Chapter 27 - The Echo Chamber

They were now walking in a sole corridor, following the soft curve and slope of the ground as they were going deeper and deeper into the earth.

They had entered it from the second floor, where Ophelia had used her Shi to open a sealed gate.

Each step they took, the children felt that the atmosphere was becoming weird.

Soon, they could hear something, no, someone breathing.

Suddenly rays of light could be seen piercing the darkness of the hallway, coming from behind a sealed door, flowing around the frame, pulsating like waves crashing down on sand.

“Take my hand.” Ophelia asked softly to Crisnée, Noa taking her hand, then Vi his to form a human chain.

Shi the colour of honey started running along their teacher’s skin, quickly covering us.

She then stepped in front of the door and, with her free hand, knocked at it, one powerful blow.

The light retracted itself and, before long, a voice answered. “Enter.”

It was Elody.

Ophelia pushed her hand in the centre of the circular door, filling it with Shi to make it roll on the side.

Like a vault door.

Yup.

What greeted us was a room, a big, completely spherical room with a footbridge emerging out of the wall where we were, leading to a circular platform that stood at the centre.

It was supported by a lone pillar coming from the ground and on it was Elody, sitting cross-legged on a mat.

The air felt as if something had filled the room once; now only void remained, void and whispers. It was… very strange. I felt that everything should have been full, yet was empty. Echoes were slithering around, and I shuddered hearing them, the phenomenon way too similar to something else I was trying to avoid with all my might.

“What’s that?” Asked Vi while pointing at one of the spectral echoes, the thing disappearing quickly.

“It’s… basically a feeling, or an emotion. A phantom of one, at least.” Answered Elody.

Once we were in front of her, she invited us to take a seat on the mat, a rare smile on her face.

“Welcome, children. This…” She waved around, pointing everywhere. “...is the Echo chamber. The Echo Chamber is a place for Shi users to… meditate.”

All around us, wisps of… emotions(?) kept phasing in and out of existence, less and less as time passed.

“Meditation is very important for those gifted with the ability to harness Shi. It helps centering oneself, and nurturing Shi, which is what interests you here.” She cocked her head and pointed at the children’s heart in turns.

“Inside each of you is a… a seed. A life that wants to sprout, extends its roots deep in your body and its branches high in the sky. Meditation is the art of helping it achieve that, making it grow and extend its wings.” She looked at them for a bit, then talked again.

“This chamber will help you feel this Seed inside of you, as for you to be able to cultivate it even when you’re not here. This way, before going to bed for example, you meditate one hour, focusing on your inner body. Later, you will be able to use those kinds of rooms more often, if the Family deems you worthy, as they help you a great deal to meditate.” She rose on her feet.

“Stay seated, little ones. I’m not the one who will show you. I am only…” She pressed her hand at the centre of the mat. “...giving you access to this room. As you know, my Shi would burn you.” Her tone was somewhat sad, as if she disliked the fact that her Shi could hurt the children. “Ophelia will teach you. You should thank her afterwards, as she is the one that made this happen, this and your perseverance. Good luck, I hope you’ll find what you’re searching for, little ones.”

Shi flooded back from the pillar and the mat into Elody’s palm, finishing cleaning the room of her presence as to let everyone use it without the fear of being burned.

“Teach them well, old friend.” Elody whispered to Ophelia as she walked toward the exit.

“Okay. You’re all ready?”

“””Yes!””” Even Crisnée answered this one, as everyone seemed fired up.

“Good.” She put her hand on the mat, at the same place Elody put hers, and started injecting Shi in the pillar. A soft noise traversed the room, rolling on the wall, and three tinier platforms slid from under the main one, each big enough for a sitting adult.

“An Echo chamber isn’t just a place to meditate, it’s also a place where you can heal someone through Shi, if this someone is a Shi user themself. Now go take a seat on those platforms, it’s the only safe place in the room when someone uses it in its fullest. And stay there, okay?”

“”Yes teacher!””

The children followed Ophelia’s order, sitting quickly on the depression of the platforms.

“Good. Now I’ll start showing you, then we’ll talk about what you’ll have seen, and then you’ll have the explanation on how to do it and you’ll take my place. Focus, kids.”

She took her hand back after having injected a bit more Shi in the pillar, then sat cross-legged on the mat, putting her hands on her knees.

She closed her eyes and started breathing, deep and slow.

Everyone else was holding their breath, eyes focused on their teacher.

“Aaaah…. huuuuu.” In, and out, again. Again. Again. It was nearly cradling, rocking, like a lullaby.

Slowly, each time she breathed out, the air around us started to change. It was getting filled, as it should be.

The atmosphere became yellow at a very slow pace but, once the saturation reached a high enough point, I think, whispers started echoing around us. Laugh. Indescribable words, yet comprehensible, words of praise, words of happiness, words of encouragement.

Now, each time Ophelia was inhaling, the air of the entire room seemed to move toward her. When she exhaled, all the air moved back. This created a back-and-forth like waves.

Like what we saw with the light from the door.

Right.

When this back-and-forth stabilised, with the same amount of time given to each of the steps, tiny wisps, like balls made of sparks, started appearing.

Ophelia opened her eyes and looked at them, following them with her gaze and smiled, all the while keeping the breathing rhythm she had attained.

Still as slowly, she started moving her hands, drawing the sparks near with dancing moves.

Suddenly a deep-blue spark appeared, and she crushed it quickly.

There’s an abundance of yellow sparks, with other colours, yet she only crushes the deep-blue one?

Yes. Interesting. Do you think it’s somewhat connected to Shi Colours?

Maybe.

This kept going for another half-an-hour, when Ophelia breathed her last deep breath, and started slowly sucking all the yellow stuff back.

***

“It was so cool!” Exclaimed Noa, jumping with excitement, inspired by the sight and willing to share it with the world.

“It was. For real.” Added a baffled Vivianne, supported by a dumb-struck Crisnée.

“Well I’m happy that you liked it. Can someone try to explain or describe what you’ve seen?”

“Yes, me! Me!”

“I know you want to Noa. Maybe one of the others would also, before you drown us with your energy?” She looked at Vi and Cris but the two girls raised their hands.

“If Noa wants to answer, I’m happy if he can.” Vi said with a smile.

“Thanks Vi!” And just like that Noa hugged his sister.

Ah, I’ll be able to surprise hug them too once I’m grown up a bit more.

It will be quite the experience I’m sure.

“So you started breathing, and it filled the room with yellow stuff, your shi I think, then sparks appeared, and you took them in, but not the blue! And then you took the yellow stuff back, and it was the end.”

“Good, you were paying attention. Now, why did I do it?”

The children stayed silent for a bit, then.

“You took the wisps for your seed? The seed Elody talked about?”

“Indeed, Vi. When you’re in an Echo room, you project your Shi out of you and the world reacts, creating those tiny wisps based on your feelings. When you take them in, you draw those emotions along the Shi that the world is offering you.” She explained.

“Ah! That’s why you crushed the blue?” Intervened suddenly Crisnée, with a surprising quick-witted remark.

“Oh? And why?”

“Deep blue is sadness, right? You’re happy. You can’t let sadness in?” The end of her sentence becoming a question.

“In a way it’s true. I filtered the things coming to me as to not let sadness get a hold on me, to keep my thought devoid of it. Well, not all the time, you need sadness in your life to live properly, but I stop most of it, yes.”

She looked at them once more and nodded.

“Good. Now the proper explanation. What you do here is, first, try to empty your mind. No thought, no emotion, nothing. It’s needed for you to start harmonizing, meaning getting along, with natural Shi. Natural Shi is… neutral, it bears all emotions, and none at the same time. It’s emotions that want to exist. So what you do is give those emotions existence and, in exchange, you amass more Shi.” She stopped for a bit to see if the children were still following.

“Then, when you’re empty, you start filling the room with your breathing. What happens is that you take natural Shi in, and you mix your Shi with it, then breathe it out. This way, after enough time has been invested, all the Shi in the room is both yours and natural. That’s when the tricky part starts. Your Shi will… react to your emotions, even if you’re perfectly serene, and create those sparky spheres you’ve seen. Those are reacting emotions, the emotions you can take in to get Shi along the way. You need to do this slowly! It’s very important to take it slow! Too fast, and you could become prey to your own emotions. And too many emotions in excessive amount… that’s one of the ways to have your Shi turn Purple, along with madness conquering your mind. Am I clear?”

“””Yes teacher!”””

“Good. Now I’ll give you a quick method to attain the first step…”

***

Noa was now sitting cross-legged on the mat, with a grin big enough to cut a watermelon with it.

“Remember. Picture your head, empty. Air comes in, air comes out.”

Noa started following Ophelia’s instruction, but his excitation was in the way.

“Calm down. Air in, air out.” She was doing the breathing exercise alongside the young boy, trying to help in getting in the proper mood.

five minutes, tens…

“I’m sorry teacher. I think I am doing something wrong.” He suddenly said, dejected, opening his eyes not with sadness in them, but disappointment.

“Okay. You want to switch place and take a break?”

“Yes. Please.”

Oooh, he’s so cute when he’s disappointed, I want to take him in my arm and cuddle him to death! Or to happiness mufufu~~

Same. Too bad we’re still tiny. Well, you can ask to go on his arms to cheer him up, at least.

Good idea! Thanks Psaï!

Just do it, I want to cuddle with our big bro’ at once.

Yes ma’am!