Immediately, she rushed to embrace Asahi. There was no thought into the embrace, just an act of gratitude and nothing more.
Asahi took it as a sign that Kendra appreciated his efforts, which renewed his drive to protect those around him.
Even though they had just met in the mansion, this moment affirmed for Asahi that he was capable of forging meaningful connections, reinforcing his resolve not to repeat his past mistakes of abandonment.
"Thank you…" Kendra whispered to Asahi, holding her arms close to him. "I… know we just met. But thank you for saving me. I don't know what happened back to the surface, or even what this place is…"
Her face grew warm as she noticed Asahi's top was missing.
"B… But I appreciate it."
"You're welcome," Asahi replied, offering a gentle grin.
"... We have only just met. But..."
As he surveyed the grateful followers around him, Asahi clenched his hands and controlled a shuddering breath.
"I cannot endure the idea of leaving anyone behind. Not after what happened to my followers years ago."
"I… understand."
While Kendra continued holding her grasp on Asahi, soon after, the followers led Asahi and Kendra to another village just atop a hallway of sorrowful waterfalls.
All the statues were scattered across the floor, buried beneath old, parched soil and rocks. Not even the grass here was moist.
Although that may have been a concern for Asahi and Kendra, they continued their search for Asahi's attire.
Kirei, who had been standing behind their backs for quite a considerable amount of time, took the initiative to inform them of the sheer abundance of inscriptions carved in the walls.
"It seemed that not only had The Ancients claimed and nearly razed this land, they had also ignored the inscriptions laid out for them, leaving them to glow in a nearly endless sea of night," Kirei said as he put his mask back on. "I'm sorry, Lord Asahi. I will leave it for you and that other woman to lead our people to the heavens. Unfortunately, I can't come with you since I have a duty to protect and guard the claimed territory behind me."
"Understood." Asahi thanked with a forgiving smile. "I show you my greatest gratitude for coming with me this far, showing me the ways of our land. I hope to find a way out and bring you all to the surface."
As if reading the mind of Asahi, Kirei bowed his head deeply before turning around and vanishing into the darkness of the forest of ruins.
"Thank you, Lord Asahi."
. . .
After the events that had transpired before him, Asahi, Kendra, and his followers trekked deep into the semi-lush terrain of this strange, buried land. Instead of being enveloped in darkness, this segment of the area was illuminated with light, natural light.
The structures shrank, as if they were transforming into a rural form rather than a prosperous one. It felt like it had been hours since their last interaction with enemies, but that hadn't concerned them.
All Asahi wanted was to find his top attire and leave this place with his people.
While the rest of the underworld was engulfed in perpetual darkness, except for a small portion of walls being illuminated by inscriptions, the walls in front of him were currently illuminated by light shining down from above, as if it were the sun itself.
Asahi walked forward, examining every centimeter of the walls, with his followers and Kendra following his footsteps.
But he couldn't understand or read this type of language.
Even having learned several languages from the worlds he had visited before, after he abandoned this world in the past, this was his only exception. And so, he turned around to the crowd behind him and asked while Kendra watched with fixed eyes.
"My followers, is there anyone else who can decipher these messages for me?"
Kendra couldn't help but admire Asahi's way of speaking. There was something so formal and potent-sounding in his tongue that she couldn't comprehend, as if it were a specific type of dialect long-forgotten, never to be said outside of the previous incarnation of this world.
She couldn't even understand that there was another version of this world that existed before this one.
Knowing that Asahi was a god of significance, she changed her perspective about him. Now, she couldn't recognize Asahi as human anymore, but as some higher being with whom she doesn't deserve to be. But despite these thoughts, Kendra still stood by his side.
After Asahi asked his followers, several faces turned toward him, but none answered. Only the loud, ambient tremors of the waterfalls behind them and the howling winds from the expanse..
However, one of the followers stood up and approached Asahi with an extended hand.
"Lord Asahi! I am the one who has once interacted with Alaunus ever since the sky had darkened." He answered, eyes bulging with excitement. "I would be glad to help you decode them."
"Ah, yes. Thank you. Please do."
The follower walked up to Asahi and kneeled, extending both hands towards the inscriptions. Kendra raised an eyebrow in confusion, stunned at seeing the rather strange movements of the people.
But she knew that only Asahi could understand it, and so… she kept her mouth shut.
While the follower was kneeling, his arms stretched out towards the inscriptions, the words glowed brighter and started to take shape. In no time, the entire wall began to glow, illuminating the whole area with a soft yet bright light.
[If one were to awaken me from my long slumber… then thou shall know intervening with The Outside is not sufficient enough to heal this world anymore.]
"It seems that these are one of the more recent prophecies Alaunus has written." The follower mentioned as he placed his ring on his finger, looking over at Asahi and Kendra with a confident expression. "And when I mean recent, I am not talking about years, nor decades. But millennia. A thousand or two more years, I say."
"So, you're saying it has been thousands of years since that mighty dragon awakened?" Asahi uttered, shocked at the sudden revelation.
"Indeed." The follower nodded, smiling widely. His smile was full of confidence, as if he had already predicted the future.
"Then what must we do?"
"That is a hard question. If it were just the prophecy itself, then it wouldn't be much of a problem."
The man took a deep sigh and hunched his shoulders.
"But unfortunately, Alaunus had also left us a warning. One that says, should the prophecy come true, it will result in the 'healing' of this world."
"Healing?"
"Yes, Lord Asahi. This world, along with all other worlds, shall be 'healed'."
Asahi took a moment to think about it. He didn't want to rush things, so he decided to remain calm and think everything through carefully.
(Heal this world? What in the world does that mean?)
But just as his concerns got to him, Kendra stepped forward and intervened.
"That sounds ridiculous!" She said with a pale face. "How can a person or dragon even do that?"
"Ridiculous, right. But mocking Alaunus' ability, I'm afraid not."
As the follower lifted and stepped away from one of the many prophecies glowing on the wall, he approached Kendra with a passive-aggressive tone and continued.
"Though there is much we know about Alaunus, there is also much that remains unknown about them. For they are of unknown origin."
With a shifting approach, an elderly man with an unkempt brown beard fleet-footed forward and hoisted his staff into the air.
For but a moment, a luminance shone and flew across the cavern's walls, illuminating his face, along with those of multiple others, including Asahi, under the sheared artificial light.
Asahi immediately took notice of this power, as if it had served as a reminder…
(This light…)
Suddenly, a memory he hadn't seen before flashed inside his mind.
. . .
Everything had descended into chaos. In times of lightning storms and burping lava ravines, the only thing left intact was the kingdom floating in the clouds.
It looked like heaven, with a castle perched atop a levitating mountain.
This imperious and gleaming white castle was the Adtraic Family's home.
And the kingdom around it was for all lesser Rulers.
"It's… how did all of this happen?" A tall and beautiful woman capable of pushing away the disastrous luminance stood atop the highest porch of the castle.
Her skin was as silky smooth as a baby's, perfected with tattoos. Her dark, sweeping, thick, sharp eyelashes glittered from the light, watching as chaos unfolded around her.
It seemed that even she didn't know what had happened.
A glossy black suit accentuated her well-defined body, clinging to her and exposing her skin from the waist down.
The frightful look on her face heavily contrasted with her appearance.
She swung and twirled her unimaginably long brown scarf attached to her wrist up toward the heavens, pushing the consuming luminance away from her.
At first, she felt confident enough to conquer this unknown entity.
But when she felt her hand get consumed in a strange pulsating warmth, the smile on her face faded.
After the luminance dissipated, all that remained of the woman was her long, brown scarf. It slowly glided down to the castle and slipped through a window, lying peacefully against the cold floor.
. . .
With her voice fading and echoing away from Asahi's mind, he trembled in shock.
This flash of memory just happened out of the blue, completely taking Asahi by surprise and disrupting his initial thoughts.
This was more than just a random occurrence; it was a grand reveal for him.
One that further expanded his understanding of the calamity.
"N…No. I… I can't believe it." He mumbled.
Kendra squinted at Asahi, utterly oblivious of what was going through Asahi's mind.
"What is it, Asahi?"
Even his followers were concerned about him, leaning over and awaiting anything to be uttered from his mouth.
But all they had received was nothing but a face filled with pure disbelief.
Asahi shook his head, trying to shake away the image that was haunting his mind. He couldn't bring himself to believe that was her.
"I don't know." He uttered in a cold breath, struggling to remember the woman's blurry face. "I was given this memory of... the demise. The disappearance of..."
Despite standing his ground, people experiencing poverty couldn't help but well up at his sentiment about his uncertain past. Face paled, eyes shut, Asahi collapsed to his knees and trembled.
"...m...my mother."