Chapter 553: A Day In Sara’s Life: Deep Love, Deep Connection
I stretched my other arm toward a rock several meters away on the far edge of the basin.
My eyes fixed on its rough surface. I reached not with muscle but with the deeper part of myself, trying to close the distance with will alone, feeling for the weight of the stone through the medium of my soul.
“…”
It took me two full minutes of good concentration, of absolute focus and stillness, of pushing every other thought from my mind until there was nothing left but the singular intention to move what lay before me.
And when I finally achieved that perfect state of mental clarity and willful direction, the rock lifted off the ground as if held by an invisible force, rising slowly and steadily.
But it was no invisible force, not truly: to my eyes, there was a light green force elongating from my hand, extending outward like a tendril of translucent moss, its shape forming something like a hand as well, with fingers and a palm and a wrist that connected back to my own vessel.
And it was picking it up, that light green hand of soul-essense curling around the rock’s uneven surface, gripping it with a firmness that surprised me, lifting it higher and higher until the rock floated at eye level, suspended in the air as if resting on an unseen shelf.
That light green substance was my soul, being manipulated like sap from a tree—slow, viscous, pliable, drawn out from the core of my being and shaped by my will into something external and tangible, something that could reach beyond the boundaries of my skin and interact with the world directly.
It felt strange, this extension of myself, like having a second arm that I had never known existed until this moment, an arm made of light and intention rather than bone and muscle.
While it feels like a good discovery, a breakthrough that fills me with a warm glow of accomplishment and pride, it also holds many questions on safety and side effects.
Was I truly just turning my soul into an elastic material that could bypass the flesh?
Was I stretching something that was never meant to be stretched, pulling at the very fabric of my existence and risking damage that I could not yet perceive?
What would happen if I pulled too hard, or too far, or too often? Would my soul snap back into place, or would it tear, leaving a wound that no healer could mend?
Nonetheless, it made me happy to have made some progress, to have taken a step forward in understanding this strange power that resided within me.
And as I sat in the water, the warm mineral-rich bath lapping at my skin, consciously creating portions of myself—my own soul-made hands—to penetrate my vagina and fondle my breasts, I could think about my dear husband…
Wherever he was.
The sensation was strange, both familiar and foreign, my own touch delivered by an extension of myself that felt like me but also not quite me, a ghost of my own hand moving where my flesh could not reach.
I so love him.
I love him more than anything else in the world, more than my own life, more than any victory or achievement I could ever gain.
And I would like to be with him even now, in this moment, to feel his warmth beside me, to hear his voice and see his face.
I am… so lonely without him, a loneliness that gnaws at me day and night, a hollow ache that no amount of discovery or progress can fill.
While I had this thought, my soul-hands continued their gentle work and my mind drifted toward Benjamin.
A vision struck me—sudden and vivid, as if a curtain had been pulled back in my mind to reveal a scene playing out somewhere far away.
I could see him.
My Benjamin. My beloved.
His form was unmistakable, the curve of his shoulders, the set of his jaw, the way his hair fell across his brow.
He was naked and in a rocky bowl of water, a natural basin of stone filled with steaming liquid, his body relaxed and his head tilted back in evident contentment.
I could see an exceptionally beautiful woman there with him as well, her features sharp and elegant, her skin pale as moonlight.
She was a green-haired elf, in fact, her short tresses floating on the water’s surface like strands of emerald silk, her pointed ears visible above the steam.
I could also see my younger sister, Heka, her familiar face bright with a smile, her posture casual and unguarded as she splashed water with her hand.
It appeared that they were all casually bathing in the place, sharing the rocky pool, their bodies relaxed and their conversation easy.
How?
How was I able to see this? I don’t know.
The vision had come unbidden and unannounced, a window opening in my mind without my permission or preparation. I did not will it, and did not even know such a thing was possible for me.
And yet here it was, clear and real, as if I were standing in the same location rather than leagues away.
What I know is, I was clinging to a very fragile connection far away—a thread of something, a bond so thin and delicate that it might snap at any moment, a gossamer link between my consciousness and that distant place.
And if I let it slip, if my concentration faltered even slightly, the vision will disappear, closing like a door and leaving me in darkness once more.
Finally seeing my love after so many days, after so many nights of longing and loneliness, I was undone with emotions and wished to look at his beautiful face forever, to memorize every line, shadow, and expression, to drink in his presence like water after a long drought.
I wished to be with him so much that the longing consumed me, overwhelmed me, propelled me forward without thought or care for consequence.
…Hm?
“…”
“Eh?! S-Sara?! What are you doing here?!” Benjamin yelled and recoiled, his eyes wide with shock and confusion, his body pressing back against the rocky edge of the basin as if he had seen a ghost. “No, HOW did you even get here in a way I didn’t notice at all?! There was no magic or portal!”
“Good evening, Big Sis!” Heka called out, her voice cheerful and untroubled.
She didn’t seem all that shocked, though, her expression one of mild curiosity rather than alarm, her hand rising in a casual wave as if my sudden appearance were nothing more remarkable than an expected guest arriving a few minutes early.
The elven girl was wary, clutching a rock near her as if to strike me if I make a wrong move.
Her green eyes were narrowed and her jaw tight with suspicion, her body tensed and ready to defend herself or her companions at the first sign of threat.
But more importantly, I was suddenly no longer in my exclusive natural bath station, no longer alone in my private pool with only my thoughts and my soul-hands for company.
I was inside the location I saw in my vision, sitting in the basin besides Benjamin, my love, the new warm water lapping at my skin and the steam rising around me in soft, curling clouds.
“What are you talking about? Our love transcends time and space! I can meet you whenever I want if I wish hard enough,” I smiled and relaxed, my body sinking into the water with a contented sigh.
I was with my love and that is the only thing that matters right now, the only thought that fills my mind.
The questions, the confusion, the impossibility of my arrival—all of it fades to nothing compared to the simple fact that I am here, beside him, breathing the same air and feeling the same warmth.
“No, no, no, no, no!! What matters right now is finding out how the hell you left Verdant Spire and appeared in Thaad without even using magic or real effort!” Benjamin’s voice rose.
Ah, he read my mind there.
I should think with my soul—shield my thoughts behind layers of will and intention, and keep my inner world completely private from his probing awareness.
He was not accepting this or letting it slide.
Not willing to let me change the subject with pretty words about love and transcendence, I suppose.