Young Writers Society

Scarlet noticed the change of my expression and hummed, annoyed. “You don’t believe me?” he said, and started to drift from left to right as if staying still would only boil him. “You don’t see it - the wonder of our world - the aseal’s world. We live in peace with other creatures - coexist with them. They - the axors - are trying to destroy that. They want to envelop the world in pitch blackness, in a surrounding where nothing is certain.”

His voice was irregular - edges of desperation and anxiety saturated in it, fitting with his constant move from one side to another. His light changed brightness within each second. This was a different Scarlet. This was him thinking about the future of the aseal - his people, not the one who originally wanted to help him. I was trying to believe him, but there was something bugging me that even myself couldn’t figure it. It was just -

“Oh!” he said, the lift of his voice showing his exclamation. “I know a way to show you. To my world.” He chuckled. “Seems convenient, but the heck” - I raised my eyebrow to his increasing use of human’s expressions - “with that. You need to see it to believe what you’re doing is right. Let’s go.”

My brows furrowed and I leaned toward him. “Go where?”

“To Imran’s room - to Silver.” He floated to the door and passed through it. He must realized I was still sitting on the bed without any intention as he appeared from the door. “Well? Come on. She can show you.”

Not knowing what he had in mind, I slowly ditched the bed and went out of the room. The television’s sound was gone; Imran should be in his room now. I passed the living room and went to Imran’s bedroom just at the side of it. I was about to knock the door when Scarlet passed through it. I sighed. A moment later, the door opened, and there was Imran, his hand gripping the door’s handle. His hair was not yet messy, and his eyes were not yet wavering.

“Scarlet told me to let you in,” he said. “I’m guessing there’s something both of you want to talk to us.” He opened the door wider, prompting me to go inside.

When I was in, I saw Silver and Scarlet on the bed. Imran joined him and so was I. I furrowed my eyebrows to Scarlet. “Okay, we’re here. What is it that you want me to see.”

“Our world,” he said immediately. “We can’t possibly go there, but Silver can show it to you. Her imagination is vivid - she always memorize important details in the war ground that could be used to our advantage.” He floated a bit to Silver, probably prompting her to do something.

“Oh, I understand now,” Silver said. She must had seen the frown plastered on Imran’s face, since she added, “I can make an illusion for Merah to see - one that’s based from our world. I’ve no idea of the reason I’ve to do this, but I guess eventually Scarlet would tell. I couldn’t sustain my illusion longer as I could with Imran a couple years ago, however, since I’d use my own imagination, which means I’d rely with my own power.”

Imran didn’t reply, but he gave her a nod. He leaned back to his bed’s head, closing his eyes. “I’m going to take a rest. The practice was tiring.”

I didn’t know he had already trained himself with Silver. That’d be brief since I was sure only half an hour had passed since I left him. I shrugged off the thought. Maybe he was already good at using it two years ago. Without warning or anything, a light breeze tickled my cheek, and when I turned around, my eyes widened and my mouth opened.

In front of me was not Imran’s bed, but a different thing entirely. It was the view of an open area from above. I couldn’t smell the air’s scent or the sounds lifting up the atmosphere. The floor was flat and smooth, covered with tiles in various shapes and colours to make various patterns on it. The creatures walking by were strange. They consisted of various sizes and heights, and colours varied from white to black and red to blue. Some walked on two feet, others walked on four, while a few walked without a foot at all. Most of them had two eyes while a few had one. It was crowded.

Although they were different from each other, I did notice the glaring similarity between them - they all had faint glowing lights enveloping their bodies. Most of the lights had pale shaded while a few had a bit darker colour hugging the creatures. It was bizarre. I didn’t expect it to be this way at all - I always imagined the aseal’s world to be full of lights, portraying a fairy-tail-like view.

“As you can see, what are in front of us are not lights, but creatures,” a familiar voice said, which made me jump a bit before I tilted my head to the side. It was Silver. “Some creatures are local, others not. We enter the latter’s worlds and fuse with them, sharing our lives with theirs. They bear the characteristics of animals - live to survive and breed. Nothing more, nothing less.”

I barely heard her, absorbed with the view below me. It dawned on me the light brightening this area wasn’t a brilliant orange, but rather a pale blue. Turning my head to the sky, I saw a few faint blue lights hovering around, emitting the light for the place. They’ve no sun, I thought.The aseal depended on some who could produce a blinding light.

“Now you know why aseal are fighting against areym,” Silver said with her dulcet voice. “In areym’s world, there was no light at all - no creature is able to live there for long without any guidance to find food or shelter. It’s only suited for areym, as they are nocturnal creatures. They have adapted to the pitch-black surrounding, searching for food at every dark edges. They continue to thrive while other creatures continue to get closer to extinction.”

I nodded, looking at a creature among the crowd. Its skin was painted in hydrangea’s colour, having a round head with bunny’s ears; eyes black and shiny like those of an ant; piranha-like teeth lining up in its opened mouth; four long and slender feet balancing it. It was agile, but a slight friction with others caused it to tremble a bit, almost losing its stability. If this creature lived in areym’s dark world, they would die shortly.

The peculiar view vanished when a light breeze hit me again, and Imran and Scarlet were in front of me. I blinked a few times. Silver was at my side, humming in a monotonous fashion, her light dimmer than usual - she was close to being transparent, molding with the background. I saw Scarlet approaching her, leaving the asleep Imran.

“The illusion exhausts her,” he said, his voice bared with concern. “We aseal use our ability to a limited extend - if used with a human, the illusion is a piece of cake, but if used with our minuscule energy, it’d feel like carrying a plenty of bricks for several hours. She needs to rest.”

I didn’t reply. What I’d just saw changed my perspective. Aseal’s mission was a noble one - they were trying stop areym from causing the extinction of innocent, harmless creatures roaming around their world. If this was another reason to fight against their ally, axors, I’d take it. I’d take it if this was the only way to save those creatures. I looked at Scarlet. “Let’s start our training,” I said. “We need to prepare for tomorrow.”