The rancid stench that lingered within the interior of the wooden building disgusted Asahi and Aletha. They could hardly breathe just because of how repulsive this building smelled. However, Marina didn't seem to look affected in any way.
While all three of them walked along the dusty hallway, Asahi whispered to himself.
"How is Marina not affected by this putrid scent? I want to get out of here…."
Aletha covered her mouth and tilted her head to the dirty window. They heard their feet press on the creaking floor. Then, as they approached the hallway; Aletha darted her eyes to the ceiling and commented.
"Yes, I agree… the scent is disgusting. What is in here that makes such a horrid smell?"
"I don't know… but I hope it gets better."
Marina growled and gritted her teeth. Now it seemed that she had two personalities. One, she could be hostile; another she could be friendly— which made identifying her genuinely difficult for the wanderers.
They walked a fair distance behind her and made sure that they were not too close to Marina. As they were doing so, Asahi leaned to Aletha and whispered.
"No wonder she's lonely…."
"Shhh!"
Marina turned her head toward them and eavesdropped on the conversation. It was clear that she couldn't take more of the wanderers' complaints. She broke her honeyed act.
"Can you two be silent for a moment?! Do you want to know what this place really is or not?!"
The wanderers nodded their heads and responded while they scratched their heads.
"Y-Yeah."
"Good, then follow me. We're almost there."
As all three of them tread further through the building, the wanderers examined their surroundings. Most of the sunlight touched only the entrance; the rest of the building remained to be covered in shadows or darkness. The corners of the building crept with cobwebs.
As they silently walked behind Marina, Asahi thought.
"Maybe we shouldn't mess with Marina, especially if she could burst like that in this uncanny area. Trust me Aletha, you do not want to see what Marina is like when she's angry…"
As all three of them tread further through the building, they felt this eerie feeling surrounding them. Aletha turned to her brother and whispered.
"Asahi, I don't like it here. Maybe we should turn around?"
As they heard the buzz from the flickering candles, Asahi whispered to Aletha with a slightly cherish tone.
"Stop being so scared. I thought you had more confidence."
"I do… but— I don't have a great feeling about this place."
Asahi sighed
"Sis, most places don't have good feelings. Wow, even Aiyana was braver than you."
Aletha's face glowed red in embarrassment.
"H—Hey! Don't bring Aiyana into this. N-No… I-I… okay fine, I trust you. But if we get eaten by a monster, I'm going to get bragging rights."
Asahi tried to hide his laugh by covering his mouth. He knew that Aletha's mind was tangled, so he pushed his sister away from the dark doorway and whispered.
"Sis, we're not going to get eaten by a monster. Besides, if we were to get devoured by a monster, you wouldn't be alive to brag. Goodness, you're acting super childish today."
After the pointless arguing, all of them approached the entrance to the cellar. As they walk toward the dark opening leading to the basement, Marina halted the wanderers and raised her voice
"Don't move! I have a light source with me."
Suddenly, Marina placed her hands on the luminance of her forehead, then pulled a glowing antenna out from a blue lumiance on her skin. It looked to be some sort of marine creature's antenna; one that you would see on a creature at the bottom of an ocean.
Marina's antenna dangled and glewed over the air. Its lumiance revealed the wooden stairs below, that descended toward the bottom. She took a deep breath and made one tiny step down the stairway. As a creak sounded out from the bottom of the stairs, Marina turned her head and warned the wanderers.
"Now, be careful. Cover your nose; the stench gets worse from here."
The wanderers released a sigh. They really hoped that wasn't the case.
As they took a step forward, Asahi and Aletha pressed their fingers against their noses to obstruct the scents. They followed Marina's lumiance down the staircase and heard loud creaks sound from beneath their feet.
"Do you see that?"
They caught up with Marina and turned their vision back to the wall. From there, they saw more bones stretch from the cracked walls. It was a bone parade. Both Asahi and Aletha's eyes widened. Aletha shrieked in fear.
"W-What is that…?"
They were everywhere, spreading from the floor all the way to the ceiling. Marina stopped, walked upward, and shined her large antenna over the wall. Despite the sight of bones, Marina showed no look of surprise. Her only reaction was a blink. As she stood there, Aletha curiously asked.
"Why are there bones on the walls?"
Marina shook her head and swiftly ran down the staircase. She lowered her antenna toward the floor and saw a dozen more separated bones scatter over the solid stone floor. As she reached the bottom, she tilted her head toward the wanderers. released an extended sigh, then shouted at them.
"Hurry up!"
As they approached the last of the few stairs, Asahi responded to Marina.
"We're almost there! Hold on!"
Marina waved to them and stepped forward.
"Onwards. The cellar shouldn't be that big. There is something that I wanted to show you. I'm not the ruler of the village; I lied about that. I was just a traveler."
Aletha snapped her fingers and screamed with confidence.
"I KNEW IT!"
Marina darted up to Aletha and whispered to her.
"Shhh! Stop being so loud."
"Okay… sorry."
* * * * * * * *
The more the three of them tread through the cellar, the more bones there were. Currently, they were quite far from the stairs. They walked through hallways and stepped on puddles with a dark crimson hue. Thanks to the wanderers' innocence, they never knew that was…
As Marina stepped on a floor filled with bones, she hollered.
"There it is!"`
From the distance of the hallway was a massive dusty book lying on the pedestal. Asahi and Aletha were confused about what this could be. However, they were more concerned about the excruciating amount of bones laid out on all the floors.
As their footsteps resounded over the wall, Asahi hollered.
"Is this what you're trying to show us?!"
Marina hollered back from across the cellar.
"Indeed!"
As Asahi stepped forward, his vision all of a sudden blurred. He stood still— unable to recognize his surroundings. The dark, eerie cellar all of a sudden flashed to a seemingly younger version of the village above them.
. . .
There wasn't as much fog or trees. It looked to be a tranquil thriving landscape with luscious greenery and mountainous terrain. There wasn't an ocean near the village, rather a vast grassy prairie with rivers that stretched and slithered along varying heights.
"What is this place?" Asahi muttered.
He could hardly recognize this area. The vision was too blurry for him to comprehend. Aletha stood behind Asahi and wondered what he was staring at. Unfortunately for her, though, she couldn't see the vision. This was strange since most of her sights were connected with Asahi somehow.
Though, as the blur cleared from Asahi's vision, he saw a young brown-haired boy, standing at the exact place he and Aletha were before; In between the blacksmith shops near the abandoned building. He undoubtedly recognized that boy.
"No, it can't be. Is that Esmel?" Asahi mumbled while his vision flashed back.
. . .
As Asahi jumped in shock, Aletha could vividly remember that name her brother called out. She turned her head to Asahi and worriedly asked.
"Are you okay? Why were you standing like that?"
Asahi replied with a trembling tone.
"I… don't know. But I think it was because of that vision of this village in the past. The appearance of it looked vastly different from the present one."
Marina eavesdropped on the conversation and turned her head to Asahi.
"Are you speaking about this village?"
Asahi rubbed his head.
"Y-Yeah. I can't fully recollect the vision, but I know that the time was within thousands of years."
Marina jumped and ran up to Asahi.
"Thousands of years?! Are you two actually that old? That's like… before this world existed and the sea of flames! How do you two know this?"
Asahi took a deep sigh and stared into the ground. He replied with an aggressive tone.
"Because… we… ARE from this world."
Marina's aqua-blue eyes widened in shock. She can't believe that any of what the wanderers were saying are true.
"E-Eh?!"
Asahi released a deep sigh and scratched his head. He didn't want to go through a long conversation explaining his history, so Asahi kept the explanation short and walked in front of Marina.
"Let's just say… that we existed beyond what you can imagine."
Aletha dashed behind him.
"EEK!"
She cowered behind Asahi's back and saw countless walls filled with bones. Marina shook her head and took a deep sigh. For once in her life, she actually felt eager to learn about a person.
As they reached the large dusty book, Marina stood behind Asahi and asked with a pleading voice.
"Please tell me. I want to know."
Asahi sneered at Marina's azure eyes and then replied rudely.
"I will never forgive you for what you did to me earlier. Go somewhere else, sea girl."
Aletha gritted her teeth and fiercely slapped Asahi on the back of his head.
"Be polite, brother! I don't know what she did that made you so angry, but I know for a fact you would never act like this! Be more genuine."
Asahi released a large sigh and squinted his eyes at Marina with a look of pure hatred.
"Ugh, fine. If you can prove yourself that you are sorry for your actions, I will finally give you my forgiveness. Until then, we are still enemies."
Marina formed a faint smile on her face. At least she knew that she could retrieve Asahi's forgiveness, sometime. Marina stepped over a dirty puddle and approached Aletha. She swung her dangling antenna toward the walls and gave Aletha her gratitude.
"Thank you, dear Aletha. But I don't think that was necessary."
Asahi swiftly turned his head away from Marina, crossed his arms, and snarled at her. It was obvious he couldn't deal with seeing her face anymore.
"Pfft, whatever. You know what, I'll see you at the front door. I'm not dealing with this any longer."
He swiftly stomped his feet on the ground and aggressively walked toward the stairs. Aletha reached her hand and shouted to her brother.
"Asahi, get down here! You're acting like a misfit child!"
He slammed his fist against the wall and ran up the stairs. Marina walked up to Aletha from behind; She tried to do something, but was too afraid of Asahi. So, she remained silent. As Asahi reached the door, Asahi responded to Aletha with an aggravated tone.
"No! I will wait up here. Just do whatever you are doing! I don't want to go anywhere with that disrespectful sea girl around."
Aletha gritted her teeth, shook her head and took a deep breath. Though she acted childish most of the time, sometimes she could be just as mature as Asahi. Aletha had more of a discrete personality compared to her brother. She was more of the playful, energetic, and lenient type. Even with that in mind, her present act seemed a little too out-of-character for Aletha. It even made her question.
"What happened to me? I never speak like that. I'm never that demanding. Nor have I ever seen Asahi act like that either."
While Aletha heard the front door swing wide open, Marina neared to her and whispered.
"It's okay dear Aletha. We can read the dusty book for ourselves. It's that boy's fault if he misses information about the village."
As both stood near the book in silence, Marina slowly lowered her eyes on Aletha. She noticed Aletha's appearance, her face slowly turned bright red, her palms started to sweat, and the pace of her heart quickens.
"Wow, you're gorgeous."
Aletha's eyes widened. As she was just about to reach the book, she swiftly turned away from it, pointed to herself, and responded to Marina with a shocked tone.
"Are you talking about… me?"
She calmly awaited her answer. Marina, again, lowered her eyes toward Aletha's body. As she saw Marina, Aletha asked again while she pinched the bottom of her dress.
"Is something wrong? Why are you staring at me?"
Marina swiftly leapt up in shock and wiped the drool off her face. She walked up to the book and tried to calm herself down. As Aletha approached her, Marina whispered to herself.
"All her features are pretty."
Aletha leaned to Marina and silently stared at her. Marina, without a doubt, was undoubtedly invested in Aletha's appearance and body. She was so enthralled at Aletha's looks that she didn't even notice that her mouth started to drool again.
As Marina turned her head to Aletha, her face turned red.
Aletha stared at Marina's eyes, still absolutely clueless about what's going on. Much like Asahi, Aletha doesn't pay attention to her looks. While Marina continued to stare, Aletha tapped her shoulders and worriedly asked.
"Marina, are you okay? Why are you staring? Is there something on me?"
Immediately, Marina turned her head away from Aletha, wiped sweat off her face and focused her eyes on the book. As Aletha tried to jump to the book, Marina responded with an uneasy voice.
"N…Nothing!"
"She's too innocent. I have to stop, or else she might start to feel uncomfortable."
A hidden profound, dark truth was hidden among those pages that not even Marina wants to reveal to someone like Aletha. She began to have second thoughts.
"I don't want to do this anymore."
She then slammed the book shut, turned her head to Aletha, and tremblingly whispered to her.
"D-Dear Aletha, I… have changed my mind."
Aletha raised her eyebrow, released a deep sigh, then asked.
"Why? What do you mean by that?"
Without warning, Marina swiftly grabbed Aletha's wrists and tried to pull Aletha away from the book. Aletha was quick enough to hold the textbook and carry it in her arms. As Marina continued to pull her away, Aletha raised her voice.
"We just arrived here, and now you're wanting me to leave?"
Marina pushed her antenna back in her forehead and replied.
"Just go! You don't deserve this!"
As they raced across the bone hallways, Aletha roughly pressed her feet against the ground and urged Marina to stop. Even she was confused about what Marina meant by her words.
"Please explain what you are saying. I want to know…."
The sudden stop caught Marina off guard. Without warning, she tripped on a stone and accidentally fell on top of Aletha. Her face blushed even harder. She felt the tight fabric of Aletha touch on her. Her face undoubtedly glowed red.
She shook her head and slowly stood back up. Aletha does as well and dashed up the stairs to chase Marina. As her breath weakened, Aletha screamed at Marina.
"Where are you going?!"
As they reached the front door, they were too late. They see Asahi stare at an empty village. No one was forging weapons, no villagers were training, and no one was preparing. There was only Phthonus, Drimi, and Sally, who seemed to be speaking to no one. This sight frightened Asahi.
"Where did everyone go? Why are Drimi and the others speaking to no one?"
As Marina raced out the door and dashed to Asahi, Aletha also noticed the sheer emptiness of the village. It quickly reminded Aletha of what happened to their nation in the past.
The empty halls that were filled with dust.
Asahi dashed to Kali Leila and asked.
"Are you okay? Where is everyone?"
His question alone, startled Kali. She almost fell to the floor because of how surprising his abrupt arrival was.
"Asahi?! What are you talking about? They're right here."
Still, he saw no one but her, Drimi, Phthonus, and Sally. Aletha sprinted toward Asahi and raised her voice.
"Where is everyone?! Why did you leave me there?!"
Just like Kali Leila, Asahi was also shocked by Aletha's immediate arrival. He was so surprised, he accidentally tripped on a twig and bumped into Kali.
As her face widened in both arousal and shock, both heard a loud metal clang bounce on the ground.
Kali Leila crawled to it and tried to cover up the metal object, but she was already too late.
Aletha and Asahi couldn't believe what they saw.
Below her hands, next to Asahi's foot, was a metallic, flower-shaped mask; The same exact mask they saw on the cloaked girl that helped them enter Pladtioa City.