"Tuner..." Radiant Stilllight called out with difficulty. "Why... aren't you... affected...?"
Lin Ye stopped.
He looked back at the warriors and streams of light struggling in the void and remained silent for three seconds.
Then he turned around and walked back toward them, one step at a time.
"Because..." he said softly, "what I carry is heavier than what any of you carry."
He reached out and gently placed a hand on Radiant Stilllight's shoulder.
A gentle yet unwavering force flowed into Radiant Stilllight's body. That force did not help lighten the "weight of existence." Instead, it made him understand—
The "weight of existence" was not a burden.
It was proof.
Proof that you were still alive, proof that you were still fighting, proof that you had not yet been forgotten.
Radiant Stilllight froze.
He lowered his head and looked at his hands, at the patterns on them being eroded by the void, at the marks flickering within those patterns—the marks of the rescued civilizations of the Order side—
And suddenly, he understood.
The weight of existence had never been imposed upon him by the void.
It was something he had chosen for himself.
From the day he chose to follow Lin Ye, he had chosen to bear it. To bear the hopes of civilizations, the trust of his companions, and the entrustment of those he had saved.
He had always carried this weight.
Only now, magnified by the void, did he truly feel how heavy it was for the first time.
Radiant Stilllight raised his head and looked at Lin Ye.
Lin Ye smiled. "You feel it now?"
Radiant Stilllight nodded.
"Then let's go." Lin Ye turned and continued onward. "Let this void see just how far someone who chose to bear it can go."
Radiant Stilllight took a