The deeper into the tunnels, the heavier the atmosphere seemed to get. The weight of magical energy weighed on my shoulders; it was hard to breathe. It wasn't just the pressure—there was something else, too. A buzzing in my ears, faint whispers I couldn't make out but that sent chills racing down my spine.
Ame took the lead, her movements smooth, sure she could do these tunnels blindfolded if she needed to. Nyana, of course, strolled behind us with her trademark languid humor, her feet making barely a sound, the image of lazy ease. And then there was me, jammed between two whirlwinds, trying to keep my footing on the broken ground while my mind whirled with questions.
"Hey," I finally said, breaking the silence. "Are we getting close?"
Ame glanced back, her expression unreadable as usual. "Close enough. Can you feel it?"
"Feel what?" I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.
"The shift," she replied simply.
Before I could press her for more, Nyana broke in, her tone dripping with mockery. "Oh, come on, Astro. Even I can feel it, and I'm not exactly what you'd call 'attuned.' It's like. the air's vibrating. Doesn't it tickle?"
"Tickle isn't the word I'd use," I muttered, shivering as a particularly strong pulse of energy swept over us.
Nyana laughed softly, her voice carrying a hint of real pleasure. "Suit yourself."
The whispers grew louder as we descended further, though I still couldn't make out what they were saying. It was like standing in the middle of a crowd where everyone was talking at once, their words just out of reach.
The tunnel walls began to change, too. The rough stone gave way to something smoother, almost organic. It shimmered faintly in the dim light from Ame's faintly glowing hand, reflecting shades of pink and gold.
"What is this?" I asked, reaching out and touching the wall. It felt warm under my fingertips, almost alive.
"The ley lines," Ame said without turning. "We're entering their heart. Be careful."
"Careful of what?"
She didn't answer.
The tunnel suddenly opened up into a vast chamber and I froze in my steps, my breath catching up in my throat.
It was like stepping into another world.
It was a great big room; the ceiling was so high that it disappeared into darkness. Plants towered above, their twisting vines aglow with tendrils of soft light, their leaves shimmering in soft, iridescent light. In the middle of the room, dozens-no, hundreds-of ley lines crisscrossed the space, like some sort of intricate web pulled out of silk threads, all of them glowing with healthy, vibrant pink light. They pulsed softly, the rhythm almost hypnotic, like the heartbeat of the earth itself. "This", I whispered, "unable to find the words."
"Isn't it beautiful?" The voice of Nyana rose beside me, softer than usual. She stared at the ley lines, the usual smirk replaced by something nearly reverent.
"Beautiful," I said, but that seemed even woefully insufficient.
But Ame was sober-faced, focusing her sharp gaze around the room. "This is wrong," she whispered.
"Wrong?" I repeated, wrenching my eyes from the glowing lines. "The ley lines aren't pink," she said. "They're supposed to be a shade of blue or green, natural colors. Pink means corruption. Something interferes with their flow."
"Corruption?" Nyana's smirk was back, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Sounds ominous. Got any theories, Captain?" Ame didn't say anything for a while. She stepped farther into the room, the strides measured, slow. "Stay near me," she commanded.
For once, Nyana did not disagree.
I went after Ame, my head jerking back and forth fearfully between the ley lines and the glowing plants. So much magic was in this chamber that it was hard to get my head straightened out. The whispers were louder here-near to deafening-but they still refused to form words in any coherent way.
"Does anybody else hear that?" I asked, trembling with fear.
Nyana threw a sideways look at me. "Whispers? Oh, they chatter away, has been since a little while. Creepy, huh?
Ame said nothing, but the slight twitch in her ears told me she'd heard them, too. The louder the whispers went, the faster the pulsing of the ley lines seemed to get as we reached closer to the middle of the room. By now, I could feel them, humming in my chest-like the strings are alive, trying to tell me something.
"What's the deal with all of that?" I shouted over the noise, barely audible. Ame whirled, eyes narrowing as she studied the ley lines. "Something-someone-is causing the fallback of magic here. We trace the source and neutralize before the corruption spreads further.
"Neutralize it?" Nyana repeated, an eyebrow cocked. "Sounds like fun. What are we dealing with? A rogue spirit? A crazed mage? Or something more. interesting?"
Ame shot her a warning look. "This isn't a game, Nyana. If we fail, the entire city could collapse under the weight of this energy."
"Relax, Captain. I'm taking this seriously," Nyana replied, though her tone suggested otherwise.
I moved a little closer to one of the ley lines, squinting at the pink glow. It looked. strange, almost like it was pulsing faster than the others. On impulse, I reached out to touch it.
"Astro, wait—" Ame started, but it was too late.
The moment my fingers brushed the line, a jolt of energy shot through me, and my vision went white. I was somewhere else-standing in a field of pink flowers under a sky that pulsed with light. The whispers were louder here, and I could finally understand them. They were calling my name.
"Astro."
I turned, trying to find the source of the voices, but there was nothing but flowers and light.
And then I saw her.
One figure stood among the blossoms of pink-a girl, or at least she seemed to be. Her skin was completely pink, shining just like the lines of ley themselves. Her form was slender and feline, with ears that quivered and a tail that moved lazily behind her. The shape of her was that of a catgirl, but her face.
Her face was blank.
No eyes, no mouth, no features at all. Just smooth, glowing pink where her face should've been.
She cocked her head to one side, studying me it seemed, though how she could see me without eyes was anybody's guess.
"Astro."
Her voice came from everywhere and nowhere, a soft melodic whisper that sent shivers racing along my spine.
"What. What are you?" I managed to ask, my voice shaking.
She didn't say anything. She moved closer to me, her gait as slow as motion could be.
"Astro!"
Loud this time, clear that it wasn't the faceless girl speaking-it was Ame.
I gasped, whipping back into the real world, my body toppling backward and my ass landing. Ame caught me, firm but not cruel.
"Don't touch the ley lines," she said severely, her eyes boring into mine. "They're unstable. You could've been pulled in completely."
"Pulled in?" I echoed, still shaking.
"The corruption is stronger than I thought," she said grimly. "We need to act fast."
Nyana watched me with a curious expression, her head tilted slightly. "What did you see?" she asked, her voice unusually serious.
I hesitated, my mind racing as the vision replayed in my head. "A field of flowers," I said finally. "And. a girl. She looked like a catgirl, but her face was blank. She. she spoke to me."
Nyana's eyes sparkled with interest. "A faceless pink catgirl? Now that's intriguing. Maybe she's the one behind all this. Or maybe." Her smile turned sharp. "She's calling you for a reason."
Ame's expression darkened. "It doesn't matter. Whoever—or whatever—is at the heart of this corruption, we're stopping it."
The energy in the room swirled, so thick it was almost unbearable. Every step forward felt as if through water, weighted against my chest by the pressure of the magic. The ley lines crossing the middle of the chamber gave off a pink glow, bright enough to cast eerie shadows dancing around the walls.
Ame led the way, her gaze sharp and unblinking as her iridescent eyes glowed faintly, reflecting the ambient light. Her tail flicked once—a silent signal to stay alert. Nyana followed with a lazy saunter, her hands tucked behind her head, though her posture was deceptively relaxed. I trailed behind them, my pulse racing with a mix of curiosity and dread.
Then we saw her.
In the middle of the room was a girl-or something that looked like one.
Her pink hair shone in the glow of the ley lines, falling in soft waves down her back. Cat ears, flicking slightly, sat on her head, merging seamlessly with a pastel-colored hoodie that hung off her slim frame. The hem fluttered as if tugged by an invisible breeze, exposing a short skirt and thigh-high socks. A choker glittered around her neck, its gem faintly glowing.
What was most disquieting, however, were the ley lines-many of them, all vital and filled with life-connected to her wrists, her ankles, and the base of her neck. They coursed steadily, as if veins, imbuing life into her.
She didn't stir. Her head was bowed forward, her face hidden by the tumbling rose strands of her hair. Staring vacantly at the floor, unseeing.
"Who… is that?" I whispered. My voice came out barely audible, even to myself.
"I don't know," Ame murmured, her voice even but laced with caution. Her eyes flickered over the figure, taking in every detail, yet her expression gave absolutely nothing.
Nyana's lips arched into a smirk, though I felt a catch in her posture. "Creepy. But cute. Don't you think?
I didn't answer. There was something deeply wrong about this. The ley lines pulsating through her body made her look like some sort of puppet-or maybe the puppeteer.
As we took one cautious step closer, the oppressive energy in the room seemed to intensify. I felt a strange pull, as though the ley lines themselves were reaching out to us, testing our resolve.
Suddenly, there was a voice in the room-a soft echo, yet unmistakable.
"You shouldn't have come here."
The girl hadn't moved. Her lips hadn't parted. Her eyes remained fixed on the ground. "What the—" I started, but Ame raised a hand to quiet me.
"Who are you?" Ame asked, her voice even, yet firm. Her glowing eyes narrowed as she moved forward, her presence commanding against the overwhelming atmosphere.
The voice came again, as if directly in answer to Ame.
"Who I am does not matter. You have strayed too far. The threads you pull unravel more than you understand.
With the words hanging in the air, my chest felt tighter. The weight of the energy around us grew heavier and was almost suffocating.
"We're here to stabilize the ley lines," Ame said, her voice slicing through the tension like a blade. "If they're failing, we need to repair them. Step aside." A long silence now fell, and the quiet was heavy. The voice continued, quieter this time, its tone bordering on tragic.
"You imagine you are saviors. You are destroyers."
Not one of us was able to do anything before the ley lines bound around the figure suddenly flared more brilliant, their pulsating rhythm speeding up. The room seemed to shudder with the acceleration of this energy, and I felt my gut clench with fear.
What the hell is she doing?" I hissed, drawing back.
"She's amplifying the lines," Ame muttered, her glowing eyes fixed on the figure. "If this keeps up, the energy will destabilize completely."
"Then let's stop her," Nyana said, the smirk faltering as she glanced around the room. "How do we cut her strings?
Ame shook her head, her face grim. "It's not quite that simple. These ley lines aren't just physical, but tied into the very essence of this place. If we sever them all willy-nilly, we might do more damage than what we're trying to prevent."
"So what do we do?" I asked, panic making my voice rise.
Ame didn't respond. Brighter, her eyes glowed brighter, staring at the girl as if trying to see past her, beyond what had finally been revealed.
The voice returned, louder this time, and tinged with an almost playful malice.
"You cannot stop what has already begun. The threads have chosen their path. And so have you."
Her head began to rise, stiffly, her movements not natural, as if she were some sort of marionette being manipulated by invisible strings. My breath caught as her face came into view.
It was… blank.
Where her eyes, nose, and mouth should have been was just smooth, unbroken skin, faintly glowing with that same pink hue as the ley lines. "Holy—" Nyana muttered, bravado cracking as she took an involuntary step back.
Ame's gaze remained steady, though her tail lashed behind her, belying her unease. "It's an illusion," she said, though her voice lacked its usual certainty.
The figure started to walk in slow, measured steps toward us. The ley lines stirred with her, stretching and bending as she moved. Air thickened step after step, weighing on me until a sickening sense of dread was crushing me.
"That's her," I said abruptly, my voice shaking.
Ame and Nyana turned to look at me.
"She's the one I saw," I stammered, the memory of that previous illusion flashing through my mind. "The faceless pink cat girl… It's her."
Nyana did raise an eyebrow, but her smirk was gone. "Great. That's all we were missing. Your nightmare actually materialized right before us."
The figure stopped, her head cocked to one side as the voice filled the room again.
"You came seeking answers. But all you'll find… is the unraveling."
The ley lines flared violently, and the room was consumed by a blinding flash of pink light.