As summer reached its peak, the shrine was afflicted by a heatwave born of abnormal weather. Day after day of unusually high temperatures brought a feverish energy to the normally tranquil shrine. The maidens pooled their abilities and wisdom, struggling to overcome the oppressive heat.
Aki was a whirlwind of activity. She primarily transformed into air conditioners and fans, supplying cool air to the main hall, the dining room, and the individual living quarters. At times, she became an ice water dispenser, providing an endless supply of chilled water to quench the maidens’ thirst. “Aki-san is the best!” Izumi’s exclamations of admiration were endless.
Aoi stepped up for the maidens who had lost their appetites to the heat. She transformed into a refrigerator to store all manner of chilled fruits and drinks, then into an ice cream maker, producing a variety of flavors. Thanks to her, the maidens could enjoy a sweet, cool respite.
Miho sought wisdom in the shrine library. She transformed into ancient texts to share with the other maidens how their ancestors had survived such heat. Thanks to her, they used traditional methods like brewing herbal teas and cooling down with damp cloths. Sometimes, she would even transform into a hand fan to offer a personal, cooling breeze.
Shizuku and Akari made use of the stream near the shrine. Shizuku transformed into a large hose, drawing up cool mountain water to spray across the shrine’s courtyard and lower the temperature. Akari became a wading pool, allowing the younger maidens, Izumi included, to splash around and forget the heat.
As evening fell and the temperature dropped slightly, the maidens gathered before the Great Maiden. Lua sipped her cool tea and asked,
“Great Maiden, has it ever been this hot before? It’s truly suffocating.”
The Great Maiden smiled serenely.
“We have had days this hot before. Even in the age of myths, when the world’s energies peaked, such heat would visit. However… for it to be this frequent, and to last this long, is a recent phenomenon. I sense the world’s energy is shifting in an unknown direction.”
Her words were about more than just the weather. They held a deep insight into the changing world and a hint of even greater changes to come. The maidens grew solemn. They reflected on their role, realizing it was not just about enduring the heat, but about protecting the shrine amidst the shifting energies of the world.[7:1]
Besides Izumi, there was another maiden at the shrine who had become one as a child. Her name was Mai. Though she had become a maiden hundreds of years before Izumi, Mai had the appearance of a small child, no older than five or six. Spotting Mai chasing butterflies in the small garden beside the Great Maiden’s residence, Izumi bounced over to her.
“Mai-senpai! Hello!”
At Izumi’s cheerful voice, Mai turned with a bright smile. Her eyes were as clear as a child’s, but their depths held the traces of immeasurable time.
“Hello, Izumi-chan! What should we play today?”
Izumi squatted beside Mai and began to chatter.
“Senpai, you became a maiden long before I did, but you’re still a little kid just like me! Isn’t that strange?”
Mai nodded. She propped her chin on one hand, as if recalling a distant past.
“That’s right. I’ve been this way since long before you were born. Perhaps it’s because I became a maiden when I was very young.”
Mai’s gaze grew distant for a moment.
“Sometimes, because I’ve been a child for so long… events from the distant past feel like a dream. I’ve seen the world change countless times, after all, and watched people live and die over and over.”
Listening to Mai, Izumi felt a strange sense of solemnity. The reality of living forever in her current form was sometimes stifling, but she couldn’t even imagine enduring it alone for hundreds of years like Mai-senpai.
Izumi asked cautiously, “Senpai… isn’t it hard? Living as a child forever…”
Mai met the question with a quiet smile. With her small hand, she picked up a leaf from the ground.
“It would be a lie to say it isn’t. But you get used to things as time goes on. And more than anything… the joy of encountering new things helps me endure the time.”
Mai looked at Izumi.
“Meeting new maidens like you and watching them grow is a great joy for me. And it’s interesting to watch the world change. New technologies, new cultures, new stories… The power that sustains me is this constant process of learning and experiencing.”
Mai handed the leaf to Izumi.
“The things you transform into, like robot vacuums or magnifying glasses, are truly fascinating things to me. Just like this shrine we live in, the world is constantly changing and developing. My life is about finding my role within that change.”
Listening to Mai, Izumi found herself thinking once again about the meaning of her small body and the life that lay ahead. Mai-senpai, despite her young appearance, was a being who held the deepest wisdom and time. Through their conversation, Izumi began to vaguely grasp the weight of living as an eternal child, and at the same time, the meaning of life that could be found within it.[7:2]
On the surface, Mai’s day seemed as peaceful and simple as any child’s. But her every movement and thought was steeped in hundreds of years of time.
Mai would wake in the predawn quiet, long before sunrise. She would slip out of bed and head to the small garden beside the Great Maiden’s residence. Mai tended to this garden herself; it was a space where her oldest memories were sown like seeds. She would touch the soil with her small hands, examining the new sprouts. It was as if the soil held the memory of seeds planted centuries ago, and the sprouts held the promise of flowers yet to bloom.
After an early breakfast, she often went to the shrine’s main hall. In her child’s body, she would sit before the altar and quietly close her eyes. For Mai, prayer wasn’t just for the present moment. She felt the prayers offered to the Divine by maidens of the past and foresaw the wishes of maidens yet to come. It was a time when all of history flowed through her consciousness like a single river.
In the mornings, she would study or play with the other maidens. To the younger ones, Mai was both a senior and a friend; to the older ones, she was perhaps their most ancient colleague. She enjoyed hearing about new technologies and changes in the world. Time spent watching the news on a tablet (a transformed Aki) or discussing new cultural trends while eating ice cream made by Aoi was a continuous and welcome stream of learning for her.
“Mai-senpai, how’s this?” Izumi asked, dressing a doll that Mai had transformed into. Maintaining the doll’s form, Mai enjoyed the sensation of Izumi’s touch. Yet even during play, she might suddenly see glimpses of the future or recall a moment from the past. She might, for instance, foresee that the doll Izumi was playing with could become a crucial clue in a future event. She wouldn’t reveal what she had seen, offering only a smile.
In the afternoons, she would wander the shrine, helping with small errands or organizing old artifacts. When she touched an old piece of jewelry, she could feel the hands of the maiden who first made it, or recall the stories of the long years tied to the object as vividly as if it were yesterday.
As the sun set, Mai would return to her small garden or retreat to her personal ‘study’ in a corner of the Great Maiden’s residence, its shelves packed with rare and ancient books. She would move among them, searching for information or simply savoring the scent of age-old paper, immersing herself in times past.
Before sleep, Mai would once again close her eyes and reflect on her day. To her, a day wasn’t just twenty-four hours. It was an endless, unfolding tapestry of time, where past memories, present moments, and future premonitions mingled and flowed. And so Mai lived the quiet, daily life of the shrine, forever in the form of a child, embracing all of time.[7:3]
Sitting before the Great Maiden, Lua cautiously posed a question. Ever since her visit to the Shrine of Time, she had been unable to shake her curiosity about the nature of the maidens there.
“Great Maiden, we the corporeal maidens are called to this shrine by the Divine. But are the temporal maidens also called at some point to become maidens like us? Or… do they become maidens in a different way?”
Lua’s question was born of more than simple curiosity; it was a fundamental inquiry into the difference between two shrines with such distinct ways of being. The Great Maiden closed her eyes serenely, then slowly opened them. Her gaze seemed to pierce through to a distant, ancient past.
“Your question is an important one, Lua. If the corporeal maidens are beings who ‘transform’ into new existences through their contact with the world, then it would be correct to understand that the temporal maidens are beings ‘born’ with the world’s ‘time’.”
The Great Maiden began to explain in a low voice.
“They are not recreated in human form by a divine call at a specific moment. The temporal maidens are beings formed when the very essence of time coalesces and takes shape, much like a river of time might condense to form a body.”
Lua’s eyes widened. The explanation was beyond anything she could have imagined.
“Then… they’re maidens from the moment of their birth?”
“That is correct. They are born into human bodies, but their souls are, from the very beginning, connected to the flow of time itself. It is as if a piece of time that has existed since the world’s inception manifests in human form. Therefore, they are born with the innate ability to perceive and utilize all facets of time, without undergoing any artificial ‘calling’ or ‘ritual’.”
Lua felt a profound sense of awe. They weren’t beings who ‘became’ maidens through some event, like her and her sisters, but beings who were ‘born’ as time itself. As a maiden who dealt with matter, she vaguely understood that while her own power was to transform and create external objects, the temporal maidens dealt with the intangible concept of time itself.
“Their bodies are not bound by the world’s clock, and their consciousness embraces the past, present, and future simultaneously. They are, quite literally, the living witnesses of time, the guardians of the world’s temporal balance. So you see, their existence in the world is fundamentally different from that of you, the corporeal maidens.”
Lua nodded. She finally understood why the temporal maidens had such serene, deep eyes, and why their foresight was so unerringly accurate. They were beings who transcended time, yet were born with it and lived through it.[7:4]
After the in-depth explanation of the temporal maidens, Lua’s mind swirled with thoughts. There were her kind, the corporeal maidens, and the maidens who handled time. Could there be others? Her thoughts naturally expanded to the world’s fundamental elements. A word surfaced in her mind.
“Great Maiden… in that case, perhaps… do luminous maidens exist as well?”
At Lua’s question, the Great Maiden wore an expression of interest, a rare sight. A faint smile touched her lips.
“My, my, Lua. And what led you to that thought?”
Lua hesitated at the Great Maiden’s question in return. She had no logical reason; it was pure intuition.
“Well… we handle matter, and the temporal maidens handle time. So it occurred to me that another fundamental element of this world… something like light… might also be connected to the maidens.”
Lua shared her thoughts honestly. The Great Maiden nodded as she listened, her eyes filled with satisfaction and praise for Lua’s insight.
“Indeed, your insight is quite sharp, Lua. Yes. As you surmised, a luminous maiden does exist.”
Lua’s eyes widened at the Great Maiden’s confirmation. The moment her vague fantasy became reality.
“It is easier to understand if you think of the three fundamental currents of the world manifesting in the form of maidens. You handle matter, the temporal maidens handle time, and the luminous maiden… handles everything that moves at the speed of light.”
The Great Maiden continued, her voice holding a slightly more mysterious resonance than usual.
“Have you ever wondered how telepathy is possible among us maidens?”
Lua nodded. Telepathy was such a natural ability among them that she had never given it much thought.
“The one who makes that telepathy possible is none other than the luminous maiden. It is a being who governs the flow of information and communication. Possessing the trait of being as fast as light and able to reach everywhere, it serves to connect and mediate the thoughts and information among maidens. It has the ability to interpret and transmit all waves and signals in the world.”
Lua was filled with shock and awe. To think their telepathy was thanks to someone’s ability! She thought of Aki. It occurred to her that Aki’s ability to manipulate digital networks might share something in common with the traits of the luminous maiden.
“The luminous maiden cannot transform matter like you, nor traverse time like the temporal maidens, but it is connected to all the information in the world. In its eyes, all communication appears as a constant flow of light. From unseen places, it helps connect us maidens and, at times, conveys vital information about the world to us.”
The Great Maiden smiled again. Lua’s heart swelled at the realization that a single question had unveiled such a massive piece of the world’s secrets. The world was far more mysterious than she had ever imagined, and the world of the maidens was deeper and wider still.[7:5]
Having heard about the existence of the ‘luminous maiden’ from the Great Maiden, Lua immediately went to find Aki. She found her in the main hall, moving among various electronic devices and making adjustments. Aki had an exceptional talent for managing the shrine’s communication network and gathering external information.
“Aki! I heard about the luminous maidens from the Great Maiden. Do you know anything about them?” Lua asked, her voice brimming with excitement.
Aki turned and smiled at Lua’s question. “Ah, Lua. So you’ve finally heard the story. It was something I had vaguely surmised myself.”
Aki paused in thought, then began to explain using analogies Lua could easily understand. In her regular work with satellite signals and complex networks, she had naturally become familiar with basic concepts of physics, so it was no great leap for her to connect them to the maidens’ abilities.
“It’s easier if you think of the world as having three main types of flows,” Aki said, holding up three fingers.
“First is the flow of things with physical bodies, like us. Just as we create objects or transform, material things always move ‘slower than light.’ We, the corporeal maidens, who create, change, and move things within space, can be seen as handling this ‘slower-than-light flow’.”
Lua nodded. The explanation perfectly matched her own abilities.
“Second is the flow of time. Just as we can only move forward into the future, time always flows in one direction. But the temporal maidens move through time as freely as we move through space, as if they are traveling ‘faster than light.’ That’s why they can see all of time at once and possess foresight that spans the future and the past.”
Aki continued.
“And the third and final type is the luminous maidens. You could say they literally handle everything that moves ‘at the speed of light.’ That includes information transmitted as quickly as light, waves, and things like the telepathy between us. They are almost unbound by the limits of time or matter, and they serve to connect and transmit all the ‘flows of information’ that exist in the world.”
“So, we handle matter that exists and changes in space, the temporal maidens handle the flow of time itself, and the luminous maidens are the medium of information and communication that links the two.”
Aki’s explanation assembled the scattered pieces in Lua’s mind. Though the maidens had different abilities, they were all fulfilling their roles according to the fundamental laws of the world.
“Then we are beings who help maintain the harmony of these three flows,” Lua said in admiration.
Aki smiled brightly. “Yes, that’s right. That must be what the Great Maiden means by ‘the harmony of the world.’ We may have different abilities, but in the end, we all exist to protect the world and maintain its balance.”
The conversation between the two maidens brought the profound principles of their mysterious world into sharper focus.[7:6]
In the quiet routine of the shrine, Mai would sometimes lose herself in her own small projects. This time, it was a rare moss, nestled in the deepest shade of a rock crevice by the stream behind the shrine. The moss was so tiny and delicate it was nearly invisible, yet Mai knew this fragile life-form needed direct sunlight, if only for a brief moment once a month, to survive. But with the lush leaves and the rock’s shadow, it was next to impossible for light to reach it, even when the sun’s angle was just right.
Mai tried everything she could think of. She transformed into particles smaller than dust motes to manipulate the air’s subtle currents, and tried to shift the angle of the leaves, bit by bit. Every attempt failed. No matter how masterful the corporeal maidens were with the flow of matter, controlling the trajectory of a single photon or the near-random direction of the wind within nature’s grand currents was an impossible feat. Overcome with despair, Mai finally went to the library where Miho was in her form as a bookshelf.
“Miho-nee, this moss desperately needs light, but I’ve tried everything and I don’t know what to do,” Mai’s telepathic voice was laced with weariness.
Miho’s calm voice echoed among the shelves. “Sometimes, Mai, there are realms beyond the reach of a corporeal maiden. Realms of pure ‘flow’ and ‘essence,’ beyond the subtle laws of matter.” Miho recalled an ancient legend, faintly remembered among millennia of accumulated knowledge. “It is a story passed down from long ago. That when we face an uncertainty we cannot overcome, we can seek wisdom from the ‘luminous maiden’.”
Mai’s eyes widened. “Luminous maiden? Such a being exists? I thought, besides the Great Maiden and the temporal maidens, there was no one else but us…”
“It is different from us. It exists in a way unlike us, who have material forms, or them, who handle the flow of time. It is said one cannot even describe it as having a specific form, that it is pure ‘light of wisdom’ itself.” Miho paused. “The legends say that if you offer a ‘prayer’ to it, you can receive the ‘inspiration’ to find the clearest path within the flow of matter. That you need only open your senses and call for that light from the deepest part of your heart.”
Mai was skeptical, but her fervent desire to save the moss spurred her to follow Miho’s words. She sat on the sun-drenched veranda and closed her eyes, focusing all her senses on her desperate hope for the moss. Just as Miho had said, she concentrated her consciousness, as if reaching from her deepest core toward an ineffable ‘light’.
Her consciousness began to expand. She didn’t sense the voice or form of any particular being. Instead, she felt her own consciousness dissolving into a single, vast ‘flow’. It was not multiple beings. It was the sum of all understanding and clarity in the universe, a single, immense consciousness that transcended all form and time. In that instant, Mai understood. The ‘luminous maiden’ was not multiple beings, but a perfect, singular unity, like the concept of ‘light’ itself. Her small consciousness became a single wave, mingling in that vast ocean of knowledge.
And in that ocean, she found the answer. It wasn’t a direct set of instructions. It was a moment of perfect comprehension—of the moss before her, the sunlight, the subtle currents of air. She knew the precise moment a gust of wind would blow at a specific angle to pull back a leaf’s shadow, the exact wavelength of light that would most effectively reach the moss in that fleeting instant, and the subtle ‘form’ she would need to assume to ‘merge’ with that flow. Everything became clear.
Mai opened her eyes. She immediately transformed her body into infinitesimally fine dust particles, merging with the air currents around the moss. Then, at the perfect timing she had calculated, she induced a tiny vortex of air. As if by a miracle, a single ray of sunlight pierced the canopy of leaves and illuminated the moss. It lasted only for a few seconds, but in that moment, the moss seemed to drink in the light, absorbing the energy of life.
It was a success. Mai’s heart swelled with emotion. The joy of saving the moss was immense, but it was the experience of understanding the essence of the ‘luminous maiden’ and communicating with it that sent a thrill through her entire being. Now she knew. No matter how skilled the corporeal maidens were with matter, there were times they needed a source of pure ‘wisdom’ and ‘clarity’ that transcended matter. And that source was not a specific being, but a single, all-encompassing light.[7:7]