The wanderers were unable to believe what they were seeing. As they witnessed the damage to the village, one question was brewing in their minds.
'How could this village possibly be ravaged and overrun throughout the timespan of two days?'
It didn't make any sense for them, yet they pressed on, hearts pounding with relentless dread. Asahi and Aletha's unease gnawed at them, quickening every breath. As they passed through the oppressive, gray, and brown, damp ruins, a chill of foreboding gripped them as they neared the village's second block.
The village seemed almost submerged—damp, mushy, swamp-like. Everywhere they turned, the sensation crept beneath their feet.
The wanderers' heads phonically shifted left and right, seeing shattered glass, stones, and bookshelves everywhere on the ground. What they thought was worse was soon bombarded by the sight…
(Gulp)
In front of the wanderers, trembling human bodies sprawled grotesquely across the ground and against the walls. Some convulsed in the muddy streets, their eyes flickering with a haunting semblance of life, while others clung desperately to rooftops, every one of them shrouded in ragged, ruined clothing.
"AHH!"
Asahi and Aletha's eyes widened, hearts jumping to their throats, shivers running through them. They couldn't comprehend what they were seeing.
By slowly nearing closer toward the street, Aletha's voice shrilled with absolute terror.
"...n-n-n-n-no…."
Fear flooded through both of them; they approached the bodies. Asahi scratched his throat and trembled.
"No…"
The bodies: thin as twigs, skin inhumanly pale. Their eyes, wide open and unblinking, quivered with fear.
Revulsion seized Asahi and Aletha. They recoiled, nausea flooding them, gagging as hands clamped over mouths, struggling not to cry out in horror.
". . . ."
The bodies scared the wanderers beyond reason. So frightened, they could not scream. Hair bristled, sweat slid, fear coursed—as bodies wriggled across walls, dirt, and roofs.
"This can't be real, this can't be real, this can't be real…."
Terror overwhelmed them—every instinct screamed to flee, minds battered by panic at what could happen next.
Panicked. Tearing across the wet road, lungs burning, stumbling in frantic flight. Behind them, a nightmare was chasing every move.
What met them on the other block was even more trembling bodies, all with shredded clothing and lifeless faces. The wanderers quickly dashed out, sprinted near the blacksmith shops, and tried another route.
Jolting from block to block, fear throbbing inside them, Aletha tremblingly whispered as they saw the bodies.
"T-They… look like… they're still alive."
Asahi tightened his grip on Aletha's wrist, pulled her toward a narrow pathway, and roughly whispered.
"Don't get ANYWHERE near them! They might not be alive. We need to find Drimi and the others, now!"
. . .
While traversing through the line of buildings, the wanderers remembered the faces of the villagers. The bright eyes, the vibrant hair, the healthy bodies, all of it seemed to have dissipated as they saw the bodies on the street. Aletha quaveringly mumbled.
"No… please…"
After they grew concerned for the villagers, the wanderers unexpectedly approached the Well, the center point of the village. A small group of villagers rocking and moving back and forth, shaking in fear. Asahi rushed to the helpless villagers and asked worriedly.
"Are you alright? Why is the villager like this?"
He and Aletha rushed to look for the others; a random boy stopped and skidded their feet across the mud.
"H-Huh?"
A boy tattered with dirt and mud approached them, smiling and cheering. Despite the harmful elements within his body, he still had a joyful attitude. As he quietly stood still, the wanderers analyzed the boy.
His brown shirt looked torn, with a few purple sparkles glittering on his bruises. The wanderers turned away and saw that his jeans were also ripped and shredded, with the same flashes hovering over the thin fabric.
The wanderers slowly backed away, trying to calm down so as not to accidentally frighten the boy. As the calm winds blew across the barren ground, Asahi turned to Aletha and whispered.
"Sis, can you try to speak to him? If I were to reply, I would immediately frighten the poor child."
Aletha rubbed her chin and released a deep sigh.
"Okay."
Asahi asked Aletha to do it because she had a soothing, impactful, and caring voice. Her voice could soothe even the furious beasts, yet she doesn't know it. As she bent over, slightly smiling and staring through the boy's eyes, she softly replied with her soothing voice.
~ "Young one, are you okay?" ~
Her voice sounded like the soft strings of a harp, a melodious tone that matched like the singing of a thousand angels— a voice that was not too high, nor too low. A perfect, harmonious vocal that eclipses all the voices of her family.
The boy slowly nodded his head, his arms turned to jelly, and his eyes gently closed. He was so appeased by Aletha's tuneful voice that the boy almost closed his eyes and fell into slumber.
Asahi's eyes widened, his face turned red, and he saw others emerging from the dark corners. The villagers, rocking back and forth, smiled and cheered in delight at the sound of the voice. Asahi turned to his sister and asked.
"How do you hide such a voice, Sis?"
Aletha shrugged her shoulders and covered her mouth.
"W-What do you mean?"
"I mean… wait, do you even know that you had that voice?"
Aletha hastily backed up and swiftly nodded her head.
"No, I didn't."
While the boy drones and chirps from the aftermath of the voice, the wanderers hear shuffling footsteps from behind, to the right, and to the left of their presence. They turned right and saw individuals covered in mud, bruises, and scars emerge from the backs of buildings and streets.
Remembering the bodies, the wanderers noticed that the people approaching had the same pale skin, torn clothing, and injuries. They gasped and stepped back, hearing voices spring out from the group.
"We thought you abandoned… us."
"You vanished for two weeks."
"I'm… glad that you two are alright."
"Many lost hope…."
The crowd quickly grew out of control, rejoicing and praising Asahi and Aletha for their 'long-awaited' return. The wanderers had to think of something to settle them down. So, Asahi lifted his arms into the foggy air and raised his voice.
"People of Milmoor, we were gone for two days! What in the world happened here?"
From the bunches of the dreary crowd, a brittle elderly woman holding a cane slowly stepped out of the mob and approached Asahi. Aletha backed away, uncertain that this might be a trick.
"Goddess, don't be afraid. We mean no harm." The elderly woman said.
She advanced and neared closer to Asahi, almost too close for his comfort. The elderly woman silently stared deep into Asahi's gray eyes, and the moment grew quiet.
. . .
After a few silent, awkward moments, the elderly woman raised her cane to the sky and struggled to convey her message to the wanderers.
"Dearies, I… It's… been so long. When you two were gone, the day after that day… a… a…."
She fell to the ground, and the villagers cradled her in hopes that she was okay. But instead of stopping to breathe, the elderly woman continued to speak.
"An individual… made of dark metal and had a glowing pink visor ambushed our village. There was no group around him… oh no. He was alone and dangerous. W…We tried to stop him, but it wasn't… e…e…enough. This… wretched man…."
The elderly woman was stunned with her fury. She struggled to clench her fists, her heart thumped rapidly, and she fell closer to the ground. A younger man with pale skin, brown hair, and gold eyes stepped in and continued the elder's words in an angry and aggressive tone.
"He stole our debris, trashed our village, and razed the ground! His devices… his technology, he used all of it to demolish our food supply and poison OUR water!"
The scream sparked anger among the crowd. Suddenly, others stepped forward and furiously screamed their claims.
"HE RUINED OUR HOUSES!"
"He spat on us as if we were animals!"
"He used his filthy contraptions to torture innocent souls!"
"He trashed our farms!"
"He slaughtered my children!"
The wanderers' gray eyes widened in fear as they felt the wrath surging from the sleepless crowd.
"He turned our friends to dust!"
"He took my Parky!"
"He said that we were peasants."
A woman, smothered in bruises, stomped on the ground and screamed as loud as possible.
"HE stole our money! He forced us to drink the poisoned water! He paralyzed many of us!"
The everlasting flames of wrath burned from the villagers. Their eyes, their attitudes, and their faces were all engulfed in a metaphorical crimson blaze of anger. The wanderers stepped back and dodged the tossed crates, torches, and weapons from the cluster of people. They were not only frightened by the damage to the village but also by the villagers themselves.
Asahi and Aletha backed away, both curious and frightened by the power an individual could possess. Aletha was muted with fear while Asahi quietly considered the attacker.
"Dark metal… a glowing lavender visor… and devices…?"
Suddenly, a burst of realization spread throughout his mind.
He tightly clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and shut his eyes. Aletha felt an aura of rage leaking through Asahi's face. His face turned red, he stomped his foot on the ground, and…
"You're telling me…."
Aletha slowly backed away. Asahi's eyes glowed in bright white, engulfing his pupils and iris. The crowd silently watched as Asahi mustered up his anger.
"…that all of this despair, damage… and… pain…."
He burst his wrath and unleashed a few sparks of white.
"Was all… AT THE FAULT… of TEAR!?"
Asahi's infuriated scream echoed through each corner and wall of the village, blasting and disturbing the peaceful plains.
. . .
All the villagers immediately fell silent, shocked and disbelieving that the shout belonged to the white-haired boy. They never expected such a squall of energy within Asahi's voice. Yet, they were still filled with rage. Aletha turned to Asahi and whispered as she gripped his wrist.
"We need to go… now."
Asahi silently nodded his head and stepped backward with Aletha.
As they tried to step away and flee from the crowd, someone shouted.
"Hey, where do you think you two are going?! They're getting away!"
The pale, bruised-smothered villagers stepped forward, and all chased the wanderers.
"What? What did we do?!"
"Aletha, just run."
The wanderers scrambled and dashed away from the villagers.
* * * * * * * *
The wanderers' round silver eyes widened as they approached a small wooden arch placed atop a small stream. What stood before them was a scene of dripping trees, black trunks, rotting vegetation, and scummy water, dispersed throughout the territory and foliage of Milmoor village.
The repulsive, brownish-green hue scaled and shifted over the vast grassy plain, ushering in a totally different environment from Milmoor.
Confused and afraid, the wanderers sprinted left and right, pathway to pathway in search of Drimi. A strange force was compelling and changing even the tiniest of molecules. Tall stalks of unbelievably large grass sprang up from the soil, forcing the surrounding environment to become a labyrinth of dense, damp marshes.
In swiftness, Asahi and Aletha peered through the ever-expanding roots. Its foliage and swamp-like nature proliferated over each corner of the village like spreading cells. And then, who stood behind the roots… was a tall, feminine silhouette with long hair. Through the dimming, flashing, and flickering beams of sunlight that continuously got obstructed from the shadows of the molding, mantled, yellowish-green roots, the wanderers pierced through the thick coat of mist and saw Sally, who hadn't looked afraid, but rather curious, kneeling down toward a gaping hole on the ground.
The wanderers gasped, took a deep breath, and scrambled to Sally; finally, with relief that they found someone they knew. By sprinting to her, Sally was able to see them and shrieked in shock.
"Eek! Asahi, Aletha, where have you two been?"
Asahi shook his head, bit his lip, and grasped his heart. Sarcastically, he responded.
"Where have YOU been? D-Do you notice, w-w-what's happening around us?!"
"Oh, the roots?! Well, I don't have knowledge of it either. But my senses assumed that this phenomenon is… like… a snapshot; a living photograph of the ancient times of Pladtioa."
Aletha untied her hair and pulled most of it carefully from the thorns that pricked and attached to both her slim, dark attire and her silky white hair. She groaned and whined in the sting, but then answered Sally with a precarious tone.
"W-What do you mean? Ancient Times? Snapshot? The villagers seemed to have changed, so has this entire town; and now, all of these sudden changes?"
As the roots, creeping vines, and thickening mist engulfed and swallowed the natural corridors of the mushy swamp, a crow cawed above the flickering light, and suddenly a large purple bolt pierced through the roots. Sally and the wanderers backed away.
"HUH?!"
A tall silhouette slowly emerged from the thickening, rising ashes.
Who stood in front of the falling pile of burning roots was a tall, skinny young man with long purple hair, grey eyes, wearing a rather formal suit, a blue robe, and a large, abyssal blue dangling tie. He swiftly swung his hair, kicked roots off his feet, charged to the wanderers, and lifted both of them up with his large wings. Asahi and Aletha were speechless; they felt the wind and flying leaves cut their faces.
Aletha turned her head upward and saw a beautiful, glorious masculine face staring forward across the smoldering village. With a trembling voice, Aletha mumbled and asked the mysterious man.
"Who… are you?"
A deep, powerful, masculine voice responded back.
"You will know my presence later. Both of you were in danger. I take my legacy upon a centralized, flourishing clan residing within the continent of Vehemat. I have sailed the vast oceans just to find you two, as my tingling senses pried upon your dangerous entrance to your world. It was then I only perceived you two from my flock as I arrived from the shores of Pladtioa, seeing you two in danger, coming from The Roots."
Both wanderers were consumed with shock, paralyzed by the sudden, precise save.
Asahi rubbed his eyes, turned his head down, and saw the sight of the village clouded and blanketed with roots. He turned to the man and asked, his expression one of confusion.
"Why did you come here, and how do you know us?!"
The man slowly descended toward a tame grassy hill at a distance that wouldn't be affected by the spreading storm of swamp-like nature. He carefully placed the wanderers against the soft golden bristles of the tall grass, tilted back toward the scintillating sun, and answered them.
"All that you need to know is that I am the domineering tyrant of an ever-expanding clan that commends and worships both of you entirely. You two were the owners of the old world, and we valued and cherished your much-awaited return. I can't stay in this nation anymore, as there is a toxin that keeps me from traveling here."
The attractive man slowly transformed into a large, lavender crow. As it lunged forward and flocked its wings, preparing for flight, his voice echoed over the fields.
"My time is threaded. Values lost. When you two finally arrive at the shores of Linuxinia, we WILL meet again. And I will pay the cost..."
By the time the wanderers could reach the tails of the crow's feather, he swiftly disappeared toward the glittering horizon.
"Oh… no…"
The wanderers saw the horrifying sight of the village and stood there, paralyzed beyond comprehension because of the sudden events. They were speechless and, above all, upset. Explosions sounded, followed by gushes of distilled water spewing from the enclosing roots. Immediately, the wanderers rushed down the hill, across the fence, and through the dirt roads to find Sally, Drimi, and Phthonus, and to discover the source of the explosions.
. . .
To their tremendous surprise, the wanderers found them within a long, brown archway that surrounded the village's fencing; all of them looked to have been battling a massive, terrifying beast. The mist and obstruction of nature were too thick to see the creature. However, as they tread further into the battle, they saw the massive goblin who posed a threat ever since it sat on the well, juggling, roaring, knocking, and slamming Phthonus, Sally, and Drimi into the air.