Melissa had a really dark look on her face. She was totally confused and did not know what to do.
Everything in her head was a perfectly scrambled mess.
Lots of different feelings rushed in her all at once. She felt a little mad and worried, and also kind of scared.
But the next second, she did not know what she was supposed to feel like, about this situation she was in.
It was all like a big wave of emotions, and she didn't know what to do with it.
"WE NEED TO FOLLOW THEM!" a man shouted, his face also dark and filled with worry.
"Yes, but we don't know what's in there, in the depths of the forest, and we don't have Albert to scout ahead of us," Melissa replied to the man, and soon after that, the man went silent, not saying anything.
Right after the big and dark bird, which had feathers that looked like shiny, polished obsidian, swallowed Alric whole and then proceeded to jump in the air and flap its wings.
Albert ran towards it immediately. The others did, too, trying to keep up.
They all wanted to get to the bird as fast as they possibly could.
The problem was that Albert had a big advantage over them.
He could fly using the powers that he gained as a user, and the others could not do the same.
So while they were still running on the ground, trying to figure out how they could reach the bird, Albert was already shooting through the sky after the gigantic bird. He could follow it much more easily and much more quickly than anyone else could.
Soon, they were left on the ground, knowing they had to find another way to catch up with the two of them.
But there was another problem, and the problem was that Albert and the bird were just too fast for them to keep up with on the ground.
So they had long since lost sight of the two of them.
They did not know where they had flown to, and all they had was the direction they both flew in, and they had no other choice but to work with the measly amount of information they had.
Melissa rubbed her face with her hand out of frustration. She had no idea what to do from here. She only knew that she had to find Albert and Alric.
And she did not even know if Alric was alive or dead; for all she knew, he might have died the instant the titan had swallowed him.
"It's all my fault... it's all my fault..." Melissa muttered under her breath, thinking that all that happened was her fault, and in fact, it was true.
If she had not forced Alric to kill a titan, then all this would not have happened in the first place.
Melissa then shouted out of frustration and scratched the back of her head roughly. "Get up, men! We are going!" She commanded her crew, and everyone who was sitting stood up.
She was going to take the risk. She was going to go deep into the gigantic forest and find them both, Alric and Albert. She also refused to believe that her disciple, Alric, was dead. He was surely alive. No disciple of hers could die so early... even if she hadn't taught him anything.
The crew was already packed up, so it did not take long for them to start the search.
———————————————————–
Albert was floating in the sky, trying to find any clues as to where the bird could have possibly gone.
Until now, he used to think that he was quite fast, but today, he found out that there were much faster... things?... than him, and that he was not quite as fast as he used to think he was.
Albert was trying his best not to lose it. His thoughts were a mess.
He was not fast enough to catch up with that giant bird.
He did not even know where that bird could have gone.
'Was Alric even alive?' Albert questioned inwardly, wanting to believe that the answer would be that he was alive... but there was a seed of doubt in his mind.
Ignoring the unbearable questions in his mind, Albert flew down a bit closer to the ground.
He had to find that bird. He had to find Alric.
"No! He is alive! I refuse to think that he is dead," he was not ready to give up on Alric.
Alric was like a little brother to Albert. Although their time together was short, Alric bonded with the entire crew quite quickly.
Finding no clues near the ground, Albert flew up, trying to find any clues... but to his bad luck, he found none.
The fog on the vast land was difficult to see through; even if there was no fog, the sheer number of gigantic trees was a problem.
It would have taken an eagle's eyes to see through the endless number of leaves that grew from the monstrous trees.
Albert had just that. His beautiful and light blue eyes were undoubtedly as sharp as an eagle's, and using those beautiful eyes, Albert continued his search for Alric, but even after an entire half an hour, there were still no new clues as to where Alric could be.
Letting out a long sigh, Albert took the risk and flew fast deeper into the land and further away from the shore.
———————————————————–
"AAAAAAAGHHHHHHH"
Alric's scream echoed through the primordial landscape.
It was not a scream out of frustration nor anger, but rather, it was a scream out of pure horror and agony.
As if in a hurry, he sat up straight.
Alric's mind was racing with all kinds of questions and all kinds of emotions.
He was utterly speechless and beyond confused, and he even had a really painful headache.
He did not know what to think of this situation he was in right now.
Wasn't he supposed to be dead? Was he not dead? Was this a dream?... and speaking of dreams...
Alric remembered all three of those weird dreams... or was it a single dream divided into three parts? He remembered them quite clearly, in fact, as though it was reality but not at the same time.
He remembered living as Roy... then Jack... and then finally as Elijah... he remembered them as if they were his own memories.
He was breathing heavily while trying to calm himself down. But failed to do so as his headache was getting worse and worse.
Alric knew why that was happening. It was because of the long dream. It was just too long, and his brain was having trouble comprehending all of the information he had gotten in that strange dream.
Finally, after a few minutes passed by, Alric had recovered from the shock of... dying? Or was it all just an illusion that his brain had made up because he was 'dying'?
He did not know anything.
All he was feeling was the agonizing pain from the headache, and it was getting better... but slowly.
After a few more minutes, the headache was finally bearable enough for him to think properly. But it was still painful. He felt like a person who had not drunk even a drop of water for eons and was now suffering from severe dehydration.
Everything was so confusing for him. Even his entire existence was a question to him now.
Alric shook his head to clear it a little, but all that did was increase the headache's pain for a moment.
Alric tried to think properly and even tried to connect all the dots together, but he could not think properly, and even so, it did not make any sense to him...
His heavy breathing had long calmed down, and he was now calm, though not fully calm, that's for sure.
"I died... then I dreamt?... then got brought back to life? Or was I dead in the first place?"
He asked a series of questions to himself, trying to figure out what had really happened to him.
Alric did not know much about what had happened to him, but he sure did know this: that he was happy that what happened, happened.
If that had not happened, then he would probably not be alive, but there was another question that he had forgotten to ask himself, and that question was quite important to skip, way too important...
"I fell from all that height... that's for sure... SO WHY AM I ALIVE AND WITHOUT ANY INJURIES!" He asked himself, or rather shouted at himself.
Indeed, that was a good question... he had fallen down from very high, but even so, he would have sworn he felt every bone in his body grinding and splintering... and after a little more force, some of his bones felt like they had been crushed to dust.
But he was here... sitting up straight... with no injuries on that handsome face of his.
He then further examined his body, trying to find even the smallest injury, but to his... good luck? He found none.
He was utterly confused at that point, and so he decided that what happened to him was 'help from God.'
He was not really that religious, but how else could he have explained what had happened to him?
So he just gave up on figuring out the impossible and made up a lie he could believe, and he knew that.
Using his hands to stand up from the rock he apparently fell on, Alric dusted himself, using both of his hands.
He was still confused, but now was not the time to be so, he realized. He was in the middle of nowhere; he had to be cautious.
But he just realized one more thing... and that made him very angry... he realized that he could have used his ability just before he hit the ground and appeared unharmed on the ground seconds later...
Of course, that had its risks too... what if he was still falling at the same speed and hit the ground then? On second thought, he reminded himself, he didn't have a physical body within the Abyss.
"I am fucking dumb!" He shouted in a low voice, trying not to draw unwanted attention.
And... speaking of Abilities...
Alric opened his whispers.
"Whispers"