"Hagus, you were right!" the red-haired boy called as we entered the village. "But a giant Phoru blocked my way and we lost him."

"We'll have to track him as quickly as possible," Hagus frowned. He then took stock of our battered selves. "You three should rest up. You've done enough for now. I'll alert all the other villagers to search for Banthus in your stead. Lowe," he added. "Could you take them to the training center? I'm sure the other two travelers can rest there while they're here."

"Yes sir. The training center is over that way," Lowe said, heading towards a structure to the left of the chief's office. "I'll lead you to your room. Elsword, you don't mind if you share the same hallway with them, do you?" he added, looking at the red-haired boy.

"Yeah, sure… wait, what?!" he protested. Unfortunately for him, Lowe had already moved on ahead. I could see Aisha stifle a giggle before following him. I allowed myself to smile at the boy's indigence before chasing after her.


"It's quite cozy in here," I remarked, gazing up around the earthly structure. Wooden slabs were neatly lined up in rows and made up most of the building. Our bunks were on opposite ends of the room, made by the same type of wood as the rest of the building. It almost reminded me of the Elven village from back home, save the slightly darker color scheme.

"Oi, Rena," Aisha called, flopping on to her bunk. "Do you think we should get to know this Elsword character better? He may be a brat, but it seems like the village chief is going to stick us on the same missions from now on. Not that he has much of a choice. I'm pretty sure we're the only ones who can fight here," she added with a smirk.

"That's true," I agreed. "It'll be hard to work together if we can't even trust each other. Who knows what sort of enemies we may encounter in the future? I'm not sure about you, but I know for a fact that there will be much stronger enemies that I'll encounter as I carry out my mission."

"What sort of mission?"

"I was thinking about discussing our backgrounds during dinner. It's been a long day," I added.

"Now that you mention it, I'm starving! Magic really takes a lot out of you." She hopped off the bunk and headed to the door. "You coming?"

"Of course," I answered, rising from where I was seated and joining her. "Here's hoping that the food is good," I joked.


The first thing we saw was Elsword gorging himself on meat. Aisha immediately went up to him and smacked him with her staff.

"What was that for?!" he snapped.

"You have the gall to stuff yourself like that when you didn't even introduce yourself to the person who saved your life?!" Aisha screeched back.

"That doesn't mean that you can just hit me with your staff like that!" he complained.

"I might stop if you actually introduce yourself to us!" she countered.

"Didn't you hear Lowe call my name, idiot?!"

"Of course I did, but you should be the one I hear your name from, not some stranger!"

"Look, guys," I attempted to talk above the mounting noise. "Can't you stop for just one second...?"

"Prissy brat!"

"Stupid idiot!"

"Prissy brat!"

"Stupid idiot!"

"Brat!

"Idiot!"

"Brat-"

"GUYS!" I ended up screaming. One look at my face told them I was absolutely fuming.

"LISTEN TO YOUR ELDERS!" I hissed. "KIDS NOWADAYS DON'T SEEM TO HAVE ANY MANNERS! STOP THIS USELESS SHOUTING AT ONCE! YOU SHOULD APOLOGIZE TO EACH OTHER, NOW!"

The one called Elsword opened his mouth. "But... you're the loudest one of us-"

"NO BUTS! APOLOGIZE NOW!" The two others scrambled to get themselves to face each other.

"S-sorry," Aisha began.

"Y-yeah. Same," Elsword stammered back.

"Now then," I sighed, taking a seat by the table. "We should get to know each other, seeing as how we're probably going to be stuck together." I took a deep breath in to steady myself. "Who's going first?" I glanced at the two children. Both of them were still staring blankly at me, shocked into silence.

"Ahem."

"O-o-oh, right!" the boy eventually stuttered. "I'll go first!" He shifted his position slightly as he relaxed.

"My name's Elsword. I'm training to become a great swordsman, just like my sister!" I saw his face brighten up as he continued talking. "Have you ever heard the stories of the red-haired knight? That's my sister. She's the captain of the Red Knights, and I vowed to one day be as strong as her. She's been off on an adventure for almost two years now, but I know that she's just fine. After all, she's Elesis!" He broke off into a large smile at the end. "She'll come back eventually, I know it. That's why I have to get as strong as I can before she does! Then I can follow her whenever she goes on these adventures. I wonder where Sis is now...?" The last question was almost like an afterthought. I could feel my heart warm at his blind hope in his sister, although I couldn't help but think that his faith could crush him.

"I'll go next," Aisha interrupted. "You may not believe it, but I used to be much stronger than I was now!"

"That's not that hard to believe, since you're so weak," Elsword sniggered.

"Quiet! I'm speaking!" Aisha snapped, hitting him with her staff. "Anyways, I was known as a great magician, even though I was younger than most. I've traveled all over the world to learn more about magic and to become stronger. But then, one day while I was exploring these ancient ruins, I came across a magic ring. Before I knew it, all of my power was stolen from me in an instant. My mentor told me that the ring was somehow tied into the El Shards of the legends, so I came to Ruben to find and hopefully relearn all of my magic powers."

"That's it? Kinda boring," Elsword yawned.

"It's much better than yours!" Aisha yelled, smacking him with her staff again.

"Well, you didn't even say your name!"

"I already told you my name! You just weren't listening!" she huffed. "I'll let it slide since I'm nice. I'm Aisha, pleased to make your acquaintance."

"You don't sound pleased to me..." Elsword muttered.

"Can it, loser!" Aisha shouted, hitting him once more with her staff.

"It looks like I'm last," I smiled, trying very hard not to yell at them again. "My name is Rena. I was sent from the Elder of my village to find the Tree of El. The purpose of this mission was to find and stop the cause of the El's fading power. However, when I finally arrived, I came across the bandits and overheard their plan to steal the El Shard. That's when I met all of you." I paused to take a breather before continuing. "While we still haven't retrieved the El Shard yet, I'm looking forward to working with you!"

Even though you can sometimes drive me nuts, I added in my head.

"Right, with all the introductions aside..." Elsword slammed his hands on the table. "HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!"

"Do what?" I asked.

"You know, jump in mid-air!"

"I've been wanting to ask about that too," Aisha cut in. "Is that some form of magic or something?"

"I guess you could call it that," I began. "I use the natural power around me -that is, Nature's Force- to double-jump and perform other various feats. I can only gather a certain amount of Nature's Force though."

"Awesome! That's so cool!" Elsword burst out. He then began blabbing about how I could use the energy for other things.

"You're such a little kid!" Aisha sighed before turning to me. "How much Nature's Force can you gather?" she asked.

"I've found my limit is around when I can create five orbs made of pure energy without problem," I answer, creating one such orb for demonstration.

"That's less than I thought," Elsword said, stopping his little talk with himself.

"It's actually a lot more," I counter. "These orbs are made purely out of natural energy so it's quite difficult to get one of this size without proper training and energy. While we're on the topic, I can also enhance my arrows and my other attacks with Nature's Force."

"Are your arrows also made out of Nature's Force?" Aisha asked.

I shook my head. "They're made out of mana. I can only use Nature's Force to strengthen my attacks, not create them."

"Mana?" Elsword asked, seemingly clueless about the topic.

"You dummy!" Aisha shouted as she smacked him with her staff. "You claim to be strong when you don't even know what mana is?!"

"So what?!" Elsword shouted back. "All you need is a strong sword and you can deal with any threat!"

"Oh yeah?! What about that beast? You were getting pummeled by it!"

"I was just resting!" he shouted, his face turning a slightly reddish hue. "I could've beaten it on my own!"

"Mana is a form of life energy," I interrupted, not wanting the argument to go on any further. "It's essential for casting spells, magical attacks, and executing powerful skills."

"Not like a doofus like you could know," Aisha smirked.

"Shut up."

"While mana may be a form of life energy, there's usually no consequence for using it, unless you spend a large amount of mana all at once," I continued. "Even then, all it normally does is make you feel a little drained. It regenerates over time, so in normal circumstances you wouldn't need to worry about running out."

"Unless you're in the middle of a heated battle, where you need all the mana you can in order to perform your strongest attacks," Aisha interrupted.

"While you may be able to regenerate it, you don't have an infinite amount of mana, so you have to be careful when spending it."

"See the importance now?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Elsword sighed, rolling his eyes. "If what you said is true, then there's nothing I can do about it. It's not like I can make it regenerate faster or increase my capacity or something."

"That may be true, but more knowledge is always helpful," I try to reason. "Besides, who knows? It may help you in a battle one day."

"I doubt the bandits know about mana, seeing as how both of you are oh so strong people," he smirked.

"You shouldn't just shrug off some important knowledge!" Aisha yelled. "You little brat-"

"Glad to see you're all getting along."

I turned to see Lowe looking at the three of us with a slight smile. He was holding a large platter which he set down on the table.

"Help yourselves," he said. "I'll be going to look for Banthus so try not to wreck the place like you did last time."

Last time? I wondered before realizing that it must've involved Elsword somehow.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he replied, waving him off. He flung open the lid and grabbed a big chicken leg.

"Wow," I said on reflex. Aisha whistled. Inside the platter was a colorful salad, with leafy greens and various other vegetables sprinkled in. There were also chunks of meat scattered around. I took a bowl from the counter nearby and filled it with the food, being careful to avoid the meat.

"Are you not going to take any meat?" Aisha asked me, shoving as much food as she could into her own bowl.

"We're vegetarian," I explained. "I don't mind if others eat meat though."

"Suit yourself," Elsword mumbled, mouth stuffed full with food.

"Didn't you already eat?!" Aisha yelled, taking a fork and lifting it to her mouth. "You shouldn't talk while you're eating either!"

"If you don't like it you don't have to stare," he replied, downing himself with a glass of water.

"And what's with your eating habits? You can't just eat meat!" Aisha complained after finishing her mouthful. "Look at Rena! She's... er- you've got to get a good variety of nutrition!"

They're giving me a headache... I thought as I silently ate my meal. I listened to the two children argue back and forth about the most stupid little things, like how idiotic they were. A little while later, Hagus came in. Needless to say, I was glad that he came in.

"There you are," he began. "The townsfolk found some bandits while they were searching the forest for Banthus. They were causing touble in the fairy grounds that had existed before the El's explosion. It's possible that they could be related the Banthus. Could you go stop them before they cause more trouble?"

"The ruins, huh?" I thought aloud. "I wonder what kind of evil plan might be awaiting... let's go everyone!"

"But-!" Elsword shouted as Aisha and I rose from the table. "I'm not- my food!"

"That's what you get, sucker," Aisha snickered as we ran out the room.