[You try to guide the martial elder verbally, but he continues to move in the wrong direction.
You take his hand and try to guide him physically, but you find that he is immovable.]
“I tried to guide you, but you wouldn't move,” Lem’s simulated self said quickly, not wanting to take any blame for what had happened.
He did not understand what the problem was. As far as he could see, there wasn’t any physical impediment in the martial elder’s path.
Was Master Brightflame’s sense of direction so distorted by the warding effect that he could no longer move to his left?
The martial elder paused, as he considered what Lem’s simulated self had said.
“Guide me again.”
Lem’s simulated self began walking again with Master Brightflame in tow. This time, the martial elder went weirdly limp in his hand, forcing Lem’s simulated self to exert more pressure to move him forward.
Lem’s simulated self looked down the end of his arm and saw that Master Brightflame had partially collapsed onto the ground. He could not help but lose the dignified image that he associated with the martial elder.
“Keep pulling,” Master Brightflame said. Even in his compromised position, he had not lost his domineering tone.
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“Yes, senior,” Lem’s simulated self said quickly.
Lem could not help but reflect on the strangeness of the situation.
His simulated self was in the middle of the forest, holding the hand of an unfathomably powerful senior who was semi-collapsed, while he pulled him through the brush. It all seemed too strange to be believed.
With Master Brightflame no longer resisting the pulling, Lem’s simulated self quickly made progress. In two strides, he pulled the martial elder a couple of meters forward, passing through some form of invisible barrier.
Master Brightflame righted himself again, regaining some of his image.
“I can see you, and it feels as though the effect is gone,” he said, looking around. “Hmm, that is a good sign. The spiritual energy is incredibly dispersed.”
Lem’s simulated self stopped. He did not know whether he should drop the martial elder’s hand. Was it unseemly?
“Move forward. I’ll keep holding on to you, just in case I am still under some form of bewilderment.” Master Brightflame gestured with a nod. “Continue, boy, continue.”
“Yes, senior.”
When Lem’s simulated self began pulling the martial elder again, this time there was no more resistance.
Master Brightflame began muttering. “No wonder it would be so close and yet still be undiscovered.”
The feeling of spirituality grew more powerful.
Lem’s simulated self felt the martial elder release his hand.
“The effect is undoubtedly gone,” Master Brightflame said.
Lem’s simulated self quickly withdrew his arm and gave a slight bow. When he looked up again, Master Brightflame was gone.
[Eventually, you manage to pull the martial elder past the area of restriction. He disappears before your eyes, and you once again briefly consider escaping.]