"Your mother?" A person from Asahi's followers recited as he looked over the shattered, torn statue next to him. "What about her?"
"She…" Asahi was at a loss for words. For years, his parents' disappearance had remained a mystery. There were no clues, no hints, nothing given to him until now.
But despite having experienced the calamity himself, he could not recognize that memory in his head.
It was as if the colors, sounds, and emotions were distant echoes, disconnected from reality.
Bits and pieces of the ordeal flickered in and out, but every attempt to grasp them slipped away, leaving him with an unsettling sense of déjà vu without context.
With only a sense of familiarity and no clarity, it felt like trying to recall a dream upon waking, only to have it dissolve before he could truly see it.
"Asahi, what's the matter?" Kendra asked as her eyes caught Asahi's pale, cold face. "You look… empty."
Though he knew what had occurred to him was enough to break his heart, Asahi refused and resisted, instead choosing to lie to them.
"Nothing…" Asahi said, with a honeyed, false smile.
"Are you sure?" A follower, covered in black-painted wooden armor, said.
"Yes…" He replied with a strangulated voice, keeping his one trembling eye closed. "I'm… f… fine."
Finishing his sentence, his heart drained from sorrow. Every warm, pulsating liter of happiness was excreted out from his beating heart after he was given that memory, leaving only an empty, hollow shell of an organ inside him.
He recalled a memory fragment so vivid—a gentle hand on his cheek and the soft, reassuring hum of a lullaby his mother often sang.
It was a sensory detail that tore through his soul, bringing a sharp clarity to the pain of her absence.
There were so many thoughts that stormed and shuffled inside his mind before that memory.
Now, the only thought remaining in his dormant noggin was the disappearance of his mother.
Asahi couldn't even remember how powerful his mother actually was, nor the actions she had taken before the calamity. All he could remember now… was her eyes. Those two sparkling, glossy black pearls. The only thing left.
When he tried to get back up, he was stopped by a voice —a soft, modulated voice that sounded neither too sharp nor too soft. One that could match a caring angelic voice.
"Asahi!"
Echoes followed that voice. When he tried to speak, he looked around and noticed that Kendra's face was frozen, as were his followers' bodies.
Caught in shock, Asahi's gray eyes narrowly drifted heavenward and saw that not even the dust chipping away from the weathered rock was falling. Everything was still.
So still.
Suddenly, the voice sounded again, even louder.
"Asahi, don't go too far with your little sister now! You too, Aletha!"
. . .
Without any warning, as if carried on a gentle breeze scented with lavender and pine, the surrounding environment was enveloped and replaced by a peaceful, serene sight.
A vast and lush environment where the glittering crimson roses cracked and chipped like the warm flames of a campfire.
Where the cozy warmth of the sun kissed the earth and nature below and around it. Skies alight with its luminance in a magenta hue, while birds fly high at ease, chasing the drifting clouds.
In front of it, atop a lush rock spire, stood a tiny diamond palace shaped of stone and crystal.
It spread upward, then down into stone-and-moss stairs, leading to the peace below.
A group of young children—ten, twelve, and thirteen years old—ran down the staircase in wonder, gazing at the laughing trees.
An avalanche of awe washed over them as the children caught sight of a glittering horizon bathed in the gentle whispers of a soft, quiet breeze.
Wildlife all around happily pranced back and forth.
Rabbits hopped around with lively smiles, cattle dashed down grinning hills in organized groups, and beautiful, friendly ground dragons were seen helping humans to cross gaps etched in the landscape.
A gaze worth dying for.
As the two young ones jumped with joy, the eldest turned to a blurry figure behind him and answered with a warm grin on his face.
"Okay, mom!"
Although her face couldn't be seen, it could be detected from the tone of her response that she was smiling widely.
"Stay safe, sweeties!"
. . .
The scene was no more than a blur in Asahi's mind, just a mere memory that could never be recovered. Not the sight itself, but the figure that the thirteen-year-old boy answered to. Although some memories couldn't be recalled, one large puzzle piece fit the memory perfectly.
. . .
"Ooo, big brother, look what I found!" A young voice screamed out as tiny footsteps echoed.
A bright and cheery girl, with a soft, round face, dazzling white hair, and glittering, innocent, bright gray eyes, pointed to a small creature roaming around a pond of flowers. It had a tiny, scaly, pointed tail with a large, white, heart-shaped tip. Its four stubby legs could barely climb the one centimeter-deep pond, but the look of determination shining in its magenta and gray eyes disagreed.
"Asahi, come here!" She said as she approached it with caution.
As the creature's adorable magenta eyes met with the young girl, a young voice responded to her.
"Hold on, sis! I'm coming!"
A few minutes later, the young boy, Asahi, stood beside his sister, holding his right hand out in front of him, his determined smile still plastered across his face. His eyes drifted over to the creature.
Curiosity flared up in his wide eyes as he examined its every feature.
From its broad, tiny wings to its slightly cut jaw, Asahi couldn't help but admire this creature's diamond-pattern that had stretched on its body. As a fluttering, colorful butterfly flew over him, Asahi mumbled.
"Hey, is this...?"
His sister, Aletha, smiled at her brother, saying, "Yeah, it's a baby dragon!" She said with her rosy cheeks gleaming in the sun. "Aww, look at that little smile! It looks sooo cute! I like the color."
"But it doesn't have any color?" Asahi said with a raised eyebrow. "White isn't a color."
Aletha, as young and stubborn as she was, shrugged her shoulders and answered.
"Pfft, whatever."
Then, from behind, a young silver-haired girl with large magenta eyes approached the siblings, giggling excitedly. She reached forward and patted the cute creature, who squirmed in delight, causing a sparkle of light to shine through the air between them. Both the siblings turned over to her in shock, Aletha's face almost fuming in frustration.
"Hey, I wanted to pet it!" She screamed at the girl with a pouty face as she reached over to her tiny hand. "Give it to me! I was the one who found it first!"
"Noo…" The silver-haired girl said, turning her head away from Aletha. "I was!"
"Finders keepers!" Aletha said with a steaming red face. "Aiyana, I was the one who found it first. Don't make me slap you!"
The young, stubborn, silver-haired girl, Aiyana, immediately jumped up with the tiny dragon in her hand and reeled back from Aletha. Then, as she watched, Aletha approached her with desperation. The girl hissed at Aletha as if she were a snake, cradling and hiding the dragon underneath her arms.
"Nah nah nah-nah nah! You're too slow!"
Aletha, now in tears, tried to reach for the dragon, but the silver-haired girl wouldn't budge. As her fingers managed to skim the touch of Aiyana's hand, she hastily reeled back and screamed.
"I'm the youngest! If you touch me, I'm telling mommy!"
"But I found it first!" Aletha screamed as she threw her shoe at her. "That means it's mine! Give it to meeee!"
"No way! I'm the one who found it! And I got here before you did!"
"Liar! You were only there for a second! I was there longer than you!"
"NO, I WAS!"
The intensity of Aiyana's words began to overlap with young Aletha's.
"NO. I WAS!!"
At that moment, Asahi watched as his stubborn sisters exchanged arguments left and right, fighting over who would get the dragon first.
Although he enjoyed seeing his little sisters argue over it, the fight almost got to the point where someone would get hurt.
With an unavoidable implication of confidence, Asahi budged in between the two and snatched the baby dragon away from Aiyana, hollering with a stern voice.
"If you two can't get along, then no one gets the baby dragon!"
Both of the girls looked at their brother in confusion.
"What? But...but..."
"You don't want to lose your chance to play with the baby dragon, do you?"
"But, but, but..."
"If you both can't settle an agreement, then neither of you will be able to touch the dragon!"
After a wind picked up from the grass fields, Asahi snatched the scared baby white dragon away from Aiyana's hands and cradled the creature as if it were a newborn.
His soft and gentle rubs that he gave to the dragon's head had comforted it. It purred with each touch, like a cat.
A smile cracked up on his face as he saw its tail wag back and forth. Halting his feet on the ground, Asahi leaned over to the dragon and whispered.
"There… there, you're safe now."
Aletha sneered at Asahi with envy. The thought of her older brother being better at petting and comforting the dragon was unfathomable for her.
"Ugh, that's not fair!" She screamed as her face turned red. "Why can you touch it and NOT me?!"
"Because this dragon doesn't belong to you!" Asahi replied with a slightly gravelly voice. "It belongs to the world, not you, nor Aiyana.
"But… but…"
Aletha's small hands trembled after she heard that. Next thing they know, Aletha showered Asahi in a storm of complaints and excuses.
Aiyana couldn't bear hearing Aletha pout anymore.
Although she was young, the girl was quite intelligent for her age.
She walked away and approached Aletha, asking…
"It's okay, big sister! At least now we--
"Grrr!"
Even if Aiyana had acknowledged Aletha's complaints, Asahi, however, ignored her grumblings, looking up at the blazing blue sky, continuing to stroke the tiny dragon's head.
"Hmmm..."
He gazed up at the sky, watching sunlight shine down on several floating castles hidden among the clouds. After a few seconds had passed, he slowly released his grasp of the baby dragon and stood up straight, looking at both of his sisters and the dragon.
"Okay, if you two want, I'll bring this creature home and see if mother and father will allow it."
Both sisters rejoiced in relief and excitement.
Staring into the glittering eyes of the dragon, a scream interrupted the moment. It wasn't a scream from an individual, but from a creature. A terrifying, reverberating roar that resounded over the entire world.
The peaceful fields were replaced in a hurry by a chaotic scene. A massive creature, its body adorned with shimmering white scales and enormous, bat-like wings, loomed over the landscape.
Its eyes glowed with a fierce, unnatural light, casting a menacing glare that penetrated the very earth.
The creature unleashed a terrifying roar as it channeled a blinding white beam of energy towards what appeared to be the top of a colossal, translucent sphere.
This sphere, resembling a floating fortress, was etched with intricate designs that pulsed with a faint blue light, creating an awe-inspiring yet terrifying sight. The creature's action threatened to shatter the fragile tranquility of the world.
After the laser pierced through the thing, another blurry vision overlapped that memory. Revealing a woman wearing a dark cloak, whispering to the white giant-pointed ears of a massive dragon.
("Fulfill the duties of our family, and heal this world. For this shall be your task, not ours any longer.)
("Understood, my lady. Thank you for granting me a great life.")
As the blurry body of the glorious white dragon stood up and swiftly soared out from the floating white palace into the sparkling sea of stars that comprised the cosmos, all the overlapping memories vanished into a void of cold darkness.
. . .
Upon opening his eyes, there were no clouds, nor were there strong winds.
"Almighty Ruler! Awaken from your slumber! For it has been two suns since your eyes have been opened."
As the voice spoke, Asahi became aware of a dull, sullen glare of white light shining through his tunnel of perception.
Instead of seeing the light streaming down the sides and walls of the vast chasm, it illuminated an entire enclosed space, stretching horizontally beneath a stone ceiling.
"What happened?"
Casting his eyes upward, he beheld a spectacle which froze his inner core. A linear corridor with several windows that allowed light to stream upon each path.
At first, the stillness of the aura of this place concerned him.
But when he looked to his left, he noticed that at least five people were accompanying him during his slumber. One of which, her eyes widening in shock.
"Asahi?" She said with a disbelieving face.
Asahi could not help but feel an utter sense of hopelessness within the cold expanse of the ones who had resided there. He could see it: A prosperous and glimmering hall once coated in shades of sparkling white, now reverted to hallways of charcoal and scattered bricks.
This place, which appeared to be a sanctuary of power and elegance, was now nothing more than a memory etched in decay.
The dilapidated state was a harsh reminder of a past long gone.
This connection between what once was and the reality he faced provided a stark contrast, grounding him in the present turmoil.
But instead of Asahi reconciling his dreamy and incoherent feelings, he decided to numb them away by staring at the girl who had awaited his supposed slumber.
"Huh?"
Others kept their glance at him, their masks peeled off, revealing their undeniably beautiful faces.
All of which had not a single mistake engraved on them. It was almost as if, to Asahi, none of the people around him ever aged.
To his surprise, it seemed as if the blue-haired girl, Kendra, was covered in bruises. In return, he stared at her at times longer than he could count.
(How… How long has it been?) Mused Asahi as he kept his position secured.
The longer that Asahi gazed at Kendra, the more absorbing the trance became, almost leaving her startled and dizzy at the blinding hues of Kendra's shimmering blue hair. He tried to reel back his gaze, but couldn't stop thinking about how in the world she had received bruises.
Before he could redraw his glance at the mystery of the bruises, Asahi diverted his attention to the glare of the white walls and asked with his usual tone.
"Kendra…? Are those… bruises?"
Stupefied with shock, the young woman tottered closer to him, retracting her position to a straight one. She noticed where Asahi's gray eyes had anchored too, and immediately arched her back, sweating profusely.
With a tone of slight embarrassment, Kendra nodded her head and replied.
"Yeah…" She said with a slightly unsure voice. "I got them when I was trying to defend you from those… things."
"Things?" Asahi recited as he stared at the darkened spots on Kendra's arms.
The reply itself was enough to gather the attention of the other four people who had surrounded him. They slowly crawled over to him with wide, astonishing eyes. Despite this relatively strange reaction, Kendra nodded her head and continued.
"Yup…" She said as she felt her heart implode from seeing Asahi's torso exposed. "When you all of a sudden fainted in front of us, me and your… group were ambushed by these…" She gulped down a cold, dry breath of fear, cowering at her recollection. "These…"
The overall memory was enough to put Kendra in a state of panic. It seemed to Asahi that this memory had become so distant that even the one who had presumably defended him could no longer recall it. Though the tension of this moment may be tight, Asahi did his best to suppress and ease out the situation by keeping his voice relatively quiet.
"There… there…" Asahi said as he observed the marks on Kendra's knee. "I… have also encountered something. A memory… I would have never expected. So I understand…"
Suddenly, a girl with short, brown hair, adorned with a black hair clip protruding over her head, and crimson eyes, interrupted and stepped in front of Kendra, sitting down on one knee. Giving an elegant and respectful bow, the girl then informed Asahi with a heightened voice as Kendra almost broke down in tears.
"Lord Asahi, it may seem to us that you need an explanation." She said as she lowered her brown shield. "Is it needed of you, my lord?"
Keeping his formal aura at bay, Asahi nodded quietly. After which, the mysterious girl resumed.
"From whence you had collapsed, monsters of strange proportions started invading you and that lady next to you..."