Yuriko stared at the skyline for a long while, muttering to herself. The buildings weren't the fat but tall kind that dominated Dragon Fall City, but the thin, graceful needles that were more reminiscent of the glass buildings in the Uaran plane, back at the Empire. The building outlines were lit with pale lights, and there were even beams of light sweeping about.
What time was it, anyway?
She reflexively looked at the bedside table and at the digital alarm clock's display. It was a quarter to four in the morning, roughly three or so hours before dawn. Was it strange that a city with electric lights didn't really sleep? The area around her current home was quiet, however, so perhaps it was only there.
She found the light switch near the bedroom door, flipped it on, then let the window covers fall.
Blinds. They were called blinds.
Yuriko eyed the pulley and rope contraption, experimentally tugged on them, then referred to the captured memories. She pulled the correct rope to conceal the room's interior as otherwise, anyone looking from outside could see through it.
Her breath misted as she noticed the temperature within the room. She hadn't been affected by extreme heat or cold since she awakened Radiant energy. But now…
She looked within her and sighed. Her Colligia, her Animus Core, and her Ennoia satellites were all absent. The Radiant energy she brought along with her incarnation was limited, with most of it infused in her Anima. She could withdraw it, but without exposure to the Radiant Sun, she couldn't replenish her stores. Her cells contained tiny Radiant cores, but there was a problem that was quickly apparent when she tried to use them.
They generated heat, and only the incarnation body was immune to it. That part of her was spread all over Lilibeth's body, and Lilibeth's cells weren't immune to heat. The fraction of a second she tried it almost cooked her organs.
It…it would take time…probably a lot of it…to forge her Radiant Physique back to perfection. But it would probably be faster if she formed her Colligia again. The incarnation body was separate from the true body…
"And that's an advantage I'd throw away if I just copy everything," Yuriko muttered.
She had no reason to abandon Radiance since that had been her greatest source of power, even if it made her a bit too arrogant. But that also meant she could try to use a different Ennoia to hold primacy in this body. She could focus on swordsmanship or perhaps the Five Elements first, then marry it with Radiance once it was done. That way, her true body would have an easier time doing the same thing, instead of the slow, plodding she'd been forced to do.
She paused for a moment and realised how arrogant that sounded. A few weeks and that much progress with a new Phase of the Sword was slow and plodding? How long did it take others to do the same?
But then again, she was supported by memories of an old and powerful Ancient, so by that qualifier, she was slow, huh? At the very least, the incarnation body didn't have to bear Damien's memories. No, she had to carry someone else's. A victim to a murder…?
Yes, she was certain that this was deliberate. The ritual was flawed, but perhaps an honest mistake? She couldn't be sure otherwise, and since she was going to use Lilibeth's body and life from now on, this was her responsibility.
Yuriko sighed as she retracted her Anima. The golden glow was brighter than the overhead lights, and since it was so dense now, it took a bit more focus than normal to thin it out into a perception bubble. She could also feel her remaining store of Animus drain away as she utilised her Anima.
It was much like food, she thought. She normally didn't notice any drain when she used her Anima, but she could regenerate so much Animus, and the drain was so miniscule that it was practically unnoticeable. Now it was. Without an Animus Core and her current Anima didn't have the weavings she used to store and regenerate external Animus, she couldn't replace what was spent.
It was simple enough to remedy, however. She hummed as she spread her perception. The iarvesh level was pretty low, less than a single percent compared to what was available in Rumiga, which meant regenerating Animus via normal respiration would take weeks. There were Elemental energies in the air, however, that she could Transform to Animus, and while it wasn't as thick as what was in Bresia, it was denser than Dragon Fall City's atmosphere. There were probably more kinds of ambient Energies around, but she couldn't tell.
"Convert electricity?" she muttered. It was a form of energy, and she was able to capture lightning from the Firmament before. That was a good way to temper her physique, too, but maybe not straight from the socket. Electricity was paid for, after all.
Yuriko shuddered as more memories unfolded. Lilibeth had not grown up in poverty. Quite the opposite actually, but she's been estranged from her family for a couple of years now. Her routine seeped into Yuriko's mind, and she let her hands clasp down her front and her lips twitched into a forced smile.
"Welcome to…" she murmured before she forced herself to stop. Lilibeth was a student, but also a part-time worker in a place that served quick and easy, albeit not really healthy, meals, for about four hours a day, five days out of a week after classes.
"Oh my," Yuriko murmured, feeling an upwelling of anxiety that was a remnant from Lilibeth, and more than a bit of excitement and interest, purely from herself. A part-time job? She's never done any of that. She taught at the Academy, but she doubted she'd be able to do the same here. She took a moment to search Lilibeth's memories, but found no mention of Magi, 'chronian mercenaries, or any of the like. Well, there were soldiers and mercenaries, but nothing the girl would have taken an interest in.
Well, back to forming her Animus Core. Yuriko sat down, both of her bodies. Her true body finished off a bunch of blobbies—antibodies—and carved out a resting place then set Fluffington loose. The pupper barked and wagged his tail, licked her hand, jumped up on her lap, licked her cheek and chin, then sniffed her happily. She chuckled and stroked him between the ears.
Her incarnation body settled into a seated meditation pose on top of Lilibeth's bed, then focused inwards. Animus was derived from ambient Chaos. It was practically the same, save that Animus was coursed through a person's Anima and given its…frequency? Taint? Signature? She wasn't sure what the term was, but it was that. Ambient Chaos pulled into the body and claimed by the person taking it in.
The core of the Anima was an integral process to it, as well as the physical body. One who didn't have a healthy physique wouldn't be able to hold as much Animus as the theoretical maximum, or keep it at the proper density. If she was in the Imperial Path, anyway. Even before she took the Atavism Ritual, Yuriko already had a bit of Animus. Less than five lumens, really, but the seed of her Animus Core was already there. She didn't recall when she formed the seed, and nobody really told her about it anyway, just that anyone living in the Myriad Planes had it by default. They would have died otherwise.
Now, she wasn't in the Myriad Planes and the environment wasn't flushed with ambient Chaos. It was a safer place, she felt, but consequently, people living without the weight of Chaos would be weaker as a result. Bresia's Elemental Hearts were similar to an Animus Core, but were inferior in almost every way. Animus could be changed to Elemental energy easily, but the other way wasn't as easy or efficient.
She gathered all of the Animus left over in her incarnation body and squeezed it all together. She pulled it into the space below her heart, towards the core of the body, and just below the diaphragm. She crunched it all down, bearing down with all of her Will, Intent, and Anima. Her Animus had always been photonic in nature, and she only condensed it at need. To create a core, she needed it at a denser state.
Her original core had been tongues of flame, but her contact with Radiant energy changed her imagery into a sphere of Radiant flames. The Animus condensed until it was a thousandth of its normal size. It turned from photonic, to gaseous, the misty, then to liquid. She didn't go all the way to sandy, then crystalline, since she wouldn't be able to freely control it. Once it was at the current point, she infused it with Radiance, all the Elemental energies she could control, and then, she drew a deep breath. She exhaled everything but ambient Chaos, which she pulled deeper into her body, but not into the Animus Core. Not yet, anyway. She respirated Chaos, building up her stores until it was enough to create a droplet of distilled Chaos. Just as she was about to infuse it, she had an idea. A whim, really, but it felt like a good one. She opened her eyes, ignoring the beams of sunlight that worked its way into her bedroom.
Carefully, she stood up, precariously holding her meditative trance until her body was next to an electrical socket. Mixed in with Lilibeth's background knowledge, Yuriko looked around the bedroom in search of something metallic, finally settling on a misplaced fork under the bed. She held it in one hand, took a deep breath, then jammed it into the socket.
Electricity coursed through the metal and into her body, but only in miniscule quantities. Not enough for her purposes. She mentally grabbed at the lightning, inadvertently using her Intent, and pulled it all into her body. Some of her muscles spasmed, but her Anima held her still. She directed the harnessed lightning into her burgeoning Animus Core, then added the distilled Chaos into the mix.
The swirling cloud of energies collapsed into a smaller point, and with the imposition of Will and Intent, ignited into the familiar burning orb. With a laugh, she pulled the fork off the socket, barely noting the darkened patina. Sparks and smoke rose from the utensil and her panties shed some charred bits. It was the only cloth she had left on her body. She should have gone fully naked, huh.
Beep beep beep!
"Eh?" Yuriko muttered as her gaze snapped towards the ceiling, where a circular device's indicator lights blinked. "Oh."
The smoke reached it and tripped the alarm. She reached up with her Anima first, thought better of it, and used her kinesis to push herself up until she could reach the thing with her fingers. She fumbled with the alarm until she managed to reset it.
Anxiety washed through her for a moment when Lilibeth's memories rose up in response to the beeps, but Yuriko settled after a few seconds when it was revealed that this had not been the first time the woman had tripped the alarm. The concept of it was fascinating though, so she spent a bit more time looking at the device before she sighed and got out of the room. She removed the damaged underwear, dropped it off into the waste bin, then rummaged through the wardrobe to fetch another set. She glanced at the window, and pulled up the blinds. Unfortunately, the window was west facing so she couldn't get any direct rays.
The living and dining room was still a mess, but thankfully, it was the first day of the week, Sunsday, which meant Lilibeth had the day off. It should prove just enough time for Yuriko to get a better handle on her new body, and tomorrow, she'd have to go to Lilibeth's college.
Yuriko sighed, her worries rising. She had enough trouble concealing the truth, but would she even be able to keep this identity intact?
Well, one day and one step at a time.