Looking into Elsword's scarlet eyes, I am once again reminded of the marriage we were meant to have when we turned 15. Though we are cousins by blood, our marriage was already determined prior to our birth to carry on the bloodline.
We are Water Elementalists. Beings who possess the power to control and wield water as weapons to fight.
Somewhere along the line in the family tree, one of our ancestors fell madly in love with an Air Elementalist. Bringing our families together, their child ended up not only lacking the power of an Air Elementalist, but also having extremely weak Water abilities. The elders back then were pissed off, and decided that no Water Wielder is to marry anyone other than someone of the same ability.
Years later, Hamel City that was back then known as Hamel Village, the village of Water Wielders, fell victim to a horrible fire. The fire burned on for 8 days and 8 nights, exhausting everyone's powers and killing all but three. These three friends had happened to be out of town on a hunting job. What greeted them upon their return was nothing but ash and the smell of burnt flesh. Two of them were my great grandfather and grandmother, and they were only 17 when they had to deal with their entire village disappearing on them.
Left with no choice, they had to rebuild the Water Elemetalist community from scratch. Generations passed where incestuous behavior was not only acceptable, but necessary in the carrying of our bloodline. Cousins and even siblings would be destined to marry before birth, just like I had been with my cousin, Elsword.
"Eve," my mother's soft voice calls my name from the kitchen, I know exactly what she is about to say and roll my eyes before she even begins.
"You've been studying in the capital for a year now. I haven't bugged you about it but you can't just abandon your destined marriage like this! You can't keep Elsword waiting for you for so many years, dear."
I look at Elsword again. We've talked this over, he knows I don't want to marry him and the feeling is mutual. He just shrugs and looks at me apologetically.
"Mom, it's only for another two years. And who knows, maybe I'll find a handsome Water Wielder in the capital and we can get married instead." Elsword shoots me a scolding look, in which I return to him a smirk.
"A-another man?" Mother exclaims.
"Young lady, I'm telling you, our family is the last of our kind. You know the family rules, no one other than Water Elementalists. You may have other cousins, but Elsword right here is the one you're destined to! Wait till you bring me another Water Wielder, then we'll talk."
The train back to the capital takes a good 3 hours, more than enough time to catch up on the lack of sleep last night from talking to Elsword.
This isn't right. No matter how distant you are, family is family; I just can't bring myself to overlook that.
A huge sigh escapes me as I look out into the autumn scenery. The leaves have started to be dyed in warm colors by the fading sunlight, as if taking the warmth from the sun itself, signifying the beginning of the cold season. I take my earbuds out of my backpack and drown myself in music, before unknowingly falling asleep on an unfamiliar shoulder.
"What the," I wake up with a jolt when the train jerks suddenly and a child's scream from a seat nearby fills my ears. The silver haired man next to me, whose shoulder apparently was the one I was leaning on the entire time, jumps in response to my overreaction.
"What the hell. Woman, what's wrong with you?" He glares at me for a second and leans back in his seat, resuming his slumber while leaving me stunned in shock.
Are you shitting me right now? This rude uncultured piece of shit.
I look around wanting to get a change of seats, but since I'm seated by the window, I'll have to get by him first, and I'm not having that again.
I continue sulking for a little while before falling back asleep.
We arrive at the capital—Elysion. Every time I come back here I'm no less amazed than I am before, I guess it's called the capital for a reason. It is full of high-tech buildings and cars for as far as the eye can see, but also without a lack of nature. Trees of blue, purple and pink leaves are scattered all over the city neatly, giving the entire place a beautiful cool-toned sunset hue. The city is made up of residential areas and suburbs on land, and giant floating altars holding up most of the commercial buildings such as the top schools, government offices, and bigger scaled shopping complexes. Roads leading from the ground up to the altars exceed hundreds, maybe thousands, and are full of floating cars carrying the busy city folk about their days.
The train comes to a complete halt at Elysion Central Station. I gather my items and prepare to leave my seat when I realize the guy from earlier is still asleep.
I flat out gawk at him. I'm not going to deny that he's not bad looking, even more so now that he's asleep and not scowling at me. His silver hair is tinged cyan, and it brings out his irises that I managed to see earlier were of the same color. His crisp, formal looking shirt is turquoise lined with bronze, and his pants and boots are white, once again lined bronze and with turquoise markings on them.
Is that a uniform? It looks pretty damn good on him. If only he didn't have a rotten personality.
I try and wiggle past him to leave my seat and stop dead in my tracks when something grabs me by the arm. I turn to see those cyan eyes piercing me.
"You're an elementalist?"