Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Yuriko didn’t hesitate as she flew. Her Animakinesis dug into the asphalt and propelled her across the street. Her tendrils dug into the walls, simultaneously hooking, pushing, and pulling so that she rounded the corner faster than she could have if she was just running. Her foot touched the road and she pushed off, leaving widening cracks beneath. The void she sensed was just ahead, and as she ‘looked’, she cursed softly to herself. What she had assumed was a singular form was actually one of many. Fearing for the little girls’ life, she redoubled her speed, and in less than a second, she arrived. And she stopped, puzzled and more than a little impressed.

In the shadows of the apartment buildings, there were a couple of Scourge. One was another rodent type, but it was half the size of the one she killed before. The other one she couldn’t quite determine if it was a cat or dog. It had slitted pupils, had sharp claws and was using it, but its tail wagged like an excited canine’s.

More importantly, flitting between the two Scourges was the little girl, Matsumi. She landed a bootheel onto the dogcat’s face, launched herself back into the air, somersaulting backwards, only to deliver the same kick at the rodent’s back. She took a couple of steps down its spine, spun around and delivered a brutal knife hand at the nape of the Scourge’s neck. Bone plates trembled at the impact point, but the creature was only injured, not killed.

The other Scourge’s head followed the little girl floating above them and tried to swat her down, but Matsumi rolled over the attack and slammed her heel into the dogcat’s shoulder. The rodent tried to get a bite, but she slid out of the way, which ended up with the rodent’s teeth cutting into the dogcat’s body.

The bitten Scourge, in turn, rounded against the offending rat and swatted it with a brutal claw. The rodent keeled over, blood seeping out of three long gashes across its forelimb, which were promptly covered by white bone scabbing.

In the meantime, Matsumi leapt up, gaining several paces of height, and let out a fierce yell as she careened down, her body positioned to hit the dogcat with a double stomp. The impact drove the Scourge into the ground, and blood spurted from a still-opened wound, but neither the stomp nor the follow-up punch brought the Scourge to the ground.

She flipped over the Scourge, but her frustration was clear in her face, for all the child tried to remain stoic. How long had she been fighting and how long had she danced on the edge. Yuriko was loath to do battle in Matsumi’s stead, but a little help would not be remiss.

“Catch!” Yuriko said as she sent her knife to the girl with her Animakinesis. Matsumi jerked and almost botched her somersault, but Yuriko steadied her and prevented her from falling off the Scourge by forcefully solidifying her Anima around the girl. The strange resistance that anyone with ‘chronian gear had over Anima perception didn’t seem to affect Animakinesis, or perhaps hers was strong enough to push through. Anima perception, if she wanted to be discreet, used very little of her Anima reach after all.

“Thanks!” the girl said as she clutched Yuriko’s knife, though Matsumi did look at the plain weapon with some disappointment.

“Focus all of your power at the point,” Yuriko said softly, but her words reached the girl’s ears, which made her twitch. Yuriko’s Animakinesis caught her before the Scourge could hit her, and Matsumi gave her a startled look. “Jump high, strike with the point. It’ll hold.” Normally, the blade wouldn’t have. It was ordinary steel after all, but Yuriko reinforced it with her Anima. The girl was well within her reach after all.

Nodding, Matsumi timed her leap, and when she came back down, utilising a fraction of Tiger Lao’s Armoured Arts, the knife point sank into the Scourge’s skull and into its brain. The dogcat dropped bonelessly and the girl barely managed to pull the knife out before the rodent reached her. Yuriko helped a bit too, by pushing the rat back just before it could hit Matsumi.

The girl spun around, dodged the rat’s lunging bit, used its head as a springboard, and repeated her feat of stabbing down. The knife did the same thing and punched right through the skull. Granted, these Scourge were half the size of the ones Yuriko fought, hence, they probably had thinner none plates, but it was an impressive accomplishment anyway.

“Matsumi!” Sifu Lao barrelled around the corner and ground to a halt when he saw Yuriko standing there nonchalantly and his student staring down at two dead Scourge. “What the…?”

“Sifu…” Matsumi said softly, before she shook herself, then yelled, “I did it! Now you have to teach me the next stance!”

“Eh, ah, huh?”

“Killed Scourge!”

“Oh, but—” he looked at Yuriko. “Lady Davar…?”

“Somewhat legitimate. I assisted on three counts. Knife, and I moved her out of the way twice.” She didn’t mention holding the rat Scourge back since it looked like whatever the deal was between the sifu and the student was already in trouble just from that.”

Matsumi opened her mouth to protest, her face a thundercloud, but Tiger Lao simply sighed, “You know the stakes, little Sumi, but you did take them on by yourself, for the most part. I’m willing to teach you the first part of the second stance.”

The little girl’s expression lit up and she practically pounced Sifu Lao, squealing happily. Yuriko couldn't help the smile on her face. Little spunky kids set off warm fuzzy feelings in her after all.

“What happened?” Elsie said as she jogged around the corner, her eyes darted to the Scourge corpses, which had just started expelling their blood. “You?”

“Little girl. Helped a bit,” Yuriko said in response. She noted that Matsumi hadn’t let go of the knife, and she snorted. It was just a plain knife she got from Bresia. It was tough and serviceable, but without her Anima reinforcement, it wouldn’t have stabbed through the skull. Still, the kid had been unarmed, and the streets were dangerous. “You can have that, little girl,” Yuriko said kindly, “But if you don’t reinforce it with your Anima, it’s just a plain knife.”

“Thank you! For this and for the help!” Matsumi said.

Sifu Lao, on the other hand, looked like he swallowed something sour. He shook his head, and said, “If you can figure that out, Little Sumi, I’ll teach you the complete stance.”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow. Figure what out? Reinforcing a weapon with Anima was simple. It was nearly identical to Empowered Strike using Animus…oh. Hmm, she looked at Tiger Lao’s forehead for a moment. The brand wasn’t visible, but if he flared his Anima, it would stick out like a sore thumb. If he could flare farther than an inch, anyway. She didn’t like it. The brand basically suppressed his growth. His Anima was already denser than normal, no doubt from the suppressive effect. He would struggle to increase his reach because of it, and he wouldn’t even know how far he progressed because he couldn’t measure it.

Whoever gave him that brand…

Yuriko shook her head. It wasn’t really her business, though the thought left behind a sour taste in her mouth. She wasn’t sure what the brander’s purpose was, whether it was to control him or perhaps to help him create dense Anima. For all she knew that was standard practice of the Conclave. After all, she hadn’t met with them, and Gwendith had not mentioned anything of the sort.

It somewhat discouraged her from actually meeting with them, despite the tones of warning those Conclavists gave Gwen. How would they even know she existed or how would they track her? Though perhaps if she climbed the tower, they would be able to track her.

A part of her wished for such a meeting, or conflict. Damien’s dealings with other Ancients, aside from his council, were not peaceful. She was lacking in details, but every Ancient worked to increase their power, and she had the feeling that the stronger the Ancient, the less likely they would work together. At least when they were pursuing their own goals.

She frowned as she examined that feeling. It was something that leached out from Damien’s memories, but there was nothing concrete backing that sentiment. Well, she would deal with it as the circumstances demanded.

For now, she had some clue, finally, of how they were supposed to proceed. Unfortunately, Tiger Lao was sparse on details. She’d have to search and ask her companions to do the same. She had a feeling that the answers could be found in the upper levels of the city, but the wealth needed to access that was multiple times what she and the others had.

Hmmm, perhaps she should contact Matthias after all? He did say that he would remain in the city for a long while, but since he dwelt in the upper regions, contact between them would be a bit difficult. Even using the lifts to climb the upper levels was impossible without the access credentials, and scaling up the mega buildings from the outside would probably draw unwanted attention.

“Thank you for your help,” Tiger Lao said, “And I hope I’ve answered your questions to your satisfaction.”

“You have.” Yuriko nodded.

“Uhm, do you mind if we exchange contact details?”

“I don’t,” Yuriko said with a smile as she pulled out her Autotab. Elsie had to show her how to add both of them to her contacts list, and with that, they parted ways amicably. Elsie drove her back to Tower D1-L15-12, and came up to her floor. Well, the other girl lived on that level too.

“I guess I didn’t expect that,” Elsie muttered.

“Better than nothing,” Yuriko agreed.

“Yeah, so how would I become a Mystic then?” she muttered sourly, but then looked at her with hope.

“I can’t help you.” Yuriko said, “I don’t have the reagents left. But maybe we can find something in the wilds.”

“What exactly are you looking for?” Elsie asked warily.

“Ever heard of Ambrosia?”

Elsie tilted her head. “Yes, but I don’t think that’s what you meant.”

“Oh?”

“Ambrosia’s, er, a Milstate product. Sex performance enhancer.”

“Oh. No, not that.” Yuriko chuckled awkwardly. “It’s not something you’d find here naturally.”

“Where would one look for it and can we go get it?”

“Not unless you want to go to the Shattered Realm.”

“Huh, what’s that?”

Yuriko stared at the girl for a long moment, then sighed. She supposed people who lived so far from the Chaos Sea wouldn’t be affected by it. “Nevermind. Maybe we’d find a better and cheaper way.” After all, the first Ancients could not have needed Ambrosia to awaken. She hadn’t needed it after all, but mimicking the way she awakened her Anima wasn’t feasible for someone without Animus. Perhaps she could give Elsie an Animus core, but she’d rather not experiment with her life.

“We also didn’t learn much from your sifu,” Yuriko continued. “Do you know others who train to become Mystics?”

“Well yes, but they’re in the Blue Zone, at least,” Elsie said, then continued when Yuriko just stared at her, “Entry up there, without the proper credentials, costs AC. Green to Blue is a hundred thousand each. Single-use.”

Yuriko raised an eyebrow. “That’s expensive.”

“Not something the rest of us can pay.”

“Well, I’ll think of something.” Yuriko said, “I might create a way just for you.”

“Oh…ah, thank you!” Elsie said while her face was completely flushed. They parted ways then, and Yuriko entered her apartment. Gwendith was there, but nobody else was. The two of them ate an afternoon snack, then cuddled in bed. Gwendith ordered a television set for the living room and the bedroom and also hooked it up to show stories and news programs, among other things. They browsed through the selections for a while, but Yuriko got distracted when Gwendith got frisky.

So much for her plans to train her Will by abstinence.