Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 12-23.1: Conflict

In the Realm of Chaos, a sublayer of the world that was beneath three other layers and only afterwards would it touch the Prime Material, a being composed equally of flesh and motes of infinite potential, crouched by a tiny crack. The crack was barely larger than an eyelash…though the compariso...

CoESC Book 12-22.3: Rescue

“I don’t think they’re are more prisoners left,” Monica said and Yuriko was inclined to agree. She hadn’t stopped checking, but the last ten cells didn’t contain anyone alive. The corpses were half dissolved, much like how Wyldlings would look like if their corpses were left in the op...

CoESC Book 12-22.2: Rescue

When the anti-Chaos relic broke, the only thing Cillian Coinoch felt was relief. Which was then immediately followed by a wave of fear so strong that he collapsed into a heap in mid-stride. He had been pacing in his tiny cell, the only means of exercise he could do. Conversations with fellow pris...

CoESC Book 12-22.1: Rescue

Although Yuriko was definitely not dressed for flight, that didn’t bother her in the slightest. The wind parted against her aura and she stood as if on an immovable platform. Not even her skirt fluttered despite the fact that they were crossing longstrides in less than ten seconds. Well, she wa...

CoESC Book 12-21.3: Searching

Monica Coinoch was a petite woman with fierce eyes. Her short-cropped black hair had silver and red streaks, and she was clad in simple clothes. She was slender but her short-sleeved shirt revealed wiry muscles on her arms.

“Cillian is missing?” Yuriko frowned. “I’m sorry to hear th...

CoESC Book 12-21.2: Searching

The day after the duel, Yuriko studied the True Connection spell. A ten-circle spell was the most complex one she’d ever tried, and there were more than two hundred nodes to it. Memorising it turned out to be simple enough for her, even though the spell had different nodes from Message or Sendi...

CoESC Book 12-21.1: Searching

The standoff between Professor Davar and Professor Farran’ir didn’t last more than a couple of minutes. Blanca Ferron nibbled her lower lip nervously, caught herself, and nearly coloured with such a public display of emotion. Her ears were still stiffly straight, though they twitched with eve...

CoESC Book 12-20.3: Investigation

Yuriko couldn’t help but think her sparring opponent was overdressed. Was this not a friendly contest?

Professor Farran’ir looked like he was dressed for the battlefield. She hadn’t even opted to wear her official robes, which were enchanted with defensive measures. It projected a wea...

CoESC Book 12-20.2: Investigation

Early on Darkday, the last day of the week and the day Yuriko was to spar with Eddie Farran’ir, found her distracted over breakfast. She had been paying more attention to her connection with her Squires, and a burst of anxiety and anger had coursed through Gwendith’s thread. It had settled al...

CoESC Book 12-20.1: Investigation

To say he was surprised when he opened his eyes was an understatement. Cillian fully expected never to wake up again after being captured, and an organisation that was able to capture a Ranger lieutenant, even one returning to the borderlands through a relatively safe route narrowed down the pote...

CoESC Book 12-19.3: Mysteries of the Fount

The steam over the hot springs was pleasantly warm, even if the water itself wasn’t as hot as Yuriko expected. Oh, no doubt if it went any hotter, people would boil in it, but her tolerance for extreme temperatures was just that much higher. Actually, if she just let her Anima loose within the ...

CoESC Book 12-19.2: Mysteries of the Fount

Heron met the Ashen Elemental’s charge. His aura spread across his spear, and he swept it at the thing’s torso. The elemental met his attack with a swipe of its arm, and when the two forces met, there was a loud bang and an explosion of sound and dust. Gwendith danced back a couple of steps e...

CoESC Book 12-19.1: Mysteries of the Fount

While Yuriko had tutored kids and warriors back during the War for Rumiga, she had never been assigned to teach a class that was part of a greater whole. And while her early lessons were interesting, it didn’t take into account everything that she needed to cover. She also needed to check what ...

CoESC Book 12-18.3: Tumultuous Undercurrents

“This is showing sincerity?” Sofia grumbled as she moved her body according to the sword forms Professor Davar showed them. Focused mentoring had been over a couple of hours ago, but she and Juliette were still practising.

“Shut up and don’t distract me!” Juliette yelled when her ...

CoESC Book 12-18.2: Tumultuous Undercurrents

After an hour of trekking through the grass paths, Gwendith’s team had gathered over a dozen beast cores from the Molebeasts. The cores were of different hues though were generally a mix of brown and grey. There were a few with reddish streaks along with brown, and those cores came from Molebea...

CoESC Book 12-18.1: Tumultuous Undercurrents

Juliette Abad stared at the list for a long moment, the Nirian Token in hand. She could scarcely believe that Professor Davar had been willing to give these out as a prize for something so mundane as winning a game in class. Tokens were incredibly useful and exchanging them for a professor’s se...

CoESC Book 12-17.3: Professor Davar

Standing on top of the earthen maze, Yuriko’s Anima perception had seeped right through the walls and ceiling easily. The earth and stone were temporary, conjured from a concentration of Elemental energies that were forcibly converted into the materials. After a time, the energies would revert ...

CoESC Book 12-17.2: Professor Davar

Sofia Garcia swallowed as she stared at Professor Davar. She had been referring to her as Yuriko in her mind, simply because that was how they met. It had only been that one time in the library, really, much to her regret. As for her ideas of forging a relationship, well, it seemed more than a li...

CoESC Book 12-17.1: Professor Davar

After a short vacation of a week, Juliette Abad returned to her dormitory room and was just about to head to the registrar to check her new schedule of classes. The Season of Earth was the last trimester of her fifth year as a student. The Season of Fire was typically a break, but of course, some...

CoESC Book 12-16.3: Obligations

It had been almost a couple of weeks since Yuriko signed on as a guest professor at Niria Academy. In the end, she turned down the label of tenured professor, saying that the title was too much for someone who didn’t even know of the academy a Season ago. So a guest professor she was. The pay w...

CoESC Book 12-16.2: Obligations

After a couple of days’ recovery, Juliette was once again back to peak condition. Her flat mate had been acting strange yesterday, but she’d been too lazy then to investigate what had Sofia excited.

This morning, as usual, the plucky redhead had already woken up at dawn and gone to prac...

CoESC Book 12-16.1: Obligations

Sofia Garcia, fifth-year Niria Academy student and aspiring Battle Magus, yawned as the dawn’s light penetrated through the dormitory’s windows. As usual, the light hit her directly in the eye, which prompted her to roll away. And, because she stuffed pillows on the side of her bunk bed, when...

CoESC Book 12-15.3: Initiate

The rest of the fourth layer consisted of more arenas, training rooms, and laboratories. Yuriko watched a couple more battles, noting that the weapons were very much real and wounds even more so. There was an attached infirmary next to each arena, and all of the students who participated in the p...

CoESC Book 12-15.2: Initiate

Most of the students got out by the third layer, leaving Yuriko and the others alone in the cable carriage by the time they crossed the fourth level. Now that they were close, Yuriko could see that the volcano was terraced, allowing each layer to be level. From a distance, the way the mountain wa...

CoESC Book 12-15.1: Initiate

With the primer in one hand and the basic spellbook in the other, Yuriko began her research. Which lasted about ten minutes before she had to stop and meditate to soothe her aching head. Gwendith sat next to her, reading over her shoulder, then chuckled when the books were put down.

“Gett...

CoESC Book 12-14.3: Nirlith City

There were two ways to use a scrying spell, and Cillian was instructed to use the first. Direct observance meant that the spell had to have a target, and it would be provided by links. Those could be memory, a specially prepared item by the target of such a spell, or a well enough likeness.

CoESC Book 12-14.2: Nirlith City

“What does an apprenticeship normally entail for you?” Yuriko asked after she put down the cup. The tea blend held fruity notes, but as she let her senses linger on the tea, she detected deeper notes that complemented the initial taste and a discordant point that made the rest of it taste muc...

CoESC Book 12-14.1: Nirlith City

Tangled in the bedsheets and panting from exhaustion, Yuriko and Gwendith cuddled in the afterglow of their bouts of passion. Gwendith’s breath tickled her neck as her lover nuzzled up against her. Yuriko sighed and pulled the smaller girl closer.

Evenings such as these distracted her fro...

CoESC Book 12-13.3: Adventurer's Guild

Laura Mondero could barely keep herself from shivering. In fear. In awe. Or perhaps to shake the surprise and keep herself from staying stunned.

Lady Yuriko.

Yuriko Mishala Davar, she introduced herself, so perhaps Lady Davar would be more appropriate. At least it would have been, but...

CoESC Book 12-13.2: Adventurer's Guild

By morning, the town had regained a bit of normalcy. Yuriko sat on the railings while she beheld the vistas she hadn’t been able to pay attention to the day before.

One of the few things that caught her attention was the presence of water wheels on the river. The wheels were attached to b...