Out of nowhere, a strong wind from the west kicked against the blaze, blowing out all the massive flames like a person blowing out a candlelight.
"Wha-?!"
Trying to brace himself against the wind pressure suddenly slamming into the forest with the power of a storm, Daizen Shizaki's eyes widened in shock.
With the sky growing dark as clouds shifted around in quick succession, and a great darkness snaking hauntingly into the region, he could easily tell that a strange phenomenon had suddenly occurred.
In a panic, Shizaki shifted his view to the person lying down, but found nobody there. In fact, all he saw now was complete darkness. A black color had enveloped him, cutting off all vision of the outside world.
Stumbling back in fear, he fell on his backside onto a solid surface.
He remained in a slight state of shock while lying down. No trees remained in sight, no grass, no fire, nothing. Only him and darkness were present.
And then--
A flash of white covered the area, making Shizaki instinctively cover his eyes, cowering from the bright light.
He slowly peeked to his left, and then downwards as he realized that the ground beneath him seemed different. And yes, it was. A large sheet of both snow and grass was now present. Snow also fell from above, descending from the sky of white.
He quickly stood up, and then drew back slowly as he began to shiver. That was when he noticed them, the bloodied corpses, lifeless on the ground.
Ahead of him, many bodies were strewn across the vast earth as they lay next to each other.
Fresh blood covered the snow-laden world. The bodies were covered in an eerie aura of white and red, completely obscuring their faces, hair, legs, and every part of their body.
".....This is bad. This is seriously bad."
The hairs on the young man's skin stiffened, and a chilling sensation overwhelmed his body as his legs lost strength, causing him to fall to his knees.
Wherever he looked, there were lifeless bodies everywhere, as far as his eyes could see.
Fleshly husks were what remained of once-energetic human souls, strewn across the snow-filled earth.
"What...is.… happeni-hk...urk!"
With the sudden sight of blood that soaked the snow with a red hue, and mangled flesh all around him in piles and heaps, a surging feeling of wanting to throw up the gastric contents within made him quickly cover his mouth. Trying to keep the liquids inside, he tightly held onto his mouth with both of his bare hands.
Everything had occurred so suddenly. There was hardly time to think.....and much less time to act.
This has to be a dream. It has to be. It had to be. It has to be.....right?
In his mind, he convinced himself that was the case.
With these sudden turn of events, there was every reason to conclude that everything that was now shown before him was absolutely fake.
Still.....why did it feel so real?
"In exactly one year…"
"-?!"
Shizaki quickly turned to the direction of the ethereal voice that spoke behind him, and found a strange sight.
What looked like a black void, a hole where no light could enter, appeared before him. The voice was of a single person, but echoed with an incredible power.
It sounded….like a young woman was speaking just now…hk.
However, his eyes widened and he refused to finish his sentence as he noticed something strange, no, something that made his blood curl.
Hands dressed in thick red blood emerged from the void.
H…uh?
Countless arms, too many to count, all slowly stretched out of the void, drawing ever so close to the stooping figure of Daizen Shizaki.
This is not a funny joke…
Overcome with a surge of panic and confusion, Shizaki tried to get up but couldn't move. Was he paralyzed due to the coldness? Was he stuck?
Shoot…I'm freezing.
Nothing was making sense anymore.
S-Stop…
Just a few metres separated the unlimited stretch of arms that curled abnormally towards him.
He must be going mad, he thought. There was no other reason why he would be witnessing this.
He tried to cry out, shout and scream, but his mouth was stuck in place.
"In exactly one year…everyone you love and will come to love will be destroyed forever. Will you be able to save them all, I wonder?"
The voice within the void spoke again, just before the hands slowly embraced the now completely frozen Shizaki, dressing him in a coat of their blood before finally fully encircling him, and one emerging from the midst of them grabbing onto his face with force.
It was right after that when Daizen Shizaki finally lost consciousness.
***
What felt like a cold gentle breeze swept across his face as his consciousness returned to him. His eyes slowly opened and the bright, blue sky soon came into focus as he stared ahead.
White and grey laden clouds danced together with a strong wind pushing them away to frolic with others. This was the first thing Shizaki saw, which meant…
That must mean that I'm lying down on the ground, that much is obvious.
His gaze traced along the sky until it met the sun, its piercing light causing him to instinctively react to cover his eyes and get up.
Then, remembering what had just happened, he abruptly sat up, pierced with an uneasy feeling.
What the hell was all of that!? Wait, first of all, where exactly am I!?
A white cloth was covering his body from his legs up to his torso like a bedsheet. Below his body was a mattress, but it was accompanied with the soft earth beside it.
His body had been lying down on a bed of cloth in the middle of a grassy plain, and as he changed his gaze to his surroundings rather than the setting above, he spotted other beds accompanied by people. Although it took some time, he finally calmed down enough to scope out the situation at hand.
"I'm at an emergency healing site, it seems…"
A common tradition in the Aldranza Dynasty and its provinces was to supply quick installations of cloth beds, for ones who were hurt in war and unfortunate accidents, while various renowned Soul Mages or those who were blessed with the ability of healing magic help the patients right there and then, instead of having to take them to the closest hospital that could be a long journey depending where the incident had taken place. This was usually called an Emergency Healing Site, or E.H.S.
Despite having looked around, Shizaki had only turned to the left side of the bed in panic, completely unaware that there was someone next to him on the far right.
The hairs on Shizaki's body rose as he twisted his body around and stared at the person with disbelief. His eyes met the condescending gaze of the young woman who sat a few inches away.
On exchanging glances with him, she averted her eyes and scoffed, then gave him a completely blank look.
The silent maiden, her beautiful crystal blue eyes shining as her light green hair blew in the wind. Her slightly emotionless expression was one of her usual demeanor, and she simply stared at Shizaki for a few seconds, saying nothing.
This however, made him elated. In that moment, his eyes widened, and he breathed a sigh of pure relief.
".....Alexandriya Aya-san."
"Daizen Shizaki-kun."
His eyes lit up. A small smile flashed as he hurriedly tried to slide his body across in order to get a bit closer to her, and then he instantly broke down.
"I was so scared!!!I thought you were dead-"
Her hand swiftly came down on his head with a chop.
"-hgkk?!?! Owowowow- the hell?!?! Can't you see I'm pouring out my emotions for you!??"
"Shizaki, you dummy. You went into a forest of fire all alone, or so I heard. You were lucky to survive. What were you thinking?"
"..."
He opened his mouth to speak and fell silent. It seemed as if he couldn't come up with a valid answer, except "I needed to save you", but even so, trying to do it all alone was certainly a foolish decision. Noticing his change in expression, Aya simply turned her attention to a few beads of grass by her side and plucked some of them out gently.
"Thankfully for me, I was too lazy to make breakfast, so I dragged my hungry ass to Old Man Targon's shop before I could head to Sekoto Forest. While there, I heard the explosion, but I stayed inside to finish eating."
"Eeeeeeehhh!!?? Y-You're kidding…"
Intrigue and shock were written all of Shizaki's face.
"Therefore, you could've gotten yourself killed for nothing."
"H-Hey, it's the thought that counts, right?"
"….I see. In that case, if a situation like this ever happens again, I will prepare the worst funeral imaginable for you."
"-hk, seriously?"
"It's the thought that counts, Shizaki."
"Don't use my words against me!"
"Hmph."
Despite her obvious concern for Shizaki, her voice was just the same as ever, in an emotionless monotone. No matter what would happen, only in the exception of experiencing pain, her tone of voice would compliment her gaze towards others.
Not an excessively loud or outspoken person, and not a person who usually smiles. Alexandriya Aya was just a calm and silent young woman.
Still, though…staying inside and continuing her meal without a care in the world…was she not even worried that Gariah and I were possibly in the-
"You two are always extremely late to our hangouts, so I wasn't too worried."
What a sense of trust, even though it's kinda misguided! And since when could she read minds!?
Still rubbing his head from the pain that Aya gave to him while also being in thought, Shizaki then jolted.
"I almost forgot! The forest..how bad was the aftermath? Were there any survivors? How did you even find me? And where is Gari- aaaaaaccckkk!!!!"
Another hit by Aya halted his sentence.
"Too many questions."
"D-Dammit, please don't do that!!! 'I've taken enough beatings for one day!"
"...Hmph."
She retracted her hand as Shizaki comically displayed tears, holding his head with both arms and closing his eyes, fearing the worst. She then opened her mouth to speak again.
"Some members of the Royal Guard Faction and Royal Guild Members arrived as backup. According to a report from a Royal Knight general to the people, a sudden wind from within the forest miraculously blew out all the flames. No one knows the cause of the explosion, no fatalities occurred, and no signs of anyone in that quarter of the forest were found, except you."
....Huh?
"Anyway, there were some minor and just a few major injuries at the border between our village and the forest of the fire, and that is why we have the E.H.S. here, on the outskirts of the Main Passageway, just a few feet east of the town.
No one…was in the forest?
"Somehow, through whatever means…just a bit more than a quarter of the entirety of Sekoto Forest was burned. It's…definitely a mystery. That much damage being caused by a single explosion with no source found is alarming. The only thing I can propose as a source is arson, on a gigantic scale."
Beads of sweat started to form on Shizaki's forehead.
No…that couldn't be right. There was a person. Unharmed, and laying there as if in deep sleep. There was also a hunch that someone had been watching him from behind as well, although he could not find anyone else at the time.
And then there was…
The vision.
{"In exactly one year, everyone you love and will come to love will be destroyed forever. Will you be able to save them all, I wonder?"}
Remembering that voice, and those sequence of events created an unpleasant feeling.
"....Shi…zaki?"
"A-Ah? Oh, y-yeah…sorry about that."
"And I haven't seen Gariah anywhere…not even since I first-"
Something's not right.
{"In exactly one year…}
One year.
{"…everyone you love and will come to love will be destroyed forever.}
The setting, the supernatural change of what had occurred before him. The explosion in the first place…
Was it all meant for him?
…..A vision of the future, perhaps?
{"…Will you be able to save them all, I wonder?"}
-----------------------------------------
(Chapter 3: The Silent Maiden)