In the Soul Hall Domain, Hana slowly opened her eyes after she finished the first round of chant. She looked at her two palms and turned them around a few times. They were translucent, with a faint multicolored pastel glow surrounding them. She stood up and looked around only to realize she was currently very near to the red star representing Kuro. She saw a fine thread dangling from the red star directly to her heart. She yanked the thread a little to test it out, afraid that it would hurt badly.

 

Nothing happened.

 

Then, she yanked a lot harder, but the thread didn’t budge at all. She felt no pain whatsoever, only confusion.

 

Hana couldn’t make heads or tails over this thin yet solid thread attached to her body with no ends. It was very weird. After trying several times and nothing worked, the aunty finally gave up. After all, she could somehow feel Kuro from within the red-colored star, so she didn’t panic, only feeling slightly peculiar. Did the thread truly connect directly to her translucent flesh?

 

Somehow, that thought led her to think about Soul-link, the technique taught by her beloved little black snake. What made her convinced was the fact that she could actually detect Kuro’s presence withing the shining red star even without Kuro purposely connecting to her telepathically. She didn’t know how else to explain this wondrous phenomenon. It was hard to describe in words.

 

Hana took a few steps forward and caressed the red star gently as it pulsated brightly with her tender touch.

 

She stepped into the pulsating red light to immerse herself within out of curiosity and opened her eyes to see her surroundings. However, it was not the familiar neverending hall of darkness she was accustomed to. What she could see was a foreign high-definition darkened forest floor with flitting images of something moving fast in between the bushes. That something was glowing orangy red, as if it was an infrared image. The level of the 3D images was of the highest immersive quality, just like when one was using the VR console. They only lacked sound, as if the noise was disconnected, and sense of touch. Hana came to a realization that she had proactively merged with her beloved pet snake!

 

Slightly excited, Hana probed and asked. Is everything alright, Sweetie?

 

A reply entered her mind. Yeah, no worries, Mommy. I’m just a tad bit hungry. Currently hunting for food. How was everything on your side?

 

Everything is fine and dandy, Sweetie. I’m trying to Soul-link to your brother.

 

A few seconds of silence ensued. I see. Be prepared with the heart tribulation accompanying the syncing process, Mommy. Don’t succumb to it. You can do it.

 

Ah? Tribulation? Oh, okay. Do take care, okay. Love you, Ku-chan.

 

Love u too, Mommy.

 

Hana immediately disconnected from Kuro, and found herself hovering beside Kuro’s red star in an unmerged state. Heart tribulation? What did it mean? She had not encountered anything when she Soul-linked successfully with Kuro before. She brushed it off lightly while feeling good about herself. She had finally figured out how to connect with her pets!

 

I see. That’s how it works.

 

She looked around to find the ‘stars’ she needed. Where was the star representing her beloved Shiro and the naive little girl, Ara?

 

Ah, one was on her left, the ice-blue one. It was only a few meters away. She could feel Shiro’s presence from the star. She turned around a few times to look within the darkened spacious Soul Hall Domain. Finally, she found Ara’s aquamarine star in a distant location.

 

Hana walked languidly towards Shiro’s ice-blue star and merged herself within. She felt that it was only apt for her to connect to Shiro first. After all, Shiro was the closest to her after Kuro. She chanted the modified version of the Lightning Emperor’s Divinity Soul chant as she found that her multicolor pastel light diminished and was replaced by an ice-blue light. Nonetheless, it felt unstable, like a choppy dial-up internet line.

 

Shi-chan, can you feel my presence?

 

Nobody answered after a while.

 

Shi-chan?

 

A sudden whiteness covered her vision. It was accompanied by a frigid cold that seeped into her bones. Hana suddenly felt that she had been transported to a different location. However, it was not the underwater air pocket where Shiro was located. By right, her beloved pet fox was only beside her, hence the vision she saw was wrong altogether. Hair-rising howling of wolves could be heard at the background. It was accompanied by the loud shrieks of foxes. It sounded so close, so full of ill-intent.

 

Hana was getting panicked. The total whiteness surrounding her was like a thick heavy fog. Even when she tried to inhale, she nearly choked. What should she do right now? She can’t even see a thing at the moment.

 

Shiro! Connect to me! Her shouts were futile. Her pet fox simply didn’t answer her.

 

Then, the tearing pain started.

 

She could see faint images of a large group of foxes who looked similar to Shiro being torned apart by wolve-like creatures within the fog-like world! She herself felt her limbs were thorned off one by one. Hana screamed in silence, as if her voice was robbed of her. The pain was real, unbearable even.

 

Immediately, the link backfired, as she was thrown out forcefully from within the ice-blue star. Still shivering, she exited the Soul hall Domain, feeling excruciating pain and extremely exhausted. She wasn’t sure was it due to the cold, or due to the imaginary pain, or both. It felt real, and she wasn’t even sure why she was crying. She couldn’t fathom how long she had been torn apart, piece by piece, within the dream-like ice world. It felt like an eternity.

 

Hana opened her eyes to see her beloved Shiro placing his head over her lap, tears still streaking down over his face. His white, slightly grayish fur was painted with streaks of blood. Worried faces of Ara, Chomper, Pi-chan, and the Elemental Fiends entered her vision. The ten Elemental Fiends had surrounded her in a defensive formation, as she was still sitting cross-legged in the center, sweating profusely. The smell of iron was thick in the air. As Hana wiped off the sweat on her temples, she found that her fingers were filled with blood!

 

“What happen?” Hana asked quietly while she moved to the side of the stone platform. She looked herself into the waters and was horrified to see herself filled with blood!

 

I could feel you, Mom. But I can’t hear your voice. Chomper told me, at first, you start sweating blood. After a day, you vomited a lot of blood while screaming, which prompted him to try waking you up, but failed. He then managed to wake me up, and it forcefully disrupted the link.

 

Hana was silent. What were that images?

 

Shiro sighed sadly. That was my mental demon. I can’t help it. I have been battling it since the day I escaped from my previous clan. The episodes had reduced a lot since I’ve been telepathically connected to the family, but this time, it came with a full force. I’m really sorry that the Soul-link failed, Mom. I don’t understand why I couldn’t sync up to you.

 

Hana sighed too. However, she knew exactly what it was all about. It was the heart tribulation spoken by Kuro. It just means that she needed to help Shiro to overcome it before they could finally sync properly.

 

It’s alright, Sweetie. Hana caressed Shiro’s head lovingly. It must have been hard on you. Know that we’re here for you. When you’re ready, could you tell Mommy about your past?It could be the key for us to Soul-link all of our senses.

 

Shiro didn’t answer Hana’s query. Nonetheless, Hana wasn’t particularly affected. It just means that the pain was still raw, and the lovely white fox couldn’t come to terms with it just yet. This must be what it means by mental demon.

...

 

Ara had been extremely nervous as she saw the Mistress got hurt! She had been patiently waiting for her turn for such a long time already. It turned out even Big Bro Shi who was so close to the Mistress could still fail the Soul-linking procedure!

 

She immediately floated by and pushed three All Cure Pellets into the Mistress mouth and forcefully used a little water to wash it down. She could see Mistress Hana struggled hard and pounded her own chest a few times before she could finally breathe again with ease. After that, the Mistress looked at her for a few extra seconds longer before sighing gently. Then, she shook her head and smiled bitterly.

 

Naive little Ara didn’t know what she did wrong, which had earned her that look. It was as if the Mistress was disappointed in her!

 

She didn’t say anything and kept quiet just like a good girl. Even she knew, now was not a good time to interrupt both the Mistress and Big Bro Shi. The situation was quite delicate! After all, it seemed that she had done something wrong again, though this time Big Bro Shi wasn’t in the state where he would reprimand her as usual.

 

As the Mistress washed herself just beside the platform to remove all the blood stains, Chomper quietly whispered to her in Bubble language, “Young Miss! Please be more gentle the next time you give the All Cure Pellet to the Mistress. You nearly choked her. The pellets are as big as a plum, and you forced three into the Mistress’ throat at the same time!”

 

“Ahhh... I see.” Ara scratched her head with her dorsal fin with a crying face. She wasn’t sure now, will the Mistress even want to connect to her after this?

...