Branches snapped underfoot, trees huddled together in tangled clusters, and foxes darted playfully among the squirrels, weaving through the underbrush.
The wanderer's feet whispered through dirt and fallen leaves, while sunlight filtered through the leafy canopy, casting a golden shimmer on the forest floor.
Akwan muttered under his breath, his eyes tracing the forest's endless shadows, as if searching for answers hidden among the trees.
"This world... so much had happened."
As Akwan's murmurs drifted through the air, Asahi and Aletha's minds spiraled back to the day's strange tapestry: the underwater summoning, the Forbidden Book, the rattling carriage, and finally, the Fountain.
Their thoughts wandered to the enigmatic Telos and the shadow-cloaked castle slumbering in the earth's depths.
They pondered Telos, the veiled castle, the hidden city below, the Fountain's crumbling ruins, and the white-haired folk—each mystery weaving into the next.
(What happened? What's down there?)
They thought the mystery of the Forbidden Book was enough.
But the truth proved far more tangled than they imagined.
After gazing at the forest, Akwan turned to Asahi and Aletha. Though he knew a century of history, he looked no older than twenty, like them.
Ahead, Drimi and Belial carved a path, hacking through tangled bushes and wild undergrowth.
After Drimi and Belial finished cutting the undergrowth, Akwan approached them directly.
"What did you two see when you were behind the podium?" Akwan watched them closely, suspicion flickering in his eyes. The wanderers hesitated, silence stretching between them, until Aletha finally burst forth with the truth.
"We found this ancient city or… castle buried underground," Aletha said as Asahi shot her a glance of disapproval. "Then we met this very weird man, Telos, and he spoke of the second incarnation, whatever that means."
"Second incarnation?" The atmosphere suddenly got hazy and silent. Akwan stopped the two. "Is what that man you speak of referring to the Old world?"
Suddenly, a tidal wave of memories crashed over Asahi and Aletha, sweeping them into the past.
The Kingdom of Rulers, alive with magic and wonder; mountains crumbling, seas stretching endlessly, lush forests, and lands of snow, sand, and dreams—all of it surged back in a single, breathtaking rush.
The Ruler of the Forgotten's influence was shattered, unveiling every memory.
Aedline, his sister, and how she was cast into the world by this mysterious woman named The Establisher. The pure forests of green of their old world. They remembered it all. But despite that flood of memories, everything came to a standstill.
"The Old World?" Asahi and Aletha asked in unison.
That's when suddenly, Akwan's memories surged forth.
The Kingdom of Rulers. And his title.
The Ruler of ------.
The Academy of Lesser Rulers, all of it.
Though memories flooded back in vivid color, his true title remained just out of reach, a missing piece that gnawed at his certainty.
"Where are all the other thousands of Rulers?"
This question hastily sparked inside the minds of Asahi and Aletha.
Voices, screams, a wall of light, and smoldering ruins—all became real again.
"I remember."
When they reached a passageway lined with old mushrooms sprouting from rotten logs, Asahi paused, looking back as he remembered the start of his journey.
They started from the water and saw many ruins of the old buried beneath the waves; a tomb, a graveyard of structures from a past incarnation of the world.
Now…
"It makes sense!" Asahi said as he stared at a ruined structure entombed in a tree. "Our kingdom is beneath the waves."
"And underground," Aletha added as they traveled the pathway.
With that revelation, new possibilities unfurled in their minds.
Could it be that what they saw in the hallways of The Fountain belonged to the imperious white castle that overlooked the Kingdom of Rulers?
Perhaps the Kingdom of Rulers was not destroyed, but rather resurrected? However, it's too early to tell if that was the case right now.
After all, it had not even been one week since they returned to their world.
Before their thoughts could settle, the forest suddenly parted, unveiling a scene of breathtaking wonder.
Beyond the dense green thicket, a breathtaking vista unfolded before them.
Fungi and mushrooms clustered thick on the earth, while glittering motes danced across the small hills beneath the treetop shadows. The breeze played with their white hair and set their gray eyes aglow in the golden light.
They caught a crystal teal waterfall cascading into a lake, filled with mushrooms and scents.
A mist of spores drifted outward, cloaking the area in a ghostly fog.
Dead logs littered the ground, and the air was thick with a sharp, poisonous tang.
To their right, the broken bones of ancient buildings and forgotten mines dotted the landscape.
To their left, a glowing patch of mushrooms pulsed with eerie life, infesting the earth with their strange light.
As the group stepped over shriveled rocks and dormant mushrooms, Aletha gazed at the golden light shimmering from the forest ceiling. At that moment, Asahi turned to her, choosing this private moment for a one-to-one conversation as the others moved ahead.
"What do you think happened to our world?" Asahi asked as he noticed the others disappear into the bushes. Realizing they had taken a scenic detour without telling him and Aletha, he took the opportunity for a private conversation.
Aletha hesitated, searching for words as memories and emotions tangled inside her.
It took Aletha a moment to come up with an answer. Just as she was about to respond, three beings appeared behind her, cutting off her reply.
"I think... our world has transformed."
Her quiet certainty nudged Asahi toward his own realization.
"So… I'm not the only one thinking that it's not gone." He sighed. "That's a relief."
Then, Asahi voiced the question that weighed heaviest on his heart.
"What do you think happened to our parents?"
A heavy silence settled between them.
"I believe they are still here," Aletha said, digging into her mind. "Somewhere in this world. Remember what Akwan mentioned?"
"About the thousand-year situation?" Asahi replied. "I believe that."
"So you think mother is out there?" Aletha asked.
"Somewhere, I believe," Asahi said. "Somewhere in this world, they should be alive?"
"Even our father?" Aletha asked as she splashed her face with cool, drinkable water.
Asahi paused in silence, lost in thought. "No. I think he's gone." A vision of a tall man with two different-colored eyes came to him. "Don't you remember? How he sacrificed all his power to protect the castle."
"No. I don't remember," Aletha said, burying her thoughts like layers of an onion.
After a long, aching silence broken only by the waterfall's gentle song, Aletha, fighting back tears, threw her arms around Asahi, letting her grief pour out in a single, desperate embrace.
Tears streamed down as nostalgia for their vanished world swept over her. Aletha wept for herself, for Asahi, and for every Ruler lost in the calamity—thousands erased in a single, merciless instant.
And then the sight of a dark-haired, blue-eyed woman came to being. She had hints of gold over her person, with a halo behind her head. The woman they encountered as they left their world.
Although there weren't many clues, Asahi expected her to be the destroyer.
Clenching his fists in silent fury, he made a vow, his sister's distant sobs echoing in his ears.
"I will find out who destroyed our world." He clenched his fists, thinking about his younger sister, parents, and all his friends. "The one who destroyed and took everything from us. Whatever it takes."
Hearing Aletha sob, Belial ran over to the wanderers.
"What happened?"
Asahi shook his head and sighed. "We… were just thinking about the past," he said, keeping details vague.
"The past?" Drimi chuckled lightly, analyzing the fungi bouncing about. "Why, what happened?"
Once the group found all the wanderers, they pulled Asahi and Aletha back into the group and continued moving toward the sunlight. As they walked, Aletha sniffled and wiped away tears, her nostalgia for their lost world overwhelming her.
Yet acceptance was the only path left to them.
They have to accept that the old world may be gone. That doesn't necessarily mean that all of it was gone, as evidenced by the ruins scattered throughout the world.
As Belial slowly lost his patience, Asahi responded.
"We were… just trying to have an isolated conversation," Asahi said. "Speaking of… the environment of this world is pre--"
Belial angrily interrupted
"Even if you wanted to do that, you could have just asked. We thought we lost you."
After wiping away her own tears, Aletha and Asahi followed Drimi, Belial, Akwan, Sadiki, and the others as Drimi began to sigh, lost in thought about Asahi.
"Ugh. Wanderers," she said. "They always have to travel the entire world before figuring things out about themselves. Come on, and listen to us, okay? Don't stray far from us again, you hear? Treat us how you treat Aletha. Like humans, not like ragdolls."
Humans. The gentle reminder clung to their very bones, refusing to let go.
They weren't Owners of the world anymore; their powers had been stripped away from their grasp.
They HAVE to accept it.
No matter what comes their way.
No matter what dangers awaited, they could not ignore the truth: their world had changed forever.