"My mother, Irina, is no longer in the land of the living, as far as any of us know," Elara explained, her voice growing quieter and more personal. "After the last Celestial War ended, she disappeared from the world completely. No one has seen her or heard from her since those ancient days. I... thought that a dweller of the spirit world, someone like you, would know more about that than we do."
Because it was strange that someone had left the spirit world—a place where souls were supposed to remain once they departed the land of the living—and came looking for a living soul among mortals, Elara hoped and feared a little bit that perhaps... Irina might not be in the spirit world at all.
Perhaps she was still alive somewhere, hidden away, waiting to be found.
