Hallowed
Amri
As chaos began in the world outside her body, inside herself, Amri battled against the force at the center of her Immortality Core.
Mentally approaching it had been difficult, since it comprised one of her foundational sources of qi, she hadn't recognized the subtle antipathy it had been forged with until she was a day into her meditation.
One day just to figure out that whatever Shenmi had given her, her old teacher hadn't wanted Amri to look too close.
When she tried, other things popped into Amri's mind. Worries over Zai and their children. Exciting little ideas of things she could do with qi. Whether she'd left the burner on after making herself one last cup of coffee.
The first layer felt like that exercise where a beginner in meditation would try to mentally count to ten without letting intrusive thoughts in. After recognizing what was occurring, Amri had been able to push deeper, holding onto the reason she was here in the first place.