There was a moment in that darkness that I could still feel something. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it felt like I was being carried somewhere. It could’ve been my mom, or my dad… Or maybe it was the Holy Gods, who were taking my unconscious body to a safe place, before returning me to my family.

If that was the case, then I had to make sure that they could see me, and the best way to do it was to use Light Magic. So with what I could, I tried to summon that strange magic from within me. I tried once, twice, thrice, as many times as I could… but all that remained around me was darkness.

Still, that didn’t mean that I had to give up, since that strange sensation from being carried was still lingering, so I tried once more, until eventually, a little bit of that magic came out. It was small. Far too small for anyone to see it… but hopefully, the Holy Gods with Their amazing powers will be able to find me and tell my parents where I am.

It didn’t last long, and I was once more surrounded by darkness. It only lasted for a bit until I completely lost my senses and didn’t feel anything else, as if I had gone to sleep while being embraced.

* * *

A warm sun and just as warm air woke me up. I felt groggy, like I had overslept or something like that. But I still managed to open my eyes and see a blue sky and blazing sun falling on me from between some lush, green trees. The air felt different, and when I turned my head to look around me, I saw a forest…

Not the same forest… not at all…

The plants, the trees, the sounds from the animals, the air, and even the temperature felt different. Winter should’ve been just around the corner, and yet, this felt like I was in the middle of summer.

It was then that I remembered that I was being chased by demons until just a moment ago, so I stood up as quickly as I could and looked around with my senses as heightened as I could get them. I might not be good at fighting, but if I was able to use Light Magic on that demon, I might be able to give myself enough time to run away. I couldn’t let my parents’ sacrifice be for nothing.

And yet… regardless of how much I looked around, I didn’t see the demon. With a sigh I lowered my guard and relaxed for a moment. Perhaps the Holy Gods did save me. But then… I didn’t know where I was, or how I got here.

“Child…”

I heard a whisper coming from somewhere and I once more got my guard up, looking everywhere with widened eyes to see who just talked. There was nobody around me, and I was pretty sure that nobody was behind me.

“Am I hearing things…?” I whispered to myself as I tried to see if there was anything wrong—besides the whole place.

“Can you hear me…?”

I once more jumped to look around me. There it was, that voice again, and this time I heard it much clearer. It sounded like the voice of a woman with a very calm and melodic tone of voice. Could it have been mom? But mom doesn’t talk that softly…

“Is someone here?” I eventually asked out loud while turning my head in every direction.

“Ah…! Someone finally heard me,” the woman said with a sound of relief. This time, it was as clear as if she was right in front of me.

And yet, regardless of how much I looked, I couldn’t see anyone. There wasn’t even a particular direction that I could sense it coming from. “Where are you? Who… are you…?”

There was a moment of silence from that voice, and as I looked everywhere, I only heard the sounds of the forest, which was much noisier than the one where I’ve lived all my life, with sounds of animals I hadn’t heard before. Perhaps that voice was still talking to me and I just couldn’t hear it because of the noise in the forest.

“Hello?” I loudly asked, “Are you still there?”

I started doubting if I might just be hearing things now… and so I shook my head and decided to move somewhere to try to know where I was.

“I am…” the voice spoke up once more, and I stopped on my step, turning everywhere to see if I could find her. “I am the one that people of the world call ‘The Mother of All’.”

“The Mother of All…?” I asked back with my head tilted.

It was a rather unusual name to hear… There seemed to be a memory about that… but I couldn’t quite place it… I think my parents used to talk about that whenever they talked about religion, but I never paid attention… Wait…! Isn’t that the name that my dad sometimes used for one of the Holy Gods? It couldn’t be…!

“Y-you’re one of the Holy Gods?!” I exclaimed, my step faltering as I nearly passed out from the surprise.

There was a soft, melodic chuckle from the voice. “Yes I am.”

“T-then, does that mean that my prayers were answered!? You saved me! Thank you so much!” I shouted and dropped to my knees to pray to Her, but after a moment, I stopped, since I realized that I was already talking to Her. “Then! Is everything alright now?!”

There was a sigh from Her. “I’m afraid that isn’t the case. To save the people of the world from the evil God, it was necessary to send them elsewhere, and sadly, we’re unable to reach you.”

“Then… how are you able to talk to me? You’re not… here?” I asked, turning my head to look at the sky.

“I was only able to find you because of a small spark of light that you left in your way there. But it was far too thin for me to properly locate you and the people of the world…” She said with a sad tone of voice. “I can only see and hear the things around you, but nothing else.”

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With a frown, I looked down. “Does that mean that… you can’t bring my parents and my home back…?”

There was another moment of silence, in which I turned my head to look up before the Goddess answered, “I cannot.”

I pouted and lowered my head. I could feel tears already forming in my eyes, so I brought my hands up to cover myself; something that I did to make sure my parents didn’t know when I was feeling sad or lonely.

“However,” The Goddess continued, but I didn’t move as just listened. “There might be a way for me to do it.”

“Really?!” I exclaimed, with the tears in my eyes nearly flying away as I looked back up to the sky. “What is that way?!”

“I need you to find out where you are. Once I know that, We shall be able to travel there and bring Our light to the world once more,” She said. “And with it, We shall reward you by bringing your family back.”

“Okay! I’ll do that as soon as I can!” I exclaimed and started making my way through the forest. “Will you be watching over me?”

She chuckled. “Of course. In fact, if you can increase your power and affinity with Holy Power, it’ll also function as a beacon and make it easier for Us to find Our way there.”

I felt myself filled with hope and excitement knowing that if I helped the Goddess, I was going to be reunited with my family, so I hurried my step in this forest. Holy Magic wasn’t something I knew how to use… but I’m sure that the Goddess was going to help me.

“I don’t know how to use Holy Magic, but I’ll do my best to get better at it!” I said, pushing aside a branch as I went deeper into who-knows-where.

It was after a couple of steps that I felt something warm inside my body. It felt… just like an embrace, and it made me feel safe and happy… it seemed to have come out of nowhere, and I didn’t know if it was just the feeling of hope within me or if it was something else.

“Let me aid you,” the Goddess said. “I’m sending you some of my Holy Power. It’s hardly a drop of it, since I can barely keep up with the connection, but my warm light shall help you understand Holy Power, and it’ll greatly help Us find you.”

I placed a hand on my chest and closed my eyes. It was just like she said; a light that was warming me up. So with a sharp nod I opened my eyes and pushed ahead with determination.

It was after a few steps that I realized that I didn’t know the Goddess’ name… so with a bit of embarrassment, I decided to ask… “By the way… What shall I call you…?”

“I am the Goddess of Light and Healing, Altheras. You may call me that,” she answered with authority, and a much higher volume than everything she’s said before, causing me to swallow saliva due to nervousness.

“T-then I shall, ‘Goddess of Light and Healing, Altheras’,” I said, before taking a few uncertain steps.

She chuckled once more and I relaxed a little. “Just Altheras should be fine.”

“Oh… okay!” I said with a nod, and my determined steps returned to me.

I didn’t know where I was going, but I still kept pushing with the knowledge that Altheras was looking over me, and that as long as that was the case, I was going to meet my parents once more. I was sure of that!

* * *

A few days passed, and I still hadn’t met anyone. So far, I had reached a river and met with bugs… lots of bugs… I was itchy everywhere that wasn’t covered. But at least I wasn’t hungry, since I had been able to pull out a few fishes from the river, and with the water on it, I also didn’t need to drink magic-made water, which was always yucky.

Altheras had been keeping me company the whole time, mostly by pointing out things that we saw around us. She said that this was a rainforest, though I wasn’t sure if She came up with that name or not, but She said that there were plenty of places like this back in our world.

And that too, She confirmed that this was a whole different world; something that was caused by the evil God who led the demons… the ones that killed mom. Thankfully, I hadn’t seen any of them so far either, so I was happy about that, since I didn’t have the power to defend myself from something like that.

Because of that weakness of mine, She also urged me to find someone from the Holy Knight Order so I could join them and get proper training. But… well… we first had to find someone.

And so, I kept on walking downstream to the side of the river. It was while doing that, that I noticed someone at the edge of the dense woods. It was a young boy—probably the same age as me—who was waving at me, and urging me to get close.

He was dressed in clothes I hadn’t seen before, which were almost the same color as the forest itself, making it hard for someone to notice him if they weren’t paying attention. His boots were long and black, and they didn’t seem to be made out of a material I’d seen before. And in his hands he carried a long black stick with a strange shape.

I quickly approached him.

“Be on your guard,” Altheras whispered, and I hesitated slightly, but since she didn’t tell me to run, I still went over to him.

When I was just a few steps away from him, I could finally see the look of surprise in his tanned skin, which was glistening from the sweat caused by the heat of this place.

“Hello,” he said with a curious tone. “What are you doing here?”

“Huh?” I asked back, somewhat dumbfounded since I didn’t expect such a question.

“Yes, you don’t look like someone from around here…” he said while giving me a narrow-eyed look. “This is the People’s Liberation Army’s territory. You should get away from here as fast as you can.”

I looked back at him with widened eyes. “What do you mean…?”

He bit his lower lip and looked behind him, then at several places all around before turning to look back at me. “Someone like you is not safe here. If the captain sees you, you’re going to be in trouble.” He then pointed in another direction, across the river. “If you go that way, you won’t come across with—”

“What is this!?” a man asked, popping out of a bush. “I came over to pee and this is what I find?! Is this your girlfriend or something!?”

“C-captain!” the boy answered, shaking his head quickly. “Sir! No, sir! I just found this girl!”

The man turned a fierce look my way. He was dressed just like the boy, only that he had a black and red piece of cloth on his arm with three letters on it. I was instantly intimidated by the look that he gave me, since it looked…

“Evil…”

Once Altheras said that, I felt the blood of my body drain, and a desire to run filled me, but the man just looked at me, so I stayed put. “Where did this girl come from? Hey! Where did you come from, blondie?”

“I-I-I—” I tried to answer, but I just didn’t know what to say. This was the first time in my life I talked with someone so aggressive without my parents close to me.

It was while I choked up that the man gave me a look from top to bottom. “Blonde… pale skin… green eyes… and looking like she’s been in the forest for a few days… This is definitely a foreigner.”

There was a moment of silence between the man and me, with the boy looking down at the ground, but after a moment the boy raised his head and said with difficulty, “S-sir… can’t we just let her go…?”

“What?!” the man exclaimed, causing the boy to quickly look down. “No, this is exactly the kind of people that the Commander wants to have. The ransom that we can get from her is going to be huge. She’s coming with us.” He turned a fierce glare at me. “Heard that? You’re coming with us. And you better not run, or I’ll fucking kill you, understand?”

“I-I-I—What should I do?” I whispered, hoping for Altheras to give me a way out.

“I’m sorry, child. You don’t have the power to resist. Do as they say, and try to stay alive, no matter what,” She said with a dejected tone.

“Grab her—and don’t let her get away,” the man commanded the boy, before turning to walk deeper into the forest.

The boy grabbed me by the wrist and started pulling me along, half-turning his face to look downcast this way. “I’m sorry…”