Semblance of Remembrance

Prologue 2 - The Palace of Earth Spirits, Chireiden

A/N: This chapter is fairly long and most of it is unnecessary. This chapter is simply a description of the first setting, the Palace of Earth Spirits and all the rooms inside the palace. It gives an idea of the layout of the rooms and what each room has. I say it is mostly unnecessary because a few of the rooms will be described in more detail by Ayaka and the other rooms do not really need any descriptions. I figured it would be a good idea to provide the description of the setting before moving on to the main story.

A portal suddenly appeared a couple hundred feet before a giant underground structure. It appeared like a large western-style mansion or palace. Inside, the palace was filled with stained glass mosaics and glowing tiles on the floor. Every room in the large mansion shared luminescent mosaics on the floor and stained glass windows, but the exact image depicted by the mosaic and stained panes differed depending on the room. The rooms also featured other decorations other than just those, but each room had a different style and atmosphere to them.

Entering from the front door, statues and depictions of many myths and legends populated the large entrance hall, ranging from statues of nine-tailed foxes to paintings of UFOs and vampires. Statues were scattered throughout the hall, while paintings were placed quite far away from each other. For most legendary creatures, only one statue of them could be seen; however, there were more than one statue for three legendary figures: a cat with two tails, a crow with three legs, and a human-like figure with horns attached to their heads. There was no other lighting apart from the glowing windows and files and the dim light that a few of the statues radiated. The lack of lighting and the abundance of statues gave the hall a creepy and supernatural atmosphere.

At the end of the entrance hall was the large and open foyer. The Great Foyer featured a large crystal chandelier illuminating the whole room alongside the usual glowing tiles and windows of each room. The floor and walls were made of marble, and when combined with the bright lighting given by the chandelier, gave the room a much more extravagant and comforting feel than the entrance hall. The room still had the signature glowing floor tiles and windows, but rather than appearing disturbing or unsettling like in the entrance hall, they made the foyer seem luxurious and gorgeous. Near the walls, lay countless seats for visitors to rest and relax before moving inwards in the palace. Next to each seat was a small table, supporting a potted plant, in front of a bookshelf where visitors could read books and enjoy a refreshing drink. There were many paintings featuring natural landscapes and sceneries hung on the walls. On top of the already extravagant appearance of the large open room, the curved ceiling, that seemed like a large half-sphere was curved into the ceiling, was adorned with a large image depicting a gorgeous rose garden against a starry night background.

There was also a secondary foyer located on the opposite side of the house that had the same appearance and decorations as the Great Foyer, just with a smaller size and less room to move in. The foyers served not only as the place for allowing guests for a brief respite, but also as the main hub for the rest of the palace, connecting all the halls. The Great Foyer had a total of 7 doors, one leading back to the entrance hall, one on the left side of the room when standing in front of the entrance hall door leading to the dining hall, one after a short flight of stairs on the left side of the room leading to the recreational hall, one on the right side of the room leading to the guest chambers, one after a flight of stairs on the right side of the room leading to the royal chambers, one behind a large staircase directly in front of the entrance hall door leading to the courtyard and garden, and finally one after that large staircase leading to the Great Hall. The secondary foyer has the same layout except replacing the entrance hall door with a door leading to the servant's quarters and removing the door to the Great Hall.

Starting from the western wing of the palace, the dining hall was a relatively long hallway that was relatively uninteresting to look at. In terms of appearances, the hall was quite bland compared to other locations within the palace, only featuring paintings of different foods as well as the palace's signature glowing tiles and windows. The floor was made of some kind of tiled stone. The hall featured 5 rooms, a large dining room, a kitchen, and three pantries. The room closest to the door to the Great Foyer was the dining room. The dining room featured multiple crystal chandeliers, antique pottery atop intricately designed pedestals, artwork directly carved into the walls, and a clover patterned floor. On top of the dining table, plates and silverware were already laid out, flowers were placed, and the candles were lit. The room next to the dining room was the palace kitchen, which had all sorts of cooking tools, like pots and pans of all sizes, multiple stoves, ovens, and sinks, and countless knives. Attached to the kitchen was a walk-in freezer where perishable foods were stored. The rest of the rooms in the dining hall were pantries, where nonperishable foods were stored. The amount of food stored in the pantry at max capacity could feed a five person family for at least three months. As for what the pantries looked like, they were simple open rooms lit by lamps with many labeled shelves to allow for more ease in finding exact ingredients.