The planned departure to return to Neo Prism City and Trinity University was at four o’clock in the afternoon. At the moment, it was just past noon, and Yuriko thought of hiking out of the valley and taking a closer look at the mountain range. Cresna Mountains was roughly fifty longstrides south of Neo Prism’s state line. Three states surrounded the mountain range as it stretched from northwest to southeast, almost all the way to the coast. Just beyond the mountains was a small desert that was around a hundred longstrides square, and it was bordered by hilly woodland that was slowly giving way to vineyards. Some of the more famous Astorian wine labels came from there. 

More to the point, if Yuriko scaled the tallest peak of the range, roughly a league from the valley, she’d have a panoramic view of all three states, the desert and the hills opposite them. She could probably also catch a view of the coastline and the Endless Ocean.

Well, she’s had her fill of oceans from living beside one and swimming in another. She left the others back in the valley and ran out into the woods. As soon as she was out of sight, she used her Animakinesis and her powerful physique to run. She crossed the distance between the valley and the base of the mountain in a few minutes and flew up to the peak in less than one. If she was in the mood, she might have climbed unaided, but since she was short on time, all she wanted was to sit up there and meditate or just as likely, relax. The peak was actually too pointy to sit on without using her Anima, so she settled on a ledge a dozen paces beneath it. It faced the west. She got a spectacular view of the foothills, the desert, and then the vineyards, though the last one was nothing more than greenish hills near the horizon. 

The Radiant Sun was high overhead, and she couldn’t help but stare at it in wonder. Logically, she was no closer to it than anywhere else, and considering that the celestial body as perceived here, or on any other plane, was merely a projection. Sometimes, she wondered how the Radiant Sun, the Luminous Moon, and the countless Stars were visible on every plane, in every region, she found herself in. The latter, the small, twinkling stars, was something she only became aware of recently, though thinking back, she might have seen them even before she arrived in the Great Continent. 

Irvalla. That strange, backward place she found herself in after a portal accident, though thinking about it now, that place was no stranger than Astoria. Irvalla’s technology was behind Astoria’s, and their Occult Resonance was far different from Altered power. 

But the Living Monument…well, dead monument now, unless daemons didn’t die permanently…something she supposed was possible considering they were similar in nature to Chaos Lords. Unless devoured by Radiant, daemons might reconstitute back in their home plane. 

Either way, encountering that old foe in the interstitial space had been a surprise, and given that she thought she saw human activity in the distance, perhaps Irvalla wasn’t as distant as she thought. Or rather, perhaps Astoria, owing to its peculiar nature, was closer to Irvalla than she suspected. Had she encountered terms that seemed familiar in her studies? 

She sank into a meditative trance as she explored the past. The Radiant Sun bathed her, and she subconsciously removed her jacket and exposed her shoulders and arms. Scarlett had brought her a set of cropped halter tops, in an assortment of solid colours, as well as a set of pleated skirts and shorts. The temperature was brisk, but throwing on a windbreaker or a cardigan sufficed to maintain the illusion of normalcy. 

She got distracted a couple of hours later, though not because of anything that happened in Astoria. Instead, Gwendith had sought her out, in the middle of the day, dragged her to the bedroom, tied her up, then proceeded to use ice cubes and other…constructs to tease and torture her for a couple of hours. The hanky panky culminated in both of them panting and soaked. 

Once her true body was done indulging, her incarnation body was finally able to settle down. She was hot and bothered, of course, but training her Will gave incredible results and she was able to rein in her desires. Well, most of the time. 

As she sank deeper into her contemplations, of the nature of the world, the planes, the Great Continent, and the mysteries of the celestial bodies and how they were ever present and mostly unchanging—since the position of the stars didn’t vary much. What was the role of Ennoias, and if her initial impression was that they were aspects and forces of nature, why was there an Ennoia of the Sword and probably of the gun, the spear, or whatnot? Things that mortals created and used. She was unsure if there were gods of those things, but she knew—through Damien—that gods were not the source of Truths, but the ultimate users of them. She remembered the old pervert fighting the Primordial of Lust, and she wondered which came first, the primordial or the concept of lust. Or perhaps, they all came to existence at the same time? If so, then what came before?

Astorian sciences asked these questions, something that those who lived in the Empire, or even Bresia and the surrounding nations, didn’t. Did the general absence of Anima strengthening techniques encourage asking those kinds of questions? Astorians were quite inquisitive after all, and there were dozens of shows—documentaries—that asked such questions, postulated answers, and presented their findings, whether it was true or not. Did the lack of knowledge of Ennoias and deeper Truths lead them to question everything?

For that matter, surely the mortal Ennoias would not have existed before mortals came to be. Which meant a very important thing, the underlying Truths of reality could be added upon. 

Truths were not just there to be discovered. They were there to be created. Something may not be Truth now, but if one is persistent enough, if one is strong enough, then that Truth could be painted on the canvas of reality. 

In her true body, Yuriko stopped what she was doing, which was currently drinking wine with Gwendith, and dropped into a seated meditation pose. She was vaguely aware of her lover as she created a barrier to stop others from disturbing her. In the meantime, her mind expanded as metaphorical bursts of light covered her mind. The dreamscape around her rippled at the strength of her musings, and Quintessence detached from the multitude of threads around her turned into droplets and merged into her Anima. 

Her incarnation body was jolted out of her meditation when her phone rang. Her true body partitioned their minds to prevent the insight from leaving, and with more than a bit of pique, Yuriko picked up the phone to answer it. But the call only connected for a fraction of a second before it got cut off, and the screen only showed her Scarlett’s name. 

________

“Oi, Kyra! We’re about ready to go,” Walter Richards yelled at the smaller fencing club captain who was standing next to the bus. Kyra didn’t do anything but wave absently and Walter huffed as he marched over to his counterpart. 

The two of them had a bit of a history together since they’d been schoolmates since middle school. Walter had once been a fencing competitor but eventually found the sport too constricting. He found love with HAMA, specifically the longsword techniques of yore. Kyra had been disappointed when she learned of his withdrawal from the varsity team…no, disappointed wasn’t the right word since it was too mild. Stark, raving mad, maybe? No, too extreme. Just that she hadn’t forgiven him for that ‘betrayal’ and she didn’t hesitate to let him know of it. 

There had been a brief flare-up when passions turned heated, but it eventually died down to an easy friendship. The way they sniped at each other was just how they showed it. As such, he knew Kyra’s mannerisms and moods pretty well, and from the way the petite woman stood, he could tell she was worried, if only slightly. 

“What’s up?” he asked as he stepped up beside her. When Kyra didn’t respond with anything more than a grunt, he looked towards where she was staring at, which wound up being the hillside. He frowned as he saw flocks of birds leaving the trees and scattering with the wind. How had he not noticed? His ears twitched as he realised that the birds were eerily silent, even if he could tell that many of them were corvids or others that were quite vocal. “How…long has this been going on?” 

“Just a few minutes,” Kyra answered. “It’s weird. I have this ill feeling…” 

“Let’s get out of here. Now.” 

“Yeah, I think we should,” Kyra nodded, then shook herself. “Hey, let’s finish packing up and goooo!” she yelled. 

It was about an hour before the scheduled egress, but since everyone was finished packing up anyway, it shouldn’t take too long to get ready to go. Walter went towards the lodge to look for the bus drivers, and as soon as he did, he asked them to stand by their vehicles and get ready to leave at a moment’s notice. He looked for the club’s officers and had them do a headcount while calling for the members to rush. 

He thought briefly about the discussion they had a couple of weeks ago when they heard about Unfettered being in the next province over and wondered if they had been foolish to ignore the warnings… 

No, the all-clear had been given a week ago with no further sightings. That usually meant that the horrifying group had already gone inactive. This was hopefully just an overreaction to something…an impending earthquake perhaps, although if it was, they shouldn’t be on a road next to mountains, since landslides were possible. He prayed to the three Divines that the threat was that rather than murderous madmen. 

“Please, please, please, let it be that!” 

Ten minutes later, most of the members were gathered around the buses. They shoved their luggage into the compartments and were nervously watching the cloudless sky. The birds had already left, and only the odd silence remained. 

“Lilibeth isn’t here,” Kyra said, her head on a swivel. “Scarlett! Do you mind calling her phone?”

Lilibeth’s friend, the short redhead aptly named Scarlett was nervously pacing in front of the bus doors. “I tried calling her, but somehow, it’s not connecting.” 

“Divine mercy, we…can we wait?” 

“What, are you going to leave her behind?” Scarlett shouted. 

“No, no, I mean, we’re waiting, but where could she be? Should we send a search party? Keep calling!” 

“I am!” 

A few minutes later, Scarlett swore loudly. “Still not connecting.” 

“It’s not even ringing?” Walter asked.

“No.”

“Where is she that there’s no signal? Did she fall inside a cave or something?” 

“I don’t know!” Scarlett’s voice echoed in the valley, and Walter reflexively looked towards the hillside. His face paled as he saw several dozen quadrupeds emerge from the tree line. 

“Divine mercies… It’s Pride.” 

“Abyss! Run! Start the effing buses and let’s go!” 

Pride…

Unfettered. The quadrupeds loped down the hill and gave the club members a frighteningly close look. They looked like lionesses, if those things were crossed with humans. They were at home on four legs or two, and they were the madmen’s vanguard. 

The buses roared to life and careened down the road. Walter’s heart skipped a beat as he abruptly recalled the camp’s staff. He looked back and saw the Pride encircling the staffhouses. Someone broke out into a run, and in a flash, one of the things pounced. It crossed fifty paces in a blink of an eye, and bit down on the person’s neck. Walter imagined a bone-breaking snap. 

“Lily, Lily!” Scarlett had wound up in the HAMA club’s bus, as did Kyra, and the two women’s faces were pale with worry. 

Alas, not a few minutes later, just as they were about to exit the camp proper, the buses crashed into something. Walter and the others were thrown off their seats. The bus he was on rolled over and slammed into a tree. He could vaguely feel numbness spreading down his body before the darkness took him.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep