In some far away forest, stood an old and worn out building. It was quite old, and was even falling apart in certain parts. But it gave off a very homely feeling. The house was two stories tall, with the bottom half made out of red bricks and the top half made of wood. The pillars of the house were also made out of huge logs that were carved with intricate designs. The roof as well was made of wooden logs that had moss growing on them, and on the top of the house was a chimney with white puffs of smoke coming out of it. In front of the house was a simple well designed similarly to the house.
Over all it was a very beautiful house. Somewhere in that house, a young boy with a pale face was lying in bed. Beside him was a younger girl with fiery auburn curls of hair. She gently stroked the young boys head as if coaxing him. The pale faced boy was breathing gently in his sleep, looking very peaceful.
Seeing this, Aki slowly stood up and took a deep breath. Her eyes had a gentle look to them as she watched over Neo who had fallen asleep after crying for quite a long time. It wasn't like a young child crying because of a tantrum. But more like a terrified and desperate person who had just gone through something very traumatizing. Aki didn't know those things however, she was very young after all, but she understood that something happened to Neo while he was in a daze.
Deciding not to think about it too hard about it, she walked towards the desk in the room and looked at the map placed on it. Her fingers traced the ink on the paper, and a distant look was on her face as she did so. She closed her eyes and began to think, to look back on memories, things she had long decided to forget but still lingered in the back of her head.
She saw a beautiful lady with long black hair and beautiful strokes of red in her hair. She had a kind face, and beautiful eyes filled with excitement as if they were a child's. That beautiful lady in that memory was lecturing Aki quite loudly, she held a paper in her hand. The paper had been soaked with something black and the writings on it had become ruined.
Gripping her shirt, Aki felt a painful sensation in her chest. As if she had run out of air to breathe. She felt something cold flowing down her cheeks but she ignore them and continued to reminisce of a long lost past. Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed. Then it felt as if it had been squashed.
As she tried to remember her past, she also remembered what came with it. That one moment when her world collapsed. The pain was unbearable, like a choking sensation. Aki began to take deep breaths to calm herself, and soon her heart that had been beating so fast slowly began to calm.
Feeling someone's gaze on her back, she turned and met the gaze of a pale boy with glistening eyes that reflected the gentle glow of moonlight spilling into the room.
"It was you…the forest. That lady…and…th-that creature…" Neo began to speak but he was quickly interrupted.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Aki said with an even tone, but Neo could feel the coldness in her voice. He was just very keen with those.
"…I saw something, a vision of sorts. Like a dream, and you were there or rather, I was there…seeing what you were seeing." Neo said as he sat up on the bed. He took a deep breathe before continuing.
"Luster Lilly"
"…What did you say?" Aki said her eyes widening.
"Luster Lilly, a type of flower…it's a flower you can find in the surroundings…and it's the flower your mother named." Neo said cautiously as he observed the expression on her face.
Aki stared at Neo, wide eyed and a slightly gloomy mood emanating from her. Neo looks at Aki, apprehensively. He could tell that it was a very sore subject to Aki and that he shouldn't be sticking his hand in something like this. But there was something he had to confirm.
"When you said you're not from here as well…did you mean that you we're also from another world?" Neo asked.
Aki furrowed her brows, this time it was her turn to be confused. "What do you mean 'from another world'? Isn't this the same world…Isn't it?"
Neo shook his head, denying her last statement. "No, it isn't…so you can't feel the incongruence. One more thing". Aki grimaced, she seemed to know what he was going to ask next.
"Have you tried leaving this place before?" Neo asked her while looking her straight in the eye. Aki bit her lip struggling to answer the question, she didn't want to disappoint him with her answer. But what else could she say other than the truth.
"Yes, me and…my mother, we tried escaping this place before. But we failed, we tried to go deeper into the forest, it's in the opposite direction of the old ruins." Aki spoke calmly but the trembling of her lips and eyes betrayed her calm façade.
"You don't have to tell me everything…I only want to know what I asked about." Neo consoled the girl, he understood that there were things one can simply share, and especially to a stranger like him.
"No…if we even want to have a chance of escaping this place…we have to use what we know" Aki said as he turned to face the map again, prompting Neo to stand and walk up to her. He eyed the markings of the map indicating the old ruins, but he then looked to the bottom half of the map where a dense forest was drawn. The words "Gloom Forest" written in capital black letters.
How ominous…but then again.
Aki's brow furrowed as she ignored another round of buzzing in her ears. She placed her finger on the drawing of tree's before sighing. "I don't know how long ago it was…I just know it's been a long time, my mother's name was Lilac" Aki began.
"We were poor. We lived in the streets, in alleyways, and under bridges. Rarely was it easy for us, we had to struggle with everything we had to survive. My mother especially so worked hard every day, she ran around the city we lived in looking for odd jobs to sustain us and there would be times where she couldn't find work. Those were the difficult days and when it rained or snowed, it was even harder for us." Aki recounted her earliest memories, with a distant look on her face. Her voice was calm and melancholic.
"That terrible life…I hated it. I really, really hated it. I wanted to live in a warm house…where I didn't have to shiver at night when it gets cold out in the streets. I wanted to eat good food everyday instead of making do with leftovers thrown in the trash." Aki slammed her hand unto the table, letting out her anger. She gripped her fist tightly then loosened them as she continued.
"Then my wishes came true…at least I thought so at the time. Something happened that night, an earthquake. It was my first time feeling that, the ground shaking beneath my feet as if it we're about to collapse and then suddenly all I could see was darkness…or should I say light?" Aki shook her head.
"We found ourselves in the same place I found you, that old ruin…I don't know how, I don't know why but this place felt so much like a paradise back then. Of course I didn't know how much of a nightmare the place is back then. I guess I was too innocent even after having to survive."
Neo looked down at the map, contemplating quietly. His eyes held an odd light to them. He looked up at Aki once more as she continued her story.
"At first we were confused, my mother especially so. But she got over it quickly and started to adapt to this place. She was very smart, so it didn't take long before we finally settled into the place. Every day we spent here was so much better than back in our old world. We didn't have to endure the freezing cold in the outdoors. We didn't have to eat disgusting leftovers, and my mother didn't have to work like a dog" Aki smiled. But it was a pained smile, one that bothered Neo so much.
He didn't know what it was like, to work one's bones into dust only to live another day. He'd never had to work hard for anything, never had to sleep out in the cold. The concept of poverty was something foreign to his and innocent young mind. But he understood that it was nothing good.
"We lived peacefully, happily, in this place. It was perfect, like the life I always asked for. That's until everything changed…" Aki's face paled. Her lips trembled as she struggled to continue. Her breaths came in short gasp, which quickly devolved into sobs. Neo placed his hand on her shoulder squeezing gently, a poor attempt at comforting her. As he listened on to her, his thoughts quiet, Neo tried to imagine what he would've done if he had gone through what Aki had been through.
I can't even think about it…The thought of having to survive in that kind of situation itself scares me stupid.
Neo clenched his free hand, hoping to dispel the cold feeling that had permeated his chest. Aki continued after gathering herself. "We didn't understand what was happening at first. It started out like every normal day, we gathered herbs and plants that we needed. We drew water from the well and then we cooked our breakfast. Then when we were about to eat breakfast…we heard an explosion, it was a very loud explosion and following that was the house shaking." Aki looked up at the ceiling as if remembering the very moment when it happened.
"Dust fell from the ceiling, and birds flew away from the trees. Things were falling off from the shelves and cupboards. Our food fell off the table…my mother and I hid underneath the table. Praying, waiting, for the shaking to stop. I don't know which god answered our prayers, but the shaking stopped." Aki wore a wry smile on her face.
"What happened after that?" Neo asked, his throat was dry. He had been listening quietly all this time. But as he felt the end of her story nearing, he couldn't help the anxious feeling brewing in chest.
"Monsters…" Aki said, her voice barely the softest of whispers.
"Monsters, different creatures. Some I recognized, or rather recognized parts of animals from…well from my world. They were all very different, in size, shape, and there were also smart ones, which made them much more dangerous than the mindless monsters who only acted wildly."
"Like the one in the forest…" Neo muttered.
"Yeah…we tried to survive, to adapt to the sudden change. My mother, s-she did all that she could so we could struggle and survive. B-but it just…it just wasn't enough." Aki began to stutter as she held back her sobs and failed. Neo, without thought, slowly walked up to her and wrapped his frail skinny arms around the girl, combing his pale fingers through her fiery hair.
As Aki leaned against the young lad, she cried, and cried, and she cried some more. Tears flowed down her cheeks and drenched the pale boy's shirt, but Neo did not mind. He continued to gently coax the young lady, as she had done for him. He spoke not a word as he did so. Understanding that no words could bring comfort beyond that of simply providing a gentle hand to hold.
The moonlight that spilled into the room was gentle. The glow reflecting off of Neo's eyes. They were indescribably gentle, yet they hid his stormy emotions underneath. Through her story, Neo had gained insight into the dangers that the domain held. He needed to think, and to prepare. Though he had obtained information, it remained to be seen if it would be of any help to their escape.