A Transcender's Guide To Another World 35 Chapter 35: Mister

Have you ever seen an inverted photo before? If you have, then it'll be much easier for you to imagine what the Spiritual Plane looks like. I scanned around to see whether or not there are any threats around. There wasn't. The scene of the forest looked exactly the same as the spot where I entered, except for some subtle differences (aside from the color spectrum). For starters, nothing here moves. I meant it literally. Not even the swaying of leaves. It's feel like looking at a painting from within the painting itself. Next, there's the absence from other life-forms other than my own. Which I find highly unsettling. Since I'm used to depending on the ubiquitous chittering of animals to detect danger. For example, a sudden silence from them  indicates there's probably a predator lurking around unseen by me. Something I picked up from Alan back then.

I tried clasping my hands together and found it tangible unlike previously. I also regained some sense of touch around my body. Oh, and my original color still remains the same. I cursed internally. Despite returning to "normal", I found myself in dismay.

Let me explain why.

Since I've now become tangible and regained my sense of touch means that I'm probably able to receive damage and feel pain. Secondly, I now stand out like a sore thumb, being the color I am in this inverted-color world.

I swept my gaze across the spirit forest once more, this time trying to find a clue as to where Bastion went. As soon as I took a step, I noticed something. The leaves beneath my feet were crumpled under my weight. I kicked a pile of leaves and made it flew. A disturbance. Since everything here is supposed to be still, it means as long as I can spot any trace of disturbance left by Bastion, I could probably find where he is and bring him back. I started canva.s.sing the area in order to find a trace.

After about fifteen minutes of meticulous tracking, I found nothing. I clenched my fist in frustration and decided to try again, retracing my original path in order not to disturb too much of the scene. Wouldn't want to spent the entire time chasing my own tail. But what happened next baffled me. I turned around and found all the traces of my disturbance gone. Did the plane just reset itself? If so, the chances of me finding Bastion would instantly plummeted down sharply.

I decided to test my hypothesis by kicking up some leaves again and observing it. Not even daring to blink, afraid to miss out on the process. In fact, I didn't even need to physically blink. Another peculiar thing about being in my soulform is that I'm immune to any impulses of the flesh. No hunger, no thirst, not even the need to breathe. I accidentally figured it out when I thought I sensed something watching me whilst searching and momentarily held my breath to listen for any movements. The reason I did so is because this place is so quiet that I can even hear myself breath. It's a good thing I don't have a pulse, else I would have to suffer with the constant thump of my heartbeat.

I stared at the disturbed leaves for another good fifteen minutes, trying to spot the moment of the change. But nothing. I watched it for another fifteen minutes. Still nothing. I've basically spent the past half-hour conducting a stupid observation instead of searching for Bastion. I just didn't feel a sense of urgency, as if I could just stay here forever. I eventually snapped out from it, realizing that world could affect me in ways I couldn't explain. I turned away from the disturbed leaves, thinking of my next move. I looked around once more to decide where should I go, because staying here has proven to be unproductive. "Yep, everywhere looks just the same to me." I took a step forward to head to a random direction but froze as soon as I noticed the disturbance I had caused previously had already reset itself. d.a.m.n it. I wasted my time observing it closely just for it to revert the moment I took my eyes off it.

An epiphany suddenly struck me. I kicked up the leaves again and stared at it. Nothing. But then I covered my eyes for a few seconds and opened them up. The leaves had returned to their original position. I tried the same experiment over and over again with several changes in parameters. Such as varying the observation duration, blinking quickly, looking at it from the corner of my eyes, absent-mindedly staring it, and a few other stupid things I'm too ashamed to remember.

With that, I learned about a few amusing rules regarding this world. The world is still, until someone disturbs it. It'll remain as it is, as long as there's an active observer. And return to the way it originally was as soon it's no longer observed. A special rule is that as long as you constantly picture the disturbed scene in your mind, it would still remain disturbed as it is without being reverted even if you looked away for an extended period of time.

Either way, I don't think knowing any of these rules could offer me anything useful to aid me in my search.

As I stood there idly, trying to squeeze out another idea on how to find Bastion, a childish voice called out to me from behind. "Hey, mister. What are you doing?"