𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐃𝐄 [JJK x OC]

16: The Fate of The Strong

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Ayako POV

???

"Was that all you're worth? Even after all that prattling? Then why don't you save me the trouble and just let yourself be devoured?"

A dull pain throbbed in my skull, distant and yet all-consuming. I could feel the blood pressing against my eyes as if they would pop at the lightest touch. I dared not open them. My whole body ached, enrapptured in bone-chilling cold like ice piercing my skin, the only feeling that stuck with me in this frigid hell was shame. Yet even as I was trapped, unable to move or think, a voice I couldn't place or escape rang out with both disappointment and amusement, mocking me.

Despite the agony, I tore open my eyes, no longer able to endure that sinking abyss that stared back at me. Blood poured from my eyes like tears, yet all I could feel in that moment was relief. My breaths were unsteady, I tried to slow them, yet that sight still scared me, that fathomless darkness. All my life, I've seen the glittering threads that wove the lives of all things, the tapestry of destiny that was mine alone to behold and alter with little more than a splash of ink. It was beautiful beyond words, countless fates dancing in the skies, an aurora of hues, destiny manifested in a dance of endless color. But now I see, nothing. When I close my eyes, everything fades away. All that exists is myself and this place I find myself.

I wiped the blood from my eyes, though my skin stayed stained with it, and it did nothing for the scent of iron that stung my nose. At last, the ringing pain began to fade, and soon enough, I was able to look around in an attempt to get my bearings. The ground beneath me was damp with a thin layer of water so clear that it was like a mirror, one that allowed me to see my blood-smeared visage. With a grunt, I forced myself to my feet, finally laying my eyes on the rest of this place, whatever it was. Breaking through the still waters was a seemingly endless number of stalagmites, wrought with abundant roots that existed on either side of me, outlining a single path forward. Far off in the distance, I saw something, a vague outline of a person.

Without much thought, I followed the path forward, my every step complicated by some forlorn nostalgia; somehow, I was able to traverse this place that was so foreign as if by instinct. A distant sound followed my every step, echoing through the desolate halls. Rhythmic and measured, it rang out "Clank!" and once more as I stepped forward "Clank!". Metal clashed, hammered metal, as sounds of the forge rang through my head. I thought it was another delusion, but the reverberation sent tremors through the ground with its intensity. Ripples tore through the clear waters underfoot, distorting my once pristine reflection until it no longer resembled me at all.

That sound only intensified as I pushed further. Soon, the chill that gripped me was replaced with a warmth that slowly devolved into a maddening heat, as though I were the one thrust into the crucible of the forge that echoed through this corridor. Still I persisted pushing through the maddening sounds that haunted me and the invisible flames that licked my skin untill at last I found my self in a clearing, the stalagmites on both of my sides began to wane in pressance giving form to large open circle devoid of anything besides the figure placed at the very center of it all.

Everything in my periphery faded away as I found the shadow that drew me to this place now revealed in its truth, little more than a desiccated corpse. A sinbutsu mumumy dressed in honored Buddhist garbs, sat in a divine pose at the center of it all, its head hunched over just enough that the face of the man who reached the pinnacle of asceticism was out of my sight. The sounds and heat that haunted me faded, giving way to utter silence as I came face to face with it. This hulking corpse was better left undisturbed, I knew as much upon seeing it, my every instinct attempting to abate my curiosity.