“...My Void?” Whisper’s ghastly voice echoed through the space.

Void was sat on the foggy ground, legs crossed, spine ramrod straight, hand folded in his lap. He was faced away from Whisper, and hadn’t moved even an inch at her presence.

He’d been like this for countless Night Cycles. Time was hard to tell in a continuously dark place. Whisper had stuck to Void’s side as if glued. Until this point, they’d been discussing how to go about uncovering the locked memory that would either help them locate Whisper’s body, or make it a new one.

News from Lotus was scarce, but she was still alive, and so there was hope. 

At one point, while Whisper discussed how she could be of more use once she got a body, such as helping locate more conscious Monsters outside of the Dark Realms, Void suddenly stopped. They were staring straight ahead into the darkness, with nothing but a focused look on their face.

Whisper tried to reach him, but it seemed to not be heard. At some point, Void sat down. The slightest movement of their mouth allowed Whisper to put together that they had been chanting this entire time.

“Sir, you have not moved for a long time, I encourage you to take a breath and come back.” Whisper tried, “I know there is a lot going on in there, but you won’t even survive the first millennia if you let it all win. You might not even survive this next year.”

Void continued to chant and stare. Just then, Whisper heard a shing! It was a common indication that something had entered a realm. At first, she saw nothing. Then, the unmistakable shine of Lotus’ hair appeared. There was no exact light in the Dark Realms, but things that contrasted the vast emptiness stood out as if there were a light shining directly on it.

“Lotus, you’re alive still! It’s great to see you!” Whisper greeted.

The demon smiled and bowed, “I’m glad I can look you in the eyes now. It’s great to see you too.”

She walked up beside the apparition, looking toward their out-of-commission leader. 

“How long has he been like this?”

“Since the last time you departed.”

“What? That was like a year ago…” Lotus exclaimed, genuinely surprised.

“Really? It felt so short…like only a few Night Cycles…”

“I assume he does this a lot, then?”

“Yes, and time does pass slower in this sphere. I was placed here by Void, since he ‘didn’t want me tailing him when he was trying to sleep.’” Whisper said in mockery.

“I have to agree, you have been a bit…invasive of his space all the times I’ve showed up.”

“I’m not…that bad…” Whisper denied.

Lotus laughed, “Have you tried shaking him out of it?”

Whisper feigned a gasp, “Oh, why didn’t I think of that?!” It looked at the demon with a raised brow.

“Oh…right…no limbs…” Lotus’ palm smacked her forehead, “Of course.”

She walked over to Void, who hadn’t moved even upon hearing their voices. She reached out a hand, stopping just before her fingers grazed their shoulder.

“Will this hurt?” Her skepticism stemmed from the fight with the rest of the demons.

“Again, not sure.”

“Right, right.”

Taking a shaky breath, Lotus closed her eyes and reached forward, grabbing Void’s shoulder.

A gasp escaped her, causing Whisper to gasp too. 

“What? What’s happening?” 

“I-I see…so much…” Lotus murmured. 

Suddenly, she was thrown a few feet away. Whisper flinched as though it too would be thrown, but then remembered she had no body. She floated over to a groaning Lotus, whose white hair covered her face.

“Are you okay, Lotus?” Whisper hovered around her in concern.

“I-I’m fine, just scraped up…” she coughed, fighting to get her hair out of the way.

They both looked back at Void, who still sat in his same position, facing away from them. 

“What did you see?” 

“I saw…him.” Lotus started, laying back flat on the ground, “I saw Void, and two humans. They…they were surrounded by shadows, monsters, and…there was so much noise. So much demand. Void saw me first. He looked…scared, like a child. Nothing like the stoic Monster we know. The humans were almost protecting him. Then, one of the humans saw me and screamed at me to get out. He pushed a hand toward me and I was blasted back, and out of his mind.”

Whisper stared at her in bewilderment, and mild jealousy. Only those with soul connections to the wielder could see a mind so clearly. She hardly counted a prick through the hand as a soul bind, but maybe it did a lot more than the demon let on.

“Void did mention he still communicated with the two counterparts that brought his conscience forward. Perhaps those were the humans you saw with him.” the monster supplied.

“It’s possible,” Lotus sighed, finally sitting up. “He won’t be coming out of this anytime soon. There’s a foggy signal that they’re trying to find. Somewhere in the human realm. No one has summoned them, though, even we would be able to see that. Once he zeroes in on the signal, it’ll be over.”

“How do you know?” 

Lotus looked a bit confused herself, “I’m not sure…that’s just what I gathered before I was thrown out.”

“So…something is going on in the human realm that’s making Void get an overload of…everything, here?” 

“Correct.” 

Whisper settled down next to Lotus, both of them continuing to watch Void’s body while he figured this out.

“I wonder what could cause such an incapacitation.” Whisper muttered.