Nothing.
A void of utter emptiness.
There wasn't a star, tree, cloud, mountain, or sky anywhere in this place.
Nothing existed here but restless white shards of light drifting through an infinite, blinding void.
Disillusionment crashed over him as he gazed, hollow-eyed, into the endless white, swallowed by silence.
The sudden leap from the sprawling underground city to this blinding white abyss left him reeling. He recognized the light, yet never imagined it belonged to his own world.
While Asahi remained composed, panic seized Aletha. Fear iced her veins as she darted through the void, her shadow and footsteps the only proof of their existence.
"This... can't be our world," She said, "Akwan isn't even here."
Crushed by terror, she dropped to her knees, teeth clenched, and pounded her fist against the empty white expanse in desperate anger.
"Where did that thing take us?! Was Akwan lying to us?"
Each blow sent echoes rippling through the endless white chasm.
"Asahi, answer me!"
Only silence answered her.
There was no confirmation whether or not this was Asahi and Aletha's world. They had only assumed that it was, since it had been stated by the strange device.
Though the place was otherworldly and strange, memories still clawed their way into Asahi's mind.
"Why is this… white glow, so familiar?" He said as memories of the calamity flicker out of control. " Have I seen it before?"
Suddenly, before another word could be uttered, a croaking, mysterious voice slithered out from the emptiness.
"Ah, so it appears that one has forgotten about their past," He said. "What a pity."
After a long, heavy silence, Asahi and Aletha frantically searched for the voice's hidden source.
"Could that voice be Akwan? We haven't seen him since we have been in that cavern." Aletha whispered.
"No," Asahi mumbled. "The voice is too crooked to be Akwan. Just keep moving–
Abruptly, from a misty veil of white before them was a strange, monstrous-looking figure wearing a dark cloak with glowing magenta lines inscribed on its chest.
From every inch of his form, the figure radiated a twisted, overwhelming energy.
"Hey, are you responsible for this… void?" Aletha shouted angrily. Like again, silence answered her, leaving her to realize. "Wait a minute, I don't remember seeing your face. Who are you?!
As Aletha's words faded, the figure fixed them with a chilling stare and unleashed a sinister laugh. Dark tendrils unfurled from his head, rising like grotesque arms.
"Of course. Of course. Of course you would say that!" The figure exclaimed as he clenched his nasty fists and slid them against his crumpled and disjointed face. "I am The Ruler of The Forgotten. And you two. Those who dare call themselves 'Owners', have abandoned the very world that made you who you were."
Aletha drew her lower lip between her teeth and clenched her fists.
"But… we never abandoned the world," She said, not catching her own lie. "We had to leave."
"We had no choice!" Asahi said, slowly reaching for his blade. "We had to leave or face chaos."
At Asahi's outburst, the Ruler of the Forgotten folded his arms and let out a mocking chuckle, his bizarre, stringy legs shifting beneath him.
"Oh, really? I sense liars." He took another step, morphing his hands. "Then, let me clarify something for you."
The creature plunged its dark tendrils into the white ground, laughter twisting into a shrill, ear-splitting scream.
His five limbs fanned out above him, then stabbed into the void. As Asahi and Aletha recoiled, hands flying to their blades, the Ruler of The Forgotten revealed his intent.
"You two did! And to make matters worse, I erased the memories of your family's very existence from everyone in Gincad. Yes!" He screamed with a shuddering voice. "The Adtraic Family! The supposed Owners of Gincad fell onto their knees by a SIMPLE light. Go ahead, try and make them remember."
With every step they took, the world around them flickered between black and white, as if reality itself was stuttering.
The revelation crashed over Asahi and Aletha, too immense for their minds to grasp.
"The Adtraic Family's existence, removed from our world? How could one do that?!" Asahi pondered aloud. "That… shouldn't be possible."
The Ruler of the Forgotten forced his lips into a devious smile.
"Oh, but it is," He said. "...and now you two will now be recognized as nothing but ordinary, fleshy, powerless humans." Putting his hand to his forehead, the Ruler of the Forgotten looked heavenward and asked once more.
"Now tell me. Do you two know who I am?"
In the heavy silence, they searched their memories for any clue about the being, but not a single spark of recognition flickered in their minds.
They could see from the look on the creature's eight sharp magenta eyes that it wanted to correct them. However, confusion and memory loss tangled their thoughts, making it nearly impossible to form an answer.
Nonetheless, because of his close proximity, Asahi and Aletha had no choice but to answer.
"No, we don't."
Rage surged through the creature's twisted, goopy form. Purple energy crackled along his veins, and his five magenta eyes blazed with a light that could blind the living.
"Oh? Really? Are you sure…?" He assured with a broken smile.
In reaction, Asahi gulped and stepped back from the Ruler of The Forgotten.
He knew that answering him would infuriate it even more.
Yet Aletha, ever impulsive and unafraid, dared to answer the creature.
"Yes."
A hollow laugh burst from the Ruler of the Forgotten. He puffed his cheeks, mocking her answer, but the menace in his elliptical eyes warned Aletha to run.
"Keep your heart beating," the Ruler of the Forgotten warned. His face darkened as he leaned toward Aletha, watching her tremble in fear.
As the tension of the moment escalated, the Ruler of The Forgotten leaned over to Aletha's ear and whispered. "...because not even the warmth of your own blood will save you from what you said."
A violent blast hurled Aletha across the void, smashing a crater into the unyielding white wall.
Without hesitation, Asahi lunged toward the god, sword flashing from its sheath.
His gleaming blade pierced the God of the Forgotten's flesh, tearing away a strip of skin as easily as peeling fruit.
Screaming in agony, the Ruler of the Forgotten fell prone onto the white void, feeling a white burning sensation consume his skin. His contorted face skewed up into an expression of absolute wrath as he spoke.
"Nothing more a blade can do."
Without warning, the creature launched up and mauled straight toward Asahi. Layers of his skin pulsated and squirmed like bubbles as he struck the boy with their screaming, goopy tendrils, landing several hits.
Time slowed as Asahi's eyes caught the same piece of The Ruler of The Forgotten's scaly, goopy skin scraping and landing against his body. His vision, along with the others, flashed in white soon after.
. . .
A colossal wave of white light crashed over the land, swallowing the earth and leaving only molten ruin in its wake.
"Husband…"
A second, deadlier wave of light surged forth, burying the first and shattering kingdoms into pure, blinding white.
"Please."
. . .
Before the memory could unfold further, darkness enveloped them once again, plunging them back into the void.
"What… was that?!" Asahi muttered as he felt the flow of time speeding up to its original state.
Before he could even notice, the Ruler of The Forgotten turned his attention to Aletha, watching her scream and cry in pain. He began muttering under his breath as if something had gone wrong.
"Calm down. Calm down! It's just a shred of my skin. I'm sure nothing will be remembered, right? It's only one chunk."
Aletha's body trembled, covered in wounds, her pain-stricken screams swallowed by the endless white walls.
"I'll kill you!" She shrieked at the creature, tears streaming down her face.
"Oh, those same tears from your tragic memories. Look how broken you are," the creature sneered, driving sharp, goopy tendrils into Aletha's skin. "Whoever gave you the right to call yourself an Owner?"
"Don't you dare touch my sister!" Asahi shouted with fury boiling down his neck.
"You think you have a say in this? You're nothing more than a mortal to your world's eyes now. Keep your mouth shut." The Ruler of The Forgotten replied.
His voice turned razor-sharp as he glared at Asahi, who stood defiant, dark sword raised high.
"You don't understand anything. What can you possibly know about your world?"
Asahi's gray eyes narrowed, locking onto the creature towering above him.
He longed to shout that he knew his world's pain and blessings, its suffering and fleeting virtues, better than anyone.
But his memories were shrouded in fog, forcing him to answer with magic instead. As the creature gathered a sphere of destruction, Asahi intercepted the blast and soared into the air.
Twisting midair, he unleashed black beams of darkness at the Ruler of the Forgotten, tearing away more fragments of goopy skin.
Shock widened his eyes as he spotted the brown scarf lying gently in Aletha's trembling, bruised hand.
His gaze drifted to the two pieces of the Ruler's skin, watching them drift down onto the brown scarf like autumn leaves.
Before more could be said, time froze still.
Asahi, Aletha, and even the Ruler of The Forgotten's bodies were paralyzed, allowing another memory to invade their minds.
. . .
A tall, intricately patterned black door stood with quiet elegance in the hallway.
In a sudden flash, the scene shattered: flames raged behind the windows, ceilings and stone collapsed, and the door was wrenched open.
Beyond the forced-open door, only heaps of dust and ruin remained. The bed lay overturned, blue-glowing holes riddled the walls, and shattered furniture sparkled with dust. Every corner bore the scars of struggle.
"N…No…"
A young white-haired boy fell to his knees, tears glimmering as he wept, unable to comprehend the devastation before him.
The sight of the sparkling brown scarf, lying silent on the tiled floor, told him all he needed to know about what had happened...
Although they were told by the white-haired boy to wait, the silver-haired girl entered the room and darted her eyes to the brown scarf; her facial expression shone with confusion and sorrow.
"What… happened, brother?"
With every moment of silence, realization stabbed deeper into the boy's heart. He collapsed, knowing he had failed to shield them from this truth.
"Asahi, what's wrong?" The white-haired girl asked.
His body shook with raw terror, tears streaking down his pale cheeks.
He clutched the silken brown scarf in trembling hands, remorse flooding through him.
As the silver-haired girl and Aletha bent toward them, worried about what made Asahi so upset, the parents' room wall collapsed, revealing the burning kingdom they once knew.
But despite that, the two girls ignored it, worried about what Asahi had to say. The white-haired girl pushed the silver-haired girl aside and leaned over to Asahi, asking.
"Asahi, why are you crying?
In a quiet, trembling, and horrified voice, Asahi turned his pale face toward his sisters and quakingly replied as they were teleported to the streets of the crumbling city.
"We… lost… our parents." Young Asahi said.
. . .
A ghostly pallor crept across his cheek as the memory faded.
Hearing the Ruler of the Forgotten chuckle menacingly, Asahi stepped forward, straightened his posture, and interrupted him.
"That's our mother's scarf," Seizing a breath, Asahi clenched the brown scarf in his fingers and gritted his teeth, his face consumed in pure wrath. "I will commit my life to finding whoever was responsible for destroying our world."
Seething, Asahi stalked toward the Ruler of the Forgotten, blade unsheathed and fists blazing with white fire.
"And it all starts..." Asahi grumbled as the white fire transformed into a murky black. "...with you."