Spell 24 - The Memory Path

Every dozen steps or so, Ren opened his hand and tried to call his Kindling. The flame did spark every time, but couldn't hold for more than a few seconds, after which it gently vanished like a wisp.

There was no response or any form of encouragement from Kagami. She remained quiet behind him, letting his failures pass unremarked. Ren wasn't sure if that meant she approved of his trying or didn't care at all if he failed at them.

The deeper they walked, the more the structure began to change. The shoji doors gave way to old stone walls, which bore their sigils in vertical patterns, like some sort of ceremonial branding. Ren touched one of the walls as if collecting information about the sensation of it in his mind.

"You used to live here, according to what Iori said. What was this place anyway?" Ren finally asked.

"It was a Sanctum. A place where witches were worshipped or studied, depending on what people needed from us."

He glanced back at her. "Sanctum like… what exactly?"

"People came here from all corners of the world to see what witches look like and what they can do. And then leave with the illusion that they understood. That was what people knew about it, anyway."

Ren sparked a new Kindling that failed in his palm again.

"And in reality?"

"In reality, the Clans used this place for selection rites. Basically, nobles were brought here, tested, and judged. The ones who passed were bonded to their witches. The ones who didn't well... it depends."

"That's how matches were made?" Ren asked, surprised, turning toward Kagami. "I thought witches chose their own pact bearers."

Kagami smiled almost earnestly at his ingenuity.

"Originally, we did," Kagami went on to explain. "The Pact is still ours to initiate with a human, not the other way around."

She walked a few more steps before continuing.

"But over time, the Clans realized the political value of this bond. If a witch chose a noble, that family surely gained power and influence over others. This is how the trials began. Eventually, it wasn't just about the connection between witch and pact bearer anymore, it was about status."

Ren listened to all of that and filed everything carefully in his mental records.

"So witches became a way to climb the ladder," Ren reiterated.

Kagami jumped on one of the stone ledges that trailed the right-hand wall, then glanced back, waiting for Ren to catch up.

"We climbed it too. Don't think we were just used. It has been a power play ever since."

Suddenly, the ring glowed brighter, pointing toward another curve in the path. Ren turned his attention forward.

Then, as they walked past the curve, they saw a vast chamber stretching out before them. It still had the appearance of another hallway, only this time it was wider and possibly longer. The vastness also made it darker, as the lamps placed on the ceiling, although in a decent number, emitted too weak of a light that was insufficient to illuminate the place properly.

The ring was pointing forward, but its glow could no longer light the way either.

"What the hell…" Ren whispered almost to himself. "This shouldn't even fit in the building. The pagoda isn't this wide. I saw this place from the outside."

Kagami jumped beside him, still walking on the stone ledge across the wall.

"Some things are not what they appear to be," she said as her eyes glowed slightly, facing the darkness ahead.

Ren looked again, trying to make sense of what lay beyond. When he peeked, much to his surprise, he could see there was no real pavement. Instead, floating stone platforms hovered one after the other. Together, they formed a path through the air, suspended over what Ren guessed was a very deep hollow void in the structure.

Each platform bore a single glowing glyph at its center. The color was of the same deep violet shade as the smoke that poured from his ring.

Ren carefully stepped closer to the ledge, inspecting the symbols.

"What do the symbols mean?" he asked.

"You don't want to know," Kagami replied, jumping off her stone ledge next to where he stood.

"Try me."

There was a pause after that, during which Ren guessed she was weighing in her response. But he wasn't willing to let her have it easy anymore. He was as much involved in this mess as she was, so the efficient way was for him to ask questions and understand his surroundings as best he could.

"They're mentions of memories."

"Whose?"

"Yours apparently."

He turned to her, unsure how to respond, but before he could say anything, a mechanical sound cut through the hallway once again. It came from above somewhere, maybe from the ceiling, or from within the walls. It was impossible to locate.

"Do you remember this one, Kagami?" the voice asked.

It was the same voice Ren had heard earlier in the great hall where the Izanami statue stood. The sound of it was just as distorted and weird as he remembered it, only now there was no eye to accompany it.

"I kept the details perfectly in place just for you. This is the way you liked it, isn't it? Beautiful and brutal at the same time."

Ren looked up, scanning the ceiling. He saw thick wire clusters and small electrical pipes that gathered into some kind of circuitry. So he guessed that even though he saw nothing that resembled any speakers, there was some mechanical system connecting most chambers inside this pagoda to one another.

Kagami didn't care to reply. Ren glanced at her, trying to read what her silence meant. She always had a comeback of sorts, so it was weird for her not to counteract mockery when it was laid out so directly toward her. But she didn't. And that troubled him.

"All right," Ren interrupted without any regard for manners at that point. "I don't know who you are or what your history is, and frankly, I don't really care all that much." 

Kagami glanced at him, in truth a bit surprised at him taking this initiative.

"I'm crossing this weirdness of a place because you said you had answers. So you better mean it. Because if I climb all the way up there and this turns out to be bullshit..."

"Then what? You'll teach me a lesson?"

Ren frowned in annoyance.

"I just might," he pointed out. "I might not be whatever you are. I'm just a regular guy who got dragged into a mess I didn't choose. But I'm stubborn, and you would be surprised how annoying that may be for someone who is not me."