Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 5-3.1: Ebon Horizon

Even as the sunshard pierced Rhain’s eyes, the crippling pain faded away and he felt his Anima pulse. The roots of his black yew Geist tightened around his core, a sphere of fertile earth with tufts of green grass growing on the surface.

The presence had returned and the pressure slowed time enough that the last instants of his life stretched on into eternity.

The roots moved until the jade circle around his core was visible. The proof of Sorcery. On the circle were carved the W...

CoESC Book 5-2.3: Goodbyes

The earth wave carried hundreds of warriors, and from what Yuriko could see, they were mostly human. Each wore deep green tabards, with a sigil of a silver barked tree bare of any leaves. She could even see the Sorcerer, Rhain, in the middle of a formation. His eyes glowed with a multi-coloured hue, a mixture of browns and greens, with a spider’s web of black. Those eyes stared into Yuriko, even from a distance of several hundred paces. “Give it to me.” The words couldn’t have reached...

CoESC Book 5-2.2: Goodbyes

It began the next day.

They must not have gone north far enough. They found the northern road and started to follow it. After all, why would they walk on mud, bushes, or swampy water if there was a better alternative?

Yuriko had just finished her morning warm up and meditation, soaking in what little sun there was. She had to cut back on the Radiant Tempering simply because she didn’t want to drain her reserves. She’d done the arithmetic in her head.

Summoning a sunblade...

CoESC Book 5-2.1: Goodbyes

“Can you not wait for another day?” Otlaca begged as Yuriko and the other Davars packed all of their gear and readied themselves to leave.

It had been nearly a week since the battle and there were no signs of Lucentian reinforcements. The absence of even a messenger didn’t bode well and none of the runners Otlaca and Irseso sent ever came back.

The fort just outside of the isthmus, where the Tiath and Vizugmon armies were, had grown noticeably more formidable. The palisade h...

CoESC Book 5-1.3: Family Affairs

The next couple of days passed in a blur. For Yuriko, recovering from her injuries took the bulk of her time. The wounds on her body were relatively easy to fix, though she would have been beset with hunger from overusing Recovery. But upon Damien’s request, she took a sip of Ambrosia instead.

The several canisters of the amber liquid turned out to be worth its weight in jade, at least for her. Not only did it stave off the need to devour her body weight in food, but it aided in the r...

CoESC Book 5-1.2: Family Affairs

Layla Grehan Davar calmly observed her niece.

Yuriko was tall, having inherited the Davar height. She, on the other hand, was quite a bit shorter than the average Davar woman and it irked her that the girl was already an inch taller.

Yuriko was definitely young, in the first half of her teens, at least that’s what the dossier on the bounty claimed. She should be fourteen years old today. But from how lean her musculature was, it was hard to think so.

Layla absently checked...

CoESC Book 5-1.1: Family Affairs

The winds howled across the plane of Bella. It was the latter half of the Season of Air, or as some preferred to call it, the Season of Winds. Precipitation, rain that sometimes turned to hail or a flurry of snow, battered the forlorn encampment near the swamps of Matahil. Inside a roughly made earthen house, a man’s rage whipped just as strongly as the winds.

Rhain Hervard, a Jade Circle Sorcerer, howled as his wounds oozed blood. That accursed woman! His Geist could barely aid in cl...

A Little Sneak Peek

Before we continue on to Book 5, here's a long overdue treat!

Galaxy Rinrin, the artist responsible for bringing Yuriko from words to art, created this book cover! We'd been meaning to post this for ages but we kept getting caught up in the writing and editing plus offline life that it just kept getting pushed back.

She's been working on our next character reveal--based on polls on our various platforms--and we look forward to sharing with you the next bit of character art!

...

CoESC Book 4-23.3: Cycles

Marron glared at the corpse at his feet.

The Iron Skin warrior had a large hole burned through where his right eye had been. The only expression on his face was surprise and none of the fear that he would have felt. If he had taken more than an instant to die anyway.

The past year had been a great ordeal. His transfer from the Watchtower to Fort Aegermonth took longer than he expected and when he managed it, Niamh took even longer to get her transfer papers done.

It had been...

CoESC Book 4-23.2: Cycles

“This isn't over yet,” the ice queen hissed. She inched closer to her teammate while keeping a wary eye on Yuriko.

For her part, Yuriko called the sunshards to her side. Only five were left, and the glow emanating from each was growing dim. The shards landed along Fri’Avgi’s blade and she felt them call to her, begging for more Radiant energy.

She had precious little to give.

Their initial formation had taken nearly three-quarters of her reserve and the cloudy skies ...

CoESC Book 4-23.1: Cycles

The sunblade shards responded to Yuriko’s slightest impulse. As soon as she saw the ice and fire arrows, the shards revolving protectively around her shot up into the sky and smashed apart the falling Animus projectiles.

Haxe had pushed off against the ground and created distance while Rhain was bloody and beaten, but his eyes still shone with avarice, riveted to Fri’Avgi. His control over the leaves hadn’t been broken and they continually danced around him. Every time a shard sla...

CoESC Book 4-22.3: Chaos and Fire

The night raid had been a disaster.

For one thing, Yuriko stuck out like a sore thumb. Radiant energy spilled from her skin no matter how she controlled her Anima. She didn’t notice it before but in the darkness of the night, on a moon that was moving towards Dark, her skin glowed just enough that she was easy to make out.

If she flared her Anima, it would be as if she carried a torch, and it was worse when she created a sunblade. Even when she summoned Fri’Avgi, in the privac...

CoESC Book 4-22.2: Chaos and Fire

The next day, Yuriko found out the casualties from the two battles.

Five hundred seventy-three wounded, two hundred five dead. Of the five hundred, nearly half would need a long recovery time, while the remaining had wounds minor enough that it didn’t take more than an evening to recover.

That morning, the last rites were performed for the dead. They were wrapped up in canvas and buried in a hastily erected mausoleum. After the war, they would be exhumed and moved back to Lucent...

CoESC Book 4-22.1: Chaos and Fire

To Yuriko’s sight, the Sorcerer’s Animus was made of thin threads that spread out like a spider’s web. They connected to leaves, twigs, grass, and a few vines. The leaves created an edge; though those were made of ambient Chaos she knew they were no less sharp. Worse, the first leaf that hit her condensed Anima left a small crack.

The man’s grin widened and he gestured with his fingers. Unlike the Vizugmonian Elders, he had no qualms using his men to harry her.

Yuriko hiss...

CoESC Book 4-21.3: Clash

The strain of holding the sorcerous working for so long and the stability needed to ferry more than himself had Rhain wanting to tear his hair off his head. But it worked. An army of five thousand ferried across nearly eighty longstrides from Lardel Keep to Matahil in a matter of hours instead of days.

As soon as he received word that the advanced force had flouted his orders, he rushed his reinforcements. The enemy would likely assault the entrenched forces and it wasn’t as if the Lu...

CoESC Book 4-21.2: Clash

The Vizugmonian fortifications were built on a small rise and all of the trees around had been cut down and turned into poles for the palisade. The campsite was large enough to hold nearly three thousand men, Yuriko thought, but how far she was from them, she couldn’t really make out the details. They built a few dozen paces from the road, and the earth around them was bare.

‘Was that hill there before?’ Yuriko wondered. No, that looked new. So they built up a rise in the past day...

CoESC Book 4-21.1: Clash

The path was filled with Vizugmonian warriors, though the majority were young recruits or those with barely a year of service. Wing Leader Gezirr sighed as he considered his command. Most youths chose to become delvers instead of joining the armed forces as part of their mandatory service upon reaching their majority, mainly from the fact that doing so usually meant more Denari in the pocket.

Delving was much more dangerous, too, but then again, they weren’t expected to drill and patr...

CoESC Book 4-20.3: Prelude to Battle

‘Safety.’

Masa’s fevered mind focused only on her countrymen as she staggered onto the road. She had been hiding in the wilderness for weeks, avoiding the native devilbeasts and snake-men patrols alike. She couldn’t take any more.

Her food had run out within the second day and she had been forced to grub from fruits and berries. It was nearly the wrong time of the Season for it and more than once, she had to choke down food that had been lying in the dirt for days. She had...

CoESC Book 4-20.2: Prelude to Battle

“We’re better off running than riding these nags!” Aidan grumbled while he rubbed ointment on his bottom. “Really, we should have gotten to Lucenti City already, but now we’re still in Viterra territory!”

“We need to follow the road,” Layla said while she started the campfire.

The circle of runescript she made was practically indecipherable to Riley but everytime she did it, he marvelled at how a tongue of flame hovered above the dirt. There was no need for fuel an...

CoESC Book 4-20.1: Prelude to Battle

From Yuriko’s vantage point, the Vizugmon patrol simply rushed into battle without any ado. Even though she and the Lucentians held the high ground, they took one look then started to advance. The patrol had the advantage of numbers, but Yuriko didn’t even feel a twinge of danger from them, not even when their bodies started to glow with Animus.

The strange thing was, the Animus did not stay as simple light. They morphed to form varied beasts. The majority were of great cats, tigers...

CoESC Book 4-19.3: Arrivals

The Chaos Streams smashed against the Ebon Horizon’s Protective Field, though the kinetic impact still bled through which caused the turbulence that threatened to make Captain Lauretta’s attendant’s face turn green. The boy, who was barely out of his teens, tottered as he grabbed a support bar to the bridge’s side. Lauretta glanced at him with some concern, hoping that whatever comes out of his mouth wouldn’t paint the indoors brown.

As for the turbulent streams, they were to ...

CoESC Book 4-19.2: Arrivals

In the middle of the night, Lardel Keep stood as a beacon in the dark. Bright lights shone from the windows of the hybrid fort. One part was the stone walls, but a majority of the construction had been centred on the Great Trees, Adaviren trees, much like most of the cities and towns in the plane.

Rhain Hervard stood nearly a longstride away, along with a contingent of Vizugmonian warriors. The cat people looked at him uneasily, and well, they had good reason. For one thing, he wasn’t...

CoESC Book 4-19.1: Arrivals

“Riley, get below decks!”

The shout was barely audible to the young man while he gawked at the Chaos Streams flowing above the Ebon Horizon’s barrier.

“Riley!”

“Yes, yes, I’m coming!” Riley muttered after his aunt yelled at him for the fifteenth time.

The trouble with getting assigned to the same ship as his family members was that they were unnecessarily bossy. He was a merchant marine and Aunt Layla wasn’t even technically his superior nor was his o...

CoESC Book 4-18.3: Anger and Hostility

The sunblade flew through the air, back into Yuriko's hand as she ripped out the rest of the vines entangling her ankles. She pulled on it with her other arm and kicked with her legs, but it ultimately took the burning edge of her weapon to cut herself loose.

She had to stop that tigerman before he summoned more vines. The remnants were still giving her trouble.

The darkness of the night and her glowing countenance made sure that she was a target. More and more crossbow bolts impa...

CoESC Book 4-18.2: Anger and Hostility

Twunk! Whoosh! Twunk!

Dirt and pebbles flew over Yuriko’s shoulder as she dug a hole in the ground. It was around a dozen paces wide, and nearly a pace deep. She needed to dig a bit deeper, at least another pace, before she would be done.

On the other end of the pit, Rhox was also grimly digging into the soil, using a hoe to loosen the hard-packed dirt. They were just outside the village, outside of the protective berm that didn’t do anything to ward off the savage ma...

CoESC Book 4-18.1: Anger and Hostility

Everything seemed to slow down as the crossbow bolts flew. The second dance came to the forefront and Yuriko could feel her instincts pull at her body. And her Anima. Lift the blade here, twist sideways. Take a step to the side. Condense the Anima here. Now strike!

The next moment, the sunblade sheared through near a dozen bolts while the rest smashed into the carriage. The bolts that weren’t intercepted by her blade bounced off her hardened Anima.

“Ach!” Rhox yelped.

...

CoESC Book 4-17.3: Paths Taken

The hawk narrowly dodged through the leaves and branches as it zeroed in on the shelter. A moment later, it landed on the roost and patiently waited for someone to notice its arrival. It didn't take long before someone came and took the scroll from its back.  

The hawk tore into the meat presented as a reward even as the man opened the scroll, clicked his tongue and left. Maybe an hour later, another scroll was placed on the carrier. The hawk was launched back into the air, despite...

CoESC Book 4-17.2: Paths Taken

“Welcome, elder Yuriko of the Davar! I apologise for not being able to see you sooner, I was out on a hunt!”

His Excellency, Gonir of the Oska, ambassador of Viterra City stood at two and a half paces and towered over Yuriko by nearly a pace in height. He was wide enough to make four of her, too.

Not that he was fat, or rather, he had fat but from the way he moved, it was layered over hard muscle. Gonir’s residence was on the opposite side of the palace from the Tiath ambass...

CoESC Book 4-17.1: Paths Taken

It took a couple of days to secure an appointment with the ambassador of Tiath City. In the meantime, Yuriko spent most of her days training and meditating. Her Anima expansion had reached twenty-five inches from her skin and she was more than halfway to having it expand to a pace away.

Damien had been close-mouthed with what was needed to advance to Knight, and neither the Academies nor her Da had told her what it entailed either. Admittedly, she had been too young back then and it wou...

CoESC Book 4-16.3: Rising Tension

A stiff breeze blew through Yuriko’s hair, making it flutter back like a banner. The footbridge she was on swayed with the wind and nearly made her stumble. She easily regained her balance, however, without the need to grab onto the guide ropes as some pedestrian’s had done.

The marsh was nearly twenty paces below, while the canopy was another fifty above. The leaves rustled and it reminded her of the waves in the cove she had found herself in when she first came to Kogasi. Broad le...