Asahi's eyes were greeted by the sight of a dense, humid place several meters beneath the surface. Every corner of this place was covered in thick vegetation and solid rock.
Several boulders stood before him, a waterfall half the size of the mountain towered above his tiny head, and the warmth of the sunlight was just barely within reach.
Squirrels scampered around and mocked him for how low he was, squeaking and chirping as they did.
With an amused tone, Asahi pushed himself up slowly from a pile of leaves and muttered.
"Where am I?"
Near him were five tiny houses fit for the height of a child. Most of the windows were not lit by a yellow light, although one of them, of which had a blue hue, stood before him with ease. As silence consumed him, Asahi was greeted by a guttural voice.
"Hey, boy! Over there!"
Though the voice interested him, Asahi's attention was focused more on the several glowing things that floated in his eyes.
A red meter, a green circle, a tiny cyan diamond, and several other identifiers such as the fading text, revealed the name [Half Statue] among the top of his eyes. Asahi commented quietly.
"The Tenth Eye."
The voice that shouted at him earlier, screamed once again coupled by the chiming noise of echoing footsteps.
"Hey, boy! I'm talking to you."
Asahi dared not to interfere and instead tried to call out Telos for clarification or anything that revolved around value.
After all, if he made a deal to use him, then there should be no reason not to use him.
"Blink!"
(Yes, what is it that you need?)
Asahi looked upward and gulped as he noticed how far he was. He shook his head and answered Telos with a mutter.
"Telos, thank god you responded. I'm lost, okay? I don't know where I am, and I thought the training would be simple but suddenly that woman ambushed us. Why did Joshilyn or whoever she was, take me there in the first place? I thought it was an easy challenge."
(Hold on.)
Telos took five seconds to recollect Asahi's eidetic memory.
Although he was great at recollection, even he struggled to digest all Asahi saw. Because in the boy's perspective, all he witnessed was flashing lights and several spoons.
As the billowing winds howled among the deeply carved hole, Telos informed.
(I see. So you were to go in training but then ended up here after an ambush that wasn't planned. Interesting.)
Concern started to spark in him as he remembered the face of Chloe, who was caught from the storm of the ambush.
"Okay, that isn't informative. I know what you said, so… what do I do?"
(Well… the first thing I suggest is that you try to find any sign of your allies. Anyone at all would be enough to recuperate value as they would have a different perspective and have more knowledge on the event.)
"Understood." Asahi said as he started sprinting down the rocky terrain with that thought in his mind. The Tenth Eye that was still within his vision caught on with the current state of his body, revealing such dangers as low health and injured limbs. Nonetheless, he never harbored a sense of care for that.
. . .
As he rummaged through the place, Asahi found moss-covered stones everywhere among this place. The pleasant colors of green, cyan, and blue all were splashed here like a bucket pouring down on an already painted canvas.
The vegetation looked as if it shouldn't have belonged here, and yet… almost everywhere in this misty pit was covered by it.
"It's so humid here. It's been ten minutes, and I haven't seen a ray of sunlight and yet it's so hot."
In the event of Asahi's complaining, suddenly, his eyes caught on to someone. He passed through a narrow way covered in vines and found an adolescent young woman with faint martini-red colored hair sitting against a gravely pile of lush leaves thick enough to support a grand descent.
She mumbled, not noticing the boy approaching her.
"There's no way out of here. I've tried for thirty minutes, and I can't find a single exit. I guess… this is my fate."
"Chloe?!" Asahi hollered as he raced over to the young woman.
"Yes?" She said with a faint mutter. "Who are you?" Although Asahi could see Chloe perfectly, the same couldn't be seen from her.
All she saw was a dark silhouette covered in shadow because of the crowded walls that strewn about the place. But as the sunlight finally started to stream through the treetops, his face began to shine and reveal to Chloe's eyes.
An expression of relief flew in her.
"Asahi?"
"Yes? Where are the others?!"
[Keep in mind that these two were speaking in Chloe's native language.]
Chloe shrugged her shoulders and shook her head, relieved to see someone here as well. She started to explain to him that it had been nearly thirty minutes after she awakened, and that there was no one else but him that she found within her wanderings.
Asahi nodded his head and understood everything, going to such lengths to where he started to grow ambitious to search more.
But as they tried to find where everyone went across this heavenly enclosed space, Chloe wanted to ask Asahi. She bent her head and smiled.
"Hey, I know we are stuck in this predicament and all… but, c… can you…" The teen started steering, afraid that if she were to speak wrongly, she would be embarrassed. "... can you teach me your language?"
Asahi raised an eyebrow and made a soft grin.
"Wait, you want me to do that now? Are you sure? I know we're alone and all, but…"
Chloe immediately interrupted.
"Yes, please! You don't understand how long I have waited to ask you this."
Asahi gave a shrug and sighed. Although he just awakened and was now weakened and separated from the group, Asahi felt pleased to become Chloe's teacher.
"Okay…"
As they carefully crossed a passageway that led to an open, vegetation-infested cavern, both of them rested near a comfortable spot, and started the session.
* * * * * * *
"So, why did you want me to teach you? I thought you did pretty well speaking."
Chloe gulped and shook her head.
"Well, because…" A trembling look came from her brown eyes. "Ever since I was summoned into this world, I had trouble communicating with people."
Asahi leaned over and caged his hands.
"Like what?"
Chloe shook her head and forced Asahi upward.
"N… Nothing."
She didn't want to goof around and stand at one place, so as they tried to find an exit to this cavern, the two simultaneously wandered the area and taught each other at the same time.
Asahi looked over his notebook and saw the first words on the page. He bent over and asked Chloe with a friendly tone.
"So, I guess you know the basics, right? Hello, high, goodbye?"
She nodded her head and smiled.
"Yeah." But with that response came a traumatic memory from Chloe that awakened from those three words.
* * *
"Hello?"
I forgot what this place was. But it's been so long, I never cared.
A fairly young girl with dark brown hair lay atop this poisonous area.
That was me, a defenseless girl that got summoned here after I stood outside.
There was nothing else I could have done.
I was weak, I was barely healthy, and had never gone outside in my world as much as I liked. I was quarantined because of my anxiety and the disease that only my brother and I knew I had. Now that I had lost him, no one could have comforted me. No one was like my brother. My world wasn't bad just from the crimes, natural disasters, and murder, but of what affects your soul. Everyone in my home world had this token of freedom to speak and judge; This thing, judgement, I hated it so much.
It's the element that is responsible for how people identify you as. You don't even know if you're being judged until they say something. That's why I don't like judgment.
I hate when people are silent.
When I reached my arm to one of the many people walking by, all they did was pass me. It's almost as if they judged me, like those same averting gazes I was given back in my home world.
"Move away, scamp!"
"Get out of here!" I could still remember their voices.
So cruel for a modern world, that's why I looked forward to fantasy. It's the reason I tried to escape my world by the form of my own stories, acting, and role-play. I loved to escape because the characters are the only people that could bring this sense of comfort in me. It's the only ones I thought they cared about. So when I found I was summoned into another world, I thought I died.
But this world was nothing like it, at least… not what I thought.
The air was so poisonous that even my tears were not able to dry up. It was almost like the pollution I breathed in my home city. I questioned whether this world was just another replication of my hell. And my thoughts said I deserved it.
The people there were so cruel, merciless, they didn't even bat an eye at me. They looked at me as if I was some sort of freak that couldn't breathe, but all I am was a human.
"Should we help this alien?"
"I don't know. It looks dangerous. Never trust anything from this nation, not even ones that look like us."
That stare. It's almost like the stare my parents gave me when they discovered I had a disease. A disease that was powerful enough to wipe society.
But luckily, I was secluded. No one helped me because they couldn't understand, not even my parents. I was truly… alone.
And what made it worse, was that I was still alive, somehow. These strange creatures that looked like spiders tried to creep up on me and devour my body. It felt like I was truly receiving my punishment for being slothful.
They looked like the nightmares I have seen in my dreams, horrible, horrible nightmares.
Their sharp teeth almost ripped my skin off, as if they were trying to devour me, but my pain ceased, as if it was a dream. I just… hate those creatures so much.
But suddenly, even though I was paralyzed without breathing, this girl… with light green hair and cyan eyes, grabbed me and escorted me away from this place.
After years of my life being alone, I could finally feel the sense of comfort, just as I did with my fantasies.
At first it was only a small hut, but she gave me this mask because she knew of the problems of breathing in this place. She even taught the language because she had encountered people like this before…
* * *
A tear struck Chloe's eye as she forced herself to shut her eyes and not break down.
"It's… nothing now. I'm safe, ha. You don't have to worry about me. It's all in the… past."
She tilted her head to the book Asahi held and backed away in shock.
"Huh? What is that?"
Asahi's gray eyes slowly looked over to the girl and trembled.
"Dear… god."
He had difficulty imagining Chloe's scenario, thinking.
(Just imagine what it would feel like to be taken away from your own world, only to be transported to somewhere worse. Where no one remembers you, no one knows you, and no one understands you. Not even the air could get you. The only thing that could comfort you are the people you believe that like you.)
It was a chilling thought; one as such that made Asahi's skin crawl.
"... I can't imagine. Please, I don't want you to feel alone. That's just how someone could react when hearing what you said."
Chloe giggled, trying to brush the sadness away from her.
"I-It's okay. I'm fine now. That girl who had saved me, changed my life. This world isn't as bad as I thought it was. It's fine."
Asahi gritted his teeth in anger.
"NO, it's not! How could you survive like that? Even if I lost my parents, it's a tragedy to be all alone. I never knew a place such as that existed. It just sparked even more curiosity in you."
A tremor of faint amusement and disbelief flew with her face.
"R… Really? Do you think so?"
"Yes." Asahi tried not to wipe a tear.
"I know what it's like to lose a family, it's a horrible feeling. The only ones that had loved and cared for you, the ones you were raised by and the ones that truly cared about your life, had suddenly passed away before you; it's a horrible feeling."
Remorselessly swept into oblivion, a retort leaped to Asahi's lips as they wandered the warm cavern. He felt as if he genuinely cared for this person, as if he could connect to her.
And that feeling that pulsated in Asahi was EXACTLY what Telos desired him to have. If he could keep it up, perhaps he could draw a realization that every person he encountered, shares a story?
Asahi mumbled as they finally found an opening leading outside.
"Alright, Chloe. Are you sure you want to learn this language?"
Chloe beamed while she tried to hide her expression.
"Absolutely! I look forward to that, Asa…hi!" Suddenly, her mouth shut as she thought about something. Chloe mumbled.
"Asahi… Wow. That's such a nice name. It fits his appearance so well. White hair as bright as the sun."
Asahi turned over to Chloe with curiosity.
"What are you mumbling about?"
"N-Nothing! It's just about your name and all."
A silence dawned up the area.
"My name…?"
"Yeah. It reminds me of when my brother taught me about Japan."
Asahi backed up.
"Brother?"
Suddenly, as they passed through the opening among what they assumed was a massive cavern, where vines dangled and scrambled ruins, Asahi's reply triggered another memory in Chloe to return in her.
("I never want to lose you, okay?")