Meanwhile...
* * *
Her eyes parted open to a panorama of towering pine trees with bark as rugged as dragon scales, their needles whispering the secrets of the forest.
The dark silhouette of mountains loomed against the crimson dawn, their peaks veiled in veils of mist that danced like ancient spirits.
Wildlife was abundant; deer grazed in the distance while birds sang a symphony from the branches above.
The sunlight was warm upon her head, like a comforting hand from a celestial being, casting a golden glow that shimmered in the gentle rustle of leaves. The breeze carried not just a song, but an intricate melody of shifting branches and rustling grass —a gentle caress that played with her hair like a playful whisper from the wilderness.
All Drimi could remember was the swift and chaotic mess back in Linuxinia City and her not having enough time to tell the wanderers what she wanted to say.
"Ugh, if only I had enough time to tell 'em. I screwed up."
The sparse trees evoked memories of her homeland's landscape. It was a land of enchanted purple crystals, deep canyons, and valuable resources. The sight intensified her guilt. Clenching her fists, she pushed herself up from the ground and mumbled faintly.
"I don't have time for this. Where are the others?!"
Drimi scrambled to her feet and dashed through the trees and grass fields. Her eyes searched for Sally and the others. Slowing her pace, she felt guilt creeping in and moved more carefully through the area.
"Where did that tornado even come from?! It literally came from nowhere!"
The field opened to reveal a man with long brown hair and orange eyes, his face partly covered by a black scarf over his mouth. Though surprised to see Phthonus, Drimi realized she had no choice but to call out to him and raise her voice.
"Hey! Over here, stupid!"
The man slowly stood up, faced Drimi, scratched his head, and sneered at her with intense orange eyes. To him, encountering Drimi was just as unexpected. He chose to ignore her and turned away.
Phthonus brushed off grains of sand from his fingertips, removed a book from his belongings, and began to walk around the boulder.
Drimi stomped her foot on the ground and clenched her fists, her voice rising as she felt anxious about what was to come.
"Hey! I'm talkin' to ya! Where is Plat, scarf-face?! Or should I say, Phthonus?!"
Phthonus' orange eyes widened. Without warning, he sprang behind Drimi, opened his book, and summoned a swirling ring of dust and sand. Instead of using Soil Canisters, he had used book magic. Suspecting danger, Drimi snatched her heart-shaped catalyst from her back, purple light covering her arms. She rushed to Phthonus, grabbed his neck, and shouted.
"Where is Sally?!"
"BEHIND YOU!"
The scarf of Phthonus quickly turned lavender, followed by what looked like purple pillars emerging from the ground and striking him on the arm.
"You're absolutely clueless! TURN AROUND, NOW!"
Drimi raised her eyebrows, unwilling to comply. She grabbed Phthonus by the neck, yanked the scarf from his mouth, and shouted as the rustling behind her intensified.
"What're ya talkin' about?! Get the hell up and stand up to me! What in the world has got into ya?"
Phthonus pushed Drimi back, snatched up his book, and prepared to summon rings with it. To Drimi, it looked like he was about to strike her, but in reality...
A deep, commanding voice sounded behind Drimi, "Get down on the floor and submit."
"DAMN IT ALL!" Phthonus cried as he jolted to the figure behind Dirmi, using all his magic and striking him with a yellow luminance. He lashed out and tumbled to the ground, dropping his book as his amber pupils caught a tall, dark silhouette behind Drimi.
A heavy sense of scrutiny and arrogance filled the air. Amidst his distress, Phthonus tried to reach for his book. Suddenly...
(CRUNCH)
One of his hands detached from his arms, spewing sparkling crimson on the dirt. Drimi's pupils shrank in horror.
"What the hell was that--
Her voice quickly stopped, feeling something touch her back, and a deep voice sounded behind her.
"Ugh, I can't believe The Queen of Wraileza had treated me like that. Does she know how long it takes for my leg to heal? Well, if I want to progress toward my goal."
An uneasy feeling rushed through Drimi's body. The voice behind brought an air of uncanny unfamiliarity. Chills crept up her spine, and bitterness crawled across her pale face. She turned slowly, then moved abruptly...
"Ha, as if you wish it were that easy!" Drimi yelled with a confident smile.
The entire area around her got shrouded in a purple mist, smothering the field with a corrupting, dusty scent. Drimi launched herself back, seized her dark catalyst, and expelled a dark luminance into the air, not knowing who was behind her.
As her feet slid on the ground, Phthonus reached out to Drimi and yelled...
"DON'T! You don't know who you're facing..."
Drimi gritted her teeth and snarled. Her aggression overwhelmed her care, like a pack of wolves gnawing their prey. After the tornado, her mind was a battlefield, directionless and raw.
She closed her eyes and screamed with impatience.
"Don't tell me what to do. I can do everything for myself--
Suddenly, a giant purple luminance bombarded the place, shredding trees and repelling the dark mist into the air. The sun's brilliant rays flooded the scene, unveiling the shadow that covered the silhouette as Drimi tried to sock a punch at him.
"Only my father can tell me what to do!"
The moment after she said that, Drimi froze in utter disbelief, seeing who was in front of her. The man's crystal-blue gem glistened in the light. The world slowed down for Drimi.
"F..."
A chill crawled up Drimi's back as she spoke. She didn't want to move. Even though she was utterly vicious a second ago, the moment the stranger's appearance was unveiled, Drimi undoubtedly refused to continue. Instead, she dropped her catalyst on the floor, falling down on her knees and quivering.
"No. I-I thought you died."
Drimi would never show cowardice to anyone. Always a dominant and feisty leader, she stood her ground—until now.
But now, it's as if all her traits have been washed away.
"I...It can't be..."
His long, caliginous hair veiled his right eye, both of his pupils plastered by a lavender hue, and his dark lavender eyes leaned over to Drimi's perplexed face.
In the background, Phthonus struggled to stand up, muttering.
"What is she doing? Doesn't Drimi know that man is from Wraileza?!"
A voice echoed from a distance.
"STAY AWAY FROM DRIMI!"
At an instant, the dark-haired man stood still, not even flinching from the yell. Phthonus hurriedly pushed himself up and rubbed his dripping arm, practically dragging his body toward the woman. His voice quivered.
"S...Sally?!"
Her long, gleaming platinum hair glistened under the blinding light of day. Sally's dress and eyes turned a dark azure, racing through the bushes and tossing Phthonus toward safety. She shrieked as the dark-haired man squinted at her with a menacing aura.
"Get out of here!"
Phthonus bit his lip hard, forcing thickening sparkling essence out of his lip.
"NO! I... have to..."
He felt his other hand splitting off from his arm, releasing an intrusive pain to burn inside his body. Phthonus toppled to the floor and cried his lungs out.
"AHH!"
The dark-haired man chuckled lightly as a brilliant violet-purple portal appeared out of thin air, and a petite, dark-haired, cold, glacial-eyed woman emerged from it.
"I appreciate your assistance with your portals, dear Cosima. You have appeared relatively quicker than I expected."
Her face turned purple, snapping her fingers and forcibly closing the portal behind her. A look of supreme superiority floated in her cold amethyst face, followed by a toneless voice.
"You know very well I abide by our majesty's orders. I'm only here for one person: that woman next to you. Don't make me hasten my corruption by summoning several portals in a short amount of time."
She made a tsk sound from her lips and taunted the man, seeing Sally slam on the dome with tears flooding her eyes.
"Pfft, you're more of a fool for allowing your corruption to spread by teleporting all over the place. Speaking of which, I never expected you to be the one to execute the order. Aren't you that woman's father?"
The man tightened his fists and bit his lip, pushing his dark hair from his eyes. He clenched his heart-shaped necklace, knelt down to the ground, and sighed, answering.
"Indeed. I don't understand why I'm doing this. It feels as if my mind is caught in the entanglement of chaos."
Sally screamed out, forcing a blue luminance through the dome, but getting shocked and paralyzed by force.
"Get your filthy hands away from her, demons!"
Cosmia hastily dashed to the man, swung her arms into the air, and prepared to sock a forceful punch at Drimi.
Before she could emit a purple force, the man stopped her with a powerful kick, launching her into the dome's barrier and shouting with a desperate tone that resonated in his voice.
"Not yet! Let me have a word with my daughter before we execute the next phase of the plan."
(ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!)
Cosima ran her hands through her hair, crossed her arms, and rolled her eyes, pressing her lips together into a thin line and grumbling in anger and annoyance.
"Okay. But you BETTER make it quick, Duron! Each second we waste here, the chance for someone to counter our majesty's actions grows. Hurry up!"
A grieving silence dawned in the forest.
Duron, the black-haired man, slowly balled and clenched his fist.
A rush of memories crossed his face. He saw himself and her, younger, sailing the seas, climbing mountains, smiling wide. Life felt peaceful then. There were no problems, and his sanity was intact.
"How much has changed back then?"
Drimi was paralyzed with shock, feeling a sense of familiarity with the man and her memories bursting inside her head.
A wreathed grin emerged on her face, slowly lifting her hand up to his chin just like she did all those years ago, whispering with a trembling voice.
"Father, where have you been? Why are you doing this? It's been twenty years since I've seen you. I thought... I thought you died."
She hurriedly shook her head, wiping off the face of her disbelief and pulling her mask off her mouth.
"I don't care anymore. Please, tell me what happened to you."
At this moment, she no longer cared. All Drimi wanted was for her father to answer.
Duron fell silent, looking over to Cosmia while Phthonus and Sally watched the events unfold in shock.
An eerie silence, followed by the cold whisper of the wind, blew through the forest. Duron's dark purple eyes leered away from Drimi's pleading face, trying desperately not to break up in tears.
A bursting feeling in him persuaded him so desperately to stop, but Cosima's lingering eyes immediately wiped that away.
Drimi pleaded while a tear struck her eye.
"Dad, I missed you!"
The moment that Drimi tried to embrace her own father...
(SHEW)
Duron stood motionless for a brief moment, the world around him fading into insignificance as he grappled with the weight of his actions. Memories of a time when he cradled Drimi in his arms as a child, when he promised to protect her from every harm, flooded his mind. Yet now, it felt as though unseen chains pulled him towards this unfathomable act, shackling his will. The inner demons whispered that this was the only way to achieve a greater purpose, a destiny entwined with the dark forces that controlled him.
In a heart-wrenching crescendo of internal torment, Duron pierced his bulky arm through Drimi's heart, forcing crimson to spill out of her in a rushing stream.
Her shining amethyst eyes darkened, and she froze, still staring at Duron with a small, loving smile.
All those versions of Drimi, from the cute face of her young self to the admirable one that sailed his ship, had all vanished from her father's grasp the moment he saw her betrayed eyes.
"I... love you."
Sally and Phthonus froze, covering their mouths in absolute shock, while Cosima stood there motionlessly, waiting for Duron to do something else.
Duron slowly turned away from Drimi, falling to his knees and ripping pieces of his own hair out. He felt as if his soul had been whipped and drained away from that attack, killing his own daughter in cold blood. In a trembling voice, Duron quivered.
"What have I done?"
Cosima quickly jumped up and screamed, noticing the dome flickering and flashing on and off.
"Hurry up and gather the remnants!"
Duron's pupils widened in rage, thinking and remembering everything they did in the past.
But as those memories flooded him, so were the new ones that put him into this position, to begin with.
His eyes leaned over toward the sparkling purple particles left over from Drimi's body, feeling his guilt crush him down to the very bone.
"Forgive me, beloved."
The father hurriedly grabbed his blue gem dangling from his necklace and detached it from his suit, scooping up Drimi's glittering soul particles from the ground like sand.
"I have no choice. I want you to become eternal like your mother and me. We're still here, and you're still alive. I want you to become like us. You are what we need for this world and our future to become heaven."
He carefully closed the lid of the blue gem and placed the filled capsule back around his neck like a necklace. A deep throbbing sense of anguish and guilt burst into him as he saw the petrified look on Phthonus and Sally's faces.
Duron rubbed his cold fingers over the glistening gem, whispering to it as the sun reflected off the surface.
"My sweet little Drimi, I want you to become the hero I never was. I want you to continue my legacy and finish what I did."
Cosima hastily dashed to him and yelled as he slowly walked away, trying to hold his long-awaited tears.
"We have to get the gem to Wraileza quickly. The dome is about to--
Although the sudden acts were merciless, Phthonus only gave a hateful sneer. He hadn't grown a strong enough connection to weep for Drimi's death. Nevertheless, Phthonus' reaction was nothing compared to what Sally felt when she witnessed Drimi lose her life.
The icy, cold, apathetic, wet labyrinth in Sally's mind transformed into a scorching, merciless, and blazing crucible of rage, an anger so harsh and burning that she was blinded by her pain.
When Sally saw the one that had saved her life from the frozen shores of her hometown, that made bonds, taught her everything about combat, and made her life better, vanish out of the hands of her own father, she went berserk.
. . .
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
The protective dome that warded off Sally's vengeful attacks shattered immediately as soon as Cosima opened the portal.
In a quick storm, Sally unleashed a torrent of water straight from her hands and pushed Cosima several meters into the air, immediately launching up and kicking the woman so hard that her face was contorted.
The exact words were repeated by Sally as Cosima tried to defend her attacks.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Duron kept holding the necklace, racing away and entering the portal. But as soon as his feet touched the surface of it, the dark violet portal suddenly closed, knocking Duron backward from its pulse.
"Grab it now! For our lords!" A young boy screamed as Duron's necklace flew directly at him.
A group of people lingered behind the dome, knowing of the gem's power and waiting for the right time to snag it. Unfortunately,
"It's ours! Now run!" A cloaked girl screamed as chaos ensued in the forest.
Though Cosmia was repeatedly pummeled by Sally's devastating attacks, the healing power from her hand was enough for her eyes to catch the thieves. Yet she couldn't escape Sally's grasp, no matter how much she tried.
(Why in the world isn't my magic working?!)
As panic swarmed Cosima, the only solution she could think of was to scream at Duron.
As she was flung back to the ground, getting slammed and beaten to a pulp, Cosmia shrieked to Duron.
"Duron! Don't let them get away!"
She had expected Duron to interfere, but all he did was lie on the ground, looking as if his arms were tired. Something was clearly wrong.
Cosmia gritted her teeth and tried to chase after the thieves herself, but was quickly pummeled back to the ground with Sally screaming the same things.
"I'll kill you! I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
"NO! What is going on?!"
And there, she saw it. Magical, glowing, luminescent green vines emerging from the ground, and a girl with shamrock hair looking to try to control them. The moment that Cosima caught onto it, she quickly discovered.
"The Sealed Beatific, it's draining our powers? But...how?! How can we possibly lose them?! Our powers are from no other than the most superior power in the world! There's no way that I've lost them!"
Her hope slowly spilled out of the dark-haired girl as she saw the five thieves vanish into the hills.
"NO, NO NO! The Perfect Darkness is getting away! If none of us can retrieve it, our grasp of the gem will be lost! I have to do something. But I can't! Grrr, Duron, do something!"
"I... can't..."
Phthonus tried to crawl from the floor but was caught in Sally's vigorous water magic, juggling, and tossed toward a distant town. Duron tried to move but was stopped by thickening green vines wrapping around and absorbing him.
Cosima gasped in shock, noticing that she was plummeting into a mountain.
With all the power she had left, she thrust and forced herself toward the thieves, pushing and corrupting her entire body by using all the powerful magic from the dim.
"My friend is gone! Die die die!"
Sally clenched her fists and forced a gush of contaminated water toward Cosima.
It was too late for Cosima.
By the time she reached the ground, the thieves were already gone, keeping hold of what she calls The Perfect Darkness. Whatever this "Perfect Darkness" was didn't serve as either a good or bad sign. All it did was raise more questions than it answered.
And with The Perfect Darkness loose within Linuxinia, who knows what will happen next?
Nevertheless, despite the abrupt event and losing both arms, Phthonus was lucky enough to crash land on Oksanna Village's pond.
The exact place that Asahi and Aletha were in.