Chapter 15 - Haunted

"There is no air current," she murmured, noting the complete lack of wind.

She raised her left hand and tapped her right hand beside her right eye.

"[-DayShine ObserVation-]”

A teal-golden geometric crest, resembling a stylised star encased in an intricate magic circle, ignited directly in front of her right eye. It rotated once and then spread outwards in a gentle wave, scanning the dark warehouse, revealing layers of magical traces that had been invisible to the naked eye. Thin, drooping threads of greyish-blue spectral residue covered the floor like frost, clung to the iron pillars and pooled near the ceiling.

In the far corner of the warehouse, sitting on an overturned wooden barrel, was the Lost Being.

It was human-shaped, translucent and flickering weakly. Unlike Cocol, who had been darting around in agony and confusion, this entity was completely curled in on itself. Its knees were pulled up to its chest, its head bowed low and its arms wrapped tightly around its legs.

Around it, it was as if the environment was reacting to its profound sorrow.

Shadows on the wall stretched into distorted, weeping figures. Faint, muffled whispers, like a voice drowning underwater, echoed from the rafters. A rusty lantern suspended from the ceiling rocked back and forth with a slow, rhythmic creak.

It was a classic supernatural haunting. Any normal citizen would have fled in terror.

Flo took three calm steps forward.

It was as if she could feel the misery in the air, so much so that it made Flo’s eyes water.

"Oh," she murmured, her voice carrying gently through the cold hall. "You're not evil at all, are you? You're just... so lonely."

The Lost Being flinched.

The entire warehouse shuddered. The muffled whispers rose into a sudden, piercing sob and the grey-blue fog on the floor surged forward like a tide, trying to swallow Flo's boots.

Flo didn't retreat. She lifted her palm, her expression filled with gentle resolve.

"[-DayShine-]"

A shining streak of soft, golden light burst from her hand, expanding through the dark warehouse like the morning sun breaking over a hill.

The moment the golden light touched the grey-blue fog, the suffocating heaviness dissolved. The weeping shadows flattened and vanished, the swinging lantern stopped and the cold, drowning whispers melted into peaceful silence.

The Lost Being slowly uncurled. It raised its translucent head, looking at Flo through large, tear-shaped hollows of blue light.

"It's okay," Flo soothed, stepping closer until she was standing right in front of it. "I'm here now. You don't have to carry all that gloom by yourself."

She reached out with a delicate thread of purified DayShine magic, wrapping it gently around the entity's wrist. The entity didn't fight. It released a long, shaky sigh of spectral mist and allowed itself to be stabilised.

Flo smiled. "See? Much better."

She turned to guide it out but a thin line of pure white light extending from the Lost Being's glowing chest caught her attention.

Flo's breath caught as it was just like the mountain incident.

The strange golden-white core she had seen during the disaster had also left behind a white trail, similar to the one that had led her through the darkness to Mr.Hugo's laboratory ten years ago.

But while Cocol had no such link, this Lost Being had a distinct, glowing white thread cutting through the air and stretching right out of the warehouse window.

Flo's mind immediately went into overdrive.

She pulled out her notebook, flipping it open while keeping her DayShine leash loosely attached to the entity.

"Stay right there," she instructed.

She looked at the Lost Being, which was floating quietly behind her like a tethered balloon.

"You're much more cooperative than Cocol," Flo remarked with a fond smile. "He kept trying to eat my hair."

The Lost Being merely tilted its head.

Holding the DayShine leash in her right hand, Flo followed the white thread out of the warehouse, across the overgrown yard and straight towards the door of a small, broken-down cottage nestled beside the industrial complex.

The cottage door was unlocked. Flo pushed it open quietly.

Inside, the home was modest, clean but terribly empty. There were no decorations, no photographs and only a single plate sitting in the drying rack.

The white thread led directly into the bedroom, terminating at a narrow iron bed.

Lying on the bed was a young woman.

Flo rushed to her side and pressed two fingers against the woman's neck.

A pulse. Faint, slow but unmistakably alive. She was breathing in shallow, rhythmic gasps.

Flo looked from the sleeping woman to the floating Lost Being hovering near the ceiling. The white thread connecting them was now thick, bright and humming with resonance.

She took five steps backwards, moving away from the white thread.

The white thread grew thinner, its glow dimming into a faint, translucent haze.

Flo stepped forward, approaching it again.

The thread thickened, pulsing with a brighter, solid white light.

Flo remembered the earlier experiments with the cat's entity. She had already established that the golden-white entity could drift roughly 100 metres from its physical body before resistance began to appear.

Flo compared it with the earlier experiments with Puff. The behaviour seemed remarkably similar.

"Signal intensity is inversely proportional to physical distance," Flo scribbled frantically with her chalk.

"You're not a monster," Flo whispered, realisation washing over her in a wave of awe. "You're her."

Flo gently tugged the DayShine leash, pulling the floating entity down towards the bed.

"Go on. Go home."

The Lost Being floated downward. The moment its spectral chest touched the woman's quiet body, a shining flare of white light filled the small bedroom.

WHOOSH.

The translucent entity dissolved, sinking rapidly into the woman's chest like water soaking into dry soil.

The room went entirely still.

Then the woman on the bed gasped.

Her eyes snapped open. She sat up abruptly, clutching her chest, her breathing heavy and frantic. She looked around the room in absolute confusion, her gaze finally landing on Flo, who was standing beside her bed holding a notebook.

The woman shrank back into her pillows, pulling the blanket up to her chin.

"W-who... who are you?"

Flo immediately softened her posture, slipping her notebook into her satchel.

"My name is Flo. I'm a researcher from the Observatory. Do you remember what happened to you?"

The woman looked at her with wide, timid eyes. She swallowed hard, her voice barely above a whisper.

"R-remember what?"

"How long have you been lying here?" Flo asked gently.

"I... I don't know," she murmured. "I remember finishing my shift at the municipal archive... I walked home... I felt so tired. So heavy. I sat on my bed and then... nothing."

Flo listened intently and asked a few simple questions. Despite her extreme introversion, the girl answered cooperatively.

Her name was Trista. She was twenty seven, worked as a night-shift records clerk in the city archives and lived entirely alone. She had no idea that her consciousness had separated from her body or that she had been haunting the nearby warehouse as a Lost Being.

She was a DuskComm ability user.

"Trista," Flo said after making sure she could walk, "would you be willing to come to the Observatory for a quick, non-invasive check-up? Just to make sure your magic flow is stable?"

Trista hesitated but seeing Flo's warm, genuine expression, she nodded softly.

"O-okay."

An hour later, Trista was sitting quietly in the Observatory, clutching a warm mug of tea Flo had given her.

The visit was surprisingly peaceful. Cocol drifted past the window near Trista but of course Trista couldn't see him.

Trista surprisingly accepted this without further panic.

Flo ran her diagnostic instruments over Trista, recording new medical and spectral data.

Findings:

The physical body remained alive in a dormant state while the Lost Being existed.

The core of the Lost Being appeared to be directly linked to the consciousness and its physical vessel.

The white thread appeared to function as a connection between the lost being and the body.

Once the tests were complete, Flo walked Trista back towards the entrance.

"Trista," Flo pleaded, clasping her hands together earnestly. "Can you keep this a secret? Please don't tell anyone about the Observatory or about what happened today. The Ability Authority wouldn't understand."

Trista paused at the doorway. She lowered her eyes, staring down at her worn shoes.

"Who would I even share it with?" she murmured softly.

Flo's heart twinged.

Trista gave a tiny, almost invisible wave, her eyes lingering on the cosy, warm Observatory floor where Mr.Hugo was arguing with Puff.

For the first time in her life, someone had looked for her. Someone had saved her.

"Thank you, Flo," Trista whispered. Flo smiled back at her,”No, thanks to you! Also, you can come here whenever you want!”

She then turned and walked slowly down the path.

Flo watched her go until her small figure disappeared into the afternoon twilight.

She closed the door and sprinted straight back to her lab floor. She pulled down a fresh, massive sheet of paper and slammed her chalk onto the table.

LOST BEING THEORY - UPDATED

Lost Beings can originate from living humans.

The thread strengthens with proximity with the strongest signal appearing when the Lost Being is close to its body.

The thread weakens with distance.

If space affects the connection, does time also have any effect? Will need more data here.

Flo looked at the board, her heart pounding against her ribs.

Then she slowly turned towards Cocol.

He was floating near her shoulder, spinning lazily through the air, his translucent blue body glowing faintly in the dim light.

Flo walked over to him. She activated her DayShine ObserVation and examined his chest closely. No white thread and No connection. Just pure, severed spectral energy.

Flo looked back at her notes.

The Observatory fell completely silent.

Her eyes widened as the possibility settled over her all at once.

"...If Trista had a thread connecting her to her body," Flo whispered into the quiet room, "...then why don't you have one, Cocol?"

Cocol blinked his hollow eyes and tilted his head silently.

Flo looked back at her street map of Cirnia, then at her research notes. Her eyes burned with absolute, unshakeable determination.

"Your body may not be dead," Flo declared quietly. "It could be too far away... "

She picked up her chalk and drew a massive circle around the mountain region on her map.

"I'm going to find your body, Cocol. I promise."