Vellichor had remained motionless for quite some time.
Whenever he needed more power, he drew some from the vortex, and then he meditated again.
It was a rhythm.
Power, then meditation.
Power, meditation, power, meditation.
Yet he did not become discouraged.
Not yet.
This was simply another problem he had faced, and he had always believed that any problem could be solved.
Eventually.
Endrith remained imprisoned in the distance, still nothing more than golden-edged darkness.
Vellichor looked toward him for a moment.
He had little pity for the creature, but he found himself thinking that if he found a way out, he should take Endrith with him.
He couldn't imagine what would happen if Endrith were left here on his own for an endless amount of time.
Only something bad could happen.
Especially if he became fully aware, or even if just a crumb of power found its way into his grasp.
Vellichor went back to searching for himself.
No matter how long it took, he knew that somewhere beyond this realm, he was still there.
But, as of yet, he could feel no trace.
No body.
No thought.
No soul.
But that did not mean there was nothing there.
It could simply mean that he hadn't found it yet.
His body had possessed immense magical power, so it should have been a beacon.
But piercing from this realm into another, wherever he was, was far harder than he had imagined.
He remained patient.
But patience did not mean he could not reconsider his approach.
Eventually, another thought occurred to him.
Perhaps he was looking in the wrong direction.
He had been searching only for himself.
Whatever portion of him remained in the other realm.
Which would be quite useless if truly nothing remained of him.
Perhaps he was approaching the problem incorrectly.
He had been given power.
Suddenly and without warning.
Enough power to let him touch the vortex and begin his search.
He had no idea where that power had come from.
Perhaps he shouldn't have been looking for himself.
An obvious thought.
He had been treating that sudden surge as though it were merely another resource.
Power did not simply appear in a realm like this.
And certainly not within him.
Something, or someone, had given it to him.
He considered the possibilities.
There were not many.
He could not imagine that the vortex itself had chosen to help him.
It had been there long before his awakening.
It had never reacted to him.
The realm itself seemed equally unlikely.
It did not behave like anything he understood.
Perhaps it had come from a friend?
But which friend did he have who was powerful enough to give him anything from wherever they were to wherever he was?
Who would go so far to do something like that for him?
Sonder, maybe?
Vellichor had no proof.
None whatsoever.
It was simply a guess.
But it could be useful.
He stopped searching for himself.
Instead, he searched for her.
A trace.
A connection.
The feeling of her presence itself.
He gathered every fragment he possessed.
Sonder.
The name became the center of his search.
He was also searching for the power that had reached him.
The particular sensation of it.
The suddenness.
The unmistakable feeling that, for one brief moment, something had reached across an impossible distance and touched him.
He searched for that.