A small glimpse of something slick and trembling peeked out from behind one of the nearby doorways as one of the thickly garbed monks drawled away some ancient incantation and closed the door behind him, the handle of his incense bearer losing it's angle as he turned with his free hand to lock the door. Takayama straightened his back and went back to meditating. It would be nearly an hour before the monk returned, as he did every hour, to unlock the room and tend to his cause again. It was these few shimmering elastic moments in the void that Takayama lived his life for. Often as punishment he would be forced to meditate for extended periods of time in the portions of the temple his step-father had the most authority over for religious practices. This was supposed to "tune him in" to the true forces of nature and allow him to see the error and naivety in his ways. His step-father's favorite place to send him to was the one most aptly named to suit it's entire experience.
The Void.
Nothing but silence and darkness deeper than any one man can imagine in a day's worth of free time. Nothing itself seeming to lurch at him from every direction until Taka could not help but wonder if the void was actually supposed to be some kind of mental torture chamber. One thing would keep him from managing to lose himself entirely to the nothingness that consumed the poor, albeit determined, monks that watched over him during this time and that was the hourly tending of the elements. Every hour on the hour Taka would, for the faintest of moments, glimpse the nimble and delicate flames adorning the room of the fire spirits. Wild, untamed, they would occasionally shoot forth and tear away at some of the younger monks and other times casually slink away as though they had no interest in the monks at all. One thing stayed the same, and that thing was set Takayama free, even if for the one moment he would wait for every hour.
It always lashed out at the darkness, point or no point.
And it always won...
[MFT]
The Void.
Nothing but silence and darkness deeper than any one man can imagine in a day's worth of free time. Nothing itself seeming to lurch at him from every direction until Taka could not help but wonder if the void was actually supposed to be some kind of mental torture chamber. One thing would keep him from managing to lose himself entirely to the nothingness that consumed the poor, albeit determined, monks that watched over him during this time and that was the hourly tending of the elements. Every hour on the hour Taka would, for the faintest of moments, glimpse the nimble and delicate flames adorning the room of the fire spirits. Wild, untamed, they would occasionally shoot forth and tear away at some of the younger monks and other times casually slink away as though they had no interest in the monks at all. One thing stayed the same, and that thing was set Takayama free, even if for the one moment he would wait for every hour.
It always lashed out at the darkness, point or no point.
And it always won...
[MFT]