4 Pagoda

Right after Fengxuan left, Xuanmei felt a presence at the back of her mind. Unknowingly, she acknowledged it and decided on a 'great' idea;

Talking and imagining her voice resounding in her head to try to talk to the entity.

(A: Isn't that basically talking to yourself then?)

The words just put themselves into her mouth, as they spewed out without second thought, "Ming, is that you?"

She felt the presence move swiftly into her front... Something. All she knew was that the back of her mind became less heavy and it became clearer.

"Ming? Who told you to ask for my name and call it at the same time? It gives me headaches figuring out which one you're trying to say, you know?"

Suddenly, a blurred figure appeared in a garden, tall and unwavering.

"Where am I?"

"Your garden."

(A: The chinese word for name is 名(字), and it's Hanyu Pingyin, coincidentally, the 'Ming' here has the same pronunciation [Third pronunciation] )

Hearing his voice, Xuanmei's heart dropped, unrest settling in. An uncomfortable feeling erupted in her, like having butterflies in her stomach, despite not being nervous at all.

She felt like she was being pulled into a vortex, headaches, dizziness, nausea, all because of this... Person, assuming he was one.

Sighing, she looked at him, squinting her eyes and trying to see him clearly.

"You are..."

"Well, if you're asking for my name, then technically..."

Suddenly, she covered her ears on reflex as when the man spilled his name, she heard nothing, but somehow, she felt like what she did was right, and it saved her life.

After he closed his mouth, the girl opened her ears. The man laughed, mumbling something under his breath.

Xue Xuanmei, unfortunately, didn't get the chance to hear him as she was glancing around the garden, but with a look that felt familiar to the man.

Sighing shakily, he looked at her as her image flickered back and forth, each time replacing her physical body with a projection. He closed his eyes, smiling.

"Welcome home."

The girl picked up the strawberries and threw them at 'Ming', walking towards the two chairs, pulling one out, and placing a basket of strawberries down on the table right as Ming caught the strawberry, eyes glimmering with joy as he sat down with her.

"So, where'd the basket come from?"

Xue Xuanmei froze, turning towards Ming.

"I don't know," she admitted, scratching her head.

"So tell me, where are we?"

She looked on as Ming snapped his hands, and the Pagoda in the garden appeared in his hands.

She felt a tingle in her index finger, as she saw that her skin was slowly chipping away, becoming translucent and scarily pale. Her eyes glanced down as she realised she was fading.

"So, this is my mind?"

"Correct."

The Pagoda floated from his hands to hers, once touching her palm, the ivory colour brightened, silver twirling down, and, like it was descending the many layered floors of the Pagoda, swirled down in ringlets.

"The Ancient divine Pagoda accepts you as it's master. Take care of it."

A divine ray of light shone from the Pagoda, shrinking it into a small bracelet.

"Don't worry. I'm still here. However, you have a seal on your powers and your bone marrows are blocked. I'll unblock them, but it's going to be painful. Do you agree to it?"

"I..."