After the sun started to take its descent, Asahi and Aletha chose to settle themselves in an Inn, far from the slums and Akwan and every danger that they could muster. Asahi sat on the bed while Aletha slept in the other room, gazing at the paintings hung on the wall.
Bathed in the glow of the glittering night sky, Asahi's thoughts wandered into the unknown.
"Is it just us trapped in the pages?" He said, looking downward, as he saw the city in motion. "Or are there even more victims?"
As the lights behind the windows blinked out one by one, Asahi slipped onto the porch, letting his eyes drink in the lush greenery that cradled the city. Pine trees stood sentinel, while green mountains and forests wove through distant crevices. Beyond the sea, another world waited, but here, they were marooned on this continent, the ocean encircling them like a jeweled moat, crowned by a grand fountain on the shore.
" I must know…" He said, "I have to know. What is beyond staring at the cryptic pages of The Forbidden Book?" Asahi snapped it shut and let himself sink into the mattress. Fortune had favored their escape, but now, tangled in a web of restless thoughts, Asahi's mind refused to settle on endless thought and wondered..
"If Akwan had met my mother, could that mean she is still in this world?" Visions of a blurry, tall, white-haired maiden filled his mind. Black accompanied her form, with white hair drooping down on her sides. "Or even more, what if my father is alive too?"
As he lay with his head on the pillow, lost in thought, a memory flickered to life.
"That brown scarf." He said as he clenched his fists. "I have to find it. We have to find it."
Meanwhile, across the quiet inn,
"Mom, are you still out there?" Just like Asahi, Aletha too wondered about the whereabouts of her scarf. "Where could that scarf possibly be?"
As thoughts of the missing scarf and the mysteries of the Forbidden Book swirled in their minds, sleep gently claimed them both.
As they drifted off to sleep, reality began to blur—and in a dream, the world shifted.
They found themselves in a vast, shadowy expanse—not awake, but wandering in a realm woven from dreams, a place untethered from reality.
What stood were two beings, both tall and glorious. They had beautiful, shimmering shades of white hair just like themselves. But just as they could reach the blurry figures, they faded and dissipated into dust.
What replaced them was the sight of a familiar figure. A girl with magenta eyes and silver hair. She looked to the other side, away from Asahi and Aletha, with the sight of a dark, goopy humanoid grabbing onto her.
"Aiyana!" They cried. "Give her back!"
Suddenly, the black abyss faded into the sight of a starry space. There were hundreds of stars glittering all around them with the sight of a burning world behind their backs. What replaced the goopy humanoid was a beautiful woman with long dark hair and azure eyes. Gold accompanied both of her backs, and her eyes hinted at something sinister. Behind the three, a world in turmoil appeared.
"Everyone's gone." She cried as the mysterious woman glared at the three of them. "Our parents. Everyone is consumed by this… light."
As the woman in dark clothing stood completely still, she began to speak as if her words were being artificially produced.
"You three have disrupted the melody of the universe. For this, you shall pay."
"Are we going to leave our world like this?! Our home? We're just going to leave it in flames?!" A young silver-haired girl screamed as tears flooded her face.
A carefully appraising eye settled on Young Asahi. He took a sigh and responded.
"Yes. There's nothing we can do about it anymore."
Behind him, a young, silver-haired girl, full of fading hope, stepped forward and disagreed, a few tears coming to soften her seared vision.
"No. I don't want to leave! W...What about the flowers? What about our kingdom?! What about mama and papa?"
A heavy ache gripped Aletha's heart; sorrow clouded her face as her mind rebelled against everything she had ever stood for.
Though Young Aletha had always told the truth, there was no escape from bluffing this time. She shut her eyes, her face turned pale, and with a manner that was nervously anxious, she made her first-ever lie.
"Look, Aiyana, I promise our parents have made it out of here. They are safe and sound, so don't worry about them." She scratched her chin and tried not to draw out tears as she spoke. "Mama and Papa told me they have found an even BETTER world for us!"
Tears of disbelief welled up in Aiyana's glistening amethyst eyes.
"Really?"
Aletha buried her face in her hands, fighting back tears in front of Aiyana, her sadness masked by a trembling, artificial smile.
"Y... Yeah. Come on. Let's leave this world and go there! All the flowers you loved are waiting for you."
Just as the memory was about to continue, the dream faded, and their souls began to return to waking life. As they neared waking, The Ruler of the Forgotten's words echoed mockingly.
"Ah, look who you forgot," he said. "Your own parents. I shall drink their memories and their tears as you slowly part away from them, closer and closer and closer."
"NO!" Asahi said as he floated in the starry expanse. "You stay away from them! You hear!?"
. . .
A heavy silence followed as they awoke, the Ruler of the Forgotten's laughter echoing after the dream, shattering any lingering peace. Nightmares and harsh truths lingered in their minds even as they opened their eyes.
As birds began to trill, memories of dreams and days gone by slipped away. Dawn broke on the final day before the loop. Shaking off the remnants of sleep, Asahi stretched and fixed his gaze on the list before him.
----------------
Find out what the ingredients mean.
Follow the places where the drawings are.
Use the clues, illustrations, and figures on the page to find the ingredients.
Run outside to find Clover.
Find parts of the medals and gems.
Give them to the thieves."
--------
The search for the ingredients was far from over. Shaken by their nightmare-laden sleep, Asahi and Aletha hurried outside, greeted by the tolling of bells. The city's towers and buildings, each with its own unique shape, shimmered in the morning light as carriages zipped through the bustling streets.
"So… what first?" Aletha asked, "Should we go outside the city or…"
"Don't act like you haven't shared dreams," Asahi said to Aletha as his eyes darted over to her gray eyes. "Do you remember what you saw?"
"What?" Aletha said, puzzled. "Dreams?"
"Yeah, the dreams we have been having," Asahi said. "About our past. About our parents?"
"Yeah, I figured seeing that," Aletha said. "And the Ruler of the Forgotten and that other woman. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Why, why question that?"
"Don't you see it as some sort of coincidence that we shared that exact dream?" Asahi asked.
"I don't believe in coincidences," Aletha said with a smug look. "And besides. That's in the past. The Ruler of The Forgotten can't hurt us now."
Asahi, in protest, caught a look of unease. Aletha was wrong, "The Ruler of The Forgotten can tamper with memories.
If it wasn't for him, they would have remembered everything. It was because of him that they lost grasp of their memories. With no time to waste, Asahi and Aletha departed thence from the city and blended in with the groups of people.
Surprisingly, not one of the soldiers caught a glance at Asahi and Aletha. They looked at The Forbidden Book and caught a glance of Clover running to the archway, the entrance to the city.
Quickly, now knowing that Drimi and Belial were nowhere to be seen, ran toward the archway. But just before they reached it,
"HEY! Stop in my name." A beautiful woman with long mocha-colored hair, tattoos, and casual clothing entered the archway, stopping the carriages. "You two are under arrest for evading the law. Don't you know that everyone must go through a process before setting foot in my city?"
"NO!" Aletha said blatantly. "Like I have a clue, dumb nut."
"Aletha! Manners." Asahi said as he slapped her hand away from the woman.
"And who must you be?"
The woman clumsily adjusted her hair, capturing everyone's attention. She bowed down and moved her crown, answering as people watched in awe.
"I am none other than Narcissa, the Queen of the Nation of Disgust."
"Nation of Disgust?" Aletha mumbled. "What type of title is that?"
"Aletha, hush," Asahi said with a flushed face. "So, are we going to prison or…"
"Prison?" Narcissa said with a chuckle. "For simply evading my process? Don't you think it's a little harsh on you two? I won't simply stop you from here. You just seem to be so distinct from anyone I know."
She stared at both of them with admiring eyes.
"White hair, gray eyes. Nothing of the sort in Pladtioa, especially for youths such as you."
Aletha, feeling blushed because of the Queen's flattering words, stepped away and covered her rosy face, saying,
"Aww. You don't have to flatter us now."
Shaking his head, Asahi grabbed the Forbidden Book and dashed away from Narcissa. Knowing that he would get caught, he took Aletha's hand and raced outside the city.
"Guards, don't go after them. Just let them be," Narcissa said as she blushed in anticipation of the event. "I want to see those youths prosper."
While Drimi and Belial were seen running to the Queen, saying,
"Ms. Narcissa. Do you want them to be captured?"
Narcissa then sneered at the two and said.
"Let the youths be. As I said. I have no interest in capturing them. I just wanted to see them from up close."
After weaving through the guards who unwittingly cleared a path, Asahi and his sister ducked into a hollow in the earth. Five tense minutes passed before Asahi peeked out, only to find the guards had melted away. Turning to the Forbidden Book, he noticed a single request now glowing in bold.
"Run outside to find Clover."
Hidden in their earthen refuge, Asahi and Aletha scanned the area for Clover. To their astonishment, she stood in the center of the road, heading toward a stand of pine trees. A memory of Landon guiding him to this very spot flashed through Asahi's mind.
"Could it be that one of the ingredients is here?"
After running and chasing after Clover, they finally reached the designated place and saw Clover touching what looked to be a barrier. Beyond was nothing but white luminance. When they approached the barrier, they realized that they couldn't pass through it. It had seemed that only the city remained enveloped, with the outside world seeming to blur. Noticing this, Aletha asked Clover.
"Clover, what are you doing?"
Clover glanced over her shoulder, desperation etched across her face as she dug feverishly into the earth, ignoring Aletha and Asahi's puzzled questions.
"Clover?" They asked.
Finally, after moments of silence, Clover mentioned. "I knew it." She said as her hands scraped the barrier. "We are trapped in here. In the pages. I KNEW something was off."
Having looked at the blurry barrier, Asahi and Aletha saw what appeared to be a bottle of blue essence in the hands of the green-haired girl.
"The ingredient!" They hollered.
In that instant, the truth became undeniable.
Landon was right.
They had to follow Clover as the Forbidden Book suggested, then they would find the ingredient.
But now, on the third day, they could only hope their hard-won progress would somehow endure.
All their efforts had led to this: the discovery of just one elusive ingredient.
If they were to reset this loop, they would either give up completely or try to dig at the exact spot Clover had dug swiftly on the first day.
But now, after three eventful, troubling days, after three days brimming with trials and turmoil, Asahi and Aletha bid farewell to this shadow of their world and found themselves back at the beginning. Aletha and Asahi shook their heads, planning their next move.
But now, in this loop, hope flickered anew for the wanderers as their eyes caught sight of something hanging on the shelves. "The Ingredient!" They screamed in relief.
Somehow, the world itself had shifted, preserving their progress as if they were players in a grand game. In that moment, they understood: obeying the Forbidden Book's requests was the key to moving forward.
----------------
Find out what the ingredients mean.
Follow the places where the drawings are.
Use the clues, illustrations, and figures on the page to find the ingredients.
Run outside to find Clover.
Find parts of the medals and gems…
--------
And so, after striking the task from the book and presenting the precious bottle to the thieves, fortune finally seemed to smile on them.