'Eli can't stay awake.' Fri'Avgi said sadly when the Colossus' glowing eyes faded back to mundane metal.
Yuriko shook off her surprise. The name had just come to her as though she knew it her whole life. Eli'Theria. An Ancient's companion artefact much like Fri'Avgi had been. However, unlike her greatsword, Eli'Theria had not been a personal weapon, but a platform shared by Ancient combatants, and Damien had long ago been a pilot. Either that or he'd been one of the Colossus' creators. She, Eli'Theria had a slightly feminine bent, had recognised Yuriko as an Ancient, but had thankfully not equated her with Damien. Small mercies that came with a boatload of trouble.
"What was that?" The grey-haired woman, Inquisitor Gorlyn demanded as soon as the lights stopped.
Yuriko glanced at the woman, who recoiled as soon as their eyes met. Gorlyn muttered under her breath, silently enough that it would not have been audible to anyone, but of course, Yuriko's Anima perception heard it clearly, "Now there's two of them…"
"Inquisitor, there's no need to demand answers from my daughter," Sadeen said firmly, but then, Mum turned to her and raised a questioning brow. "But, what did happen?"
Yuriko's lips twitched, and she asked, "Mum, Da, what were you trying to do to Eli'Theria?"
"Eli, what?" Virgil and Sadeen both asked while the Inquisitor scowled.
"The Colossus."
"Why do you call it that? Anyway, we've been trying to activate it, but no matter how we fiddle with the control board, it won't even open up." Virgil said, "Well, considering how we first found it…"
"It was unpowered and in disrepair," Inquisitor Gorlyn said, "and sorely in need of cleaning. We did what we could, even repairing the broken runescript lines, to the point that its generators and batteries finally held Animus. The frame and armour had damage too, so we had to bring materials, ore and gems that we had to scavenge from the hallways and other hangars…" She stopped and frowned, then shook her head. "The other Colossi in the hangars are in similar disrepair, but this one is the Vasi. the others were Evgenis at most."
Yuriko wasn't too well versed with Colossi ranks, and she was only familiar with Koinos, which were the weakest and smallest Colossi, as well as the Certus which were considered elite. A Koinos stood at four paces high, while a Certus was five.
"What's an Evgenis?" she asked. "And a Vasi?"
"Noble and Royal," Mum answered her. "Evgenis are five paces high, made of metal, while Vasi are six, and of infused metal." She nodded towards Eli'Theria. "This one is Vasi for sure, and with it, I would have the strength to match a Chaos Duke even in the Tidelands."
"We intended to use this one to fight against the Chaos Marquis," Virgil admitted, "but since none of us was Knight-Commander, we knew piloting it would be difficult at best, impossible in all likelihood." He sighed, "Still, it was our only hope." Then he grinned, "Except I advanced, too."
Yuriko squealed. "You've reached Knight-Commander?"
"Yes," Virgil smirked. "But I'm nothing compared to your Mum. She's a Knight-Dominus."
Sadeen shook her head. "I'm not. I'm a Luminous Sorceress, which is of similar rank, and power level, but there are differences."
"It's all really the same," Virgil insisted.
Sadeen rolled her eyes. "Fine, if you say so."
"Let's not get distracted," the Inquisitor said. "Miss Davar, Yuriko, please tell us what you discovered. That was more than what we ever managed to get out of the Vasi."
Yuriko nodded. "Her name is Eli'Theria. She…well, I guess you can call her a Vasi Colossus."
"What do you mean?" Gorlyn insisted.
"She can be stronger than that if partnered with a strong enough Ancient." Yuriko closed her eyes for a moment. Fri'Avgi had been chattering away at her in her mind space the entire time. "And, of course, you need a key. My artefact, or any other capable of Ignition."
"So it had been hopeless at the start," Virgil said.
"Not really," Yuriko insisted. "I think you can awaken her and pilot her without a key, but she won't be at full power. Now…I think there are more things missing that are preventing her from awakening."
"How do you know that her name's Eli'Theria?" Virgil asked curiously.
"Through the connection a while ago," Yuriko answered easily. When the lights connected with Fri'Avgi's red gem, packets of information had been transferred. Her artefact spirit was unravelling them now, and muttering all the while.
"So, what's missing?" Inquisitor Gorlyn asked.
Yuriko tilted her head, "I…"
'Authority. Command Seal. Chaos Converter.'
'And where will I find those?' Yuriko asked Fri'Avgi.
'Central District, Command Center. Siderious' autonomous command staff.' Yuriko felt Fri'Avgi hesitate. 'But there might be trouble.'
'What do you mean?'
"Sister Eli's logs confirm that neglect began from the command staff.'
'They're hostile?' It made sense, she supposed. If the Command Staff could alter the portal destinations…
'Either that or they have troubles of their own.'
'How do we get there?'
'I am the key.' Fri'Avgi's voice was smug.
"Baby?" Sadeen poked Yuriko's cheek.
"Oh! Sorry, I was conversing with Fri'Avgi's animating spirit." Yuriko blushed. "She said that three things are missing. Authority, Command Seal, and Chaos Converter. All of which could be found in the Siderious' Central District."
"Of which," the inquisitor said, "we're all barred from entering."
"You know the way?" Yuriko asked.
"It's locked."
Yuriko patted her artefact greatsword. "She's the key."
All three adults' eyes widened in realisation. "Then we should go immediately!" Gorlyn exclaimed. Her voice drew the other members of her team, Balliol, Amiri, and Craig. The three of them eyed Yuriko's artefact, then the Colossus.
"A breakthrough?" Craig asked.
"So it seems," Sadeen answered. "My daughter claims she has the key to the Central District, as well as the way out of here." Mum firmly took control and set the people around them to task. "I'm sure everyone's tired and hungry. We've waited this long, and haste can lead to mistakes." She glanced pointedly at the Inquisitor. "I know you're eager to succeed in your mission, but I'd not risk our safety for a day gained."
"I…" Inquisitor Gorlyn bowed her head. "Very well, I will comply."
"Now then, let's all head to our quarters and have a nice dinner," Sadeen said. "All of you, come."
Yuriko could feel the touch of Mum's Mien prodding everyone along. She could also somewhat intuit the threads coming from the Mishala Sorceress, and it touched all of her people lightly. Actually, she could feel the threads recoiling, especially from Heron, Gwendith, Desire, Braden, Orrin, the three Karcellians, and Sheamus. Even so, that didn't stop them from going along with Sadeen's commands.
They marched out of Eli'Theria's hangar. Yuriko walked up to the throne and touched the Colossus' greaves, feeling the warmth of the golden metal. Sparks of lightning and Radiant flowed from her fingers into the Colossus, and she thought she felt Eli'Theria respond. But when she looked up at the Colossus' face, there were no signs of activity.
She followed behind her parents as they led the way through the hallways. It was a long walk, actually, nearly an hour. The hangar doors had not been secured beyond what was originally there.
The residential block was certainly more welcoming than the hallways so far. Each one was basically several suites surrounding a courtyard. At the centre were fruiting trees, as well as a clear spring right in the middle.
One residential courtyard was barely enough to fit everyone. There were roughly eleven suites, each one easily able to fit three or four. Yuriko got pulled into her parent's suite, despite her protests that she was somewhat used to living alone.
"We missed you," Virgil said, and that was enough to quell her protests. Besides, now that she thought about it, aside from the time she travelled the Chaos Sea, she hadn't actually been by herself. Gwendith's hangdog look was both pitiful and amusing, but her friend ended up bunking with her cousin as well as one of the women marines, Selene.
Saki had made her obeisance to Sadeen but made it clear to Yuriko that her duties and allegiances belonged to her, not her Mum. Still, as her handmaiden as well as her Shadow Guard, Saki took on domestic roles, taking over the cooking from Virgil.
Da and the others had stocked up on fruits and questionable meat, which turned out to be giant hornet jerky.
"The flesh from the legs is actually reminiscent of pork," Sadeen said as she delicately ate the sliced hornet meat. "It goes well with stewed fruits and vegetables. Siderious is unexpectedly well stocked for a fortress."
"From what we gathered, the Siderious is the entire plane. How big it really is, we have no way of knowing," Virgil explained.
"The Silver Tiger was unable to get an accurate reading," Sadeen continued. "It exists on more layers of the Chaos Sea than is apparent."
Damien had been silent the entire time, and Yuriko hadn't felt him stir since the portal journey. It couldn't have been the lack of Radiant energy, right? The courtyard, even though it was buried within the mountainous fortress, had a false sky reflecting the Firmament.
The journey through the portal had been exhausting, even if Yuriko hadn't felt it early on. Her eyelids began to droop at the conclusion of the intimate meal. The others ate in their own quarters, and the marines posted a watch outside. Amiri, Craig, and Balliol took command over the marines, and since every one of them, except the Inquisitor, had been part of Legion Vagaris, they knew what they were doing. Er, it turned out that the marines were a bit greener than she expected, as they hadn't been part of the temporary legion for long. Before that, they were like her cousins, ship's marines.
Desire tried to worm her way into Yuriko's bedroom, but Sadeen firmly put the Chaos Lord out of the suite. Pouting and flouncing, Desire retired to Gwendith's shared suite, while Yuriko did her evening ablutions. That little bit of mundanity brought home that she was, if not back in Rumiga, still with her family.
Tension she hadn't really realised that had been part of her, eased up. Certainly, the hot bath helped quite a bit.
The spare bedroom was rather modest, not even three paces across. The bed had a thin mattress, and while her bedroll would have been better, she didn't bother bringing it out of her backpack. The moment her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.
But then, in the middle of the night, she woke up. At first, she thought she needed to relieve herself, but there was no pressing need within her body. A casual inspection with her Anima perception told her that nothing was wrong and she should have slept through the night. Her eyes were still grainy and her head fuzzy.
However, a moment later, she heard it. A call through the dreamscape.
"...elp m…"
"Help me…"
"Help me, Ancient…"
Yuriko's clothes flew from where she left them, and she dressed herself with her Animakinesis, taking just a bit longer than a blink of an eye. She was out of her room and the suite in moments. Aside from a squeaking sound from the other bedroom, the suite had been silent. Saki was also asleep on the couch, her exhaustion greater than the handmaiden had imagined.
"Who are you?" Yuriko said softly, simultaneously sending her voice through the foreign thread in the dreamscape. She had an inkling of whose voice it was, and when she arrived at the hangar, which took only a few minutes when she flew, her guess was vindicated.
Eli'Theria was shimmering with soft light, but the glow of her eyes was flickering.
Help me.
Yuriko flew towards the Colossus' head, her palm touched Eli'Theria between her eyes. There was a pulse of power that shook her to her core, and the next moment, her body had taken a seated meditation pose right on top of Eli'Theria's head. She barely noticed it, since her Anima had been drawn into the dream, falling through dark clouds and mists, akin to what she felt during the True Refraction.
And just like then, she knew that her life was in danger.