Rushing water filled Sora’s ears as his eyelids flickered. His eyes opened slowly but quickly slammed shut when he felt that his entire body shuddered in pain. “I survived?” 

Sora was truly in a state of disbelief. He knew he had fallen from a great height, so to even be alive right now was no less than a miracle. Opening his eyes once more, he gritted his teeth and struggled to flip his body over. “What!?” Sora looked down at this stomach to see it covered in dry blood and a large wound covered in a scab on it. But strangely, it was not bleeding anymore. 

“So you are finally awake.” A young woman's voice echoed through Sora’s mind. 

Hearing this voice coming seemingly out of nowhere caused Sora to panic. “Who are you!? Where are you!?”

He could see nothing but pitch black and the light glow of the water rushing by. He could not see the walls of the area he was in or how deep the place truly was. “Calm down and close your eyes. Clear your mind, and you will see me.”

The young woman’s voice replied gently. It seemed she was trying to keep Sora calm. Sora took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He cleared his mind of all thoughts, but as he did, he felt like he was sucked into another world. “This…” Sora’s cheeks blushed. Standing in front of him was a beautiful young woman, it was just that…. “Clothes…”

“Hmm?” The beautiful young woman looked down at herself and then looked back up at Sora, her semi transparent cheeks turning red as she did her best to cover up with her hands. “There is nothing I can do about this… I am a soul… I can not wear clothes….”

Sora was still a man and interested in such things, so his attempt to cover his eyes was filled with obvious holes, which made the beautiful young woman blush even more. She was no more than eighteen to twenty years of age. Her body could also be considered perfectly shaped. Her shapely hips and modest breasts were enough to make any man have a hard time resisting.

“Ahem…” Taking a deep breath, the beautiful young woman gave up trying to cover herself as she put her hands on her hips and said: “You are a very lucky young man. You landed on the soul fusion lantern and fused with it. It is now part of your very soul and is what is keeping you from dying. But to truly become its master, it needs to merge with a mage soul.”

Sora held his head, he was not understanding any of this. It felt like everything that was happening was magical, or maybe he was just going insane, and his deepest desire to see a naked woman had taken over. But when he remembered how he was in a world of magic, he decided to take things one step at a time. “Hold on. I am confused. You are saying this soul fusion lantern is bound to me, but then why are you here?” 

“This… I am not sure either… I only know that I am part of the lantern. Maybe I am the lantern’s spirit. It has been so long since I have spoken to someone I do not remember much of anything anymore. I was in a deep slumber until you landed on the lantern and fused with it, which woke me up.” The beautiful young woman replied.

“I see… Then how am I supposed to merge a mage soul with it when I never possessed one to begin with?” Sora was still unsure what was going on. If he was dreaming, it was a wonderful dream, but if he was not, he wanted as much information as possible.

“This is not a big issue. While I can not leave your body at all, I can still see around you, and the place you are in just so happens to have an ancient mage soul that was created from the magic in the air. I will help you fuse it with your body, and then you can merge your new mage soul with the soul lantern.” The beautiful young woman 's words caused Sora to be surprised. “You are saying Mage souls can form from the magic in the air?”

“It is something that would take thousands of years to form and is very rare.” The beautiful young woman replied. 

“So where is this mage soul?” Sora asked. Although it was a long shot, to be able to actually have a way to use magic would be a huge benefit to him as he could then become a magas. Maybe then he could grow strong enough and one day be a proper big brother to Leena.

“The mage soul is further down a few miles. But in your current condition, it would not be a good idea to move right now.” The beautiful young woman did not wish for Sora to move and reopen the wounds the soul fusion lantern had already closed up. It had taken a lot of power for it to even heal the wounds that should have killed Sora.

Sora knew the beautiful young woman's words were right, but he still had many questions. “So, what is your name? Mine is Sora.”

“Name, huh? I do not think I have a name. If I did, I do not remember it.” The beautiful young woman’s eyes lowered, seemingly feeling a bit of melancholy. Sora felt like he could relate to her in some ways. He was tossed into a new world without any knowledge left to survive on his own. While he did have a bit of help, he was also alone now. Seeing such a lonely expression from the beauty in front of him stirred his heart. 

“How about I give you a name then?” Sora asked. He may not be able to do much right now, but from the sounds of it, it seemed like the two of them would be together from this day forth.

“You are willing to give me a name?” The beautiful young woman asked, her eyes looking at Sora with a bit of anticipation.

“Mmm…” Sora nodded and gazed at the beautiful body in front of him. It was then that a word that described her best came to mind. “Yumi(由美), meaning beauty….”