2: From Trickle to Flood

The corridor behind the doorway was rather short, almost immediately arriving at a four-way junction. More soaring hallways greeted her to the left and right. Before her was a long and wide hallway that ended with grand metal gate, presumably the main entrance to the whole structure.

Hollow silence was all that resounded in the vast spaces around as she held her breath.

The entire place was constructed in the same chiseled and weathered stone, with one notable exception. The floor in the center of the room held a faded mosaic depicting a full solar eclipse, not unlike the one she had just witnessed.

The memory of which galvanized her to action. Just leaving that place was starting to make her feel better. She was in no shape to simply flee out the front gate into the unknown wilderness, though. After all, she was still nake— unarmed.

Choosing the dim corridor to her right instead, she skirted the edge of the walls, passing under a series of burned-out torches as she made her way down the passage. She was constantly scanning with her chakra, but with the way it was roiling around she wasn't sure if she could trust herself to correctly interpret the results.

Regardless, she felt it was better to stick to the shadows and avoid being out in the open. Especially given how exposed she was currently... in various meanings of the word. She felt a bit of heat flow to her cheeks.

Her expression tightened. She was likely in mortal peril, it was a bit much to be preoccupied with vague embarrassment at a time like this. And no one was even around... for now. Her pace quickened.

The hall sloped down as it entered a circular tower, forming a massive spiraling ramp downward. Her chakra twinged a bit at the thought. There was a distinct feeling that something... important was down there. Proceeding on, she descended the ramp, reaching a hallway parallel to but still heading further away from where she had come.

She ran faster this time, and she neared the end of the hall while encountering nothing and no one along the way.

Despite the place showing signs of relatively recent activity, it seemed that it was now well and truly deserted. What greeted her was another bland rock wall blocking the way. It seemed this was a dead end? Surely not?

She tilted her head slightly, approaching further.Then why place torches leading to a dead end? Why was the dust unsettled in the center of the path? It seemed too disjointed for a building like this. All that hallway leading here.... As well as the feelings she was getting from her chakra. She didn't know what it was, but there was definitely something afoot here.

Reaching out to touch the obstructing wall, the chakra leaking from her body surged out and pierced into the stone. Or seemed to, for the wall shimmered and disappeared like it had never been there, revealing another archway entrance.

This was mildly startling, certainly not what she'd expected.

Illusion? A barrier? Clearly someone wanted this place cordoned off. Well, apparently not all that urgently given how easy it was to enter.

Exiting from the archway, her eyes widened as she took in the expansive space before her. The whole area was roughly circular, and the domed ceiling soared up to a substantial height many meters above. A verdant garden sprawled out before her, centered around a clean and sizeable pond of water. Wisps of steam floated up from the water and trailed around the smooth rock of its banks before dissipating. A tiny font of water trickled from a quartz-like crystal outcrop and into the pond directly across from where she stood, filling the area with its gentle noise.

At the very top of the ceiling was another skylight, this one being a large octagonal glass dome; it sat like a crown upon the whole scene and provided natural sunlight that shined directly upon the steaming pond, giving it a unique elysian atmosphere.

How could such a glorious place be here? She struggled to maintain her caution, forcing her senses to remain observant.

Two stone-enclosed passageways looped around the gardens from either side, seemingly leading to the same place behind the crystalline wall and the trickling font. There were chiseled gaps periodically along these passage walls facing the interior, providing decently sized windows every few meters. Under these windows and along the perimeter of the garden were various types of flowering bushes, their colors accentuated greatly with the dull gray rock as a backdrop.

A few trees stood on either side of the steaming pond, occasionally dropping red and pink petals that fluttered into the steam atop the water's surface.

Short flowers spanning an entire gradient of colors sprouted up from patches of gray-green ivy scattered around the garden. Lush grass pathways organically interlaced the flowerbeds and converged into an open clearing just before the pond. Even from the entrance she could smell a refreshing and enticing fragrance emanating from the area. Mint? Was there perhaps mint in the underbrush?

So striking was the atmosphere here that she couldn't bear to resist it. Her tension was evaporating. Her heart calmed with the reassuring atmosphere. The strands of glittering amethyst chakra swirling around her calmed to a gentle nuzzling. Before she knew it, she had already strolled halfway to the central pond. She admired the scenery as she went.

If she were to die here instead of that awful ritual chamber, she could probably have accepted it. That is how heavenly it seemed.

Heavenly? Again, she wondered if she was actually dead after all.

She could believe it if this place was an afterlife.  In the face of this serenity, her anguish mere moments ago seemed like a lie. The cushioning of the very grass beneath her seemed to massage her feet as she went, as if beckoning her to lay amidst it.

She decided to trust this peacefulness, at least tentatively. Perhaps she could find some answers here. It was certainly having a positive effect on her for now. It was just what she needed.

Reaching the pond's banks, she refrained from collapsing into the grass behind her just yet. There was still remnants of slime sticking to her, and her hair was still finely coated in it such that its color was dulled to a similar muted gray.

She absolutely refused to remain filthy like this any longer. The pond was just what she needed right now.

She had no need to undress, so she simply crouched by the gently rippling surface. She glanced at the hair clasp still in her hand, clenching it tightly before giving it a quick rinse and setting it on a smoothened rock. She would wear it again once her body was clean and she... found some clothes. Her one and only possession deserved a finer canvas than her presently soiled self.

Dipping her right foot into the pond, she tested its temperature. It was quite hot, but bearably so.

Sliding in gently, she waited until her legs acclimated before wading further in. Continuing until she stood about shoulder-deep, she looked up into the skylight, vision framed by gently swaying tree branches that loosed stray petals down upon her.

The heat was bliss, seeping in to her core and easing her tense muscles. Her mind had been in overdrive for quite a while now and the stimulus helped clear her thoughts and simply focus on her body.

She exhaled so deeply it felt like she had breathed out twice-over the air in her lungs. She did not even need to scrub herself clean, for the slime seemed to dissolve completely on contact here.

Even at this depth, perhaps 110 cm, the water remained fairly clear, though the steam was noticeably thicker. Closing her eyes, she slowly submerged her head, combing her hands through her hair to clean it fully. The sensation of her head lightening and her hair softening was immensely satisfying, traces of a contented smile lingering on her face when she resurfaced some time later.

Glimpses of red caught her peripheral vision, prompting her to scoop up a lock of her hair to inspect. Now clean, her hair had returned to its original vibrant red coloration, glistening with a silken luster.

Original? Again, she was somewhat disconcerted. Just seeing her own hair's natural color instilled a sense of reassurance. If the familiarity of her own body was comforting, just how close had she been to being deprived of her selfhood? Why was there this lingering awkwardness, this disconnect? There was a sudden twisting of chakra in her abdomen, but it was soon beneath her notice. Bathing was a welcome distraction.

She allowed herself a few more minutes of soaking, closing her eyes and letting her body float freely until her skin began to flush from the heat. Wading back towards the shore, she wrung her hair out gently to lessen its weight before allowing it to fall against her back. Again, the action simultaneously felt familiar and off somehow.

There wasn't anything to use as a towel, so she merely wiped excess water away with her bare hands before collecting her hair clasp and making her way onto the grassy clearing. She was still rather damp, so perhaps lying in the grass would help dry her off. She kind of wanted to try it anyway.

After a few quick stretches to loosen up her muscles even more, she was ready to go for it.

Easing her newly relaxed body onto a particularly lush patch of grass, she laid down on her back and propped her head up with her left hand, the right one holding her hair clasp up to the light for inspection.

The whole construct was indeed ornate. Made of some sturdy silvery metal, the clasp consisted of three major components: the artistically designed core and two simple lever handles on opposite sides that formed the clasping mechanism. The clasp handles curved underneath the core to form an 'X' shape together before splitting up into eight elegant metal teeth for interlocking with hair. Just above where the handles touched under the core, there was a small rectangular slot between the metal, presumably to run a ribbon or band through. Additionally, a hole ran diagonally through the clasp handles underneath the core for inserting a hair pin.

The clasp core's circular face was embossed with signet. It consisted of a short vertical bar with a long stretching spike crossing horizontally along its center, which then branched out about halfway on either side to form a set of tridents pointing outward. The central spike of these tridents themselves split into a smaller trident near each tip, such that the smaller tridents were encased by the outer prongs of the large ones, totaling five prongs on each side. The size of those prongs was nicely proportional to how far along the main spike each trident began, with the tips of each prong narrowing to match its parent spike— bending slightly to parallel the horizontal.1Words are tough, so: The symbol, which you might recognize:

The underside of the signet bore a damaged inscription. Rather, it seemed that the surface had been smoothened by friction, possibly from hair, fingers, or time. The only legible remaining symbols were near the very edge on one side, which could barely be made to read out ' ̴̺̪͖̓́ka ̶̖̍͗̚'.

'Ka'2 view: (花) This is purely for lore equivalence (understanding why it would be hard to read) and has only marginal impact on the context given that this will be written in English.. That was the first thing she'd read since awakening. 'Ka...' Ka- what? Of course it was obviously meant as part of a larger message and was irrelevant on it's own, but for some reason she felt an attachment to it.

An odd shifting occurred within her chakra, creating a slight discomfort—like that of something stuck in her throat.

Ka...    ka? It felt definitive when she thought about it. Thinking again, this clasp was definitely her possession. It probably had something to do with herself or the things she couldn't remember.... like her own name, identity, abilities... why did everything seem just beyond her conscious grasp? Something, may be her chakra, clumped around in her head like a fog over her mind.

...

Ka. Unhappily, she figured it could mean anything. The uncertainty bothered her. It bothered her immensely. She released a quiet cough to clear her throat absentmindedly, turning the ornament round and round in her palm.

She had to admit that the signet was quite aesthetically pleasing. It conjured imagery of one standing as the pillar of a great and sprawling tree, each branch an extension of a singular will. Carried by her imagination, she envisioned a nondescript humanoid figure with a thousand wooden hands stretching from its back. A thousand hands to influence the far-reaching corners of the world—a hand in every affair.

She set the clasp to her side and nodded to herself, surmising that the iconography was crafted to project exactly such notions of power and influence. But, the notion and imagery just seemed to come so naturally to her—like her chakra resonated with it. Sitting up, she wondered about how the symbol was related to——

Her body shuddered.

A lightheaded feeling pressed upon her forehead and temples before a massive surge of pressure built up on her from above. Her vision darkened. Cringing around her stomach, she curled tightly into a fetal position as a migraine assaulted her. Flashes of distorted scenes again appeared in her mind before sharpening to a clearer view as the pressure on her mounted. In her mind she relived them, for she knew these as memories.

She saw red. Blurry white shapes framed in red. A warm comforting feeling was present when she saw them. A thundering commotion, a atmosphere of great distress. Great gaps of time spent in darkness.

The images sharpened further. A obscured face with a disgusting grin, the first time she remembered the feeling of loathing. A room full of scrolls, countless hours spent pouring over seemingly esoteric documents. The first feeling of her chakra, it sweet amethyst color awakening at her command.

A red-haired little girl in a ragged gray robe looking at her reflection in a shard of glass. Herself, caressing a hair clasp over and over and over, seeking the comfort of something she didn't know but knew that she had lost.

Red. Red. Red.

Red hair framing her face. Red, her own blood on her hands. Red, blood on the purple chain extending from her back where it pierced a figure in front of her. A sprawling wall of interwoven tree branches. Darkness again—

Retching silently, she awoke from her memories to an immense pressure within and around herself. The edges of her eyesight remained darkened. An agonized scream was choked in her throat by the snapping and jostling of chakra within her as it adjusted its path, restructuring around a massive influx of energy flowing into her like a dam overtopped by a flood.

The pressure tightened and tightened until there was a great TWANG! and the energy within her snapped into its proper channels, accumulating in her vastly expanded reserves. The rebounds of the energy shockwave circulated throughout her in ways she could barely perceive, let alone understand in the midst of the fading agony.

Tearful whimpering escaped her lips along with a torrent of blood, leaving her unable to even scream as the blood continued pool in her mouth. Gasping for breath, she felt her chakra circulating in proper balance all throughout her channels—no longer leaking from her body in those wisps of amethyst light.

'H-How... why did I have to remain conscious through that!?'

With that thought, she promptly collapsed beside a pool of her own blood.