Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 10-10.2: Nexus Point

Boom! Booom! Booom!

Flames blossomed near the ceiling, igniting the rafters and showering the theatre floor with embers. Screams filled the air, as well as panicked squeals and pained screeches. Yuriko’s mandala prevented the flames from touching her, but the heat was rolling in. The cloth covering the seats caught on fire, too.

“Gwen!” Yuriko yelled, but her friend had already expanded her Anima and was diverting the heat from the nearby flames.

Most of the f...

CoESC Book 10-10.1: Nexus Point

The trip to Lindorn was short. It was a mere ride on the railway that lasted for less than half an hour. It was the trip back that was in question, Yuriko realised, as the theatre of moving pictures would play well into the evening and the railways didn’t operate that late. The solution was rather simple, and had been presented by Douglas Hart, who had inserted himself into the foray, along with Darren Worrington, who was still pretending to be a man.

“Why don’t we rent a hotel ro...

CoESC Book 10-9.3: Shadowless Nights

“What did you say! How dare you…!”

“What can someone like you know…?”

“You dare!”

Sheamus concealed a chuckle behind his hands, though Yuriko noticed it anyway. Eleven of the students, except for Douglas, were shouting, while he was frowning.

“Silence,” Yuriko said softly, but with the word infused with Will and her Mien, all of them found their mouths suddenly snapping shut. “I see a simple demonstration is in order.” She held out a finger then...

CoESC Book 10-9.2: Shadowless Nights

Yuriko examined the packet of papers that had been given to her a couple of days ago. It had been a week since they arrived in the Karcellian Isles, and she spent most of it in the library. She hadn’t been this studious even back in Sharom, but examining the varied runescript formations had been quite enlightening.

The papers were her passport and explained her status as a foreign guest. That she was considered an Outsider wasn’t mentioned as she thought it was supposed to be a secr...

CoESC Book 10-9.1: Shadowless Nights

The next morning found Yuriko back in the college. According to the agreement forged, she, Gwendith, and Sheamus, as well as some of the marines, would take turns teaching promising apprentices to create an Animus core. As the apprentices were already awakened, in a sense, all that was needed was allowing them to create an internal storage. There were many methods and disciplines, and Sheamus know the majority of them well.

As an adventurer from the Coalition of Independent Planes, he w...

CoESC Book 10-8.3: Flowing

Yuriko’s first reaction to seeing such threatening runescript formations was to thicken her condensed aura to prevent Animus from being siphoned from her. The density of the ambient Chaos in the room was higher than outside, but it was still lower by several orders of magnitude when compared to the amount her flared Anima possessed.

The formations flared slightly, and the expected attempt to drain didn't come. Instead, she saw the two Archons and Douglas Hart stare slack jawed at her ...

CoESC Book 10-8.2: Flowing

The cabin was certainly homely. From the front door, it opened into the combined dining and kitchen, and a short hallway at the back led to the three bedrooms and the shared bathroom. The furnishing was modest, but looked quite sturdy. And, perhaps because it had been a while since the last occupants lived here, there was a fine layer of dust on surfaces other than the floor. Cursory cleaning had been done, but no more than that.

Yuriko didn’t mind so much, even though she felt a bit ...

CoESC Book 10-8.1: Flowing

Yuriko simply blinked at the Third Archon’s statement and chuckled softly. Edison held in his laughter, too. Hysterical laughter, almost. From the looks of his Lordships, they didn’t believe everything he’d reported. But then again, who would? This young woman who was only halfway into her second decade was a war veteran and had more blood in her hands than most field commanders thrice her age. Those long weeks on the Wheelwright had been boring and he’d spent most of that time talkin...

CoESC Book 10-7.3: The Karcellian Commonwealth

They arrived in Lindorn after several hours of travel. The landcraft Yuriko boarded only had room for three or four passengers, and Edison was on the front seat. Gwendith joined her, of course, while the rest of the convoy followed behind their lead.

For most of the trip, Edison droned on and on about the country’s government structure as well as what’s expected of them. Yuriko sighed at the tedium, but tried to understand what he said. The country was ruled by a council of nobles a...

CoESC Book 10-7.2: The Karcellian Commonwealth

When Yuriko woke up, it was to the gentle sway of the waves. The porthole above her head showed a false dawn, as well as an endless stretch of blue water. Gwendith was in the other bunk, which was a narrow strip barely wide enough for a single person to use. Asami and Desire were assigned to the top bunks, but only the Chaos Lord was there, sleeping to conserve her meagre energies.

Yuriko rolled into a seated meditative pose and sank into a self-reflective fugue. Her Ennoia’s lattice ...

CoESC Book 10-7.1: The Karcellian Commonwealth

The flag on the pole portrayed a trio of lightning bolts grasped in the middle by an iron gauntlet. Yuriko could just see the details on the nearest ship, which was still several longstrides away. Enhanced Sight brought everything to a focus and she noted that even the smallest warship was at least twice as at least twice as long as the Wheelwright, but was much narrower. The impression she got was as though it were a blade cutting through the water. The ship was slowly moving southward, but ...

CoESC Book 10-6.3: Perilous Crossing

The process of getting to the Wheelwright was more convoluted than Yuriko expected. First of all, there was no going through the crowd at the docks. Second, Edison needed to contact the boat, and he couldn’t do it while they were in the open. In the end, they trudged towards an inn, which was practically overflowing. They waited outside while the Karcellian mage pushed his way inside and presumably, towards a messenger crane, or some other communication device.

Messenger cranes didn�...

CoESC Book 10-6.2: Perilous Crossing

The innkeeper, the pudgy woman who was at the reception when Yuriko and the others arrived, rushed into the common room and confronted the warriors, yelling and gesticulating fiercely. The woman spoke a mix of her country’s language, along with a smattering of Karcellian. The odd word or two mostly concerned coins, foreigners, and rare guests, as far as she could tell.

The uniformed warrior, some kind of constable, maybe, looked a bit shamefaced at the innkeeper’s haranguing. At the...

CoESC Book 10-6.1: Perilous Crossing

The weakening of the feeling she had was less like a disappearance and more like an obfuscation. Yuriko knew that whatever it was that was pushing her to get to was still there, but it was no longer pulling her towards the northwest. It wasn’t pulling at her from any particular direction at this point and its presence was like an itch she couldn’t reach.

“What’s got you all sour?” Gwendith murmured as they alighted from the car.

“Hmmm?”

“You’re scowling,”...

CoESC Book 10-5.3: Contact

Out of his bag, Edison Matthews pulled out a sheet of white paper as well as a writing instrument. A fountain pen, as far as Yuriko could tell, was filled with dark brown ink. The older man was quick to sketch out an outline on the paper. He spent a few minutes on it, which turned out to be a rough map. Yuriko committed it to memory though she wasn’t sure if it was accurate. Definitely not to scale.

“We’re here.” He left a dot in the lower end of a roughly square shape. South of...

CoESC Book 10-5.2: Contact

True to Edison Matthews’ word, the nearest farming village, which took them about an hour to walk to, accepted the bundle that the dark-haired man offered, and welcomed them with open arms. Yuriko felt a bit uncomfortable not knowing what he said to the villagers, but with her perception aura up, and her Mien working in the background, she knew that any hostility would be curtailed. At least until they left her influence.

Most of what she projected through her Mien was simply a need t...

CoESC Book 10-5.1: Contact

It had taken Edison Matthews several days to cross the Sanctus-Richmond border. Well, he could have snuck across, of course, but since he held a Sanctus Kingdom passport, it would be a waste if he threw the advantage away and got caught as a spy. The kingdom had always been neutral in the conflicts across the Irvalla Region and with good reason. Nobody wanted the scant valleys they occupied within the Arc Mountainous Region, as an invasion would cost too much in terms of life and resources th...

CoESC Book 10-4.3: Iron Rain

Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Decryption using known ciphers.

Glory xx the Tyrant

Wertford captured x - day ahead of xchexxle. Procexx xx north coast in xx xxx. Request Sky xxight suport.

Alxxxx arxx fexx to xxxx and massed near Crizania-Norrinth border. Encirclement in xxxxxxx.

-Rutherford Baxxinger

________

Intercepted Confederate transmission.

Internal communications captured post decryption.

Glory to the Tyrant.

Section L...

CoESC Book 10-4.2: Iron Rain

The sensation of being watched lasted only a few moments before disappearing. Yuriko looked around, but figured that the logical place it came from would be towards the ruins on the hill.

Even so, she couldn’t see anyone looking.

She was tempted to flare her Anima to its full brightness, as doing so would undo whatever stealth technique of whoever was in reach. None of the marine scouts had been able to weather the revealing light when they tested it, so it was safe to assume it...

CoESC Book 10-4.1: Iron Rain

The feeling of being watched persisted for a few minutes before it disappeared. It did leave Yuriko with lingering disquiet, and the feeling that if they didn’t move now, they’d be found soon. However, it was still light out, and the woods dropped off into fields as they went farther south. There was a lovely range of snow capped mountains ahead, where she figured they could lose any pursuit.

It was rather frustrating to run away from such weak opponents, but their weakness was only...

CoESC Book 10-3.3: Limits of Power

A few hours after dawn, Axel jolted awake at the sound of petrol engines as well as tracks crunching down on shrubs and…

Crack! Thud!

And of tanks running over small trees.

There had been a light drizzle during the night, and the morning was quite nippy. Steam puffed out of Axel’s breath, even though the dry season would be coming in only a few weeks or so.

He crawled out of his bedroll and looked for the war machines, finding them just a couple of hundred...

CoESC Book 10-3.2: Limits of Power

The fighting wore on until twilight. Axel Voight was huddled behind hasty fortifications while the Richmondian soldiers fired shots towards the wall every few seconds. He’d been observing the riflemen’s bullet reserves and he wondered if there would be enough to last the rest of the battle.

The capabilities of the witch and her fiends was unknown, but with the copious amount of occult resonance still extant, he wasn’t counting on them running dry anytime soon. The artillerists onl...

CoESC Book 10-3.1: Limits of Power

Following the witch’s trail was trivial. All Axel Voight had to do was activate his vision cantrip and the blazing sun that was her occult resonance shone through the trees and undergrowth. But as they climbed up the hillside, the stiff-lipped Storm Leader Rorn Dussel was getting antsier by the minute.

“Where are they retreating to? Uphill is the crest, but then, the southern side is filled with cliffs nearly fifty cubits high,” he muttered. “They’re putting themselves in a co...

CoESC Book 10-2.3: Strangers

Axel Voight murmured under his breath, and discreetly made the proper hand sigils. And at the same time, he sent his focus into his casting ring and activated the reactive malachite. The small green stone began to smoulder, allowing him to power his cantrips.

From one blink of an eye to the next, Axel’s vision changed. And almost immediately, he found what it was that was giving the stiff-lipped Storm Leader the shivers. A few dozen cubits from where they were, behind a thick copse of...

CoESC Book 10-2.2: Strangers

“Master…” Desire murmured as Yuriko fed her a droplet of distilled Chaos. It had taken Yuriko nearly a couple of hours to produce one through painstaking meditation. It would have taken her just under a minute otherwise at 1 iarvesh, but the ambient Chaos of this realm was so thin that most of her efforts had been to gather what little there was from the air. She half suspected that most of that actually came from what each of them shed naturally, and it was a process she’d rather not...

CoESC Book 10-2.1: Strangers

The morning muster was ongoing. Chief Storm Leader Rorn Dussel waited patiently in his quarters while his Junior Storm Leader organized Second Company. The 3rd Mechanized Infantry Division was part of the 2nd Strike into Norrinth. The 1st Strike had already commenced yesterday. Fifty Divisions of tanks and field guns went through supposedly impossible terrain and managed to bypass Norrinth’s Barsten Defense Line. According to the reports, they were now pushing through the Norrinthian countr...

CoESC Book 10-1.3: Strange Hills

Skreeee!

The screech echoed into their corridor and Yuriko glanced back. Of course, the only thing she saw was the far wall, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that another rift had formed from the siphoned Animus. She wasn’t actually sure if the only exit to that chamber was the corridor they were using, so she figured she’d have to go back and make sure that whatever had come out of the rift would be dealt with.

“Go without me. I’ll return soon.”

“But…!...

CoESC Book 10-1.2: Strange Hills

For Section Leader Axel Voight, the constant tapping of the telegraph keys in the office was a familiar and comforting sound. His morning had started slow…though considering the state of the Confederacy, such slow days were to be treasured. The instruments in front of him went through their current cycle, and he paid only marginal attention to them. Instead, he had the newspaper spread out in front of him, alongside other dispatches. It was always interesting to note what the public and com...

CoESC Book 10-1.1: Strange Hills

Yuriko had expected the experience of going through the portal in Synkrasia towards Siderious would have been smooth and instantaneous. After all, she witnessed the Warforged going through the portal one after the other, in quick succession. So the process should have been instant. But maybe, because those things looked practically identical to each other, she might not have noticed the gap.

Back then, she could see through the portal…or perhaps it had only been a reflection? When the...

Book Break!

And with that, we conclude Book 9! Anyone want to throw in their thoughts on what's going to happen from this point? We LOVE reading the discussions on Discord!

That said, we'll be taking a week off to put together the first bits of Book 10 and possibly plan out a second series that we'll be running here as well. We've been throwing ideas back and forth for how to execute that other story and we might have something going already.

The break will be from April 24-28 and we'll be ba...