted in angry and worried mutters.

“What do you think happened back home?” Scarlett muttered and Yuriko gave her a flat look. Scar looked blank for a moment before she reddened. “Oh, right.”

“We might have taken too long to return.” Yuriko muttered.

“It’s not our responsibility, Mas…Lily,” Desire said softly. “We are neither soldiers of the realm, nor are we law enforcement.”

Yuriko sighed. “Agreed. But I’d hate to lose my investment.”

Scarlett looked puzzled but Desire nodded. “What are your plans, Lily?” the Chaos Lord asked.

“It would be a pity to lose our home, so we should head directly to Neo Prism City once we land. On foot if necessary, or with a car if possible. I don't think other public vehicles would travel to the city if the plane won’t.”

“That might not be the case. Cross country buses might not, and probably not the train either. Not the regularly scheduled ones anyway,” Scarlett said. “I hope Bril and Speedy are alright,” she continued.

The pair had left for Neo Prism City a few days ago while she and the others stayed to follow the alibi of being on vacation. She supposed they were already in Neo Prism by now considering they also took a plane. Also, the state of emergency must have begun during the flight, and it must have been severe enough that it progressed within a couple of hours. She could only assume it was the Irvallan invasion.

Logically, she didn’t need to participate, but her blood was starting to heat up. How long has it been since she fought in a war? The last time was in Rumiga several Seasons ago, and while that had been terrifying while in the midst of it, in hindsight, it was quite stimulating.

‘That old pervert’s sensibilities again,’ she grumbled to herself.

Damien was a warmonger, and he felt pleasure akin to sexual intercourse while fighting for conquest. She had not figured out it was how he felt until it had already seeped into her subconscious. Conquest was his Truth. It wasn’t hers, but having lived in her mind for years…

Either way, participating in the war as Regalia would bolster that identity’s fame. Veneration to her cape personality was but a drop in the bucket compared to what she received as Lilibeth Lawson, but every little bit helped. Besides, the nice thing about Astoria’s technology was that she didn’t have to parade herself all over the place to win acclaim. Mass media made it a lot easier.

Then again, she had a bone to pick with the Irvallans…or more like, the Richmond Confederacy. She could taste their hand in this invasion, even if it was deep beneath the surface. She heard Karcellian accents when she eavesdropped on the soldiers, and last she saw the Crimson Apes, they had built an accord with the islanders. It would have been peaceful coexistence at worst, mutually beneficial cooperation had been sought. It seemed that when she and the others left Irvalla, the confederates managed to turn the war around. Pity. She remembered how stubborn and aggressive they were when she first arrived and when she left. A bone to pick, indeed.

Hmmm. Perhaps she really should consider counter-invading. She could access the portal she used to get back to the Siderious…no, that actually threw her deep within Rumiga. She wasn’t sure if the tunnels underneath were still intact after everything that happened. It would still be a way back to Rumiga, however, even if she had to abandon her efforts in Astoria.

That pulled at her heartstrings. Home. But Kato was still lost. She might have grieved for his death, but she hoped he still existed, in one form or another. She hoped she could bring him back…

The aeroplane started to descend over the course of an hour. Her true body wasn’t all that busy and spent that time with the boss corpse harvest. She had more than enough strands of consciousness to spare so she mostly ruminated on future goals and possible ways to reach them. One was to get home to Rumiga without spending a century doing so. The second was to find out if she could recover her brother. And third, perhaps most importantly, to find and secure her unknown children. The last one she had no idea how to do at the moment…though, come to think of it, all of her long term goals had so many steps missing that they might as well be dreams.

The airport came into view. Thornton City was about two hundred twenty longstrides from Neo Prism City, and only a dozen from the state border. She couldn’t see anything untoward from the window, but then again, there are a bunch of craggy mountains between Thornton and Neo Prism.

Oh.

Were those smoke plumes? They looked thin and wispy, but they were from far away. The plane’s angle of descent and heading soon brought the smoke out of sight. Soon enough, the plane landed and they were allowed to deplane. At the exit terminal, they were met with an Astorian Air liaison who said, “Come this way please we’ll get you all situated so you can rearrange your plans…”

Yuriko and Scarlett exchanged glances, then joined the crowd. They had to wait for their luggage—bought in Naradon to further the disguise—anyway. Yuriko pulled out her smartphone to check what happened in Neo Prism, but her attention was caught by a news broadcast before she could unlock her device. The widescreen television set mounted on a wall in a waiting lobby a couple of dozen paces away showed the broadcast, and while it was muted, the subtitles told the entire story.

“Unknown military forces in command of monsters and conventional forces, armed with high-tech weapons and gear, struck across the Prismatic State. Several towns have been reported occupied and Neo Prism City is under siege…”

The newscasters showed several video clips of the hostile action. The footage was shaky and looked like it came from a phone camera. Featured prominently on the screen was a Crimson Ape as it pounded a car into a flattened pulp in the middle of the road. There was a red puddle near the bottom of the screen, and the person holding the phone was running away. The video cut out as the runner turned around a corner. Another video followed, also shot by a phone camera, and showed a group of Irvallan soldiers marching down a road towards a square.

Next, was aerial footage that captured a rift in midair. Hundreds of controlled Crimson Apes marched out of that one. Another video, another scene where a bigger portal showed several platoons of Irvallans marching out, followed by tanks, personnel carriers, and logistics trucks. That video abruptly cut out into an explosion, followed by static, then a blank screen. From there, the broadcast cut to the newscasters who showed horrified expressions.

“Ah, that was live…” Yuriko muttered.

“Eh?” Scarlett poked Yuriko’s side.

She shook her head, then spoke to Desire mind to mind. ‘Dee, scout towards Neo Prism. Find out what’s happening on the ground. Don’t get caught.’

‘Yes, Master.’

Desire slipped away from the crowds and entered a restroom, whereupon once she had privacy, she slipped through the layers of reality. From there, the only connection she had with her bound Chaos Lord was the sense of direction and general wellbeing.

They followed along with the crowd, which eventually led them to the luggage carousel. From there, they lined up for hotel placement, where they had until tomorrow to make arrangements. All in all, it took another three hours to get out of the airport, and another half hour through heavy traffic to reach the hotel—Thornton Heights—which would have taken her all of two minutes to stroll to. Annoying.

Once they were situated in a room, Yuriko coated the walls with her Animakinesis to ensure privacy.

“So what now?” Scarlett preempted.

“Now, we have a decision to make,” Yuriko hummed. “Both of us could go…but I’d like to keep my identity separate from my cape persona.”

Her friend and sometime lover frowned. “Lily, you mean to leave me behind to act as what, a decoy?”

“That’s one way of doing it,” Yuriko answered, “I’m open to ideas though.”

“No one sane is going to enter a warzone,” Scarlett pointed out. “And why are you so attached to…nevermind, I get it.”

Yuriko grinned. Who wouldn’t enjoy being wealthy and famous after all? Well, not really for her, but it seemed to be a pervasive Astorian dream, wasn’t it? If not for the Quintessence and Ambrosia, she wouldn’t have minded leaving all of this behind. But Damien’s last warning, though quite vague, still bothered her. And gaining power was the best way to assuage any ill feelings. Ambrosia was a shortcut that she couldn’t use in bulk more often than once or twice a year, but her companions needed empowerment too. She didn’t want to be put into the position of having to prioritize their defence over everything else. Just those awful moments after they entered the daemons’ nest was enough to last her a lifetime.

“Well, we could both go anyway,” Yuriko offered, “but I’d still like to preserve my career.”

She idly accessed the Network through her phone and checked her mailbox. There were several messages from Pixel Fairy, most of which were commiserations on the invasions, as well as well wishes. Her agent was quite thankful that she happened to be out of town when everything fell apart.

Scarlett shook her head. “No! I’d be of little use. What were you planning to do anyway?” She squinted at Yuriko. “Are you going to kill all of them? I know you’re strong enough. The gods know how you grew that powerful, but you are.”

“I could,” Yuriko admitted, “but…”

“You aren’t a soldier. You aren’t legally allowed to kill. And we aren’t part of the Protectorate or affiliated either.”

“I don’t think affiliates are allowed to kill either,” Yuriko said dryly. Besides, she couldn’t see fourteen year old Brilliance being allowed to kill humans. Huh. Wasn’t that a bit hypocritical of her? She was certainly the same age or younger when she took her first life.

Astorian sensibilities were different from Imperial ones, however, and she was sure they hadn’t been raised to fight for their lives against Chaos and other threats.

“Go. I’ll cover for you,” Scarlett said with a sigh, then she added, “Give me Tories.”

Yuriko mock gasped. “You only want me for my riches!”

“Dont’ you know it,” came Scarlett’s monotone words.

“Heh.”

Yuriko opened her banking app on her phone and transferred twenty thousand Tories to Scarlett’s account, then, to make sure she wouldn’t have any trouble, she grabbed all of her physical bills, roughly five hundred Tories worth, and handed it over.

“What about you?” Scarlett asked, moment of levity done.

“I’ll fly over if I can’t withdraw any Tories from an ATM.”

“No, if you’re going as Regalia, have Lilibeth stay here.”

After a moment’s thought, Yuriko nodded.

“Good luck,” Scarlett jumped and hugged her then kissed her cheek.

“Thanks.”

After that, Yuriko changed into her costume, though she no longer had a helmet. She formed a domino mask to cover the upper half of her face, then braided her hair, and looped it into a tight bun. She scanned the hallway outside, and when there was no one there, she covered the security cameras with Animus constructs to cut off their light. She made her way to the roof through the stairs, then flew up to the clouds.