Lan's eyes widened, her hands began to sweat, and she quickly grabbed Iris and began running deeper into the forest, following a trail marked by sticks.
"What is happening!" Iris screams as she is being pulled.
"I have to alert him!" Lan says in a panic voice.
Iris doesn't try to fight back, but she is feeling overwhelmed about encountering the person that aided in killing her parents. She feels scared of what she is going to say; she doesn't know if she should feel afraid or hateful.
Boom, boom!!
They suddenly stop hearing the nearby attacks. Lan begins to look around, her cloth covering Iris' back.
Iris, with a more compacted zone, can finally smell herself. She is pleasantly surprised that she is emitting a combination of peppermint and lavender. She looks at how she is releasing a hint of light purple, which is almost camouflaged by her similarly covered cloth-like material.
"Ivy, run straight and don't stop until you reach a long stick with a white cover; it doesn't stand out, but beside it is a small blue box. When you reach it, touch the box, and you will immediately be transported to a safe place." Lan whispers as the forest is now a battlefield with little regard for lives.
"And what about you?" Iris whispers, conflicted on whether to stay and meet the man who aided in her suffering or follow Lan's instructions.
" Don't worry about me; you haven't unlocked your abilities, so just hide for now. I will calm down for him, and this battle will quickly end. So go!" Lan pushes Iris, exposing her to the battlefield.
Iris begins to run.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Iris miraculously evades the attacks. Many explosions happened beside her, which slowed her pace.
An Aetherloom appears in front of Iris; its red cloth only just shows the tip of the spear.
Iris, noticing the tip, tries to stop, but her velocity is too fast to stop. She sees how the spear leaves the Aetherloom's hand, aiming directly at her head.
With her reality going slower, she sees the spear get closer and closer while she tries to make her body move, but the speed of it is too fast for her to react.
Boom!
Slash
Iris gets sent flying by a potent explosion beside her, but not before her shoulder is cut by the spear.
Crack
Iris collides against the white stick she was running towards. She looks down at her broken shield; she grabs some of the dirt and covers it. Her bleeding arm is now her priority.
She goes down and sees the blue box; she touches it and feels a huge surge of power surround her.
…
Someone bring a medic! We have an injured girl!!
Iris hears a voice on top of her. The pain in her arm is unbearable; she feels that the spear broke her bones and luckily avoided completely losing her arm.
Iris hears footsteps, then a cold liquid pouring in her injury.
"Ahh!!" Iris screams, quickly getting up.
She finds herself in a strange place. The walls all have different figures with many different colors, and many statues of the Aetherloom. She looks around and finds Aetherloom with small statues and beautiful colors and one with its color a sky blue emitting a powerful alcoholic smell.
"Don't worry, little girl. You are safe now; let me take care of your wounds." A thick old voice is emitted by the sky blue Aetherloom.
"T-thank you. W-where am I?" Iris softly asks, trying her best to not scream from the potency of the cold liquid being poured on her wound.
"You are in the safe zone. However, it isn't that safe. There are many betrayals and attacks of our own."
One of the smaller ones, a light pink color Aetherloom, touches Iris' head. "What is your name?"
"My name?" Iris responds in surprise. "My name is…Ivy," Iris whispers.
"Ivy, Ivy, Ivy. That's a cute name! My name is Rose, just like my skin!" Rose speaks in a youthful tone.
Hearing Rose's youthful voice ached her heart. She knows she is still young but feels that her life events make her feel as if she has been alive for over two decades. Iris feels reminded of herself in Rose's voice.
"I like your name, Rose." Iris speaks as her heart tenders seeing Rose happy.
"Mr. Azuli. When will we be able to go outside? I feel bored." Rose groans as she begins to stop her feet.
"Just wait a little longer; it will soon end."
Iris feels her hand being squished harder. It feels like they mutually understand the situation and create a non-verbal agreement to not say anything about the reality of the dire situation.
"There, just don't use your arm for about a day, and then it will return to normal. You got lucky that it didn't fully cut it."
"Thank you." Iris was surprised by how quickly she was healed.
"So can you play with us?"
Iris looks at Mr. Azuli to know what to say. He shakes his head.
"I am sorry, but I can't. I have somewhere to go. But once everything ends, I will make sure to play with you!" Iris says in a calm voice.
"Yay!!" Rose begins to hug Iris.
Iris looks at the rest of the kids; they all look surprised but still happy about the situation. The situation warms her heart. She tries to pat Rose's head, but Mr. Azuli pushes Iris away.
"Anyways, I will be going. Bye-bye!"
"Bye!!" Rose jumps and waves goodbye.
Iris leaves the camp and sees the real situation. She sees how it is filled with destruction and many remains of the Aetherloom. A battlefield where no one is victorious and everything left is death.
"This truly was a crimson petal," Iris whispers, trying to cheer herself up from seeing all the damage.
Iris continues to walk around the battlefield, seeing how there is more destruction and death than she originally thought. The strong smell of coagulated blood twists her stomach. She covers her nose, but the smell enters her mouth and disgusts her.
Iris walks without seeing below her, and she stumbles upon a hard object. She lowers her hand and runs to vomit. Iris feels sad and disgusted seeing a small skull covered with maggots.