A stream burbles as it travels along its bed, bubbling over rocks and branches. The brook trickles and seeps into both Asahi and Aletha's hair. It felt as if Time elapsed differently every second they were unconscious. They couldn't feel much but the tingling chill of the liquid drenching their hair and the soft bristles of grass soaking the droplets.
It feels to Asahi as if the ride on the carriage took an entire day for him.
However, it was merely four hours of travel, which at most took the entire afternoon. The trip in the carriage was relatively smooth. There weren't many dangers, obstacles, or anything of that matter that blocked the carriage's way. As soon as the carriage arrived at the goblin town, Lyssa abandoned everyone, gave them to the goblins, and chose to return to the capital of Pladtioa to settle her personal inquiries.
* * * * * * * *
Asahi's eyelids slowly part from each other, taking grasp of the situation in front of him. He rubs his forehead with his soft fingers and quiveringly mutters to himself while hearing the trickle of the stream sounding behind him.
"What… happened?"
His surroundings are relatively tame, with nothing but only a few rustles of leaves and bushes being heard from his ears. Quickly after, the dense feeling of guilt shrouds his mind, the accountability of not extensively defending anyone during their encounter with Tear. It felt to Asahi as if it was his most profound failure.
With the care of his sister, Asahi turns his head to his right and sees a white-haired twin adolescent resting at least ten meters away from him.
He notices a massive patch of green surrounding them and a forest of tall, dark oak wood trunks scattering throughout the shrouding mists of this strange area. He pushes himself upwards and tilts his head behind. Far in the stream and the trees is the sight of a massive lush mountain peak stretching high into the clouds.
"It's pretty hard to see from the dense mist resonating and shrouding the forests", Asahi thought. As the tranquil yet mysterious silence continues, he hears faint groans coming from his left.
"Uhh…"
She pushes her arms to her chest, then rolls over like a dog. Her legs start to twitch as she drools while dreaming. Asahi notices her and swiftly slides his feet away from Aletha's face. The forest is so silent that even his soft, whispering voice can be heard.
"She's dreaming…"
Asahi shakes his head and faintly chuckles while stressing to find the others. He overtly squints his eyes through the distant misty horizon. He sees a sizeable twirling windmill and a group of straw houses varying in size, scattering over the forest and hiding behind the fog.
Strange and uncanny roots sprawl up from the ground, like a spreading virus.
As the mist slithers below his nose, Asahi whispers.
"Is this Dreamtoe? Where are Sally, Drimi, and Phthonus?"
Aletha stretches her arms into the air and releases a loud but cute yawn. She rubs the tears off her eyelids and jumps up in shock while watching Asahi and the stream.
"Ahh!" She screamed. "Why do you always have to be towering in front of me whenever I wake up?"
Asahi simply replies while perking his chin upwards with a smirk.
"Perhaps I am too secure?"
Aletha eases up her mild frustration and says in a relaxed tone.
"Hehe… Yet you sound so proud saying that." She playfully giggles while pushing Asahi out of a trance. "Chill out, bro! I'm not going to go anywhere…"
Asahi nervously chuckles and shrugs his shoulders. He looks left and right to examine his surroundings, then faintly responds.
"You sound different. Stop speaking like that…"
Aletha pouts and stomps on the ground. She screams with an irritating attitude.
"Come on, Asahi! It's casual language. Stop being SO serious!"
Asahi squints his eyes at her.
"I don't think anyone speaks like that; Especially in Gincad. Did you learn this from others?"
Aletha tremblingly mutters with a slightly high-pitched and childish tone.
"Mayyybe…"
Asahi sighs and shakes his head with a facepalm. He squeezes Aletha's arm and aggressively pulls her away from the stream.
"Come on, sis! You almost got your clothes soaked! Be more careful—
Aletha interrupts him with a mocking tone.
"Be more lenient!"
"That's it—
Just as the mist envelops them, the sound of a slap echoes within the forest. Aletha quietly squeals, slowly falling to the floor and rubbing her red bruise on her neck. She forms small tears and cries like a child.
"Y-You hit me!"
She playfully growls, opens her mouth, and hisses.
"Rrrrr!"
Asahi shakes his head and mutters.
"That is probably the most childish thing I have seen from you in this world. Could you at least try and act serious for your big brother? You don't know what's out there…"
Aletha falls silent and sticks her tongue out, mocking Asahi.
"I'm a serious man! I'm serious! Look at me all grumpy and wumpy."
Asahi faintly mutters with a slightly irritated tone.
"I don't think that's even a word."
At this point, Asahi thinks Aletha is a fool, unable to believe his sister was acting more childish than how she usually works. As their feet touch the strangely thick stalks of grass, a strange feeling pulses through his veins. His eyes tremble. He falls to his knees and coughs the mist up that is pushing through Asahi's windpipes with brute force.
Aletha swerves her body side to side, looking up at the sky and blindly smiling. In a cold, faint, high-pitched voice, Aletha randomly screams out into the forest.
"Playtime with big brother is fun! We need more friends!"
Asahi hastily covers her mouth and jolts his head towards her's.
"What has gotten into you, Aletha? Playtime, seriously? Wasn't that something you would say when we were children?"
As a matter of fact, Asahi can't believe those words came from his mouth. Ever since they reached their old adolescent age of nineteen years, all of a sudden, their growth halted. They couldn't remember what was blocking them from growing.
Asahi disregards his curiosity, wanders further through the mist, and covers his mouth from the intoxicating atmosphere enshrouding the forest. He turns his head to Aletha. He sees Aletha coughing up sparkles from her mouth. He backs away from her and asks with a caring tone in his voice.
"Aletha, a-are you alright? Should we go into that building? This… mist is growing thicker. Not just the mist, I noticed the pores from those peculiar flowers also obstructed our vision. I feel… dizzy."
As Asahi pulls Aletha while feeling the pure scent of the mist dizzying him, Aletha dreamily opens her eyes, nods with a concerned look on her face, and faintly mutters to him.
"Asahi… I… don't know...."
"Huh? W-What did you say, sis?"
As her gray eyes peer through Asahi's with fear, after inhaling strenuous amounts of pores, her gray eyes fog up, and a terrifying smile forms over her face.
"Let's… play."
"No, i-it's not the time for… that."
Asahi feels an uneasy feeling viewing the massive group of tall, dead, winding trees. He grabs Aletha's hand and whispers to her as luminescent blue, and yellow leaves glide near their faces.
"Stay… close to me. We can… do it."
As they approach the abandoned straw house near them, the mist slowly grows denser. The fumes rise through Asahi's nostrils, his head starts to pound, he falls to the floor and roughly coughs.
"I.... can't… breathe..."
As both Asahi and Aletha slowly begin to faint from the mist, rustles of leaves sound behind them. Asahi's vision blurs, hearing himself and Aletha giggle and laugh uncontrollably. They laugh so hard, tears of hopelessness fall down their pale skin. Asahi slowly crawls to Aletha and slams his head against the ground, screaming in his mind.
"Make it stop Make it stop Make it stop..."
He repeatedly screams those words over and over again, feeling absolute insanity seep through his mind. Aletha feels her head fogging up, also screaming at the top of her lungs.
"Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!"
As dark blue smoke rises from the many graves surrounding the abandoned building, a distorted sound of a familiar male voice echoes over their ringing ears.
"Asahi, ALETHA! Get out of there!"
Nails scratch through the dirt, the sound of paws touching the floor grows vividly clear and closer to the wanderers' ears.
With one last glance, Asahi tilts his head to see who is dashing at him. The only features he can make out of the approaching figure are round emerald eyes, dark hair, and a dark mocha-colored hood.
Asahi crawls towards the boy's ankle, seeing the boy carefully picking up Aletha. He then effortlessly grabs Asahi and blasts the mist around him with the speed of his tail. As darkness slowly envelops the wanderers' vision, the boy's face grows more apparent to them. Aletha smiles, then faints on the boy's shoulder. As Asahi's vision blurs and darkens, he struggles to whisper.
"B...B...Belial?"
His emerald eyes broaden while the wind's speed blows through his hair.
"I apologize for this, dear Asahi and Aletha. I will explain everything when I and another ally of mine reach a safe area among Dreamtoe cliff."
"H-Huh?"
After Asahi's last word, his consciousness along with Aletha's; flashes into darkness.