The woman woke up. It felt like a nightmare, but she thinks it’s done.

“What happened? Why am I inside the shrine?”

She looked around, there was a set of a wooden table and chairs near her, a tub of water beside the make-shift bed she is laying on. She noticed that a part of the mattress was burnt, then she remembered. The humans of the so-called ‘Kingdom of Altruis’ burning their home, raping their women, castrating their men, then killing them like diseased animals, even the children. Have they no place in this world? Why does the demi-wolves deserve this horrific treatment?

She tears, and she tried to wipe it, unconsciously lifting her left arm. She touched her face to wipe her tears, but it seems different. Her hand was hard, it was like caressing her face with an ingot of steel. She looks at her left arm, it was now made of some sort of metal. She jumps out of the bed, surprised. She looked at her whole body, she’s not wearing her previously worn leather garments but instead she wears loosed clothes, made of cotton. She focused her sight on her ‘metallic arm’, it has line segments like the body of an insect. She is fascinated with it, something so hard yet she could still move it freely, and no restrictions. Then she remembered that her left arm was cut-off with the knights she fought against with. She stands up and went to the exit of the shrine, but she feels her body became ‘heavier’. She struggled at first, but managed to walk out of that cave, only to witness the painful truth.

She gazed at the burned houses, and she kneels on the ground. She felt grief, and extreme disgust on herself.

“I – I was supposed to protect them…”

Then she noticed that the corpses of her brethren were gone, the corpses that the humans littered like dirt. She also noticed mounds near the burned houses. Each varies in the size, then she realized someone buried their corpses. She stood up, and further looked. She almost missed the stack of armors the humans wore on the entrance of the shrine, but she felt an eerily feeling looking at it. The armors were covered in blood, the helmets were deformed as if the head wearing ‘exploded’, the armor of one of the knights she fought was crumpled like paper, the other has a hole on its stomach, and the other was full of splattered bloodstains. Their weapons were organized on the side, as well as twenty bags of the gold coins issued by the Altruis, and the mana gems they stole from the shrine. If someone were there, why would they do such thing? She pressed on, as she hears someone in the woods arguing. She followed the voices and saw the corpses of the humans who attacked them.

Some bodies were twisted abnormally, others have heads that got holes where the brains splattered out. She freaked out the moment she saw those.

“Wh – who did this?”

Of course, she still got the hatred against these people, but seeing them like that was more terrifying. There must be some sort of monster.

“Dr’akan must have fought them, but not like this. Did she go mad like D’ran???”

She further looked on the area and saw a huge pile of earth. Some must have been digging up. She immediately hid in the bushes as she heard the arguing voices.

Akino: Look, I know it’s useless, but we have to be organized in things.

Alexa: Yeah, like what? Removing the armor of these bastards? We’ve wasted an hour removing those.

Akino: I know, I know. But I also know that there were supposed to be twenty-one bags of gold.

Alexa: What?

Akino: Cough it out, Alex. I’m not gonna repeat myself again.

Alexa: Fine…

She sees a woman, wearing clothes that she never seen before in her life. And the other was a kid, a white kid with cat-ears and clawed hands and feet. Strangely, the language they’ve speaking to was unfamiliar, yet she understands it. She used her magic to look onto the pair and was surprised. Two human souls, but how come the other looks like a demi-human? The kid regurgitates a bag of gold and both continued digging up with shovels. Without thinking properly, she immediately thought the kid was a slave to the woman. She jumped out of the bushes while her left arm was raised, pointing to the woman.

“LET HER GO!”

The two looked shocked and were stunned in place. They were saying something, but she doesn’t care, all she hears was the chant of magic she was preparing to fire against the woman. Her hatred seems to empower her.

“Afore darkness, bane will empower! Be sundered, thy foe!”

Glyphs started to appear on her left hand, and magic circles floats in front of it. They started to glow, but for a while. The glowing characters began to disintegrate. She feels her head aching. She sees weird symbols on her vision, then statics. She collapses on the ground, making the two ran towards her.

Alexa: What happened to her?

Akino: Let’s put her back to the cave.

She still hears the unusual words that she understands. Before she closed her eyes, the same thing was her vision. Unfamiliar letters that she recognizes, but couldn’t fully comprehend:

SYSTEM INTEGRATION – STILL AT 95% COMPLETION

SYSTEM REPORT: HQC-101 ATTEMPTED TO ACTIVATE ENERGY EXPLOITATION – FAILED

SUGGESTED RESOLUTION: COMPLETE UNEVALUATED FACTORS TO ACHIEVE FULL FUNCTION

.

.

.

The woman woke up, again inside the shrine while laying on the bed. She smells something, a cooked meat of a wild boar, and it is getting closer. She stood up and took the wooden fork on the table. The woman she saw earlier enters while holding a wooden plate with a huge amount of grilled boar meat.

Akino: Uhm… hey, how are you feeling?

She pointed the fork to Akino. Akino then slowly placed the food on the table and raises her hands. Alexa enters, holding a bowl and a vase full of fruit juices.

Alexa: You forgot the – woah!

Akino: Place it at the table.

Alexa: Is she alright? Why is she pointing that wooden fork to you?

Akino: If you’ve got questions to us, we will answer it in the best way we can. The name’s Akino, Akino Kylei. Akino being my name and Kylei as my family name, you can call me Aki though. The kid here is my daughter, adopted daughter.

Alexa: Umm, hey! My name’s Alexa Kylei, and yeah, I’m her adopted daughter. Calling me Alex would be fine too.

The woman puts back the fork on the table and sits on the bed.

Lyka: My name is Lyka von Roza, the daughter of Allysa Roza.

Alexa: You – you don’t have a dad?

Akino: Alexa, don’t pry her.

Alexa: I’m just curious. Sorry about that, Miss Lyka. If you don’t like answering it, it’s fine.

Lyka: No, no, it’s alright. My father – you wouldn’t believe if I tell you…

Alexa: That’s a bummer!

Akino: Alexa!

Alexa: Sorry.

Akino: Soooo, were done with the introductions… you’ve got any questions for us?

Lyka: What happened to me? What did you do to my left arm? Where are the corpses? Are you -

Lyka scratches her head. Her face started to look upset and slowly tears began flowing out of her eyes.

Lyka: It’s just – so many things that I don’t understand why this is happening to me. Why? Why?...

Akino hands her a piece of cloth. Lyka took it and wipes her face.

Akino: After that fight we saw, we simply couldn’t help but feel like to shove off those bastards. I – I’m very sorry for your loss. We didn’t make it in time to rescue everyone. You’re the only one we managed to save…

Alexa: We treated you here, inside this shrine. As for the treatment, we’ll get to that a bit later but after we’ve tended your wounds, you’ve been asleep for two days, straight.

Akino: After we’ve treated you, we buried your fellow demi-humans near the burned houses. I’m sorry if we didn’t ask your permission about but if we let them outside for long, they’ll start to decompose and –

Alexa: Psst! Aki! Technical terms!

Akino: Oh, I mean they’ll start to rot if we didn’t bury them as soon as possible. Is it – not discriminating if I called them ‘demi-humans’?

Lyka: I – we're used to it. But my people, they are the proud wolf-people of Perdius, our god, but humans refer to him as the god of destruction and sees us as their ultimate enemy...

Akino: Oh, sorry…

Alexa: Ehem, so for the one you saw this morning, we removed the armor of these dudes who attacked you and buried them deep in the woods. Can’t have them stink in the forest as well, hehehe…

Lyka: The way you’ve killed these knights, how did you do it?

Akino: We, ummm, it’s a bit of hard to explain…

Lyka: Are you guys even truly humans? I mean, everything here in Elyn were infused with mana. Even the undead have mana in them. The rocks, the rivers, the air we breathe, even insects have mana in them, so why the both of you doesn’t have even a tiny bit of it?

Alexa: Mana? You mean like in the magic thing?

Lyka: Yes!

Akino: Yeah… about that…

Alexa: Should we tell her?

Lyka: Tell me what?

Akino: It’s – it’s a long story, a very long one.

Akino reaches out her hands towards Lyka, she held her hands gentle. Lyka blushes a bit but Akino doesn’t seem to notice it.

Alexa: Is physical contact necessary?

Akino: Hey! I’m trying to be dramatic here!

Lyka: Dramatic?

Akino: Just – just listen to me. I want you to relax, but try to concentrate on entering, umm something… ah, screw it! You should see something on your vision.

Lyka sees some texts on her upper-left vision, it says:

Message received.

Message Encryption: HELLO!

Lyka: Wh – what is this?

Akino: About the question you’ve asked on what we did to you… well, you might not like my answer, but you have to trust me. Close your eyes and relax.

Lyka did what Akino said. She closed her eyes while holding on to Akino’s hands. About three seconds of silence, then she hears Akino’s voice.

Akino: Okay, you can look now.

Lyka opened her eyes, she found herself inside a place of white floor and sky, with a never-ending horizon. She saw Akino and Alexa beside her, and

Lyka: We – we teleported? Where are we?

Akino: This will be a hard one…

Alexa: Come on, do the explaining stuff.

Akino: Okay, okay. This – this is not technically a place. This place is the physical manifestation of the connection of our minds.

Lyka: Umm, what?

Particles started to appear on the ground, it moves and reforms into another Akino, Alexa, and Lyka. The scene where the two girls saved Lyka from her death was recreated.

Lyka: Is – is that me?

Akino: Yes, that’s your consciousness, or let’s say your ‘soul’. You were about to turn into dust, meaning you’re going to die that time. We did all we could to save, by ‘repairing’ your soul with ours. In turn, your soul became a part of us, and ours became a part of yours.

Alexa: We should teach her our technical terms.

Akino: I think that will do, I guess.

Lyka: Wait, wait! What do you mean all of three of us have connected souls?

Akino: I have to teach first some things in our world, for you to better understand your situation.

Lyka: Your world???

The place changes, bit by bit. Towering pillar made of steel and covered in glass emerged, metal carriage that moves without horses, lots of people walking on the side of the road, an ordinary day in Akino’s and Alexa’s previous world. Akino began to explain things, as they walk on the streets of the virtual manifestation of Manhattan. They walked down the streets beside the paved roads, where the metallic vehicles pass and shelters under the shadows of the trainrails above.They went to libraries and explained to her the basic of knowledge that they have. To the power plants, showing how their city works. The manufacturing sectors that feed the people. To the malls and central hubs, where most people interact and do commerce. To the information network, laying out how people connect to one another. To the topmost level of the One World Trade Center, to gaze upon the skyscrapers standing strong below and the sea of clouds above. And to the central park, relishing the fresh air of the trees and grasses that the city has nearly vanished away, even though its just only a memory, a recorded thought. Lyka was mesmerized, the feeling of journeying others’ world for a full day was just only seconds that passed by in her sight.

They went to a local convenience store after. Alexa, excitingly enters the store and bought three hotdog sandwiches with drinks. The three sat outside on the plastic monoblocks chairs.

Lyka: If this is just some sort of illusion, then why bothering buying these foods? Even trying to eat it?

Alexa: Well, I miss hotdogs.

Akino: You see, our minds perceive things in here to be true even though it’s not really real. And we just told you that some parts of our memories like taste and hearing could be recorded in our minds. Alexa likes to eat food, and her memories of eating this food will be manifested in here. The taste, aroma, and texture will be the same for her, even though… it’s been a while since we’ve eaten convenience store foods.

Lyka took a bite and was amazed by the flavor. The three continued eating, as they watched the sun, setting in that virtual space. Lyka turns to Akino, seemingly confused.

Lyka: Can I ask something?

Akino: Sure! What is it?

Lyka: Are the demi-humans in this world purged?

Alexa: Oh boi…

Akino: Lyka, the demi-humans in this – in the world where we supposed to live doesn’t exist.

Lyka: Maybe the books lie for not talking about them, right?

Alexa: Are you bothered by it?

Lyka: Ye – yes… I mean, sure this world seems to be SO perfect without US. The one who’s always oppressed by humans… does that really mean we have no true purpose in our world???

Akino: I see…

Akino stands. She went to a phonebooth nearby, where a dark alleyway can be seen from about two to three blocks.

Akino: Alexa, remember this place?

Alexa: …yeah…

Lyka looks at the two, aimlessly looking at that dark place. She looks up in the sky and feels a tingling sensation of freezing air. Seeing the nightlights of the establishments for the first time seems to be something for her, until she saw a girl came out of the store. The girl strikes a very familiar appearance… a brown hair with a ponytail, wearing thick brown jacket and holds a bag of plastic with packed breads, noodles, a lot of canned beef and pork, some young shoots of sweet potato and cabbages, and a role of papers. She looks intensely at the girl.

Lyka: Aki?