Kirumi Tojo's Palace | The Ultimate Maid's Failures

[kandata]

By now everyone may be used to find themselves in bizarre locations, between going into palaces and visiting Nekyia. It might not come as a surprise that it has happened again.

What might come as a surprise, though...is how empty this place is.

All around you there's nothing more than a large, gray, featureless expanse. In the distance there seem to be bars, curving upwards to gather so, so high above you, possibly hundreds of miles above, so high it’s hard to distinguish.

It’s a cage. So unfathomably large. You could escape, were you to get to the edges of the cage, but...it would take forever. No matter how you look at it, you're trapped. The atmosphere is so...hopeless. Devoid of anything even remotely positive.

Not that you want to hang around for long, do you? After all, this is someone's palace. Not a place to stick around at. What to do, though?

It’s all so...empty. Silent. Featureless. A flat expanse of hard gray tiles.

Gather together, everyone. Gather and choose a direction. North, East, West, South. All directions look completely identical, but could it affect your time in this place, somehow? Probably not. But all treks start with the first step. Perhaps, if you get moving, you'll progress?

Comments

[kandata]

[There doesn't seem to be anything at a first glance. The advantage of this being an open space is that it's easy to see far into the distance, and the air is so clear!

Thinking of Kirumi, though...is it her Palace? Is--

Oh. There's a vague shape in the distance. If Falin thought of Kirumi at any point, that shape was visible, but the moment she loses focus, it vanishes]

[chimken]

[ Falin looks hopeful for just a second before stopping her walk. She knew she saw her friend but it was clear that this...Palace was not going to be easy. Not that any of them were. ]

Kirumi, can you hear me? Are you there?

[kandata]

[........

Nothing. Nothing responds. When Falin calls, all she hears is her own voice.

Right when she might give up, were she to turn around, she'd encounter a specter of a person. It's even less than a silhouette, like someone made of wisps of smoke. The general height and the shape of this...very ephemeral being does feel like it could be Kirumi, though. Despite the lack of distinctive features and how hard it's to see it, it does...

...it does, very vaguely, feel like her. Standing there. Head down. An aura of regret fills the area around her]

[chimken]

Kirumi...

[ Falin feels the aura...the regret. She looks so sad now, standing in place as she looks at the being. ]

I promise I'll come help you.

[kandata]

...I...

.......should't have...

..........taken part in this.......

[The voice is hard to hear, but that definitely was Kirumi's voice. Next thing Falin knows, she's back with everyone else. Feel free to tell the rest what you encountered!]