Disclaimer: I do not own Elsword. Just a wandering author who wishes to releases imagination.

Chapter 2: History

"Holy El…"

That's the words to express Elesis' feelings when she and Elsword found a hidden castle. They stepped out of the cave and approached the entrance of the castle, which they had to cross the bridge above the river of lava, something not a good memory to them.

"How the hell did the castle hide itself underneath the island?" Elesis asked, "This thing is bigger than Velder."

Elsword looked around and above to find the top of the whole cave was filled with shining crystals that made it like a night. A big hole above the ceiling meant they were right at the heart of the volcano. His Dimension Sword started to react.

"Time and Space Distortion."

"What?"

Elesis looked at him.

"My sword reacts to this place. I believe this castle is affected by distortion and got itself here."

"Man… If that's the case, this is the main reason why we can't leave the island."

"Seem so."

"Come on. Let's get inside and see what we can find, and probably find the main source of this damn distortion."

Elesis crossed the bridge, followed by Elsword. He then felt something and looked behind. However, there's nothing. Strangely… He surely felt something. Then, he returned and followed Elesis to the main gate. The huge ironed gate was heavily damaged by a force that it was deformed. They crossed the entrance and looked inside to see what was left of the castle.

Silence was the only word to describe the atmosphere of the ruined.

They found traces of life that used to be here, skeletons with armor plates, weapons scattered and cannons that were pulled over. It seemed there had been war.

"I don't recognize this insigma."

Elsword picked up the shield which had the insigma. Elesis, being the great granddaughter of a certain century knight, Ercnach Siegfried, knew it. She was told about a castle that was once feared by nations suddenly being wiped off the map by an unknown phenomenon, as if the castle was just an illusion.

"I do, Elsword. The insigma belongs to a former nation during the old man's time. Remember the story I used to tell you about the dawn of Elrian?"

"I thought it's just a myth."

"Everything myth is based on true story. They are twisted to keep those with curiosity away."

Elsword put the insigma down and headed deeper along with Elesis as they explored the castle.

"So you're telling me this myth is created because of Time and Space?"

"Your sword proves it, right? That answered my question long ago."

Elsword nodded and continued exploring. As they headed, they felt the faint magic emitting from a building that looked like military headquarters. They entered the building and found the inside looked charred, as if it had gone through a large fire. Not all remained intact. Elesis found an old map that illustrated the old world.

That confirmed her suspicion.

Elsword looked deeper and heard the faint voice.

"Help me…"

"?!"

Elsword looked where the voice came from. That's impossible. There shouldn't be anyone alive, not after hundreds of years.

"Anyone there?"

"Help…"

Elsword followed the voice and he found the breakroom which was a mess. He could feel the faint magic wandering in the room. The voice should be here.

"Anyone here?"

"Here…"

Elsword heard the voice again and approached the table. As he walked closer, he saw the faint blue flame hovering above the table. The flame wandered around the table and then approached Elsword who stepped back a bit, not knowing what it was.

"Elrenius…? No, you're not him… Who are you…?"

"My name is Elsword, Elsword Sieghart."

"Sieghart… You're… his heir… Help us…"

"What do you mean?"

"Red… King… Eternal curse…"

Elsword didn't understand what the flame wanted to tell him until it suddenly touched him. He then felt himself being shifted through time and found everything in the breakroom was reversing its damage.

"What the hell?!"

He was surprised as he felt the time and space of this place had changed. He noticed the calendar on the wall showed the date was far, farther than his current time.

"Hey man,"

Elsword heard the voice from his back and saw two men in their knight armor. They seemed to talk to each other.

"When will the expedition start?"

"Not long, but do you think it's wise to venture out there? We have little to no clear information about that area except the rumor that there's a dragon called 'Red King' hiding there."

The other man noticed all the papers and scrolls on the desk and looked at him.

"Are you still investigating that rumor?"

"That's why I have a doubt about this expedition."

"The Lord wants to expand and claim the territory as far as possible. We are not allowed to back down, even if there's risk. Besides, dragons do not exist. They are just a myth. Don't let it get over your head."

"Understood."

"Get yourself some rest then, I will check the armory."

They then parted away as the black haired man left for his duty while the remainder stayed and looked at the information on the desk. A sigh escaped his mouth and sorted them out. However, one paper dropped on the floor that caught his attention. He picked it up and read the intel with eye slowly widened.

"If this is true… then… I need to stop this."

The man dropped all the scrolls and papers and headed outside, just as the illusion started fading away. Elsword then found himself returning back to the current timeline.

"What was that?"

"A mistake… our mistake… A fault… His fault…"

"Elsword!"

Elesis called his name. He saw his sister come in in a hurry.

"Elesis?"

"There you are. You should respond when I call you."

"What's going on?"

"I have called you like four times and you haven't responded until I found you here. What did you find?"

Elsword nodded and pointed at the burnt desk. He approached and took out a few scrolls that were still intact and unfolded them.

"They said something about the Red King hiding in the territory that the Lord of Kounat Kingdom wanted to claim, nothing much. However, I have a feeling there's something more."

Elesis read and saw the region named Archimedia. She frowned a bit as old memories came back to her. She remembered Kounat Kingdom was destroyed long ago before Ashtaroth caused a mess. It took her and her former team a lot of work to deal with him before everything went back to its previous state.

She didn't expect the castle would haunt her here, again.

"Alright, let's get what we have and let's go."

Elsword nodded.

After that, they left the military headquarters and planned to head directly to the castle. Illusions suddenly appeared again. Elsword found the path he's walking on filled with unknown people. Villagers walked on their ways as soldiers were patrolling. Elsword tried to touch one of them, but they went through him, as if he didn't exist.

However, everything soon came to a nightmare as he heard the loud wings flapping along with the roar that terrorized the blue sky. Fear consumed the civilians and they started running in chaos. He looked up to see the sight of a red dragon that glided above the castle.

"What in the…"

The dragon then breathed wild flame on its path and burnt the castle. It landed inside and started massacring citizens and guards running from its destructive claws. Flame spread wildly. He saw cannons pointing at it but that firepower wasn't enough. It then opened its jaw and blasted a huge fireball at them, quickly destroying their cannons.

It looked at something on the top of the castle and quickly flew away, avoiding two giant bolts. It flew higher and swiftly clawed those manning on top. Another loud roar screamed all over the now crimson sky.

"...sword… Elsword!"

"?!"

The illusions shattered and he found Elesis standing before him.

"What happened to you, Elsword? You suddenly looked around with surprised face and tried to reach something. Then you have that fear on your face. What's gotten into you?"

"I…"

Elsword didn't know how to say it. He saw her genuine worried face and felt her hand touch his cheek.

"I don't know. It's just, I saw illusions of this place. I can see what has happened here."

"What?"

"This place, it used to be a fortress, but it was attacked by a beast that we have never seen before, the same one that attacked the ship."

"That damn lizard. If I see it here, I'm gonna beat its a-" / "Language, sis."

Elsword reminded her as he sighed. She had no trouble expressing her thoughts.

As they both walked, they heard something. The same noise of wing flapping that terrored them on the sea. They looked up and found the sight of the beast diving down the volcano crater. This caught them by surprise.

"Hide."

Elesis and Elsword went inside one of the damaged buildings to avoid being caught. They headed to the second floor and entered a room which had a clear view of the dragon flying around the castle.

"What is it doing here?"

"Beat me."

The dragon then landed on the top of the castle before hiding itself from their sights.

"It's gone for now. We should probably be careful."

Elsword nodded, turned around and was about to leave when he noticed the room was filled with… inappropriate objects. He blushed slightly. Elesis noticed the surroundings and her brother's reaction, couldn't help it. She smirked deviously.

"Oh dear, I didn't think you would lead me to a brothel, Elsword. What would you do to this helpless woman here?"

"Wha- No, I didn't."

"You sure? You have every opportunity to have your way with me, you know?"

Elesis slowly approached Elsword and got him pinned on a mattress. He didn't know what had gotten into her and wanted to stop this. Her face was closer to his as a soft breath hit his face.

"Wait, Sis. We can't-" / "Can't what? I'm just teasing you. You are a dummy brother, Elsword, easily fell for my trick. Hehe~"

Elesis giggled and got off Elsword. The poor man still had faint red dust on his cheeks.

"Seriously, Sis, stop acting like that."

"Why not? Embarrassing you? You're so cute when I try it, you know."

Elesis sat next to Elsword. The boy was still wary near her but then he noticed Elesis leaned her head on his shoulder and had her eyes closed. A sigh escaped her lips. She needed this, being near Elsword and resting on his shoulder slowly removed her exhaustion.

"Sis? You alright?"

"Sh… I need some rest."

"..."

Elesis wished he had the same thing as her, yet being his sister was a great obstacle to her, as it separated her and him. It's a boundary that the society didn't dare to cross and ashamed to see any siblings in love with each other.

Her instinct as a sister told her not to commit the sins that would involve her brother into miserable life, yet her other instinct told her to do it, for her own desire.

The inner conflict happened in her mind like a battle between Devil and Angel.

For now, she wanted to enjoy his company as much as possible.

…

After like 15 minutes, Elesis woke up from her nap and noticed Elsword was sleeping as well. She watched his sleeping face, so peaceful. She touched his cheek and slightly rubbed it, the feeling of his warmth on her palm. She closed the gap between their faces and felt his breath slowly breathing.

When she was about to commit 'sin' unconsciously, Elsword groaned a bit. Elesis startled and jumped off him before he woke up from his own nap.

"Sis…? You woke up?"

"Ah- um. Right."

"Did something wrong? Your face looks kinda red-" / "Nothing, I'm all alright. E heh heh heh."

'Damn it! Stop acting like highschool girl before him."

Elsword got up and yawned.

"Anyway, let's go. We have to find the source as soon as possible and leave this place."

"Right, we have stayed here for too long."

They headed downstairs and left the brothel, only to find out something changed during their break.

"What is that?"

Elsword noticed a floating object inside another building. They both approached and looked closer to find out that it's a crystal. However, unlike the lighting crystals they found before, this one emitted faint magic of fire.

"Careful, we don't know what's the nature of this crystal."

Elesis warned him as she felt something's not right about this.

"If this is the main source, then all we need is destroying it, right?"

Elsword called his sword out and was about to slash it. Before Elesis could stop him or Elsword could strike, the crystal suddenly shattered and broke apart to their surprise.

"What the…? What's going on?"

Elsword was confused at first. Elesis didn't know how to answer as well, but then…

"Who Dares Disturbing My Sleep?!"

The deep roar of the dragon spoke up, echoing over the whole castle.

"Well… damn…"

"Indeed."

The next thing they knew, the sleeping dragon awakened from sleep and now was charging at them.