The Soul Transit Station.
Wangchuan stood in an expanse of boundless darkness.
There was no ground beneath his feet, no sky overhead, and no walls around him.
His only sense of direction came from a faint pull, something like the magnetic field between the north and south poles.
It pointed vaguely in a certain direction.
Wangchuan's long, forked tongue swayed gently between his teeth, as though tasting the flavor of this space.
"There are no souls here."
"It is rather too quiet."
He raised one massive arm and spread his five fingers. The lines on his palm glimmered faintly with dark purple light in the gray illumination.
"No matter."
"This elder has his methods."
His massive arm lowered, rising again along with the pair of smaller arms beneath his armpits.
His four palms formed an interlocking arrangement before his chest, fingertips facing one another and palms turned upward, creating a complex, symmetrical structure.
He closed his eyes.
"Draw a lunar phase symbol on the palm."
The lines on his left palm lit up, and a silvery-white lunar phase symbol emerged.
It took the shape of a first-quarter moon, its curves sharp and precise.
"Then aim the palm into the depths of the soul passage."
He raised his left palm and faced it forward, aiming into the gray depths in a direction that could not be pinpointed with the naked eye.
He spoke.
"The moon has three phases; souls have a place to return."
"Let the first-quarter moon be the guide."
The first-quarter moon symbol on his left palm brightened a degree, and a complete full moon pattern appeared on his right palm.
"Let the full moon be the seal."
"Let the last-quarter moon be the binding."
A last-quarter moon symbol lit up on each palm of the smaller pair of