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A strange form, entirely pink, dived at them from above.

Ingram had planned to just avoid it and keep going forward, but Weldir chuckled and halted. He stopped as well, unwilling to part with his guide, and spun around.

He witnessed the moment Weldir opened his arms out in welcome, and an entirely pink creature with large wings tackled him, as though he was touchable to them. Their body didn’t appear as cloudy as a Ghost, having more of a spectral glossy sheen to their transparentness.

“Was wondering how long it would take for you to find us,” Weldir mused, rising to his feet by floating.

The pink spectre spread their wings out behind them as far as they could reach and lowered themselves. They were about to pounce on him once more, as though Weldir had inadvertently gotten himself caught in some kind of play. The creature had pink tail feathers that spread out in warning as they lowered their chest in preparation.

Ingram’s sight flared red in annoyance at the interruption. He wanted to keep moving.

He wanted to find...

His thoughts trailed off, and his irritation fled out of him so fast that it turned the glow of his vision a dark yellow.

He tentatively stepped forward, his head lowering in uncertainty.“Ale...ron?”

The spectre twisted their neck to dart their head over their shoulder, and a bat skull, with twisting, backward facing goat horns, locked on him.

“Ingram!”his kindred exclaimed, spinning his body around to face the direction of his head.

“Aleron!”Ingram shouted, his vision bursting into a brighter, cheerful hue.

At the same time, they sprinted for each other on all fours. Aleron jumped, using his wings to give him height, and dived to tackle Ingram. He’d never done that before, had never utilised his wings in such a way.

Ingram did not fucking care. Not one bit.

With his arms wide open, Ingram reared back on his hind legs to catch his kindred as the ache of his loss dissipated... only to come back as a sharp sting when they passed through each other.

Ingram stared down at his claws before he fell to his hands.I... could not grab him.

They turned to each other, both reaching out a hand to try to touch their palms together, only for Ingram to feel nothingness.

Not the comforting familiar balm of Aleron’s flesh, not the pressure of his strength. He couldn’t even smell him. He looked so different to what he remembered. It was his kindred’s distinct shape, but completely lacking in anything physical – like his black feathers and fur, or even the whiteness of his skull.

“Neither of you exist on the same plane as each other,” Weldir explained, when it was obvious both of them were confused as to why they couldn’t touch.

“Then how come you both are able to touch, but I cannot?”Ingram asked, while refusing to remove his gaze from his kindred in case he disappeared.“Are you not alive?”

“I am absolutely alive,” Weldir mused. “But I lack a physical form. I can only interact with the world as a spirit, and therefore can only interact with those who are truly dead.”

Is that why he and Lindiwe were unable to touch until she turned into a Phantom?he wondered.

Regardless, his curiosities unravelled as he and Aleron stared at each other.

“You look strange, Ingram,”Aleron stated as he tilted his head.“Like a purple Ghost.”

He let out a half-hearted chuckle as his orbs turned blue once more.“You look like a pink one.”

“Does that mean the prominent colour of our orbs is actually the colour of our souls?”Aleron asked Weldir.

“Yes. You will see each other from the other side as your souls.” Weldir came closer to stand beside them. “You are unable to see what I have truly made of this world, Ingram. It is very beautiful.”

“It looks like Earth,”Aleron explained.“But... brighter. There are no Demons. The humans cannot see me unless I touch them, but there is another Mavka here. He is shy, though. He does not wish to play.”

Ingram could feel his ethereal tears trickling faster and faster as droplets hovered around his skull. He reached his hand out past his kindred’s, moving through it, so he could brush his hand through his torso.

“I have missed you, Aleron,”he said with a whimper.