Nyxara
I answered his question without delay. "We are on the 11th floor landing. Our surroundings have an eastern aesthetic to them, which feels in line with the pagoda look of the outside. The only place that didn't look eastern was the initial waiting room look of the ground floor.
Azrail, with his hands clasped behind his back, paced in front of me. Seeing him like this made it finally click what I found so odd about his current behavior. He is giving Vulcan vibes. Everything is logical with little emotion involved. With this realization, I felt calmer now that I had categorized what persona I was dealing with.
"Hmmm. I see. Since this is your journey and I can not see exactly what you see, I needed context for where we are at this stage in your journey." He was looking out the only window with mild fascination. There was nothing but a white sky from what I could see, but I was going to tentatively assume that is not what he was seeing out there.
"This being the 11th floor is symbolic in a good sense. The number 11 is a master number in numerology. It is linked to intuition, gateways, and heightened awareness. This will be where I set up the first transmission array. While I do that, find somewhere to sit and meditate. Grey is not here. That is to be expected. This part of the Threshold Expanse is still a part of our current reality. Grey and you can not exist in the same reality, so go figure out how you want to move forward."
With that, Azrail shooed me off and began drawing on the floor, walls, and ceiling with essence. His essence, like most essence I've observed, had a veined marble appearance. I noted smoky gray, dark umber, garnet red, steel blue, and blackened pearl colors were meshing and shimmering as he drew. I couldn't comprehend any of the glyphs. It was like they wouldn't come into focus. I stopped trying when I felt a headache coming on. I found a spot out of his way against the wall under the window he had previously been looking out.
I closed my eyes and pondered on what Azrail had said about how this floor had good symbolism. I analyzed his words for clues. I felt my awareness expand until I felt like I was seeing myself standing before an archway.
The archway consisted of two pillars. Between the pillars was a pathway made of rainbow starlight. I could not see the end of the path that crossed a black nebulous void, but I did feel a sense of correctness that this is the path I needed to take. This would be the connection between here and where I must go to get what I had come to claim.
The longer I visualized this pathway, the more solid the vision became until I was confident that my visualization was in fact real.
Azrail spoke softly with pride. I opened my eyes and ended my meditation. "Ah. You are a fast learner. Good sense of time, too. I just finished the second relay array. It's time to walk the path you created."
I opened my eyes to see that the landing looked just as it did when we first arrived, except the staircases going up and down were gone. I couldn't see the glyphs Azrail had drawn, but I could feel their presence. Azrail helped me stand, then turned me to face the window I had been sitting under. "The path is before you. Now manifest it. The clock is ticking, and you want to be able to take all the time you need for the actual exchange."
I shrugged off his hand when I stepped closer to the window. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed the corners of his mouth dip. It was only for a moment, then his mouth straightened out and his hand dropped to his side. I don't like how pushy and distant he is acting, but I'm also not trying to hurt him. I hate how stress makes me act irrationally. I don't think I've felt this off-kilter in weeks.
I mentally decided to wait until everything is done to have a sit-down talk with Azrail. We have both unintentionally hurt each other's feelings, but as he has pointed out, the clock is ticking, and this can wait. I let my instincts guide my actions. I raised my hands before me, and I did not close my eyes this time.
I still have the pathway visual set in my mind. With a deep breath, deeper than I thought I could take, I let out a single pure note that resonated forward, somehow shattering the window and the space around it like glass. I ended the note, then clapped my hands together, causing a shockwave before me. In its wake, my visionary starlit walkway manifested.
I moved to step through the archway when Azrail made me pause with his suggestion. "So you are less likely to get lost, I recommend a tether to guide you as you travel through the various planes to reach your destination." I caught the slight smile on his lips before I turned away. My instincts flared as I considered how to create this tether he mentioned. When I couldn't figure it out myself and was about to ask him what to do, I felt something tug me.
Examining myself, I waited for the next tug to happen. I hope there is another tug. It would be really weird if that was a one-time thing. Luckily, my luck wasn't bad today. When the tug came again, I physically grasped onto the connection. It manifested into a cord of what seemed like black and silver vapor. Then I was pulled hard enough that I stumbled onto the pathway.
I only looked down once to confirm the pathway was transparent but solid. I didn't need to look again. There was no bottom for me to see, but thankfully, there were railing walls on both sides making it hard for me to accidentally fall off the path. The path was wide enough that I could lay down and take a comfortable nap on it if I wanted to. I didn't have to look back to know Azrail was following me. So with a fake-it kind of confidence, I started walking on the pathway made of starlight beneath an ever-changing sky.