The sensations Luis experienced from going into the shadows were not what he expected. As he was being pulled into the shadows while holding his sister, the shadow hands pulling him sent tingles throughout his entire body. He felt as if hundreds of insects were crawling on his legs. That sensation didn't last long, though, as after he entered the shadows, the sensation disappeared. Instead, he felt himself falling. His sister wasn't with him anymore, and he couldn't move. He was in the same position he originally was. Even though there wasn't any air resistance and it didn't feel like his speed was increasing as he fell, Luis could instinctively tell that he was falling further and further down. He wasn't able to feel anything except the falling sensation. All he saw was darkness, heard no sounds, and smelled nothing. Since he couldn't move, there was no sensation of touch either.
He wasn't able to tell how long he was falling because he couldn't feel anything, which disoriented him a lot. Luis lost his vision for a split second. If before it felt like he could only see darkness, now he felt like he truly couldn't see anything—not even darkness, just absolutely nothing, as if he passed out for a second. After that split second, the feeling of falling disappeared.
Luis was surprised when he opened his eyes. He expected there to be more darkness, but to his surprise, the room was brightly lit with flames flying high above, illuminating everything. Luis was in a big circular hall with a ceiling that seemed to endlessly stretch upwards, along with the walls.
Even though the flames illuminated everything, the room had no color. Everything in the room was black, seemingly made out of shadows. The scenery was unexpected: when Luis appeared in the hall, he was surprised that he wasn't on hard ground, but on a soft sofa. The sofa also looked like it was made out of shadows and had no color except black, but it was surprisingly comfy.
While Luis was still taking in his surroundings, one second after Luis appeared, so did Lira, on the couch next to him since it could fit two people. She was sleeping, sitting straight with her head resting on the couch. Before Luis could look at his surroundings further, he felt someone hug him from the front while he was looking at his sister.
"Luis! Lira!" His mother's voice pierced his ears, confirming who it was.
Her arms outstretched, pulling both Luis and Lira into a hug. Elena squeezed them both tighter. "Luis, I'm sorry I wasn't there to help both of you. Sera told me what happened. You did well to fight and survive to protect your siblings," Elena said in a voice full of worry and relief.
Before Luis could speak, he felt a pat on his head. He looked up to see his dad, who held Kael in one hand while he patted Luis on the head with the other. "Your grandmother said she put Lira to sleep because she used too much aura and she used her healing on Lira. I can sense it on you, so don't worry about any injuries. You will be fine. I healed Kael, so he's also fine."
Luis felt a bit of worry when he first appeared in the hall because of the unfamiliar surroundings, but to his surprise, it all disappeared when his mom hugged him. He didn't notice it, but it was because of the same ability his grandmother used. Elena was sending golden flames directly into both Luis and Lira. This consumed more aura, and you wouldn't be able to see it because it wasn't on the outside but sent directly inside. These flames were much more effective than what Isabella did, helping ease pain and calming them down much more. However, being a grandmaster aura user, Elena had already used 30% of her aura.
With the flames in effect, Luis started to feel drowsy. He leaned on his mother's shoulder, feeling like he could sleep at any second. Before he did, though, he moved his head back up from his mother's shoulder. Surprised by the sudden movement, Elena lost concentration of the blessing for a short second, which made the drowsiness from Luis disappear. "Mom, Aelina was right next to me, but she didn't appear like Lira," Luis said with a hint of worry in his voice.
Noah spoke in a calm voice while continuing to pat Luis's head. "Don't worry about that. Aunt Sera can teleport people to different spots. I can sense her aura. She's with her mother. You should just rest for now. Just close your eyes."
Luis also wanted to say what he experienced and what happened with Taran. As he was thinking about that, he felt less and less scared about what he had just experienced. His thoughts seemed to have cleared, making him think about what he could have done differently in the situation. All his emotions related to worry and anxiety about what happened were disappearing, and before he knew it, while blinking, he had fallen asleep on his mother's shoulder. Everything that happened started to just feel like a bad dream before he slept.