Sasha's Dream

She was startled at first. But, she realised soon just how much she was loved. She hugged back.

"Thank you, guys..."

Lily didn't let her go yet. She stayed still. Shito looked up at them and smiled.

"You've been away for so long... We've been so worried about you."

"I'm sorry I made you worry."

Lily finally let her go. She then looked into her eyes. Shito was a bit confused as she did.

"It looks like you've changed during all this time."

Sasha looked back at her. She thought that she might be right. It was quite a while. But, then she got curious of something.

"How long has it been here, Lily?"

"Years. Comparing to the time elapsed here, the time you spent in your world is almost like a tiny fraction."

Sasha felt sad as she noticed that she had been away for so long not even being able to remember about them.

"What happened here?" She dared  ask.

Lily looked down for a while. Then, she looked at Shito as he looked back at her. Sasha looked at both of them and was expecting a worrisome answer judging by their expressions. But, she had already decided what she would do. So, she was ready to hear.

"After you left this world, the villagers steadily rebuild their home at the village. Of course, we did our best to help them out. But, things didn't last long like this."

Lily gave a short pause and Shito continued for her.

"One day, a child fell ill due to an unknown disease. Lily tried her healing spell on him. But, it didn't work. Soon afterwards, more children like him got affected and fell into deep sleep."

Sasha got terrified hearing them. She stayed quiet as he continued.

"The villagers didn't know what to do. We didn't know what to do either. Consequently, they started to blame us for such an incident. They blindly believed that we possessed such abilities to kill children."

Lily looked at him with pitiful eyes. She felt sorry as she finally explained the later occurring.

"They chased us down. But, we managed to escape. To this date, we are still in hiding as they keep searching for us. They believe that eliminating us will awake the children and bring them back to good health."

Sasha looked down hearing the terrible news. She didn't know what to say to them to console them. But, she couldn't blame the villagers for that, either. She knew that parents love their children and they are willing to do anything and everything, necessary or not, for them.

"What happened to the children?" She asked after a while.

"Currently, there are no children left awake. The ones who fell ill are now in deep sleep and wouldn't wake up no matter what we do."

Sasha stared at her as she explained. She felt her whole body shaking at first. But, soon she noticed that it could be cured. Because, the ball of light explained her enough about the situation.

"I think I know what might be causing it." She finally said.

As she did, Lily and Shito looked at her with eyes full of questions.

"I met a servant of the supreme one a while ago. She explained to me about everything from the beginning. And, from that, I now know what is the main cause of the disasters happening around this world."

Saying that, she explained everything  she had come across at the bridge to them. She told them about what she wanted to do to solve the problem as well. Both Lily and Shito were surprised to know all that. Of course, they knew about the humans infiltrating this world. But, they had no idea about the bridge.

"So, in short, you just need to get a hold of the crystal and that might allow you to prevent the disasters and wake up the children, huh?" Lily confirmed.

"Yes, I believe so." Sasha replied.

"Do you think you can pull that off?" Shito finally spoke up. He looked really serious when he asked that. Sasha knew why it was so. She did fail more than once in the same task. So, how would she know that she could wield it this time? Sasha looked back at him and gave him a serious look as well.

"What makes you think that you can get a hold of it this time?" Shito asked again. As he did, Lily looked at him and then back at Sasha as she had the same question.

Sasha closed her eyes for a while and stood still. She recalled how she felt back at the beautiful bridge. As she did, she felt strange but powerful presence surging within her whole body. She recognized that feeling. It was 'courage'. She had been encouraged over and over again in the past. And, each time, she managed to be hopeless. But, it was her strong d.e.s.i.r.e to break through such a chain and bring hope to others rather than being pitiful.

She opened her eyes and gave both of them a stare. Lily and Shito had never seen those eyes of her before. It was the brightest they had ever seen. Those eyes full of hope surprised them.

"Doko believed in me. Mr. Gratus believes in me. The servant believes in me. Both of you believe in me. My precious friend believes in me. I have no reason to be afraid or hopeless. Just as you all believe in me, I've learnt to believe in myself , too. I believe that I can wield the crystal and turn everything back to how it used to be. I have to! That's what I d.e.s.i.r.e the most right now."

Hearing her speech, they were silent. It wasn't of disappointment. Rather, they were proud of her.

"Also..." Sasha began again as they stared at her.

"I promised Doko. And, I tend to keep my promise. It's the very first promise I made, after all." She said giving them a gentle smile.

Both of them smiled back.

"Okay. Got it." Lily said,"Let's not procrastinate anymore." Then she stretched out her hand and said,"Let's go to the 'pure place'."

Sasha gladly took her hand as Shito quickly hopped on her. After that, in an instant, the three of them disappeared from that place.

Just as planned, they appeared at the pure place. But, what was present before them wasn't desirable at all. In front of the mysterious structure where the crystal was, all the villagers had gathered there, blocking their way.

The three of them stood still shocked looking at them as they looked back. Almost all of them had weapons of sorts in their hands. Just as they saw Sasha and the other two, they started growling at them.

"Did they know we were coming here?" Sasha whispered.

Lily nodded. "They shouldn't know..." She said,"But, how...?"

"What should we do now?" Shito asked but, no one answered.

After a moment of silence, a male villager stepped forward before Sasha and the other two. He had a dagger in his hand and he was looking quite angry.

"You might be wondering how we knew about your arrival." He finally said. As none said a word, he again explained after a short pause,"We villagers aren't so dumb as you think. You fiends d.e.s.i.r.e to destroy everything in our beloved world. So, we figured that your next target would most likely be the purest place in our world. And it looks like we were correct."

Hearing him, Sasha wanted to clear their suspicion as soon as possible.

"No, we aren't here to destroy this place. Rather, we are —" As she was about to explain, the villager interrupted on purpose.

"Shut up, you stranger! None of these would've happened if it weren't because of you!" He said.

"Please! Just hear us out!" Lily said out loud.

"We don't want to hear anything. We just want to get rid of you just like we got rid of him. There is nothing more to it."

"Please! Just listen!" Shito begged.

"We want our children to wake up from their long slumber. We want them to live. In order for that to happen, you must be erased." As he said that, the villagers behind him roared and agreed.

Sasha gritted her teeth as she kept hearing. At the same time, she felt sorry for them. Her d.e.s.i.r.e to help them had not been weakened in the least.

All of a sudden, she stepped forward. She gave the villager a stare. But, her later actions startled all of them.

"Sasha! What are you..." Lily wanted to stop her but it was already late.

She grovelled before him.

"I beg of you! Please let us prove ourselves. You know as much as we do that something so trivial wouldn't destroy anything. I believe you have that knowledge." After a small moment, she looked up at him and with eyes full of tears, she requested again.

"Please!"

Seeing her actions, all present there were silenced.

After a while, from the furthest corner, they could hear a shaky voice.

"We might as well hear her out, at least. Surely we haven't become so cruel, have we?" The voice said.

Sasha knew that voice. She quickly sat down to see were it came from. The villagers also were curious and looked behind them. As they made way for the villager with dagger, Sasha found out that she was right.

It was Mr. Gratus. He was looking older than ever. With him was a female villager who was helping him stand. Sasha's eyes were fixed at them for a while.

"A moment can be very valuable. I believe we are generous enough to give them such a small thing."