Nothing.
Absolute Emptiness.
No stars, trees, clouds, mountains, ground, or sky. Nothing was here except for fluttering white shards of light and an endless white void.
A sense of disillusionment overwhelmed him as he stared mindlessly into the white void in complete silence.
The flash from the vast underground city to the empty white abyss stunned him; surely he knew what this light belonged to, but he would have never guessed that this was his world.
Unlike the calmness in Asahi, Aletha was undoubtedly panicked.
A frozen chill of fear grew in her as she dashed left and right from the blank void; only she saw her shadow and heard her footsteps.
"This... can't be our world." She said, "Akwan isn't even here anymore."
With so much fear pressuring her, she collapsed to her knees, gritted her teeth, and angrily slammed her fist on the empty white surface.
"Where did that thing take us?! Was Akwan lying to us?"
Each hit echoed over the vast white abyss.
"Asahi, answer me!"
Silence answered her, leaving only her voice to echo throughout the emptiness.
There was no confirmation whether or not this was Asahi and Aletha's world; they have only assumed that it was since it had been such a long time since their incident. Matter-in-fact, both have almost completely lost grip on the memory of that calamity. Although Asahi was undoubtedly immersed in this bizarre unearthly location, it had not stopped him from recalling.
"Why is this… white glow, so familiar? Have I seen it before?"
Suddenly, a mysterious and strange croaky voice emerged.
"Ah, so it appears that one has forgotten about their past. What a pity." Cutting off their words there, Asahi and Aletha immediately began searching to find where the voice came from. After all, never would have they expected anyone else to be here.
"Could it be Akwan?" Aletha whispered.
"No." Asahi mumbled. "The voice is too crooked to belong to Akwan. Just keep moving–
Appearing from a misty veil of white was a strange monstrous-looking figure wearing a dark cloak with glowing magenta lines inscribed on their chest. Every centimeter radiating within this man exuded an aura of powerful and corrupted energy.
"Hey, are you responsible for this… void?" Aletha shouted angrily. "Wait a minute, I don't remember seeing your face. Who are you?!
After Aletha finished his sentence, the mysterious and powerful figure turned its gaze towards them and let out a sinister laugh. He then dispersed his dark tendrils from his head, lifting them as if they were arms.
"Of course. Of course. OF COURSE OF COURSE OF COURSE you would say that!" The figure exclaimed as he clenched his nasty fists and slid it against his crumpled and disjointed face.
"I AM THE GOD OF THE FORGOTTEN! And you two. Who dare call themselves 'Gods', have abandoned the very world that made you WHO. YOU. WERE!"
Aletha drew her lower lip between her teeth and clenched her fists.
"But… we never abandoned the world."
"We had no choice!" Asahi said as he slowly reached over for his blade.
In response to the sudden loudness of Asahi's answer, The God of The Forgotten crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled dismissively, raising his strange stringy legs.
"Oh really? Then let me make something clear for you."
The strange humanoid creature lunged his dark tendrils into the white surface and started laughing maniacally, abruptly changing into an ear-piercing scream. His five limbs raised up in the air like a parachute before flying down and piercing the void. As Asahi and Aletha pivoted backward, reaching for the hilt of their blades, The God of The Forgotten revealed.
"YOU TWO DID. And I erased the memories of your family's very existence from EVERYONE in Gincad after. YES!" He screamed with a shuddering voice. "The Adtraic Family! The supposed rulers of Gincad; fallen onto their knees by a SIMPLE light."
Every time they were to take one step forward, everything surrounding them would flicker into black and white like a blinker.
Asahi and Aletha couldn't bear to comprehend the sudden reveal they were just given.
"The Adtraic Family's existence, removed from the world? How could one do that?!" Asahi mumbled aloud. "That… shouldn't be possible."
The God of The Forgotten forced his lips into a devious smile.
"Oh but it is." He said. "...and now you two are recognized as nothing but ordinary fleshy, powerless humans." Putting his hand to his forehead, The God of The Forgotten looked heavenward and asked once more.
"Now tell me. Do you two know who I am?"
It was difficult for Asahi and Aletha to even comprehend what was happening. Despite all their silent moments, rummaging for clues, answers, or even recollections of this strange being; not once had a spark been emitted from both of their minds. They could see it just from the look on the creature's eight sharp magenta eyes that it wanted the right answer. But struck with memory loss and confusion, it made the process of answering them physically impossible to accomplish.
They never even wanted to consider answering this creature. Nonetheless, because of the close proximity to them, Asahi and Aletha had no choice but to answer.
"No, we don't."
Fury braced every corner of this crooked and goopy creature's body. From the waist up, purple energy surged across their exposed inward veins. Their five magenta eyes glowed a piercing brightness, strong enough to blind mortal eyes.
"Oh? Really? Are you sure…?" They said with a smile.
Asahi gulped and stepped back from The God of The Forgotten. He knew that answering them would infuriate it even more. Yet, Aletha, being as clumsy, and oblivious as ever, had the audacity to answer the creature.
"Yes."
A mirthless laugh spewed out of the creature's mouth. He blew out his cheeks, treating the answer as if it was some sort of joke. But the disturbing look on their elliptical eyes contradicted this act; exhibiting it more as a warning or a threat for Aletha to 'run'.
"Keep your heart beating," The God of The Forgotten warned; His entire face scrunched purple as he bent over and watched Aletha quiver and tremble in fear. As he stood there, cross-eyed, making a gleam of deviltry in their own eyes, he leaned over to Aletha's ear and whispered. "...because not even the warmth of your own blood will save you from what you said."
A potent blast catapulted her several meters away from the creature, rupturing a crater inside the solid white wall of the void. Immediately, Asahi darted to the god and hastily unsheathed his sword. His shining white blade impaled and skewed a piece of The God of The Forgotten's skin, peeling it like a fruit.
Screaming in agony, The God of The Forgotten fell prone onto the white void, feeling a white burning feeling consume his skin. His contorted face skewed up into an expression of absolute wrath as he spoke.
"Nothing more a blade can do."
Without warning, the creature launched up and mauled straight toward Asahi. Layers of his skin pulsated and squirmed like bubbles as he struck the boy with their screaming goopy tendrils, landing several hits.
Time slowed as Asahi's gray eyes caught the same piece of The God of The Forgotten's scaly goopy skin scraping and landing against his body. A mysterious, deep, formal, and lurking voice echoed through his mind. It was so eerie and distorted that Asahi felt like every single noise imaginable was heard in both his ears. But then, as his vision flashed into white, the voice gradually got more clearer.
* * * * *
A massive tsunami of white light surged forth, smashing against the soil and engulfing the land, reducing everything to slag.
"Husband…"
The second wave of lethal light rose up, burying the first before its colossal body broke apart, turning what once were kingdoms into nothing but white.
"Please."
Her sleek and thick black gloves clenched tightly onto another's; Her long, silky, radiant white hair fluctuated and flew with the hot winds as they roared into the stars.
The waves of death continued their rampage through the skies, causing countless lives to perish under its merciless onslaught. Within her sharp black eyelashes were cold, glistening tears sliding down her cheek. And yet, despite tears, her voice was so rich and resonant that it eclipsed the screaming roars of the world.
"Our world..." She said in a trembling whisper, "is no longer..."
* * * * *
Just as the memory could continue, it flashed into darkness, returning back to the void once more.
"What… was that?!" Asahi mumbled as he felt the flow of time speeding up to its original state. Before he could even notice, The God of The Forgotten turned its attention to Aletha, watching her scream and cry out in pain. It began to mutter something under its breath, as if it was trying to calm itself down.
"Calm down. It's just a shred of my skin. I'm sure nothing will be remembered right? It's only ONE PIECE!"
Aletha's body was covered in wounds, and she writhed and trembled in pain. Her screams were muffled by the white walls of the void.
"I'll kill you!" She shrieked at the creature, tears streaming down her face.
"Oh look, the same tears I saw on you in your tragic memories. Aw, look how broken you look." The creature said as it pierced its sharp goopy tendrils through Aletha's skin. "Who decided to even call you a god? Who decided that you could answer me, HUH?!"
"Don't you dare touch my sister!" Asahi screamed with fury boiling down his neck.
"You think you have a say in this? You're still nothing more than a mortal to your world's eyes now." The God of The Forgotten replied. Its tone had become very harsh as it glared at Asahi, who was standing there with his sword held high above his head. "You don't understand anything. What can you possibly know about your world?"
Asahi's gunmetal gray eyes narrowed, looking up at the creature. He wanted to tell him that he knew all too well what his world was; that he knew the pain, suffering, blessings, and virtues they inflicted upon people.
Nevertheless, his memory was too foggy, leaving him to prove The God of The Forgotten by using his magical power. Before the creature could unleash its powerful ball of explosions, Asahi blocked the blast and flew in the air. Then, narrowly tilted, he shot black beams of darkness at The God of The Forgotten, forcing even more fragments of his goopy skin to be peeled.
"I forgot." Asahi said as he looked down at the void. His eyes then bulged in shock, seeing the brown scarf rest peacefully against Aletha's trembling and bruised hand. Then, his vision drifted over to the two pieces of The God of The Forgotten's skin, seeing it fall onto the brown scarf like fallen leaves.
Before anymore could be said, time froze still, Asahi, Aletha, and even The God of The Forgotten's bodies were paralyzed, allowing another memory to invade their minds.
* * * * *
A long, divinely-patterned black door stood beautifully in the hallway. Then, in nothing short but a flash, the vision was ruined by the burning fire behind the windows, collapsed ceilings, and stone; and lastly, the door being just a bit pried open.
Three individuals sped across the hallway. All looked young, but the third one, had the most youth in her. A silver-haired girl with magenta eyes followed a young white-haired boy and girl through a large white hallway. Parts of the ceiling suddenly collapsed behind them. Luckily, Asahi defl;ected them with his magic, screaming as they sprinted across the floor.
"Just keep on moving!"
. . .
What remained on the other side of the pried-open door were only piles of dust scattered everywhere among a trashed room. The bed was flipped over, blue glowing holes were all over the walls, and the furniture was trashed in piles of sparkling dust. There were signs of struggle among every trace of the room.
"N…No…"
A boy knelt down at the sight and cried shining tears, unable to fathom the sight he had just witnessed. He knew just by seeing that sparkling brown scarf lie silently against the tiled floor, it served as an indication to what happened to …
Although they were told by the white-haired boy to wait, the silver-haired girl entered the room and darted her eyes to the brown scarf; her face mixed with emotions of confusion and sorrow.
"What… happened, Asahi?"
Then, realization kicked through Asahi's heart. Asahi fell down to his knees, knowing that he had failed keeping this hidden from them.
"Big brother, what's wrong?"
His body quaked in pure fear and terror, tears fell down on his pale cheek, and his hands fiddled quietly with the silken brown scarf. Within those watery gray eyes, was pure trauma.
As Aiyana and Aletha bent toward them, worried about what made Asahi so upset; the wall of the parent's room collapsed, revealing the burning kingdom they once knew.
But despite that, the two girls decided to ignore it; only worried about what Asahi had to say. The white-haired girl pushed the silver-haired girl aside and leaned over to Asahi, asking him.
"Asahi, why are you crying?
In one quiet, trembling, and horrified voice; Asahi turned his pale face toward his sisters and quakingly replied.
"We… lost… our parents."
* * * * *
A ghastly whiteness overspread his cheek as the memory dissipated away. Asahi stomped and shouted out to The God of The Forgotten as he chuckled menacingly at the reactions both Aletha and Asahi had displayed for him.
"Our mother's scarf." He grumbled as he clenched the brown scarf against his fingers and gritted his teeth, his face consumed in pure wrath. "I will find whoever was responsible for destroying our world. WHATEVER IT TAKES!"
Seething with anger, Asahi approached The God of The Forgotten menacingly, sheathing his blade, and engulfing his fists into a white flame.
"And it all starts..." Asahi grumbled as the white fire transformed into a murky-black. "...with you."