Rushing creeks and waterfalls echoed over the oversized cliff edges.
The strawberry-blonde-haired vampire tore grass into little pieces, offering an uninterested look to the world on her face. While Aletha pondered about something, Rinnea rocked her back and sniffed the fresh air, yawning in boredom, whispering to her.
"You know, if you want to know where your friends are, I can show you." She tapped Aletha's shoulder and pointed to the glowing lanterns dotted about the mist-embraced trail. Rinnea continued with a friendly and bright tone. "It's not that far. And trust me, the destination will pay off. You can rest, get something to eat, meet new friends, and so on."
A small and relieved smile curled up from Aletha's mouth.
Although her concerns about the "training session" have been completely wiped away, she still thinks about it from time to time. Not only just that, but she was also concerned for her brother.
Nonetheless, even if she was welcomed with peace, Aletha still couldn't grasp the idea that Drimi, the woman that saved them and encouraged her-- the captain that took them to Linuxina; was slaughtered at the hands of her father.
She clenched her fists and looked over to the ground, shaking her arms and muttering.
"If only… I was there."
Rinnea tapped Aletha's head and asked.
"Hey, um, so are you going to come with me or not?"
Because she wasn't focused, Aletha answered with a confused tone.
"Where?!"
Frustrated, Rinnea lowered her eyebrows and squinted at Aletha with a look of irritation.
"I thought I told you already. Were you not paying attention?"
A silence brooded in the air. Aletha shrugged her shoulders and made a quirky smirk, looking down at the ground and truthfully answering.
"Yes… I was. I'm sorry, Rinnea, I was focused on what happened before."
The vampire girl made a forgiving giggle.
"Haha, it's alright! It's not that BIG of a deal. I was just testing if you're a liar or not."
Aletha's eyes shrunk in disbelief, answering with a trembling voice.
"A liar?! W-What?! I'm not a liar! Do you even know who I am?!"
Rinnea crossed her arms, shook her head, and replied sarcastically.
"Oh, of course, strangers like me know who you are." She exhaled deeply. "Come on. I thought a girl like you was smarter than that. Right, I didn't even catch what your name was. So… what's your name?"
"Aletha."
Rinnea's round ruby eyes widened like a tomato.
"Aletha…? Wow, even your name sounds beautiful. You are the perfect cake in this world, aren't you?"
After a long silence, Rinnea clutched Aletha's hand and said with a gentle tone. "Anyways, let's go and follow that stream over there. I want to have a little chit-chat with you while we travel to Clearstar."
"Clearstar?"
"Just follow me and stop asking questions."
* * * * * * *
Vines slithered down the cliff face like snakes, seeking the pool of tepid water below.
Flying feet trailed excitedly along streams rushing through the thick patches of foliage. Monastery quiet, rivers lined with pine trees, and the whiff of mint wafted up to them.
Aletha and Rinnea decided to make their way to its decanter clear falls, hoping to find a flat plain in front.
Instead, their hearts stopped with shock as the idyllic scene took their breaths away.
The hollowness of the valley magnified all sounds, from burbling streams to the bumble of bees. The visage of the streams, waterfalls, and a lake was veneer-clear and tranquil, flanked by an avenue of colossal pine trees conquering the height of tall mountains. But that wasn't all. Just barely holding their breath, Aletha tilted her head, feeling the breeze brush against her face.
Frenzied pulses of happiness ran down her spine.
She gasped, watched her step, and turned over to Rinnea with a smile on her face, exclaiming as the sounds of the tall waterfalls eclipse everything.
"Oh my goodness, Rinnea, come here!"
Struggling to pass through the skinny streams, Rinnea vaulted over a small shore of pebbles and replied to Aletha with a breathy tone.
"Yes… w… what?"
Then, out of astonishment and disbelief, the vampire's crimson eyes broadened in shock at what stood before her. She backed away, afraid to not make a wrong step, feeling the sunlight tap on her head.
As she saw drifting clouds glide over the low terrain beyond the waterfalls, Rinnea clenched Aletha's hand and led her through the narrow stone paths winding down into the lower-level lake.
She commented with a nervous tone as Aletha showered herself with spiraling emotions.
"Wow, I completely forgot just how amazing this place is! It's so high up, too! Aletha, be careful. This place is too high for you to stumble around and do crazy stunts."
Aletha answered, giving a thumbs up.
"Okay!"
. . .
As Aletha sat on a rock nearest to the small shore, she sat and pondered.
[For the most part, the trip down below wasn't as dangerous as Rinnea made it out to be. Of course, there were a few edges like…
"What did I say? Watch your step!" … whatever in the world that vampire said, it wasn't REALLY that bad.
Anyways…
(The lake appeared as if by magic as they crested the ridge. It was in luminescent cyan color and it was shaped like a flexible disc of sweet nectar. NO sound rang out from the shimmering emptiness of space around it.)
Gosh, it was SUPER weird, but at the same time, it felt peaceful, as if this place resembled a piece of paradise.
My heart couldn't resist the sheer happiness I felt seeing this world before my eyes.
The heaven-leaking light added a golden tint to the faces of the lake, letting a great heap of argent-silver waterfalls mold and pour into it, hemmed in by hills just like my face. Honestly, if it wasn't for my brother, I wouldn't even have learned those words myself.
"Come on Aletha, stop staring into space!"
"I am NOT staring into space."
Gee, the more I hang out with this girl, the more I start to have trust issues. I can't begin to describe the amount of anxiousness I feel when I'm around her.
Maybe it was because of that encounter, but…
Whoops, another sight has distracted me.
Goodness, my mind can get off-tracked.
As we approached that strange lake at the bottom, Rinnea informed me…
"Alright, here we are. Clearstar!"
I was confused about what she meant, but then she pointed beneath my feet.
"Here it is!" Rinnea blurted with a grin plastered on her face. "Come here! "
Tired, I took deep breaths and hollered back at her.
"Okay, give me a minute!"
After I caught back my senses, I hurriedly sprinted to the pink-haired girl, asking her as pine leaves flew around the air.
"Yes, what do you want?"
Rinnea's eyes looked like they had been both annoyed and excited by this unexpected encounter.
"Do you know where you are?"
"No, not at all," I replied.
You see, that's a dumb question for her to ask.
OF COURSE, I don't know where I am and yet, she asked me. Some sort of ironic response I guess. For goodness sake, the real reason I followed her was to grab that dumb necklace that man keeps on screaming at me about.
Well, it's not dumb… since it has my best friend inside, but still…
If one slip were to be made, that necklace is GONE, and so is Drimi's soul.
Now that I think about it, what does this have to do with ANYTHING about that dumb training lesson that girl gave to me?
Was I not supposed to gather crops?
All of this is nothing related to it.
Why do we have to go to train to get crops?! I bet my brother is having more fun than me. All of this is just so unnecessary.
Oh right, another thing! WHERE IN THE WORLD IS EVERYONE?!
I see absolutely zero people with me, except a stranger. Did they all of a sudden vanish? Wait no, I'm stupid. I forgot that Rinnea told me that they were in Clearstar. But still!
Goodness, my mind just feels numb with all this wacky chaos going on. I bet a person inserting themselves into my shoes would agree.
This just feels like a fever dream for me. I got caught in a tornado, almost drowned, met all these strange individuals from different nations, met this stupid infecting virus that makes me unconditionally happy all the time, and explored weird areas like the place where I am at.
Just LOOK at the pine trees. They're taller than the freaking mountains!
. . .
Sorry, sorry. My mind is just going places. But there's a reason for that, you know!
So much is going on, that I'm losing my mind about it. I can't possibly imagine what my brother thinks about all of this. Like, I fought some sort of alien that I drew, yes-- I DREW… and then we fled it as if it was nothing!?
Okay, deep breaths Aletha, calm down. I remember my brother said that "the best thing to do to fully grow in understanding something is focus on one thing at a time", So why don't I just do that? Focus on one thing. Don't focus on sporadic thoughts, just one. And that right there is…]
* * * * * * *
Out on the lake, flopping trout were slapping the surface. A startling eureka moment came unbitted. Looking up at the mountains, the sky, and the crystalline pond, Aletha stepped forward and announced.
"Okay, Rinnea, I finally thought about it!" She swung her hands in the air. "Now, how do I get that necklace? What do I have to do to get it?! Tell me now!"
With a perfusing and careless expression, Rinnea crossed her arms and rolled her eyes, replying as her feet met the surface of the magical lake.
"Oh, you're done? Finally! You had me waiting here for at least twenty minutes, and all you had thought of was that?! Were you just staring into space?!"
Aletha's face heated red with slight hints of embarrassment.
"W-What?! I wasn't staring into space! I was thinking!"
A disrespectful smug shone on Rinnea's manipulative face.
"Pfft, thinking about what? Surely you were not thinking about anything remotely important."
"That's where you're wrong!" Aletha said as she raised her finger. "See, I have been through a lot these last couple of days. I never intended to be in a train crash, travel with someone like you, and chase after a stupid necklace! All I have ever cared about was my brother and my family, no one else. So please, stop wasting my time and give me the necklace!"
A loud silence brooded in the air.
Rinnea rubbed the back of her head and looked over to the flock of seagulls soaring in the distance, pondering her thoughts.
(I recognize this power. It's…)
Rinnea's smile lowered into a frown, and the atmosphere around her grew cold, with the insects and birds stopping mid-air. Her crimson eyes reflected Aletha's startled face as she warned her, holding the necklace in her palm.
"Aletha, I've seen this power before. It is… not something to be meddled with."
The white-haired girl raised an eyebrow and backed away.
"Huh? Why?! It's just a necklace!"
Rinnea immediately interrupted. The look on her eyes sharpened and glinted.
"It isn't just any necklace, Aletha. This object is a powerful seal that The Protector created."
At that moment, the tides of the flow shifted the moment she called that name; The Protector. Aletha, curious and clueless about the history of her changing world, asked with a confused face.
"What seal? Wait a minute. Who in the world is The Protector?!"
A thick shadow cast over Rinnea's eyes.
"She was a legendary warrior that saved this world from catastrophe; A woman that showed no fear to anyone, not even herself. This individual… was the only warrior who had managed to unite all eight nations of this world." She clenched onto the necklace tightly, gritting her teeth and looking back at the sky; Aletha leaned over in interest.
"Catastrophe? Eight nations?! What is all that about?"
A small smile emerged from her cold face on Rinnea. "I'm… surprised you asked that."
. . .
"Three-Thousand years ago, the entire world of Gincad was compromised by one, single supercontinent. You may know it as Vehemat, but it used to be called Usonpiriah. It doesn't matter, that name has been long-lost. For years, Cleira, Wraileza, Obrus, Destia, Zomrack, Astait, Linuxinia, and Pladtioa all lived together in harmony, under the order of The Eight Sovereigns, and the underlying two ancient beings. I don't know much of what happened during that time, but I can tell you this world felt like paradise during that Golden Age." She took a deep, cold breath, answering with a chilly tone.
"Then, The War of The Wish began."
Aletha cocked an eyebrow in shock.
"The War of The Wish? What's that?!"
Rinnea trembled at the thought of that term. She couldn't keep her emotions together as she too could remember the catastrophe as clearly as day.
"It was a devastating, world-orchestrated war that lasted for one millennium. A war that resulted in the departure of the nations, the chaos, death, and destruction, and the creation of an evil that came after it; all of it caused by one wish."
Aletha squinted.
"And what was that wish?"
Rinnea fumed, frustrated about Aletha's curiosity.
"Why do you have to ask so many questions?! Do you know how much it pains me to talk about this? I wanted to talk about The Protector, NOT the War, The Wish, or that power. If you want to LEARN so badly about the war, then why don't you go to Destia's Great Library and read it over there! It's the only place that has accurate information, not based on some sort of perspective."
After moments of relaxing, the pink-haired woman took a deep sigh and mumbled as the dark atmosphere lessened.
"All I know related to the actual wish was that the person who did it was Adurnarseh, once a powerful ruler and King of Obrus."
Aletha's pupils shrunk in surprise.
"Wait a minute… There are Kings?! I thought there were only Queens!"
Rinnea rocked her head back and kneaded her shoulders, mumbling as a wreathed smile emerged on her face.
"Yeah, there WERE Kings. They don't exist, not anymore." Rinnea mourned as she tilted her head down. "Sigh, I guess you are clueless about this world's history. Many students of Destia are taught that in their seventh year. And besides, that's just BASIC knowledge of the history of the world I learned when I was younger. Everyone in the world has some knowledge about The War of The Wish. Even the trolls buried deep in mud."
As Aletha got up with Rinnea, walking toward the lake, she turned over and asked as insects buzzed around.
"Wow, Rinnea, I never knew a clumsy vampire like you could be smart like that."
"Wow, Aletha, I never knew a beautiful girl like you could be SUCH an idiot." Rinnea mocked her sarcastically as she fidgeted with her long fingernails. After a couple of moments of silence, she stopped and calmed herself down.
"Okay, okay, sorry. Jokes aside, we just met; of course, you wouldn't know that! Anyways, if you're done pondering and staring into space, hurry up! I have something to show you."
Despite the rough response, Aletha persisted onwards, ready to pursue just the beginning of her long adventure. Even so... thoughts continued to fly in her mind.
(What did that king wish about? Was it something bad?! Goodness, I just want to know MORE!)
Having those thoughts and questions bounce in Aletha's mind made Aletha even more frustrated than she was before.
There were still so many secrets she had yet to uncover that she felt this entire world was a mystery.
She was so angry that she started shouting questions at herself.
"Who in the world is The Protector? What did she do?! Who are the kings?! WHY AM I SO CLUELESS?! Just what secrets are waiting to be unraveled in my changed world?!"
Rinnea's eyes quickly retraced her path to Aletha, quoting her words with a trembling tone.
"Y-Your... changed world?! Wait a minute... what do you mean by YOUR...?"
In a deprecating tone of apology, Aletha mumbled back to her.
"Sorry for screaming, Rinnea. I'm just SO confused about my world."
By a curious irony of fate, the vampire girl commented.
"There you go again with those self-terms. You know, this world doesn't belong to you, right?"
"What? Of course, it does!"
Curious, Rinnea pushed her long silky pink hair back, tore a pink blossom off her attire, and squinted at Aletha as they stood near the lake.
"How? How does this world belong to you?"
A quiet wind flew in between the girls. Their angry gazes sliced it, stepping forward and ready to start an argument. It seemed to a stranger stalking Rinnea and Aletha that this relationship would go nowhere.
And with that, as the stranger's emerald eyes blinked owlishly, she quickly jumped out of the bushes and rushed to them. Yet, the girls still argued.
"So, this is where you live?" Aletha asked.
Rinnea nodded her head. "Well, for now!"
"HUH?!"
The confusion started to shroud Aletha. She would never have thought that a vampiric girl, especially a Princess of a nation, would dwell in such a tiny place like this. She gave a thumbs up to Rinnea, then looked around the place again, ensuring that the vampire girl wasn't insane.
Yet all that she found around her were just huge bushes that obstructed the rest of the view of the forest, and an ankle-height pond spreading out to every corner of the circle of life, surrounded by five to eight tall and thin waterfalls.
At that very moment, Aletha started to think that Rinnea was insane and that she lives in this relatively secluded place in the middle of an immense forest. As she felt the warm water tingle her ankles, Aletha scratched her head and implored.
"Umm, are you sure that you live here? How do you get your food?"
Rinnea squinted at her with disbelief, answering as she and Aletha wandered around this shallow pond.
"W-What? Of course, I live here! That's a stupid question to ask. Oh right-- there are a lot of food choices here. Not only that, there is a library, a hotel, and-- wait, Aletha, can you see it?"
Aletha shrugged her shoulders.
"No…? All I see is nothing. What do you mean there is a hotel here? Are you delusional?"
Rinnea's crimson eyes broadened in the realization
"For goodness sake, have you looked everywhere yet?"
"Umm…" Aletha's hands trembled in anxiety. "No."
Rinnea stammered.
"Have you looked down?"
After she stared into the water, Aletha sighed and bent over to Rinnea, asking as water droplets slid down her shoe.
"All I see is water."
A surprised look came from Rinnea's face, still in disbelief that Aletha had not figured it out yet.
"Eh? Are you kidding me? You're not looking hard enough."
Without warning, Rinnea shoved Aletha's face into the shallow pond.
Seconds elapsed, Aletha held her breath as long as she could; a smooth and glassy surface pressed against her skin.
Confused, Aletha forced her eyelids open.
What she saw after hand would go down to be one of the most astonishing sights she could have ever seen.
The entire surface of the shallow pond was made out of glass, almost like a huge window built into the ground.
Behind it was a faint yellow glow, shining all over her face like the sun. She wiped the foggy surface, slammed her hand against the glass, and heard Rinnea's muffled shouts sound from above.
"Do you see it now?"
The green-haired stranger dashed over, but tripped against a twig, tumbling down on the surface.
Suddenly, a huge bird came from above, crushing Aletha and Rinnea.
"???"
Screams sounded underneath the bird's fat buttocks as the GIANT BIRD flapped its wings and cawed with its cuckoo-like face. Its eyes bulged out as it flapped its wings, suffocating the girls, and quacking like ducks, screaming.
"SQUAK! SQUAK!"
Suddenly, a crack ran through the glass.
At first, the crack in the clear surface was small, barely the length of a hair strand.
It shone almost bluish in the subdued light that filtered through the fluffy, bleached, and fatty surface of the GIANT BIRD.
Aletha screamed as she felt the feathers of it squash her legs.
"I… c-can't move."
Before Aletha's brain could register the sound of breaking glass, her eyes were shut tight and…
(SHATTER)
A few million new 'knives' fell softly over her exposed skin.
Then like a coil suddenly relieved of tension, the fragments flew outward into the pit until they lay still yet vicious in the deep pool of water below, with the bodies of Aletha, Rinnea, and the stranger, injured and floating on the surface.
* * * * * * *
Moments after…
Aletha opened her eyes into darkness so thick it seeped into her vision. She called out.
"Rinnea!" Her voice echoed back in the damp space. Her heartbeat thudded against her eardrums, her limbs ached as she pulled herself to her feet.
As she did, her foot connected with something solid. There was a clatter, like metal on rock. She leaned over and brushed her fingertips against something cold and rusted. A lantern that seemed not to match the surroundings of this world. It could only be assumed by Aletha that this lamp could have only come from the surface, but still…
(Shouldn't it be shattered?)
Although those questions filled her mind, Aletha decided to light it up anyway.
Damp slate and sandstone came up from the walls, along with strips of pale gray. With concern, Aletha looked up.
In the lamplight, in the white-golden rays, the roof of the cavern looked like the mouth of a blue whale, holding back the rushing glass from going any further down. The first question that emerged from her mind was…
"How did I get here?"
Even so, that never stopped her curiosity. Looking, she saw clumps of dirt and grass clung to the mouth of the opening, allowing faint traces of sunlight to penetrate through the earth covering above.
. . .
Then, as she lifted and saw the squashed bird and glass floating in the pool of water, Aletha chose to wander deep inside the cavern with the lantern dangled in her hands. The sound of flowing water echoed around the cavern, suggesting fresh air lingering about the corner. But like any cavern in this deceptive world, all it was waterfalls.
Persisting onward, she approached an open chamber of rocks. Though cramped, at least Aletha's size was still small enough to fit through.
It seemed like hours had passed as she passed through the vented, moss-covered tunnels winding left, right, south, north, basically every direction imaginable.
But as she stepped forward into a place filled with darkness, she was struck by lights.
She held up and saw millions of sparkles glitter back at her face. The shimmering walls of granite threw light across the cavern, echoing onto the pale glossy stalactites and the smooth body of water.
"What… is this? Where am I? Where did that bird come from? How am I not dead?"
Struck with more questions, Aletha continued into the cavern without knowing what could lurk around the corner. The more that she continued, the more the height of the underground gradually increased in size.
. . .
"What in the world is this?!"
Aletha realized that the 'granite' that shone on the walls was not granite or natural lights, but huge steel and iron clusters of… advancements.
Rubble, Dust, Vines, Bugs, and Weathered Pillars were all weighed down by enormous metallic arms painted in pure black and strange outlines of white. All of them were scattered around this huge expanse, with wires, flickering mechanisms, and strange gears scattered all around the area.
To take an extra look, Aletha knelt on one of the ruined wires and saw strange white text labeled on its black surface. It read…
{Amenia_Engineer_1092_The Verity_Device_Number #12201}
"The Verity?"
Aletha mumbled as she read the tag.
"What is that? Is that the name of this… contraption?! Goodness, this place gives me the creeps."
She lowered the lantern onto a plethora of buttons, staring at them as low deep, electronic hums sounded around.
{H…Ho…Host…Error.}
Aletha quickly backed away and sprinted from the device, unable to comprehend the strange thing she had just encountered.
"What in the world was that? Amenia? Who are they?"
Out of all her years of being in this world, never had she seen anything remotely close to this. She clenched her fists and watched her feet, whispering to herself as she picked up strange, advanced weapons lying around the walls.
"Woah, even IF this place is weird, I do like the look of this… thing." She examined the gun, looking at its sharpened corners and pointed edges. Despite its condition, the luminescent white lines on the device shone vibrantly, prepared to be used again.
"What is it? Some sort of…"
As her fingers caressed over the handle of the weapon tightly, immediately…
(GRRRR, SHOO!)
... a gigantic white laser shot out from the gun, shooting up and through a massive glowing ball buried in between and around the rocks. The entire underground trembled afterward, rocks flew below, and stalactites splashed into the gigantic body of water underneath.
The quake was so powerful that it shook the light, causing Aletha to drop the weapon, and forced her to watch as it flew into the dark pit below.
"H… Huh?"
A heavy feeling pulled her hear. She looked over to the massive crater on the other side of the cavern, afraid of what she might have awakened.
"What… What did I do? How did I do that?! And why…" Aletha gulped. "Did that laser thingy… LOOK like the magic I use?"
With rapid questions flying in her mind, Aletha decided to ignore all of them and sprint away from the strange area.
If it were not for the sun that filtered through the glass ceilings from above, these strange technological remains wouldn't have been revealed.
Even after Aletha saw this troubling sight, she continued onward ,in hopes to find Rinnea or anyone else lying below... the depths.