Hope and despair

She was too scared to image the worst. She stood there and closed her eyes with no intention of opening them.

"Why is nothing working out for me?" She thought.

After a while, the visions of Doko helping her all the way started to appear in her head one by one.

"No matter how hopeless I was, he never left my side," she thought, "Then, what am I doing now?" She found a ray of hope left by him.

With that strength, she opened her eyes at last and started running to the forest. "I have to save him! That's the least I should do!" She thought.

Finally, she reached the temporary homes. There were may out of those homes and standing beneath the trees. They were all silent. But, she didn't care much about that. She was looking for Doko and Doko only. But, she couldn't find him anywhere herself. That had her frightened.

Slowly, she came near Lily who was silent as well.

"Lily...where is Doko?"

"..." Lily didn't answer.

"Where is Doko?!"

Lily still remained silent and looked down.

Sasha took couple of steps back. She got all worked up.

"Doko!!! She shouted,"Where are you?!"

"Sasha!" Lily interrupted her. Sasha looked at her with her eyes widened with questions.

"Doko is no longer in this world."

Sasha froze as she heard her. She couldn't believe her. She didn't know what to make out of what she had told her. She came to her quickly and grabbed her by the arms.

"What do you mean?" She asked her.

Lily didn't answer that, nor did anyone else though they all knew.

She released her. Took few steps back. And...started running towards nowhere. She ran...and ran...and sometimes cried loudly which no one could hear.

After running for too long, she noticed that she had no energy to run anymore. She slowed down and eventually stopped running. She bursted into tears right after.

"Sasha..." She heard a voice after a few moments. She knew who's voice it was.

"Go away!" She shouted not even bothering to look at the owner of the voice.

"What are you doing here in 'The Pure Place'?" The voice grew louder. Sasha looked up and saw that Lily was awfully close to her. As per her instinct, she jumped off away from her being surprised. She finally looked around her. She was standing before the mysterious structure where Doko had once taken her. There, the white crystal seemed to be glowing as usual.

"How did I...?" She asked herself being confused. She didn't even know where she was going while running.

"The supreme one must really like you, I should say!" Lily commented, "To have you reach such a pure place...it a blessing."

Sasha didn't say anything as she was only brooding over how worthless and incapable she was. She wandered why any being would ever like her. She started to feel even more inferior.

"I'm just a nobody." She finally said.

Lily wasn't so surprised to hear her say that because she knew how she must've been feeling for all that had happened. So, instead of being rude, she calmly started to console her.

"You know, Doko believed in you. He saw something in you that made him believe that you would be the saviour of this land."

She was astonished to hear that from her. She did not know what to think of it.

"Well, I guess he never told you clearly. That's just like him." Lily said after a pause. Sasha continued to listen attentively.

"There is a legend in this land. It says that the one who will be able to hold the crystal will be the saviour of this land."

"But I tried to reach it as per his instruction. I failed miserably!" She said remembering her first visit there.

"Yes, I saw," Lily replied without delay, "But, I believe that your encounter with is holy place without your realization has a deep meaning."

"Does it matter anymore?" Sasha said,"The villagers hate me even more than before. Can I save them like this? I don't even have the strength. And now, Doko's gone!"

Saying that, she broke down into tears again and repeated," The one I cared about the most is gone!" And grovelled on the dark grass.

Lily looked at her and remained silent. It was painful for her, too. So, she waited till Sasha calmed down a little.

"Sasha..." She patted her head and said,"Doko cared about you a lot, too. Sometimes it made me envious, whether you believe it or not."

She looked at her as she continued, "He trusted you till the very end. Won't you do the same for him?"

Sasha  wiped her tears and stood up.

"Hmm...I will! I will!!!" She said strongly.

All on a sudden, another voice was heard.

"Sasha! Lily!"

A baby-like being came running to them using his tiny feet. It was Shito.

As he got their attention, he started,

"I've heard about everything. Sasha, Lily... It might sound a lot bizarre, but hear me out."

Sasha found hope once again when she heard what he said afterwards.

"Lily, there are a lot of unique abilities that the supreme one possesses. She has shared some of hers with us, the guardians. She blessed you with the power to vanish anyone from this world. But, that doesn't mean that Doko has died. He is just not in this world."

Both Sasha and Lily stared at him with eyes filled with glimmering hope.

"Sasha, if you can meet with the supreme one, the spirit of this world, I'm sure something can be done!" Shito stopped.

After a while, Sasha started to walk towards the floating crystal.

"What will you do?" Lily asked.

"Unlike Doko, I don't break promises."

Then she looked back at both Lily and Shito and said,"So, I won't stop trying."

She went up the stairs slowly, preparing herself for the results. As she stretched out her hands to the crystal, the closer they got, the stronger the winds blew. Sasha continued to struggle so that she wouldn't get blown away like last time.

And then, all on a sudden, the crystal started to glow incredibly brightly. Sasha couldn't keep her eyes open because of the brightness.

And then...

Sasha finally opened her eyes. She had trouble believing what she saw after that. She was surrounded with brilliant white clouds and pitch black starry sky followed by a whole lot of nothingness. She found herself floating mid air and was unable to move.

A huge ball of light came near her. She looked straight at it. And, she started to hear a gentle voice in her head.

"You are a dear living being to me. So, I'll help you this time. I will send you a message which has the answers to all of your questions. You shall receive it when you are ready. Until then..."

The whole place glowed brighter than ever and she became unconscious.

Slowly, she opened her eyes hearing a disturbing noise. Above her was a white coloured concrete ceiling. Steadily, she sat up and stayed that way. Her hair, all ruffled and messy. She reached for the alarm clock beside her bed. It was 6:30 AM. Turning off the alarm, she got down from her bed and started to prepare for school.

She forgot everything that had happened in her dream world.