The Lamentation

A tale of delving into the subconscious of the planet and finding a memory.

**March 24, 1949**

Mistress Fenghuang emerged from her chambers clad in a dark purple jumpsuit covering her entire body save for her head, hands, and feet. The tight fabric clung to her body to the point where it emphasized her toned body extremely well. Realizing my eyes were wandering, I quickly shifted my gaze to the luxurious circlet adorning her head, a band of silver with a single piece of jade perfectly cut into an octagon.  While we wore the exact same clothes and circlet, she made it look good.

*“Is the Bagua anchored properly?”*

She asked, her voice showing little worry, something that I admired greatly. Such a carefree attitude despite the dangers of delving into the Plane of Rifts, I’d never be as fearless as her.

*“Yes. ma’am. The circle’s mana has been stabilized. We are ready for a dive.”*

“Good. I’ll go first, Maria. Remember. Don’t panic.”

*“Y-yes, ma’am.”*

Mistress Fenghuang stepped into the glowing red octagon etched into the floor in the middle of the room. Various ancient characters from Xia Dynasty China are etched on each side of the octagon, there true meanings eluding me. I simply drew what the mistress instructed me wth. The empty room’s pale white walls, ceiling, and floor made it look like we were inside the cell of a mental institution. Diving into the Earth’s Subconscious would be considered insane, now that I think about it.

Mistress Fenghuang gave me a nod with an uncompromising expression of composure before the red bagua  emitted a blinding crimson light. The figure of Mistress Fenghuang quickly sank into the floor, as if she was standing on quicksand that was devouring her into the depths.

Don’t panic. This is just how it worked. The Eight Courts’ magic was truly fascinating, completely different to how the Order’s spells and rituals looked, but they shared the same purpose. To panic was to doubt her skill in magi- was her head supposed to be violently swallowed like tha-? N-no matter, after a split second, Mistress Fenghuang disappeared. Guess it was my turn now.

I tentatively hopped into the middle of the octagon and immediately a sharp heat climbed up from my feet all the way to the top of my head. For a moment, there was a semblance of stability, but after the heat engulfed my body, the floor beneath my feet quivered, as if anticipating my descent. A sense of weightlessness washed over as the floor yielded beneath her weight. A burst of instinctual panic surged through my body, It was as though invisible hands were pulling her downward the moment the sensation of sinking kicked in.

Don’t panic. Damn it, Maria. Don’t panic. I closed my eyes and took deep breaths as the sensation of sinking turned into a feeling of falling. Weightlessness washed over me and acceleration coursed through my veins. The rush of wind whispered past my ears, harmonizing with the rapid rhythm of my racing heart. I was a meteor plummeting to Earth, the heat in my body similar to the meteor burning up in the atmosphere . And then, as abruptly it started, it suddenly ended.

A disconcerting silence settled around me, an eerie lack of sound eradicating any semblance of familiar noise. The absence of echoes left me adrift in a deafening hush. I felt a strange liquid-like substance surrounding me, as if I were underwater, but I could breathe in air, and my ears and nose were in no danger of being filled with water.  I opened my eyes and a vast expanse of yellow, no, it was almost like gold.  I looked down, and there was no ground to stand on. I was weightlessly floating in an endless gold void. Everywhere I looked was an empty space, well, almost empty. Murky clouds of pale gray floated across the expanse. .

*“Welcome to the Plane of Rifts, where the World keeps the dregs of its memories.”*

I followed Mistress Fenghuang’s voice calling from behind me and I saw her float near me, her body relaxed, as if she let the mystic waters that surrounded us carry her in the air.

*“We are in the deepest part of the Border Zone, the Boundary before we reach the unconscious mind of Earth. Bask in the sights, Maria. Not every mage could visit this place.”*

She said, before floating forward. I had to make swimming movements to follow her but she simply moved across the transparent, sky-like pseudo-ocean we ended up in.

*“You wanted a lesson in Bounded Fields, what better place to start that the little core of the concept.”*

*“I was just about to ask, Mistress, how exactly is this pocket plane in the Border Realm the core?”*

My curiosity got the better of me and I blurted out a question as I tried to “swim” after her.

*“Whenever you separate a space in the Mortal Realm with a Bounded Field, you will the planet into forgetting its presence. Any object or being inside the field is completely detached from the realm of the Sleepers. And the memory of that place ends up here, rifts in the world’s memory carefully tucked away. Everything that has ever been removed from Earth with a Bounded Field since intelligence evolved to use magic ends up here.”*

*“So… it’s the intermediary plane between all active and inactive Fields?”*

*“Yes. A field that has been maintained and still runs active will be found here drifting about, but you will mostly find this Plane to be  a graveyard, or a dreg heap of memories discarded but not truly forgotten.”*

She pointed at one of the clouds floating below us.

*“Those are the Rifts, Bounded Fields kept up by their masters and those lost to time, fated to drift in this sea of mana until the World ceases thinking.”*

*“So we can sneak into an active one if we find their rift here?”*

*“If you have the mana, time, and not to mention bravery to enter a mage’s private property while loudly announcing you are drilling from the Plane of Rifts, then yes, you could do that.”*

Mistress Fenghuang thrusted her arm towards me, most likely tired of waiting and watching me struggle to keep up with her. With a quick beckoning motion of her hand, a force suddenly pulled me quickly towards her. As if an invisible arm grabbed me by the waist and pulled me nearer.  Before I knew it, my face was inches away from her.

*“I-i’m sorry, I’m not too good at swimming, Mistress.”*

It took a lot for me not to stutter when her face was that close to me. Her silky jet-black hair, her black irises that were like the night sky bereft of any stars, empty but serene. The mole underneath her left eye gave her this aura of beauty that no one else could match. I felt my face burn up the more I locked eyes with her. I wanted to break eye contact but my body simply refused. Mistress Fenghuang stared at me the entire time, only to chuckle lightly at my reddening expression.

*“You should work on your composure, Maria. A mage knows when to keep their cool. No student of mine is a nervous wreck.”*

*“Y-yes, of course, Mistress.”*

She was teasing me with that smile of hers. Suddenly, I felt her actual hand on my waist and she quickly pulled me towards her. Words failed to escape my mouth, not even a yelp of surprise. My mind and body were stunned. My arm was touching the side of her body, I could feel a softness envelop my upper arm.

*“A slipstream is forming. Grab on tight if you don’t want to get blasted away.”*

She said, returning to her stoic teacher voice.  I couldn’t possibly dream of holding onto my Mistress, i-in normal circumstances at least.

*“A slipstream?”*

*“Consider them the ocean currents of this plane. Except unpredictable. No one has fully studied them, but they are the best way to travel. Hold on tight now. It’s coming.”*

I grabbed onto Mistress as my life depended on it. Suddenly, a surge of kinetic energy propelled us downward. The word ‘current’ made me imagine wind, but there was no air, just pure force pushing us down, it was like I was going down an endless slide. I wanted to scream, not from the rush of adrenaline from the fall, but from the fact that the Mistress is holding me by the waist and I have my arms wrapped around her.

Time felt like it stood still for that moment as I watched the Mistress close her eyes, calmly waiting as we kept falling. Her tranquil expression calmed my own heart, the relaxed, care-free demeanor despite the exotic realm we were traversing was infectious, as expected of our leader. She knew how to keep everyone composed.  I wished I could save this moment, but the moment I thought about it, it was like the universe was against me.

*“We’re here.”*

Mistress Fenghuang said as she suddenly launched us forward out of the stream of force pushing us down. Our destination was one of the rifts from the hundreds, no thousands floating in the immediate vicinity. We floated carefully towards it, the idea of how she could tell which was the correct rift eluded me.

*“How did you know?”*

*“It takes time, but one can differentiate which is which from the mana signature.”*

I don’t know about the Mistress, but the Rifts all felt the same to me, a dense clump of magical energy radiating a strange heat. She must have been reading my mind as she smiled at me like how an adult would look at a child after answering their silly question. She let go of me as we were inches away from the Rift.

*“Now, entering an active Bounded Field’s Rift would take time, especially if the owner kept it extremely secure, but abandoned ones like this are simple to enter.”*

She placed her hand on the nebulous cloud, its surface solidifying to her touch. Soon enough, a hole formed and in a blink of an eye, the Mistress and I found ourselves in a dark space. But unlike the weightless sensation in the Plane of Rifts, I felt my feet pressed to solid stone flooring. The room was dark, but with a click of her fingers, the room lit up. There was no lamp or fire spell, it was as if she reversed the darkness surrounding the room into light.

In the heart of the room was a bed made of carved stone. What must have been a decorated fixture withered by time, the surfaces cracked and chipped. Fragments from the bed lying on the floor beneath it. Pillars stood across each side of the bed, time unkind to its surface. What once were intricate carvings and bas reliefs were now ruined.

*“Uruk.”*

The Mistress muttered as she looked around the room. She walked towards the bed, tracking her finger on its surface.  So we really are here, a memory of the first city, which meant-

*“Perfect, it’s your turn, Maria. It might take awhile, but I believe you can see far enough to when this Bounded Field was active.”*

I nodded dutifully. Personally, I was unsure if I could go back millennia, but if she believed in me as a far-seer, then it was worth a try. The emeralds on both our circlets suddenly illuminated and I felt a sharpness pierce the back of my head. A metallic drilling filled my mind, grinding away like mad.  I clenched my fists and closed my eyes, resisting the urge to scream. And then the pain stopped, heralded by the Mistress’ voice.

*“We are linked.”*

She said without opening her mouth. She sat on the ground near me, taking a meditative pose. Her words entered my mind and not the ear.

*“I’ll start.”*

I placed my hands on the bed, breathing deeply and channeling the mana, the breath of the world, from my mind and heart to my hands.  A wave of pulsating energy engulfed the surroundings, distorting the fabric of reality itself. The very air in the room shuddered, whispering the secrets of time to the attentive universe. My magic, Far-seeing, wasn’t the best for battle, but it was ideal for the Mistress’ plans in this venture: replaying an event long past.

With an ethereal touch, Invisible threads of memory were traced in my field of vision, weaving them together to recreate the scene in vivid detail. The stage was set, an ethereal backdrop unveiling the moment of intrigue, suspended in a liminal space between past and present. The reenactment was about to commence. In a flurry of motion, I saw the sands of time go from ravaging the room, only to dissipate, For what felt like hours, I saw nothing but the light of the sun rise and fall, and the withering bed and pillars slowly repair itself.

*“Good. Keep going. My mana is your mana. Do not falter, Maria.”*

She must have noticed my hands shudder slightly and the dull pain slowly enveloping my mind, the strain of undoing millennia started to take toll. Breathe, Maria. Don’t forget to breathe.

And then, I saw the figures of two men in the middle of the room. One laid motionless on the bed, the other hunched over and crying beside him.  The ruined room turned into a richly decorated chamber,  a somber atmosphere hung heavy in the air. The grandeur of the surroundings, once a symbol of power and conquest, now serves as a backdrop for a scene of profound sorrow. At the heart stood the ornate bed, draped in rich fabrics of deep mourning colors.

*“Stop.”*

With the Mistress’ order, my vision stopped reversing time and through my mind we saw the event playing out before us.   The visage of the grieving man and his sorrow were meticulously recreated, akin to a spectral troupe performing an enigmatic play.

What was a mighty king of strength and power, made evident by his huge muscles and mighty beard resembling a lion’s mane and the overwhelming mana signature radiating from him, now appeared diminished and consumed by grief. Dressed in simple robes, he knelt  beside the deathbed, his face etched with lines of sadness and his eyes filled with tears that threatened to spill over. The dead man appeared wild, great horns adorned his head, while his body was surrounded by curly hair.

***“Shi-ma-in-ni! Eṭlūtu Shii-ma-in-ni ia-a-shii! Shii ma in ni! Shii-bu-ut āli rapshii. Uruk shii-ma-in-ni ia-a-shi!”***

In a booming voice, that of a man of great authority, the grieving figure shouted desperately towards the sky. The ancient language eluded me, but the emotion of which he spoke alone was enough to relay his thoughts.

***”Ana ku a-na Enkidu, Enkidu ibri-ia abak-ki…”***

His hands caressed the dead man’s face tenderly.  Loss weighed heavily upon his voice, his every action, for his dearest friend and companion, Enkidu, laid  motionless. With each passing second, the atmosphere grew more charged, the air electrified by ripples of mana. Attendants and courtiers gatheredaround the deathbed, their faces lined with grief mirroring that of their king. Soft whispers of mourning fill the room, a lamentation for a hero fallen too soon. The scent of incense lingered in the air, mingling with the heavy fragrance of flowers that have been placed as offerings in an attempt to ease Enkidu's passage into the afterlife.

***“E-nin-nа, mi-nu-ú… Shait-tu shá iṣba-tu-ka kа-а-shi. Ta’ad-ram-ma! Ul ta-šem-man-ni ia-a-shi…”***

The king said, as if pleading to his friend to wake up one last time. But the only answer he received was silence.  The king closed his tearful eyes and covered his friend, like veiling a bride. And as the memory of the world drew to a close, the echoes of the event slowly faded, it was as if the Earth itself told me that it was over.  The scene faded away from my mind’s eye, the sharp pain overcoming my willpower. I felt lightheaded, the strength in my legs gave in, and I soon fell backwards. But the feeling of hard stone did not come. I opened my eyes and I saw the Mistress looking at me with a smile, my body in her arms.

*“You’ve done well, Maria. One of the oldest realizations of mortality, perfectly captured. You have my thanks.”*

I could not answer with words and simply smiled back. The strain of Farseeing was too much. But the happiness from praise was more than enough to remedy it.

*“This has been your first experience being a Mananaut. I look forward for what the future has in store for us.”*

The last thing I saw before fatigue took me was the scene of mourning forming as a ball of flame in the Mistress’ hand. I’m glad that she’s my teacher.