"Wait a minute, this is urgent news. Why did you not tell me yesterday when we met? You did not forget, did you?" I looked at Lyra with a disappointed look.
"No, no, no, I did not forget. It was just that the damn watch brought me to the midst of a monster-infested forest. I had to fight through it. When I eventually reached the town, those guys tried to rob me. After that, we met, and you were having a fantastic time, so I didn't want to ruin it. That's all. I just didn't want to disrupt your celebration. It's not like I'd forget something so important just because I was hungry or anything," Lyra responded, blushing.
I shrugged it off, saying, "Oh really? Well, whatever."
"So about those guys, you fought - if they are that strong, they might be wielders of time crystals. And that man with the scar must have been using some kind of magic," I said.
"Wait! MAGIC!?" Lyra exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah, magic. It's real. Aria can use magic," I confirmed. "She should know more about it than we do. How about we tell Aria about this? She could help us. Since she is a local here, she can help us find the time crystal much more easily. And we don't have the luxury of giving them the crystal now, do we?" I continued.
"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea?" Lyra asked for confirmation. "I mean..., don't get me wrong, I trust her, but this is dangerous. Do you want to drag her into this mess?"
"They're already ahead of us. If they get the crystal and become stronger, there will be no hope of stopping them from whatever they are planning," I reasoned.
"Well, you have a good point," Lyra agreed. "So let us go and tell Aria."
"Tell me what?" Aria had just arrived at our table in the restaurant.
"Well, it's a little complicated," I said. Then Lyra and I explained the situation to Aria. As Aria listened to our story about the unknown group and their search for the time crystals, she felt a sense of unease. "Something about the man with the scar sounds familiar," she muttered silently. "I just couldn't quite put my finger on it."
But as we continued to talk, Aria suddenly remembered a group of people who had attacked her village 10 years ago. The leader of that group also had scars on his face, and they had incredible power.
"I think I know who they are," Aria said, her voice quiet. "Years ago, a group of people attacked my village. They were after my sister's necklace. I was the only one lucky enough to survive," she explained.
Lyra and I exchanged a worried glance as Aria asked, "I remember them talking about some crystal. They must be referring to the time crystal. Is it anything like a shining, shard-like piece of glass?"
"Yeah, that's what it looks like," I confirmed. "Do you think it's the same group?" I asked.
"It's possible," Aria replied. "But we can't be sure. Either way, we need to find that time crystal before they do," I stated.
"My sister had one in her necklace. She and I are not blood sisters, but I consider her my older sister. She often came and played with me. I was raised by the villagers, you see. My parents died sometime after I was born in an accident. That day, when they attacked, the whole village was set on fire, and they slaughtered everyone they saw in the search for the crystal. I was hiding in the treehouse when Sis came and took me, and we ran away, but they followed us. We ran and ran as fast as we could, but they caught up to us and surrounded us. My sister told me to close my eyes for a second, so I closed my eyes, and there was a flash of light. When I opened my eyes, I was in a house where I was greeted by an old lady. When I asked where my sister was, she just told me that she had gone traveling and would come back one day, but until this day, I have never seen her again. The old lady raised me until I grew up; she died 5 years ago. I didn't want to stay in the house where most of our memories were, so I moved here to the Ring City."
"I'm sorry about your loss. So, you also don't know where the time crystal is?" I asked.
"No. Sorry, I don't. Sorry if that wasn't helpful," Aria answered, shaking her head from side to side.
"No, no, no, it was a big help. Now we know where exactly the crystal is," Lyra cheered her up.
"Wait, you mean to use the watch to go there? But I thought you said it was just a prototype, and the placement was not stable," I said.
"That won't be a problem since I'm here now," said a mysterious handsome man with brown hair.
"Hey Luke, what are you doing here? What? Your sister finally gets you to do a proper job. I have to say the president is a little too soft on her brother," I greeted him.
"Where have you been at the time they attacked, Luke? We could've used your help," asked Lyra.
"Sorry for not being there when you needed me, Lyra. I was on an errand that my sister asked me to do. When I returned and saw the state of the HQ and heard what had happened, I knew I had to come and help you. So, I heard that you want to go back in time," Luke replied.
"It's not good to eavesdrop, you know," Lyra responded.
"But yes, it is true. The watch Kael got can only be used to send him back to the future. And mine is not stable to use..."
Luke interrupted Lyra and took our watches before adjusting the devices. "By combining both; Lyra's and yours with my device here, like this and that, and voilà, one time-traveling watch coming right up," he said.
"Umm… might I ask who this is?" asked Aria.
"OH, sorry Aria. This is Luke, our friend and younger brother of the president of Trasa, Luke. As you might already know by eavesdropping, she is Aria, right?" I said.
"Aria, nice meeting you," Luke interrupted me.
"The device is all done now. Ready when you are." Luke said.
We all looked at Aria while she sat silently, hesitating.
"I don't think we should do this here. We can't just disappear in public, we need to go somewhere isolated," I said.
"Yeah, right, let us go back to the inn and take our things first. I left my armor there," Lyra proposed.
We returned to the inn at noon after our lengthy discussion. After arriving at the inn, Lyra and Luke left me and Aria in the room alone.
"Aria, are you okay with this? If you're not up for it, you can stay. You don't need to come along with us," I said.
"No. I need to do this. I want to know what happened to my sister. Don't worry, I am the great Aria, you know," Aria tried to put on a brave face.
"It's okay to be afraid. We all are. I mean.., we don't even have a plan, and if we are spotted by the enemy, we are all done for," I said and hugged Aria.
Aria started to cry in my arms.
"What if she died or they took her?" she asked, crying, as I just sat there silently.
After she finished crying, she realized she was in my arms. Her face got all red, and she blasted me with a water spell that she conjured up with magic.
"You-you-you don't ever mention this in the future, you got that?" she said.
"Yes, ma'am," I said.
Then we came out of the inn and regrouped with Lyra and Luke.
"I know just the place that is good for us to use," said Aria. Then she took us outside the city and proceeded to a little hut in the middle of the forest. We got there safely without alerting the monsters, all thanks to Aria's magical barrier.
"Aria, what is this place?" I asked.
"Well, this was my old house," Aria answered. "There will be no one here to interrupt, so let's get this thing going."
"Okay, Luke, please..." Lyra signaled Luke.
"Okay, guys, are you ready?" said Luke as he entered the date on the device. He clicked the button, and a blue light shone through the device, blinding everyone. When our sight returned, a village covered in fire and the screams of villagers appeared in front of us.
I could see the sadness in Aria's eyes, no matter how much she tried to put on a brave face. I cheered her up by patting her head, resulting in me getting blasted away by water again. She then cheered up a little.
"Let's go. My sister and I will be heading this way," Aria said, pointing to a dying tree in the middle of the plain, about a mile away from the village.
We went to the place and hid behind the tree, waiting for child Aria and her sister to arrive. A few minutes later, we saw a woman with long white hair running while carrying a young child, with pursuers gradually catching up.
"No, sister," Aria said, trying to go and help the woman and the child. But I pulled her back.
"We are not strong enough to intervene. If we go and get caught, we will just die in vain. Let it all play out," Lyra reasoned.
Aria calmed down a little bit. Then, the child Aria said, "Oh no, sister, they surround us. What do we do now?"
"Don't worry, Aria. Everything will be fine. Just close your eyes for a while," said the white-haired woman. She then waved her hand above the child's face, putting her into a deep sleep, and laid her down on the ground, surrounded by a barrier.
"Oh-ho, you guys never give up, do you?" she said, holding her necklace in her hand. "This is what you were looking for, isn't it?" She then took out the crystal from the locket of her necklace.
"NOOO," the scarred man shouted. He was one of the people chasing them. Lyra instantly recognized him as one of the men who attacked Trasa.
A surge of power suddenly radiated from the woman. The veins in her hand began to shine with the crystal power surging throughout her body. The ground under her cracked as she floated up. Then, a wave of energy shocked through the area, and the people surrounding the two sisters were nowhere to be found.
The woman came back down to the ground and looked our way as if she already knew that we were there. Then, she came towards us. Aria and I revealed ourselves, while Lyra and Luke stayed behind as a precaution if anything went wrong.
"Mom, Dad," said the woman.