Hidden in the lush, emerald labyrinth surrounding the Fountain, four figures prowled the edge of the ceremony, their senses sharpened for the slightest threat.
One, a woman, glided through shadows, her long dark hair trailing like silk. Beside her, a broad, imposing companion lingered, wrapped in a misty cloak, eyes scouring the forest with unwavering focus.
Mystery enveloped them. Poised as guardians at the cliff's edge, the man whispered softly into the hush.
"Happy Fountain Day," he said. "Ms. Drimi."
The slender, woman-shaped figure turned toward the speaker. Drimi pressed her finger to her mask, signaling silence, then wrapped her arms tightly around herself and muttered while scanning the forest.
"Stop with your yammering and happening. Remember Narcissa's orders."
Sunlight inched through the treetops, slowly dissolving the shadows and outlining their silhouettes.
Green eyes shone. His long, dark braided hair caught the light. The brown cloak moved in the wind. His hood was back. He gazed at the Fountain, silent and intent.
"Fountain Day is for the people. Someday, they'll see its meaning," he said.
With memories of the three-day loop fading, Belial glanced at the others, resolved to speak up.
"Have we met them before?"
As echoes of the ceremony faded, the atmosphere shifted. In the quiet that followed, the wanderers gathered their belongings and prepared for the next leg of their journey toward the Fountain.
Soon after departing, their journey reached its destination. Akwan's carriage rolled to a halt near the Fountain. Clover remained nestled inside, quiet and observant. Asahi and Aletha stepped outside together. They cautiously placed their feet on the grassy trail and exchanged nervous glances. Their steps sank softly into the earth. Surveying their surroundings, they listened. Leaves crunched beneath their heels, releasing an earthy perfume into the breeze.
The island was rimmed by beaches flinging sand onto jagged cliffs. Water shimmered, pure as spring, splashing crystal teal and cyan onto the world's canvas. Before them sprawled a vivid crowd.
Like in the city, Asahi and Aletha noticed that no one, not even the old, had hair as white as the wanderers'. The fountain's surface looked shiny and smooth, with silver lights and vines showing its age.
The crisp, clean air sharpened the scene, crafting a moment to savor.
"The Fountain is beautiful once you see it from up close," Akwan said as they took a vivid look. "People from all over the world take their time to visit Pladtioa just for Fountain Day."
"Really?"
"Why else come here? Didn't I tell you?" Akwan snapped. Aletha flushed, slapped his hand away, and yelled.
"Hey!" She screamed with a pouty face. "I am NOT stupid."
"Doubt it," Asahi said, arms crossed.
Once they left the gathering, moving away from the crowd marked a new challenge. The tranquil celebration behind them faded as they plunged into the wild fields surrounding the Fountain.
Afterward, they sprinted across the grassy field, hearts racing. Below, they glimpsed a yawning chasm at the Fountain's base. Its height was dizzying. Clouds clustered thickly around it. The structure glimmered above an azure sea. Waterfalls spilled from its flanks in radiant torrents, feeding creeks, rivers, and lakes below.
As Asahi narrowed his eyes, focusing intently on the Fountain's surface, Aletha shifted her gaze to the area around them. Her long white hair trailed behind her, moving like flowing streams as she turned her head to observe the landscape.
Above her, the intense glare hovered, a blazing ball of light. It shone mercilessly on her head.
Aletha remarked quietly about what she saw, continuing to watch the grass sway while the wind brushed through it and past them.
"Wow! So pretty!" After glancing at the map, Asahi muttered,
"Yes. It's beautiful," he said. "This is nothing like my map." After crumpling it and tossing it in the water, Akwan spoke, clutching a blue glow.
"The Great Fountain was built to halt war," he said. "It's said Rulers from Above and Below fought here. Beneath is the grand void. Above—no mortal can see it." Perhaps the most captivating part of its lore is the tale of its creation." He continued. "It is believed that the Fountain was formed from the tears of the Rulers who wept for humanity's endless conflicts during the War of the Wish..."
Akwan paused, drawing in a breath as he gazed at the spectacle before them. The Grand Fountain's mysteries stirred questions about their lost world and the fate of their family.
As he waited, Akwan's restlessness grew. Changes in the area's sounds pulled his focus from the Fountain to the surrounding forest.
The clang of metal boots echoed through the forest, mingling with the rustle of hurried belongings. It left them wondering: who was following so closely behind?
As the footsteps drew nearer, realization dawned: the knights of Narcissa were on their trail. Akwan's dark blue eyes darted, scanning for escape routes as he urgently ushered the wanderers out of sight.
"Asahi," He said with a desperate, nudging tone. "Aletha,"
"What?" they whispered together.
"Run," he said, pushing them toward The Great Fountain as he blocked the guards.
"HEY!" A knight said as they unsheathed their blades. "Stop them!"
Asahi and Aletha raced in the direction Akwan indicated. Beside the Great Fountain stood a podium and a green board. If they could just reach it, safety would await them.
But reaching safety was never meant to be easy.
Asahi tried to use his positioning skills as he had before. Instead of just shifting from place to place, he now needed to figure out a way for both of them to hide.
(We could go to the bushes…")
But then he recollected the swords.
With just one swing, they would kill the bush.
Remembering a previous failed attempt at hiding in a bush, Asahi decided not to trust that method again because the knights' swords had easily exposed their last hiding spot.
This drove them onto plan B,
"Let's try the shore," Aletha mumbled.
The shorelines cut deep into the rock, making them ideal hiding places.
They COULD try that, but then they realized the waves could pull them back.
They dared not try to swim again. The memory of being summoned beneath the waves still chilled them.
Choosing plan C, they quickly moved to the bottom of the podium. Aletha and Asahi crouched down and squeezed into the narrow space beneath it, aware they were only partly concealed. Both concentrated on making themselves as small as possible, focusing on hiding while listening for any sign of pursuit.
After ducking behind a rock, Asahi and Aletha sprinted to the base of the podium to escape notice, moving away from the commotion above them. Their feet barely touched the ground in their haste. Spotting an opening, they summoned the last of their lesser magic; a faint glow guided their steps, enabling them to slip into the shadows.
"We did it!" Aletha started, but Asahi quickly covered her mouth as heavy footsteps approached.
As they heard the clanging of metal slowly grow distant, Asahi and Aletha wiped away the sweat from their brows. Relief flooded them. For a moment, they felt a sense of safety.
A looming shadow unfolded above them as they slipped beneath the wooden ceiling of the podium. Darkness surrounded their vision. With determination, they pressed on, sweat trickling down their faces. They moved deeper into the unknown space.
It didn't make sense. The podium's bottom couldn't stretch this far. Yet here they were, swallowed by shadow.
"Bro," she whispered. "Are we lost?"
Although the sun may have shone on the crevices, they realized that above their heads wasn't entirely wood. Instead, the ceiling above them did not belong to the bottom of the podium.
It belonged to the bottom of the…
"The FOUNTAIN?!" they shouted.
Beneath the Fountain, a stone-brick corridor stretched endlessly, a relentless path swallowing all light.
As they pressed forward, Asahi suddenly realized the stone ceiling above was part of a giant ancient castle, not the earth. Confused by how the path had extended so far, he mumbled to himself.
"I could have sworn we went the right direction…"
Even here, the clash of metal boots echoed down the stone floor. Asahi and Aletha exchanged baffled looks—why would a knight follow them so deep? Their eyes widened as a shadow approached, marked by long teal-green hair, pale skin, and an aura that seemed to wrap around him.
"Stop thyself!" He said as a green luminance coiled around him. "State thy presence."
"The Adtraic!" they yelled.
"Adtraic?" The man muttered, slowly lowering his blade. The mysterious atmosphere faded, giving way to clarity. Asahi and Aletha prepared their blades, having heard these final words. "I haven't heard that name in the last thousand years."
The man stood before them in enigmatic armor, teal-green hair framing brilliant blue eyes. An ornate eyepiece hugged his left eye, and he radiated an imperious beauty as he spoke plainly.
"Never would I have expected... to see white-haired wanderers travel this far down."
Seizing the distraction, they darted away from the enigmatic figure, weaving frantically through the stone-brick chamber. Ahead, an archway beckoned, half-shielded by scattered crates perfect for dodging and concealment.
Freedom was almost theirs when a wall of glowing cyan swords burst into existence, trapping Asahi and Aletha in a cage of shimmering light.
"Now now," he said with a gentle tone, his voice deep-rooted. "I mean no harm. Just curious as to where you two have been for the last three millennia."
"Three millennia?" Asahi blurted. "That long? How old are you?!"
The stranger scoffed, eyes narrowing. He stepped forward, heel grinding into the floor as his hand found his blade. Suspicion radiated from him. In a flash, he tapped Asahi's arm and spoke.
"Reveal yourselves," He said, no hesitation. "Your true forms."
"True forms?" Aletha said as she helped her brother out. "What do you mean?"
"Don't act foolishly now. I am only here trying to help."
Rattled by his fierce gaze and the threat of his blade, Asahi grabbed The Forbidden Book and flung it at the wall. Heartbeats thundering, the siblings dashed for the archway, stopping short at the edge of freedom.
"Fine. If I can't introduce myself the simple way…" The man quickly struck a sword mark into the air, knocking Asahi ferociously into a wall. "Then I must do it the hard way."
"Asahi!" Aletha screamed as she unsheathed the Sword of Eventide from her hip. "What did you do to him?"
"Look, I tried being straightforward with you two," The mysterious man said as he grabbed and choked Aletha in rapid succession with green strands. "I'm only trying to be kind, as your mother and father requested."
The mention of their parents cut deep, shattering their resolve. Blades slipped from numb hands as they sank to their knees.
"You… know about our mother and father?" Asahi asked, dust spilling from both siblings as they stared at the man. Aletha glanced at her brother, uncertainty in her eyes, while Telos sneered and muttered under his breath.
"Ah, you finally complied," he said, restoring both with teal essence and what looked like green dirt. "Telos. Call me Telos."
"Telos?" Aletha started, then fell silent. Asahi and Aletha scanned their surroundings, realizing the world was far vaster than they had imagined. Then Asahi spotted something even greater.
(Telos. Now I know. I know that he is interested in the book I have.) Asahi thought. (Can I use this as a lure?)
When all seemed lost, Asahi yanked a book from his satchel, aiming to throw it out the window overlooking an underground city. Just as he tossed it, it stopped at the window's frame.
"NO!" He hollered as he ran to the brown book. Quickly, he clutched onto the brown fabric just meters away from escaping, then threw it to the ground, saying,
"Do not discard that book!" He said, his voice rising. "There's importance within those pages!"
After Telos's final efforts to sway them, Asahi and Aletha's resistance crumbled. They surrendered, hope of escape slipping away.
Defeated, they let their weapons clatter to the floor and collapsed, gazes fixed on the broken window and the ancient city sprawled below.
"The ground… or rather the soil is unstable," Telos said as he dropped his blade too. "Do you know how far you two have gone?"
"It only felt like a couple of meters," Aletha replied. "Then it continued to expand over and over, and there were these huge stairs meant for giants and--
"Enough," Telos interrupted, "That's enough information for both of you."
Faint, haunting voices drifted through their minds—ghostly echoes from their last journey in this world.
"You two are Asahi and Aletha," Telos said, lifting the siblings into his arms with measured care. "Owners of the Second Incarnation of the World."
"Second incarnation…What are you saying?" Aletha asked Telos as the sun's rays gradually grew brighter and brighter.
"You two don't recollect it?" Telos asked with genuine shock plastered on his face. "The Second Incarnation of The World of Gincad; The world that you had owned as Owners? You two don't remember?"
With Paxon, the Ruler of the Forgotten, influencing their moving and thinking, Asahi and Aletha looked truly puzzled, uncertain what "Incarnation" meant. They remembered their world, but had never heard it described that way.
Looking down, they spotted ancient structures entombed beneath the surface of the earth.
Though out of reach, as Paxon's influence faded and their eyes traced the patterns of the buried ruins, realization struck: these structures—
"These structures are from…" Asahi said with remarkable memory. "...our world?"
(Was he talking about those structures buried under the earth?) Asahi wondered.
"Let me tell you… In a different perspective," Telos mumbled. " Do you remember the Kingdom of Rulers?"
Kingdom of Rulers?
Asahi and Aletha wrestled with slippery memories, left speechless in the thick silence.
As they dashed across the trembling ground, eyes catching glimpses of murals crumbling into the walls, a memory surfaced: a gleaming white city suspended high above the clouds. Telos paused, gathering his thoughts.
"Back in the second incarnation of the world, there were rulers of all types. For example: Ruler of Earth, Ruler of Sun, Ruler of Water, the higher the Ruler, the more power they consume." Telos paused, glancing at Asahi and Aletha's forms as he took out his sword. "But you two were far above simple Rulers. You both were Owners; one that controlled every corner of the world from the harshest waves to the rolling hills."
Telos' words hit home, unlocking a flood of memories: grand Owner gatherings, bustling cities, Rulers training in distant academies. The city had shimmered with splendor, its skyline crowned by cemeteries and churches.
"Yes." They said, recollecting everything. "We do remember."
Aletha's lips trembled as she recalled the calamity that shattered their world. "But that doesn't matter. We're only searching for our parents. Have you seen them?"
"Your parents?" Telos scoffed. "Mr. Acheros and Mrs. Achlys? You need not worry about their fates."
"Huh?"
"Nothing, just some nonsensical ramblings," Telos said.
Suddenly, an avalanche of rocks thundered down, blocking their path. The earth split into crumbling, brown chasms that devoured the ground beneath their feet.
With the hope of exploring the lost underground villages, they fled to the surface, dazed by the chaos that had engulfed them. Beneath them, ancient structures twisted into a swirling vortex of ruin and blinding light, exposing the staggering depths they had reached.
As a chunk of earth crashed down, casting much of the room into shadow, Telos fell silent, lost in contemplation.
"So both of you remember about The Kingdom of Rulers, but not about your OWN world? Who took a grasp on your mind to make you forget everything?" Telos said as he covered his face in green and blue luminance. " That… is the perfect way to lose grasp of your world. Memories are what forge a world in the first place. I see now…"
"If it wasn't for the Ruler of the Forgotten," Asahi said as he passed a couple of paintings. "...we would have remembered."
"But… we don't," Aletha said. "His influence is still on us, tearing our minds even after his defeat."
Clutching the rocks, Telos waited for the trembling earth to finally grow still.
"Conveniently, you two stumbled upon an ancient catacomb buried deep in the ground, beneath The Fountain, toward the void."
Asahi and Aletha's eyes widened at the sight of the objects scattered on the ground.
"Those paintings, they look like my brother and me!"
Telos nodded with a smile, proud of what he had done.
"Yes. Indeed," He said. "You two were fated to return to this world. But it seems that you arrived here much too early. Your return is thousands of years earlier than the prophecies' mention. It may be the fault of an anomaly that drove you two to return so early."
His words struck like an earthquake, rattling their core and shaking their beliefs.
"Now, leave this place," He said. "Wander your changed world and discover what happened. I have no part in this."
"Oh, so where will you go after you escort us out of here?" Aletha asked as Telos gathered energy to his blade.
"... As for me," Telos coughed. "...well… I will travel elsewhere. Don't bother finding me; that is of the least worry for you two."
He offered them a gentle, caring look.
"Go. Leave. I have no business attending to both of you. However… there is one last thing I need to say."
A calm, wistful smile beamed on his face.
"I wish you two luck on your adventure."
(CRACK)
Another tremor ripped through the ground. Telos vanished into the falling stone, snapping his fingers as a colossal green barrier surged up, its force echoing through the ruins.
After his voice echoed in the collapsing hallway, he said those final words.
"Your true journey is bound to begin."
Asahi and Aletha stood amid the crumbling ruins, the weight of their journey's true beginning pressing down on them. Anxiety and excitement churned in Asahi, uncertain of what lay ahead.
Aletha glanced at her brother, sensing his unease and reflecting on her own feelings of uncertainty.
Despite their fear, hope flickered within both siblings—an invitation to rediscover their world and themselves. Their parents' legacy and the mysteries of the past loomed large, but so did their resolve to carve out a new path.