See Not, Feel Everything

Trotting ahead of Toyo, Daku’s movements were as fluid as water. Toyo struggled to keep her eyes off her; the way her outfit flowed in the wind was like a string of notes ascending and descending a musical score. She was attractive to watch, and when she turned around, her striking appearance only made it harder for Toyo to look away. “We’re here,” Daku announced, the two of them now standing at the entrance of an expansive art gallery.

Surprised by where the still unfamiliar woman had led her to, Toyo was unsure of what it was that Daku wanted her to see. Nonetheless, she found herself lost within the sprawling display of artistry. Abstract paintings hung on large expansive white walls. The juxtaposition of their invigorating colors popping off the canvas. Yet somehow the gallery struck Toyo with a sense of equilibrium. As if every feeling in her body, the good, bad, and conflicted, had spread itself before her, a reflection of herself to become at peace with.

“I expected you to take me to the Hall of Records,” Toyo revealed.

Daku laughed out loud, yammering on about how, “Zida is probably the only person ever willing to spend time looking at that shit.” As she then cringed away in disgust at the thought, the image of Zida’s stiff expression, had he been around to hear Daku’s statement, began to flood Toyo’s head.

The sound of shuffling feet bounced around the room as the art coordinator, a woman dressed in all black from head to toe, emerged from a passageway hidden off to the side. She nodded her head towards Daku, before standing behind the reception desk only a few feet away. It bearing the same seamless white coating as the rest of the gallery space, making it nearly invisible to the eye.

Toyo let her eyes continue its dance along the exhibit, approaching a large canvas situated in the middle of the room. A poignant depiction of abstract waves of colors interweaving into a flowing composition that almost felt alive. Toyo was drawn by it, finding herself sinking her eyes deeper into the canvas. “What does it all mean?” she asked. Daku was intrigued by how captivated Toyo had become. As if the paintings were somehow speaking to her.

“It’s created by a method called Picto-scripting.”

“Picto huh?”

“The pigment is charged with a person’s chakra and manipulated with their emotions. It’s a unique use of scripts. Kind of similar to how Ayurs apply healing. What makes these paintings so unique though, is that the projected image alters depending on who’s looking at it. No two paintings are ever depict the same image to two different people, even if they’re seeing it at the same time. I don’t even understand how it all works.”

As Toyo sank into an aimless attempt at making sense of what she’d heard, Daku then turned to the art coordinator, asking about a missing painting from the collection. “The one with like the person and whatnot,” she then clasped onto Toyo’s head, yanking her towards her, “its hair is black like this.”

The coordinator looked at Daku with a pointed stare, finally replying with a flow of raspy words. “That one’s in the Sovereign’s Chamber. You’d need royal permission to get there.”

Daku’s eyes fell to the ground as she found the timing too perfect to be coincidence. Wondering if the Sovereign had also been considering the same suspicion. Daku then quietly nodded her head to the coordinator before tugging onto to Toyo and leading her out of the gallery.

“We’re heading to the Sovereign’s Chamber.”

Toyo slipped her sleeve from Daku’s grip. “Why does that sound like a bad idea?”

Toyo was certainly at a loss for what was circulating around her, but the reluctance in her gut was clear. “You said no one sees the same image when they look at a painting, so how did she know what you were talking about just now?”

“Strange isn’t it?” Daku replied, “that’s exactly what’s so unusual about it. It uses the same method as the other ones but everyone that looks at it sees the same woman with jet-black hair.” Daku began slowly walking down the hallway with Toyo in tow. “The background and small details about how the woman is positioned, or where she’s facing and whatnot do vary, but she is there, all the time.”

Still incapable of just accepting the anomaly being fed to her, Toyo played devil’s advocate, her curiosity throwing reason to the wind. “What did you see when you looked at it?”

“She was mostly cascaded in mist, but her silhouette was visible.”

“So, you never saw what she looked like?”

“No one has. She’s never facing forward. Maybe things might be different when you look at it.”

“Who made the painting?”

“No one knows…”

The mystery only sank deeper the more she reached, leaving Toyo grasping at nothing but hollow strands.

As they neared the main hall heading towards the Sovereign’s Chamber, Daku abruptly stopped walking, startling Toyo who came crashing into her from behind.

“Turn back,” he demanded, his voice as striking as ever.

The two of them turned to find Zida standing only a few feet behind them. “Is that an order?” Daku arrogantly remarked. Toyo was ruffled by the apparent tension between the two.

“Toyo,” Zida called out, “if you have something worth putting your mind towards then you should be helping to understand what happened in Plastos.” He then pointed his finger directly at Daku, “This woman will get you in a world of trouble.”

Daku scoffed at Zida, “We were kinda already doing that, but okay asshole!” she bit back.

Ignoring her slight remark, Zida continued. “I’ve narrowed down the location of an old relic that is claimed to have survived from the time of the previous incident 1,500 years ago. The village is about a quarter of a day’s travel south of here. This place you claim that you’re from… perhaps this relic has a connection to it.”

“Why do you think so?” Toyo challenged.

“It’s the only known object that has writing on it like the one you showed me.”

Toyo’s eyes perked up. If what Zida said turned out to be true, then it would without a doubt be important, and the first time that something would prove that the world she once knew actually existed.

“By the way, where exactly are you from?” Daku questioned, looking toward Toyo and Zida with an inquisitive stare. “Has no one ever just asked you that question outright yet?”

Zida frowned at Daku’s under the table jab, with him quickly looking to clear the air despite how trivial the matter was. “Technically we had this discussion alre-”

“Shh!”

Daku halted Zida from interrupting, with her ill-disciplined personality on full display.

“I’m from a place called Japan,” Toyo answered directly, “Chances are that nothing I describe about it will make sense to you two, so I won’t. Just know that it’s nothing like here.”

“Hmm… that’s so suspicious.” Daku’s usual cheerful expression was now that of a keen pointed façade. Zida then interjected, his patience with Daku running thin.

“We leave when the sun rises, if you’re interested in coming along, I’ll meet you at the manor gate.”

Toyo stepped in front of the two, bowed her head towards them and parted with a, “Oyasuminasai,” before making her way back down the hallway.

As Daku and Zida stood in the expansive corridor, the moonlight through the windows casted their shadows far across the ground. “You wouldn’t stand in front of a blade to protect her, would you?” Daku posed, the tone to her voice foreboding.

Zida, however, simply side-eyed her without as much as a breath of a response. He then walked off, his shadow diminishing with the growing distance.