Chapter Twenty-One: Ties of Fate

I was warm.

Surrounded by the thickest of wool. Or at least that's what it felt like.

But that comfort was forgotten as I waded through the empty blackness that encompassed me. Instead, the chill found my bones. There was nothing warm about the area I stepped out in.

It was nothing but darkness, even the ground didn't seem to exist.

The empty domain was like an abyss. Rippling at the base of my feet like water.

I could swear in the hollow air around me, I heard the faintest sound of birds chirping. I peered into the darkness, but I didn't see any other signs of life.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" I called out.

But a minute or two passed, and no one answered.

The faint heartbeats I heard all my life were gone. I couldn't feel Sarah from the bakery or Raqean and his snappy humor from the soldier camp. Hell, even the chill from my father was gone. The solid fear that lived for free inside my nerves, was gone. No matter how hard I searched, I couldn't feel the souls of anyone fr