The Decaying monsters' formless skin dripped and oozed with their every step; each leg and tendril squirming and writhing over the transforming land.
They lifted their heads and released a series of guttural growls and snarls, shooting and targeting their piercing crimson gaze at the girls.
"TRAITOR!"
As the deep reverberating monsterous noises echoed across the forest, Aletha and Alai took off running across the hills of Alpine Glitterfly Range, trying to distance themselves and the monsters as much as possible.
While they ran, Aletha decided to discuss as if this was a normal-everyday situation.
"The Decaying?!" She screamed from Alai's warning, her tendons poking up in panic. "What are The Decaying?!"
Before Alai could finish her sentence, the monsters agressively pried open their broken jaws and extended their goopy tendrils to the ground, violently tearing each branch apart and climbing over cliffs.
Filthy muck spewed from the monsters' bouncy flesh, painting and poisoning the flowers and bristles.
They anchored their sharp tendrils into the ground and closed their gaze at the target. Then, as Aletha stumbled on their position, The Decaying monsters speedily launched themselves into the air, drilling and flailing their melting bodies like birds.
At a glance, all their bodies swooped and flew high before they inevitably crashed into trees, forcing many to topple down like domino's.
Aletha and Alai quickly turned up and glided off a small cliff, stumbling over rocks and tree roots. Each monster dribbled down the hills, hissing and screaming.
Noticing this, Aletha gasped and expelled her breath, pained from the chase. Despite seeing the creatures roll down the hill, Aletha still heard the inaudible screeches of the monsters nearing closer to her ears.
As she saw the incoming creatures hurtling toward her, Aletha's instincts kicked in.
Without thinking, she swiftly executed a cartwheel, her body gracefully flipping through the air. Her long shimmering white hair swirled around her as she flew, before she landed nimbly on one foot.
When Aletha's feet landed and pressed against the flexible, lush dirt, her breathing grew unsteady; anxiety was at her limit. But that didn't stop Aletha.
Once she parted from the air, Aletha carefully locked her eyes on the monsters she narrowly avoided, then grinned in relief.
"I… I did it." Aletha said, her heartbeat racing, almost exploding. "I'm alive."
Just as she thought she was safe, five more dark muddy puddles appeared around her.
Tendrils scratched and grappled onto the ground, allowing dark humanoid monsters to propel toward the surface. Landing on all fours, all The Decaying monsters prowled over to Aletha.
"Traitors! Traitors of all! The Second Incarnation is wiped. Our kingdoms have gone!" They screamed as they cornered Aletha near a considerably tall cliff. "Your family are traitors!"
"My family… traitors? Second incarnation!? What do you mean!? I never remembered my family being traitors!?" Aletha screamed confusedly, feeling a shakiness in her limbs. "S-Stay back! I am Aletha: The Goddess of Truth! If you dare, lay a finger on me… I… I-I…"
://"SILENCE!"://: The creatures interrupted her.
Aletha's eyes shrunk at the deep guttural voices of the creatures. She rooted her feet onto the ground in pure terror, slowly shrinking into her knees, feeling the cliff's edge pinch her.
As she witnessed the four-legged monsters lift and straighten their postures up to stand on their two legs, Aletha began to plead, stuttering.
"Alai… w-where are you? I'm scared. I'm weak." She said, holding back a cry. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for this. What are these things?! What do they want from me?"
When the creatures creeped over to Aletha, limping and walking like humans, Alai swiftly sprinted from behind and witnessed the problem unfold.
"Aletha!" She hollered with shrunk eyes, reaching over with heavy breathing.
Despite hearing her, Aletha fearfully closed her eyes and she felt the creature's hot, sticky breath touch the back of her neck. Her heart gave out to her horror; she surrendered without resistance.
As Aletha quivered and froze, feeling her arms and body rooted to her spot, memories began flooding her mind.
* * * * *
://:// "Behold, the second child of our family… Aletha Adtraic: The Goddess of Truth!" ://://
A tall honorable man with white hair and multi-colored eyes came into view. Though the memory was blurry, Aletha's mind could fabricate a setting of a vast audience and a floating white kingdom. The cloth covering her cradle finally blew away with rhe wind, revealing the baby to the world. Upon remembering this event, Aletha made subdued laughter, mumbling without thinking.
("Father…")
As time passed, the memory faded like a photograph left out in the sun. Then, another wave of memories surged in her.
Aletha remembered playing in the forests of her world with her sister, the two siblings chasing each other around and laughing until their sides hurt.
She recollected the smell of her mother's cooking, the taste of her father's delicacies on Sunday mornings, and the sound of their laughter around the dinner table. Her pained smile widened as her mind recollected the ceremonies and gatherings her family and the lesser gods did, gazing at the kingdoms below.
(W-What is this?) Aletha asked herself with curiosity. (W… What are these…)
But that didn't stop the flood of recollections.
Even during such a frightening moment like being cornered by monsters, Aletha allowed the remembrances to wash over her like waves on a shore.
Other memories came too - memories of heartbreak and loss, of feeling alone with an ability she can not share, and worse, tragedies that served as nothing but blurry thoughts.
"://: THEY ARE LYING! She's lying!://" A younger and furious desperate voice of Aletha screamed in the darkness. "W-Why can't I tell them? Why can't I use my ability!? I know what horrible things they are hiding! So, why can't I tell them the truth about everything? Why can't I tell them the truth about…://"
Truth.
It's what everyone fears the most.
Some avoid it, others accept it, and most despise it.
"Truth may be a good thing, Aletha…." An unfamiliar deep feminine voice whispered. "But it's the lies we live off of that brighten the dark reality we all come to face."
The powers of Truth were not what Aletha desired to have.
Because at times when she had told the truth, even for good purpose, her friends, allies, followers, brother, and parents would still refuse to listen to Aletha.
://://:
Although the memory was faint and hard to see, the voices from the flood of recollections could be heard as clear as day.
"Lying? Now, sweetie. Why would your parents lie to you?" A motherly voice coaxingly whispered to young Aletha as she hovered her palm over her face. "Your father and I have watched you grow ever since you were just a little seedling. We would NEVER lie to you. Although you are all-knowing of truth, you must keep in mind that no other person knows you more than me, your father, and yourself."
The memory slowly cleared up, revealing a beautiful woman sitting next to a little girl. The woman's long white hair shimmered like the white puffy clouds drifting across the sky, her skin was clean and milky like the shining texture of the floor, and her eyes beautiful like her daughter's.
Young Aletha's wide and innocent pupils broadened at the realization of her mother's words. Tears filled and streamed from her eyes as she felt her mother's warmth press against her head.
"R... Really?" The little girl asked her mother innocently.
The mother slowly scratched and groomed Aletha's hair, nodding her head and answering with her soothing voice.
"Mhm. I know more of your life than yourself." She said jokingly with a soft chuckle. As the sun filtered and shone through the windows, the mother leaned over to Aletha's ear and softly whispered. "A parent's biggest fear is not being able to witness their children fulfill their dreams. Though there may be exceptions and expectations, in the end most parents desire to be proud to see their children healthy and thriving."
As the beautiful tall woman bearing a sleek, unearthly black suit escorted Aletha over to her room, she hovered her glove over the little girl's head and whispered.
"Look, my sweet little angel. I don't want to see you weak. No one does. What I desire... is to see you become strong like your father and I; To be an individual that treats others how they want to be treated, to be a person who can see the best out of everyone. It is your father and I's duty to raise our children and hope for them to become the highest they can be."
As young Aletha slowly rested against her mother's lap, she slowly comforted her with rubs, and lowered her voice to an even gentler tone.
"Nonetheless, that is a decision only you can make. We can't force you to become that. When you grow up, you will realize that a parents lessons serves as the foundation of your life. One day, I want to see you and your brother become what your father and I could not. I want to see you and your brother eclipse and over take us. I want to see you rise to peaks higher than we could ever achieve. Because that's what raising a life is all about. I say all of this... because I love you."
As the mother's palms illuminated into a bright white flash, four floating orange orbs appeared in thin air.
://:///:
Thereafter, the memory abruptly flashed to another.
. . .
"Were these memories lies? Or were they truths?"; These two questions mysteriously blared over Aletha's mind as she experienced this.
Just before Aletha thought it was over, a dark and stormy memory suddenly replaced the previous recollection like a thunderbolt.
. . .
The rain came down in sheets, drumming against the rooftops and the pavement with relentless intensity. The drops were heavy and thick, each one like a tiny hammer striking the ground below. The sound was almost deafening, drowning out all other noises and filling the air with foreboding.
The atmosphere in the divine castle was tense, the air heavy with anger and frustration.
A huge argument was brewing between the father, mother, sister, and brother, their voices rising above the howling winds and the rain pounding against the castle walls.
The father's face was contorted with rage, his voice booming like thunder as he shouted accusations at his family members.
":///:/, you DO NOT lash out your anger at our children!" A furious, profound voice hollered to someone, his voice echoing across a hallway. "They don't deserve it! None of them… deserve the torment you have gave them. It's unjust. It's inhumane. Tell me. What is the motive behind all the :///:// that has been done to our children?"
The mother's eyes blazed with fury, and her words cut like knives as she retorted.
"I would never do such nightmarish things, ://://." The white-haired woman said, crossing her arms. "Only a demon could think of doing that."
"Are you positive!?" The father unbearably raised his voice at her with a mighty stomp of his feet. "I don't want monsters in our family nor do I want liars. You are my wife. It is only natural that I trust you as much as Aletha and Asahi."
The sister and brother were caught in the middle, trying to mediate and calm the situation, but their efforts only seemed to fan the flames.
As the argument escalated, lightning flashed across the sky, illuminating the room in a bright, blinding light. The thunder that followed shook the castle to its foundations, adding to the sense of chaos and confusion.
Despite the stormy night outside, the real tempest was happening inside the castle, projecting its gaze over a prosperous kingdom.
The family members shouted and argued, each one trying to make their voice heard over the others. It was a scene of utter chaos, a family falling apart before their very eyes.
"NO! Mom is hiding something!" Young Aletha screamed with tears of frustration and disbelief in her eyes. "She is lying! She did that horrible stuff to my brother AND me! She has a hatred. She's broken! Her mind is broken! The truth of her past is--
Without remorse, the mother violently pushed her daughter down to the ground and covered her mouth, saying.
"SILENCE!" She interrupted as she hovered her magic-imbued hand over her daughter's face. "No one deserves to see the truth, not even my daughter or husband."
"This is WEAKNESS!" The father shouted at his wife with his sharp and direct voice, slamming his fist and pushing the woman away from Young Aletha and Asahi. "I didn't agree to marry a WEAK woman! I remember marrying an angel, NOT a monster. Now. Tell us the truth. Tell us the truth behind all of your actions! Don't hide it. If we can't remember it, your guilt surely will."
Instead of replying, the mother raised her hands, and a shimmering aura surrounded her. Her eyes glowed with an otherworldly light as she began to chant in a language her family had never heard before.
As she continued to chant, the air around them grew thick with palpable energy, and they felt a strange sensation in their minds.
Memories began to slip away as if they were being erased from existence. All memories of it, including the bright ones, wiped off the face of Aletha's consciousness.
The once-sharp details were now hazy and indistinct, like a painting left in the rain. Faces that had once been familiar were now only half-remembered, and places that had once been so clear were now obscured by a thick fog.
The emotions accompanying the memory also faded, like a candle slowly burning down. The intense joy, sadness, or excitement she once felt had become muted, replaced by a vague sense of familiarity and nostalgia.
(I can't… I can't remember…) Aletha mumbled as she felt reality return to her.
:///:///:
The details that had once been so clear and vivid slowly became blurry, and the emotions accompanying them dissipated like a mist clearing from a valley.
As the night wore on, the monsters showed no signs of abating.
The darkness seemed to grow deeper, their growls more ferocious, and the screams more unrelenting.
Aletha's heart began to race again as she saw the fast, dissolving, goopy four-legged monsters approaching her.
(No. I can't simply lose like this.) Aletha said, clenching her determination. (There is more to this journey than meets the eye.)
Though that flood of memories may have surprised her, Aletha knew she had to act quickly to avoid being caught by these slimy creatures.
Without wasting a second, she ran toward the hill, hoping to use it as a shield against the monsters. However, as she reached the edge, she realized it was almost too high to jump. In desperation, Aletha decided to do something she had never done before - she decided to leap down the hill.
She quickly tucked her body into a ball, holding her backpack tightly, and let gravity do the rest. She hurtled down the slope, and felt her hair and clothes flapping wildly in the wind.
The goopy monsters' slimy skin slid and sloshed across the grass.
As Aletha rolled down the hill, she heard monsters catching up behind her. But before they could reach their tendrils at her, Aletha rolled down into a nearby stream. The warm water splashed around her as she emerged and she gasped for breath. She looked up and saw that the goopy monsters hadn't followed her down the steep slope and instead, they had slid down the hill in a jumbled mass.
Aletha then sighed in relief, feeling grateful that her gamble had paid off.
"It… worked."
Though relief may grasp onto her, Alai on the otherhand backed away as she witnessed Aletha and the cluster of monsters tumble down the steep hill and collapse into the river. She was at complete disbelief of this with her heart beating rapidly in reaction. But soon enough, Alai settled herself down, and she sedately took deep breaths and swept her hand across her forehead, pushing the sweat of panic off her face. She mumbled with heavy breaths.
"Thank goodness she's alive."
After she stretched and pushed herself up, Alai sprinted as fast as she could down the hill sloping down to a crystal clear stream. Her face contorted with worry and panic as she noticed Aletha's body sliding down the water. She dashed over and asked her with a trembling voice
"Aletha, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Aletha replied, breathing heavily, and wiping the water off her back. As she grabbed Alai's hand, she lifted herself up, and scratched her head, reciting what she had experienced in the war ground in her mind. "I just remembered some… strange things, that's all."
"Strange? What do you mean?" Alai replied Aletha with a question, her voice still filled with concern. A silence filled the space in-between them. Seconds passed as Alai's crimson eyes watched Aletha breathe heavily and hunch down. It was apparent to her that Aletha was panicking. However, she was unaware thought that it was because of the thought of Aletha's indescribable recollections that caused her to act like this. Then, as they walked away from the stream, alert for any approaching creatures, Aletha explained her conflicting thoughts to Alai.
"My mind was flooded with memories. There were blurry memories of my younger self and my family. Happy memories and bad traumas. It was… overwhelming." As she reached in tk her mind, desperately trying to remember, Aletha paused. It was silent for her... too silent.
Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed a group of silhouettes creeping up behind Alai. She replaced her following words with a terrified scream, her eyes bulging in terror.
"Alai, behind you!"
Alai raised her eyebrow in confusion and turned her head around to find what made Aletha so terrified. That's when her heart leaped up to her mouth in terror.
"Huh?!"
As they witnessed the creatures charging at tboth of them like bulls, Aletha hurriedly grabbed Alai's arm and pulled her away. Then, they sprinted as fast as they could, hearing the storm of footsteps catch up to them.
"JUST RUN!" Aletha screamed.
. . .
Minutes elapsed.
Ubel was nowhere to be seen, and the threatening night of Linuxinia gradually became colder and darker.
Aletha and Alai had been running across the plains of Alpine Glitterfly Range without a rest break in sight. Their legs numbed, their lungs combusted with tiny breaths, and terror peaked as they desperately tried to keep away from the monsters. Running across the field of flowers, Aletha screamed as she dodged the goopy tendrils shooting out to her.
"They're too fast!"
Though Aletha clearly witnessed Alai's terror, she suppressed her panic, and answered with a humble tone.
"Don't worry," Alai whispered, holding her hair and head high. "Just keep running!"
As they ambled back and forth through a passage of stone and trees, Alai kept her gaze on Aletha and whispered to her with a smile while they ran.
"You were smart for choosing to run." She said as her pink and lavender skirt waved in the wind. "I would have just babbled on and on about your memory situation if it wasn't for your warning. And though... I may be breathing heavily. I appreciate it a lot."
Subsequently, Aletha answered Alai with a bright grateful smile.
"You're welcome."
. . .
Transpiring after that heart-warming moment, the emotions suddenly faded as the two heard the monsters speak with coherent dialogue.
"The Second Incarnation emerges!" A croaking and gurgling voice screamed at them from the shadows.
Instantly, Aletha and Alai's smiles faded.
They quickly cocked their heads to the side, desperately scanning the area for the voice's origin.
"Who goes there?" Alai shouted with a burning red face, putting her feet down and cutting her view to the source of the voice.
Appearing from the darkness stood a sizeable humanoid monster smothered in goopy substance in the shape of a dark cloak. Its feet scraped and stabbed the soil, tainting it with a disgusting discolored essence.
It bent its head and shot its piercing gaze at Aletha. The monster pathetically hoisted its sharp, slender arms up at an angle, answering the girls as it screamed in pain with every word it spoke.
"We… are The Decaying. Erosion has… t…taken us. We may not live much no longer." It said as it slowly reached its four corrupted hands to their back. "Our goddess… the one we looked up to… a-abandoned… us. Her world. Her kingdom. She had left us like this. She… is nothing more than a 'beautiful'... monster."
Aletha and Alai remained silent, their eyes wide with shock and horror, disregarding the golden and magenta luminance forming around them.
"A monster… a monster that has lost its way… much as all members of The Adtraic Family." The monster said with a sorrowful tone. "You… white-haired creature, have dared to walk the fabric… of your universe… with ignorance… and doubt. All five of you have roamed the stars… with no memory… no consideration of your disposable, unrelenting past. And yet… y-you dare to return here."
The monster's words echoed in their minds, forcing Aletha to feel a sense of questionable guilt and shame.
"She abandoned us. Asahi… abandoned us. Your own people. You two left us here to ROT dead under the concealing soil." A four-legged monster added as it slammed its head against the ground. "Traitor! All of you… traitors! You left us to die. You left us in this state! I can't remember the last time I had seen my hands… my skin… my face. It has been so long… I had almost forgotten the existence of The Adtraic."
As the monsters continued to threaten and harass Aletha for what she could hardly remember, even more creatures of goop and erosion emerged from the soil, their razor-sharp claws extending with the increasing glow of their eyes.
The thick, sticky substance dropped off their scaly, formless skin as they scrambled and scraped their way out of the mess, insulting Aletha.
"Monsters! You are the true monsters! Destructive untamable beasts of nature!" A small creature yelled furiously as it melted back into the ground.
"How… h-how could you forget us? How could you forget our kingdoms? How could you forget your allies… your followers…?" Another added sobbingly, goopy tears flying down their eyes.
As the cloaked monster slowly lifted the floating gooey orb into the air, it knowingly announced with a fragile tone.
"Thousands… of years… lost to time and blackness. I know… I understand now who and what a true monster is." It paused and peeled its goopy substance off its cloak, revealing pale skin underneath the coating. Aletha's eyes shrunk in shock.
"H…Huh?" She said surprisingly. "Y… You're human?"
"ALETHA, stay back!" Alai warned as she hoisted her arm to her.
When Aletha tried approaching the cloaked being, the goop reformed itself and closed the hole, covering up the pale human skin underneath the monster's layers.
"Back off, you MONSTER!"
Aletha and Alai froze still and rooted their feet onto the ground in pure shock, watching the destructive process unfold.
"Aletha… a… are they talking about you?" Alai crossly asked Aletha, expressing concern with disbelieving, trembling eyes.
Brief silence answered Alai.
"That can't be…." Aletha whispered as she watched the creature swing its arms into the air. "Y…Yes. But…."
While a wind blew awkwardly among the situation, Aletha tilted her head and gulped down a breath of disdain, thinking bashfully.
(I… didn't know that the people of my old world are… still alive. What… What happened to them? W-Why are they like this?!)
While many stupendous questions flowed deeply and unevenly in her mind, the cloaked monster snapped its fingers and announced with one malicious roar.
"It is deception… that makes a monster; A traitor!" They reviled Aletha as it viciously pointed its claws over to the white-haired girl, expressing its hatred at her with a louder voice. "Evil wraps itself in a skin of beauty to make it appealing to the unwise and ignorant. They manipulate others and expect everyone to follow. Truth be told, unfortunately, that's the case. One would rather follow and gawk at the manipulative prepossessing shell of a demon than try to find and detest the rotten yolk of their soul!"
After its voice reached its maximum, the cloaked individual catapulted a large gooey ball into the air.
"UNFAIR! SO MUCH SO AS THIS WORLD AND ITS LAWS!" The monsters screamed one last time, watching the orb of goo float over their heads. "ATTACK!"
With sharp claws and teeth bared, all the monsters lunged forward, tearing and gnashing at the lethal ball's surface.
The gooey substance quivered and shook under the onslaught, but the monsters were relentless. Their attacks grew more frenzied, and the ball weakened and bulged outward with each strike.
Finally, with a sickening crack, the ball reproachfully burst open, sending a torrent of sticky, viscous goo spilling out in all directions. The monsters let out a chorus of triumphant roars as they were showered with the glistening substance, their bodies coated in a thick layer of the goo.
"Aletha, duck!" Alai screamed panicky as they both saw the rain of toxic mucus fall from the sky.
"On it!" Aletha replied with a determined and optimistic tone.
Heeding that warning, Aletha barreled her body and dropped to the ground with Alai, hearing each mud droplet splattering and exploding in the environment with every impact. They hunched their heads down, defending themselves from the oncoming storm. The toxic black droplets relentlessly shredded anything it faced, whether animals or flora; everything was affected except for Aletha and Alai.
As the piercing, screaming droplets poured heavily, Alai leaned over to Aletha and carefully whispered.
"Stay put. Do not move a muscle."
Once the shower of goopy droplets settled down, Alai quickly poked her head out from the bristles of the bush and scanned the area, hoping they had lost them.
The trees halted dancing, nature was at a standstill, and the rustles of leaves resounded over the surrounding bark. She suppressed a breath, noticing two crawling figures emerge from a cluster of bushes.
Alai gasped, reeled her head back swiftly to the bush, and clutched Aletha's shoulders, keeping her eyes focused on her gray iris.
"Aletha…" She said with a shaky, panicked voice. "I… I need you to be as still as you can be. Don't move anything. The Decaying is near us."
As cool air brushed against their faces, the creatures aggressively pounced their bodies down at them, planting their tendrils around the ground and squeezing the girls' bodies tightly.
"ACK!"
Aletha squirmed her legs around and tried to yank off the tendrils like strings. But to her surprise, the firm grip from the monsters grew even tighter.
Alai urgently reached for a branch and clutched it, breaching out of the creature's grasp and slicing its tendrils off like a stick of butter.
With the tendrils retreating from Alai's self-defense, the monsters reacted with petrifying and shrieking screams, echoing and damaging Aletha and Alai's ears. Shrill and deafening shrieks trembled and dug into their ears before suddenly…
"HA!"
Aletha threw her leg out to the monster's head with all her might, causing it to detach from its body and roll into the ground. For a moment, surprise shocked her.
But then, she quickly back-flipped and immediately dodged a drilling strike straight from behind before she socked a heavy punch at the monster; its red eyes shrunk into pebbles.
Following Aletha's attack, Alai approached with two flexible punches and kicks. She then threw a sharp-pointed branch at the monsters, forcing them to explode in goop and voices.
"What's happening to me?" Aletha mumbled as she felt dizziness and excitement rise up in her. "I feel… strong!"
With that in mind, Aletha's eyes opened up with wonder as she watched herself thrust her fists into the monster's chest. She suffocated it, pressing her body against the goopy creature, effectively squashing and crushing it. Her eyes abruptly got covered by a large white veil as she continued to strike the beasts one by one.
"Ah! I can't see anything!." Aletha screamed confusedly, ecstatic about this new rush of euphoria.
While Alai followed Aletha's kicking and punching, after each beat-down Aletha gave the monsters, the red-haired girl finished the monsters' life off by stabbing them with branches from fallen trees.
"Keep it up, Aletha! Though your hair is in the way, you're doing good!" Alai said as she felt goop splatter all over her face. "Just a few more!"
Upon her yells, Aletha's unsure smile transformed into a confident one. She garnered all her strength and euphoria into one motion before exploding into a barrage of physical attacks and close dodges. Punches flew about, jaws fractured, goopy bodies torn and strewed, mangled, and contorted.
Suddenly, a silver-haired man approached the creatures from a distance with an enormous claymore. Its blade extended out to the air with its deeply engraved silver lines, the point glimmering and captured the monsters' attention, and a silvery magical essence circulated around it.
Aletha dug her feet into the ground and gritted her teeth as her white hair covered her face like a curtain. Though she couldn't see anything, Aletha recognized who the upcoming voice belonged to.
"Who goes there?!" The deep voice blurted dominantly from a distance, hoisting a giant silver claymore into the air with one arm. "Leave or face death!"
The painful high-pitched noises of slashes and screeches immediately sounded afterward. Aletha tried desperately to pull her hair out from her eye, but the bristles were so soft and long that Ubel had already slaughtered all of The Decaying Monsters when she retrieved her sight.
. . .
With the smoke of the situation settled, one thing was left attached on Aletha's mind as she took a deep breath, and relaxed herself after her first encounter with The Decaying monsters and the sudden flood of memories.
(Am I... being lied to?)