Elsword opened his eyes and was immediately blinded by the sunlight invading his bedroom window. He groaned, running his hands through his crimson hair before rolling over. It had been three years since his sister left and he had stopped getting letters about 4 months ago when he received a birthday letter from her for his thirteenth birthday. He tried to keep tabs on what was going on, but he spent most of his days in training.
The training wasn't easy, but it was necessary. He had made a promise to himself that he would one day be strong enough to join the fight. He has been starting small and just fighting for his village, though not much ever happened in Ruben.
He slid out of bed reluctantly, sliding on his slippers. After getting dressed and brushing his teeth, he managed to make it downstairs. The house was quiet, though he had grown accustomed to it. He was pouring a glass of juice when the alarm sounded. He had practiced this drill many times before. There was an attack on the El Tree.
He sprung into action, grabbing his gear and racing out the door. He had, at such a young age, become one of the best swordsmen in the village. His determination to join his family drove him further and further into his training.
Elsword ran. He knew where the attack would be. He ran through the village and, after a few minutes of running, he came upon the large, furry creature. He resembles a mix between a bear and a wolf, with horns framing his face. His fur was think and plum-coloured. His long tail trailed behind him, accented with long ivory spikes. Elsword had never seen anything like this before. He gathered his composure.
"Berthe!" he yelled, confronting the creature. His hand moved instinctively to the sword at this side. He knew he was ready to fight the demonic being. Elsword had been training for this his whole life.
The creature turned to face him, fixing his glowing cyan eyes on the boy. "A child? The village is sending a child to fight me?" He chuckled, the sound resonating deep within his throat. "This will be easier than I thought."
"I am not a child!" he yelled. He could feel his cheeks growing hot. He would not let this beast humiliate him. "I will defeat you!" He lunged forward, withdrawing his sword from its sheath. He jumped to attack the monster. Suddenly a girl burst from the bushes, her violet pigtails bouncing as if they defied the laws of gravity.
"Lightning Bolt!" Her voice rang out into the clearing and a flash of light struck Berthe. The creature wailed and turned on the girl.
"Who dares..?" he seethed, eyes blazing with anger. A growl escaped his lips.
"I'm Aisha, magician extraordinaire!" she twirled her staff. "You picked the wrong place to show your ugly face, monster!" She stuck her tongue out mockingly at the creature.
"Why are there so many children running around here trying to be heroes?" Berthe spoke slowly, trying to make sense of it all. His gaze never left the young mage.
"Hya!" Elsword launched himself at the monster, while Aisha prepared another attack. A flash of light and Berthe was lying on the ground, defeated. He mustered up the strength to pull himself up.
"You children were quite interesting…. We will meet again." With that, he was gone.
Aisha turned on Elsword and began speaking. "You're lucky I showed up when I did!" She held out her dainty hand. "My name is Aisha." He didn't respond, only seemed lost in his own thoughts.
"Dammit! I almost had him." His hands balled into fists.
"Uhm, hello?" Aisha waved her hand in front of his face. An annoyed look flashed across her face. "Yeah, no need to thank me for saving you or anything.."
"Well, at least we got the El Shard," he murmured, disappointedly. He wanted a fight. "I better get this back to the village," he said to himself. Turning around, he came face-to-face with the girl.
"Wait, you are you?!"
Aisha's face dropped. This boy was ridiculous! Her face grew hot, cheeks flushing. She could feel the blood in her body boiling. "HAVE YOU NOT HEARD A SINGLE THING I HAVE BEEN SAYING, YOU IDIOT?!"
"You want the El Shard too, don't you?" he accused. "You want a piece of me?" He brought his sword to the ready. Twirling the blade to show off his sword skills.
She snorted. "Relax, foolish boy." She glared at him, mouth twisting into a snarl. "Maybe if you listened to me, you would know something."
Elsword relaxed his sword hand. "Fine, then you can explain it to me on the way back to the village." Aisha nodded in agreement.
As the two walked back towards the village, Aisha spoke about the ring and her need for the El and Elsword told her of his quest to find his sister. By the time the two had to reach the village, they had agreed to help each other, no matter the costs. They could both see the value in the other's abilities.
They had decided to form a party. Elsword saw it as an opportunity to find and help his sister in her quest to rid the world of evil and Aisha saw it as her opportunity to get a little back up in the field. She knew she wasn't at her strongest and she could feel the connection Elsword had, deep within him, to the El, though she kept this information to herself. She wasn't quite sure if the boy knew it or not.
Elsword caught the sideways glance that Aisha had shot him. "What?" he asked, snidely. He furrowed his brows in accusation.
"Nothing," she replied coolly. "I was just wondering how someone as small as you could actually fight anything." She flipped her hair at him and walked into the town hall.
"H-hey!" He chased after her, through the door, almost running into Hagus. He looked up at the older man, noting the tired look in his dark chocolate eyes. Elsword noted the bags that had seemed to form within the past few days, the age showing on the old man's face for the first time since the boy had known him. His face was covered with a thick brown beard. He said it helped him remember something, but Elsword could never remember what it was. Elsword could see the thin wisps of silver that caught the light every now and again.
"Elsword!" he exclaimed heartily. "You need to watch where you're going!" His laugh shook his belly, accentuating how round it was. The old soldier now turned village chief, place a hand on his shoulder. "I am glad you made it home okay, boy."
Elsword softened, momentarily forgetting why he ran into the building in the first place. The moment was over and he straightened up, mustering as much manliness as he could. "We recovered the El Shard," he revealed.
"Your friend just came in and brought us the good news. Who is this girl, Elsword? She's a cutie." He chuckled and turned away, moving towards the room used for gatherings.
"She is not my friend! We are just partners!" He followed after him, fuming. As he entered the room, all eyes moved to him. His gaze fell on Aisha.
Aisha turned her attention back to Lowe. "It was a large monster," she explained. "It was about to get away with the El Shard before I stepped in to help."
"That was very brave of you, Aisha, wasn't it?" he responded. She nodded. Elsword's jaw dropped. What did that girl think she was doing?
"I didn't need you, you twerp!" he interrupted, waving his hands around. He could not believe that this girl thought that she defeated Berthe. "And the monster's name was Berthe. I defeated him by myself."
Her skin prickled and her face scrunched up. "That's not true!" she responded, voice raising. "From where I was standing, the monster was getting away with the Shard while you stood there exchanging pleasantries!"
"I was not!"
"Well, who retrieved the El Shard? It looks like I was the one who brought it back to the village. It looks like this speaks for itself, El-dork." She spoke matter-of-factly, turning her attention to Hagus. "You will find that everything is in order, once again, in your small village."
"You both did a wonderful job," Hagus praised. He placed his hand around the boy's shoulders. "I am proud of you, Elsword. You've become one of the best swordsmen in our village at such a young age." He glanced down at him. "You are such a driven boy. Your father would be proud of you."
Elsword perked up a bit at his words, though he was sure he had defeated the demon. He shouldn't have given the El hard to that whiny little witch. He was beginning to second-guess his decision to join up with her. He shot a glare at the annoying girl, watching her full lips move as she undoubtedly was saying something that would make him cringe.
"-so I would be happily obliged to show him some tricks I've learned on my travels." Elsword caught the end of her sentence. He squinted.
"What are you going on about now? They don't want the help of an annoying little girl," he interjected.
"They would be lucky to have my help, you bird brain." She hmphed! At him. "I was the assistant to the high alchemist of Hamel. I know a lot more than you do, pipsqueak." She turned her attention back to Hagus. "So as I was saying…"
Elsword snarled and moved forwards, but Lowe grabbed him, holding him back from attacking the young girl. "Elsword, let it go. You cannot let your anger rule you." The boy relaxed.
"I guess so," he conceded, defeated. Lowe led him out of the room. He spoke again when they had left the room. "I just can't stand her, Lowe!"
"I know," he agreed, raking his gloved hand through his cropped chestnut hair. "But you two will become good allies to each other. You need to take care of each other."
Elsword grunted and left, calling to Lowe over his shoulder, "Let Aisha know I'll be outside waiting for her. She can stay at my house tonight. We will leave in the morning."