"Okay, I'm going to go to the picture book shelves. Just ask me if you need anything," She said with a wink.
Asahi flashed a thumbs up, his voice warm and steady as he answered Aletha, letting a hint of gentle amusement slip through.
"Alright, you do you."
Watching Aletha gleefully prance between the shelves, Asahi made his way to the Librarian, who busily stamped books behind the counter.
Her eyes were crystal pink—almost jewel-like. Long lashes framed them. She had an hourglass figure and wore a beautiful hat, a long plaid dress, and a thick brown top.
The woman's round glasses caught the light as she shot the wanderers a look of thinly veiled annoyance.
With a final stamp, she set the book atop a growing pile, flicked her short magenta ponytail upward, and addressed him in a voice as soothing as velvet.
"Can I help you?"
Asahi's heart hammered, urgency blazing in his chest. He needed those history books—answers to the mysteries that lingered since he and his sister had vanished.
He stepped forward, placed his hands on the counter, and asked the Librarian while Aletha was wandering around the library.
"Do you have any history books on these shelves?"
A sly, half-hearted smile curled on the woman's lips.
"Of course," she replied. "Just go to the back shelves near the back door, and you'll see many of them. Ranging from beginner Lexile to high."
Asahi nodded his head.
"Thank you."
He strolled along the polished wooden floor, but just as he was about to leave the counter, the Librarian waved him back, her voice calm and inviting.
"Hey, can you be so kind as to see if a book has fallen off the shelves?" She asked with a genuine tone in her voice. "It's a sparkling book containing ancient information within it. If you find it, it's yours to keep."
Asahi's eyes widened in sheer disbelief, his breath caught mid-inhale.
"Really?"
The Librarian nodded silently.
"Indeed."
Biting back a shout of joy, Asahi's face broke into a wide grin. He darted between the aisles, exhilaration and determination propelling him forward in search of the book.
Caught up in the thrill of the hunt, he scanned shelf after shelf, eyes darting over countless titles and colorful hardcovers. Yet none matched the Librarian's mysterious description.
(Too many books.)
Instead, Asahi surrendered to curiosity, plucking random tomes from the crammed shelves—each one brimming with history. The bookcases were so tightly packed, he had to wrestle each volume free.
"Hmm, the tale of the great cyclone?"
Asahi slid a gray-spined book from the shelf and flipped through its pages. Information surged at him, the words familiar and clear as his gray eyes raced along each line.
[ In the year 4200, the great sages of the new world sealed a destructive force that could tear and ruin every soul that it's matched with. A spiraling vortex controlled by a compelling force, originating from the corrupting essence of The Orb of Destruction.]
A gasp escaped Asahi as a chill snaked up his spine. He shoved the book back and hurried deeper into the shelves, grabbing a blue-tinted volume this time. Barely glancing at the title, he flipped to a random page, where vivid illustrations danced beside sprawling paragraphs.
[From the writings of Alaunus: In the beginning, eight titanic sovereigns arose from dust and brought life into the ashes of the old. Once chaos settled... The Prism came into being and secured this planet from the Lost Colony.]
Asahi gasped, raising his eyebrows and commenting in his mind.
"So, is this the beginning of the world? After...", Asahi dashed to a table, shoved a chair aside, and cracked open the blue book to a random page. One sentence leapt out at him, bold and impossible to ignore. A single sentence, boldly displayed.
[DESTRUCTION FEEDS THE WORLD. WHEN the GROUND EARTH SHATTERS, LIFE SPROUTS FROM IT, NO MATTER THE CONDITION. THIS WORLD IS ETERNAL WITH THE FORCES OF THE ORB, AND THE PRISM MELTED.]
Asahi slammed With trembling hands, Asahi snapped the book shut, his whisper barely steady as he tried to process what he'd read. that possible?" He said. "Does that mean that our world can heal itself?"
Before he could read more about this relatively ancient book, he heard a softly spoken voice whisper to her.
"What'cha reading?"
Relief flooded Asahi as Aletha appeared, his shoulders sagging with a deep sigh as the tension melted away. She peered at the book, curiosity sparkling in her eyes and a shimmer of light dancing behind her.
"Ooo, this looks interesting. What's it about?"
Asahi raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, so now you're interested? Well, it seems like this book contains the ancient history of our world, just after we had left. It's… interesting. It explains a lot."
Aletha gasped, excitement making her reach out, trying to snatch the book from Asahi's hands.
"Ooo, sounds interesting."
Asahi, looking irritated, asked her as she skimmed through the book.
"Hey, what She squinted, flipped the page, and found only blank paper. With a huff, Aletha tossed the book onto the table and crossed her arms in frustration. crossed her arms.
"WHAT?! There's nothing here! Are you delusional--
"Shhh…" The Librarian warned.
Aletha gulped and nodded, taking a deep breath and pulling out a chair. In a quieter voice, she informed Asahi.
"Anyways, look what I found."
She dragged a chair across the dark hardwood, pulled a hardcover book from her bag, and slammed it onto the table. The chandelier's glow spotlighted the cover, where magical sparkles seemed to float and dance. Asahi's eyes widened in disbelief—Aletha had actually found it.
He leaned on the table and observed the sparkling book, muttering while Aletha hunched over.
"W… Where did you find this? What is it about?"
Aletha held up her hands and used the table as her footstool, yawning and responding while her white hair dangled over the floor.
"I found it in the picture book section near the window. It was lying on the floor and had all these drawings of us on every page, see?"
With a quick flick, Aletha opened the cover and turned the page, revealing a stunning pencil sketch of herself and Asahi, captured perfectly as they stood before a grand gate. He gasped in awe.
"Wow, that really looks like us. I... Is that the city's entrance?"
Aletha nodded her head.
Aletha nodded and flipped to another page. This time, a breathtaking sketch showed Asahi and Aletha soaring above a tornado twisting through a mountain range. Though half-finished, the scene was still vivid.
Stunned, Asahi flipped to yet another page and found a drawing of himself and his sister locked in battle with a colossal kitsune beast deep in a shadowy forest. He scratched his head and sighed, unable to recall any such memory.
"I... don't remember experiencing this," He said. "Something feels off."
Aletha added, staring into the ceiling.
"Yeah... It's strange."
Although there were many pages of valuable illustrations, one in particular captured Asahi's attention.
On page eight, a sketch showed Asahi, Aletha, and—astonishingly—Aiyana fleeing a landscape engulfed in flames and crumbling buildings. Reeling from the shock, he leaned in to study every detail of the markings.
The anatomy, along with the shading, was absolutely excellent, with no mistakes in sight.
A cold shiver swept across Asahi's face, fear flickering in his eyes as he realized how eerily the drawing mirrored his fractured memories.
"How... is it so detailed?" Asahi remarked as he slowly closed the book. "It… It's foretelling everything."
His heart pounded as he flipped through page after page, each illustration more uncanny than the last. Every scene was drawn in vivid lines, depicting moments that had yet to unfold.
As Asahi turned to Aletha, dropping the book, his pupils dilated, seeing his sister's head, face down on the table.
He walked over to her and tried to shake her shoulder...
"Sis... hello?"
Yet, she never answered.
Panic surged through Asahi. He rushed to the window, heart thundering, and froze at the sight outside: people motionless, birds hanging mid-air, the sky utterly still—even the smallest creatures caught in eerie suspension.
He started hyperventilating, gripping Aletha's shoulders with desperate hands, frantic to wake her, but nothing worked.
"W... What's happening? Aletha, wake up!" He screamed as a vignette appeared around him.
As he turned toward the counter, searching for the Librarian, a wave of darkness crashed over him—sight and sound vanished, plunging him into utter blackness.
. . .
A faint, masculine voice whispered as the world fell into darkness and a blur.
"I can't believe it; their bodies are within my grasp." He said. "Now that I have them, I must run to my shelter before Narcissa and the three knights catch up with me." With every thump of his heart, the haze slowly lifted and faded away.
All Asahi's vision was welcome, which was a bottom view of a familiar young man with long, silky dark hair and lavender eyes, wearing a cloak of some kind, sprinting across a corridor of buildings.
"Akwan?" He questioned.
Asahi tried to move his arms, but his body wouldn't budge.
Struggling to escape the man's grasp, Asahi mumbled as he saw Aletha also being carried by the dark-haired man.
"W...Where am I? What happened?"
(Thump... thump.... thump... thump...)
Asahi's heartbeat gradually quickened.
As his vision returned, Asahi regained the ability to move his head, allowing him to see where this mysterious man was taking him and his sister.
The first thing he saw was a towering clock tower, rising above bustling marketplaces and shimmering canals. A city wall wrapped around it all, with waterfalls, sewer drains, streetlights, and apartments flashing by—as if he were flying past the heart of the city.
While waiting to regain his ability to move his legs, Asahi turned over to the man's other arm and saw a white-haired youth getting carried, with her eyes barely open. Asahi tried to speak but was stopped by his freezing fear.
{I… think I have seen this man before.)
As the man continued to carry the two with both his arms, Asahi relaxed his head, sighed, and waited for the man to stop.
As they dashed through vibrant, crowded streets, a bell's deep clang echoed across the entire city.
Asahi turned his head to the clock tower and saw the tiny hand touch the number eight at the top of the clock.
The clock had only eight digits, different from the twelve-hour clocks Asahi knew.
He raised an eyebrow and whispered, even as a heavy fatigue began to drag him under.
"An eight-hour clock…?" He asked with his head spinning. "I have… so many…." His eyelids slowly shut, seeing darkness envelop his surroundings. "... questions."
Suddenly, Asahi's vision was engulfed in black, with the calming voice of that mysterious dark-haired man sounding out.
"The dawn of the eighth hour… just a bit more time until we get there. I hope Clover is safe, usually at this time… I predict that the knights and the Queen of Pladtioa are preparing for the Royal Meeting. I can't believe I managed to find the wanderers. "
The man looked over at the unconscious wanderers and whispered to them, then raced through the rural alleyways and opened a basement door that led underground.
"It's unbelievable that they are here, out of all places in this world."
. . .
All Asahi could see was darkness.
He could hear a liquid bubbling in the background and hums that sounded like they came from a man.
"Oh, so that's how a potion is made," He said as he shifted bubbly glasses. "Soon they shall awaken. And we can finally get in touch."
A gentle warmth wrapped around Asahi, stronger and more comforting than before. Confused, Asahi's eyes snapped open to a cozy room filled with brewing stands, bookshelves, a crackling fireplace, and stacks of crates..
It felt more like a workshop than a home, with wood lining every surface except the space around the glowing fireplace.
He found the same dark-haired man sitting near a brewing stand, observing its potions while holding a book. It was now clear to Asahi that this young man, the one he had chased, was the same man who had brought the two into this world in the first place: Akwan.
Standing next to him, a familiar green-haired girl was gathering supplies and transporting crates from wall to wall.
(Wait a second… Akwan? Wait-- i... is that the girl who saved us?) Asahi thought. (I could have sworn I saw…)
While waking up and rubbing his eyes, Asahi felt a soft surface beneath him. It was a comfy texture that matched the feeling of a bed.
Though grateful for Akwan's unasked hospitality, Asahi was still utterly confused about what had happened. He scratched his head and mumbled.
"What the-- I was awakened in the streets by Akwan, and now… I woke up here?! What's going on? Where's Aletha?"
Almost on cue, a soft groan echoed from the far side of the room. Slender arms stretched in a V, white hair shimmering beneath the dim lights, and crystal-gray eyes blinking awake.
Though he knew people were inside the room, Asahi hollered at the girl anyway.
"Sis!"
The man and the green-haired girl swiftly turned to Asahi.
"Oh, both of you… are finally awake." Akwan said as he clapped his hands. "Come. sit down. There is much to discuss."
Of course, falling into shock at the sudden revelation made them question whether they had lost their minds. "Wait, Akwan?" Aletha said in unison with her brother. Afterward, they pushed themselves up, questioning each other. "Why are you here?" We thought you were gone."
The dark-haired man placed the potion on the table and turned to the green-haired girl, asking.
"Clover, would you be so kind as to store that neatly crafted potion back in the crates?"
Her face turned ruby-red.
"O…Oh, of course, master."
As the girl walked over to the counter, the young man brushed his long, silky, dark hair, checked his monocle-like device on his eye, adjusted his collar, and walked up to Asahi, instantly bowing down and saying.
"It is an honor to hospitalize you, Asahi and Aletha. Please feel free to have some bread, I have plenty of it."
He raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. Aletha walked by and asked Asahi, with her white hair a ragged mess.
"Akwan?" He asked him as the tension of the atmosphere grew. " How did you get here?"
. . .
A silence dawned on him as he thought and examined both Asahi and Aletha's appearances.
"Yes, indeed… their aura is familiar; however, one component is absent from their bodies." He muttered, not realizing that they could hear him. " I have come to realize that the powerful atmosphere that makes an individual a ruler is gone in them. They are nothing but humans now; Humans with impenetrable beauty."
His dark pants and glowing blue hairpin shimmered under the ceiling lights, casting an air of mystery over the room. Asahi quickly hopped off the bed and perched on the edge, eyeing the tall stranger with suspicion. The silence stretched, and Asahi finally mumbled,
"So… are you going to answer?"
Akwan's glistening lavender eyes broadened.
"About what…? What happened to the device?" He finished the blank in his words. "It appears we have been separated for two hundred years. I appeared underwater in a lake in Astait before finding myself here. Then, twenty years ago, I met Clover, and we have lived in this shack ever since. The device is nowhere to be seen. I suppose it must have stretched our time span apart."
As Aletha started to awaken and rise from her bed, she quickly jumped in shock and said.
"Akwan?"
"Yes," He replied, looking down at the floor. "I sincerely apologize for taking the impertinent route of investigating; You two stick out from the rest of the crowd. You should be thankful. Because if I hadn't grabbed you two, both of you would have been captured by Narcissa's fleet of knights." Akwan hunched down to Asahi's head and squinted at it, examining each soft bristle.
"Ah… fascinating."
His soothing voice emerged from his mouth, a look of surprise shimmering in his eyes.
"You two are the only white-haired beings in this world."
Asahi couldn't argue; Akwan was correct. Since they were born, the only white-haired beings were they and their parents. Now, however, leaving the parents behind, Asahi and Aletha were the last remaining humanoids with white hair. But after some recollections and remembrances, Akwan revealed.
"And to think that no one remembers both of you, it's quite odd." After darting his purple eyes to the two, caging his hands, he asked them with a serious look.
"Have you two realized that it's been nearly five thousand years since both of us were last here?"
Both of them reeled, stunned by the revelation. Five millennia had slipped by while they were gone. They had believed it was only ten years—a thought that had never quite felt right.
So fallen into shock at the revelation, Asahi slowly shook his head and answered the question.
"Huh? N…No, not at all."
Aletha added in between. "That can't be true. We left for ten years, not five thousand."
Akwan lifted his chin, fascinated at this spectacle.
"Hmm," he said. "Then it may be the fault of time dilation that led to this."
Asahi and Aletha shouted in unison.
"Time… dilation?"
Akwan lightly chuckled.
"Heh. Of course. But let's leave that discussion for another day," As Akwan invited them to the sofa, he informed them. "Now, when you two are ready, gather up in the fireplace. It's comfy, trust me. We shall have our discussion."
With the threat of the knights looming in their minds, Asahi and Aletha exchanged a glance, nodded, and set their worries aside as they sank into the plush embrace of the sofa.