Semblance of Remembrance

Chapter 2 - Evolution?

I followed Orin through the large doors and found myself in a large hallway. The hallway was dim, with the only lighting coming from a bunch of luminous tiles on the floor and stained glass panes on the walls. The eeriness of the corridor was only augmented by the stone statues that lined the walls. I saw many statues depicting a creepy figure, some more terrifying than others. The one that frightened me the most was one that showed some kind of girl wearing a dress, within a sphere of something, perhaps darkness, in the middle of eating a human. Seeing the appearance of this hallway, I became unnerved and worried about what this place was and what took place inside, especially after hearing Mio's report that this person who was guiding me apparently had the job of carrying corpses. Even though many parts of the description hint that Orin was friendly and would not purposefully kill people, I couldn't prevent myself from feeling that I had gotten tricked by her and that she was leading me into the mansion to kill me.

That feeling petrified me and I was unable to move for several seconds. While I was frozen in the spot, I heard a loud sound behind me.

THUD

I quickly looked behind me to find what caused the sound, and I discovered that somehow the door behind me had slammed shut. Soon afterwards, I heard a much quieter sound, yet somehow the sound unnerved me more than the sound of the door shutting.

Click

From the sound, I knew that I had been locked in the palace with no hopes of escaping. Suddenly, the hallway began to grow darker, even though the room was already very dim. The fear that I felt grew and I started to tremble in terror, thinking that this would be the end of my life in this place called Gensokyo. I felt my cheeks growing wet as my eyelids were getting heavier, and before long, I fell to my knees and started to sob uncontrollably in fear.

Orin, hearing a faint sobbing sound from behind her, quickly turned around and saw me on my knees, crying my eyes out. She started to approach me, holding her arms out trying to embrace me, but I tried to back up, still suspicious of her intentions. Despite seeing my suspicion and fear of her, she continued to approach me until I had nowhere to escape. When she finally reached me, she kneeled down and wrapped her arms around me, putting me in as gentle of an embrace as she could. At first, I tried to escape from her embrace, but I found out that my strength was quickly fading. Her embrace reminded me of my mother's embrace. Despite not remembering my mother, I could remember the feelings of comfort and serenity imparted from her hugs. That same feeling was being given by Orin, and soon enough, I surrendered myself to her and leaned into her embrace. I wrapped my arms around her and started sobbing into her shoulder.

"There, there" Orin consoled as she started to gently pat my back.

After a while of sobbing, I finally returned to my usual mental state, and despite having spent quite a bit of time embracing her, I couldn't help but ask her the question that had made me so afraid in the first place.

"A-a-are y-you g-going t-to k-kill m-me?" I asked in a voice just barely louder than a whisper with a few tears still remaining in my eyes.

"Hahaha, that was what you were so worried about? No, I'm not going to kill you, I'm bringing you into the palace so you can rest. Also I thought that my master, the mistress of this palace, could help you." Orin responded while wiping the last of my tears from my eyes.

Unconsciously, I began to pout hearing her laugh at my concerns. I heard her quietly chuckle before I heard Miu's voice in my mind. Hearing Miu's voice, I turned my attention to her.

I can confirm that she is not lying, she bears no hostility or nefarious intentions towards you.

Miu reassured me.