World of Souls

Ning opened his eyes as a wiser man than he had been before. He understood what he needed to do now, so he took a deep breath and readied himself.

Having never done this before, it was going to be a bumpy ride for sure, but he hoped he could come out victorious in the end.

Ning let go of his breath as he was finally ready. "Here goes nothing."

He placed his palm on the bamboo and the point where he touched it suddenly started glowing. It was impossible to tell what the source of the light was. Neither Ning nor the bamboo seemed to be the cause.

The light shined brighter and brighter, and then… it vanished. 

Not only that, all light vanished. The air vanished, the forest vanished, everything vanished.

Ning stood with his hands forward in a world of darkness where there were no sources of any light at all. In fact, when he focused a bit, he realized that his hands itself were illusory as well.