Adtraic Verity: Journey For The Truth
Chapter 15

Darkness was all that she saw.

Aletha could hear a liquid bubbling in the background and a voice that sounded like it came from a man.

“Hope this potion works…”

The warmth surrounding Aletha felt relatively familiar and comforting as opposed to before. It was nothing like the decrepit room she awakened in before. Immediately, both Asahi and Aletha’s eyes swiftly opened to the sight of a comfy room with brewing stands, bookshelves, a fireplace, crates, and so much more.

But this time… it looked cleaned and refurbished compared to the horrible sight they saw before. Aletha commented as dizziness started to pound her continuously.

“What… What just happened? OH!” Struck with immediate realization, Aletha swiftly pulled out The Forbidden Book and pried it open, flipping over the pages anxiously. All she saw was just emptiness.

“No… no. Please! Was that really a dream?! Why am I inside this room?! I thought we were outside already. Everything looks fine now–

Suddenly, her voice was interrupted by her shock, flipping over to the page that she wrote in before.

———

1. Find out what the ingredients mean.

2. :// :/// :/:/

3. :// :/// :/:/

———

She gasped in shock, seeing the steps written on the page distort and get scribbled out.

“Eh? H… How.”

The only step that wasn’t distorted and scrambled was the first one; which was also accompanied by an arrow that pointed to an illustration of what looked like a fountain and the doodle of a bow.

“A bow, and a fountain? H-How can the book illustrate that?! I thought that was a shared dream.”

“I guess… it isn’t.”

For some reason, Aletha’s memories were so photographic that she could remember each and every detail among the distorted places. A dream was supposed to be forgotten, but somehow; it was as clear as day– as if it had actually happened.

Aletha muttered as she saw a dark-haired man hurry over to Asahi with a flask on his hand.

“I c…could have sworn I wrote those steps before. Wait, does that mean that what Asahi said was true?! Was all of that before the dream, actually an illusion?!”

“Here, drink this!” Akwan said as Aletha stared fixedly at his attire. Not a scratch was seen on him. He stood perfectly fine. A teeming sense of deja-vu bloomed inside her heart. She quickly raced over to her brother and asked.

“Brother, are you alright?! Do you know what’s going on?’

Asahi scratched his head, confused and afraid.

“W…What? I could have sworn…”

Akwan shoved the pink medicine down Asahi’s throat and allowed it to ooze down his stomach and get absorbed by his organs. Before the boy knew it, he jumped out of bed and felt more energized, remembering flashing thoughts in him.

However, memories continued to bounce in his mind as he saw the room clean and organized, and Aletha, Akwan, and Clover were not hurt.

(Wasn’t this room just trashed a minute ago? What happened to Akwan? He’s alive! Was all of that a dream? What’s going on?!)

Clover asked.

“Mr. Akwan, can I move Asahi to the fireplace?”

This same exact scenario happened before; he was sure of it.

Pushing the cabinets away, Akwan responded with a light smile.

“Of course.”

“What? I’ll follow too.” Said Aletha with a serious and suspicious tone. “I’m afraid he forgot that dream the other night.”

Akwan raised an eyebrow, answering with a cold and stern voice.

“What dream?”

* * * * * * * *

(Time moved onward in this reoccurring moment.)

“Hey, Master Akwan. One of the visitors has been carrying this book.” Her heart hammered, rubbing the solid cover and feeling a radiant aura shine around it. “I believe this is the one you have spoken to me about for months. I… don’t understand how they received it, but…”

Something was off.

Despite questioning her thoughts, Aletha seemed to have followed what had happened prior to the dream. As if… all of it was recurring.

“Are you that thief we encountered?” She asked boldly.

“Okay, you win this argument. I AM that thief you have all so chased in that world.” He pressed his hand against his chest and bared his teeth. “I have wanted to hide that reveal for so long, but that boy brought it up instantly.”

Both the wanderers gasped, their eyes trembling in pure surprise.

“Huh?”

Aletha and Asahi’s minds flooded with thoughts as they couldn’t feel themselves controlling each other.

(I… could have sworn this happened before.)

“It was night, I swear!”

(What is going on? How is Clover acting like this?!)

Clover chuckled lightly, not because she wanted to embarrass Asahi but to cast light on the situation.

To her, it was just a normal day. And so, even with the constant threat emitting from the book, she pushed away all doubts and led the group outside to take a breath of fresh air.

“Forget all that boy’s nonsense. I don’t want this problem to ruin all of my days. Besides, today is the national starch day! It’s basically where every shop in the city offers low prices of starch-related goods like bread.”

(I… can’t move.)

“How come none of these people have any mistakes on their faces? All of their skin looks super, SUPER smooth and clean like a baby. That’s soooo weird.”

Asahi scratched his head, stood next to Akwan, and examined the bread choices offered on the sleek oak table.

“Don’t mind them. You have your own life to worry about.”

(I can’t smell. I can’t do anything.)

“Ugh, why are the words so difficult to read? I can’t even see the price!”

Akwan chuckled, hearing carriages pass by behind.

“Ha, yeah… I suppose some of what you were familiar with may be completely changed. Remember, it’s been five thousand years since you left. Of course your world ought to change.

Warm sweat slid down Asahi’s face, remembering the sheer scale of that time and feeling the moderate temperature warming the city.

He felt panicked and afraid, almost betrayed, acknowledging his brain’s utter bluff, saying it’s only been ten years.

By the same token, Akwan still has yet to explain what this “time-dilation” means. In opposition to this, Asahi stepped forward and asked, hearing bells ring in the distance.

“So. About earlier. You said something about time dilation? What is that about?”

. . .

. . .

. . .

Carriages started moving, people continued squandering, and Akwan scratched his head. After a slight silence, he picked up one of the starch goods and gave it to Asahi, replying as life continued to flow in motion.

“See, time dilation is…”

It seemed as if the world slowed down for Asahi as he looked over to the roof and noticed something off about this strangely familiar occurrence.

(Wait a second, this would be the moment where that arrow would have struck the market. But… for some reason nothing’s happening. I can feel myself again. I don’t know what happened before, but maybe that book was right. Could it be that the actions within this sort of “dream-state” affect the reality outside of it? Was that the reasoning behind that archer’s disappearance? And if so, would other things we do affect what happened before?)

“Settlers standing in front of the hut, step forward and surrender!”

The siblings’ pupils rounded in surprise, just as what happened earlier.

“Eh?!”

Akwan felt an ominous aura lingering around and pulled them away, warning.

“I sense the power of a thousand men prying close.”

Suddenly, the same loud voice echoed over the empty streets.

“Stop your worries and draw your attention upward! That is in ORDER!”

Probing visual caress, the wanderers backed away, focusing their attention on the flat streets.. As their faces flashed from the blinding sunlight, in front was a tall silhouette holding a glowing purple orb, aiming it straight at the white-haired individuals. The mysterious dark-haired woman said as her hands engulfed into a viscous purple glow.

“You are under arrest for intruding and invading this city without going through the process.”

Aletha blurted in confusion.

“What are you talking about? I thought the city was free for all citizens?”

The distant silhouette crossed her arms.

“Then you have been highly mistaken. Stand still. Do not move another centimeter from your position. That’s in order!”

A loud rumbling echoed over the walls, coupled with the sounds of chains dangling and clashing on a metal surface. After the same yet different occurrence happened once again, Asahi thought for a moment,

(Wait. instead of that boy we saw earlier, his position was replaced by that woman? If that’s the case, that would mean that–

Akwan yelled as a purple luminance struck through the air.

“Asahi, Aletha, run!”

Quickly, Asahi grabbed Aletha’s hand, and fled away, this time with Akwan. As they sprinted through a dark and secluded alleyway, Asahi whispered to his sister.

“Okay, I know you won’t understand, but I think I know what is happening.”

A broad sense of uneasiness rose up inside Aletha, fearfully turning back to check if the knights were chasing them. Instead of four, there were twelve, holding their spears and swords and charging toward them at full speed. She flinched and turned back, replying to Asahi with a rampant and panicked tone.

“Alright, what is it? Hurry up and tell me!”

While they darted across from street to street, averting and avoiding every trace of the knights, Asahi answered with the vision of a familiar brown bow floating in his mind.

“I think whatever we did with that bow may have affected the course and direction of this occurrence. If we can replace where we put it, I’m sure that we will replace him there.”

Aletha’s eyes widened in realization.

“Why do we have to replace him? Wasn’t he our enemy before?!”

“Yes, but for some reason… I feel as if he was…”

Suddenly, just as they could reach the large arch of the gate leading outside of the city, their path was blocked by an archer aiming his bow directly at the siblings.

They slid their feet across the ground and froze in place, knowing that if they were to make any move, they were to be done for.

The boy who stood before them had cold emerald eyes and long dark-braided hair, matching exactly to the one they saw earlier. Aletha flinched and shivered in fear, pleading to the archer as Akwan felt the knights approaching closer.

“Please, don’t kill us! We didn’t know about the rule! We would have followed–

The archer lowered his bow and shook his head, moving his hand to the left as if he was signaling the siblings to move. He said to them as the arrow on the string slowly got pulled back.

“Move, get out of my way.”

Aletha’s eyes shrunk in shock. “H-Huh?!”

“Just listen to him!”

Asahi immediately took advantage of the situation and pushed Aletha away, not even questioning, sliding over to the side.

“Thank you.” Said the emerald-eyed archer as a green luminance shone around the tip of the arrow. “This one is going to hurt those ‘knights.’ I know what is going on, this isn’t reality.”

Although the wanderers had no clue on what he meant, they remained silent, and watched as the archer prepared his bow.

His green eyes darted on the group of armored-knights like daggers, focusing his shot.

“I apologize, Drimi and majesty Narcissa. But this must be done, for I know something is wrong with this place.”

Exquisitely stung by the magical luminance flickering on the bow, the archer’s fingers clutched tightly on the string, and slowly pulled the arrow backward. A supernatural energy encircled around, entering and gathering around the bow, forming a powerful green aura.

Then, in a vicious storm, he released the light-consumed arrow.

A trail of light stained the arrow’s path.

It traveled from the wall, all the way across eight blocks of buildings before finally…

(BOOM)

Bodies of the armored-guards flew in the air, blades toppled and shattered on the ground, and waves of green electric sparks filled the air. The dark-haired woman, Drimi, gasped and turned to Belial, questioning his behavior.

“Belial, what are you doing?! You’re supposed to capture those criminals, not destroy our own!”

The dark-haired archer shook his head and his eyes darted over to the glowing golden book attached to Asahi. While he dropped his bow and escorted the siblings away from the city, the emerald-eyed boy shouted back at Drimi from a distance.

“I’m sorry Drimi, but this is for our future. I don’t want to be eternally trapped in this prison of which we call “home!” He looked over to Asahi and Aletha and hollered with a serious tone in his voice. “Strangers, follow me! I know of a safe spot away from this city. Do you still have that book? The Forbidden Book?”

As they darted upward the grass hills, Aletha nodded her head and answered while sweat slid down her face.

“Yes.”

An relieved smile came from Belial’s sweaty face.

“Good. I will explain everything once we have reached that safe area. Whatever you do, do NOT drop that book!”

As they darted away and saw the knights stop, both the siblings answered.

“Okay!”

(To be continued)