Chương 3: The Forgotten

Nothing.

Absolute Emptiness.

No stars, trees, clouds, mountains, ground, or sky. Nothing was here except for fluttering white shards of light and an endless white void.

A sense of disillusionment overwhelmed him as he stared mindlessly into the white void in complete silence.

The flash from the vast underground city to the empty white abyss stunned him; indeed, he knew what this light belonged to, but he would have never guessed that this was his world.

Unlike the calmness in Asahi, Aletha was undoubtedly panicked.

A frozen chill of fear grew in her as she dashed left and right from the blank void; only she saw her shadow and heard her footsteps.

"This... can't be our world." She said, "Akwan isn't even here anymore."

With so much fear pressuring her, she collapsed to her knees by sheer panic, gritted her teeth, and angrily slammed her fist on the empty white surface.

"Where did that thing take us?! Was Akwan lying to us?"

Each hit echoed over the vast white abyss.

"Asahi, answer me!"

Silence answered her, leaving only her voice to echo throughout the emptiness.

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.

Although Asahi was undoubtedly immersed in this bizarre unearthly location, it had not stopped him from recalling.

"Why is this… white glow, so familiar? Have I seen it before?"

Suddenly, before anymore could be spoken, a mysterious, strange, croaky voice sounded out from emptiness.

"Ah, so it appears that one has forgotten about their past. What a pity."

Cutting off their words there, after several minutes of silence; Asahi and Aletha immediately began searching to find where the voice came from.

"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, appearing from a misty veil of white before them was a strange monstrous-looking figure wearing a dark cloak with glowing magenta lines inscribed on their chest.

Every centimeter radiated within this man exuded an aura of powerful and corrupted 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?!

After Aletha finished her sentence, the mysterious and powerful figure turned its gaze toward them and let out a sinister laugh. He dispersed his dark tendrils from his head, lifting them as if they were arms.

"Of course. Of course. 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 God of The Forgotten. And you two. Who dare call themselves 'Gods', 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."

"We had no choice!" Asahi said as he slowly reached over for his blade.

In response to the sudden loudness of Asahi's answer, The God of The Forgotten crossed his arms over his chest and chuckled dismissively, raising his strange stringy legs.

"Oh really? I sense liars. Then, let me clarify something for you."

The strange humanoid creature lunged his dark tendrils into the white surface and started laughing maniacally, abruptly changing into an ear-piercing scream.

His five limbs raised in the air like a parachute before flying down and piercing the void. As Asahi and Aletha pivoted backward, reaching for the hilt of their blades, The God of The Forgotten revealed.

"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 rulers of Gincad; fallen onto their knees by a SIMPLE light."

Every time they were to take one step forward, everything surrounding them would flicker into black and white like a blinker.

Asahi and Aletha couldn't bear to comprehend the sudden reveal they were just given.

"The Adtraic Family's existence, removed from our world? How could one do that?!" Asahi pondered aloud. "That… shouldn't be possible."

The God 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 God of The Forgotten looked heavenward and asked once more.

"Now tell me. Do you two know who I am?"

Despite silent moments, rummaging for clues, answers, or even recollections of this strange being; not once had a spark been emitted from both of their minds.

They could see from the look on the creature's eight sharp magenta eyes that it wanted the correct answer this time.

But struck with memory loss and confusion, it made the process of answering him almost physically impossible to accomplish.

Nonetheless, because of his close proximity, Asahi and Aletha had no choice but to answer.

"No, we don't."

Fury braced every corner of this evil and goopy creature's body. From the waist up, purple energy surged across his exposed veins. His five magenta eyes glowed a piercing brightness, strong enough to blind mortal eyes.

"Oh? Really? Are you sure…?" He assured with a broken smile.

In reaction, Asahi gulped and stepped back from The God of The Forgotten.

He knew that answering him would infuriate it even more.

Yet, Aletha, as clumsy and oblivious as ever, dared to answer the creature.

"Yes."

A mirthless laugh spewed out of the God of The Forgotten's mouth. He blew out his cheeks and treated the answer as if it was some sort of joke. But the disturbing look on his elliptical eyes contradicted his act, exhibiting it more as a warning or a threat for Aletha to 'run.'

"Keep your heart beating," The God of The Forgotten warned; His entire face scrunched purple as he bent over and watched Aletha quiver and tremble in fear.

As the tension of the moment escalated, The God 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 potent blast catapulted Aletha several meters away from the creature, rupturing a crater inside the solid white wall of the void.

Immediately, Asahi darted to the god and hastily unsheathed his sword.

His shining white blade impaled and skewed a piece of The God of The Forgotten's skin, peeling it like a fruit.

Screaming in agony, The God 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 God 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 massive white light tsunami surged, smashing against the soil and engulfing the land, reducing everything to slag.

"Husband…"

The second wave of lethal light rose up, burying the first before its colossal body broke apart, turning what once were kingdoms into nothing but white.

"Please."

* * * * *

Just as the memory could continue, it flashed into darkness, returning to the void once more.

"What… was that?!" Asahi muttered as he felt the flow of time speeding up to its original state.

Before he could even notice, The God 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 PIECE!"

Aletha's body was covered in wounds, writhing and trembling in pain. Her screams were muffled by the white walls of the void.

"I'll kill you!" She shrieked at the creature, tears streaming down her face.

"Oh look, the same tears I saw on you in your tragic memories. Aw, look how broken you look." As he pierced its sharp goopy tendrils through Aletha's skin, the creature said. "Who dared had the authority to call you a god?"

"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 God of The Forgotten replied.

His tone had become very harsh as he glared at Asahi, who stood there with his dark sword held high above his head.

"You don't understand anything. What can you possibly know about your world?"

Asahi's gunmetal gray eyes narrowed upward, looking up at the creature.

He wanted to tell him that he knew all too well what his world was; that he knew the pain, suffering, blessings, and virtues they inflicted upon people.

Nevertheless, his memory was too foggy, leaving him to prove The God of The Forgotten's point by using his magical power. Before the creature could unleash its powerful ball of explosions, Asahi blocked the blast and flew in the air.

Then, narrowly tilted, he shot black beams of darkness at The God of The Forgotten, forcing even more fragments of his goopy skin to be peeled.

His eyes bulged in shock as he saw the brown scarf rest peacefully against Aletha's trembling and bruised hand. Then, his vision cruised over to the two pieces of The God of The Forgotten's skin, seeing it fall onto the brown scarf like fallen leaves.

Before anymore could be said, time froze still.

Asahi, Aletha, and even The God of The Forgotten's bodies were paralyzed, allowing another memory to invade their minds.

* * * * *

A long, neatly-patterned black door stood beautifully in the hallway.

Suddenly, in nothing short but a flash, the vision was ruined by the burning fire behind the windows, collapsed ceilings, and stone; and the door was just a bit pried open.

. . .

What remained on the other side of the pried-open door were only piles of dust scattered everywhere in a trashed room. The bed was flipped over, blue glowing holes were all over the walls, and the furniture was trashed in piles of sparkling dust. There were signs of struggle in every trace of the room.

"N…No…"

A young white-haired boy knelt down at the sight and cried shining tears, unable to fathom the view he had just witnessed.

He knew just by seeing that sparkling brown scarf that had lied silently against the tiled floor served as an indication of what happened to...

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 face mixed with emotions of confusion and sorrow.

"What… happened, brother?"

Realization kicked through the boy's heart the more he heard silence. He fell to his knees, knowing he had failed to keep this hidden from them.

"Asahi, what's wrong?" The white-haired girl asked.

His body quaked in pure fear and terror, tears fell on his pale cheek, and his hands fiddled quietly with the silken brown scarf.

As the silver-haired girl and Aletha bent toward them, worried about what made Asahi so upset, the parent's room wall collapsed, revealing the burning kingdom they once knew.

But despite that, the two girls ignored it; only worried about what Asahi had to say. The white-haired girl pushed the silver-haired girl aside and leaned over to Asahi, asking him.

"Asahi, why are you crying?

In one quiet, trembling, and horrified voice, Asahi turned his pale face toward his sisters and quakingly replied.

"We… lost… our parents."

* * * * *

A ghastly whiteness overspread his cheek after the memory dissipated away.

Hearing The God of The Forgotten chuckle menacingly, Asahi stepped forward, straightened his posture, and interrupted him.

"That's our mother's scarf." As he took a deep breath, Asahi clenched the brown scarf against his fingers and gritted his teeth, his face consumed in pure wrath. "I will commit my life to find whoever was responsible for destroying our world."

Seething with anger, Asahi approached The God of The Forgotten menacingly, unsheathing his blade and engulfing his fists into a white flame.

"And it all starts..." Asahi grumbled as the white fire transformed into a murky black. "...with you."