He had been good.
It didn’t matter though, because the door still refused to open. Maybe. Maybe it never would?
A brightly glowing orb popped into existence beside him and startled away the tears that had begun to rise. It spiraled close to his face, then began hopping and swirling through the air in excitement. Darting close to his face, it perched light as a butterfly on the tip of his nose. When he crossed his eyes to look at it, it quivered as if in delight, then darted back to begin a more frenzied dance through the air.
A soul? he guessed.
Growing up, Lan Zhan keeps getting visits from a happy, dancing little soul.