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

Chapter 3: Recall

The beast, known as dragon, let out its low growl as it landed on the ground and searched for the intruders that were caught by the crystal. The two knights were hiding behind the wall nearby while trying not to let out any sound that might end their lives.

That dragon was huge. They could feel its power next to them and the killer intent it leaked out that made them uneasy. For now, they had to non-verbally communicate.

'Move slowly.'

Elesis nodded and followed behind Elsword as they walked. They passed the windows and got a sight of the red dragon that looked around to find them. They kept walking until they had a good distance between them and that beast.

The beast then swung its tail, breaking the building surrounding it. The strong force alerted both of them and found the obstacles that helped them block its sight now broken down.

"Damn it! Run!"

They ran as fast as they could and got inside the castle. However, that's not gonna hold the beast back as it slammed its head on the wall. Then they saw the dragon's head staring at them through the entrance. Its mouth widely opened and was about to breathe fire. They both had to run faster and avoid the deadly heat.

As they tried to run to the corridor. They saw the beast outside tracking their movements and covered their faces as it slammed its claw on the wall, damaging the structure inside.

"Damn that lizard! We have to move!"

They both didn't realize that the path they were running on was what it expected. The beast cornered the preys and continually pushed them going upward. Once they were at the exposed floor, it stopped them from advancing.

"There you are, rodents! Nowhere to run now!"

The beast roared at them. Elsword and Elesis had no choice but to fight.

"Elsword, on me!"

Elesis withdrew her claymore and was ready to strike. Elsword did the same. The beast slammed its claw on the ground, forcing the dodge the deadly attack. Elesis threw her flame striking at the beast and Elsword summoned his Armageddon Blade to fight it. He struck at the beast's claw with a strength that forced the beast to withdraw the claw back.

The beast was annoyed and punched through the hole to get Elsword. Elesis slid below its arm and knocked it back by summoning multiple magical blades from the ground, damaging it. She then ran toward the head of the beast and stood below it before her body began to glow in red. A flame tornado erupted around her, knocking the beast off.

Elsword made a double strike on the beast's other claw that clung on the wall and forced it to fall down.

The dragon growled in anger as it flapped its wings and hover in the air, eyes staring at them. It opened its jaw and was ready to kill them.

"You disgusting humans! You shall die!"

"Run!"

They ran upstairs as soon as the beast breathed out a giant fireball.

"Damn it. That thing surely wants us dead. The whole castle shakes with just that blast!"

They kept running and hid in a room to avoid the beast's red slitted eye staring through the broken windows. It swept the path to find the red knights before it floated away, leaving relieved siblings.

"Finally…"

They sheathed their weapons and looked around the place they were in. With many bookshelves and burnt books scattered around, they assumed it's the library. Elsword approached what seemed to be the librarian's desk and noticed a skeleton holding a feather pen on a book.

"Check this out, sis."

"Hm?"

Elesis followed her brother and saw this.

"Just another one killed by that beast."

"Yeah, poor them."

Elsword moved the skeleton backward and picked up the book. Upon examination, he learned that it's a journal.

On July 13th,

An expedition team was dispatched by the order of the lord. I was assigned along with a friend of mine to collect and research anything on the way. My El, he surely annoyed me a lot about what he had found. He kept repeating the name of the mythical beast that is living in the territory we were heading to, Perkisas of Red King.

That does sound… weird. Red King? Then where the hell is the castle that the king lives in? If it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist.

But… I was wrong, fatally.

When I returned upon finding new research, it appeared. The sight of a winged beast that rampaged and destroyed our hometown, hunted and manslaughtered anyone on its path.

And here I am, writing the last page of my own journal, my own life. I do not need to think twice that the expedition team has been annihilated.

Forgive me…Hera…

The rest was burnt by fire.

"It seems they met a tragic fate."

Elsword closed the journal and placed it back where it was.

"Check this out, Elsword!"

Elesis called him. In her hands was a map that shows the structure of the castle.

"There are ballistae installed on the top of the castle here. We can use these things to hunt down the dragon when it's in the air."

"Yes, but we need to get there first since we don't know whether they still work or not after being stuck here for years."

"That's the plan."

Elesis took out her pen and started noting the paths that were blocked or destroyed. She folded it and they both went to the top. With her recall, she could help Elsword lead the way. But the path once again was blocked and had to resort to an alternative way.

But there's a problem.

"That thing again?"

They spotted another orange crystal floating before them, the same one that alerted the dragon when Elsword destroyed it.

"If it's here, that means the dragon's tracking us."

"Seems so. Just ignore it and don't do the same stunt again, Elsword."

"W-What makes you think I would destroy it?"

Elesis smirked and said "I can see your fingers twitching near the sword. While I want to smash this thing, it would cause more trouble than just satisfy my desire."

Elsword nodded and continued forward.

"By the way, I heard that you used to be a spearman, right? Does your style resemble Ara?"

Elesis saw how much Elsword's curious about her former time.

"Where did you hear this?"

"Rena's friend told me. It's so cool to master more than just one weapon."

"Hehe~ I'm flattered. For your information, no, mine's more aggressive and free style."

"Can I see it?" Elsword asked, hoping he could get a few shots against her style.

"Sure, but after we get out of this place first."

They both headed and found themselves at the main hall, the place that was once used to meet the King and the Queen. But now, the thrones were covered in dust.

"Hey hey, check this out."

Elesis approached and sat on the Queen's throne. She then posed as if she's the queen of the castle, which made Elsword chuckled.

"Try it out, Elsword."

"Are you sure we can do this? Don't you think we are disturbing the dead?"

"Nah, we're fine. We just try it for a few minutes."

"If you say so…"

Elsword sat on the King's throneơ. The feelings he stayed firmly on the throne was strange, as if it filled him with pride, but arrogance. He frowned a bit and started getting headache. His vision blurred and saw the hall returned to its former state along with chaos of other people standing along it.

"Useless… Useless, all of them!"

"But Milord, we cannot send them out at this rate. It's coming closer. We need to run."

"Run?! Where can we run now?! What happened to Ballistae?"

"They-"

An explosion blew up outside the castle, flame spreading and there were screams of pain. A body being incinerated suddenly fell from the top that caught their attention.

"They're gone."

"Damn it all!"

While they were trying to find a plan, the gate suddenly bursted, alerting them and the guards standing inside. They saw it, the red slitted eyes staring at them as though they were looking through their souls. Before they could do anything, flames started engulfing them and the King himself.

"Elsword!"

"Aaaahhh!"

The man suddenly caught fire and fell from the throne. Elesis got off and helped Elsword extinguish the fire. As the fire died down, Elesis found the burnt mark on his arm and used a bottle of fresh water to cool it down.

"Hah… What was that…"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm… good. Thanks, sis."

Elsword got up again, the headache was still there for a few seconds until it faded.

"This place is messing me up. I keep seeing the past and their deaths, including the King's."

"Come on, let's get out of here. We can't stay here any longer."

"Too bad you will go nowhere."

"?!"

They both looked at the entrance and found the same dragon staring at them with its slitted eyes.

"Perkisas!"

"So you know my name, human. Interesting. I remember you two are on the same ship I sank not long ago, and you survived. You will be more entertaining than the others."

It slammed on the floor, creating a large crack that extended near them. They both stepped back as flame engulfed and revealed the floating crystal. It then spawned creatures that shaped like the human guards armed with weapons and ranged weapons. Elsword somehow heard the torment from them.

"Have fun with them."

The beast roared and then took off, leaving Elsword and Elesis with them.

"Kill… us…"

"They are not just simple spawns. They are soldiers' souls trapped in that crystal."

"Help us… please…"

"Whatever they are, we have to destroy the crystal before it overwhelms us. En Garde!"

Elsword held his sword firmly and charged forward. The spawned archers shot a volley of arrows at them which were deflected by Elsword's sonic wave. He slammed his sword on the ground, swung it swiftly and slashed those soldiers within his sword. They shattered into pieces and were absorbed by the crystal.

Elesis handled the archers. She threw fireballs at them as a distraction and jumped at them. Within her claymore's strike, she cleaved them into halves, summoned magical blades from the floor to pierce them and swung violently around her as a grinding machine. They, too, were absorbed by crystal after being defeated.

After killing the last soldier, they both saw the crystal spawned more of them.

"Damn it, it revives them."

"Elesis, hold them back. I will try to handle it."

Elesis nodded. Her body glowed in the color of wild flame and suddenly, she disappeared and reappeared near one of them, struck in the back and did the same to the others. Elsword forced his way through the army and approached the crystal at the same time Elesis landed beside him.

"Face the eternal wrath of fire!"

Her El Energy became stronger and stronger, but unstable. She let out her roar and surrounded them both and the crystal with flame hurricane, separating them from the spawned soldiers. Elsword held his sword, eyes on the crystal. He started with the initial strike, hitting it and held the second strike back, gathering enough strength.

"Double Strike!"

He unleashed it and successfully destroyed the crystal. It shattered and faded away, which affected the spawned soldiers as they disappeared as well. Elesis and Elsword breathed heavily before they both fell on the floor.

"That was… great- Ouf!"

Elsword couldn't finish his words as he felt Elesis' hands on his shoulders and pulled him down. He then found her sister looking at him while he felt the softness on the back of his head.

"Sis?"

"Sh… Rest."

Her hand slowly rubbed his hair. Elsword was not sure what she's doing and slowly relaxed. Her soft hand then touched his forehead and down to his cheek as a small smile formed on her lips. He's not used to this view as he saw a good view of her bosom. But what he noticed was her eyes that were looking at him. There's something that's within her eyes. Happy? Sad? Regret?

"Remember the time when I had to leave you alone?"

She spoke up.

"That time? Yeah, You suddenly left to find our father. I have been wondering all the time about you until you showed up in Velder."

Elesis nodded and said "When our father left and disappeared, you became estranged from me. I didn't know what had happened to you. It felt like a cold knife had stabbed my heart. But I could take it and did everything to fix it."

"You did, sis. We had a lot of time together, sparring, talking, lectures and more. You acted as if you're taking responsibility to raise me after he left, though I wish I could do the same. I acted tough before you so that I wouldn't let you see my weak side."

"It's true that you're the only male in the Sieghart family and you want to show that you're a strong male . But that doesn't mean you have to be that cold toward me, idiot."

"Sorry."

Elesis giggled and rubbed his forehead.

"That's alright, Elsword."

"So… What happened to him?"

"..."

The memory flooded back to her as she remembered her fight against her father who turned into demon in Tower of Disappearance. She tried her best to save him and beat some sense into him. She succeeded in saving her father, but the collateral damage made the palace slowly fall apart. She had lost her father once again, not because she couldn't save him, but because he refused to be saved.

His journey was not over.

"... I found him, but he chose to leave me again. His mission is not over."

"I see… That old man…"

Elsword spoke sadly, knowing that he wouldn't return.

"At least he's still alive, so cheer up for once, Elsword. Maybe one day he will return home."

"Maybe…"

Elsword got up.

"Come on. Break time's over. The sooner we get out of this place, the sooner we go home."

Elesis nodded and got up with him.