Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 3-20.1: Battle Lines

“Fire!”

The thunder of the Plasma Carronades nearly deafened Heron, who stood right next to it.

“Fallen Sun!”

The cannoneer swore as smoke rose from the barrel even as the ball of superheated plasma flashed across the distance, erupting in a fountain of fire.

“Aiieeee!”

Three barbarians were caught in the blast, hair and clothes aflame as they rolled on the snowdrift, trying to put out the flames.

It was too late though, Heron thought, their ski...

CoESC Book 3-19.3: Sudden Silence

“Hey! It’s the muscle girl!”

Yuriko blinked in confusion as she joined Stormwalker Century’s formation. The legionnaires near her turned to look, grinning and chortling. Yuriko felt herself redden as she looked at the man who blurted that out.

The legionnaire, a Decanus from the sigils on his uniform, raised his hands placatingly.

“I beg your pardon, but yesterday afternoon was quite memorable, and since we didn’t know your name…”

“Yuriko Davar,” sh...

CoESC Book 3-19.2: Sudden Silence

The blizzard hid everything from view. The flurries of snow and the powerful winds made sure that any creature caught outside would either turn into icicles or seek shelter. Yet, silhouettes crossed the ridges of the Frozen Tundra, unheeding of the cold or the wind.

Surt, Chief of the Iron Skin Tribe, led a cadre of five thousand blooded warriors as they tramped down the falling snow. He was bare-chested with a mantle of bright red fur covering his shoulders, the only splash of colour a...

CoESC Book 3-19.1: Sudden Silence

“So, I hear you’ve been complaining about the Fort’s policies?” Commander Perry asked, her voice a low-pitched rumble.

Yuriko glanced at Gwendith who visibly gulped and took a step into the office.

“Yes, ma’am. We’re not satisfied with spending the entire three weeks of internship peeling potatoes!” Gwendith’s voice started weak but grew in strength until she was almost shouting by the last couple of words.

“Hmmm, calm down, Cadet Sharine.”

Gwendi...

CoESC Book 3-18.3: Iron Skin

The hustle and bustle of the camp as it readied itself for war was nothing to Thaer. As a warrior fresh from his Binding Ritual, he spent the next few days in ritual cleansing. There was a waterfall a few longstrides from the camp, and in the midst of the Season of Water, much less the frozen north, it should have been a curtain of ice.

However, there was a cave behind the falls and inside was a small pool of nearly boiling water. Thaer left his clothes on an outcropping and submerged h...

CoESC Book 3-18.2: Iron Skin

The Asheron Court. Like the Telurian, it was located near the plane of Rumiga, near the Tidelands, but not so close to be easily seen. For the Seeker of Delights, the differences between the two were as stark as night and day.

The Telurian Duke, One Who Watches and Waits, ruled the court with an iron fist masquerading as a light touch. The Asheron was a motley collection of lesser nobles with no one powerful leader. Instead, three Marchionesses balanced responsibility, passing power to ...

CoESC Book 3-18.1: Iron Skin

Thaer Surtsson stomped down a path between the Bicorn hide tents. The snow tamped down with a satisfying crunch beneath his boots. After several weeks of walking, he was finally back to the Gathering Place, T’Pyun.

Tribesmen gawked at his coming, eyes widening at Thaer’s grey skin, hardened by the Binding Ritual. The Bicorn’s centre horn was the only thing left of the head: a thing that was just a bit longer than Thaer’s arm and would no doubt make for a powerful spearhead. It w...

CoESC Book 3-17.3: To the North

Those six days of travelling, holed up in the troop transport for the better part of the day, blurred in Yuriko’s memories. They stopped once every couple of hours, at a waystop to relieve themselves. Unlike when they took the Commuter Tram, the transport did not stop at any of the towns along the main road. Instead, they trundled until they reached the last town they could get to before dusk. Troop transports, much like any other landcrafter, required sunlight to augment the engines. They ...

CoESC Book 3-17.2: To the North

“Haaah, I really hate early morning send offs!” Kato yawned.

Yuriko yawned in sympathy, though she had ample sleep time yesterday. “Thank…thanks for being here.”

“Like I’d let my little sis leave without a proper goodbye,” he scoffed.

Yuriko held a smile. It was nearly an hour before dawn and they were waiting in front of Vinze Hall’s grand entrance. In the gathering of students, only she and her friends Heron, Braden, and Orrin, were first years. Most of t...

CoESC Book 3-17.1: To the North

“You don’t have to take that posting you know?” Master Alfein said to Yuriko when she came to the end of term Guidance.

Yuriko mentioned that she wanted to accept the volunteer mission to the north, at the border forts. The number of merits gained would be a basic one per day and she could receive more if she did well in her tasks.

She didn’t decide to go north out of the blue, actually. Senior Kale told her about it the last time they sparred in Martial Sciences.

�...

CoESC Book 3-16.3: Intrigues

Perhaps it was because of the Daffodil Cotillion that happened just six days ago, but the 5th Day of Water, the celebration of the Empire’s Founding, was far less exciting for Yuriko. They had the day off from school, and they were ushered into the open-air theatre in the middle of the Central Reserve where they were forced to watch a play documenting the events of the Founding and, of course, a bit of the Shattering.

Afterwards, they had been let loose to enjoy the holiday as they wi...

CoESC Book 3-16.2: Intrigues

Her room was completely dark when Yuriko opened her eyes. It was still the Celestial refraction, of course, so nothing much would change until the next midnight. She didn’t know how long she had slept either. The events of the evening lasted well past midnight and staying up that long wasn’t something she did often.

The intrinsic way she could tell time, how long it had been since sunrise and how long until dusk, was missing. Truthfully, it was the thing she hated the most about the...

CoESC Book 3-16.1: Intrigues

Braden filled his nose with Yuriko’s scent. Her hair had a light floral smell, from her shampoo and soap, he thought. He had his arms around her waist and his head rested between her shoulder blades. A moment later, she leaned her head against the top of his.

It was both titillating and somewhat humiliating. The gap between their heights was that much.

Still, she was wonderfully soft, though she was quite firm underneath. He carefully kept his hips away. Hopefully, he’d calm d...

CoESC Book 3-15.3: Celestial Refraction and the Cotillion

The next couple of weeks passed like a blur, though it wasn’t without it’s highlights. On the 81st, Yuriko trudged up to the Wild Oak dormitory for boys to visit Kato. The wait at their lounge for permission felt a bit uncomfortable, what with near a dozen boys ogling her from behind. She could feel the heat of their stares at her bottom.

Her hips had started to widen, and it felt as though they jutted out conspicuously. The way Sharom’s uniform skirt fell on her body didn’t hel...

CoESC Book 3-15.2: Celestial Refraction and the Cotillion

“You weren’t planning on using this old dress to the cotillion, were you?”

Krystal looked at Yuriko with reproach. She held a simple dark blue dress--well, it was more of a sundress, really. Something Yuriko brought with her from Faron’s Crossing.

“Er, yes?”

Krystal dropped the dress onto Yuriko’s bed, eliciting a yowl from Hunter Kitty who was perched near the edge.

“Sorry,” Krystal muttered. “That one’s not formal enough and you can’t wear tha...

CoESC Book 3-15.1: Celestial Refraction and the Cotillion

In the weeks that followed their foray to the Blue Butterfly Inn, Yuriko’s weekly routine suddenly included a girls’ night out every Sixthday evening. They didn’t always go dancing. One night, Krystal dragged Yuriko over to shop for scarves, mittens, and earmuffs at the Upper City’s merchant bazaar.

The weather had started to turn even colder. Her breath came out puffs of steam every morning, and the bowl of water she left for Hunter Kitty had frosted over. She woke up to scritc...

CoESC Book 3-14.3: In the Chaos Sea (+)

The training room they’d managed to access and power was just long enough to make Virgil’s target practice worthwhile.

The chamber was a hundred paces long and the far end threw up metal discs that he had to shoot down before they dropped to the ground. An easy task if he used his considerable abilities but much more challenging when he relied on his natural skill.

Fwump! Fwump! Fwump!

Three bronze-coloured discs popped out, spinning out into three directions. V...

CoESC Book 3-14.2: In the Chaos Sea (+)

The Sanctum of Life and Death, the Watcher’s domain, with its fancy name and dual nature, wasn’t something a child like Ashley could enter easily. Were it not for the Seeker of Delight’s blessing and protection, she would have dissolved into little particles as soon as she stepped past the Tidelands’ Mid Marches, not that they even went that way.

Ashley had been surprised when they pierced the barrier, though it wasn’t as if it had been a paper-thin divide. No, the planar barr...

CoESCBook 3-14.1: In the Chaos Sea (+)

Bella Terrianne Killane grunted as she dragged the swarmling’s body over to the floater disc. The contraption was about five paces wide and could carry a dozen bodies easily while maintaining altitude, but this one was already on the verge of being overloaded.

“Come on, Dec, wait for the next one!” one of her squad members, Marten grumbled.

“When’s the next one coming?” she snarked.

“In an hour.”

“Tsk, fine.” She dumped the body over to the side, pa...

CoESC Book 3-13.3: Seeds (+)

A Bicorn’s charge wasn’t an easy thing to avoid. Thaer Surtsson loosed his arrow when the beast came close enough for him to see the white’s of its eyes, then leapt to his right, rolling over his shoulder and consequently dropping his bow in the process. His spear was within reach though and…

Thud!!!

The Bicorn smashed into the trunk of a petrified tree and chips of stone like woods bounced off Thaer’s bare skin.

His arrow hung on the Bicorn’s wool, the ...

CoESC Book 3-13.2: Seeds

The footsteps slowly faded away, while Yuriko and Millie edged towards the sidewalk. Millie’s eyes glowed orange with her Animus then she tilted her head towards where the footsteps came from. She bit her lips and squinted.

A cold breeze blew from the mountainside, the buildings funnelled it down the road, amplifying its speed. The wind cut through Yuriko’s shawl, sending a shiver down her spine, and it blew her skirt up a couple of inches.

She paid it no mind, focused as she ...

CoESC Book 3-13.1: Seeds (+)

Heron Synka Muryh held to the final position of his two-handed spear stance. Weeks of constant training and it took several battles for him to realise that using a spear and shield combination meant he needed to have a shield mate and that it wasn’t very effective on its own.

Controlling a three-pace long weapon with a single-arm just wasn't that effective unless the only thing he did was thrust forward. It would be fine if he were in a phalanx but what if he had to duel? What if he w...

CoESC Book 3-12.3: Passing Days

Yuriko sighted down the barrel of her training Plasma Caster. She was prone on top of a wall on a smallish lookout overlooking a trail that would eventually lead to the regiment’s fortress. The Radiant Sun was but an hour from the eastern mists.

From her position, she could survey about five hundred paces of the trail before the rolling hills and the thick vegetation concealed the lay of the land. The entire Reserve Officer Training class had left campus before dawn, gotten on troop t...

CoESC Book 3-12.2: Passing Days

The afternoon tea with Emyr Kinnock proceeded much as Yuriko expected. He brought her to the Whispering Treat, they ordered a tea set, practically the same one the Esras cousins ordered, and made small talk until they'd finished the course then Emyr popped the question.

“Will you come with me to the Daffodil Cotillion?”

“Ah,” Yuriko stuttered despite expecting the question. “Well, yours is the fifth invitation I’ve received.”

“Just five? I find that hard to b...

CoESC Book 3-12.1: Passing Days

“Haaah!”

Clunk!

The wooden blades of their training sword collided with a loud smack, sending a jolt down Yuriko’s hands. Under normal circumstances, her sword dance would have made her slide into a parry instead of a direct block, or avoided the blade altogether. Except she wasn’t using her sword dance right now in Martial Sciences and Kale was the best swordsman near her age, making him good enough to force her into that position.

Yuriko stepped back, flex...

CoESC Book 3-11.3: Breakthrough

The next morning, Yuriko woke up in the other bedroom. It was dusty, and quite bare, but she couldn’t sleep in her own bed simply because it didn’t have any beddings after last night’s breakthrough. Krystal’s help had been quite welcome, though she wondered why her friend saw fit to knock on her door in the middle of the night.

She had been awakened by Krystal’s knocking, which was a good thing, she supposed, otherwise she would have slept through the night. Anyway, Krystal st...

CoESC Book 3-11.2: Breakthrough

Fri’Avgi flooded Yuriko’s Anima with distilled Chaos, countless motes that looked like a swarm of fireflies over her bonfire core. The green light melted into her Anima, the pristine white slowly stained with green. As each mote melted into the white, black cracks cratered out.

Her eyes were glowing golden yet, were also bloodshot.

“Ahh…”

Every second, the pain overwhelmed her senses. She couldn’t move, she couldn’t think.

Use Recovery!

The...

CoESCBook 3-11.1: Breakthrough

Marron penned a quick message on a messenger crane and sent it off before they headed out of Yuriko’s suite.

“Leave Fri’Avgi here. I doubt anyone would be able to take it easily,” Marron grunted.

“Alright,” Yuriko assented, but just to be safe, she brought it over to her bedroom and hid Fri’Avgi under her bed. Afterwards, she closed the windows, and locked the bedroom door. She left the living room window ajar for Hunter Kitty.

She took a quick shower then chan...

CoESC Book 3-10.3: Visitors

As soon as Yuriko closed the door to her living room behind her, Marron, who had preceded her inside, flung his hand and caught her side in a brutal pinch and twist.

“Ah, ah, ow!” Yuriko shrieked as the bag dropped to the floor and she tried to hop out of her brother’s reach.

“I’ve told you again and again not to call me ‘Maru’.” He looked at her, eyes narrowed, a stiff grin on his face.

“Alright, already, let go!” Yuriko squealed, all the while trying to...

CoESC Book 3-10.2: Visitors

For the next several days, Yuriko’s schedule changed. Her morning training only included her morning jog: a truncated version of her strength-building regimen alternated with a similarly truncated agility and flexibility training. This was followed by a short sword dance, which incorporated all three in one go. However, she spent the rest of the morning until noon with the circulation pattern running around in her Anima.

The first time she tried it, she could barely hang on for thirty...