Memories began to slip away as if they were being erased from existence. All memories of it, including the bright ones, were wiped off the face of Aletha's consciousness.
The once-sharp details were now hazy and indistinct, like a painting left in the rain. Faces that had once been familiar were now only half-remembered, and a thick fog now obscured places that had once been so clear.
The emotions accompanying the memory also faded, like a candle slowly burning down. The intense joy, sadness, or excitement she once felt had become muted, replaced by a vague sense of familiarity and nostalgia.
(I can't… I can't remember…) Aletha mumbled as reality returned to her.
:///:///:
The details that had once been so clear and vivid slowly grew blurry, and the emotions that accompanied them dissipated like a mist clearing from a valley.
As the night wore on, the monsters showed no signs of abating.
The darkness seemed to grow deeper, their growls more ferocious, and the screams more unrelenting.
Aletha's heart began to race again as she saw the fast, dissolving, goopy four-legged monsters approaching her.
(No. I can't simply lose like this.) Aletha said, clenching her determination. (There is more to this journey than meets the eye.)
Though that flood of memories may have surprised her, Aletha knew she had to act quickly to avoid being caught by these slimy creatures.
Without wasting a second, she ran toward the hill, hoping to use it as a shield against the monsters. However, as she reached the edge, she realized it was almost too high to jump. In desperation, Aletha decided to do something she had never done before - she decided to leap down the hill.
She quickly tucked her body into a ball, holding her backpack tightly, and let gravity take over. She hurtled down the slope and felt her hair and clothes flapping wildly in the wind.
The goopy monsters' slimy skin slid and sloshed across the grass.
As Aletha rolled down the hill, she heard monsters catching up behind her. But before they could reach their tendrils at her, Aletha rolled down into a nearby stream. The warm water splashed around her as she emerged, and she gasped for breath. She looked up and saw that the goopy monsters hadn't followed her down the steep slope and instead, they had slid down the hill in a jumbled mass.
Aletha then sighed in relief, feeling grateful that her gamble had paid off.
"It… worked."
Though relief may grasp onto her, Alai, on the other hand, backed away as she witnessed Aletha and the cluster of monsters tumble down the steep hill and collapse into the river. She was in complete disbelief, her heart racing in response. But soon enough, Alai settled herself down, and she sedately took deep breaths and swept her hand across her forehead, pushing the sweat of panic off her face. She mumbled with heavy breaths.
"Thank goodness she's alive."
After she stretched and pushed herself up, Alai sprinted as fast as she could down the hill, sloping down to a crystal clear stream. Her face contorted with worry and panic as she noticed Aletha's body sliding down the water. She dashed over and asked her in a trembling voice.
"Aletha, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Aletha replied, breathing heavily and wiping the water off her back. As she grabbed Alai's hand, she lifted herself and scratched her head, reciting what she had experienced on the war ground in her mind. "I just remembered some… strange things, that's all."
"Strange? What do you mean?"
Alai replied to Aletha with a question, her voice still filled with concern. A silence filled the space between them.
Seconds passed as Alai's crimson eyes watched Aletha breathe heavily and hunch down.
It was apparent to her that Aletha was panicking. However, she was unaware that it was the thought of Aletha's indescribable recollections that caused her to act in this manner.
Then, as they walked away from the stream, alert for any approaching creatures, Aletha explained her conflicting thoughts to Alai.
"My mind was flooded with memories. There were blurry memories of my younger self and my family. Happy memories and bad traumas. It was… overwhelming." As she reached into her mind, desperately trying to remember, Aletha paused. It was silent for her... too quiet.
Before she could finish her sentence, she noticed a group of silhouettes creeping up behind Alai. She replaced her following words with a terrified scream, her eyes bulging in terror.
"Alai, behind you!"
Alai raised her eyebrow in confusion and turned her head around to find what made Aletha so terrified. That's when her heart leaped up to her mouth in terror.
"Huh?!"
As they witnessed the creatures charging at both of them like bulls, Aletha hurriedly grabbed Alai's arm and pulled her away. Then, they sprinted as fast as they could, hearing the storm of footsteps catch up to them.
"JUST RUN!" Aletha screamed.
. . .
Minutes elapsed.
Ubel was nowhere to be seen, and the threatening night of Linuxinia gradually became colder and darker.
Aletha and Alai had been running across the plains of Alpine Glitterfly Range without a rest break in sight. Their legs numbed, their lungs combusted with tiny breaths, and terror peaked as they desperately tried to keep away from the monsters. Running across the field of flowers, Aletha screamed as she dodged the goopy tendrils shooting out to her.
"They're too fast!"
Though Aletha clearly witnessed Alai's terror, she suppressed her panic and answered with a humble tone.
"Don't worry," Alai whispered, holding her hair and head high. "Just keep running!"
As they ambled back and forth through a stone-and-tree passage, Alai kept her gaze on Aletha and whispered to her, smiling, as they ran.
"You were smart for choosing to run." She said as her pink and lavender skirt waved in the wind. "I would have just babbled on and on about your memory situation if it wasn't for your warning. And though... I may be breathing heavily. I appreciate it a lot."
Subsequently, Aletha answered Alai with a bright, grateful smile.
"You're welcome."
. . .
Transpiring after that heart-warming moment, the emotions suddenly faded as the two heard the monsters speak with coherent dialogue.
"The Second Incarnation emerges!" A croaking and gurgling voice screamed at them from the shadows.
Instantly, Aletha and Alai's smiles faded.
They quickly cocked their heads to the side, desperately scanning the area for the voice's origin.
"Who goes there?" Alai shouted, her face burning red, as she put her feet down and cut off her view to the source of the voice.
Emerging from the darkness stood a sizable humanoid monster, its body covered in a goopy substance resembling a dark cloak. Its feet scraped and stabbed the soil, tainting it with a disgusting, discolored essence.
It bent its head and shot its piercing gaze at Aletha. The monster pathetically hoisted its sharp, slender arms up at an angle, answering the girls as it screamed in pain with every word it spoke.
The Decaying stood there, its voice trembling with a mix of anger and longing. "We… are The Decaying. Erosion has… t…taken us. We may not live much longer," it said as it slowly reached its four corrupted hands to its back, revealing the mottled, cracked flesh beneath the goop. "Our goddess… the one we looked up to… a-abandoned… us. Her world. Her kingdom. She had left us like this. Once, her light was our beacon, her presence our solace. Now, every day is a struggle, a reminder of what we once had and lost. She… is nothing more than a 'beautiful'... monster." The lingering pain in its voice was unmistakable, as if each word transported it deeper into its sorrow.
Aletha and Alai remained silent, their eyes wide with shock and horror, disregarding the golden and magenta luminance forming around them.
"A monster… a monster that has lost its way… much as all members of The Adtraic Family."
The monster said with a sorrowful tone.
"You… white-haired creature, have dared to walk the fabric… of your universe… with ignorance… and doubt. All five of you have roamed the stars… with no memory… no consideration of your disposable, unrelenting past. And yet… y-you dare to return here."
The monster's words echoed in their minds, leaving Aletha feeling uneasy guilt and shame.
"She abandoned us. Asahi… abandoned us. Your own people. You two left us here to ROT dead under the concealing soil."
A four-legged monster added as it slammed its head against the ground.
"Traitor! All of you… traitors! You left us to die. You left us in this state! I can't remember the last time I had seen my hands… my skin… my face. It has been so long… I had almost forgotten the existence of The Adtraic."
As the monsters continued to threaten and harass Aletha, for what she could hardly remember, even more creatures of goop and erosion emerged from the soil, their razor-sharp claws extending as their eyes glowed brighter.
The thick, sticky substance dropped off their scaly, formless skin as they scrambled and scraped their way out of the mess, leaving a trail of insult to Aletha.
"Monsters! You are the true monsters! Destructive, untamable beasts of nature!" A small creature yelled furiously as it melted back into the ground.
"How… h-how could you forget us? How could you forget our kingdoms? How could you forget your allies… your followers…?" Another added sobbingly, with goopy tears flying down their face.
As the cloaked monster slowly lifted the floating gooey orb into the air, it knowingly announced with a fragile tone.
"Thousands… of years… lost to time and blackness. I know… I understand now who and what a true monster is." It paused, peeled the goopy substance from its cloak, and revealed pale skin beneath. Aletha's eyes shrank in shock.
"H…Huh?" She said Surprisingly. "Y… You're human?"
"ALETHA, stay back!" Alai warned as she hoisted her arm to her.
When Aletha tried to approach the cloaked being, the goop reformed and sealed the hole, covering the pale human skin beneath the monster's layers.
"Back off, you MONSTER!"
Aletha and Alai froze, still and rooted to the ground in pure shock, watching the destructive process unfold.
"Aletha… a… are they talking about you?" Alai crossly asked Aletha, expressing concern with disbelieving, trembling eyes.
Brief silence answered Alai.
"That can't be…." Aletha whispered as she watched the creature swing its arms into the air. "Y…Yes. But…."
While a wind blew awkwardly among the situation, Aletha tilted her head and gulped down a breath of disdain, thinking bashfully.
(I… didn't know that the people of my old world are… still alive. What… What happened to them? W-Why are they like this?!)
While many stupendous questions flowed deeply and unevenly in her mind, the cloaked monster snapped its fingers and announced with one malicious roar.
"It is deception… that makes a monster; A traitor!" They reviled Aletha as it viciously pointed its claws at the white-haired girl, its hatred for her growing louder. "Evil wraps itself in a skin of beauty to make it appealing to the unwise and ignorant. They manipulate others and expect everyone to follow. Truth be told, unfortunately, that's the case. One would rather follow and gawk at the manipulative prepossessing shell of a demon than try to find and detest the rotten yolk of their soul!"
After its voice reached its maximum, the cloaked individual catapulted a large gooey ball into the air.
"UNFAIR! SO MUCH SO AS THIS WORLD AND ITS LAWS!" The monsters screamed one last time, watching the orb of goo float over their heads. "ATTACK!"
With sharp claws and teeth bared, all the monsters lunged forward, tearing and gnashing at the lethal ball's surface.
The gooey substance quivered and shook under the onslaught, but the monsters were relentless. Their attacks grew more frenzied, and the ball weakened and bulged outward with each strike.
Finally, with a sickening crack, the ball reproachfully burst open, sending a torrent of sticky, viscous goo spilling out in all directions. The monsters let out a chorus of triumphant roars as they were showered with the glistening substance, their bodies coated in a thick layer of the goo.
"Aletha, duck!" Alai screamed in panic as they both saw the rain of toxic mucus fall from the sky.
"On it!" Aletha replied with a tone that was both determined and optimistic.
Heeding that warning, Aletha barreled her body and dropped to the ground with Alai, hearing each mud droplet splattering and exploding in the environment with every impact. They hunched their heads down, defending themselves from the oncoming storm. The toxic black droplets relentlessly shredded anything they encountered, whether animals or plants; everything was affected except for Aletha and Alai.
As the piercing, screaming droplets poured heavily, Alai leaned over to Aletha and carefully whispered.
"Stay put. Do not move a muscle."
Once the shower of goopy droplets had settled down, Alai quickly poked her head out from the bristles of the bush and scanned the area, hoping they had lost them.
The trees halted their dancing, and nature came to a standstill; the rustling of leaves echoed through the surrounding bark. She suppressed a breath, noticing two crawling figures emerge from a cluster of bushes.
Alai gasped, reeled her head back swiftly to the bush, and clutched Aletha's shoulders, keeping her eyes focused on her gray iris.
"Aletha…" She said, her voice shaky and panicked. "I… I need you to be as still as possible. Don't move anything. The Decaying is near us."
As cool air brushed their faces, the creatures aggressively pounced on them, planting their tendrils in the ground and squeezing the girls tightly.
"ACK!"
Aletha squirmed her legs and tried to yank the tendrils off like strings. But to her surprise, the firm grip from the monsters grew even tighter.
Alai urgently reached for a branch and clutched it, breaching out of the creature's grasp and slicing its tendrils off like a stick of butter.
With the tendrils retreating from Alai's self-defense, the monsters reacted with petrifying and shrieking screams, echoing and damaging Aletha and Alai's ears. Shrill and deafening shrieks trembled and dug into their ears before suddenly…
"HA!"
Aletha threw her leg out to the monster's head with all her might, causing it to detach from its body and roll into the ground. For a moment, surprise shocked her.
But then, she quickly back-flipped and immediately dodged a drilling strike straight from behind before she socked a heavy punch at the monster; its red eyes shrank into pebbles.
Following Aletha's attack, Alai approached with two flexible punches and kicks. She then threw a sharp-pointed branch at the monsters, forcing them to explode in goop and voices.
"What's happening to me?" Aletha mumbled as she felt dizziness and excitement rise in her. "I feel… strong!"
With that in mind, Aletha's eyes opened up with wonder as she watched herself thrust her fists into the monster's chest. She suffocated it, pressing her body against the goopy creature, effectively squashing and crushing it. A large white veil abruptly covered her eyes as she continued to strike the beasts one by one.
"Ah! I can't see anything!" Aletha screamed, confused and ecstatic about this new rush of euphoria.
While Alai followed Aletha's kicking and punching, after each beat-down Aletha gave the monsters, the red-haired girl finished the monsters' lives off by stabbing them with branches from fallen trees.
"Keep it up, Aletha! Though your hair is in the way, you're doing well!" Alai said as she felt goop splatter all over her face. "Just a few more!"
Upon her yells, Aletha's unsure smile transformed into a confident one. She garnered all her strength and euphoria into one motion before exploding into a barrage of physical attacks and close dodges. Punches flew about, jaws fractured, goopy bodies torn and strewed, mangled, and contorted.
Suddenly, a silver-haired man approached the creatures from afar, wielding an enormous claymore. Its blade extended into the air, its deeply engraved silver lines glimmering and capturing the monsters' attention as a silvery magical essence circled it.
Aletha dug her feet into the ground and gritted her teeth as her white hair covered her face like a curtain. Though she couldn't see anything, Aletha recognized who the upcoming voice belonged to.
"Who goes there?!" The deep voice blurted dominantly from a distance, hoisting a giant silver claymore into the air with one arm. "Leave or face death!"
The painful, high-pitched noises of slashes and screeches immediately followed. Aletha tried desperately to pull her hair out from her eye. Still, the bristles were so soft and long that Ubel had already slaughtered all of the Decaying Monsters when she retrieved her sight.
. . .
With the smoke of the situation settled, one thing was left attached to Aletha's mind as she took a deep breath and relaxed after her first encounter with the Decaying monsters and the sudden flood of memories.
Despite the chaos and confusion surrounding her, Aletha found herself standing at a crossroads of choice. She clenched her fists, feeling the pulse of her heartbeat steadying as resolve took root. She whispered to herself, knowing that one path stood clear in the haze of uncertainty.
"I will uncover the truth," she vowed, her voice imbued with determination.
Aletha knew she must confront the remnants of her past and the secrets of her family, yet protecting Alai would remain her immediate priority. With newfound clarity, she prepared to face whatever truths and challenges lay ahead.