"Oh, there you all are," The mysterious armored man stood on the horizon, waiting for any to emerge through the bushes. However, something in him changed the last time they saw him. His armor was bulkier, sturdier, and stronger; covered in protruding purple crystals all-over. He lifted his arm with uneasy, labored breathing, and pointed at Aletha with an humble expression emanating from his body language. "Ah, yes. The Target. Just who we needed to make the battle even more difficult for us than it already is."
"Us?" Ubel mumbled.
"Why yes…" As the man stepped to the right, a surprising sight was revealed.
What Aletha, Alai, Ubel, and Dina had never expected, was nearly fifty of Wrailezan soldiers to be waiting with the leader.
Their purple crystal light illuminated the shadows underneath them, casting artificial rays instead of the natural golden rays.
Gripping on their rifles bathed in wrathful scorching purple light, they slowly stepped forward, awaiting the command of their leader. Yet not once had he given an order. Instead, the leader continued salvaging the shattered remnants of the device, analyzing it as Dina, Aletha, Ubel, and Alai stood there, preparing to attack.
"Ah, so it appears that the message was successfully sent." He mumbled as he forcefully crushed the remains of the device into bits. "As if you could stop us."
Without showing any sense of intimidation, the leader bowed down to the four of them and introduced himself; as if his actions prior hadn't mattered.
"I go by Nealon, once esteemed ruler of the world of Edela," He said with a tremulous voice. "Now, I'm nothing but one of the many followers of The Promise."
While Aletha rooted her feet to the ground, preparing her fists, Nealon lifted his steel arm and demanded with a considerably intimidating voice.
"You have two options. Hand over the girl, and we will spare you. Or resist, and regret it."
Alai tightened her fists and sneered at Nealon with a look of disgust.
"Who…?"
Immediately, Nealon forced all his soldiers to point their weapons straight at Aletha.
"Her!" He shouted as his arms trembled. "The one with snow hair. Give her to us, and you shall be sp--
Suddenly, a massive ribbon of light struck through the armor of the man, chipping it away and propelling him a few centimeters back.
"Like hell we will!"
Dina sprang forward, grabbed one of the men by the wrist, and flung him to the ground, shattering their spines. Skidding on the ground, she lifted her right leg and delivered a strike to another soldier in the head, forcing them to disintegrate into tiny pieces.
When she swung, she showered the air with tiny metal shards, lifted her head and made chaotic laughter. Her neck had pointed up, while her face showered in pieces.
"A haha haha, yes!"
Alai, Ubel, and Aletha could feel the chaos radiate within the aura of Dina. They came to the realization that if such a girl could demolish armored, enforced soldiers like this, so should they.
And so it began.
"Waaaaaah!"
Dina's voice echoed through the air. The wind whipped past her body as she landed with her feet.
The soldier's corpse crumpled to the ground, its body destroyed with no hope of revival. Alai hurriedly swooped in and discharged several glowing flowers. They quickly scattered into the air before immediately exploding and destroying five more soldiers.
"Hah, hah, hah, ha--!"
Her laughter reverberated within Dina, echoing off the trees and bushes around her, causing the trees to shake and the leaves of them to fly off the branches.
"Not as bad as I thought," She said as she looked down on the soldiers. "I… know I'm against what I'm teaching but… these aren't who I want Aletha to go against."
With that, she sprinted toward the forest, dodged the small explosions of flowers as she went, hoping for any sliver of strength in Aletha to erupt.
However, she was wrong.
Aletha was seen standing still in the midst of a warzone.
Soldiers were blown away by explosions left and right, the giant bird jumped and squashed trees and several more guards, and three silver transparent wolves were seen scuttling and pouncing on eight soldiers.
"I…"
Aletha was left speechless.
(I know I want to be stronger, but… what do I do?!)
While she pondered, her heart paced as her eyes caught Alai destroying a soldier with just a kick to the face. She looked over to a soldier and tried to approach it. But just before she swung, a wave of crimson light struck out from the soldiers, causing them to fall unconscious without so much as a warning.
Aletha's eyes widened in disbelief.
(What just happened?)
"It was me." Alai said as she frantically sprinted toward her. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to give it your all!?"
Aletha's mouth went dry as she heard silence erupt in-between them. A silence that kept on urging her to speak. But despite standing in the midst of a battle, Aletha had not uttered a word.
Alai crossed her arms and took a deep sigh, almost showing disappointment in her face.
"Alright alright, if you're not going to do any--
As Alai kept her eyes focused on Aletha, she interrupted.
"I… can't give it my all. I don't… know how."
A look of bemusement formed in Alai's face.
"Are you serious? You don't know how to try?!"
With trembling uneasy breaths, Aletha admitted.
"Y… Yeah. I only care if it is related to someone I love or… if it puts my life in jeopardy. It's just… that's not the reason." She tried her best not to break down in tears. A flood of memories of faces both familiar and unfamiliar flickered in her mind like a slideshow. "There's just… t-too many people to care about. One after the other, names upon names, I can't even count them all. I can't even comprehend how many stories people have. And… yet…"
"Aletha…" Alai said, looking down. "Do you seriously care about strangers? Come on, they don't affect your life at all."
"Yes!" Aletha said as her scream eclipsed the explosions and laughter in the distance. "I always wonder what stories people have about their lives. How they act. What they do. What was their past like? It was easy in Pladtioa… but those were just a few."
She held up her fingers in her hand, counting and recalling the names of the friends she met.
"Belial, Drimi, Sally, Akwan… those were the few I really cared about, because the time we had with each of them delivered a lot of information on their stories. It's why I can relate to them. It's why I can think and help them. It's because time is precious when it comes to people."
Although Alai couldn't recognize the four names Aletha mentioned, she understood what Aletha was talking about.
"Aletha… I understand." Alai said as she pushed her crimson pony-tail back. "There are also people I care about as well. Ones that loved me, took care of me, entertained me. And I loved them back. Ha. We spent so much time together messing around, climbing the peaks of Linuxinia…"
She gulped down a breath of reminiscence, looking up to the clouds and the sky-scraping peaks in the horizon. She ignored the chaos ensuing around them, and instead, focused on only Aletha like a spotlight shining on one person in the podium. Alai took a deep breath and continued.
"...Wondering what's out there on the horizon. That's exactly what I felt before I learned something. That no matter what I do, there will always be something to be curious about. But seriously, although there may be so many people out there, waiting to tell their stories, the only story that you should be curious about…"
Alai paused. She leaned her hand and placed it against Aletha's chest, feeling the warmth of home radiate in-between them.
"Is your's."
Aletha's round gray eyes expanded with realization. Her heart hammered in her chest. She felt a sudden burst of blood rush through her veins, holding her forehead out of shock. Her head pounded, her face enlightened, and her voice muted out of surprise. Aletha felt as if her emotions were blown about by every wind of truth within Alai's two words. And to accompany them, Alai added.
"Your story of your life is what matters the most. Not anyone else's, not even your families. YOUR story. Because… you can change it. You have control on the future of your story. Your past may be archived, but like flashbacks, they return… they affect the delivery of your story."
Alai pointed to Dina who had demolished most of the soldiers with her evading cycles of scorching crimson flames and her dual-wielded blades. Aletha watched in awe as she pulverized and gouged out the gears of the soldiers with her rapid lighting-fast swings. Not even her moves could outweigh Dina's. Then, Alai pointed to Ubel, who had his platinum hair flying in the air like a ribbon. He soared and flew across one, almost struggling to defeat a group of soldiers. But then, rushing from the horizon, were a pack of luminescent wolves.
They gnawed and tore apart the robots, scraping their wires off and tossing them into the ground. As Aletha stood there in awe, watching the events unfold before her, Alai tapped her shoulder and included.
"You have control on who you can place in your life. You don't have to choose everyone you meet. You can choose a specific few, even for that moment. You can choose who you want to be friends with! Have you not realized it yet?! The only person you can not get rid in your life nor can you replace it, is yourself! So…"
"Choose who you want to put in your life. Sometimes you may not have control, but even then, they are still included in your… 'story'."
Aletha had no words to counter her argument.
Each word Alai had uttered had truth in it
Her moment of realization paralyzed her, unable to move because thoughts flooded her mind. The actions that occurred outside of her had left Aletha unmoved. Emotions sprawling out of control.
"Y… You're right. I… do have a choice on who I place into my life."
With a slightly comedic tone, Alai scratched her chin, brushed dirt off her pink dress, and stomped her feet on the ground.
"Good. Then how about you place me into your life now! We still have a fight we have to win!"
The next instant, Alai lifted her fists high up into the air and yelled.
"DIE!"
She swung her arm forward, punching at the sky. A barrage of lightning bolts erupted from her fist and shot towards the enemy. Her speed was beyond human capabilities; a blur of light that pierced through the sky and scattered it with thunderous strikes. Instantly, both Ubel and Dina turned their heads to Alai, stunned at her abrupt arrival. Even the wolves reeled back from the ground because of how strong the attack was.
"Oh wooow."
"I don't recall seeing that attack before, Alai."
But Aletha, she was excited.
Not because Alai used her unspeakable and unexplainable attack, but because… she can join this fight too and try.
A small smile formed on her lips, mumbling out something she had thought before.
"Let me be strong like my brother, so I can defend him as well."