An unconscious Alisa. How did things turn out that way for her? Well, for that, we'd have to go back to when the temple pulled Alisa in.
…
The force of being pulled made Alisa's heart jump! She the wind blew past her face faster than any wind she'd ever controlled. The temperature shifted. What was once cool lowered and became frigid.
She shivered while being dragged. Alisa tried to perceive her surroundings, but with the fog and the speed at which she moved, it was impossible to get a clear picture.
"Help..." Alisa tried to scream, but the wind snatched her words.
It felt like no one could help her. That was until she saw the only friends that she could always count on. Small, lime green, lights appeared around her.
"Spirits! You're still here!" Alisa felt tears running down her face. She wasn't alone. As long as she had the spirits, she could never truly be alone.
"I'm so happy you guys-" Alisa stopped. Before she'd counted twelve lights, but now there were only eleven.
"What happened to-" Another one disappeared before Alisa even had time to react. Then another, and another. The spirits were vanishing before her eyes.
Each time one disappeared, the warmth in her chest lessened. She tried to reach for the spirits to but the wind pressure forced her arms to her sides.
She couldn't use her magic either. Dancing wasn't possible, so she couldn't cast anything.
All she could do was watch as the fog stole her friends, one by one. She felt the tears trickle down her cheeks.
"Stop! Come back! Please, you're not supposed to leave me! You can't leave!" Her voice cracked. Though her desperation went unheard.
The spirits still disappeared.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
Until only one spirit remained. It fought desperately to stay, doing whatever it could to stay with Alisa. And for a moment, Alisa believed in it.
So, when the last spirit succumbed to the same fate as its friends, Alisa was wholly alone.
Suddenly, she was no longer being pulled by whatever force had pulled her. She fell and skidded across the ground, her clothes rumpled and her arms aching. The tears that fell combined with soft sobs, filling the quiet space with a truly alone presence.
Even the act of sitting up felt strenuous.
This was the first time in forever that she'd felt truly alone. She placed her hand against her throat. It felt sore because of her screaming.
It was so cold in this place.
'Where are Nasak and Denver when I need them?' She pulled her tattered cloak tighter around her body, though the worn cloth did little to keep her from shivering. With nothing else to do, she looked around the area.
This temple was huge on the inside, Alisa couldn't even see the walls from where she was sitting. Though it could also just be very dark.
"Why do I have to be alone..." she mumbled. "Grandpa? Big bro? Nasak and Denver. Mom?" Alisa called for all of her usual protectors.
No one responded. She was all alone in this foggy darkroom that was in a weird temple, at the center of this creepy town, on top of a cliff with no easy way down!
Alisa squeezed her robe tight, almost ripping it further.
"Why did I do this to myself? Why did I come here?"
Alisa truly had no reason for being in the town of Amal. Eric had the ruin, Kent was the pirate with the ship, and Alix had her dream and interest in magic. Meanwhile, Alisa...
She just tagged along. Nasak and Denver couldn't come because they'd missed some of their classes on account of Alisa, so she ended up coming without them.
'A perfect opportunity to get closer to Mom!' is what she thought. Then Alix went missing as soon as they arrived, and she felt like the entire purpose of the journey had become obsolete! Mom didn't actually care about her...just like her actual mother never cared.
Alisa sat in the freezing dampness of the mist. The ground felt rough under her bum, and her head hurt from all the screaming and crying from earlier.
All that along with being alone and you've just described one of the worst days of Alisa's recent life.
Before Marconix, these sorts of days were actually pretty common for her. Sitting in an empty alley. Cold, damp, and alone. No one to talk to, play with, or protect her.
The memory of those days made the feeling in her chest worse.
'I don't wanna to go back…'
As if the temple were responding to her will, a faint warmth drifted around Alisa. The cold was still there, but a bit of color returned to her cheeks.
Her gaze lifted, and she stared into the mist. There was a path now.
She furrowed her brow. "That wasn't there before?"
There wasn't a sound or a breeze that let her know it when showed up. The trail just appeared. Was she supposed to see it?
Alisa stood with her cloak still wrapped tightly around her. She followed the path, a road of stone, just like the streets that she'd grown up upon. Her mind recalled the constant soreness that she felt while walking those roads.
She recalled the looks that she'd get as she walked down the street, a lost half-elf in the streets of a human city. She stood out even though she was small.
The fog before her seemed endless. There were no buildings or people around, but she could swear she heard a faint noise. Something like a rumble?
She looked to the sky instinctively, a fruitless effort if she was truly inside the temple. At least it should've been, but she could see storm clouds forming overhead.
"Are is that just more mist?" She questioned aloud, despite being alone.
"Clouds are typically just mist that has yet to touch the ground. So the idea of it being distant mist isn't incorrect."
"Ah!" Alisa jumped at the sound of a second person. Standing in front of her was a man.
He had long white hair that fell just around the nape of his neck. His skin was clearly unaccustomed to sunlight, with how it shined in the darkness. Long white silken robes covered his form, so his direct build was hard to decipher.
All she could tell is that he was pretty short. He was almost as short as she was.
His silver eyes scanned her methodically and with only faint curiosity.
In contrast to the man's cold analysis, Alisa beamed.
'I'm not alone anymore.' She moved closer to the man, tripping over her cloak and almost running straight into him before he caught her.
"Watch your step, child." The silver-eyed man stated before releasing her.
"Right, sorry!" Alisa took a moment to readjust her cloak and stared up at the man with a big smile. "Hello! I'm Alisa! Are you the Amalgamate Mystic? I heard they were supposed to be in the temple, but this place is way too big for me to want to look everywhere for them. Then I found you and I thought, 'This guy could be him!' So I'm asking! Are you the mystic? And do you know why it's so cold in here?"
The man stood in silence until Alisa finished speaking. "I am not the Master Mystic. They have disallowed themselves from interfering with the test of the ones that step foot within the spell."
"Test? Spell? Okay, you're saying a lot of random stuff right now! And my brain already hurts from when I first got pulled into this place. By the way, have you seen my mom? I saw her through the barrier in front of the entryway, but I haven't seen her since I got in here."
"I have seen your mother." The man confirmed. "Though I am here to lead you toward your test location. Not to her. Follow me." The man turned on his feet and moved down the path.
"Wait, don't leave me behind!" Alisa rushed after the man. He walked in silence, but Alisa didn't do well with silence.
"So, where are you taking me? You said a test, right? Is this like a ritual or something that I have to do to meet the Amalgamate Mystic? How are you not cold, by the way? It's freezing in here!"
"The cold doesn't bother me." The man explained. "And should the Mystic take further interest in you, then meeting them will not be too far out of your reach."
"Oh, I don't actually care about meeting them. I just wanted to know, but that is cool to know! Actually, Mom might be with the Mystic? Then I should want to go meet them so that I can find her and get showered by praise from Big Bro Kent for finding her!"
"Has anyone ever told you that your voice is as ceaseless as the heavy splashes of a waterfall?"
Alisa looked over at the man with her mouth open." Wow...that was...exactly what Denver said to me one time. Do you talk all vague and confusing too? Is that how all mystics work?"
"I am no mystic." The man corrected. "I don't possess the necessary ability to wield mysticism." Alisa bumped into the man's back as he came to a sudden stop.
"Ow, why did you stop? You could've said something!"
"This is as far as I am allowed to go."
Alisa frowned and stared into the darkness. "But there's nothing there? Unless I'm supposed to see something, because I see a lot! Way more than most people can. It's because of my eyes, you know? I'm a Spirit Savant so I can see like mana and spirits and stuff. By the way, this place doesn't have any mana in it? Which is weird because you can find that stuff floating everywhere!"
The man answered none of Alisa's questions. He turned to face her and spoke. "Step forward, child. The longer you delay, the more trouble your dear brother will be in."
"What? Wait? Kent's in trouble!"
"Yes, he is in battle currently. Facing his own mind and unfavorable combat conditions."
Alisa's eyes widened. "B-but, there wasn't anything dangerous out there? It was just Ms. Yaga and Ms. Chancy? Did Ms. Chancy do something to Kent?!"
"You have no time to worry about such things. Step through the mist and into your trial."
"No, I have to go help Kent! If something happens to him-"
"That will be impossible until you complete the trial!" The man's voice boomed. Alisa held her ears in shock. The silver-eyed man stared at the girl with mild frustration on his face.
He gestured with his hand at the heavy mist in front of him. "Go in, then you can worry about your brother. All of your yammering is just wasting more of his time."
Alisa swallowed hard. The person who once seemed indifferent became aggressive.
And out of nowhere, at that.
She walked past him to stand in front of the mist, glancing over at the man one last time.
"You're really mean." She commented.
The man stood there, no smile, no frown. He just stood in place. Though for a moment, Alisa saw a flicker of something. Not on the man's face, but around him. It was quick and yellow.
"A bond is sacred. Thus, if broken, we must confront them. You, Nao' Rorsha, shall confront the bonds that were severed."
"Wait, how do you-" before Alisa could finish speaking, misty tentacles wrapped around her waist and yanked her into the fog. The fog sat undisturbed by the girl's entrance, almost as though she'd never gone in at all.
The man's face shifted to one of mild annoyance.
"That girl is very troublesome."