20 A Shimmer Of Hope

Darkness. Complete and utter darkness. Bao or rather something that resembled his spiritual body, sunk deep into the abyss of nothingness and was devoured by it. There were neither trees nor houses which he could have used as a reference point or as an object towards which he could have walked. In fact, the absence of any moving objects made him question if he was even moving. Just where was he?

Deprived of all of his senses and left with nothing but his own thoughts, he wandered to an unknown destination on a path that did not exist. He felt no hunger, thirst or physical exhaustion, making it seem pointless to take a break. Hours, days or even months could have passed since he started his eternal march into the unknown.

"Is this punishment for what I did? Am I in hell?"

Bao's thought slipped out of his mouth creating a sound he could hear for the first time after ages or at least it felt like centuries have passed. But something seemed to have noticed his presence in this vast space of nothingness for a small white flame lit up in the distance. Nothing more but a simple little shimmer, yet he felt a deep happiness dwelling inside him until he burst out in cries of joy.

"Ahahaha is that what they mean with a ray of hope?! Ahahahah." A big smile was stamped on his face.

Now he had finally somewhere to go, a destination! With increasing speed he ran towards the flame but soon a second one lit up then a third and fourth until he was surrounded by the small flickering lights.

"Fuuuuuck!"-his scream was devoured by the darkness-"First you give me hope just to destroy it soon after. Which one am I supposed to follow now? What am I even doing here in the first place? And to whom am I even talking to?!"

He shook his head as if he tried to cast something out and took three deep breaths.

"I am going insane here."

Lost once again he turned around himself witnessing the sheer endless amount of lights surrounding him. He stretched out his hand in the direction of one of the fires and despite getting closer and closer he felt no warmth and neither did he get any burns, even after thrusting his hand right through it.

"What in the... what are tho...?" Like a river, his memories flowed back into his mind. "Now... now I remember everything. I activated my skill World Traveller, speculating that it might have something to do with players and their appearance two years ago, hoping that I might be able to find a way to save Elincia. But that was still quite a gamble since I did not know what the skill effects are, meaning that I have no clue on where I am or what those lights are." Since the sound of his voice was the only one he could hear, he continued with his monologue.

One of the lights caught his attention, being the only one with a bright orange colour that even emitted a warmth, much to Bao's surprise. His eyes fixed on the flickering light he approached it with caution while the released heat became hotter with every step until it completely embraced him in its grip. Against his expectations, he was not burned to a crisp but instead felt a nostalgic warmth, just as if a real person would be hugging him. As if it was taking him by the hand, saying that he should follow it, the flame started to flow away from him. Right behind it ran Bao, passing through hundreds of other white fires which flared up again directly after he breached through them. The chase found its abrupt end in front of a smaller light, so small it could barely be called an ember. Without hesitation, the orange one took the form of a mouth and devoured the tiny flame, satisfied placing itself on the palm of his hand.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked confused.

But no response came from the merged flames, instead, they spread once again around his body.

"Wait... somehow I recognize this feeling of warmth and energy it is the same as that time with..." -he paused for a second - "I... is that you miss Elincia?"

The heat became even stronger as if he found himself in the heart of a volcano.

"So, that in the palm of my hand is probably the king's son correct?" Once again the flame lit up. "But how do we get back now? The skill is already activated do I need to turn it off or something?"

Again no response from the flames.

"Well, doesn't hurt to try, World Traveller!"