Taint, part 2

Still not the end (of course)


Inhale. Yes, she was still alive. She could see. Darkness, though, with occasional torchlight. Winding corridors surrounded her, an utter labyrinth inside her own mind. Exhale. She couldn’t forget to breathe. As she walked, the shadows danced around her, making wild shapes upon the cold stone walls and floor. Was this a dungeon?
Inhale. The moisture and musk of that left untouched for ages flowed freely into her nostrils. She remembered who she was. Exhale. Nothing could stop her now.
Focusing, she let her body regain control of breathing as she pulled herself out of her miserable physical form. The body tried to pull her back in until she removed herself just far enough to hang in equilibrium. She pulled all the fire, all the energy from the air, wrapping it around her, inside her. She could barely see her arms raise like lightningrods to the power through the dancing sparks that invaded her vision.
With a gentle push, she slipped back into her body fully, closing her eyes for a few moments before reopening them. Everything appeared more vibrant, more intense, more detailed. And so, she imagined fire before her. A tiny ball of it appeared, barely the size of a grape, hovering a few feet in front of her. Sierra envisioned it contracting into one point, and then expanding on through the other side. Just as when she had partially brought herself out of her body, she had to exert a force of will on this globe of fire. It wrapped itself in, shrinking into a single point. Sierra started walking back, letting the fire hang in its own state of equilibrium. To be safe, she brought up a barrier of air, spiraling larger and pointing around her so as not to let anything touch her.
The point exploded; the entire area near her ripped itself from everywhere else. In her mind’s eye Sierra saw an entire universe being made from this point, as “science” taught it. No, this was true creation, caused by a bit of willpower, as fire brought itself to be, igniting once-damp air. Sierra closed her eyes and let everything settle after the fire burned itself out in seconds, seeing ruins when the dust had settled. Everything was open to her now, every bit of unexplored region in her mind, except that which had forced her here. She must stop the taint.