Shadows in the Vortex

Water, icy cold.

Water surged in from all directions, pressing in on her and bringing a fine, prickling pain, as though knives were endlessly slicing across her skin.

It was so cold, as if she were inside an ice cavern.

That was the only thought in the siren's mind as she entered the water.

The sounds by her ears faded in an instant. Everything was muffled, and only a profound silence gradually spread.

She felt the water's buoyancy lift her sinking body slightly, but that was all. The current immediately seized her, imprisoning her beneath the water.

The red cloth covering her head was swept away, as if the river had lifted her bridal veil.

Her wedding dress drifted smoothly through the water, no longer clinging to her. From a distance, she looked like a blood-red flower blossoming into a great bloom.

[Mission prompt: You have been locked onto by the River of Karma.]

[Mission Phase Two unlocked: Sedan Woman Returns to the River]

[You are the sedan woman. From the very beginning, you were a sacrificial offering imprisoned inside a sedan chair. Your sedan carriers are not alive. No matter where you flee, they will always find you and stuff you back into the sedan chair.]

[Why you? Why are "they" so terrifying? Why you, of all people...? The sedan woman curled up, thinking in fear.]

[The sedan chair swayed and swayed; the sedan woman screamed.]

[The sedan chair swayed and swayed; passersby craned their necks to look.]

[The sedan chair swayed and swayed; the sedan carriers never smiled.]

[At last, the sedan chair stopped.]

[The groom called out, looked, and smiled, too. It waited for the bride to leave the sedan chair. The boat rocked, boiling the bride's flesh and blood.]

[The groom played and beat the music;