Akwan unleashed a blue brilliance at Paxon.
Quickly, pellets of all types gathered and shattered on his blue strings before wrapping around the creature.
Its tail unraveled, revealing springs of flesh, and its black body tore through the ground and aimed straight at the wanderers.
"If I can't keep these two trapped here," he said, " maybe THIS thing will!"
It was on all fours, opening its gaping jaw at the two. The man suddenly transformed into a goopy humanoid monster with slender arms and sharp claws.
At first, they thought of fighting the beast. They tried striking the thing down. But all it did was regenerate. Struck with the fascination of this being of epic proportions, Asahi did what was best in the situation.
"RUN!"
They both ran and, as they dodged goopy tendrils and slender claws, Asahi snatched up a copy of The Forbidden Book resting on the ground.
Then, upon opening it, he saw glowing in the pages illustrations of an alligator with sharp claws, resonating with Paxon's form. Asahi tore one of the silk pieces of paper off and saw the alligator's form transform into a black bear. Struck with confusion, seeing the threat was even worse than before, came to the discovery,
"This person can use transformation magic." He said as he tore another page into the shape of a dragon. "If we can find a way to transform it…"
Suddenly, Asahi recollected the drawings of Aletha. He remembered in the "library" how she was fascinated by picture books and illustrations in general.
(Back in the past, Aletha was always a good illustrator.) Asahi thought as the creature transformed into a black and white kitsune. (She had this power to illustrate things into being. Though it may have been small…:
Having realized this, Asahi tossed the Forbidden Book at Aletha. With confusion dawning over here, she asked as she dodged the strikes of the transformed kraken.
"What are you giving me this for?"
"We can't shred it, but we CAN do something." Noticing having nothing to draw with, Asahi resorted to another plan. "If we can't beat it or regenerate it, maybe we can transform it? Aletha, how about you draw him into something?"
"Draw?" Aletha said with clueless eyes. "Me?"
Asahi nodded his head. "Yes."
"With what?"
That's when they realized.
They had nothing to draw it with, or so it seemed.
Although the original text was lost to oblivion, a copy still remained in full view in Aletha's hands. But having nothing to draw it with, they then found out…
"The ingredients!" Landon screamed as Paxon's shapeless form transformed into several dangerous creatures. "I made it just in time!"
The purple bottle, the one they have tried ever so hard to obtain, spilled on one page of the book. Asahi, after seeing reality itself bend and wobble in instability, jumped upward and snatched a feather off one of the hundreds of birds. Then, as it contorted, he tossed the feather up to Aletha, saying…
"Sis, draw!"
As the sight of the city flickered on and off to this dimension and the alternate dimension, Aletha grabbed the feather, dappled on some ink from the ingredients, and as Asahi, Akwan, Clover, and the other ran away from the transforming figure, morphing into whatever it pleased, Aletha made some rough lines, drew a Lilypad, and lastly,
"There!"
Just as the two were about to be devoured by the morphing figure, all of a sudden…
"Ribbit!"
The little frog jumped back and forth, slowly leaving the space as Asahi and Aletha retrieved both copies of The Forbidden Book.
"Did we... do it?" Asahi questioned as he looked at Aletha's illustration of a frog
Internally, the Ruler of The Forgotten was screaming. He had never figured that they would have lost to them.
But Asahi's theory was true.
Whatever was written or illustrated in the Forbidden Book could come to life in this space. It made sense why all the drawings were made and why they predicted their future and fate. It explained the ingredients and why they were needed so urgently. It was because they wanted to escape this space, too.
"Perhaps the Ruler of the Forgotten just didn't want us to leave," Aletha said as she slammed the book shut, hearing the frog croak in the background.
"No, he wanted us trapped," Asahi said with rapid succession. "If he ever showed empathy, we could have spared him. But there's no mercy for the wicked."
As Asahi and Aletha rose high from space, Akwan, Belial, and Drimi all flew upwards with the wanderers soaring like birds in a dream. But in reality, there wouldn't be super jump powers or flickering instances of the dimensions. All of it was just inside the Forbidden Book, nothing out.
With no enemy to confront, Drimi and Belial waved goodbye, knowing that they had been saved. The frog jumped on Asahi as he saw only a white flash in the expanse, with them being consumed by luminance. It was true. All they had to do was follow the requests; perhaps that was the reason why Liora gave the book in the first place.
"Thank you, Asahi," Akwan said as he felt the weight of suppression lifted. "You too, Aletha. Although we might not remember what happened here, there will always be a comforting warmth in our hearts to remind us of what we did. Again, I show you my thanks… for getting everyone out of this loop."
As Landon, Drimi, and Belial fly up to the white abyss like an unfinished painting, Aletha said this.
"Will YOU remember what we did?"
Akwan gave a light chuckle.
"I can try. But likely, it will be erased from me," He said with a frown. "And Drimi, and Belial, and Narcissa, and Landon. All of them will resume as if nothing were wrong. While you two… You might have a gift waiting on the other side."
Asahi and Aletha looked at The Forbidden Book, still having many questions springing up in their head.
How did this space come into being?
How did illustrations affect everything?
Are there even more people trapped?
Instead of discarding the book, Asahi threw it to Aletha and said…
"Bro, take this book. I'll meet you on the other side."
Asahi, keeping a confident smile on his face, looked up to the void and gave a thumbs up before finally…
"You too, sis."
. . .
Suddenly, the sight of a silver-haired young woman came into being.
He was surrounded by an endless white void.
She appeared, piercing her gaze at Asahi.
Memories continued to shimmer back and forth.
Just as he could clutch the girl's hands, she slowly stepped back, turning her face away from him.
"Aiyana!" He cried.
But all she did was stare. He and Aletha both.
Pink particles shimmered in the vast burning white expanse. Her dress fluttered back and forth, muttering beneath her breath.
"If only you knew," she said as she raised her hands and grabbed two glittering stars, and then she grabbed what looked to be a shimmering brown scarf that fluctuated in the empty breeze. As it flew in hypnotically accurate patterns, memories of the burning world came into view.
Cracks emerged in every corner.
The floating kingdom of Rulers was banished by a sick light.
The woman who had stood before their destroyed world, the one who had floated behind them, came into vision.
She had dark azure eyes, black hair, soft skin, and long dark hair. She appeared to be human, but in fact, she was not. She stood and floated behind her as if a statue.
"The Establisher?"
Asahi and Aletha have seen this countless times.
It continued to haunt them, but this time it really was haunting.
The woman behind her, The Establisher, had not worn a face of shock or surprise… just a deathly stare. She had many rings, with each of them coiling over her wrists. She had a blue luminance grappled on her hands. As Asahi and Aletha stared at the vast space ahead of them, the dark-haired woman, The Establisher, spoke…
"Shall my son depart from me as well?" She said as the form of a toddler appeared in her hands. "Or shall he join our side? Nonetheless, I shall hear it from your mother… Oh wait…"
Just as much could be said, the vision flickered back to a dark void, with the soothing words of The Establisher echoing across the expanse.
"Your mother has succumbed to the radiance. Sigh, how sad. Such a beauty like her deserves better." The Establisher snapped her fingers as the sight of a dark-haired boy came into their narrowing vision. "Shall my son surrender to my own fate? Or shall he prosper in oblivion? Hmm, so many questions but few answers."
As the boy's form molds into a young man, the Establisher forms an infinity sign on his pale hands and places it inside the young infant, mumbling as Asahi and Aletha's vision blackens.
"Ah, Akwan. My favorite being in the whole universe," She said as the void darkens more and more. "Shall he join the factions as well? Or shall he be on my side? My perfection shall not waver."
After holding onto the infant, she cast it off to the world, leaving him to…
"Asahi." Said a half-pitched voice. "Asahi, wake up!"