"Oh, there you all are," the mysterious armored man stood on the horizon, waiting for any of them to emerge through the bushes. However, something in him changed the last time they saw him.
His armor was bulkier, sturdier, and stronger, covered in protruding purple crystals that adorned it all over.
He lifted his arm, breathing uneasily and laboriously, and pointed at Aletha, his expression humble and evident in his body language. "Ah, yes. The Target. Just who we needed to make the battle even more difficult for us than it already is."
"Us?" Ubel mumbled.
"Why yes…" As the man stepped to the right, a surprising sight was revealed.
What Aletha, Alai, Ubel, and Dina had never expected was nearly 50 Wrailezan soldiers waiting with the leader.
Their purple crystal light illuminated the shadows beneath them, casting artificial rays rather than the natural golden ones.
Gripping their rifles bathed in wrathful, scorching purple light, they slowly stepped forward.
They awaited their leader's command. Yet he had not once given an order. Instead, the leader continued salvaging the device's shattered remnants and analyzing them. Dina, Aletha, Ubel, and Alai stood there, preparing to attack.
"Ah, so it appears that the message was successfully sent." He mumbled as he forcefully crushed the remains of the device into bits. "As if you could stop us."
Without showing any sense of intimidation, the leader bowed down to the four of them and introduced himself, as if his actions prior hadn't mattered.
"I go by Nealon, once esteemed ruler of the world of Edela," He said with a tremulous voice. "Now, I'm nothing but one of the many followers of The Promise."
While Aletha rooted herself, readying her fists, Nealon raised his steel arm and demanded, his voice intimidating.
"You have two options. Hand over the girl, and we will spare you. Or resist, and regret it."
Alai tightened her fists and sneered at Nealon with a look of disgust.
"Who…?"
Immediately, Nealon forced all his soldiers to point their weapons straight at Aletha.
"Her!" He shouted as his arms trembled. "The one with snow hair. Give her to us, and you shall be sp--
Suddenly, a massive ribbon of light struck through the armor of the man, chipping it away and propelling him a few centimeters back.
"Like hell we will!"
Dina sprang forward, grabbed a soldier by the wrist, and slammed him to the ground, breaking his spine. Skidding, she kicked another soldier in the head, disintegrating him into pieces.
When she swung, she showered the air with tiny metal shards, lifted her head, and made chaotic laughter. Her neck had pointed up, while her face showered in pieces.
"A haha haha, yes!"
Alai, Ubel, and Aletha could sense the chaos emanating from Dina's aura. They realized that if such a girl could demolish armored, enforced soldiers like this, so should they.
And so it began.
"Waaaaaah!"
Dina's voice echoed through the air. The wind whipped past her body as she landed with her feet.
The soldier's corpse crumpled, destroyed beyond repair. Alai swooped in and unleashed several glowing flowers, which scattered and exploded, taking out five more soldiers.
"Hah, hah, hah, ha--!"
Dina's laughter echoed, shaking the trees and sending leaves flying.
"Not as bad as I thought," she said, looking over the soldiers. "I… know this goes against my teaching, but these aren't the ones I want Aletha to face."
With that, she sprinted toward the forest, dodging the small explosions of flowers as she went, hoping for any sliver of strength in Aletha to erupt.
However, she was wrong.
Aletha was seen standing still amidst a war zone.
Explosions blew away soldiers left and right. The giant bird jumped, squashing trees and several more guards, while three silver, transparent wolves were seen scuttling and pouncing on eight soldiers.
"I…"
Aletha was left speechless.
(I know I want to be stronger, but… what do I do?!)
While she pondered, her heart raced as her eyes caught Alai destroying a soldier with just a kick to the face.
She looked over to a soldier and tried to approach him. But just before she swung, a wave of crimson light struck out from the soldiers, causing them to fall unconscious without so much as a warning.
Aletha's eyes widened in disbelief.
(What just happened?)
"It was me," Alai said as she frantically sprinted toward her. "What are you doing? I thought I told you to give it your all!?"
Aletha's mouth went dry. Silence erupted between them. It urged her to speak. Yet, even while standing in the midst of a battle, Aletha had not uttered a word.
Alai crossed her arms and took a deep sigh, almost showing disappointment on her face.
"Alright, alright, if you're not going to do any--
As Alai kept her eyes focused on Aletha, she interrupted.
"I… can't give it my all. I don't… know how."
A look of bemusement formed in Alai's face.
"Are you serious? You don't know how to try?!"
With trembling, uneasy breaths, Aletha admitted.
"Y… Yeah. I only care if it is related to someone I love or… if it puts my life in jeopardy. It's just… that's not the reason."
She tried her best not to break down in tears. A flood of memories, faces both familiar and unfamiliar, flickered in her mind like a slideshow.
"There's just… too many people to care about—one after the other. Name upon name. I can't even count them all. I can't even comprehend how many stories people have. And… yet…"
"Aletha…" Alai said, looking down. "Do you seriously care about strangers? Come on, they don't affect your life at all."
"Yes!" Aletha said as her scream eclipsed the distant explosions and laughter. "I always wonder what stories people have about their lives, how they act, what they do. What was their past like? It was easy in Pladtioa… but those were just a few."
She held up her fingers in her hand, counting and recalling the names of the friends she met.
"Belial, Drimi, Sally, Akwan… those were the few I really cared about, because the time we had with each of them delivered a lot of information on their stories. It's why I can relate to them.
It's why I can think and help them. It's because time is precious when it comes to people."
Although Alai couldn't recognize the four names Aletha mentioned, she understood what Aletha was talking about.
"Aletha… I understand." Alai said as she pushed her crimson pony-tail back. "There are also people I care about. Those who loved me, took care of me, and entertained me. And I loved them back.
Ha. We spent so much time together messing around, climbing the peaks of Linuxinia…"
She gulped down a breath of reminiscence, looking up to the clouds and the sky-scraping peaks on the horizon.
She ignored the chaos surrounding them and focused on Aletha, like a spotlight shining on a single person on the podium.
Alai took a deep breath and continued.
"...Wondering what's out there on the horizon. That's precisely what I felt before I learned something. That no matter what I do, there will always be something to be curious about.
But seriously, although there may be so many people out there, waiting to tell their stories, the only story that you should be curious about…"
Alai paused. She leaned her hand against Aletha's chest, feeling the warmth of home radiate between them.
"Is yours."
Aletha's round gray eyes expanded with realization. Her heart hammered in her chest. She felt a sudden burst of blood rush through her veins, holding her forehead out of shock.
Her head pounded, her face flushed, and her voice was muted out of surprise.
Aletha felt as if her emotions were blown about by every wind of truth within Alai's two words. And to accompany them, Alai added.
"Your story of your life is what matters the most. Not anyone else's —not even your family's. YOUR story. Because… you can change it. You have control over the future of your story.
Your past may be archived, but like flashbacks, they return… they affect the delivery of your story."
Alai pointed to Dina, who had demolished most of the soldiers with her evading cycles of scorching crimson flames and her dual-wielded blades.
Aletha watched in awe as she pulverized and gouged out the gears of the soldiers with her rapid, lightning-fast swings.
Not even her moves could outweigh Dina's. Then Alai pointed to Ubel, whose platinum hair was flying like a ribbon.
He soared and flew across one, almost struggling to defeat a group of soldiers. But then, rushing from the horizon, were a pack of luminescent wolves.
They gnawed and tore the robots apart, scraping their wires off and tossing them aside. As Aletha stood there in awe, watching the events unfold before her, Alai tapped her shoulder and included her.
"You have control over who you can place in your life. You don't have to choose everyone you meet. You can select a specific few, even for that moment. You can choose who you want to be friends with!
Have you not realized it yet?! The only person you can not get rid of in your life, nor can you replace, is yourself! So…"
"Choose who you want to put in your life. Sometimes you may not have control, but even then, they are still included in your… 'story'."
Aletha had no words to counter her argument.
Each word Alai had uttered had truth in it.
Her moment of realization paralyzed her, as thoughts flooded her mind, leaving her unable to move. The actions that occurred outside of her had left Aletha unmoved. Emotions spiraling out of control.
"Y… You're right. I… do have a choice on who I place into my life."
With a slightly comedic tone, Alai scratched her chin, brushed dirt off her pink dress, and stomped her feet on the ground.
"Good. Then, how about you place me in your life now? We still have a fight we have to win!"
The next instant, Alai lifted her fists high up into the air and yelled.
"DIE!"
She swung her arm forward, punching at the sky. A barrage of lightning bolts erupted from her fist and shot towards the enemy.
Her speed was beyond human capabilities; a blur of light that pierced through the sky and scattered it with thunderous strikes.
Instantly, both Ubel and Dina turned to Alai, stunned by her abrupt arrival. Even the wolves recoiled from the ground due to the ferocity of the attack.
"Oh, wooow."
"I don't recall seeing that attack before, Alai."
But Aletha was excited.
Not because Alai used her unspeakable and unexplainable attack, but because… she can join this fight too and try.
A small smile formed on her lips, mumbling out something she had thought before.
"Let me be strong like my brother so that I can defend him as well."