Chapter 581: Book 9-11.3: Diversions

“That wasn’t a dream, was it?” Yuriko murmured as she paced around the tower’s roof. The clouds weren’t dark today, and there was no feeling of imminent lightning strikes. Their battle hadn’t been that destructive, but she was sure she left some marks when she tempered her Anima and body with lightning. Since there were no signs left, it either didn’t happen as she remembered, or the tower repaired itself.

The first meant that she would have to revisit every memory of hers and search for discrepancies. Not something she could easily do, and she felt that casting doubt on her own sanity would be debilitating. The second was far more likely, and that Sage had just left. What was he again? A Progeny? Of what though?

Fate Spinners. A class of Primordial.

‘Primordial? That thing that attacked Mum back in the Pure Lands?’

That was a lesser Incarnation of a Primordial. Damien said. I remember a bit more now. A lesser Incarnation has a tiny fraction of the power of its original self. A thousandth, at most. You cannot face a true Primordial yet, not unless you’ve ascended to God-Monarch. Ah, that’s too far from you now, don’t mind it. That monkey, on the other hand, is a distant descendant of a Primordial, a Fate Spinner Primordial, though I can’t tell which. Much like you are.

‘Huh? What do you mean?’ Yuriko thought back sharply.

Your Progenitor.

‘She’s a Primordial?’

Close enough. Heh. It’s her secret to tell, even though it was I…

Damien’s voice faded away and Yuriko realised that her Radiant energy reserves, as well as her core, were suddenly empty. She fell to her knees, gasping, while the world around her spun. The edges of her vision blackened and she reached out with her mind towards the sky, and towards the surrounding ambient Chaos.

‘Radiant!’ she thought furiously, and the surrounding motes of Chaos bent to her Will, igniting their inert pieces and subsuming themselves to fuel her needs. Ambient Chaos swirled around her, transforming into Radiant energy. The excess power turned into light, which shone all around her, giving the misty surroundings a golden hue. She gasped and breathed in the light, and refilled her reserves. The Radiant Essence within her, which had sputtered and faded, flickered back to life.

Radiant energy seeped out from every bit of her, funnelling towards her core. Her body and mind were aflame, and soon, she was glowing like the Radiant Sun. The stones beneath her began to steam, then to melt. Her Anima expanded to its full reach, and stretched out even further, inch by inch.

“Ahhh!”

Lighting struck from the clouds and skimmed around her Anima, grounding itself on the stones. But she understood it was a mere reaction to the extreme amounts of Radiant energy she summoned and subsumed.

Finally, after several minutes, her core spun with Radiant light, and the Animus stored within was tinged with it. The Ennoia lattice around the spherical core seemed thicker and more intricate. By all signs, she’d progressed in her training significantly, but…

That was too dangerous. She felt herself within an inch of death, and her insides had been as cold as a grave.

‘What in the Abyss, Damien!’ she yelled at the man, but got the impression that he hadn’t even heard her. He had sunk into the recesses of her mind and gone back to sleep. She turned to the other consciousness residing within her Anima, seeking answers, ‘Fri’Avgi?’

The artefact’s animating spirit materialised in front of her, spinning in the air and showing off her colourful robes and butterfly sleeves. ‘Master! What is it?’

‘Damien…did you hear what he said?’

The spirit, which was about the size of a six-year-old kid, and about as tall as Yuriko’s waist, tilted her head in confusion, ‘He said something?’

‘About Primordials…’

Fri’Avgi jumped up and slapped her palm over Yuriko’s mouth, even though she wasn’t actually saying anything out loud but talking to the other with her thoughts. ‘Shhh! Don’t talk about them! Not here! You’ll draw their attention!’

‘But I haven’t said any names!’

‘Oh! Er, right! But even the concept of their names, their nature, has a chance to draw attention. You…’ She stared into Yuriko’s eyes. Fri’Avgi’s irises were the same golden shade as Yuriko’s hair, and they reflected her pale face, ‘You got drained, didn’t you? Stupid Dame-dame! Talking of things he shouldn’t have. Don’t worry, little Dame, the fact that you spent all of your Radiant energy meant that you’re safe. Look!’ She pointed, and Yuriko could see the residue of her old energies, spun in grand patterns so large she couldn’t see more than a part of it. The remnants were already fading away, but she thought she saw a likeness to her Adamant Guardian Seal in it. ‘You instinctively protected your Anima and this place from their attention. Well done! You might have some of the old Dame-dame’s potential in you.’ Fri’Avgi yawned, ‘I’m gonna go back to sleeeeeep…’

The spirit’s image dove back into Yuriko, fading to nothing a couple of seconds after they touched. Her Anima reach had gotten to a full nine paces from her skin, and she felt her Radiant Body Refinement had actually progressed by a little bit, instead of regressing when her body was drained of Radiant energy as she expected. The last time she examined her body with her Anima while in meditation, she got the impression that there were miniature cores within each little part of herself. When she briefly envisioned them now, they were slightly brighter, and a tad bit larger. She judged her refinement completion to be about 54%. It was still some distance from the minimum threshold, but it was getting there.

She stared at the stones by her feet, where she was sure she melted some with her Radiant heat. But no, the stones were immaculate, and when she activated Chaos Sight and used her Anima to perceive the smallest details, she could see a hint of runescript weaving. Repair functions. So that's what had happened and she wasn’t losing her mind. Good to know.

She took a deep breath and stepped off the roof, landing in the courtyard with little fuss. The others had finished setting up camp, and most were either resting or maintaining their weapons and gear. She wondered if the horses would enter the underground without protest and whether it was safe to rebuild the wagons.

“What’s up there, Yuri?” Heron came over beside her while her mind wandered.

“Hmm, oh. Nothing,” Yuriko said.

“I saw some light. Gold. Yours?”

“Yes.”

He stared at her for a long moment, then asked, “Is there danger?”

“None for now.”

“But it could come?”

Yuriko smiled softly and answered, “It can always come.” She nodded towards the tower entrance. “Wanna look inside with me?”

“Sure.”

The opening was roughly four or five paces wide, and it led into a dark chamber. She and Heron spread their Animas to light up the place, with hers encompassing his aura easily. The edge of his condensed Anima was as tough as his muscles, with a little yield so it didn’t feel exactly like stone.

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The tower was hollow. She stared up, but as far as she could see, there were no floors, or any features for that matter, until the roof. So why was this so high then? There was a spiralling stairwell on the western side, hugging the wall, and descending into the depths. The stairs meant that wagons weren’t going to work, and she wasn’t sure the horses would tolerate going down either. Ah, speaking of stairs, she recalled another set hidden in the corner of the courtyard.

Putting that off for later, she headed towards the stairs and descended, with Heron a couple of steps behind her. The steps were placed awkwardly, just a bit longer and taller than usual, and if not for her perception aura and sense of balance, she might have tripped…

“Ahhh!”

Heron’s toe stubbed on one of the edges, and in an attempt to catch his balance, tripped over his own legs and careened towards her. Yuriko caught him with her kinesis before he could topple, but overestimated his weight, so he bumped into her back. She braced against the steps, pressed her Animakinesis against the wall and the lower steps, and managed to prevent both of them from tumbling head over heels down the stairs.

“You alright?” she asked once Heron managed to catch himself.

His face was beet red and he mumbled, “Yes. Sorry.”

“It’s fine.” She chuckled. “These things are awkward,” she grumbled.

“Yeah.”

Little else was said while they continued the descent. A few minutes later, they arrived at an underground chamber, a rectangular room that was still completely dark. However, she noticed that the walls had carvings on them, and there was rubble pushed against a corner.

She approached a wall and looked at the carvings. Her Anima pressed against it, and even went past the surface layer, checking if there were hidden messages made out of embedded wires, metal, or simply different coloured stone. It didn’t look like there was anything hidden though. Only then did she look at the actual images.

“I can’t understand this,” Heron muttered. “Old Imperial text?”

Yuriko stared at the carvings and after a long moment of study, agreed. “Yes, Old Imperial. It’s…a set of directions, I think.” She examined the words and found a starting point. “Beware the Underways, for they grow as the years go by. All manner of monsters dwell, held down by the light of the Radiant and the touch of the Luminous. All that dwell in the depths are anathema…”

“That’s ominous,” Heron muttered, then eyed her strangely as she continued reading out loud.

“Do not let the anathema reach the surface, for those who can bear the light of Radiant and Luminescence bear no good Will to mortals and Ascended alike. The paths to the outposts can be reached by following the orichalcum petals or the electrum thorns. The flowers for the shield, and the thorns for the sword…” Yuriko frowned.

“A bit obtuse for directions, aren’t they?” Heron snarked.

“Yes, it seems like it.” Yuriko shook her head. “But at least it gives the path to follow, doesn’t it?”

“Right, but what does orichalcum look like, and electrum?”

She was about to answer that she didn’t know either, but Fri’Avgi piped in, ‘I’m made out of orichalcum. Well, some of me, anyway.

So Yuriko summoned her artefact to hand. “This is the colour of orichalcum. As for electrum… er, I’m not sure.”

“Hmmm, hard to follow the clues if we aren’t even sure what they look like, isn’t it?”

Yuriko shrugged. “At least there are clues to follow. I thought we’d have to just follow the tunnels. That’s how we did it last time.”

“Weren’t you and the others guided by the Avos?”

“That’s true. Well, this is good. I’ll continue reading…”

She went through the entire chamber but found little else of note. The warnings and the paths weren’t clarified, although she figured out that the ‘shield’ the passage meant was Synkrasia. Sage said that the direct path was blocked, so they’d just have to see.

Ah, she did find another stairwell, but that one was blocked by rubble. She supposed that it was the set that led to the courtyard, though an entrance outside of the tower was built didn’t really make logical sense to her. But, maybe there had been more structures than just the tower before.

As they made their way back up to the surface, Heron said, “I’m glad you no longer get your headaches when you read.”

“Huh? Ah…” Yuriko blinked at him owlishly. She didn’t recall ever telling him about that. Her childhood best friend, Krystal knew about it, of course, back when she was still in Sharom. Did she gossip? Hmm, that was the same as asking if water was wet. Ehehehe. “No, it's not that simple, I think. I still have trouble with books, but carvings on a wall are much easier.”

“Ah.”

When they got back up to the surface, Heron said, “Well, that was… fun.”

“Sure, if you think tripping on your own two feet and nearly bringing both of us down the stairs, fun,” She giggled.

“Ah, sorry.” He said sheepishly while looking morose. Yuriko reached up and patted his shoulder.

“I enjoyed your company.”

“So did I. Er, I mean, I enjoyed yours too. Hah…”

Yuriko just giggled and sought out her place in camp. There was still a little bit of light left and she could fit in a training session. She rustled up her trainees and did light physical conditioning, and then remedied the lack of versatility with how her people used Empowered Strike. It wasn’t easy breaking old habits, but she thought that they made good progress before dinner.

The next morning, all of them, horses included, struggled their way into the tower and down the odd stairs.

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