182 Fading

The Underworld is a rather peculiar place. When I had entered, I realized that I had entered a room that was of the polar opposite as the room I had just came from. In a realm of endless darkness, the Underworld landscape sprawled out before me. There was just nothing in sight except darkness, and the temperature was rather cold. I could sense a chilling sting as the cold temperature made contact against my body.

Populating this cold, dark word were small orbs of light that floated and danced about in the darkness. There were endless numbers of them, and the vast number of these light-emitting creatures gifted the dark Underworld with a beautiful scene of light. These orbs of light that left behind lingering traces when they slowly drifted about were, I suppose, the souls of the deceased.

Knowing that I only have a few minutes, I set out, leaving behind the portal back to safety. I betted on the chance that she would be somewhere directly before me within a ten-minute radius so I kept my path straight such that I know where to return to. However, after taking a few steps away from the portal, I realized that I was no longer certain where I had emerged from as the entire world was just dark, giving me no point of reference. For all I know, the Underworld might be moving while keeping me where I was originally located at. The beautiful, glowing souls also offered no help as they shifted about on a constant basis.

I tried to call out her name but no voice left my throat. I suppose it must be something that has to do with the nature of this realm, but it's something that is beyond my understanding and knowledge. Besides, even if I were able to make noise, would souls even be able to perceive and hear a voice if they lack the necessary organ to do so?

With nothing that I could do to broadcast my location to her, I continued walking and searching around blindly and with no plan in mind. This was a rather stupid idea, to be honest. Coming into the Underworld without any knowledge, without any plans in mind to find her, I am simply being foolish. This is a rather dangerous act and I simply impulsively rushed into it. And now, look where that lead me to? In this cold and lonely world, I lack any real knowledge as to what I was after.

As time progressed, my mind became increasingly hazing. It was more and more difficult and tiring to think complex thoughts, so I focused my mind on two thoughts: find Luna and return home. Those two thoughts are the sole focus of my heart and the goals that guide my behavior.

The search continued on but the thing is, I lost track of time. I had originally been counting each second in my heart, but when my mind had suddenly become increasingly hazy, I lost count of it.

What number was I on? What number do I need to count to? How long is a second? How long is ten minutes? These questions roamed my mind, distracting me from my purpose, making it so that I was simply walking forward without really understanding why. Why am I here? Where am I?

Gradually, I lost the sense of my purpose. Yet, something deep within me is telling me to not stop. To ignore the clusters of souls that had gathered around me, to ignore their privy gazes, and to continue walking.

But, why? Why am I walking forward? Where is my destination? Where did I start from?

The temperature within me suddenly dropped to a dangerously low level as I was frightened by this lack of knowledge. There's just this terrifying feeling that I had forgotten something extremely important. It caused me paranoia, anxiety, making me afraid and want to stop in my steps and just lie down and curl up. Yet, I must not stop, for there's this voice deep within me telling me that if I stop, then it'll be over. But, the question that I am asking myself now is: Why should I listen to this voice? Who is he? And most importantly, who am I?

Gradually, I stopped moving forward. Soon, I wasn't moving at all as I fell onto my knees in fear. Around me, the orbs of light had gathered to a large degree now, surrounding me and judging me. It was as if these souls have eyes that pierced through my body. I do not know what they were after. Maybe they meant harm, or maybe they were just curious as to why I was different from them? But none of that mattered to me at the moment. All that I could focus on was the great emptiness in my brain, this inability to recall anything, as if there was a barrier placed in my mind that prevented me from accessing who I am. I was unable to think. Whenever that I did try to concentrate and focus, my head would hurt, and that sliver of focus that I had worked so hard to gather would just dissipate and crumble like a sand castle. There was just nothing, nothing at all that I could do as I simply kneel there in the Underworld.

After a brief moment, I suddenly felt my surroundings slowly warm up. A small orb of light had neared me, and looking up, I saw that an orb of light had approached me, floating about before my face while keeping away the others. This soul, so similar to the others yet so different from them, caught my eye. Slowly, I reached my cupped my hands and reached out towards the soul. As if in response to my actions, the tiny orb of light rested on my palms, and upon making contact with it, I felt a familiar warmth spread throughout my body.

Luna, I suddenly recalled. You were with me all along...

I could feel my body once again after making contact with her soul, and it was only then that I realized that there were tears in my eye and my cheeks were slightly damp from the tears that had flowed down it from earlier. Slowly, my mind became less and less hazy as her warmth eroded away the fog, shrouding me in a protective mist that allowed me to maintain myself.

Let's go home now, I smiled and stood up. I looked around, frowning. Which direction did I come from?

With a sense of uncertainty in my mind, I started walking in the direction opposite to the one that I was facing while her soul accompanied me. I wasn't sure if I had truly come from this direction or not, and in addition to that, I wasn't sure if ten minutes had passed by or not. However, there's nothing that I can do other than trying my luck and cling onto the hope that I had walked in a straight line and did, in fact, turned 180 degrees as in this dark world where there exists no point of reference, I will be unable to find the portal if I do not retrace my steps exactly. If I were a few degrees off with my angle, then if that is extrapolated and if I were to walk the same distance as I had to get to where I was, I would be far away from the portal.

With nothing else that I could do, I continued walking, walking down this seemingly endless world for a seemingly unknown amount of time. Even with Luna's soul by my side, my worries were not curbed. Yet, it was nice to know that I wasn't exactly alone as I walked. However, I'm not sure if her soul could comprehend anything if I were to try and speak to her. Maybe her conscious is there right now, but I highly doubt it. Instead, I believe the only reason I was able to find her was based on something that she had told me in the past: "The human soul will automatically be attracted to souls that it holds an affinity for."

Time passed by at a rate that I was unsure of, but I was pretty certain that the ten-minute limit has been reached, maybe even surpassed by several minutes if not hours. However, I did not stop in my steps. Instead, I continued on, knowing that there's nothing I could do about it. In my mind, there's this odd sense of serenity and calmness as the world around me seemed to become colder and colder, numbing my senses. It was as if I was being sedated and my eyelids became increasingly heavy. I felt as if I was being surrounded by a comfortable and downy material that lulled me to sleep.

As my eyelids threaten to shut at any second, I looked over at her soul.

Am I...fading away?

***

[Noah's Perspective]

After about fifteen minutes, from that same portal emerged Lady Endirith. However, she was alone. On her face, there was a look of sadness, and immediately, I recognized what had occurred.

"Looks like you've lost your bet."

God smiled and turned to look at Ralus, who instead of having a countenance of depression that was fitting his situation, had a smile on his face in response. It was as if he did not recognize his defeat or something because, from him, I could sense an odd feeling of hopefulness. It was as if this was something that Ralus had anticipated and was even expecting.

"I wouldn't pass judgment on that so quickly," he responded with that calm smile on his face. "The real bet has just begun."