182 Fading (2/2)

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.”