It's been a long time.

An awful long time since I've written anything, nor posted. Will my empty profile be active again? Perhaps. In any case, here's a very short prompt that I've unofficially submitted (Many days late) for the Elsword fanfiction discord server.

~LunaHalo

After a day of training, Ara returned to Elder village. The night cover had fallen over the foreign town and the full moon filled the sky with her own sentimentality. She took the pin that tied her hair very delicately.

A few days ago, she had learnt the reason behind her momentary loss of consciousness. The young lancer took the accessory in her hands and passed her index over it, as if to clean an invisible blanket of dust.

It scared her.

She never went into battle without feeling anxious about getting injured, lose consciousness to wake up moments later to see all her enemies dead around her. This often led her to forget her surroundings and do clumsy mistakes unworthy of her lineage. Because everyone around her had never heard about her clan, they often let her mistakes slide as very minor. To her eyes, of course, it was very different and she couldn't stop to apologize for it.

She clenched her grip on the hairpin and let out a sigh. "You've probably saved my life more times than I can count. Still..."

If one had never seen her during a difficult battle, she might've seemed as a lonely person talking to an old memento. However, that hairpin was the seal of an ancient and powerful fox spirit the Haan clan had sealed away for centuries. Ara knew that her family had provided Elrios with powerful Moon priestess and other exorcists, but all that was only history, a long history Echo had shown her earlier that day.

Eun, the Ancient Fox, was sealed away more than five hundred years ago. The fox had been causing trouble to the villagers and it was the task of the monks to stop the spirit from tormenting the townspeople at night.

However, it was the daughter of the village's chief who was able to appease the spirit fox. The Haan dynasty held great power from then on, as the spirit taught them many magic techniques to combine to their martial arts. In exchange, Eun was given a week to manifest itself and play tricks on the townspeople. It was the Spirit Fox Festival.

Yet, this tradition lasted for very little, as the new generations did not see the need to keep Eun free. Her importance, however was kept as the symbol of each female leader. A single hairpin kept the powerful spirit sealed away, only giving her strength to the strongest female. Thus, she honored her promise to that young girl that had been compassionate towards all spirits.

And from all the oldest female warriors Ara knew, Eun had chosen her. She still lacked so much training, but now that she knew the history behind her hairpin, Ara had a new goal to get stronger. She had to save her brother, that was certain, but she disagreed with the decision her ancestors had taken.

It wasn't fair to repay the one who had taught them everything by keeping it trapped inside a hairpin. It was even more than unfair; it felt like treason. Eun was probably the last being that could teach her the old path of the Haan warriors.

Ara closed her eyes and tried to meditate like her predecessors to reach Eun's mind, but it was to no avail. She opened her eyes and laid down over the inn's unfamiliar bed. Her hands still held the old relic.

"If I can reach you, Eun, I won't be scared anymore when you save me. We'll think together and I'll give you the freedom my ancestors took away from you."

And so began the strong friendship that brought back the former glory of the Haan exorcists.