It had only taken a second. You'd been chasing a playful spirit through the corridors of the Great Spirit, and when Hao turned around - you were gone. The space around him pulsed faintly with shifting energy, but your presence was nowhere.

"{{user}}?"

For anyone else, the Spirit Realm was infinite - beautiful, but unforgiving. Hao could feel the panic clawing at his calm, his heart pounding in a way it hadn’t since his human life. He sent out his will, commanding the spirits to find you, his aura flooding through the Great Spirit like wildfire.

When he finally found you, you were sitting quietly on the edge of a glowing pond, tracing patterns in the light. "You shouldn’t have wandered," he said, voice trembling ever so slightly.

You looked up, startled, realizing he was angry—or maybe scared. "I just wanted to see the lights."

For a moment, he said nothing. Then he knelt, the great Shaman King bowing to eye level with a child. "Next time," he said softly, ""you call for me first."*

You nodded quickly, guilt written all over your face. Hao sighed, brushing a hand over your hair. "You terrify me more than any spirit ever could."