Physical or Psychic?

User-Controlled 001m [pen-to-paper] <idea> the Reward [imgur]

...

~ ~ ~

...

Hm...

Wait. There! Can you hear it?

They could hear it, deep down far into the void... a voice, a slight whisper of an echo, reverberating just enough for it to reach the ear of the protagonist. The narrator could hear it too, and he sees the release of the tension that had been held throughout their body, fully embracing the force of nature that is enveloping them whole. A deep breath released and both eyes are shut close. A whirlwind of colours follow with a deep darkness, as if somebody has turn off the light of the universe. Despite being a little bit relaxed, the adventurer is understandably feeling a bit hesitant to open their eyes, to finally face what is in front of them. Sooner or later they had to do it eventually, the narrator remind them, so after a few quick calming gulp of air, the apparent captive reluctantly open their eyes to meet his captor. What meet their eyes though is a complete blank canvas, a blank space devoid of colour. What was there the vast mountainous range full of life is now a shapeless... void, with life drain out of it completely, or maybe there isn't just there at all in the first place. After taking a few beats to take in the environment, or rather the lack thereof, the lone person finally meet eyes with the apparent perpetrator, or rather what's left of it. The memorable red eyes from earlier are now just floating in the air, being accompanied by two bright lights that they notice a moment after. They remember seeing the latter, connecting them to the same golden pair far in the forest before. This spellbinding moment is really throwing them out of sorts, forcing them to pace from left to right out of habit. Without taking their eyes off of the two pairs, they can see the glares coming off of them like a light source, seeing the remnants of colours of the world they were in before. Not knowing what to do in this situation with their mind racing with endless questions, the pacing adventure stop cold in their tracks when they hear an actual response to their inquiry out of nowhere. Knowing that they didn't actually verbalize them out loud, they once again hear a reply to his thought, in his own head! Before they could fully freak out by this development, they are enveloped by a sense of calm and security, calming themselves down instantly. They shake the nerve off and try to focus on the noise that is as loud as their own inner thoughts, hearing no recognizable words at all but rather an unknown language that is foreign to them, despite the extensive times spent studying the world back at home. I guess there is no substitute to hands-on experience, the narrator chimes in. Before they could react to that little dig, they heard the earlier response is repeated and then followed by a sentence in a language they could understand now. It is as if it was translated to ease their nerve, and it works splendidly. They are told to calm down, and they, the 'beings' in front of them, are not a threat. The now calmer person in front of them nods approvingly, urging them to continue on. Not sure which one of them is actually 'talking' or they are talking in tandem, but they want to thank the adventurer for not running away from them, just embracing them blindly without any basis at all. A bit reckless, but brave nonetheless. The narrator concurs with that. That kind of approach moving forward in that world though would be risky indeed so they want to offer them some form of protection, as a nice gesture to the aforementioned unbridled form of trust. Now all they need to do is pick which form: a constant companion or protection?