Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 14-7.1: Dragon Fall

“Please vacate the premises within ten seconds. Please vacate the premises within nine seconds.” 

A modulated voice greeted Yuriko as soon as she and the others exited the portal. She barely had time to blink—everyone else was as disoriented after coming through the portal. There was also a rather strange and ominous feel around her, enough so that her attention was quickly scattered. She rallied her strands of consciousness and realised that the countdown had gone down t...

CoESC Book 14-6.3: Challengers

It took five days before Yuriko returned to Herrera City, her backpack filled with Elemental Beast cores. Five days in the Sandsea Conflux had not been the adventure she expected. Yuriko landed on the outskirts of the city, sheltered from direct sight from behind sand dunes. 

The Conflux had not been that different from those she’d been to before, but the distinction was mostly in what shape the Elementals took. There, they were giant golems made of sand, burrowing worms t...

CoESC Book 14-6.2: Challengers

Heron fingered the spear he was given when he asked for weapons. It was a solid construct made of flexible wood for the shaft, and tough metal for the head. It wasn’t the Empire’s collapsible spear but it was a suitable replacement. On his left arm was a buckler that was barely three inches wider than the span of his wrist, strapped tightly on his forearm. He rotated his wrist and made some test strikes with the spear, and was satisfied that the shaft didn’t scrape against the buckler�...

CoESC Book 14-6.1: Challengers

After seeing the Portal Gate in action and asking the guards and the attendant in charge, they found out how much it would cost to activate the gate. It turned out that the two thousand gold coins were for each individual who wanted to cross the portal.

‘How many gold coins do we have?’ Yuriko asked Gwendith through their mental connection.

‘A bit less than ten thousand now.’ Gwendith muttered. ‘We’ll need that much and more. With Fluffington, it's fourteen thousand ...

CoESC Book 14-5.3: Herrera

Herrera City didn’t have walls, not in the conventional sense. From what Yuriko read, the Prime Clan controlled twelve oases and built the city around it. Unlike Boata Port, the houses, while still blocky, were covered in whitewash or paint. There was also an abundance of trees that stuck out above most of the residences, except for their palace, which rose above everything and made the city look like its front lawn.

The caravan was headed into one of the open spaces. Yuriko didn’t...

CoESC Book 14-5.2: Herrera

Puchi!

The sand shark was split right in half, from nose to tail. Its stubby, yet powerful legs wiggled nervelessly for a couple of moments before they seized all movement. Blood would have flowed to water the sands but the flesh was cauterised. In fact, the side grew so hot that it started to smoke and burn. Underneath the corpse, the sand crystalised to glass.

Yuriko snorted in annoyance. It was the fifth attack that slipped through her sunblade screen and she had to t...

CoESC Book 14-5.1: Herrera

Hilfers Caravan started assembling early in the morning, a couple of hours before dawn. It would not depart until midday, but most of the passengers and merchants joining it were asked to arrive as early as they could. Yuriko suppressed a yawn as she and the others walked towards the east of town. She hadn’t had the chance to do anything besides her basic morning ablutions, and her body felt a bit sticky from last night’s fun. She cast Cleanse every now and then, and though she was finall...

CoESC Book 14-4.3: Targetted

The next day, Yuriko headed to the Adventurers’ Guildhall and paid a silver coin to access the spell book library. The spell Endure Environment was a three-circle spell and required thirty nodes to cast. It was a spell that made extreme temperatures, like the desert’s, feel normal to the caster. Yuriko paid a gold coin to get a copy of the scroll.

The problem with the spell was that it was self-cast, and Fluffington was not a Magus. She searched for a version that allowed someone t...

CoESC Book 14-4.2: Targetted

“What’s your name, kid?” Heron asked their guide as ‘she’ led them along the narrow alleyways for the past ten minutes. Yuriko was in the middle of the group, with Fluffington trailing behind. She had the hood of her robe over her head and pulled down enough to conceal her face. The noonday sun relegated the shadows to tiny pools at the corners, and the heat was probably unbearable.

She could feel Heron’s back was soaked with sweat, as was Ryoko’s. Saki had her Shadows co...

CoESC Book 14-4.1: Targetted

The bunk beds had been too narrow to really have fun in so Yuriko, Gwendith, and Heron put the mattresses on the floor in between then just made do with cuddles at night. Yuriko didn’t really mind as the intimate contact was just as soothing. On the second day on the Wild Tulip, the lake’s bottom had disappeared from Yuriko’s Anima perception, and she caught more than a few disturbing glimpses of the creatures that dwelt underneath.

She was pretty certain that at some point, the ...

CoESC Book 14-3.3: Cost and Price

With all their luggage stored in the carriage’s compartment, Yuriko and her companions booked a ride towards the city’s docks. It was the day after her meeting with the dean of the other academy, and the chat had been pleasant and fruitful for both of them. Yuriko hadn’t spoken about everything that happened in the fight, though she did reveal that she had an exceptionally powerful tool that helped her cut through the boundary of the Chaos Fount.

Eva had been both aghast and impr...

CoESC Book 14-3.2: Cost and Price

More than a dozen things were listed on the pillar and Yuriko didn’t recognise any of them. She moved towards the teenage guard and asked, “What and how can I get those things listed on the steeple?”

“Huh? I don’t know,” the boy blurted out. “I only recognise the last one, En Shards. You can get those in any arcanatech atelier. The rest, no idea.” He shrugged, “It's why the Gate cannot be opened on this side.”

“Someone must know,” Yuriko insisted.

...

CoESC Book 14-3.1: Cost and Price

Councilor Carlos Varro entered the small formal meeting room in the palace’s east wing. Since only three Councilors were in attendance they did not need to use the Rising Sun Chamber reserved for the full council. His attendant trailed behind him, arms filled with binders and folders. His second attendant followed behind the first, this one with hands filled with notes, ink, and pens.

When he arrived at the small meeting room, though it was called that only in relation to the bigger ...

CoESC Book 14-2.3: Leave

It wasn’t that simple to take two sixth-year students with her to the Tower. However much Sofia and Juliette protested that they could make their own decisions since they were already in their age of majority, their protests were overruled by the Academy’s authorities.

Juliette was stymied by her family; her mother practically cried a river and countered Juliette’s arguments with a heavy emotional appeal. Sofia was on the scholarship program and going on an impromptu trip without ...

CoESC Book 14-2.2: Leave

Carrying everything with her Anima, Yuriko and her companions were only able to reach Greyith Strip, a distance of about a hundred and fifty leagues as the crow flies, but considerably more if one followed the roads, by two o’clock in the afternoon. Synchronising her time sense with the mechanical clocks of this realm had taken some work, but been a mental effort. She simply had to focus on the date and time and force her mind and Anima to accept it. All the while, her time sense had been b...

CoESC Book 14-2.1: Leave

Cleaning up the next morning was simpler, somewhat. At six o’clock in the morning, Yuriko untangled herself from several grasping limbs and went straight to the bathroom where she filled the tub with hot, steaming water. She stepped under the shower to wash up first since she didn’t want bits and bobs floating in the tub. A rather thorough wash took a few minutes, especially the parts she had to make squeaky clean. There was little risk of pregnancy, but there was no need to take any chan...

CoESC Book 14-1.3: Complete

A few hours passed while Yuriko meditated. Looking into herself and finding things that she never expected had been both enlightening and annoying at the same time. The Mishala Mien…she never knew of its existence before she met her mother’s clan, and all the while she had expected it to be a separate and distinct thing, like her Animus Core, Radiant Essence, and her expanded Anima. All three were a product of training, after all, and the teachings of the Mishala Primus indicated that the...

CoESC Book 14-1.2: Complete

Yuriko took the Tower Entry Token with her hands instead of her Animakinesis. It was rather clear from the way Gwendith removed the sphere from her backpack, that the token was more than a simple identification device. The way the Elemental energies swirled around it…no, it was the way the energies were forced to swirl, told her that touching it with anything other than her body might have repercussions. There was no need to be hasty after all.

The sphere was about three inches wide,...

CoESC Book 14-1.1: Complete

Consciousness returned rather abruptly and Yuriko’s eyes opened, and she found herself staring at the back of Gwendith’s head. The golden curls were pressed against her cheek, and the other girl was snoring softly. She had her arms around Gwendith’s waist. There was a muscular forearm wrapped around her waist and a large hand cupping her bosom.

She was squeezed in between two warm bodies, and Yuriko couldn’t stretch languidly as she wanted to, not without disturbing their exhau...

CoESC Book 13-23.3: Diplomatic Aggression

Perhaps it was because the Chaos Yuriko had been exposed to–and absorbed–was mixed in with fragments of the Realms of Thought, Ideals, and Desires, but her sleep had been anything but quiet. She floated in the dreamscape, and it was reminiscent of the dream back home, not the odd reflection that it was here.

‘The Realm of Thought.’

She knew what it was now. She had not until she read it in Greyith’s library. Of course, she could have found out earlier if she’d bothere...

CoESC Book 13-23.2: Diplomatic Aggression

Carlos Varro, Academic Dean of Niria Academy of Elemental Mastery, Grand Magus over the Dominion of Effervescent Flame, and Councilor Nirlith of the Bresian Republic, grumbled under his breath as he flew over the desolate and snow-covered landscape. He had been the one nearest to the call, which was more than annoying since Dean Eva Guitierrez of Briarwin was just a step to his left, hence, farther away when the emergency call came.

An attack by the Ishodirian Guardian had not been high...

CoESC Book 13-23.1: Diplomatic Aggression

Chaos gushed through the tear in the fabric of reality. At least, that’s what Yuriko assumed would happen. Not that she was wrong, just that Chaos wasn’t the only thing that seeped through.

In the Myriad Planes, Chaos was everywhere. It was unlike here in the Arcadia Region, and probably the Greater World, as it was referred to in the books she struggled through, where Elemental energies dominated the surroundings. Reading about Cosmology had been more than enlightening, though she...

CoESC Book 13-22.3: Storm: Dominion

As they took shelter within a shallow cave, Gwendith stared at the cloud-covered skies. Lightning danced amongst the clouds and was beset by a feeling of foreboding. Snow suddenly started falling, which quickly turned to hail.

Ptak! Ptak! Ptak!

The ice shattered against the barren rocks around the cave mouth, but most of the hail was actually absorbed by the thick layer of snow blanketing the Vallavega Pass. From the looks of it, the snowstorm would last for hours yet.

“W...

CoESC Book 13-22.2: Storm: Dominion

The voice sent a thrill down Yuriko’s spine. It was nearly irresistible, each layer tugging at her reason, her Anima, and her body. The urge to follow and the urge to fight intertwined within her mind, drowning her senses.

“Ahhh…”

She gasped as her Mien unleashed with her Anima, touching everyone around her. She felt a shiver of anticipation, not just from her, but from everyone around. The voice…it was powerful, but she knew it was weaker than the Chaos Duke. Stronger ...

CoESC Book 13-22.1: Storm: Dominion

The myriad bolts slammed down on the dome, tore up the amalgam of energies then powered through the Radiant energy coating the underside. The lightning slammed into the camp and struck the temporary structures there. 

It was a good thing that the troops slept in temporary buildings made out of earth rather than flimsy tents, otherwise, the lightning would have burned the leather and cloth, and the flames might have taken hundreds, if not thousands of lives. As it were, Yurik...

CoESC Book 13-21.3: Together

Gwendith’s body was flushed with Animus as it cycled in a pattern that boosted her physique, maintained her endurance, and improved her body at the same time. Boost Physique was an old technique that she rarely used now, at least until Yuriko tweaked it to help maintain and increase her fitness levels. Heron did the same thing, but he didn’t need to ask since his Anima did it naturally. 


Animus was consumed at the rate of ten lumens per minute, which was a prodigious amoun...

CoESC Book 13-21.2: Together

“How far across is the Vallavega Pass?” Gwendith muttered as the four of them trekked towards the village. There was a light covering of snow across the road and the fields, and they left footprints tracking all the way towards the Chaos Fount. 

The cold air was invigorating especially because they came from a volcanic region. Her Ennoia was of Cold and Heat, firmly intertwined into the concept of temperature. Gwendith had read many books in Karcellia and Nirlith, and while th...

CoESC Book 13-21.1: Together

Roland Turner vi Ishodir was nervous being inside a foreign nation, even if it was one his forces were invading. He was only at the Magus level, after all, and any Bresian elite could take him easily if he were not constantly protected. For that matter, many opponents back home wouldn’t miss any vulnerabilities should he show any.

Although grandfather was the pillar of the nation, Roland’s position wasn’t as steady. He was the emperor, but if he died or was captured, he could be...

CoESC Book 13-20.3: Return

The campaign had already lasted more than nine weeks. Two-thirds of the Season, and most, if not all of it, was consumed by the soldiers marching across the terrain, ensuring they were warm and properly fed. And entertained. 

It was the last bit that Yuriko had some trouble with, honestly. While she knew an army marched on its stomach, she had not realised that camp followers could sometimes consist of numbers greater than the actual soldiers. It wasn’t true in this campaign, bu...

CoESC Book 13-20.2: Return

The gate shimmered for a long moment before it burst into bright light. A moment later, Gwendith stepped out and immediately went to the side. Heron, Saki, the Devotee followed her out of the Hillside Burrows and into the town…village, that she couldn’t quite remember the name of.

She glanced at the sky, noticed that it was just past noon. As she looked at her surroundings, her perception aura caught Saki’s shiver as well as Heron’s. The ground was covered in a thick pile of sn...