KamiKowa: That Time I Got Transmigrated With A Broken Goddess

Ashley Martin woke to the sound of scratching quills and hushed voices discussing her like she was a particularly interesting corpse.

The room was white. Not the comforting white of fresh snow or clean linens, but the sterile white of bone bleached by desert sun. Every surface gleamed with volcanic glass polished to mirror brightness, reflecting the golden flames that danced in crystal sconces along the walls. The bed beneath her felt more like an examination table than a place of rest.

"The fracture patterns suggest a recursive feedback loop," said a voice to her left. "Most fascinating. I've never seen a Covenant attempt to process multiple simultaneous deaths."

Ashley's eyes snapped open, finding three figures in cream-colored robes standing beside her bed. Their faces held the clinical interest of scholars examining a rare manuscript, not healers tending to a patient.

"Ah, you're conscious," the eldest said. "Excellent. We have questions about your Covenant manifestation."

Ashley tried to sit up, but her body felt like it was made of lead wrapped in cotton. The golden fractures that had spider-webbed across her skin were gone, but their absence left a void, a cold, hollow space where her power used to burn. It was the phantom limb of a severed soul.

"Where—"

"You're in the Temple of the Eternal Flame," the gray-haired woman interrupted. "I am Scholar Miren. This is Scholar Hadwin, and Scholar Osanna." She gestured to each one in turn. "We've been studying your condition."

Studying. Not treating.

"Your Covenant exhibited remarkable instability," Scholar Hadwin continued, his pale eyes bright with curiosity. "The ability to absorb damage for others is well-documented, but we've never observed a complete psychic feedback cascade of this magnitude. Tell me, when you first manifested this power, did you experience any unusual sensory phenomena?"

"Water."

"Of course." Miren made a note on her tablet. "Dehydration is common after Essentia shock. Scholar Osanna, if you would?"

The youngest priest poured water from a crystal pitcher into a matching cup. Ashley drank greedily, the cool liquid washing away the taste of ash and old blood.

"Now then," Hadwin said, settling into a chair beside her bed. "The fracture patterns suggest your Covenant attempted to process not just physical damage, but emotional and spiritual trauma as well. Most remarkable. Can you describe the sensation when it began to fail?"

The memory didn't just surface; it lanced through her. Gareth's terrified face as the ice claimed him. Dalen's hand reaching toward her before the cold stopped his heart. Marta's scream cutting off mid-syllable. Ashley's chest tightened, and she felt the familiar urge to absorb their pain, to take it into herself where it belonged.

"I need to see my friends," she said instead.

"Your companions are being cared for," Miren said. "The woman is in the adjacent quarters. The man called Thornslayer is... elsewhere. Now, about your Covenant's recursive nature—"

The door opened with a soft whisper of hinges, and Ashley's heart nearly stopped. A young woman with flowing blue hair stepped into the room, carrying a tray of medical supplies.

The girl's eyes met Ashley's, and for just an instant, recognition sparked between them. Then the moment passed, and the newcomer lowered her gaze respectfully.

"Margot," Scholar Miren said without looking up from her tablet. "Perfect timing. We need fresh compresses for the patient's meridian points."

"Of course, Scholar."

Margot approached the bed, her fingers deft as she arranged the supplies on a side table. When she leaned close to check Ashley's forehead, her lips barely moved. "Play along."

"The healing process will be gradual," Scholar Hadwin was saying. "Something of this nature requires careful monitoring. We'll need to observe you for several days at minimum."

Several days. Ashley's jaw clenched. Xavier was somewhere in this city, probably being subjected to his own version of scholarly interest. And here she was, trapped in a bed while priests prodded at her broken abilities like children poking a wounded animal.

"I feel fine," she lied.

"Nonsense." Osanna stepped forward, raising a hand that glowed with soft golden light. "Your pathways are severely compromised. Observe."

The light touched Ashley's arm, and pain shot through her like lightning. Her vision went white, and she bit back a scream as her body convulsed. The golden fractures reappeared along her skin, pulsing with each heartbeat.

"Fascinating," Hadwin murmured. "Complete pathway destabilization. The slightest external contact triggers a cascade failure. You won't be using your abilities for some time."

Margot's hands stilled on the supply tray, her knuckles white where she gripped the edge.

"The question," Miren continued, making more notes, "is whether this instability is permanent or merely temporary. Your case provides an unprecedented opportunity to study the long-term effects of Covenant failure."

Opportunity. Ashley wanted to laugh, but her throat was too tight. In another reality, she was Ashley Martin, a name that opened doors and commanded resources. Here, she was only a body on a table, a fascinating specimen whose pain was little more than data for a scholar's tablet.

"I should rest," she said carefully.

"Indeed." Hadwin stood, brushing invisible dust from his robes. "We'll return tomorrow to continue our observations. Margot, ensure the patient remains comfortable."

The three scholars filed out, their voices already turning to technical discussions about Essentia pathways and feedback loops. Ashley waited until their footsteps faded before letting her shoulders slump.

"Margaret?" she whispered.

"Here." The blue-haired girl moved to the bedside, her voice dropping to barely audible. "But I'm Margot now. Healer's apprentice and right hand to Selene Flameheart."

"Your eyes are different. Duller."

"The Eternal Flame dampens our abilities a bit. Makes us more... manageable." Margot's smile was bitter.

Ashley reached out, grasping her friend's hand. The contact sent a small shock through both of them—not painful, but strange, like static electricity with emotional weight.

"Xavier's here," Ashley said. "Naomi too."

"I know. Word travels fast in the temple. The great Thornslayer and his mysterious companion." Margot squeezed her fingers gently. "They have Xavier locked in the noble quarter. Naomi's in the room next to yours."

"Locked?"

"Honored guests aren't allowed to wander freely. Too dangerous, they say. Too many threats from Winter Court spies." Margot's tone made it clear what she thought of that excuse.

Ashley tried to sit up again, gritting her teeth against the empty ache where her Guardian Covenant used to burn. "We need to—"

"Rest," Margot said firmly. "You're in no condition to do anything but heal. The scholars aren't wrong about that part."

"But Xavier—"

"Is probably planning something foolish as we speak. You know how he is." Margot moved to the window. "This isn't our world, Ashley. The rules are different here. We need to be smarter than we were at the academy."

Ashley wanted to argue, but the exhaustion was pulling at her like an undertow. Her body felt wrong, incomplete, as if someone had removed an organ she'd never known she needed. The Guardian Covenant had been part of her for so long that its absence left her feeling fundamentally altered.

"How long have you been here?" she asked.

"Since the beginning. I woke up in a healer's cottage with memories of being Margot going back years." Margaret—Margot—turned from the window. "Everyone remembers me differently. It's like I've always been here."

"But you remember the academy?"

"Every detail. Professor Valdez's ice walls. Phantom's time tricks. Xavier being an absolute menace to social order." A genuine smile crossed her features. "Sometimes I think I'm going insane, but then I remember things like your terrible habit of fixing everyone's problems whether they want help or not."

Ashley felt tears prick her eyes. "I couldn't fix theirs. The people who died because of us. Because I wasn't strong enough to—"

"Stop. That path leads nowhere good. I've seen what guilt does to people in this place."

She moved back to the bedside, her healer's instincts taking over as she checked Ashley's pulse and examined her eyes. "The scholars are right about one thing—you need time to recover. Your Essentia pathways are a mess."

"Can you fix them?"

"Maybe. Given time and the right resources." Margot's expression grew thoughtful. "There are archives beneath the temple. Old knowledge about Essentia manipulation and healing techniques. But they're sealed, forbidden to apprentices like me."

Ashley caught something in her tone. "But?"

"But I've been learning things. Making friends among the junior acolytes. People talk when they think you're not important enough to matter." Margot's smile turned predatory. "Amazing what you can learn by bringing extra bread to the night shift."