The Sorrow of Loss

His footsteps resound over the dark hallway—Aletha spots Asahi and jolts in a similar direction. The corridor seems to expand after each footstep Asahi makes, thus making the objective to catch up to him difficult. Sadiki can't reach them because of his dire need for sunlight, so he remains at the hallway entrance, waiting for the wanderers to return.

As he hears the ambiance of his surroundings, Sadiki whispers to himself.

"Sometimes, I don't understand how gods to act. Their appearance is filled with youth, meaning they have been alive for countless millennia. I couldn't believe that both of them had a connection with this place. Perhaps, there were more gods in the past... than I initially thought."

Sadiki shuts his eyes and resists the curse. He tightly clenches his fists and bows his head towards the dirt. His ears perk up, the purple luminance shines on his neck, and then blights a soft shockwave that rids of the barrier that he held for so long. Sadiki shouts into the entrance as he dashes forward.

"I'm going to come with you!"

* * * * * * *

Asahi leaps over tombs and tosses boxes away from his path. Tears flow down his eyes, brutally wiping them and smudging them all over his pale face. His attire glows in luminance, like distant stars shining among a night sky.

He races over fragile, unstable platforms that jerk side to side, then quickly leaps over a hole. His eyes illuminate in white, feeling the excess energy within the ruins, then strafes to the other side at the uncatchable speed of light.

He stares at his hands and shakes the luminance off his eyes. He then miraculously thought to himself while staring into the distant walls of the ancient ruins.

"This power, it feels all too familiar. My words... feel incompressible, as if the divine energy is soaking through my skin. Is this the excess energy from the remnants of Cleira? No,"

Asahi shuts his eyes in disbelief.

"All those gods couldn't all possibly be got slain. But if that is the truth that hid behind me,"

His eyelids part away, and he grits his teeth, and he painfully grips his heart and stares into the ceiling.

"There is a looming threat awaiting to bloom from the soil of this world."

Aletha catches her breath and jolts towards the same path Asahi went. She can see his luminescent footprints, stretching across the square stone platforms leading to another side of the long corridor. The excess energy then leans unto her, flowing through her veins and blood, sprawling all at once in one blow.

Aletha's eyes broaden. She takes one step forward before instantly strafing through the entire corridor, including the hole, at the speed of light. A long stretching streak of white light hovers before swiftly dissipating into dust. She says in her mind.

"Did I just do that?"

Aletha presses her palms against her forehead and squints behind her. She sees Sadiki's expanding shadow approach the other end of the hallway. She then sees a messy trail of crops stretching from the platforms towards the dividing rooms. As Aletha leaps up and jolts towards the room, she hears Sadiki's voice resounding over the walls.

"Aletha, wait for me!"

She takes notice of his yells, then stops before approaching anywhere further into the dividing rooms. Aletha takes the risk of staying behind Asahi, just for a stranger, of which she hardly knows. Sadiki carelessly races across the fragile floors and kicks a few crops away from his path.

Aletha uses her light strafe magic and pulls Sadiki away from the collapsing platforms, then towards the safety of the dividing rooms. Aletha worryingly screams at Sadiki.

"You got to be more careful! You could've gotten yourself hurt, Sadiki."

Sadiki shakes his head and sighs.

"I care less for threats. Even if I were to get caught in the collapsing platforms, I would easily charge myself and teleport towards safety."

Aletha sarcastically smirks and shrugs her shoulders. She thinks Sadiki is a daredevil who has experienced many dangerous activities in the past.

"Yeah, okay."

Aletha and Sadiki silently look at each other, with a tone of attraction surrounding them. Their faces shine a bright red hue, nearing their faces close to each other.

Sadiki's bright purple iris peers deep into the light gray color of Aletha's eyes. She tremblingly whispers while she feels Sadiki's warm breath touching her face.

"S-Sadiki...?"

He then smells Aletha's delightful blooming scent, touching his nostrils. Sadiki tries to shake something off from his mind, with the glow on his amethyst eyes flickering on and off.

The looming presence of shadow hovers over his empty eyes, feeling as if a powerful translucent force controls him. Sadiki whispers to himself as he feels Aletha's round chest pressing against him.

"W...What is happening? I… c-can't control myself. I never wanted to do this…."

He softly whispers to her, trying to fight the force lingering in his mind. Tears flow down his eyes, his white cat ears flop down, and his tail rests on the floor.

"I'm sorry…."

Abruptly, Sadiki charges face forward to Aletha's face, pressing his lips against hers, while Aletha flushes in a bright red blush. Her long white hair covers her red cheek, feeling Sadiki's fingers firmly grip behind her neck.

But just as he was about to... he grits his teeth and tilts his head away from Aletha. Sadiki covers his mouth and dashes towards the center corridor, where the trail of crops leads to.

Tears flowed down his eyes, close to knowing that he was nearly about to kiss Aletha.

He never wanted to do this, but an uncontrollable force made him. And yet despite the force, Sadiki resisted.

Immediately, Sadiki vanishes into the darkness while his faint echoes of "sorry" echo over the walls. Aletha shakes her head with a confused look. She soft rubs her lips, stares into the shadow of Sadiki, then shuts her eyes.

"What happened to you, Sadiki?""

Aletha falls into a state of confusion; unable to process Sadiki's actions.

Even she knew it was too soon for her; But knowing that something was controlling him while doing it, Aletha immediately forgave him and understood his sudden tears.

However, despite the forgiveness, she still wants an answer. She pushes herself up and darts towards the central corridor to chase both Sadiki and Asahi.

* * * * * *

While both the wanderers are running, they see a brief flash fill their eyes after one step. A tall masculine figure with pale skin fills their eyes.

The memory was foggy, however all that the wanderers could see was a long black robe over his body, and nothing else. The memory flashed away before they could grasp it.

Asahi stops halfway down the corridor and shuts his eyes. Sadiki and Aletha catch up to him while waving their hands in the air.

"Asahi!"

He slowly tilts his head and rubs his tears away from his eyes. Asahi forms a small smile, seeing the welcoming presence of his worried sister jolting across the hallway. Sadiki tries to pass him, but Asahi blocks him and pushes him away from the archway. Aletha charges towards Asahi with a surprised look over her eyes.

"Asahi, did you see him too?"

"Yes,"

He rubs his fingers against his black hairpin and stares at Aletha.

"our father...? He was right there, well... I think he was,"

Asahi's voice trembles while he falls to his knees. His voice jitters, with half his sentence, cut off from his stutters.

"H-He... no, I-I refuse to believe it. How can a powerful god like him suddenly... v-vanish without saying goodbye to us? He always... cared for us. I-If an attack like that happened, wouldn't he rush to our room and p-protect us? O-Or a-at least, bring all of us to s-safety...? That's not him."

Aletha stops to grit her teeth. Asahi takes a deep breath and shuts his eyes. Aletha slowly backs away from Asahi, shaking her head in disbelief with tears streaking over her pale face. Her eyes grow empty with each breath she makes, hurting her fragile heart.

"So... he did die..."

She fiercely stomps her foot on the ground and raises her voice, dropping large glistening tears towards the bottom. Her heart beats rapidly, unable to control the amount of fury she has for their father. Sadiki backs away and covers his ears.

"Stupid! Stupid! W-Why were you so silent? Why didn't you say goodbye to your loved ones?! Where is mother?! What happened to her?! Do you know anything? Ugh... you're a failure. We loved you, couldn't you understand that? Why did you leave us?"

Aletha vigorously slams her fists against the walls, shrieking in tears. She chokes on her voice, tears sliding down her chin, falling towards the floor with her hair screening her face.

"You're... s-so stupid..."

The unexplainable emotion of grief, an unbearable force from loss, can't be controlled. Sadiki couldn't handle the cries and jolted off towards the distant hallway. He slowly shuts his eyes, lowers his cat ears, and sighs deeply.

He can't confront the heavy storm of mixed feelings of fury, sadness, and bribery if he also experienced it.

He still felt overwhelming guilt surround him from kissing Aletha. He knew that even with all the power he had, it wouldn't be enough to fight the force corrupting his soul. So, he remained silent, hearing the loud sorrow of loss echo over the corridors.

* * * * * *

Pure silence.

Nothing but the footsteps from all of them are heard. It has been a while since the discovery of their loss. The wanderers didn't care for Akwan, nor Sadiki. All they cared about is their family's status. Suffice to say, if the father was discovered to be slain, what makes them think that their mother wasn't?

After a few moments of silence, they walk to the left side of the ruined corridor. They see half of the ceiling brutally torn off the floor, forming a large hole to their right. Aletha tilts her head and sees structures piercing through the ground, scattering their bricks all over the surface. The overall pattern carved into the walls reminds her of Cleira.

As they slowly silently walk over the crops and traverse through the narrow hallway, a dark blue luminance shines at the end. The wanderers' eyes stiffly broaden. Asahi says soullessly while Sadiki jumps up in fear.

"Oh... what is that..."

Aletha carelessly shrugs her shoulders and squints her empty eyes further through the hallway.

"It's just another blue light."

Sadiki swiftly shouts while waving his hands behind the droning siblings.

"That's no ordinary light! Please stay away from it! It c-could be..."

The wanderers bear no care to Sadiki and continue to walk further through the hallway. Sadiki jitters in frustration and shouts again.

"It could be a threat! We need to turn around, now!"

Asahi and Aletha slowly tilt their heads behind Asahi and squints at him with their menacing empty look in their eyes. Sadiki freezes still, his tail twitches up, and a sweat draws over his face. The wanderers stare at him in total silence.

The wanderers stand as still as a statue, with no sight of hope within their faces. Sadiki gulps swiftly, shakes his head, and responds to them in a high pitch in his voice.

"O-Okay! I guess... w-we can go..."

Sadiki fearfully jolts behind the wanderers while muttering.

"You could at least give me a signal or something. There seems to be no life in you two right now. J-Just like... gods."

He shuts his mouth and continues to walk behind them.

They slowly approach the ends of the hallway and stands in front of the blue glow. The wanderers leisurely tilt their heads towards their left and see a large room with devices and ghastly-shaped monsters lying at the walls of the room.

At the center of the room is a tall glowing ancient device with a tall man covered in shadows, kneeling in front of it. There is a large pile of crops next to the corner, while the rest is scattered on the floor. The wanderers' eyes broaden in realization, recognizing the appearance of the man.

Life surges back towards their minds. A flash of the dark shadow that saved both of them from Lyssa fills their eyes. Asahi and Aletha tremblingly and whisper in astonishment.

"Are you the one... that saved us?"

The man remains noiseless, continuing to kneel at the statue. His very long tied dark hair stretches to his feet, with a faint blue tint touching at the tips of it and a braid rolling over the tops. The man's legs look covered in stars, with hints of dark violet stretching from his ankles to his calves.

They see a massive pile of crops scattered among the corners of the room, all leading straight to the floating blue orb resting at the center.

The wanderers fall silent in an effort not to disturb the man, but just as the wanderers and Sadiki try to walk away silently, Aletha suddenly steps on a crop. It loudly crunches and resounds over the walls. The man swiftly turned his body behind, staring his mixed blue and cyan eyes straight towards all three of them. He questions with his deep, masculine voice.

"Huh...? Who dares trespass among the ancient territory?"