Lester Yong & Rosa Fontelera-Yong

CoESC Book 13-10.1: Uprising

The slime creature closest to her lunged. It lost its humanoid shape, turned into a pillar of sludge and attempted to engulf her. Yuriko watched impassively as it splattered against her condensed aura, she released her control over her Radiant aspect. The sludge emitted a high-pitched squeal as it tried to escape, but Yuriko ...

CoESC Book 13-9.3: Festival of Joy

Yuriko twirled the festival mask around her fingers before she put it on her face. Her hair was back in its usual high ponytail, though she never bothered to use ribbons or string to keep it that way. It only took a little bit of focus to use her Animakinesis to keep her hairstyle neat after all, and ribbons had a distressing...

CoESC Book 13-9.2: Festival of Joy

Ryoko Mishala arrived in the city early that day, the 21st of Fire. The preparations for the festival had been going on for days already, and it was exciting to see all of it coming to fruition. The young mistress—well, not so young now, really, considering that she was of age in the truest sense—didn’t like exploring V...

CoESC Book 13-9.1: Festival of Joy

Over the next few days, tension rose in the city of Virtalla. The Scions of Virtalla, the political group that the Minister of Commerce belonged to, had lost many of their positions in the city’s government after the elections. Yuriko was curious, since they held those positions over the years, why did they suddenly lose th...

CoESC Book 13-8.3: An Insistent Offer

Unlike the graduation ball, Yuriko and the other two didn’t spend the night in the Bluebell Theater or the adjoining hotel a block away from it. By midnight, they boarded the carriage and were headed to the estate, a trip that was likely to take a couple of hours even if the traffic along the radial avenues was practically ...

CoESC Book 13-8.2: An Insistent Offer

There were a few boys less than the girls, so at least they weren’t paired off arbitrarily. Not that Yuriko would have allowed that anyway, but it was nice not to have to face something like that. 

The parade of debutantes made their way towards the cleared space in the middle of the ballroom. Yuriko expected...

CoESC Book 13-8.1: An Insistent Offer

Contrary to what Yuriko expected, the elections didn’t resolve into violence. Instead, there were crowds of people rushing to their voting precincts. The city was home to more than a million people, and from what Juliette told her, everyone within the Virtalla Province, which was the city itself, and the farms and lands out...

CoESC Book 13-7.3: Encounters

Heron carefully observed the five warriors standing amidst the corpses of dozens of Elementals. The glow of their Anima cast a lurid light against the charcoal-black landscape, and it was bright enough that it was difficult to make out their attire from a distance, but as he and Gwendith walked down the hillside, he saw that ...

CoESC Book 13-7.2: Encounters

“What’s going on?” Yuriko muttered. She spread her perception aura, careful to keep it from directly touching anyone, and pushed all the way to her limits. But a hundred and seventy paces still put her reach into the midst of the crowd, so she couldn’t see anything. She heard murmurs about a ‘Scions of Virtalla’ a...

CoESC Book 13-7.1: Encounters

“You know, it hasn’t occurred to me to ask, but what exactly is the Gala Presentacion?” Yuriko asked as she sipped a cup of breakfast tea. She and the others, including Ryoko, and the same maid who fetched her from the guest room for last night’s banquet, were serving breakfast in one of the Abad estate’s parlours.&...

CoESC Book 13-6.3: Virtalla City

The welcome banquet was quite elaborate, and Juliette later revealed to Yuriko that it was because she was visiting that it happened. An eighteen-year-old True Magus was rare, practically unique, after all. Yuriko briefly thought to ask the girl and her family to avoid spreading that fact out, but then again, what did it real...

CoESC Book 13-6.2: Virtalla City

The air of the Outlands sang to Nathan Quint. His Anima was flared as far as it could go, and while it allowed him to resonate with the Elemental Truths, it also made him vulnerable to attack. His Circle’s mission was simple but challenging for a group of initiates at the 2nd Growth Stage. All they needed to do was endure, ...

CoESC Book 13-6.1: Virtalla City

Ryoko gave Yuriko such a knowing look when she got home that she was compelled to give an explanation. 

“Booze and card games.”

“Ah.” Ryoko smirked, then leaned towards Yuriko and breathed deeply. She clicked her tongue, though, and muttered, “It seems we have to wait for their return, bu...

CoESC Book 13-5.3: Circles

Yuriko startled awake and felt her head pounding and her mouth tasted as if something had crawled in and died on her tongue. She blinked at the unfamiliar ceiling for a long moment, before her Radiant energy, which had been completely restrained into her core last night, flared up and washed across her body, consuming the rem...

CoESC Book 13-5.2: Circles

Almost as soon as Yuriko exited the Elemental Conflux, she cast the True Connection spell targeting Gwendith. She wove the vocal and somatic components with runescript drawn with her Anima and waited in anticipation for it to connect. 

But a moment later, she frowned when she felt the spell fizzle out. The s...

CoESC Book 13-5.1: Circles

Gwendith, Heron, and Saki made their careful way across the volcanic terrain. Well, it wasn’t that bad yet, but steam hissed out of holes in the ground every so often. Heat was more than prevalent in the surroundings, accompanied by Fire elemental energies. Gwendith pulled the heat surrounding her, and focused it on one han...

CoESC Book 13-4.3: Rampage

Yuriko’s Anima greedily absorbed the Radiant energy that the Earthen Bear exploded with. Its Elemental Core had been completely devoured and converted to Radiance, and since the beast had no capability with the Primordial Element, it lost complete control of all its energies and failed to keep it contained. That resulted in...

CoESC Book 13-4.2: Rampage

“By the Gods!” Sofia cursed when the Earthen Bear emerged with a roar so loud that it made the ground shake. Julliete caught her arm but that was only because the brunette lost her footing, too. But together, they prevented each other from falling over. 

The two Casters in their impromptu team didn’t f...

CoESC Book 13-4.1: Rampage

The elemental beast that rose from the hillside resembled a bear more than anything else. Yuriko watched it with keen interest, felt her heart begin to race and her Anima flare as she was more than ready to fight. There was no way that thing was weak enough for the students to fight, so it was up to her and the other professo...

CoESC Book 13-3.3: Final Exams

The final exams had begun. Yuriko, who was not in charge of any particular group of students, was instead on the rapid response team. The difficulty of flight spells was quite apparent from the sheer amount of cursing and sweaty Magi faces. The dean had arrived, too, and Yuriko noted that even a Domain had trouble counteracti...

CoESC Book 13-3.2: Final Exams

Over the next few days, Yuriko and Duke Fluffington, Paragon of Fluffiness, First of His Name, went as far north into the Elemental Conflux as they could. She brought along a backpack full of supplies, dried meats, hardtack, and spices, no Imperial ration bars, while the wolf pup was unencumbered, but his galloping speed was ...

CoESC Book 13-3.1: Final Exams

Yuriko’s Anima took the brunt of the attack. She grunted as she felt her condensed aura crack, but that was it. The attacker was stopped cold on its feet, and while it may have surprised her by moving so fast, it was only because she had most of her Anima on restriction mode that allowed it to approach so closely. Otherwise...

CoESC Book 13-2.3: Golden Fields

Blood and viscera splattered across Yuriko’s body, held fast from staining her clothes and skin through her condensed aura. Not that she couldn’t feel the slimy ickiness, quite the contrary, rather. She could feel and even taste every particle as they sloughed towards the ground, and it was only the fact that she was able...

CoESC Book 13-2.2: Golden Fields

The elemental mists billowed and converged upon Yuriko as she barreled through the air and entered the Elemental Conflux called the Golden Fields. They crashed against her Anima, pressed down upon it, and acted as a heavy weight that pushed her towards the ground. She frowned and pushed back, noting the strain. It wasn’t so...

CoESC Book 13-2.1: Golden Fields

Yuriko sighed while her body moved with the sway of the Steeld carriage. It's been hours already and she was sure she could have flown the hundred longstrides in a couple of hours. The ride would take the entire day, and they'd stay overnight in the nearby village before they would even enter the Chaos Fount.

CoESC Book 13-1.3: Council Politics

Gwendith chewed on the end of a stalk of grass as she lounged on the balcony of the residence that the Braxxonian residents had given her group. It was a simple two-storey affair, with a couple of bedrooms, a kitchen and living room, and the balcony. She and Saki shared a bedroom while Heron stayed in the other one.

Bra...

CoESC Book 13-1.2: Council Politics

“So, if the other city counsellors have to be elected, but the seats for the academic deans are not,” Yuriko said as they climbed towards the cable carriage. “Would that not skew the weight of power towards the academies?”

Blanca grinned. “Yes.”

Yuriko hummed. “Ah.”

Giggling, Blanca added, �...

CoESC Book 13-1.1: Council Politics

The rain that had been threatening all morning finally broke over Nirlith City, drenching the streets and everyone unfortunate enough to be far from shelter. Dozens dashed into covered doorways, squeezing in as best as they could, even if errant raindrops splashed onto sleeves and skirts. The droplets bounced off the cobblest...

CoESC Book 12-23.3: Conflict

The planting had been done, and all the farmers, ranchers, and fruit growers were at liberty. A fine time too, since the elections for Virtalla City’s Counselor were less than a Season away. The air was filled with floating blossoms shed from the cherry trees, and at the corner of Victory Square, there were pink piles talle...

CoESC Book 12-23.2: Conflict

The flight back to Nirlith City took twice as long, but dawn was still a few hours from coming. Yuriko, clad in her hastily made Animus dress, was deep in thought. Monica had taken Cillian back in her arms when she was able to cast her flight spell. The older woman kept glancing at her every few minutes. Yuriko was tempted to...