(Two days ago...)
"Behold, Queen of Pladtioa, the ’teor’ that ca the other night."
The chamber glead with understated opulence, every corner whispering tales of affluence. From the grand doors, a procession of knights strode forward, their boots sinking into the plush red carpet.
They presented her the shimring object glistening like a crystal. The smooth brown texture rested on its fabric, shimring dots like stars expanding every inch. Displayed in such an orderly fashion, it captured the gazes of all the people in the gathering.
"A scarf?" Narcissa snickered.
"What is this ancient relic doing here?" Another said, her green hair and blue eyes flashing.
"Doesn’t that belong to the... family?" said Brich, a fairly aged man with brown hair, without a clue what he was talking about.
A silence fell between the green-haired maiden and the fairly aged man. The guards entered, knelt before Narcissa, and presented the scarf. Narcissa studied the scarf before asking, "How did you manage to retrieve it?" She glanced at the two, expecting an answer.
"We know, your majesty. A group of thieves brought it to a market in the slums after shattering ground at Grasslands of Purity. One of the guards took notice. Complying with them, they decided to give it to you."
"Grasslands of Purity? ? The Queen of the Nation of Disgust?" Narcissa questioned as she inspected and fondled the scarf in her hands. She looked to the guards. "Why would you give it to ? At this very mont?"
"We think there is far more importance than ets the eye, your majesty." They replied.
Of course, after being around five thousand years, they had no clue who the Adtraic were.
There was the library, a tempting haven for wanderers, yet it proved a cunning trap. Its shelves brimd with knowledge, but beneath the surface, everything was re illusion.
As uncertain whispers rippled around the table, a boy with erald hair and eyes like molten gold cleared his throat, his gaze hinting at a bold suggestion.
"Should we bring the scarf to Vehemat?"
"No!" Narcissa said, wrapping the scarf around herself in front of a mirror. She admired how the brown and shimry fabric suited her. Turning to the guards, she declared, "I comnd you and you shall be promoted, unlike those dimwits that didn’t appear or help at all."
"Dimwits?" One retraced her words. "Your majesty... who are you referring to?"
Narcissa, unprepared with a reply, began to speak aloud.
"Drimi, Belial, Sally, and Akwan..." she said bluntly. "Those dimwits deserve nothing because they haven’t complied and given a relic unlike these big brutes."
"No flattery, please. We were just doing our job."
The four knights huddled in the shadows by a window, their eyes fixed on Narcissa. As she turned her back, they traded knowing glances and slipped away, their lips curled in silent contempt.
"I should have figured. She doesn’t think before she speaks," Drimi said, jumping to another elevated building. "Co with us. I should have known the aning behind her na. She just betrayed all of us in front of the rich world of chaos of today."
"Understood, Ms. Drimi," Belial said, taking off with Sally into the streets.
Before they departed, Sally interrupted with her cold, glacial tongue.
"But, Drimi. Isn’t it a little weird that Narcissa did that to us?"
"I won’t ever show rcy to a traitor," Drimi said, her eyes narrowed in anger. She gestured to Sally to follow. "Now co, Sally. Let’s pretend we are with her. Then, when she’s unaware, we’ll sneak up on her and sabotage her plans."
As everyone departed the glass palace sharing mumblings from all around, Drimi, alone, stood at the top, staring at the scarf dangled on Narcissa.
Drimi waited until Narcissa was distracted, then, like a cat pouncing on a mouse, she darted forward and snatched the scarf. Clutching it tightly, she leaped from building to building, weaving through the city before vanishing into the trees.
Narcissa tensed as she felt fabric slip across her neck.
"Where did the scarf go?! I just had it." She clenched her fists in rage then demanded the guards. "Grrr, Find out who stole my scarf! NOW! I said. Now! Now! Now!"
"Yes, your majesty." The knights replied as Drimi snickers in success.
Ti slipped forward, drawing a curtain over the whirlwind of their recent clash.
(An hour ago)
As the guards looked for Drimi and the others, Belial, who had his furry werewolf-like hands occupied by the grip of the wanderers, had raced and dodged a magenta strike coming straight from the hands of the Queen.
He then lobbed the wanderers into the air, casting them like ragdolls. Akwan gasped but then saw a blue sli creature bounce the two like a trampoline.
Then, it spat the two out like casting a rock into the water.
Akwan, who had little energy, fell to the ground and was surrounded by guards. But Sally swiftly stopped them by using another bottle of enchanted frozen soil. With her deep voice, she muttered as a glacial wall ford in the midst of the greenery.
"Take them now! And be careful," she said. "You are very lucky they found a sli underneath. If not, they’d have been gone. Treat them as if they were your baby."
As Drimi stepped in, folding a brown scarf into her palms and sliding it into her pocket, Belial transford back to his normal form and clutched the two with all the strength he and Akwan had.
Just before he could complint the scarf, Drimi disappeared, lobbing a canister of enchanted purple soil into the air.
"This might not be an efficient way to use magic," she said. "But I’m not here to waste mana. Right, Sally?"
As her platinum hair flew back, punching Narcissa straight in the stomach, she returned to the forest and helped Akwan and Belial out, replying to Drimi.
"You bet!"
Monts later, the tale drifted onward, carrying its cast toward the present scene.
(Present ti)
The dust finally settled, and a flood of mories, both strange and familiar, stirred within them.
These recollections did not belong to the two, nor were they ever ant to be shared.
But for so reason, just like taking a coin from a clear stream, these unoccupied mories were collected by Asahi and Aletha.
Perhaps it was because of the defeat from The Ruler of The Forgotten that led them into this ss?
Perhaps he was a sore loser and decided to spread his influence across everyone, including Asahi and Aletha?
Nevertheless, his plan worked.
After minutes of pondering, they had to co to the conclusion that reality’s version of Drimi and Belial was not parallel to The Forbidden Book’s Drimi and Belial.
They had to co to realize that, no matter what they saw, they could not encounter and bond with them the sa way they did in the looping world. If only there were so way to counter The Ruler of the Forgotten.
Now, given a mory they couldn’t quite recall, the brief paralysis left its toll on them.
After pondering all these thoughts, Asahi and Aletha woke up at the sa ti, to a fairly spacious area deep into the woods.
Yet, an uncanny strangeness clung to these woods.
The oaks were dark and brawny, forming into the shape of walls and thick shrubbery.
All these questions spiraled into one: Where, exactly, had they been whisked away to?
. . .
(Ten minutes ago.)
After the mont that seed like re minutes to Aletha and Asahi, Belial and Akwan escorted them from The Fountain around the city, toward a forest with Sally and Drimi following along.
Now, ti returned to the present as the group continued onward.
(Now)
The gentle hush of evening crept in, its soothing sounds brushing softly against their ears.
Crickets chirped in chorus, a rabbit’s silken hops rustled the undergrowth, and the dark oaks humd with the music of creaking branches and chipping bark.
Asahi’s eyes slowly parted, revealing a campfire and tall fences. Buckets, barrels, and carriages rested within a tree-shrouded area.
"What happened?" He asked. "Where am I?"
Aletha took a few deep breaths before awakening as well. It seed to them that this was an outpost, resting far from where they once were. Suddenly, the sound of a masculine voice resounded over their ears.
"They’re up," he said, sharpening his blade.
"Oh, it’s about ti," Drimi said as she finished fixing her long, dark hair. She pushed the scarf aside, still holding it in her hands as the two awoke. Akwan stepped forward to speak.
"We have safely escorted you to the forests of Nortmire, West of Pladtioa," he said, snapping his fingers. "We won’t engage with the city anymore, nor shall we go to Grasslands of Purity, The Fountain, and... of course, The Queen’s palace."
Given all this information, beaming with great intent, Asahi scratched his head and looked over.
"So... how can we get the scarf now?" Asahi asked as he looked back and forth at Aletha and Drimi. "If we can’t go to the city, and if we can’t go to Grasslands of Purity..."
Suddenly, a mory flashed and flickered. The recollection of Narcissa, Drimi, Belial, and the Glass Palace. All the important figures, all the various faces, it seed as if the whole world watched that eting.
Then, finally, it led to the present, where, although it could barely be recollected, Drimi, holding onto the scarf, gradually grew visible.
Now, gathered by the campfire’s glow, Asahi sprang toward Drimi, who, to his astonishnt, wore the brown scarf draped across her shoulders. Asahi’s gray eyes widened in disbelief, and Aletha’s gaze followed, equally transfixed.
"The Scarf!"
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