Different History

"Okay, I'm going to go to the picture book shelves. Just ask me if you need anything," She said with a wink.

Asahi gave a thumbs up, replying to Aletha with a forgiving, and controlled tone.

"Alright, you do you."

After he saw Aletha gleefully prancing around the library, Asahi walked over to the Librarian, who was stamping books behind the counter.

Her eyes were crystal pink, almost jewel-like, fringed with long lashes. She had an hourglass shape, wearing a beautiful hat, a long plaid dress, and a thick brown top.

The woman's round glasses glistened directly to the wanderers, giving them an annoyed look.

As she stamped the last book and placed it on the pile on a table, she pushed her short magenta ponytail upward and asked with her soothing voice.

"Can I help you?"

Asahi had no time to goof around; the first thing that dawned on him was to find history books so that he could unravel what had happened when he and his sister had left.

He stepped forward, placed his hands on the counter, and asked the Librarian while Aletha was wandering around the library.

"Do you have any history books on these shelves?"

A half-witted smile formed on the woman's face.

"Of course," she replied. "Just go to the back shelves near the back door, and you'll see many of them. Ranging from beginner Lexile to high."

Asahi nodded his head.

"Thank you."

Then he walked calmly against the polished wooden surface. As Asahi was about to depart from the counter, The Librarian waved and asked him in a calm voice.

"Hey, can you be so kind as to see if a book has fallen off the shelves?" She asked with a genuine tone in her voice. "It's a sparkling book containing ancient information within it. If you find it, it's yours to keep."

Asahi's eyes widened.

"Really?"

The Librarian nodded silently.

"Indeed."

Asahi smiled, stopped himself from screaming, and dashed across the aisles of bookshelves, confident that he would find the book.

Ecstatic in this lengthy search, he scanned from shelf to shelf, seeing multiple titles and hardcovers everywhere. However, none of them matched the description of the book the Librarian described.

(Too many books.)

Instead, Asahi surrendered his focus to the random books he would pull out from the shelves, each harboring a vast expanse of history. Every bookcase was so tightly packed with books that Asahi struggled to pull one out.

"Hmm, the tale of the great cyclone?"

Embedded with a gray color, Asahi pulled out a book and turned the pages. Information blasted into him, seeing text that matched his language. His gray eyes followed the flow of the text.

[ In the year 4200, the great sages of the new world sealed a destructive force that could tear and ruin every soul that it's matched with. A spiraling vortex controlled by a compelling force, originating from the corrupting essence of The Orb of Destruction.]

Asahi gasped and felt a chill creep up his back. He immediately put the book back and sprinted further into the shelves, pulling out another one with a blue tint rather than the dull gray. He flipped to a random page and barely noticed the title, seeing illustrations accompany the lengthy paragraphs.

[From the writings of Alaunus, In the beginning, eight titanic sovereigns arose from dust and brought life into the ashes of the old. Once the chaos settled... The Prism came into being and secured this planet from the Lost Colony.]

Asahi gasped, raising his eyebrows and commenting in his mind.

"So, is this the beginning of the world? After... the destruction of our incarnation?"

In response to his shock, Asahi raced to a table, pushed a chair, and flipped to a random page in the blue book. What stood out from the rest of the text was this one sentence plastered in bold.

[DESTRUCTION FEEDS THE WORLD. WHEN GROUND EARTH SHATTERS, LIFE SPROUTS FROM IT NO MATTER THE CONDITION. THIS WORLD IS ETERNAL WITH THE FORCES OF THE ORB, AND THE PRISM MELDED.]

Asahi slammed the book and shook his head, whispering to himself.

"H... How is that possible?" He said. "Does that mean that our world can heal itself?"

Before he could read more about this relatively ancient book, he heard a softly spoken voice whisper to her.

"What'cha reading?"

Asahi backed up, sighing in relief, noticing that it was just Aletha. She hung her head down and squinted at the book Asahi held. Aletha asked while sparkles illuminated her back.

"Ooo, this looks interesting. What's it about?"

Asahi raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, so now you're interested? Well, it seems like this book contains the ancient history of our world just after we had left. It's… interesting. It explains a lot."

Aletha gasped, trying to snatch the book off Asahi's hands.

"Ooo, sounds interesting."

Asahi, looking irritated, asked her as she skimmed read the book.

"Hey, what are you doing?!"

She squinted and flipped the page, seeing nothing but blank paper. Aletha rudely tossed the book back on the table and crossed her arms.

"WHAT?! There's nothing here! Are you delusional--

"Shhh…" The Librarian warned.

Aletha gulped and nodded, taking a deep breath and pulling out a chair. In a quieter voice, she informed Asahi.

"Anyways, look what I found."

She pushed the chair to the other side of the dark hardwood table, pulled out a hardcover book from her back, and slammed it on the wooden surface. The chandelier's light casts on it like a spotlight, revealing magical sparkles floating on the cover. Asahi's eyes broadened in shock. He couldn't believe that Aletha had found it.

He leaned on the table and observed the sparkling book, muttering while Aletha hunched over.

"W… Where did you find this? What is it about?"

Aletha held up her hands and used the table as her footstool, yawning and responding while her white hair dangled over the floor.

"I found it in the picture book section near the window. It was lying on the floor and had all these drawings of us on every page, see?"

In a glimpse, Aletha opened the cover and lifted the page, revealing an absolutely fantastic pencil sketch of Asahi and Aletha's exact appearance, standing in front of a gate. He gasped.

"Wow, that really looks like us. I... Is that the city's entrance?"

Aletha nodded her head.

"Mhmm..." She turned to another page, revealing yet another beautiful sketch of Asahi and Aletha flying over what looked like a massive tornado in a mountain range. It looked half-finished but was still visible.

Utterly shocked, Asahi turned over to another page and saw a sketch of him and his sister battling what looked like a massive kitsune beast in a forest. He scratched his head and sighed, not remembering any of this.

"I... don't remember experiencing this," He said. "Something feels off."

Aletha added while she stared into the ceiling.

"Yeah... it's strange."

Although there were many pages of valuable illustrations, one in particular captured Asahi's attention.

It was page eight, of what looked like a sketch of Asahi, Aletha, and... surprisingly, Aiyana, running away from a landscape shrouded in flames and collapsing buildings. Struck in shock on seeing these illustrations, he decided to analyze the markings.

The anatomy, along with the shading, was absolutely excellent, not having a mistake seen in sight.

A trace of bitterness crept into Asahi's face, almost frightened of how accurately the drawing matched his envisioned memory.

"How... is it so detailed?" Asahi remarked as he slowly closed the book. "It… it's foretelling everything."

Feeling his heart race from the accuracy of the sketches, Asahi turned page to page and gazed at all the illustrations. From one page to the next, all were filled with lines and scenes that haven't taken place yet.

As Asahi turned to Aletha, dropping the book, his pupils enlarged, seeing his sister's head planted face down on the table.

He walked over to her and tried to shake her shoulder...

"Sis... hello?"

Yet, she never answered.

Confused, Asahi darted to the window and saw that everyone was frozen, with the birds floating, the sky stagnant, and even the tiniest animals remaining still.

He started hyperventilating, shaking Aletha's body to wake up, but nothing worked.

"W... What's happening? Aletha, wake up!" He screamed as a vignette appeared around him.

The moment he turned over to the counter to see if The Librarian was there, his vision and all his hearing deafened and blinded him into pure darkness.

. . .

A faint masculine voice whispered while the world fell into darkness and blur.

"I can't believe it; their bodies are within my grasp." He said. "Now that I have them, I must run to my shelter before Narcissa, and the three knights have caught into him."

Each heartbeat Asahi made, the more the blur faded away.

All Asahi's vision was welcome, which was a bottom view of a familiar young man with long, silky dark hair and lavender eyes, wearing a cloak of some kind, sprinting across a corridor of buildings.

"Akwan?" He questioned.

Asahi tried to move his arms, but his body wouldn't budge.

Struggling to escape the man's grasp, Asahi mumbled while he saw Aletha also being carried by the dark-haired man.

"W...Where am I? What happened?"

(Thump... thump.... thump... thump...)

Asahi's heartbeat gradually quickened.

As his vision returned, Asahi regained the ability to move his head, seeing where this mysterious man was taking him and his sister.

The first building he saw was a tall clock tower towering over the other buildings, then he saw what looked like marketplaces, small canals, a wall surrounding the city, waterfalls, sewer drains, streetlights, and apartments; it's as if he passed the entire city.

While waiting to regain his ability to move his legs, Asahi turned over to the man's other arm and saw a white-haired youth getting also carried, with her eyes barely open. Asahi tried to speak but was stopped by his freezing fear.

{I… think I have seen this man before.)

As the man continued to carry the two with both his arms, Asahi relaxed his head, sighed, and waited for the man to stop.

While dashing through the colorful, crowd-filled streets, the loud sound of a bell rang over the entire city.

Asahi turned his head to the clock tower and saw the tiny hand touch the number eight at the top of the clock.

Instead of twelve digits, this clock had only eight of them, still matching the measurements of Time but comparably different to the twelve-hour one Asahi saw in other worlds.

He raised an eyebrow and whispered while he felt his whole body starting to shut down.

"An eight-hour clock…?" He asked with his head spinning. "I have… so many…." His eyelids slowly shut, seeing darkness envelop his surroundings. "... questions."

Suddenly, Asahi's vision was engulfed into black, with the calming voice of that mysterious dark-haired man sounding out.

"The dawn of the eighth hour… just a bit more time until we get there. I hope Clover is safe, usually at this time… I predict that the knights and the Queen of Pladtioa are preparing for the Royal Meeting. I can't believe I managed to find the wanderers. "

The man looked over to the unconscious wanderers and whispered to them, racing through the rural alleyways and opening a basement door leading underground.

"It's unbelievable that they are here out of all places in this world."

. . .

Darkness was all that Asahi saw.

He could hear a liquid bubbling in the background and hums that sounded like they came from a man.

"Oh, so that's how a potion is made," He said as he shifted bubbly glasses. "Soon they shall awaken. And we can finally get in touch."

The warmth surrounding Asahi felt relatively more robust compared to his last location.

Confused, Asahi's eyes swiftly opened to the sight of a comfy room with brewing stands, bookshelves, a fireplace, crates, etc.

It looked more like a workshop than a house; having wood almost everywhere except near the fireplace.

He found the same dark-haired man sitting near a brewing stand, observing its potions while holding a book. It was now clear to Asahi that this young man, the one that he had chased, was the same man that brought the two in this world first place; Akwan.

Standing next to him, a familiar green-haired girl, was gathering supplies and transporting crates from wall to wall.

(Wait a second… Akwan? Wait-- i... is that the girl who saved us?) Asahi thought. (I could have sworn I saw…)

While waking up and rubbing his eyes, Asahi felt a soft surface beneath him. It was a comfy texture that matched the feeling of a bed.

Though grateful for Akwan's unasked hospitality, Asahi was still utterly confused about what had happened. He scratched his head and mumbled.

"What the-- I was awakened in the streets by Akwan, and now… I woke up here?! What's going on? Where's Aletha?"

Conveniently after he said that a feminine groan sounded on the other side of the room. He saw slender arms stretch up in a v-shape, white hair shimmering over the dim ceiling lights, and crystal gray eyes glistening.

Though he knew people were inside the room, Asahi hollered at the girl anyway.

"Sis!"

The man and the green-haired girl swiftly turned to Asahi.

"Oh, both of you… are finally awake." Akwan said as he clapped his hands. "Come. sit down. There is much to discuss."

Of course, falling into shock at the sudden reveal, made them question as if they had lost their minds. "Wait, Akwan?" Aletha said in unison with her brother. Afterward they pushed themselves up, questioning. "Why are you here?" We thought you were gone."

The dark-haired man placed the potion on the table and turned to the green-haired girl, asking.

"Clover, would you be so kind if you could store that neatly crafted potion back in the crates?"

Her face turned ruby-red.

"O…Oh, of course, master."

As the girl walked over to the counter, the young man brushed his long silky dark hair, checked his monocle-like thing on his eye, fixed his collar, and walked up to Asahi, instantly bowing down and saying.

"It is an honor to hospitalize you, Asahi and Aletha. Please feel free to have some bread, I have plenty of it."

He raised an eyebrow, shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. Aletha walked by and asked Asahi, with her white hair a ragged mess.

"Akwan?" He asked him as the tension of the atmosphere grew. " How did you get here?"

. . .

A silence dawned on him as he thought and examined both Asahi and Aletha's appearances.

"Yes, indeed… their aura is familiar; however, one component is absent from their bodies." He muttered, not realizing that they could hear him. " I have come to realize that the powerful atmosphere that makes an individual a ruler is gone in them. They are nothing but humans now; Humans with impenetrable beauty."

As his dark pants and glowing blue hairpin glistened under the ceiling lights, casting a mysterious aura. It had encircled all the people, Asahi hastily jumped off the bed and sat on the ledge, gazing at the tall, mysterious man with a look of suspicion. While the silence continued, Asahi mumbled.

"So… are you going to answer?"

Akwan's glistening lavender eyes broadened.

"About what…? What happened to the device?" He finished the blank in his words. "It appears we have been separated for two hundred years. I appeared underwater in a lake in Astait, before finding myself here, then I met Clover as well twenty years ago, and we have lived in this shack ever since. The device is nowhere to be seen. I suppose it must have stretched our time span apart."

As Aletha started to awaken and rise from her bed, she quickly jumped in shock and said.

"Akwan?"

"Yes," He replied, looking down at the floor. "I sincerely apologize for taking the impertinent route of investigating; You two stick out from the rest of the crowd. You should be thankful. Because if I hadn't grabbed you two, both of you would have been captured by Narcissa's fleet of knights." Akwan hunched down to Asahi's head and squinted at it, examining each soft bristle.

"Ah… fascinating."

His soothing voice drew up from his mouth with a look of surprise shimmering in his eyes.

"You two are the only white-haired beings in this world."

Asahi couldn't argue; Akwan was correct. Since they were born, the only white-haired beings were them and their parents. Now however, leaving the parents behind, Asahi and Aletha were the last remaining humanoids with white hair. But after some recollections and remembrances, Akwan revealed.

"And to think that no one remembers both of you it's quite odd." After darting his purple eyes to the two, caging his hands, he asked them with a serious look.

"Have you two realized that it's been nearly five-thousand years since both of us were last here?"

Both of them reeled their gazes back at the sudden realization. In the timespan of five millennia, they have been gone. At first they thought they had been gone for ten years, it hadn't sat right in them.

So fallen into shock at the revelation, Asahi slowly shook his head and answered the question.

"Huh? N…No, not at all."

Aletha added in-between. "That can't be true. We left for ten years, not five thousand."

Akwan lifted his chin, fascinated at this spectacle.

"Hmm," he said. "Then it may be the fault of time dilation that led to this."

Asahi and Aletha shouted in unison.

"Time… dilation?"

Akwan lightly chuckled.

"Heh. Of course. But let's leave that discussion for another day," As Akwan invited them to the sofa, he informed them. "Now when you two are ready, gather up in the fireplace. It's comfy, trust me. We shall have our discussion."

With the thought of the looming threat that the knights could barge in and take the two, Asahi and Aletha nodded their heads in agreement and pushed all those concerns aside, sitting their bottoms down on the soft fabric of the sofa.