"Come on! Follow me, hustle up!"
Approximately thirty-four individuals moved together as a group. Sally, Drimi, and Phthonus led, directing the villagers of Milmoor to follow closely. The group searched every accessible area, moving systematically from the first level of the city up to the last.
"Not in the donut shop!" A man exclaimed as he rushed out of the front door, accidentally scrambling through the misshapen boxes.
Drimi exhaled deeply, gave a thumbs-up in approval, and nodded to signal that the search party should keep moving to new locations.
"Alright, then search the restaurant!"
The man nodded in understanding, turned, and rushed up the stone stairs toward the restaurant, which was filled with many chairs.
Above, birds arched through the sky, a fleet of clouds drifting east, while the sun's warmth shimmered over the city's concrete expanse.
A girl hollered as she jumped over the fence, hurried up the stairs, and tripped over a twig.
"There's no sign of her here!"
Drimi stomped her foot, pressed her fingertips firmly together, and tightly controlled her anger. As the group spread out to search every block and corner, she stomped again, raised her arms above her head, and shouted to gather everyone's attention.
"Alright, listen up!"
People outside the group walked back and forth, laughing, chattering, playing, shopping, and continuing their daily lives.
A rush of marching footsteps sounded, eclipsing the bell jingling, as each soldier lined up in an organized formation, like guards.
"Has anyone found any sign of Aletha?"
A group of children raced across the streets, followed by Drimi, Sally, Phthonus, and the others, getting pushed and shoved by the clusters of people.
To make it worse, people shouted at them.
"What is that group doing?"
"Stop standing there and causing a scene for everyone!"
Drimi held her frustration in. Her face flushed and swelled red, like a tulip preparing to bloom. She stepped forward, gesturing with her fingers, and raised her voice —trying to eclipse the noise.
"Okay, since."
(Ding!)
The bells were rampant in noise. Phthonus stepped forward and disregarded the noise; he gave a bitter laugh and exclaimed.
"Drimi, I really don't think this is a decent place to gather here--
Chattering, clapping, cheers, and discussion roared frantically from block to block. Blurry streaks of colors flew over and over from their trembling eyes, showing that the city was very dense.
Drimi plucked the cuff of her mask and objected.
"Alright, since we can't find Aletha, and it has been nearly thirty minutes, I order everyone to take a break!"
The lively crowd continued to weave and move around. Sally pushed through the throng, attempting to reach Drimi, but the dense crowd blocked her path.
And then, as Drimi was about to speak, a loud voice blared from a distance.
"Check out this new potion; try it now for three hundred Gincoins!" Advertised a boy with dark hair and gray eyes, jolting from the streets.
Even in crowded places, merchants seized every commercial opportunity. Perhaps in other countries in Gincad, similar types of commerce could be found.
Drimi shook her head, frustrated with the never-ending crowd.
"The people here… are…."
Drimi deeply sighed. She never remembered the city being this noisy before; however, pushing aside the distractions, Drimi retained her focus, jotted her head upward, and raised her voice.
"Followers, if you need rest, go somewhere secluded from the crowd. I don't want you to be consumed by the abundance of people here. If some of you are still energized, I highly suggest you follow me."
Drimi spoke more formally now, likely because she addressed a large group.
From a blurry distance…
"Oh, I want to come with you!" said a bitter voice, followed by scrambling footsteps.
Drimi facepalmed when she saw who the voice belonged to. Sally stood there, her long, sleek platinum hair glinting, bright pink eyes wide, and a blue and silver tunic covering her. Drimi was utterly surprised by Sally's sudden change in clothing and questioned her immediately.
"Where and how did you get that tunic so quickly?!"
Sally scratched her head.
"O-Oh, I got it from a dressing store."
"So they just walk up to you and grab it…?" Drimi said.
Sally chuckled nervously, scratching her head and stepping backward.
"Y-Yeah… basically."
Drimi stepped forward and gently patted Sally's head, showing admiration for Sally's genuinely innocent act. Despite their worrying situation, Drimi and Sally both realized Aletha was likely not in immediate danger. If she were, Drimi believed there would already be blinding lights scattering upon the streets.
"Okay, fine. Villagers, you may take a break. Sally and I will search for Aletha." Drimi said as she pulled Sally away.
The villagers nodded and scampered across the streets, preparing for and relaxing in anticipation of the oncoming demand.
"Yes, ma'am."
As the brilliant, vivid rays shone through the matching rooftops, Drimi made a light chuckle and smiled under her mask.
"Good." She mumbled as she crossed her way through the traffic. Hearing that reply reminded her of being the young captain she was on her ship when she was at sea. It almost made her shed a tear, remembering how good her leadership skills were.
Sally grabbed Drimi's arm, bent her head, and asked.
"Why are you crying?"
Drimi's eyes widened. She wiped the glistening droplet off her face, smiled softly under her mask, and replied with a honeyed voice.
"N-Nothing… It's just memories; that's all."
As they stepped forward, preparing to venture through the city, Sally pressed her hands to her cheeks and shouted with excitement.
"Let's find Aletha!"
Drimi sighed and clasped Sally's soft hands. She slowly nodded, remembered the events, and pondered.
"I wonder… where did Belial go? I hope… he's somewhere safe…."
* * *
Meanwhile, in the backroom of the pawnshop,
"I think it was yesterday that the Queen decided to capture me. I was only trying to sell items to generate funds for my immense debt. You know… Wraileza's taxes are hefty nowadays." Brich uttered as he made a gesture, trying to imagine the scene aloud.
"Huh… well… that's strange," Aletha mumbled.
They sat against the wooden walls, one on each side of the cramped storeroom. The doors were locked tightly, shelves had been shoved in front of both doors, and the windows were thoroughly covered to ensure they were safely concealed from any wandering guards.
Aletha turned her head toward a dark corner and stared intensely at the vases over the area. She looked at the bright patterns traced over the exterior and the diamond printed on the base.
"They look like the halos of Cleira's angels." Aletha thought.
Fallen into boredom, fiddling with the locks of her hair, Aletha pondered.
"And… Why did she try to capture you?"
Brich shrugged his shoulders.
"I have no idea. But I heard that it was because of my scent…."
"Your scent?!" Alexa staggered, backing up toward the wall.
"Yeah... I think it was related to Sadiki's… scent. Strange, I know."
Brich didn't want to leak more information to Aletha, mainly because the guards might be listening outside the door.
A somewhat sharp and incisive voice traced out from Aletha's lips.
"S-So you're saying that The Queen just teleported Belial out of existence? And he turned into a monster-- And that Asahi wasn't captured by guards, but The Queen herself?! What even--
(Plop)
Suddenly, Brich slapped a hand over Aletha's mouth. Aletha tried to scoot over, but the hand followed like a blindfold attached to their eyes.
She noticed Brich was nervously and cautiously turning his head left and right. Footsteps sounded behind the walls, indicating that it could be guards or people making the noise.
Shunned with shock, Aletha took quick, trimmed breaths and closed her eyes. Her heart raced, diverting her gaze to the half-shut door.
The lights buzzed, and Aletha relaxed her shoulders. The noise stopped. Brich sighed in relief.
"Thank you."
Brich slowly removed his hand from Aletha's mouth and gave a half-shrug. The stubble on his chin twitched; his eyes filled with fear.
"My apologies…"
Aletha dearly understood Brich's reasoning. Given Brich's trustworthy, pure, and innocent actions, he gained Aletha's trust. As noted by her smile, he was well aware of his responsibility.
After a brief silence, Brich's nostrils flared and whispered softly.
"Please, be a little quieter. The guards could be outside the door. I didn't know that the four were against their master; I thought they were still with The Queen. A-Anyways, I'm pretty sure that your brother is safe. The Queen didn't show any menacing or intimidating looks at him while I was fleeing. However, I did see her show signs of affection. Strange. You know, it's pretty rare--
He caught his breath.
"No, it's excruciatingly rare for The Queen of Pladtioa to show affection or even love to someone other than herself. So, when I saw her carrying your brother with a relieved smile, I questioned her intentions. And that if she really does have a liking for Asahi."
Aletha shook her head, jiggled her teeth, and bit her nails, falling into anxiousness on imagining the horrible things that The Queen could do to her brother.
"N-No… that… t-that can't be true…
Aletha nervously bit her bottom lip and cocked her head to Brich.
"I hope nothing bad happens to him. We were never supposed to be split apart."
"..."
Brich fell silent, unable to believe that the girl in front of him was or used to be a Goddess. He often questions himself if the world is much older than he thought; it has been bugging him ever since he met the wanderers.
"How are they, Rulers?" Brich thought.
Brich stood up, reached out to Aletha, pulled her up by her arm, and guided her toward the door. Forcing his own doubts aside, he spoke abruptly.
"Aletha, I know how much you want your brother back. So… I'm going to risk it; I'm opening the windows."
Aletha's dark gray pupils expanded, shocked that Brich could abruptly change the direction of his emotions.
"H-HUH?!'
Brich silenced Aletha and continued.
"If we are in danger…
He knelt down, reached behind the shelves, and pulled out several weapons to prepare for any threat.
...We will always have these. Now… help me open the windows; in fact, open the doors. I want The Four to find us. I want to change Pladtioa, and I also wish Sadiki returned."
Aletha raised her eyebrow and walked through the aisles of shelves toward the window. While pressing her hands against the window's seals, Aletha turned to Brich and asked politely.
"What happened to Sadiki?"
Brich closed his mouth and roughly grunted. He tried to fall silent and not respond, but Aletha's expression on her face was something he couldn't ignore, or was it his own doubts?
Brich thought.
(I can't simply refuse to answer a Ruler. If she and her brother really are my world's gods, I shouldn't DARE to refuse. I must.)
He sighed deeply, starting to regret his decision when he drew the first letter off his mouth.
"Aletha…"
She inclined her posture and smiled, showing anticipation beaming on her face. Disregarding the noise happening outside, Aletha responded.
"Yeah…?"
"Sadiki…"
Before he could say a complete sentence, a loud thump, followed by ferocious screams, trembled the entire shop. Bottles flew to the floor, shelves toppled down, and wood chips started to fly away.
Aletha asked again, ignoring the loud noises.
"What is it… Brich?"
Brich released a sigh of disappointment and mumbled frustratingly.
"Never mind… I'll tell you later!"
Brich closed the door and turned the lights off, hearing the footsteps gradually grow closer.
* * *
On the other side…
"Why is it so packed?"
Drimi knew the ways of the city despite starting her legacy from Wraileza... Every shop, every nook, every cranny; she knew the grid, layout, and even the vehicles. In contradiction to that, the people, on the other hand, were not familiar with her.
Passing by the staircase, through the winding bridges, wandering the tavern and streetlights, Drimi glanced at the people walking toward her.
Brown, gray, blue, yellow, green, and a wide range of colors. The shapes are tall and thin; some feature animal ears, while others have fully anthropomorphic characteristics. The point often overlooked by the individuals was the attire. Most of it was utterly alien to her.
Recognizing some matched the style of Zomrack and others from the outskirts of Destia.
Though Drimi knew Pladtioa from the skin to the bone, she knew nothing about the outside world. And so, instead of kind greetings, often there were curious stares.
While passing through another bridge, grabbing Sally's hand, they approached yet another narrow area of buildings. Drimi's eyes flashed in shock, her nose flared, and swiftly, she pulled Sally, urging her.
"That scent… it smells like my weapon! Sally, I believe we are close to our weapons. Check every building in here."
"But what about Aletha…?" Sally asked.
"We'll worry about her later… maybe if we have our weapons…."
Suddenly, Sally raced across the street and approached a shop. She stared through the windows and noticed that all were sealed. The sniffling aroma burned brightly. Her eyes wiggled in shock.
"Drimi! Over here!"
Interrupting Phthonus' conversation with Drimi, they gasped, jolted toward Sally, and asked.
"What, dearie? I was just speaking to Phthonus. He said he wanted to come with me."
Phthonus scratched his head and let out an anxious sweat.
"Y-Yeah… my apologies. I noticed that the scent of my weapon lingers here, too."
Sally slammed her fist on the door.
"The scent is so strong here. Drimi, I think the…."
(Click)
Furthermore, a click sounded behind the door. Immediately, Sally, Drimi, and Phthonus froze in shock, wondering who was beyond the door.
"Who's there?!" They said as they prepared to fight.
Suddenly, peeking from the wooden door, we saw glimmering golden eyes and a long nose. Though Drimi and Sally couldn't recognize the pattern, Phthonus knew vividly who was beyond the door.
"Brich…?!" Phthonus whispered, confused as he pulled his scarf off.
The door swiftly slammed shut.
"Eh?!"
And then it opened once again, revealing a tall male figure and a petite, white-haired, silver-eyed girl.
"Aletha?!" Drimi choked as she skidded backward.
"Drimi?!" Aletha shouted as she jumped up.
Brich slowly shook his head, tensed his shoulders, and scratched his chin, mumbling to himself.
"Oh… Drimi… is that you?! How have you been? Is that Sally as well, next to you, too?"
Sally shuddered in anxiousness, having no familiarity with conversation. She quivered her lips and answered anxiously.
"Y-Yeah…"
Jotting his eyes to the right, he saw Phthonus, who waved his hands awkwardly and smiled.
"No… way. Phthonus, the original part of the knights; you also have arrived? I haven't seen you in forever… how have you been?"
Phthonus answered as he placed his scarf over his mouth.
"I'm trying to change my ways. It's a pleasure to meet you as well, master. You've trained us so well… I seriously don't know what happened with us. We all used to be strong… and now, we're all divided."
Aletha-- having absolutely no idea what was happening-- backed away and questioned.
"Brich, you know them! I thought you said that you saved me from them because they worked for the Queen!"
Brich gave a light chuckle.
"I was just giving a reason to show you my shop. Also… to hide you from the guards."
As the birds chirped and the ambiance continued, Drimi interrupted the awkward silence and asked.
"So… Master, do you have our weapons? We almost forgot that we made you keep them captive just in case something went wrong."
"Oh, of course!" Brich said with a smile as he invited them to the shop. But then, as they stepped forward and Brich grabbed the weapons upfront on the shelf, he turned to Drimi and asked.
"Where are Belial and Akwan?"
Drimi drifted her eyes to the ceiling, closed her eyes, and took a deep sigh.
"I don't know…."
As Brich closed the door and fixed the shelves, he answered softly.
"Okay. Well… if they are still here, just let them know that their leader is here with their weapons."
"Okay…" Drimi said as she turned her head to the floor.
Not knowing where Belial went, Drimi and the others pushed the shelves against the walls. They skidded spare chairs near the table and gathered up in a group on a long, sturdy bench, and as the hanging ceiling light shone on all five of them… they started explaining their motives.
* * *
Tall trees, lush foliage, and stuffy, warm air.
Seagulls chirped, insects buzzed, running water filled his ears, and the densely packed grass cradled his head.
He was situated within a hot, moist biome where rainfall is frequent. A place where animals thrive, activity blares from corner to corner, and plants seethe in the nutrients that clump together.
"You're in Obrus!" A distant voice sounded out from the vines.
The droplets from the previous rainstorm flew from the leaves onto the ground.
His eyes parted, and he lifted himself up; from out of it, he saw dense canopies of vegetation sprawling from layer to layer. It felt like the damp, groggy bog of a densely packed jungle —an epicenter of life.
The sounds of the jungle began to ebb. Uncertainty hung in the warm, wet air as the creatures emerged from the long stretch of darkness.
Footfalls and the rumbling growls of predators walking their hunting ground alerted him to flee.
Dusk stained the glistening foliage with shadow and musk, and an immense pool of tepid water glowed from below.
The stifling aroma of bunches of flowers tingled his nostrils. Belial emerged from the bushes, approaching what he thought was the tallest hill in this… jungle.
Explosions, fire, and distant gunshots sounded out from the natural wall of Earth in the distance. Farms spread from one packed forest to the next, sapping away the animals' food.
Belial sprinted across the pathways but soon bumped into…
"My, what do we have here?" A deep, throaty, husky voice said.
Belial bumped into a tall man. He had long, snow-white hair stretching down halfway down his back, tied up with a beefy, muscular build and a six-pack.
He wore aggressive dark attire, not matching this world, stretching from his ankles toward his sharp shoulders.
A rough and vivid black tattoo stretched up from his exposed right arm toward his chest. The pattern… of an 'S.'
Belial was speechless. The man towering over him looked awfully like…
"That smell… hmm, I recognize you."
His heart raced, sweat slid down his face, and he gulped in pure fear from the sight of the man. Heavy oppression brooded upon the air as the deep footsteps stepped forward.
"W-Who are you…?"
Kneeling downward, his face covered up by a wooden mask, the tall, white-haired man replied.
"You'll know soon. Come, and take a seat. I know the scent… that touches you. A scent from my loved ones… ones that I never expected…."
And so, staring at the fawn-colored sea streaked here and there with tins of orange, the tall man and Belial sat near a cliff, talking while gazing at the wondrous sigh of Obrus.
However, despite the breathtaking view… the thought of his friends being in danger will still lurk inside Belial.
All he could do from such a far distance from Pladtioa was hope they were safe.