A: I better write this down before I forget it.
Elsword: Forget what?
A: My dream. Now if you excuse me.
Chapter 1
It all started when I found a book on my way home from school…
"Huh? What's this book? Aisha?" I skimmed through it, and I immediately noticed that it was missing some pages.
"Hmmm…Why do I feel like I've seen the missing pages…." I said as I entered the house. And then I remembered that I found some papers on the way home a few days ago too.
"Right…..I'm pretty sure I put them in my drawer….." I went to my room and-
"Oh? What are you doing Elsword?" My sister, Elesis asked.
"There's this book I found, and it was missing a few pages, so I was wondering if the papers I picked up a few days ago are the pages." I said as I entered my room, with Elesis following me soon after.
"I see. So, where did you put those papers?" She asked.
"I'm pretty sure I put them in my drawer…" I said as I pulled the drawer in my table.
"Here it is." I said as I pulled the papers out.
"I knew it. That's why the book's pages look familiar…." I said as I compared the book's pages to the papers I was holding.
"You need help fixing it?" Elesis asked.
"Sure, thanks." I said.
A few minutes later
"That was fast." I said.
"Same here." She replied.
"Now…..only this page remains."
"It's page 75. Find page 74 in the book."
I skimmed through the book a bit then I found the page, I said, "Found it sis."
"Here we go…" She said as she put the last page, which she applied some glue beforehand, in.
There was a slight tremor the moment Elesis put the page in.
"An earthquake?" I said calmly, since it subsided immediately.
"Elsword, look at this….." She said, with her voice sounding a bit nervous.
"Huh? What the…." I said as I saw the book glowing.
"Thank you for returning the pages. You shall be rewarded. Please go to page 211." A girl's voice said.
"….Should we check it out?" I asked.
"We already went this far, so let's check it out." She said as she flipped to page 211.
"Here we are-"She cut herself off.
"Sis, what wrong?" I said as I looked at what bothered her.
"….You've got to be kidding me…." I said.
"A girl with purple hair will die horribly."
"Who is the book referring to…" And then I remember, we have a friend with with purple hair confined in the hospital. Her name was Arme. She was the daughter of a family friend. We used to play a lot when we were kids. But when we moved away, we haven't been able to meet up since. The last time I heard about her, they said that she was at the hospital. We once visited her, but we weren't able to talk to her since she was asleep. And we were busy so we were not able to visit her again.
"No way…Arme?" I said. I remember her having been confined there due to an unknown disease.
"….This book is a prank….." Elesis said.
"…Yeah, it can't be true, right?" I said
" But….if this…..book were to be….real….." I mumbled loud enough for my sister to hear.
"If it were…..then we have to do something… For Arme…" Elesis answered.
The next day…
We visited the hospital where our cousin is confined.
"There she is." I said.
"She looks like she'll die any moment…" My sister said.
"…She will die sooner or later madam. It'd be better to-"We heard two people talking. As we followed the voice, we found a doctor and our aunt talking.
"I know…I know…but I don't want her to die without fulfilling her last wish."
"Aunty, what's happening?" I asked.
"Oh? Elsword and Elesis? I didn't expect you to come and visit." Our Aunt said.
"We wanted to check how little Arme was doing…." Sis said.
"Yeah…and honestly I don't think she can live much longer…" I said. Aunt frowned, but I continued, "So, we overheard your conversation, and you said that she has a last wish? What is it aunt?" Our aunt smiled a bit.
"She wanted…..a friend. Someone who will remember her even if she is gone." She said.
"We'll be her friends. We were quite close when we were younger. I don't know if she remembers but we used to play together when we were kids." Elesis said.
"Honestly, I don't remember that much, but I do remember that we used to play a lot in the past. And as sis said, we were quite close to her." I said.
"Thank you..." She started crying soon after. We only looked at her for a while.
Ever since that day, we visited Arme every day, telling her what we did that day. She was asleep for the most part but sometimes she was awake. When we asked her if she remembers us, she said, "I do, Elsword-onii-chan and Elesis-onee-chan."
Then one time when we were visiting, I heard a doctor say that her condition has been improving. We thought that she may live longer now…
But we were wrong…
One day when we were visiting her.
"Her condition is critical! I don't know if she'll be able to hang on for much longer."
"No…Arme!" Sis and I rushed to her room, to find her gasping for breath, with her mom beside her, crying.
"Arme! Hang in there! Don't die!" Elesis said to her while holding her hand.
"We'll be sad if you die….." I said as tears are pouring down from my eyes
"You came…..I really am happy….Onii-chan, Onee-chan…..You really are…..my friends….If I were only healthier….I wish…that I can….go to school….with you two….but, seeing you making those faces…..makes me happy…And mom, thank you for…..staying by my side all this time…Thank you all of you..."
Later at night
"She thanked us before she died…" I said while I was in my room, still sad that Arme is now gone.
"Thank you, Elesis and Elsword. She was really happy when you started visiting her and said that you'll be her friends." I remember what our aunt said before we left the hospital.
"Elsword, look at this…." Elesis said.
"Huh…?" I said, while rubbing my eyes. Then I read what was written on the book.
"Your friend, Arme, died peacefully." I read it.
"Arme…" I started crying.
"Elsword, there's still more." She changed the page of the book.
"Had you not visited her and become her friend, something bad would have happened. And it would be too horrible."
"….Still, I'm glad we were able to make her happy in her last moments. Thank you, magic book." Elesis said. I nodded in agreement.
"No problem, it was the least I could do to repay you for fixing me…..." A girlish voice was heard from the book. Then there was a purple glow, and a girl appeared in place of the book. The girl looks like Arme.
"And just call me Aisha." She said.
"Um….Aisha…you're…." I only looked at her blankly. I don't have to guess what Sis whispered to her then Aisha…
"Y…You idiot! Look away Elbaka!" I don't know how it happened, but she shocked me with lightning, which made me fly a few meters back. It was justified of course, since she was…naked…
…And that was how my Sis and I first met the book girl Aisha.
A: And that's it. Honestly I was lucid dreaming a bit when I dreamed of this. Now speaking of my dream, I did a mistake in my dream and had to return to an earlier time, in other words, I saw something that went wrong and forced my dream to go back a bit. I'll update this when I have an idea.
Elsword: And about your other story…
A: Yeah yeah! I'm really really sorry if I kept you guys hanging on that one! Trust me! I'm really sorry! I'll update it once I get some motivation and ideas on how to execute next chapter on 'This Time, I'll protect you.'! So I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Until next time! See you!