Crimson Stains

— Inside the Spiritual Realm —

"Jason!" Alea screamed as she grasped her chest with pain. "Where are you?"

She tossed off the blanket in a hurry and floated slowly toward her lover's white spiritual gates.

"Are you okay?" she cried, her voice echoing through the space beyond.

A sudden jolt of pain to her legs and mid-back caused her to keel over, and her head slammed against the reflective floor of Jason's Spiritual Realm.

"W-What is this pain?" she said anxiously as the onslaught of invisible attacks continued to rain down on her limbs and tear her consciousness in half every strike. "This…this isn't the same as before."

She squinted her eyes and stared at her Spiritual Realm, stumbling back to her feet. When she had fallen asleep last night, she had felt a wave of refreshment wash away the corrupted portions of her soul, and she sensed the presence of the spirits in her domain.