Ever since Asahi and Aletha awakened in that densely packed forest, one simple question stuck inside their minds.
"What do we do now?" A question that projected an aura of curiosity, insecurity, and panic from them. It showed just how clueless Asahi and Aletha were about the happenings of their world, an unsureness of what to do next now that they arrived.
The wanderers had yet to plan this far. All they expected was that their world was still in shambles and that they would leave immediately.
However, now that Asahi and Aletha had indeed returned to their world for what they thought was only ten years, their thoughts transformed greatly.
After escaping, thanks to the masked girl who saved the wanderers from their demise, Asahi and Aletha raced across the stone road toward the city's entrance. But before they could even reach the outskirts, Aletha stepped forward and blocked Asahi.
"Asahi, stop!"
Asahi raised an eyebrow, clueless about what she meant.
"Why?"
She pointed to the lines of carriages passing through the narrow archway. Red, Green, Blue, and Brown colors don't typically match the hue scheme of ordinary carriages.
"Traffic," Aletha stated. "I… I don't think we can get inside the city without getting caught by the guards."
Asahi deeply exhaled and nodded his head, agreeing with her.
"Yes, Brich mentioned a ceremony. No surprise that carriages are here."
As they watched the carriages carefully slip through the gate, Aletha nodded her head in agreement and mentioned.
"Yeah, and Brich mentioned our mother's scarf falling from the sky, right? And that it was stolen away from a person? I know we have money for it, but... do you know where that person is?"
A first faint trace of irritation bit Asahi's face.
"Aletha, you can't depend on me ALL the time," Asahi said as he looked at his hands. "There will be a time where you will have to depend on yourself, you know."
Aletha's face turned red in impatience as she heard the silence.
"Ugh. Just think of something already!"
"This is exactly what I'm talking about," Asahi replied as he crossed his arms. "But, okay, I guess I can give it a try."
As Asahi thought of methods of entering the city, suddenly, his eyes caught Aletha's distraught face. The faint sounds of metal sounded behind, followed by eerie screeches. He felt just from the pattern of wind behind him that a presence was lurking behind. Before he could turn around, he noticed Aletha's face turning pale in terror.
"Asahi…" She quivered as she pointed her finger. "Behind you."
With a unsure feeling, Asahi glanced sideways of his shoulder.
A tall figure wearing dark metallic armor stood before him, with only one moving eye attached to its helmet. It whispered as a dark, curvy, scaly tale coiled behind it.
"Surrender now or face total annihilation."
At that moment, Asahi reached for his blade, but was immediately taken away by Aletha.
"RUN!"
Just as the blade shredded a piece of their attire, they fled from the knight and ran down the hill, having no choice but to go inside the city.
Far in the distance, behind a small mountain, stood tall buildings, walls, and a castle. Aletha squinted and could hardly determine if it was large or small, because of the intense glare from the sunlight
But then as they approached closer from the dirt pathway, the sight gradually grew clearer.
On the other side of the hill was a gigantic wall that encircled a massive city, with the horizon of the sea glistening under the stars and the rising moonlight.
As the dawn of night begins, slowly a dark nightly mist enveloped the area, separating Asahi and Aletha from their original positions.
. . .
Without notice, Aletha found herself on a completely different side of the wall, any sight of her brother. Although she was behind the wall, with just a little silence, she could hear loud chatter and bells ringing from the other side. Her eyes caught a crisp and flat clean surface of stone spreading around from left and right; not a single dirt was seen from his sight.
As she carefully observed the wall, Aletha thought.
"Not an entrance to be seen…" Aletha mumbled as she deeply sighed. "How can an entire city…"
"Hey!" Suddenly, a loud voice hollered at her from a distance.
Abruptly, Aletha's face paled, hearing metal and weaponry clang around her. She immediately ditched that side and sprinted away from the voices, looking for an area to hide. Conveniently, next to her right, a deeply dug brown pit rested at the other side of the pathway.
"You there!"
The voices echoed loudly again, coming from behind her. Aletha stopped and glanced back to find two figures walking up to her. One had a scarlet cloak covering its head. The other wore a white mask with black stripes on each corner of the mouth. Both were holding long swords in their hands, sprinting toward Aletha.
She hunched down and closed her eyes, hoping for the guards to pass away. As the tension of her heart sprung up, Aletha eavesdropped on the conversation.
"Are you kidding me?" The scarlet-cloaked one mentioned. "We lost them. An illusion most likely. Dan, I thought you said there was someone here."
As an awkward silence approached, he lowered his blade and resumed with a boresome tone. "I told you there was no one. When was the last time you slept?"
The white-masked knight, of whom could be presumed as Dan, took a step back and shook his head.
"T-Three days."
"Three days?!" The general said as he alerted all others. "That's it. Guards, return to base! It was a false alarm. For once I thought DAN would acquire general status today, but to my surprise; I guess I have been GRAVELY mistaken. Shame on you… better luck next year."
As all four guards passed by the ditch, disregarding the false alarm, Aletha poked her head out, ensuring herself that she was safe.
She exhaled and tried to emerge from the pit, but suddenly, she heard the sound of boots stomping next to her. Without hesitation, Aletha jumped into the pit once more and hid under it.
Her breathing was heavy as she looked over the grass to see a man standing in place. He was carrying a strange circular black device, with white buttons around. His long unkempt black hair was tousled from sleepiness as he stared at the stars. The careful and soft moonlight shone over his skin, revealing all his features, including his jewel-like lavender eyes. But the more she looked, the more that she felt a familiar aura radiate over him.
"Do I... know him?" Aletha mumbled. "There's something about him that seems familiar to me. I can't put my finger on it."
Then, suddenly without warning, the man spoke.
"I sense a presence lurking by." He said with a deep tone as he turned away from the pit. "One that feels indefinitely familiar."
A howling breeze brushed across the sea of grass. The dark-haired man shrugged his shoulders and continued by the dirt path, until he completely vanished into the mist.
Aletha quickly got out of the pit and stood tall against the ground, staring at the empty space where he had once stood. Then, as if to test herself, Aletha ran towards the direction the man had disappeared. Her heart was pounding in excitement, as she reached the edge of the hill and peeked through the city.
"Yes, an entrance."
It seemed like he had gone off somewhere. But knowing that Asahi was still wandering about, Aletha decided to meet back in the area to hopefully enter the city without anyone noticing.
***
"Well then..." Asahi began. "Where do we begin?"
In front of them was a vast plain of green grass.
At the very top, a giant stone archway rested above them, with the words 'Pladtioa City' etched on the surface. The wind blew gently, carrying a sweet scent of flowers and trees along with it. A beautiful sight indeed, even with the moonlight.
But before they entered, Asahi had a few things she needed to say.
"Do not tread off yet." Asahi said with a serious expression. "This is a big city. And the chances are high that people will undoubtedly have suspicions on us. Remember, our world has changed, not destroyed."
With that being said, Asahi and Aletha walked forward slowly, approaching the gates. Then, without any signal, Asahi and Aletha sprinted as fast as they could into the dark alleyways, in hopes of not getting caught, pushing people by until they finally approached the shadows.
* * * * * * * *
(Okay, so what would be the first place we would go if we were being chased?)
The two story building had a desk at the side with a small window on the left wall. The giant sliding ladder allowed anyone to collect books, and the place was relatively quiet.
But not long after, chatter from outside erupted and rushed inside after the door opened, robbing away the silence. As the front door creaked open, the bell above it made a loud, high-pitched ring, alerting a woman from the desk.
"Huh?"
Then, two white-haired figures walked in the door.
"Really, Asahi?" Aletha complained as she entered the building. "Out of all the buildings we could go to, you chose the library…? I knew you were a dork. No one in their right minds would choose a place such as…
Suddenly, she was interrupted by the sound of a honeyed voice.
"Can I help you?"
After they heard the voice, Asahi and Aletha's eyes retraced their path to a desk, noticing a tall woman with long magenta hair stamping books. Aletha, being so stubborn as she was, continued her rant without care.
"We could have gone to a restaurant, a tavern, or maybe the church. And what you chose was the most BORING place imaginable. A library."
A flood of pride rose in Asahi. He knew well that choosing the library was one of his most optimum choices.
Little did that dim-witted yet pretty girl know… that… this served as a storage for info.
Asahi expressed with a certain implication of confidence and wit.
"Unlike your creative yet stubborn self, I made an intelligent choice. A library contains vast knowledge from fiction, history, and non-fiction."
Aletha fell silent, nervously biting her lip in anxiousness.
"..."
While the silence of the library continued, Asahi stepped forward and added.
"Have you ever thought about that?" He said. "Right here, right now, we can harbor all the knowledge and information of our world's expansive history just by reading books. Everything that happened throughout those years can be given just by reading."
Aletha sighed and gave a laugh of jovial significance. She wasn't invested nor paid attention at all to what her brother was explaining.
"Blah, blah, blah… words are BORING!" She said as she turned around to the librarian. "Miss, are there any books with drawings? I understand them more than those lengthy, chunky, sloppy, fat, blocky walls of blah blah, gassy text."
Asahi raised an eyebrow.
(That's an…. Interesting way to insult words.)
He hastily shook his head and sighed, unable to put up with this pointless argument any longer. Even the Librarian was half-amused.
"Sis, they're not walls of text if you put your mind into it." Asahi said as he pointed to his head. " I KNOW that you have a creative mind, you draw stuff for literally half of your life." He pointed to Aletha's pocket on her dress.
"I bet you still have that drawing notebook our parents gave us. Now do the same thing. Just read a fictional novel and use your mind, just like imagining. That's what books are. Education is the most powerful weapon you can use!"
Aletha's face grew red with frustration. Though she acted kind and nice for a few moments, the moment she heard her brother ramble on and on about this stuff, she went ballistic.
"Shut up, bro! I get it, blah blah blah blah blah! Get on with it! Read those walls of text. Or grab that magical notebook you always write in or something. I'M LEAVING!"
But then, as she noticed eyes watching her, Aletha quickly shuddered up and face palmed.
"What… has gotten into me?" Aletha said as she looked at Asahi's stunned face. "I… never acted like that around people. Is something controlling me?"
Asahi stared back at Aletha with a puzzled look.
"Are you serious?! You think that someone or some entity is controlling you?!" His tone lowered down as he realized. "Well… now that I think of it... I can recall something similar happening before."
Memories of the carriage ride flashed into his mind.
("Something is tampering with my memories. I don't recall acting like this at all.") A face of genuine age, with brown hair, and golden eyes came upon Asahi's mind as he stared into space.
Could it be that his suspicions were true? That The God of The Forgotten has the power to control emotions much as memories?
"Oh… well…"
Asahi didn't really want to admit this, but there was no other explanation for Aletha's sudden behavior. And the more he found out signs of this enemy, the more he felt his emotions being contorted and distorted.
Just before he could run out the door, Aletha's attitude changed abruptly.
"Never mind." She said with a still face. "I guess I could stay here and read a book or two."
Asahi's jaw dropped in shock.
"What?" He asked in disbelief. "But I thought you just said you were about to leave."
"No need to worry." Aletha said. "I can stay."
(There's something off about the way she speaks.) Asahi thought. (Not just that, but it seems that this entire situation seems as if it is being controlled. I must find out what is causing--)