His hand... grasped at nothing but air....
"Hao'er!!" Bai Xiaochun's consciousness began to rise up from within the blankness, pushed by an indescribable wave of grief!
His eyes snapped open to see... nothing. The twenty-two-colored flame was gone, and Bai Hao along with it.
Only a tiny wisp of the fire remained, a spark, the last trace of Bai Hao that remained in the world. As it fell onto the back of Bai Xiaochun's hand, it burned him, leaving a small mark.
Bai Xiaochun shivered, his hand frozen in midair in front of him, his eyes filled with tears.
Although he had not been able to see Bai Hao's final moments clearly, he could sense that his apprentice was now no more....
Tears fell down onto his withered skin, and the ground beneath his feet, as more grief than he ever imagined could exist overwhelmed him.
