150 Rain must be accompanied with a cup of wine 3 (1/2)
Monsoons.
Long periods of consistent rainfall, followed by a drastic increase in humidity. From sunrise to sundown, the sky would pour down rain without pause onto the unsuspecting ground below.
Winds would gale around wreaking havoc and ruining any hastily constructed or improperly built structures, allowing the water to flood through the now defenseless abodes and wash everything away in a merciless torrent.
The temperature within the area would become susceptible to drastic change whilst the rain continued to dash through the area, introducing a general shift in climate once the monsoon culminates and ceases its action.
Monsoons for a forest were lethal enough for the average inhabitant, but for An Fei, it represented the peak of her nightmare.
The mirrors within the Sanctum displayed a slightly murky projection of the clearing of which she had bridged through to enter the realm of sky-blue crystal.
From the plainly decorated platinum mirror, the young girl could not see the soil regardless of how much she squinted her eyes.
Near the fringe of the mirror's perspective of the scene in the Wu Ji Forest, An Fei noticed the thoroughly cleaned roots of trees glare in the hazy atmosphere, their channels nearly choking to death from forced overconsumption of water.
The rain howled and slapped onto the backs of the trees, ripping apart a section of the newly grown bark with a mere gust of wind.
The redwood tree that acted as the unwilling host of the little raven suffered no different a fate from its peers.
The roots had been washed clean of their supporting soil, causing the tree to stand afoot deep within a large pond of water.
It had been stripped of all of the accumulated bark on the second day, and had it not been for the little creature yanking the drawstrings closed and rolled up within the hollow, it would have drowned from the incoming rain.
In a mere two days, the Wu Ji Forest had transformed into a sea of freshwater.
An Fei was not aware of any of the animals' circumstances within the forest, as the mirror only provided a visual projection.
However, the constant presence of a low, dense cloud of grey mist made the young girl sufficiently wary and stray away from the notion of checking on the condition of the little raven brusquely stuffed in her leather bag.
The moment she left the Sanctum, wouldn't the cloud of mist rush over and swallow her alive?
Crunch.
The young girl bit on the tip of a carrot smeared with a sauce of soy, ground peppers, and garlic, her small lips contently chowing down the well prepared snack.
An Fei then placed the mirror onto the low table to her right, looking up at the ceiling of sky-blue crystal with a wry smile.
”At the end, I ultimately fled here with my tail behind my legs, ah…”
The young girl had moved herself into one of the medicinal gardens housed within the first corridor.
An Fei had gathered a large stack of paper, brush and ink, and a towering mass of books from a large variety of the Archives the instant she had entered the Sanctum to escape from the rain.
With the assistance of a few hours of grunts, pants, and heavy work, the young girl had transported them into the medicinal garden, of which she had constructed a makeshift workstation.
A workstation consisting of a drawing table obtained from the third Archive, a reclining chair from the fifth, and a bookstand from the eleventh platform.
The entire structure remained protected from the soft and warm earth by the means of a large square of fabric that An Fei had spread underneath.
As for the large book splayed across the wooden surface and had been neglected for the past few hours… was the .
The young girl had completely ignored the book on the drawing table, instead deigning to engage herself in tomes of different subjects.
Compared to attempting to decipher the book that either caused her to be overcome with exasperation and disbelief, An Fei would rather immerse herself in other subjects, even if it entailed having to undergo the same process of deciphering blurred characters on a page.
After all…
”The nature of a good heart… is not to repudiate evil nor the injustice of the world… but to maintain the appropriate boundaries of man and never… court calamities from those above.”
What wasn't better than a theological discussion on the nature than evil when one needed to pass time?