A guided soul drifted through the darkness, its way illuminated by itself and its self having overstayed its welcome. It flitted through the black quickly. How long has it been? It wondered. Longer than the last time? Such queries filled its conscious as it made its way back to where it belonged. It must have been longer than last time, this time the blue gave me much more energy than before.

A prick of light appeared in the distance. There it was, there was the escape. The soul moved faster, maneuvering faster through the abyss. What a gift it was to be able to maintain function in this pit. Most lost their will to move, but not this one. It blessed its good fortune, but upon remembering why it possessed this ability, it cursed itself. The light grew larger and larger, suffocating the glow of the soul and welcoming it to reality with its back turned.

Her arm burst out from the pool in the floor, grasping for something to anchor itself too. Without any care for grace, it found the floor a few inches next to it. Then, another hand emerged from the saturated blue light, mimicing the actions of the arm before it. With all of her strength, the young woman pulled herself up from the entrance, looking quite unlike how she usually did. Her usual amethyst hair was a blinding blonde, seeming to glow almost as much as the pool she had emerged from. Likewise, her now jade eyes glistened against her pale skin. 

Saya stood to her full height and adjust the top of her short, ashen kimono. Despite the tiring task she had just been through, her face remained the same: calm, clean, and indifferent to all around her. She rubbed the back of her neck absently.

“So says you.” Her voice rang through the large room, bouncing off of the tiled floor and columns. “Personally, I feel more refreshed than I have in weeks.” The Imperator peered up towards the ceiling. Above her floated a figure cloaked entirely in dark violet robes topped with an iconic witch hat. Up until Saya spoke, the being had hidden itself from view.   

“A possibility for humans, but not a possibility for me. I am refreshed.” Spoke the young woman once more, walking forward. The sound of her bare feet against the tile echoed faintly through the chamber. “I do, however, appreciate your concern, Phantom.” Her tone was almost mocking. She did not look at the floating figure again, focusing instead on a point far off in the distance.

“We are not to be seduced by that ill power.” Saya told Phantom in the voice she used for giving orders. “Such is our existence. I repeat, your concern is touching, but it is dim and would be better used elsewhere.” At the start of a staircase, she picked up a cloth from the ground elegantly, twirling it around once before letting it rest over her shoulders. Using both hands, she pulled her long, now violet hair out from beneath the cloth’s confines. 

The Invictus floated next to the Imperator, the way it was facing implying that it was looking straight at Saya. Saya paid it no mind. “So it’s been two weeks…” She whispered with a hint of sorrow. “And you have been doing my duties during my little break, correct?” There was a pause. The young woman began to walk down the stairs, cloak fluttering out behind her.

“Two weeks… I wonder if anything has changed…”

The sound of bare feet against tile resounded through the large, bright room. The young woman took slow, dazed steps. Her white cloak dragged like a fog behind her. The haze of her mind reflected through her eyes, her thoughts were clouded by a veil of dew. She didn’t register the stairs in front of her.

As if controlled, her naked feet climbed, pace not changing from before. Her reason for advancing was programmed into her head by cold, unfeeling fingers belonging to cold, unfeeling minds. The pool, or rather the entrance, was here. Atop these stairs was the young woman’s solace. The entrance was not built for healing, but it was meant for her, she could tell. Its sickening cyan glow was the door between a blizzard and a heated home. 

The Imperator cast her pale cover aside, letting it float down to the bottom of the stairs. Her violet hair drifted gently into place. A few weightless steps more and she was at the top, her body instantly covered in the entrance’s eerie, sky-colored light. Her world fell silent, its voice stolen by the pool. The entrance’s purpose was different this time. Saya felt a presence behind her.

“Actually,” she started numbly, “I seek not catharsis, but my eye.” She remained still, rusted eyes highlighted by the swirling, fluorescent blue fluid in front of her. ”You are incorrect. I have been searching for my eye since you presented me with this entrance.” There was a pause; she was listening to the one behind her. “There is no point in lying to you, Phantom, you are well aware of that.”

She tapped her right foot in front of herself and turned, showing half of her form to the Invictus. Saya was not surprised to find her here, floating over the stairs like indigo smog over an ivory city. The Imperator stared where Phantom’s eyes should be.

“You don’t look well either.” Saya said, continuing their seemingly one-sided conversation. “… I see… That is no excuse. You are the Invictus, your orders stand far above their’s, as do your powers.” She turned her back to the suspended lady. Stepping several more times, the Imperator found herself on the rim of the unearthly pool. Slowly, her pain began to clear. 

“Do you know that… Spare me the long-winded excuses. The more you speak, the less I believe you.” Her tone was sharp and repaired like the rest of her by the light of the entrance. “Needless to say, I am here on business. Leave me be.”

“… How fortunate then that I am no longer human. The Azure can not harm me. Surely, you are already aware of this?” The Imperator massaged both of her shoulders underneath her pastel blue kimono. She tucked a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. 

“Now, if you will excuse me, the Boundary is calling me.”

She leaned forward and fell into ill blue.