World of Souls

Chapter 4: Spirit Elder

Authors note: Adding a chapter after a long time. Hope I don't disappoint. The first three chapters may have some influences borrowed from other stories but from now on, it is completely my story.

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Sa Minu opened his eyes in darkness. Everything around was dark like the blackest of nights. His first thought,

"Am I dead? Is this the world of souls?"

His eyes soon adjusted and he found himself inside a deep place, receiving soft light from somewhere. He tried looking around and saw rock walls surrounding him. And then his eyes fell upon his sister's body, who he was still unconsciously holding.

"Sis...wait, how is her body in here? Isn't this the world of souls?"

He pinched himself.

"Aaah!...so so this is really not...that means I am still alive?!"

For a moment he wondered why. Then grief poured down on him like unseasonal rain.

"Nooooooooo! I am alive! I am living! But sis is dead! Oh I am sorry Sister! I am sorry Father! Your son, your brother, even after promising to die together, still couldn't die with you." His tears fell like a dam which had overflowed.

"Why! Why me! What did I ever do to deserve this! Why did the heavens not let me die as well!" But there was no one who would answer his questions. His voice echoed around and asked him that very same question.

"Meri sis! Father! Don't leave Minu alone! Let me accompany you too. Oh why..just why?!" Sa Minu shouted his lungs out and banged his head on the rocky floor.

He cried and shouted his lungs out. His voice reverberated for a long time reminding him and punishing him even more. He just sat there holding his sister's cold body in his arms rocking to and fro as waves of guilt and sadness hit him over and over again.

He did not know for how long his tears fell. But eventually they dried up. He did not know for how long his voice came. But eventually it croaked. And then there was silence. Deathly silence as he stared at the darkness and it stared back at him. He just sat there with the coldness seeping through his limbs.

Time passed unmoved and indifferent, cold as the death.

Sa Minu did not realize when his consciousness left him. He only realized that he woke up again. He wiped his already dried tears with his hand and decided.

"What am I doing...I need to give sis her last rites." Sa Minu shook his head. Only then did he look up to see where he was.

He was inside a large cave covered with rock walls. He looked here and there for an exit but there wasn't any so far his eyes could see. He slowly walked towards one ends, feeling the walls with his hands.

"This is a dead end.."

He turned around towards the other end.

"It's odd. Where is the soft light coming from?" The light was like starlight or moonlight which was getting reflected and spreading everywhere. Yet, it was so soft that Sa Minu could not find out where it was getting reflected from.

As he walked to the other end, he found another dead end. Sa Minu was confused. He walked all around the rocky room and was surprised that it was not a cave. Or rather it had no opening.

"How did I get here?" He wondered. The last thing he remembered was that he was falling. While thinking that he looked up and was shocked.

"What is this? How did I land up here!" Above him was a small opening. Rather, it was just large enough to allow a person his size to fall in. The soft light was coming from above, moonlight perhaps, diluted by the intense fog.