∼ Day 222 ∼

A mist.

All-encompassing and boundless.

I floated in this space, barely even registering the alien world as my mind tried to make heads and tails of the sensations coursing through my body. But the more I managed to orientate myself, steadying my mind, I began taking it all in. Or at least as best as I could.

This place distinctly reminded me of when I had once undergone the undertaking of choosing my Advancement Path.

"Was this the spirit world, or the spirit realm as the prompt once called it?" I wondered curiously, glances cast in every direction, only to be met with more endless expanse everywhere I looked.

But despite the familiarity, I wasn't entirely sure as there were definitely distinct differences.

Before, the place I had been sent had all felt cohesive and understandable to my mortal mind. Like it had been shaped into a physical representation so that I could comprehend it. However, now it felt like an incomprehensible soup of energy and matter.

I wasn't even able to keep track of time nor the extent of the space of which I could reach. It was both extremely fascinating and terrifying. Saying that I felt like a fish out of water would be an understatement.

That beastman, Orca, told me that the vial would allow my mind to more easily come in tune with the spiritual. Was this what he meant? Literally, sending my consciousness to the spirit realm?

I couldn't help but run through all these thoughts rampaging in my mind, entirely forgetting why exactly I was here in the first place. It was the pain that suddenly lanced through my being itself that cleared me of unnecessary thoughts and let my mind focus inwards - into my damaged soul.

Within, I could see my soul portrayed as a mirror of myself, but it was fractured and pieces were missing. However, it wasn't breaking down any further, not presenting any imminent death. But while that was a relief, there was something else that was almost equally as alarming as death.

The sudden piercing pain I had felt, had in fact been my soul stitching itself back together. The problem though, was that it wasn't whole - still missing pieces of itself. Watching its attempt to repair my soul with only what was left, Orca's words resounded in my head.

"You have to be quick though, lest you let it be and the damage becomes permanent before soon."

This was what he meant by those words, and it frightened me to think of if I didn't manage to heal it.

Not only would that weaken me, but also severely debilitate Sombra and Ketsu who I can barely even summon in their current states.

Following the shaman's words of advice, I didn't dally along any further. I centered my mind and my will on my tattered soul, inspecting it and attempting to figure out how the hell to go about it. But as time stretched on and I became more and more troubled by the fact that I couldn't find any solution, not able to simply conjure the missing pieces of my soul and put them back together, I began something else.

Instead of turning inwards, I turned my focus out, to the spirit realm.

Calling upon whatever my mind could touch, I called on both the spirits that must linger within here and the energy itself. To my amazement, and relief, the energy did indeed respond. Slowly coalescing on my lonesome floating form, drifting through the expanse.

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The energy of this spiritual plane suffused my battered soul, ever so slowly reconstructing it. However, it wasn't nearly fast enough as it was painfully slow. It at least wasn't fast enough to prevent permanent damage before my soul had stitched itself back together like some patchwork.

Nevertheless, no other option presented itself, and I couldn't find any other solution.

But just as I was about to accept the small but inevitable damage that would remain, a voice broke my train of reluctant thoughts.

"Not so high and mighty now, mortal?" A voice, distinctly feminine and familiar.

Eyes popping open, I locked eyes with the figure of what I could only describe as a blue-skinned fairy.

"Eli?" I questioned, surprised.

"Of course it is I, it isn't as if some mortal pretty boy would ever forget being in the presence of an aetherborne." She said, flickering her hair imperiously.

Completely disregarding her posturing as it seemed she hadn't changed at all from when I had first met her, I just snorted.

"Don't make me remind you why you should watch that tone of yours," I chuckled, closing my eyes to go back and do what I could to heal my soul.

She just laughed.

"Like you're in any state to do that, I'd like to see you try, ha-ha!"

I squinted one eye open, giving her a deathly stare.

That quickly shut her up, making her choke on her giggle.

"So why are you actually here?" I asked after a few moments as Eli seemed to be all out of things to say or do, just hovering in front of me with a grumbling expression on her face.

"Well..." She hesitated a bit, actually a small flush going to her cheeks as she spoke. "I just happened to be around and saw some pitiful mortal attempting to restore his soul - you could just call it a morbid curiosity that I wanted to watch you fail,"

"Uh-uh," I rolled my eyes.

She scowled at my obvious dubiety.

"At least, I'm not the one neck-deep in netherdust," She mused with a smirk, arm crossed under her chest.

"Netherdust?" I questioned with a raised brow.

"It's an expression! Urgh- mortals..." She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. "I meant, you're in t-"

"In trouble, yeah - yeah, I get it," I waved her off.

She just harrumphed, crossing her arms and looking anywhere but at me.

"So - were you the spirit that talked with Orca and convinced him to help me?" I asked suddenly.

"Uh-I-ahh. Not... really, kinda?" She answered, at first flustered, then decidedly unsure in tone. "It's complicated and trying to explain the collective that is the 'spirits' to a mortal as you can't really compare it to anything from your existence,"

"I see," I muttered, frowning as I cast a glance at the misty expanse all around.

"But the reason why the spirits lend you a hand was simply to your relations with Ursa and the respect you've paid to them," She explained.

"My relation to Ursa? I couldn't imagine they favor her, after everything she has been put through." I said with a frown-

"Of course they favor her! She's incredibly talented in the spiritual, even more so than that cousin of hers, Orca." She blurted out.

"What? And wait... Orca is her cousin?" I asked, surprised.

"O-o-o-h - wasn't meant to say that!" She sputtered, panicked.

"So he is really her-" I tried again.

"Yes, Ursa is very talented!" She interrupted, clearly not wanting to broach the topic of her slip up as a bit of panic crept into her voice.

For a few moments, I just stared at the odd fairy-like woman, her demeanor, mannerism, and just pure clumsiness never having aligned with what I thought a 'spiritual higher being' would be like. But then again, it was quite endearing with how comical she came off as. I just contributed it to her being not of my world, thus her social interactions must've been close to none.

"Okay..." I said slowly, squinting my eyes as the flustered fairy. "But, if Ursa is so valued, how come the spirits just let her be outcast as she has? She must've been out in the wastelands by her lonesome ever since she was just a child. For someone as powerful as her, she actually has abandonment and trust issues, among many other things. Isn't that a waste of potential for the spirits just to let that happen if she truly was that talented? Couldn't they just have stopped her tribe from throwing her out if the spirits are the highest order?"

She looked hesitant to answer, glancing back and forth in the endless expanse as if she was looking to see if anyone was nearby.

"Well... now that she has found you, is it still a waste of her potential?" She said, almost whispering it conspiratorially.

Realizing dawning on me, I chuckled.

The spirits seemingly had used me. For who else was better to bring out the potential of another?

With all my powers, they could probably make a true monster out of Ursa.

But before I could react any further to this revelation, a ball of light, moving so fast I could barely perceive it, flew towards us and seemingly slammed into Eli's head with a loud smack.

Yelping with pain, the fairy rubbed her head, going wide-eyed as she realized what the ball of light was.

Hovering in front of her, was the insect that looked kinda like a butterfly wreathed in a bright glowing light. However, despite its lack of humanoid form, I got the distinct feeling that the small sounds it was eliciting as it bounced about in front of the aetherborne was the creature dressing her down.

"Ow-ow, I know - I know, I'm sorry!" She whined, looking quite guilty.

With one last sound that reminded me of a harrumph, the small creature bounded away, dissipating from sight into the endless expanse of the spirit realm.

"Come with me..." She sighed despondently.

"Was that-?" I hesitated.

"J-just... follow," She murmured, still rubbing the sore spot on her head.

"Wait, how do I-" I blurted out, stopping as I suddenly found myself able to follow along with Eli with just a thought.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"To a certain someone eager to see you, and who can help you heal your soul." She said. "She has been waiting for you for quite some time now,"

"Wait, who?"

"You'll know when you see her," Eli responded vaguely.