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...

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 h...

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 crosse...

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 in...

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 waterfal...

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 we...

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 Gatheri...

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 themse...

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...

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 ...

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 th...

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 ...

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 bla...

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 ...

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, re...

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...

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 ...

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 bles...

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 alt...

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...

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. Sh...

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 mean...

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 R...

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 s...

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 woul...

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 breakt...

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 slow...

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,” Mar...

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 ...

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 truncate...