Of Wind and Jade

Chapter Two

"Here. Take this." One of the monks handed a small bowl to Naqi. "We have not spoken with the Ancient Ones in a long time,"

Naqi took the bowl, careful not to spill it. She watched closely as the cloudy white liquid swirled around in the bowl. The inside shone an opalescent blue against the gray shell; she presumed it to be made of some sort of abalone shell.

"Is this the Abeba nectar?" She asked. The monk nodded. "Am I the one taking it?"

"Yes. The rest of us aren't ready,"

Naqi laughed. "You'll have to do it eventually,"

"I know. I think altering our sense of reality is nerve wracking. We don't want to be totally unaware,"

"It's alright. There will always be other people there to watch over when you do." Naqi assured her. "Stick around,"

"Of course. We're here to watch over you," The monk said. Naqi nodded and relaxed back onto the wall of cushions behind her. "You don't have to worry about a thing,"

Slowly, she raised the bowl to her mouth. Again, careful to not spill, she sipped the nectar, its sickly sweet taste flowing down the back of her throat like viscous honey. When she first started taking the nectar after joining the monastery, her throat would burn and she would cough and sputter to dispel the taste. She had gotten used to it after a few tries, but the taste never failed to get her to make a face.

"It shouldn't be long now." Naqi said, closing her eyes. "You can go if you'd like. I only need one of you,"

A few of the monks nodded and saw themselves out, leaving Naqi and the first monk alone in the room. The first monk, nervously preparing for the ritual ahead, trembled when preparing the second dose of Abeba nectar. As she turned, she knocked over a stack of books and sent them to the floor. Naqi opened one eye and laughed lightly.

"No need to be worried. I'm safe. Just focus on writing everything down." She smiled. The monk nodded and retrieved parchment and a quill. "You'll be okay. For Ryu'nen,"

The monk nodded again and muttered "for Ryu'nen" in return. Naqi relaxed as best she could as a nauseating feeling began to envelop her, swirling her mind gently at first. The world began to fade and blend together, becoming one gray blob behind her eyelids. Each object present around her dissolved into nothing, and then reformed, and again dissolved, and again reformed. Naqi opened her mouth to breathe, but no air came in. As a fish thrust out of water and into the open air, Naqi gulped for air, but her massive effort had little gain. The world outside kept blending and congealing and flowing in and out of itself. Naqi had lost all sense perception: the hue of colors had left her vision, the soft cushion of the pillows behind her had disappeared and left her floating in space, and nothing indicated lightness or lack thereof.

Suddenly, the previous sense of nothingness had reversed into entirety, and Naqi perceived everything with every sense. The murky gray of the ceiling had changed into a bright blue with dazzling yellow spots, the light nearly blinding her. She could smell and taste the lights, and each and every object within her proximity was the same. Naqi could now breathe again, but instead of no air, there was an overabundance of thick, rich air. Every breath she took felt like taking a drink of chili syrup, sweet and spicy, but too much overloaded her. Smells overwhelmed her, flowing and sticking and creeping through her perception, overwhelming her. She had no idea how long this would last, and no way to tell. Experience implied she had ingested the nectar twenty minutes ago, and had been under the influence for about ten, but her conscious logic had been lost. Every new sensation sent her into a new panic, but there was no calming her. Soon, a calmness came, but it would be a while before her panic quelled.