Author: Trash (Instagram: smol_trashy_art_child, I have character designs on there)
Proofreader:Fisa
Word count: 5227 words
"This tree you see here used to be the most bustling center in the entire forest," continued Aricia. Her silver eyes flashed, and she pursed her lips. She looked up at the tree for a long while before going on with a light waver in her voice.
"Things were finally changing for the better, and we were letting go of our worst qualities, slowly but surely. I was pushing my mother for it, but she was going to allow freedom of religion and other small things. I myself was under the pathway of Time, even though it is illegal to practice anything other than Light.
"Only a few weeks ago, I became an aunt when my older brother had a little baby girl... I remember going to my sister-in-law's place and looking at my niece's face, and having hope for my dreams and the future of my people..."
She put her head into her arms and Aurum saw her shoulders start to shake slightly, like she was crying silently.
Kai scooted closer and put his arm on her shoulder, hugging her slightly. Aurum sat there silently, revealing no expressions on his face.
She didn't raise her head and continued to speak into her arms.
"I had a dream to finally free every elf from this forest, to finally walk among other creatures, to see more history and see the wonders the world has to offer." She finally lifted her a little and avoided their gazes while zoning out to some unknown place outside of the forest. The corners of her eyes were a little red, and you could see small traces of wetness on her face.
"I was going to travel, I was going to try new fashion, I was going to see new magic, I was going to record the beautiful history of the world, I was going to open our small world to new people... And if I never succeeded on opening a pathway to the outside world, then I would at least still have my family, and I would still be able guide our next generation to freeing this place."
She stood up and walked near the trunk of the tree before resting her hand on a coffin that almost blended in with the bark. Aurum and Kai both followed her, and stood nearby letting her mourn in peace.
"Earlier," Aricia spoke softly. "Kai here told me that you also came across that horrifying creature, the one that took ahold of anything in its reach, even light. That thing was the cause of our destruction. It seemed to go after anything that even used a bit of magic that wasn't from the time pathway, and all of my people were from the path of Light except for me."
"Pathways can easily be seen through the color of your eyes, so none of the populace practiced it. I started practicing it when I was young and sick, so I had to sleep a lot. My eyes didn't change at the beginning, but once I noticed it I started to hide in my room until I could start using my power over Time to reverse the color of my eyes. I only ever told my fiancé this secret, and he's lying in this coffin here for the rest of time."
She turned her eyes towards a coffin that leaned against the trunk of the tree. Flowers were placed all over it; the blooms contrasting heavily against the dreary coffin.
Aricia stood up and looked straight at Kai, and then Aurum, seemingly looking past their faces into their souls.
"I tried to save him from the Abyss creature, and I succeeded for a short while before he died from flying debris. Now, the only thing left in this place are happy memories turned sour. When I chose the Past sub pathway, I was thinking to control my past and leave the future a mystery."
She shifted her eyes away from them.
"Now, it seems like it would be better if I could just forget the past... Can I go with you guys? I have no home left, and I might as well live my dream while keeping my mind off of things..."
Kai stepped in and spoke while looking around nervously.
"Yes, you can come with us, but I think we should hurry up and leave now. Remember that creature? I've been keeping track of the time Aurum was out, and judging from the speed it moved at before, that thing is going to appear here anytime within a few minutes to a day. Does anyone have any ideas to get out of this damned forest?"
Aricia shook her head. "If I knew how to get out of here, I would've done it a long time ago."
All eyes turned to Aurum, seemingly silently asking if he had any other ideas or maybe another teleportation device. One that wouldn't put his life in danger.
Aurum silently leaned over, picking up the travel case from earlier, making sure to channel his blood so it wouldn't kill him.
Kai tried to knock it out of his hands, but Aurum gently stopped him. "I figured out how to keep it from harming me."
Kai's singular blue eye stared at him suspiciously, unsure if he was telling the truth or just hiding the pain. He ended up grabbing Aurum's forearm and gestured for Aricia to do the same. Aricia picked up a pouch and did the same as Kai.
Aurum stiffened, feeling a little disgusted at their touch. He tried to ignore it while pulling out a mana stone from one of his pouches on his apron. Currently, he only had the amount of mana that an average peasant would have. He held the mana stone, and watched the blue glow it gave off.
Kai glanced at it with sparkling eyes and looked like he wanted to say something, but decided not to say anything when he noticed Aurum's concentration.
Aurum gripped Kadelure's handle tightly, and tried to keep a destination in his mind.
It was hard multitasking, especially when he didn't know where to go.
He tried to recall memories of an outside world beside this damned forest, and something faint resurfaced in his mind. A place from long ago, one he couldn't visualize. He could only feel the emotions from a foreign time, a harsh contrast compared to emptiness and lack of anything he felt now.
He closed his eyes, trying to take in the nature around him, focusing on grasping that tiny sliver of emotion that could lead them to their destination.
He could hear the rustle of the wind around him; the pumping of the blood flowing into Kadelure and back into his veins. The faint breathing of his two companions by his side seemed louder than reality, and a faint bugging voice in the back of his head kept telling him to not trust them. He could feel exactly where their hands were touching him, making him feel on high alert.
His fingers started itching to fiddle with something, to build something, or to push their hands away.
He shook his head slightly to clear away the extra thoughts bouncing around in his aching head, and refocused on the destination. It was harder to do this when he wasn't in an extremely urgent situation.
He felt himself slipping away into nothingness, similar to the falling feeling before falling asleep.
Aricia was looking at Kadelure, and she saw that terrifyingly beautiful galaxy seep onto the side, and the world blended away.
A little bit of the mana stone crumbled away, only taking off a few crumbs. Aurum took a deep breath and clenched his teeth, trying to stabilize himself on the new ground.
Forcing the large amount of mana through himself was like trying to force water through a tiny little hole in a glass. If he wasn't careful, he could shatter.
He exhaled and opened his eyes, shaking Aricia and Kai off his arms. They were still a bit disorientated, so he took this time to survey his surroundings.
They were standing in a forest clearing, but it was a bit different compared to Serim. The trees were all different sizes and ages compared to the uniformity from before, and it gave off a friendly feeling. Just standing there made the others feel a little happy and at peace.
The clearing they were in had a tree near the edge, and it stood out a bit.
This place gave an overwhelming sense of nostalgia, but it was most prevalent near that tree.
He walked slowly towards the tree, and dropped Kadelure without a care, letting the galaxy fade back to its normal black. He stashed the mana stone away in a pocket of his apron.
He reached the tree when Kai called out to him.
"Hey, Aurum! Aricia had the idea to take inventory, so could you come over here? We..." His voice faded away as Aurum blocked it out as background noise.
"Later, I'm going to check out the surroundings first."
Aurum turned back to the tree, and touched the trunk lightly with his gloved fingers. There were tiny little golden handprints, like those of a child, leading up the side of the trunk. They stopped midway, as if the child had lost his grip and fallen to the ground.
He looked at the bottom of the tree, and found little gold handprints on the grass, like the child climbing it had fell onto his butt. Looking closer at the handprints, it seems like the prints are kourite prints.
Aurum looked down at his gloved hands.
'Just like mine...'
He put his hand on his heart, unsure about what he was feeling.
He didn't know how many people in this world had the same ability as him, but looking at the tiny little handprints made his eyebrows scrunch up even tighter.
'How many years have I lost? I don't know a single thing about myself... What I've done in my life, or if I even have any loved ones waiting for me...'
He fiddled with the tip of his glove.
'Never mind, I probably wouldn't have any loved ones. Nobody is worthy of my love.'
Aurum put his foot into a knothole in the side of the tree, climbing up with ease. There was a long branch on the side, perfect for someone the size of an adult to lie down comfortably.
Right above the branch, beautiful yellow apples grew. Aurum subconsciously knew that this branch was probably the only place that this type of apple would ever grow. He reached up and plucked all five of them, but didn't eat them. Holding all of them in one arm, Aurum grabbed the branch and lowered himself back to the ground.
He looked back and realized that both Kai and Aricia were sitting on the grass watching him.
"Done looking? We're going to do an inventory check and stop here to plan and eat something. We need some sort of action plan." Kai leaned back on the grass and held up a bird skewered through with a stick that he got from who-knows-where. It didn't look appetizing, and it was sort of obvious that Kai didn't know how to cook.
Aurum nodded silently, and turned to look at the tree one last time. It felt like the tree was missing something, like any moment someone lying on the branch would call out to him.
He left the tree and walked to the middle of the clearing where the other two were pulling things out of Aricia's bag. The amount of things they pulled out would never be able to fit inside, so the bag most likely was enchanted with a separate dimension on the inside.
Aurum decided to stand near them instead of sitting down. He watched them pull out book after book and set them on the grass. Kai was pulling out all of the food, while Aricia was taking care of all the essential supplies and marking them down on a notebook.
"Don't let the food touch the dirt." Aurum nudged Kai's arm with his foot, forcing the food to move away from the ground. He reached out a gloved hand and picked up a flask of water, rinsing his arms and his face. The cool feeling helped him forget the sensation of their hands touching him from earlier.
He picked up the notebook that Aricia had finished filling up, and flipped through it, checking to see if anything caught his eye.
Aricia had packed well, with many necessities that were neatly folded and stacked. She had also packed personal items like a pile of history books, some clothes, and a pile of notebooks that seemed as if they were filled with drawings. Aricia snatched the notebook away before Aurum could flip through that as well.
"You should add your stuff too." Kai nudged Aurum's leg with the last bit of skewered meat. "You hungry?" He poked the stick into Aurum's thigh repeatedly, until his gloved hand reached down and forcibly stopped the stick.
Aricia sat nearby, watching while eating a fruit from her packed supplies.
"Not hungry?" Kai sighed and reached up with his free hand to snatch one of the yellow apples that Aurum was holding. "You know the only thing you ate this whole time was a single candy? You do know that you have to eat or you'll die, right? Maybe that's why you're always so grumpy."
Aurum quickly slapped away Kai's hand before he could touch one of the apples.
"Don't touch." He shifted them away and glanced at Kai's face before taking the stick that he was being poked with. He glanced at the stick with a bird on it, and subconsciously moved his face away from it. Kai really was not a good cook; Aurum couldn't understand how he could stand his own cooking. The bird was severely undercooked, and he hadn't even bothered to pull off most of the feathers.
Maybe it would taste better than it looked? Aurum gently placed down his apples on the side opposite of Kai before gingerly bringing the stick of meat to his mouth and biting off a tiny bit.
Ah. Was this man trying to poison him? Remind him to never eat anything he ever hands him ever again.
Aurum handed the stick back to Kai without another word.
"You don't like it?" Kai visibly wilted like a flower.
"You have to eat, maybe have these fruits," offered Aricia while she passed over some of the fruits she packed with a concerned look. "Maybe he doesn't eat animals, like me. And-" She hesitated, looking at the bird. "Maybe you should take cooking lessons? Are you sure you aren't going to be sick?"
Kai finished his third bird dejectedly. "I like them," he muttered under his breath.
Aurum bit into the fruit Aricia gave him while watching Kai devour the almost raw bird. He managed to make something so disgusting look delicious with the way he inhaled them.
The fruit was rather sweet, and the juicy crispness helped it live up to the reputation of the tree it grew on.
He finished it off, eating every part except the pit, which he threw onto the grass. Maybe it would grow into a new tree of life someday.
Aricia cleaned her hands and offered a notebook to Aurum.
"You can look through all of your things and write down what you have in here. So far, I wrote down everything I own, and Kai doesn't really own anything.
Kai nodded looking even more pitiful in his shabby old clothes.
Aurum looked suspiciously at the both of them, and didn't take the notebook.
"Why should I trust you?"
"Eh?" Aricia looked confused. "It's not really a matter of trust, it's just to take inventory."
"I don't trust anyone. You people aren't going to be an exception."
Kai stood up a little annoyed and threw his arm around Aurum's shoulder, trying to prevent him from breaking free. Aurum stiffened, trying to shove him away. Kai let him push away his arm, and tried to move so that Aurum could make eye contact with him.
"Aurum, it would be pointless for me to ask why you are so distrustful since you don't have any memories, but can you at least cooperate with us for now? Come on, think about what you just said, it sounds like you're some edgy brat."
Aurum frowned. Is that really the impression he gave off?
"Ignoring the rather unpleasant additions near the end, that is exactly my point. I have no memories, so it would be rather foolish to believe in the first person who finds me."
Aricia intervened between the two. "Aurum does have a point about not needing to trust us. We are practically strangers. Here then, how about you only write down what you are comfortable in writing. And Kai, please don't be so rude, you don't know what Aurum went through in the past."
She held out her notebook again, this time with Aurum accepting it.
Kai rolled his one visible eye while muttering under his breath, "Yes *mother,* if I wanted to do anything I would've done it when he was knocked out for days. And if I were really mad, I wouldn't say just "edgy brat."
Aurum pretended not to hear the comment and started going through his pockets.
Aurum rifled through the left pocket on his belt and pulled out a handful of candy and a few gems. It seemed like he liked to snack. None of these were too important, so it would be fine to write them down on the notebook.
Aurum continued to pull things out of his numerous pockets while Kai watched. One pocket was filled entirely with throwing charms, while the last two on his apron were filled with gadgets, scrap metal, tools, and mana stones.
It seemed like everything would be fine to write down in the notebook, but a few things were not good to write in detail. For example, the exact natures of the throwing charms or the uses of these little gadget things.
He picked up the charms first, inspecting them carefully. The charms were small bits of metal with different engravings, each about the size of a thumb nail. Some of them had gems embedded in them, but they all had one thing in common.
One the back, there was a golden thumbprint with an A engraved on it. No matter the material or color, each one always had the same mark. He picked up one of the contraptions, and flipped it over. It also had the same mark.
Aurum sighed. These were obviously made by himself.
They would make good trump cards, but there was one small problem. He didn't even know what most of these charms and gadgets did.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his fingers over a few charms, trying to ascertain what exactly they were for.
He paused and his eyes flew open. He managed to pinpoint what two of these charms did, but he still couldn't tell for the others.
The pure white one with black engravings gave off a similar energy to Kadelure, meaning it must be something related to the powers of space. The energy is inferior, but it should still be useful for things like short-range teleportation.
The gold one with yellow engravings, however, was different. The energy it gave off was similar to the clearing they were in right now. The peaceful, relaxed energy almost made Aurum use the charm immediately on himself, but he refrained at the last second.
He put the charms back into his pocket, careful not to accidentally activate any of them.
That yellow charm... If he wasn't careful, it would be rather easy to become addicted to that pleasant feeling.
He took out the notebook, writing out all of the things he had. Of course, he didn't write down what the charms would do, or any specifics of his items, such as the amount.
He slipped everything back into his pockets, promising himself to look at the other things later.
Out of the corner of his eye, Aurum spotted Kai holding one of his mana stones, talking to Aricia.
"Give it back."
Aurum held up his hand, expecting Kai to give it back.
"Hey Aurum, who are you really? Now I'm curious as well."
Kai didn't give it back yet, instead deciding to play with it a bit.
"I know you don't remember anything, but I feel like there is something big behind your memory loss. For example, how did you end up in that forest? In that small moment before your spontaneous memory loss, why would you suddenly make me, a stranger, some overpowered swords? It almost seems like you could tell something was going to happen. Then there's this whole thing of being decked out in kourite, the way you act, and finally, this."
He tossed the mana stone in the air, catching it with his hand.
"This mana stone is incredibly rare, the sheer amount of mana it stores, along with the size of it alone would be worth thousands, maybe even millions... The main branches of some temples can only afford one or two of these a year, even if they cut off all expenses for anything else. How could you get your hands on this?"
Aurum's gaze darkened, his golden eyes flashing in the light of the sun.
"And what are you going to do? Steal it?"
"Of course not," Kai scoffed, rolling his only visible eye. He tossed the mana stone back to Aurum without a care. "Although it would be really nice to not be poor for once, money isn't my final goal."
"Then what is your final goal?"
"Power. The power to beat anyone, and..."
"And?"
"And nothing, Aricia, what would be your ultimate goal?"
He suddenly turned to Aricia, smiling like the wistful expression that was on his face for a split second had never existed.
"M-me?" Aricia asked, shocked that Kai addressed her out of the blue. "Uh, well, I don't really have any goals right now... I only planned to travel with you guys and indulge in my hobbies until I find something I want to do."
She looked at both Kai and Aurum carefully, keeping her smile pasted on her face. Her response didn't really bother Aurum, but the way her eyes looked at them was a bit unusual. They weren't focused on either of them, but seemed to be more focused on something floating in front of or on them.
"Well since Aricia wants to travel, let's come up with some sort of action plan!" Kai jumped in. "Starting with how to recover Aurum's missing memory. Aurum, can you pass over that notebook? Thanks. You have really nice handwriting!"
Aurum silently stood by, watching Kai flip through the notebook while talking to Aricia. He mentally noted that Kai was rather good at changing the conversation, and avoiding eye contact as well.
"What's in here?" Aricia looked at Aurum and pointed at Kadelure lying on the grass nearby. "That's the device that we used to teleport, correct?"
Aurum walked over and picked up Kadelure, opening the case on the grass.
"It's name is Kadelure. I remembered that when I was passed out."
The inside of the case was empty as usual, but that was not the important part. Kadelure was a very powerful magic treasure that embodied the power of space, so of course the inside would have more space than at first.
Aurum flipped a switch on the side, and the inside changed. Now, it was filled with items.
He frowned, not expecting what was inside the case. It was only filled with clothes, and nothing else. Before he could search the bottom to see if there was anything else, he felt someone tap his shoulder. He flinched, turning around quickly. He saw Aricia looking at him with shining eyes, seemingly excited for something.
"You packed clothes?!"
"Wha-"
"I'm sorry, one of my hobbies is designing and fashion, and I never knew you actually brought clothes! Do I have permission to look through them? I want to see men's clothing, especially ones from different cultures."
"It's fine, just don't take any of my underwear or something."
He stood by, a little caught off guard, while Aricia pulled out a bunch of his clothes and started to lay them out.
"Ooo, this one is cool!" Aricia pointed to a pure white suit with gold trim. "It's much cooler than that black one that you are wearing.
"Can I wear one of yours?" asked Kai with an expectant look on his face. "My clothes are really old and worn out, and they don't have enchantments to keep them clean or intact. They aren't my style, but they are better than mine falling apart. That's too bad, I liked them. I'll have to get copies later."
Aurum frowned, looking at his clothes. Personally, he would not want to allow Kai to wear them, but it was true that Kai's were rather beat up. There was also the fact that all the clothes also had rare gems and pockets that shared a space with the clothes that he was wearing right now.
Meaning, it was very possible for Kai to empty out his pockets of all the charms and expensive items while running off with gems worth thousands. There was also the fact that the gems on the neck-pieces were probably all connected as well, meaning that a whole arsenal of potential weapons could be stolen.
He himself hadn't yet figured out how to access the storage in the gem with ease, but it was possible that it could be opened by someone else. It would be bad if it were ever left to someone else.
While he was pondering what to say, Aricia saved him by pulling out a plainer outfits that weren't like the others. Although it did have the enchantments to keep it clean, it didn't have the gems or kourite edges like the others. He stuck his hand into a pocket, and it seemed like the pockets weren't shared spaces as well.
"You can only take these ones." Aurum pointed to the plainer ones, and Kai was fine with that. He grabbed a set and set off into the forest to change, making sure to take cover under the trees.
Aricia decided to change her clothes as well, grabbing similar plain ones with the addition of an extra tight belt so the pants wouldn't fall off. She ran off in the opposite direction, making sure that she couldn't be spotted from their area.
Aurum stood alone in the clearing. He bent over the open Kadelure, looking to see if anything was left. The extra storage in the case had shrunk to the size of whatever items were left, making it look much smaller than before now that most of the clothes were gone.
Something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He reached into the case, and pulled out a small black notebook. The notebook had a clasp with yet another golden gem embedded in it, and he couldn't seem to open it. It was probably the same as the gem at his neck, it wouldn't open unless he did something.
He tried to lift the corners of the notebook to peek to see what was written, but it was sealed shut and the hard leather cover wouldn't bend.
He slipped the notebook in one of his many pockets, and stood up.
While waiting for Aricia and Kai to come back, it would be best to pack up. He folded all of his clothes and put them neatly back inside Kadelure.
Noticing the bright yellow apples he left on the grass, he picked them up. He put all of them on top of his pile of clothes, before looking closely at them.
Strange... They all gave off this familiar energy of peace and joy, just like the little gold charms and the clearing he was standing in right now.
He closed the case and turned away from it. Answers would come in due time.
He closed his eyes, and meditated a bit. Meditating would help alleviate the slight headache that accompanied him everywhere.
"Hey Aurum!"
He turned around, a little annoyed that he got interrupted in the middle of his meditation.
Kai's head poked out from behind a tree, curious as to what Aricia was calling Aurum for.
"Hey Aurum," wheezed Aricia as she bent over to catch her breath from running, dressed in her new outfit that was originally Aurum's. "There's something up with this forest, yet again..."
-----
*Back in Serim, at the Tree of Time and Life*
The blank vortex was at the foot of the tree, not moving. It was still, and the gravity field around it didn't bring anything closer to it. The air around it was perfectly quiet.
It raised the space where its head would be, and seemed to be conversing with an unknown entity in the sky. Suddenly, it turned into a wisp of empty smoke and floated up before seeping into the coffin leaning on the side of the tree.
The lid of the coffin slid to the side, pushing the flowers all over the coffin to the side. A slender hand the color of rich chocolate reached out and grabbed the side. Next came the legs, and finally a head of long, flowing, black hair with pointed ears poking through the hair. A very beautiful young man stumbled out, and then stood up straight.
He lifted his eyelids slowly, revealing horrifying blood-red eyes. There were no pupils or sclera, only red.
He surveyed the view over the forest, before licking his lips and opening his mouth.
"How nice it would be to kill this entire forest."
Suddenly, his eyes changed from crimson to a cold, dark grey. A higher-pitched voice escaped from his throat, in a harsh cacophonous way.
"We have no time for that, our target has disappeared... But we have no need to worry... He's an easy target, weak like a newborn infant... Did you see the way he feared us?... His former glory is gone, replaced with weakness and fear... I don't know what they were thinking, removing his memories and putting him into a weak afterimage of a former self... Heh... Heh... Heh..."
"Shut up. You're going to ruin this body's vocal chords," said the man, the eyes shifting back into blood red. "We are lucky to find an intact body; the time energy in this forest even prevented him from entering rigor mortis. It even has a delicious blessing of Light on it. For that boy, they probably removed his power and memories so we would have to chase him in our weakened form. It worked, but they were foolish. We might be receiving a new comrade soon, my dear lady."
"They only delayed the inevitable... We will devour the weak boy's scattered power..."
"Then let us set off. We can't let him regain any power before we do."
The young man turned around, then started climbing down the tree. It was time to start a hunt.