* * * * * * * *
Asahi and Aletha dribbled up to the sandy shoreline; waves shuddered and drizzled their sea spray onto both of them, whisking across the white sand before drawing out.
His ears twitched to the sound of waves crashing and sweeping along a shoreline, the birds chirping, and the sounds of trees waving back and forth.
Asahi wriggled his toes and fingers, feeling the cool air brush against his face and the grainy, golden pebbles tickling his long white hair and sliding in-between his toes.
Suddenly, he felt several liters of water rushing up his throat and bursting up his mouth. His eyes swiftly opened to the blinding morning light.
(I…)
Asahi hurriedly lunged his body down to the ground, planted his two hands on the sand, and roughly coughed, gushing amounts of thick salt water out his mouth. He patted his chest and collapsed on the sand with pure exhaustion, staring at the blue sky above him.
"I forgot."
Though confused about how he got from underwater toward the dry, moist coastline, he spread his arms, relieved at feeling solid land.
"I… made it."
*cough*
Asahi heard a loud cough sounding toward the right of him.
He hurriedly turned his head and felt his heart burst with a sense of relief. After a quick search, he found a young girl with long white hair, crystal gray eyes, and dark attire coughing up water.
Droplets slid down his pale amused face; he quickly sprinted to the girl and wrapped his arms around her, embracing his sister with absolute disbelief. He whispered to her with a trembling tone.
"Sis… y-you're alive," A cold tear slipped down his face. "I-I… thought I lost you."
"E…Eh…?"
Aletha's gray eyes broadened in shock. She had no clue what her brother was talking about; All she remembered was that vast white void and the petals. She never remembered being underwater and the monster.
. . .
The waves sloshed near them. Aletha took a deep breath of relief, coughing up the last bits of water in her mouth. She analyzed her surroundings, seeing a lush forest behind her and more extending land to her left.
"Brother, what happened? I'm confused."
Asahi turned toward the forest and nervously chuckled, remembering everything that happened at that devastating awakening under the sea. He made a half shrug and scratched the grainy sand off the back of his head.
"We were underwater…."
He facepalmed, struggling to recollect any more information. He remembered swimming and pulling Aletha up toward the surface while nearly drowning.
"... and that's all I can remember."
Aletha expressed with a surprised look in her bulging gray eyes.
"Really…?"
"Yeah… unfortunately. I don't know how we got here."
The conversation paused.
"Could we just have been washed up?"
"Maybe…"
Another tame silence emerged from the two.
Asahi and Aletha couldn't think of what to do next after that event.
They never had a sole objective when they returned to their world; they believed it was still in shambles.
And to their surprise, the world could not have looked any cleaner and brighter than they remembered.
The siblings pondered as they watched the frothy waves crash against the sandy shore.
"Is this truly our world? What… happened…?"
Aletha swiftly shook her head and turned toward the wall of trees surrounding them. Lush green vibrancy, hills, and bushes with birds and another wildlife bouncing.
She grew impatient, crossed her arms, and yelled as she stomped her feet.
"Come on. I bet there's more land ahead of us." She continued as she sprinted along the stream of rocks and seashells. "Let's go! We don't have all day."
Asahi sighed deeply, agreeing.
"I guess you're right…"
"ALRIGHT!"
Before he could finish his sentence, Asahi watched Aletha sprinting and running up the shore to the forest without a care in the world. He shrugged and sighed, then followed his sister into the woods.
* * * * * * * *
When they ran through the bushes, a gust of wind entered their bodies, their vision clearing up to a beautiful sight.
"Woah!"
Golden fingers of sunlight lit up their eyes, with the dawn chorus of melodic birdsong drifting in and the fresh breeze carrying the floral scents.
Asahi and Aletha's eyes darted to the horizon seeing a large fleet of bright swollen clouds drifting over the azure sea.
The view looked was a vast, nearly treeless grassy plain; with rolling hills, large patches of beautiful flora, and clear lakes. Aletha gasped, stunned by the beauty in front of her.
"Wow!"
Asahi nodded silently, and a radiant smile emerged on his fair face. He pointed out and hollered to Aletha.
"Hey, sis! Look over there!"
They turned their heads to their right and saw a tall green mountain piercing through the clouds. It stood boldly behind the towering and small grassy hills and valleys. A castle stood at the top, barely visible from their distance.
"I can't believe it. I thought our world was in ashes. First thing I remembered was being a different world, then a void, and now we are teleported here? Strange."
Asahi closed his eyes, sighing with a breath of remorse.
"Me too. But I guess our world... has changed? This place looks nothing like what it was before."
Aletha shook her thoughts aside and screamed with a frantic voice.
"Nevermind. I like this more! Look at it, brother. Our world looks beautiful now! What even happened?!"
Asahi's heart leaped up in shock. He covered his ears and yelled angrily.
"Ah, I can barely hear myself! Do you WANT to break your voice? Quiet down."
Aletha bent down and apologized while twiddling her thumbs.
"Sorry, bro. It just... looks so beautiful. I can't stop looking at it. It's like a painting."
Asahi released a sigh of contentment and accepted his sister's apology. He replied to Aletha in his modulated and silvery voice.
."It's okay, I understand. Anyways, stop getting distracted from the view and focus. If we want to get anywhere, we must find people first."
Aletha pressed her hands to her cheeks and replied softly.
"Okay."
* * * * * * * *
Asahi scratched his head, turning from one unfamiliar horizon to the other, expressing with a worried face.
"Okay, sis. I'm genuinely lost. I didn't think we would get this far. What should we do next? Where should we go? We can't stand here and do nothing..."
The siblings' stomachs growled.
They knew that haven't eaten anything in days.
In desperation, they both analyzed their surroundings to find anything that sparked their interest.
Despite Asahi's failure to find any buildings, Aletha, on the other hand, saw something.
"Huh?"
Far in the distance, behind a small mountain, stood tall buildings, walls, and a castle. Aletha squinted and could hardly determine if it was just a mirage or a town. She couldn't help but feel excited, and swiftly she jumped up and exclaimed with an eager voice.
"Bro, I found something!"
"Where?" Asahi murmured meagerly.
Aletha pushed Asahi forward, slapped his face, pointed, and yelled at him with an enthusiastic tone.
"Right over there! I think it looks like the walls of a city. Maybe there's food in there?"
Asahi neglectfully shook his head.
"Are you sure? Also, why did you slap my face?"
Aletha growled.
"UGH!"
She stomped her feet frustratingly toward him and forced her brother's head forward. Asahi gasped.
"OH!"
There were windmills, paved cobblestone roads, tall buildings, a castle on a mountain, and archery towers. Asahi concluded that it was a city, a teeming place for opportunity, a place to wander and socialize.
Regardless of what they saw, Asahi turned to his shiny brown boots and realized.
"How are we going to get there?"
"Oh, well..." Aletha panicked to find any method of transportation. From left to right, it was just a wild forest and hills.
Nothing around her genuinely gave off an aura of civilization except the city she saw in the distance. The white-haired girl scratched her head.
"Umm..."
She always had difficulty thinking, especially regarding navigation, so this was no surprise for her brother. Asahi raised a brow and mumbled, waiting for his sister to reply as the cool breeze pushed his hair back.
"So..."
Aletha nervously bit her lip and tapped her fingers at the bottom of her chin, tremblingly responding to her brother while glaring at the bright sunlight shining and illuminating the sky.
"M...Maybe we can go to that road over there?"
Asahi's brows drew together and made a fake smile.
"Alright... I trust you."
They approached the road, their stomachs growled, and the heat from the sun cooled off with the breeze.
Nothing exciting happened other than a faint screech from a squirrel. Aletha's thoughts wandered off, thinking of what to do now that they had returned. But only silence met them.
. . .
Not long after, Aletha grew impatient.
(I can't take this silence anymore.)
She pushed Asahi down the round grassy hill and pointed to a wide dirt road that extended kilometers toward the distant city. Though it was fairly bruised, Asahi noticed wheel tracks strongly engraved onto the ground, signifying that some vehicle had passed there.
Provided that thought, Asahi told Aletha to wait in this spot, hoping to catch a ride.
It wouldn't be long for them to realize that this wait might be more extensive than they had once thought.
* * * * * * * *
Aletha jolted up another grassy hill and leaped over stones, mostly because she was bored. As she bumped into a rock, the cheery girl tilted her head and analyzed her surroundings, seeing a circle of tall pine trees near her. Aletha shuffled her feet through the leaves and found a log resting on a dirt patch at the center.
"There it is!" Aletha hollered.
She knelt and grabbed the thick wooden log with her bare hands, swiftly running down the hall grassy hill and hollering back to Asahi.
"Hey! Look at what I found!"
Asahi didn't deliver any reaction other than a shrug.
It made Aletha feel like her brother ignored her.
Unexpectedly, Aletha lobbed the log toward her brother, bonking him in the head and rolling back to the center of the dirt road.
Asahi turned red with fury along with his bruise, shouting.
"AH!"
Immediately, he sprinted to his sister and delivered a slap to Aletha's head, complaining as his red bruise blistered under the sunlight.
"What was that for?!"
Aletha pushed her hair to the side and crossed her arms, stomping her feet and whining like a little child.
"You ignored me!"
But just as they could see it, a golden carriage passed by them, brushing its dirt all over their faces and chiming its bells as it slowly vanished into the distance.
Asahi's blood boiled in a fury, sweat slid down his face, and frustration burst down his body.
Despite what he had said before, it seemed as if he ignored that thought altogether, not noticing that another carriage was approaching behind his back.
"SERIOUSLY?! After all the things I did for you, this is how you repay me?! I saved your life, you know! If it weren't for me, we would be dead!"
His whole face lit up as Aletha stepped away, hearing loud croaks behind him. The last thing he heard before Asahi fell unconscious was a scream.
"BEHIND YOU!"
* * * * * * * *