"Okay, so where do we start?" Aletha asked Alai as they hiked across a trail leading through dense pockets of wilderness next to the mountains.
Before them were vast grass fields bathed in luxuriance. Boars roamed around in groups, adventurers wandered the land about, and the amber sun hung vividly above the world.
"Well, we were planning on returning to my house," Alai replied as she watched a flock of birds soar into the sunset. "I feel that something is… off about you."
"...Off?" Aletha mumbled with a raised eyebrow. "What do you mean by off?"
Alai leveled a glowering look at Aletha's appearance. A judgmental aura formed in her crimson eyes as she walked around Aletha, scratching her chin and silently analyzing her aspect while Ubel stood passively near a tree.
Her gaze traveled from Aletha's head towards her chest and down to her feet, analyzing the tight fabric attached to the girl's body and the leggings that extended to her knees. She pushed her ponytail to the side and answered Aletha as she snapped her fingers in realization.
"N-Nothing," Alai said as she whistled off an awkward silence. "So… Aletha. You know how I said that if you ever underwent all the lessons in my training, I will pay for the damages of the train?"
"Yeah…" Aletha replied with a nod. "We still have a long way to go before we can ever pass your training."
With that response, Ubel furthered away from the two as Alai slowly backed away from Aletha, staring into the luxuriant blue sea of clouds above her head.
Alai made a self-deprecating laugh as her mind recollected her promising Aletha back to her garden and how she expressed with absolute sureness that it would be a guarantee for her to receive a payment if she were to finish the training.
But now, realizing how quickly it took for Aletha to do the first segment of her training, Alai had a shift of direction on her other plans.
After a couple moments, Alai smoothened her clothes, bit the bottom of her lip, and replied to Aletha insecurely.
"Well… I lied." She resumed with a shaky voice. "I'm actually, really, really broke."
Upon her reveal, Aletha reacted by taking two steps back, quickly drawing her head away from Alai as she screamed.
"WHAT?!" The scream reached Ubel's ears, causing him to run over to the two, worried about what had happened to them.
When he had approached and realized the fuss, Ubel lowered his eyebrows and crossed his arms, asking with a slightly annoyed tone.
"What is it now? Something wrong?" The silver-haired man said as he leaned over the two stubborn girls. "Is there an actual problem? Or is it some meaningless feud that I will have to deal with again? Like all the other 'friends' I had to endure over the last couple of days."
"Actually, it IS a problem!" Aletha answered, pinching her cheeks into a mixture of an angry and disbelieving look. "You see, I thought if I were to pass Alai's training, I would be given some sort of reward. Instead, I was lied to…."
"Hey!" Alai intervened with a gentle push. "If I were not there when you had passed out, there may be a chance that you would have been eaten by monsters in that forest there. You should be grateful for what Ubel and I did to escort you from Gushy Geysers to Linuxinia City! Oh, and don't forget what I have done for you during that fight with General Strodhell and all his other minions."
Absorbing Alai's reply, Aletha was immediately humbled by it. She took two steps to ponder and recollect what the ponytailed girl did for Aletha.
How she had saved her from the malicious group back in Clearstar, and when she had motivated Aletha to fight the beast despite being 'powerless'. It was Alai who had solved the overwhelming problem Aletha was experiencing.
And now, seeing Aletha being angry for such a small thing as Alai's financial status had undoubtedly frustrated her.
Stepping in, the silver-haired man squinted at Aletha and raised his voice.
"Yes. Not only that…." Ubel said as he slowly pushed Alai away from Aletha. "You already have another opportunity to pay your debt. Remember? Thirty minutes ago, the poster? The first-place winner of the race will be granted one million Gincoins and the locket you have desired to retrieve. What makes you think that Alai's offer could surpass that?"
He crossed his arms and paused.
"You must be absolutely delusional if you think for a chance that she could pay such a fee in the first place."
Taking her thoughts in, Aletha sighed softly and facepalmed, shaking her head and admitting her mistake.
"Yeah… you're right." She said dutifully while relaxing her shoulders and closing her heart. "That was stupid of me. I should have thought more carefully. I promise I will consider your previous actions next time before I open my mouth again."
After a quietness expanded after her admittance, Alai blithely reacted by patting Aletha's back and laughing it off as if it were some sort of joke.
"Oh, it's alright, Aletha." She expressively said as she widened her wide crimson eyes to a smile. "No need to be formal. If it were a problem, you would have seen a completely different side of me. I was just expressing some truth to you, that's all. It's no big deal. Alright? Can we move on now?"
"Y…Yeah." Aletha mumbled quietly as she was led down the hills by Alai and Ubel. She slowly lowered her gaze to the lush grassy ground and heard the wildlife surround her ears in every direction.
The warmth from Alai's touch tampered with her heart. But as the sun gradually increased in brightness, she eventually returned to her usual attitude, and they happily and calmly wandered the extensive terrain of Linuxinia.
"Oh, Aletha… one more thing…" Alai informed Aletha as they stood along the edge of a cliff, gazing at the winding rivers extending from the waterfalls of the highest peaks into the flourishing land below.
"...Although you may have a deadline and a race ahead of you, I am still planning to find ways to train you so that you can be stronger than before." While she paused, Alai looked off to the distance and continued, stroking Aletha's white hair. "I know you're strong already, but I want you to focus more on your legs and endurance. I mean… Come on, look at yourself!"
Turning over, Aletha stared intensely into Alai's ruby hair flowing in the wind.
After she heard Alai, Aletha shamefully looked at the two twigs attached to her body (pathetically called her 'legs,') and looked back up and saw Alai carry a charming smile. As she noticed Aletha's gray iris glaring back at her, the cheerful and optimistic red-head girl resumed with a friendly tone.
"Your legs are twigs!" She said, giggling. "Ha ha! In all seriousness, look, I don't want you to break your knees the first kilometer you start racing. So… I plan to change that."
"How…?" Aletha asked Alai curiously as she stared at her slender legs.
"You'll see!" Alai answered Aletha with a blooming laugh, legs spread wide confidently, lifting her heels and rising slightly to emphasize her words.
* * * * * * *
After that brief discussion, Aletha and her friends continued further into the wild. Before her eyes was a resplendent sight of lush towering mountains with a sky plastered and painted with blushing hues of boiling pink, glowing orange, and a chilling midnight blue.
The orange ball slowly declined over the horizon, casting its light and shadows onto the towering pine trees and enchanting flora scattered about the lush plain and sea of flowers.
Herds of wild big-horned sheep trekked the distant hills, and vultures soared overhead the peaks of mountains, projecting their gaze across the amber vista. Aletha and Alai caught frogs hopping about lily pads around the tame waterways passing slowly along the towering waterfalls in the distance.
Indeed, it was a distinctive sight compared to the active and unpleasant storm of people littering the jungle of buildings in Linuxinia City.
Along the way, Aletha remembered something. A brown bag dangled quietly beside her hips, waiting and indirectly urging Aletha to use it.
Although it may have gone a day or two with ignorance, it would finally be recognized today as Aletha and her friends approached a steep decline leaning down to a stream winding inward through the lush hills.
"Oh, Aletha… What's that next to your hip?" Alai asked as she took the sight in.
"It's the bag you gave me!" Aletha enthusiastically replied as she tossed it up into the air in a confident manner. "Ubel gave it to me a few days ago! What? Have you forgotten that you gave it to Ubel?!"
In reaction, Alai hid her hands in her pockets and stumbled on her words.
"U-Um, no. Not at all!" She replied as she pushed her ponytail to the side for times that couldn't be counted. "I'm actually happy that you have it! Have you put it to good use?"
Quickly, the prideful tone grappling onto Aletha faded into one of insecurity. "N… No, I haven't." Aletha said with a nervous sweat sliding down her uneasy face. "I… just remembered that I have it now. I don't actually have anything inside of it. Maybe later…"
With that, Alai replied, giving Aletha a wink.
"Okay. As long as you use it!"
Not long after, Aletha and Alai walked up to Ubel. He held a large map in both his palms. The fleecy fabric of it was of decent condition, with a considerable illustration of the terrain of Linuxinia extending to all four corners of the map.
He used the sunset's dying rays to illuminate the map, holding it up strangely and trying to make out the details.
"Hmm, so it seems we are currently residing in Alpine Glitterfly Range," Ubel mumbled as his eyes repeatedly moved from the map to the terrain. "If we continue further, we can travel to Alai's place before dark. The sun sets in around half an hour, giving us efficient time to reach Alai's place since it isn't too far from us. We may get lost if we don't make it in time."
"Lost?!" Aletha and Alai screamed confusedly in unison.
"Indeed," Ubel said as a gusty breeze blew through him.
After a few seconds, he progressed deeper into the declining terrain, holding and constantly anchoring his eyes on the map as he ambled. He said.
"If we get lost, we may come at the risk of encountering deadly monsters lurking in the depths of the wilderness. Since magic is useless anymore, we three may have to rely on our physical strength to defend ourselves."
Nevertheless, as his gaze traveled the trees over to Aletha, remembering what had happened to Nealon, Ubel changed his tone and shrugged it off.
"But I don't think it would be that big deal." He said. "We have plenty of time to reach Alai's place. And besides, if we encounter monsters, Alai and I would handle it."
After the reassurance, Alai and Aletha calmed down. They progressed further into Alpine Glitterfly Range, walking along the rolling hills of flowers and greenery and watching the hot ball of orange descend slowly into the tall horizon.
. . .
Nonetheless, as they continued further into the land, Aletha secretly deviated away from the path as she caught something amusing around a circle of trees in the corner of her eye.
At first, it sparked, but as Aletha approached it, the object was a drab and dull crystal shard buried halfway through the soil. This, in return, caused Aletha to make a sour expression and a closed posture.
"Aww, are you serious?" Aletha drearily said, stomping on the ground. "A stupid crystal? I thought it was a gem. This is useless."
Although it had been only a few moments after her discussion with Alai, Aletha had already put a few seeds, flower petals, and rocks inside her brown bag.
So, with the concern of overflowing the storage, Aletha tossed the crystal and stepped away, frustrated and disbelieving of her even thinking of grabbing it.
However, as she parted from the useless object, a faint colorful glow momentarily sparked on the object's surface. (Woah? What was that? Was that the crystal I picked up?) She thought as she caught the glow from the corner of her eye.
Capturing her attention, Aletha hurriedly sprinted back and grabbed the crystal, keeping her eyes on it, expecting another spark.
"Come on… SPARK!" Aletha screamed at the strange sharp rock impatiently. "I know you have done it before!"
Instead of the crystal shining, instead… her mind flashed with barely recognizable visions.
. . .
A crooked individual adorned in armor tinted with glittering essence flashed before her mind. It flew in the air, engulfing white luminance into an expanse of colossal stone pillars and a dark rocky ceiling.
The vision took Aletha's mind by surprise.
Then, it flashed again to another sight with a blue-haired girl holding someone's hand. A cluster of water droplets and luminance appeared in thin air, transforming into a rushing torrent of water and blasting onto the strange knight in an enormous dynamic.
Once the light faded, the visions dissipated back into reality, leaving Aletha shocked and speechless about this phenomenon.
"What… was that?" Aletha mumbled as her view returned to her hands and the falling crystal. "I saw… a weird person… and white light? What WAS that place?"
While the sudden vision drowned Aletha in speculation, Alai and Ubel raced to her, concerned about her screaming.
"Aletha?! What happened!?" Alai said as she prepared her fists and legs.
"Is something the matter?!" Ubel added as he clutched a branch off from a tree.
Scratching her head and releasing a breath of anxiousness and wonder, Aletha replied by scratching and rubbing her skin nervously. "N…No, it's nothing."
After that uneasy reply, Ubel released a sigh of relief and replied. "Goodness, you scared us for a moment."
"We thought you were fighting a monster," Alai added, burning her cheeks and scrunching her nose scornfully. "Don't scare us like that again, you hear?"
"I… I won't." Aletha said, gulping down a breath of fear. "It was just a rock I found, that's all."
"A rock… you say?" Ubel questioned while his eyebrows furrowed and released with curiosity.
As the sounds of wilderness returned, the silver-haired young man approached the stone resting against the soft soil. He quickly grabbed it and kept his eyes glued to the crystal, watching its dull, hazy, and fogged-up surface glitter momentarily. "If a rock caused you to scream like that, then there's no doubt that has increased my curiosity."
Noticing the sun's position on the horizon, he shook the thought away and snapped himself off the idea.
At a glance, he pulled out his map and pointed to the distant trees, noticing the midnight blue of dusk gradually consuming the warm orange.
"Never mind about that." He said hurriedly as Alai anchored her eyes on the strange crystal Aletha held. "To reach Alai's place alive, we must hurry. The evening is approaching."
After the sudden visions entered Aletha's mind, she decided to place the rock into her new brown bag and travel to Alpine Glitterfly Range with Alai, hoping to reach her place in time.
"I hope you don't run off from us like that again," Alai said with a relieved shrug. "The last thing we want is to lose you." As she saw the amber cotton clouds drift across the mellow sky, Aletha replied to Alai with a silent smile before she decided to stare into the sunset, thinking...
(Gee, I never knew they cared THAT much about me.)
* * * * * * *
Before they knew it, the moon peeked out from the other horizon, shining its vivid and distant gaze along the approaching starlight and sea of midnight blue. The sun's dying rays, and the emergence of the lunar glow shone beautifully in unison along the lush shadow-veiled horizon.
Aletha and Alai gazed at their surroundings while Ubel was fixated and focused only on navigating their way through the place.
"Okay… so… we should be just a few kilometers away before we reach Alai's place," Ubel informed as he kept his map in front. "However, it's getting really dark. So I say we should approach with caution. Got it?" Aletha and Alai nodded silently and continued ambling the landscape.
Once they had approached the top of the grassy hill, Aletha, Alai, and Ubel discovered a problem.
Before them was a giant wall of lush mountains extending and coiling into a ringed shape, stretching over to the hazy horizon.
Darkness slowly enveloped the corners of where they had set foot, leaving them in the dark without any luminance. Aletha widened her eyes too, and white showed around her whole iris, panicking about the unknown.
"U-Um, Ubel, Alai. I can't see anything." She said as she hunched her shoulders and felt the creeping night tickle her goosebumps. "It's… getting chilly."
Nonetheless, once she had noticed her position, her eyes turned shallow to the sight of darkness. No one had accompanied her.
Only the eerie sounds of chirps of crickets and the hoots of owls. This caused Aletha's panic to escalate dramatically.
She hurriedly ran from one hill to another, searching for Ubel and Alai. But all that she was met with was silence and darkened flora. "Alai? Ubel? Where are you!?" She said, screaming into the darkness.
Yet no one replied just night.
Struck with the confusion of this discovery, Aletha paced back and forth on the hill, getting tricked by silhouettes of trees and the creeping wilderness.
Until she met an approaching figure with a golden luminance attached to its palm. Their body was slender, with an extra arm extending out of their head-- "Who are you?" Aletha asked the approaching silhouette with a trembling voice. "S-Stay back!"
"It's fine!" The approaching figure said as the shadows on their face unveiled confident-looking crimson eyes. "It's just me. Alai. I was just looking for a light source."
It turns out, what Aletha thought was a monster, wasn't a monster at all. It was Alai who had approached Aletha. Taking deep breath, Aletha watched as Alai from the shadows, holding a lantern in her hand.
Aletha clenched her fists and slapped her face at her stupidity, constantly mumbling to herself.
"Stupid, stupid me. I should have known it was Alai."
After Alai heard this, she hollered and pinched Aletha's ear.
"Hey, don't call yourself stupid!" She said, shaking Aletha's head. "You're smarter than you think. I mean… how would you still be alive after fighting Strodhell?"
After moments of brief pondering, absorbing the memories into her consciousness, Aletha released a freeing sigh of defeat. She apologized while scratching her arm nervously.
"Y… Yeah, you're right." She said, freeing a sigh of defeat. "I should have known better."
"Great!" Alai replied as she hoisted the yellow lantern up into the sky. "Now that we have that problem settled, how about we try and inform Ubel. He would really appreciate a lantern right now!"
And so, Aletha and Alai scavenged the hills searching for the silver-haired man.
. . .
Upon their search, Aletha and Alai found strange black goopy anomalies emerging from a patch of trees and dense flora near the bottom of the wall of mountains. Its sticky and sappy essence tainted the soil with murky and repugnant goopy, scorching and weakening the grass and flora.
As muddy bubbles arose from the crackling dirt, tall, slender silhouettes emerged from the puddles, screeching as their eyes lit up with rage and frustration; concerning the two.
"TRAITOR! TRAITOR!" The monsters screamed, their multitude of eyes anchoring at the two. "Our rulers have betrayed us. Our kingdom is gone! All at the fault of you!"
Aletha's heart hammered out of her chest, wondering who or what these monsters were.
(What? What do they mean? What are they?)
But instead of receiving answers, all poor Aletha had created were more questions. The monsters' legs expand, shooting out black tar-like bubbles from their porous and gooey surface. Black tentacle-like arms squirmed and slipped through their insides; before coiling and wrapping their tendrils around their crumpling necks.
"Destruction." The monsters screeched as they pried open their falling jaws. "Destruction isn't needed. Decaying... Decaying yes we are."
Fear fluttered in Aletha and Alai's stomachs as they saw a blinding ruby glare piercing and shining out through the creature's five eroding eyes. A sense of mystery and threat had circulated around the two varmints. Their appearances seemed alienated from their surroundings, corrupting the flora slowly with their every creeping movement. Aletha and Alai's terror mounted with every brutal step it made.
"Who… what are they?" Aletha asked quietly with quick, shallow breathing. "What are they, Alai?!"
Before Alai could reply, the creatures underhandedly interrupted her with gooey, gurgling screeches. Alai pushed Aletha away from the beasts, looking back and forth, fearfully checking if more creatures had approached.
Once they thought they were safe, Alai turned to Aletha, gulping down a breath of fresh terror.
"No, they… they shouldn't be here," Alai said tremblingly, flinching at the gurgling and sharp roars of the creatures. "It's too soon. They shouldn't belong here."
Noticing Alai's sudden shift of tone, Aletha responded with an eyebrow raise.
"Wait, what do you mean?"
Soon, the monsters opened their goopy arms and charged at the two with roars. Retreating from the place, Alai screamed with panic flying all around.
"THE DECAYING! THEY ARE THE DECAYING!"