Chronicles of the Exalted Sun Child

Book 7-7.3: Seeking Sanctuary

There was a small building next to the command transport, barely a single floor and was mostly a single large room. Normally, the camp didn’t stay in one place long enough to warrant spending the Earthmelders’ time and Animus to create extra buildings, but Decanus Dumont had complained loudly and bitterly that the cold and snow was quite distracting for her work.Yuriko walked into controlled pandemonium. Unlike the first camp, the logistics center now had half a dozen desks manned by Decani and support staff. Decanus Dumont was at the rear, dealing with what went through the filter. Of the Fort Commander, there was no sign, but Yuriko assumed she was inside the transport.

Yuriko bypassed the filtering Decani, with the one she passed by nodding familiarly at her. Kelsi, that was the name, Yuriko thought as she nodded back. Once she was inside the building, she overheard the scouts making the report.

“... wandering hordes to the southeast. We can’t penetrate too deep into the forest. The wildlife is rather hostile. We saw signs of Grunder infestation four and a half leagues straight to the mountain…”

Grunders. Yuriko frowned as she recalled her encounter with the creatures… the parasitic monsters. They laid eggs into paralysed creatures and their larva took over the body and covered them in the stony carapace. Ah, and they were often used by Zarek’s get, the Avos’ descendants, as swarm fodder.he isolation and lack of modern amenities had nearly driven her insane, so much so that she took unnecessary risks just to hear another voice.

came Damien’s disgruntled voice.

Yuriko snorted and ignored him. Damien didn’t count. Back then, he only spoke once or twice a day. Although that had been limited by her Radiant reserves. He could probably talk all he wanted now. Still, a disembodied voice at the back of her head wasn’t as comforting as talking to Gwendith or Desire, after all.

So…what to do? Mum joined Legion Vagaris but suddenly, she wasn’t so keen on joining. Not after what she remembered during her second incarnation. Pointless war against foes so weak that they barely constituted a challenge.

What then?

What about adventuring? During the time she crossed the Chaos Sea from Ulmira to Delovine, she encountered a couple of adventurers and even a school excursion. They killed Fysalli-born Chaos dwellers and sold whatever resources they found. She could do that too. And she could see the wonders of other planes while she was at it.

A life of wandering from place to place, visiting foreign cities and nations, meeting new people and challenging the strong? She could imagine a life like that. If she could do it while accompanied by her friends, that would be better too. And, if she left Imperial territory, it would probably make it much more unlikely for the prince to find her.

She also wondered if she would settle down and have a family. Not in the near future, of course, but much later when she grew wary of travelling. The Chaos Sea had no end. There were planes and lands beyond what could be seen. She hungered to see such places, and maybe if she found one that she liked well enough, she’d live there on a more permanent basis.

Huh, she’d miss her brothers and Da, though. Mum, too.

An ominous silence drew her from her reverie. She was roughly twenty paces above the forest floor, but still under the canopy. She heard bird calls and animal noises the entire time she walked, but now, the only thing she could was the rustling of the leaves from a brisk breeze. Something had scared the little things.

On second thought, the arboreal highway hadn’t been such a great idea. If the forest undergrowth wasn’t as dense, she wouldn't have trouble spotting the beasts and the trails, but up here, it was all a mass of greens and browns. Then again, if she was down there, she wouldn’t have been able to see far either.

When she saw some bushes shake, she crouched down on the branch and sharpened her sight. A moment later, a large boar wandered into the clearing. It reminded her of Avos Shillogu, who had quills and tentacles on his back. This specimen had those features but was also covered in granite plates and bony protrusions.

The boar plodded around, crashing through several bushes and even knocking a small tree askew. A few critters ran out from under a tree and the boar rushed at it. It caught up after a couple of moments and in the next, swallowed it whole.

Even as she watched, more granite plates grew out of its hide and covered a bit more of its back. There were a few maggoty things that appeared before they were covered by the plates though. Grunder?

Probably.

While she wondered what she could do, the Grunder ate a few more critters, then tore off leaves and vines from a tree and ate those.

Just as she was about to attack, she heard more rustling, and a couple of dozen paces away, a wolf burst out of the bushes. It was an infested wolf too, with most of its back and front legs already covered with granite plates. The two eyed each other warily but didn’t fight. Instead, they went in opposite directions.

She stayed on her perch for several minutes, noting more Grunders as they wandered the forest floor. A new one came every other minute or so. How far had she travelled? A couple of leagues? Didn’t the scout report that the nest had been four and a half leagues away?

It was either the creatures were headed towards the forest edge or there were more of them than expected. Both possibilities meant that the choice of heading straight into the forest would be more dangerous than expected.

Several hours had already passed while she scouted and it was about time to return. Yuriko cast a last glance at the creatures, spun on her heels and left.