NAA: So, new character.

Elsword: Yup, Add.

NAA: Weird name.

Elsword: Yeah.

NAA: He's attractive.

Elsword: ... WELL GO AHEAD AND RUB IT IN MY FACE THAN!

NAA: Somebody's jealous~!

Elsword: NAA DOESN'T OWN ELSWORD! THE GAME! NOT ME!

NAA: Woah man, calm down.

Chapter Seventeen:
Ran

Third PoV

Aisha Ostrum(yes, we still refer to her as Aisha 'Ostrum') panted lightly. Glitters piled in heaps of two or three, lay strewn around the edge of town. A good sixteen had invaded, more than usual.

Although thankful to her very unaccepted companion, Aisha did not admit it to the red-headed knight. She looked up at him. He himself was panting a bit, standing straight as a pin, sword loose in his hand which rested at his side.

Elsword, well, the Elsword of Ri, flicked his eyes in her direction. Aisha started, quickly averting her eyes to the staff she was fingering.

"Miss Aisha-"

"Aw great." She sighed, a bit exasperated by her, although lovable, very irksome pet.

"What is it?" Elsword questioned. The violet haired girl waved her hand at him. She didn't really feel like explaining.

"Well, if you don't want to talk to me, that's perfectly fine." Aisha attempted to ignore the mock hurt in the little bat's voice.

"Did your staff just talk?" Eyes wide, Aisha stared at Elsword. He didn't look surprised, or scared, just interested, and... amused?

"Well... Angkor, just, um, be quiet, please?" She begged the staff.

"I simple wanted to report that Aisha, not you, has eradicated the Glitter Vanguard. Well, other Aisha and someone else. I think his name was El-"

"Just shut up, please." The staff hushed at her slightly whiny voice. After slumping a bit, Aisha opened her eyes to the red head. He was smirking a very curiosity-filled smirk. She scowled.

"My familiar communicates through this staff as he is not located in this dimension." She explained in a rather uppity manor. Closing her eyes, and turning her head away.

"Alright, then." The boy shrugged, turning to leave.

"W-wait!" Before she was able to stop herself, the girl called out. "Where are you going?" She asked a bit awkwardly.

"To the inn, er, tavern." The knight replied without pausing in his stepping.

"Oh." Aisha turned, a bit embarrassed, and focused her attention on her staff. "So Aisha managed to get farther? Did she find any El?" Without Aisha's noticing, the previously distracted Elsword paused.

"Yes, she has found an El shard. It wasn't very large, but still it was a shard." Aisha nodded solemnly before realizing her fizzy familiar could not see her.

"That's good. Alright, I think I'm going to return to the mountains I told you about. I still think that's where some of the glitters are coming from."

"You mean the mountain we were at?"

"WAH!" Aisha jumped back, dropping her staff, and falling on her back. "Thanks, idiot." Aisha shot a scowl at the knight.

"Sorry." Said knight sent her a sheepish smile back. The mage shifted her head, frowning as she stared at her fallen staff.

"Did you just drop me?!" The little bat sounded infuriated.

"You can blame the ElDork of Ri." A sort of hissing sound emit from the staff, causing it to vibrate a bit. Aisha quickly collected her fallen staff.

"ElDork?" The sheepish smile returned. A fluttering feeling rang in the purplette's chest.

"Oh, you've never heard me call you that before?" Aisha scowled, crinkling her nose, and tilting her head.

"Well, Miss Aisha, I hadn't realized you'd gained a partner so quickly." Startled, the girl took a step back, face aflame.

"P-Partner?! Whattaya mean by th-that Angkor?" As the conversation grew more heated between the magician and her familiar, the ElDork cocked is head, confused.

"Um, weren't we going to that mountain?" He suddenly interrupted.

"Who said you were coming along?"

"Miss Aisha, I believe it would be wise to bring your... Er, ElDork, along for safety precautions." Angkor advised cheerily, not even flinching(or so we assume) at his companion's growl.

"Fine! But not to satisfy your perverse needs!" She replied, grasping the staff to the point for her hands to quiver in tensity. She pointed an accusing forefinger at the space between the two sunny ovals that seemed to make the staff's Angkor feature come alive.

"Oh, of course not." The bat purred, voice as smooth as milk. "I bid you, Miss Aisha, and your partner adieu~!" And with that, the connection was lost.

"That was interesting." Elsword spoke, voice a higher octave than usual. "Shall we be going?" The only response he received was a quick nod from an expressionless Aisha.

Time quickly passed as the two traveled to the mountains. It took much longer than when Aisha would have flown, or hover, or whatever it was that she did on her Angkor staff.

In fact, they traveled on a cart. A cart led by nothing but a donkey. A very smelly donkey.

"Is this really the only form of transportation you can come up with?" Aisha questioned in a nasally voice, for she was pinching her nose in an attempt to block out the stench.

"You really get used to it quickly." The redhead replied readily, and informatively. Completely serious.

Aisha sighed.

"You are such an idiot."

"That's not true!" Surprised by the seemingly gentle Elsword's(A.N. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA-) outburst, Aisha looked him in the eyes inquiringly.

"You have an inferiority complex 'r somethin'?" She asked, barely blinking an eye at his intensity. He suddenly straightened, stiff as stone pillar, and resumed a calm expression. A forced calm expression.

"Sorry." He shot quickly, avoiding eye contact.

"Nah, it's fine." Barely sensing the tension, Aisha looked to the tracks emerging from underneath the cart's wheel. Although barely sensing, she stilled sensed. Even if only barely.

This caused a little shock to flit through Elsword's mind. This magician didn't give a crap about his feelings, or his issues. He let a half-smile spread across his features. He was beginning to like this girl.

Aisha gave a little run before hopping off of the cart. She almost patted the donkey, but then retracted when the scent hit her. Instead, she strode forward quickly.

Elsword followed soon after, actually acknowledging the donkey before heading into the rocky terrain. A cart's wheels would break quickly on it, so they died it to a scraggly tree, springing up from between a few rocks. It's leaves were tinted a dulled beige, they appeared to be dying.

"Hmm, do you feel that?" Elsword tilted his head in response.

"Feel what?"

"The demon glitters life essence." The boy fell over from the extreme angle of his leaning.

"You can sense their life essence?" He questioned, straightening from his odd position on the ground.

"Yeah, it's coming from up there. Something dark's up there. I mean, like, demonic. Not dark magic."

"There's a difference?" Scoffing at her current companion's complete incompetence, Aisha came very close to slapping him silly. She scowled.

"Of course there is!" She hissed, tense as a cat doused in water. An only slightly devious smirk spread across the redheads features.

"Somebody's getting flustered." He stated, causing the violet eyed girl to flick her gaze at him. It almost sent shivers down his spine.

"Do you blame me?" She queried, straight-faced, before fixating her attention on the mountain again. "I think we need to find a way up." She said, gaze unwavering.

"What happened to floaty staff?" Another scoff arose on Aisha's expression.

"I'll waste too much mana if I lug both of us up there!" She exclaimed, completely exasperated by the ElDork.

"Alright, then I guess we'll just have to walk." Said ElDork shrugged, than began striding up the gradually steepening terrain.

"D*mn, if only I knew spacial magic." And with that said, Aisha followed the crimson boy. Before long, she was panting. "How is it that you're barely breaking a sweat?" She practically wheezed as she animatedly made her way up the incline. Elsword just shrugged, keeping a somewhat stoic expression.

It was silent again for awhile. However, impatience won Aisha over, and before long she was cruising on her hovering staff.

"Hop on." She sighed out to her slightly confused, but still grateful comrade. Temporary comrade, of course. Turns out, though, that carrying two people using solely mana was also hard, even if it was faster than hiking up a mountain.

Even though it was only a fifteen minute flight, it was still exhausting. Like sprinting a marathon, with no room for pace. They landed on a ledge. A rather precarious ledge halfway up the mountain. Oddly enough, there was a hole on the rock. A rather dark hole.

"A cave?" Aisha questioned in a breathy tone, as she was still recovering from the flight.

"Maybe. Seems a bit more like a tunnel to me, though." Elsword replied, suddenly wishing he had some way to conjure a light. Sighing, Aisha complied with a snap of her fingers. A tiny flame flickered back and forth sporadically. Ok, so not that tiny. "Won't that wear out your mana?" Asked an almost shocked Elsword.

"Not if I'm careful." The very purple-oriented girl responded with a little, sheepish grin. Elsword gave a smile of his own in reply. Aisha was the first to step into the seemingly dismal tunnel. The dark felt heavy.

Their footfalls echoed with every step, and the flickering energy of the fire caused the two's shadows to dance. An almost eerie sensation crept through the winding tunnel.

"Why did we come in here again?" Aisha suddenly wondered, surprising Elsword into contemplative silence.

"I'm not really sure." As the answer rung out both teens suddenly stopped. The seemingly eternal tunnel had quite suddenly erupted into a cavern. Glistening with what very much appeared to be Elstones, the cavern was lit more than enough. Aisha's tiny flame dissipated, no smoke, nor ashes remained.

"Where are we exactly?"

The man, demon, to be precise struggled to keep from pacing.. His gleaming ruby irises were thoroughly fixated on a young girl. Perhaps seventeen, with darkly hued locks, a porcelain skin. She appeared to be sleeping. A peaceful expression painted onto her features.

However, she was not sleeping. This troubled Ran's thoughts deeply. A sorrow took up residence in what one would call his heart. Despair crawled all over him, under his skin, only visible in his eyes.

He muttered her name with a cracked voice.

With rosy eyes, and dark skin, Chloe observed. Her mouth assumed the position of a thin line, straight as a pin.

"The Watcher has arrived." She suddenly spoke, nothing but an informative tone leaking from her voice. There was no response. Sighing, Chloe turned and strode away.

With one last glance, Ran whispered the name again.

"Ara."

"Where are we going, exactly?" Aisha hissed at the blunt boy before her.

"We're trying to find the exit." He stated, suddenly very serious. "And don't speak, we don't want to draw attention to ourselves." Aisha breathed out an 'ugh'.

"But this is exactly why we're here! To investigate." Aisha whispered. Elsword sent her a 'be quiet' look before averting his attention to escaping.

"We know how to get here, we'll come back some other time." He answered hurriedly.

"Why so tense?" The very relaxed Aisha asked, leaning forward.

"I just have a really bad feeling about this place." The stomping of a unit of soldiers echoed through the interweaving tunnels and caverns. "Hide." And they did, or tried to. Somehow they managed to succeed in concealing themselves from the unit of glitters. "See, all the more reason to get out of here."

Elsword gestured in the general direction the glitters had exited to. Aisha slumped while standing.

"We need information, though. I need to help out other Aisha, and this is the only way I can do it." She gave pleading eyes to the stoic boy before her. A stare down occurred for about twenty seconds before Elsword gave in.

"Fine, but the moment we find something, we're out of here." He quickly directed his eyes to anywhere but the pleading girl. She grinned.

"Great, let's start by heading towards where the glitters were heading away from." Only slightly confused by Aisha's strange description, Elsword nodded.

The two did so, weaving through the many intricate tunnels and such. They somehow stumbled upon a very large room. A very large, very beautiful room that glistened with even more El shards. A vague thought that maybe whoever was behind all this just wanted El shards for their personal decor?

"The Watcher has arrived?" A pleasant voice filled Aisha's ears. It thumped on Elsword's eardrums painfully. Smooth, and silky. Belonging to one person. That person entered the room from a seemingly hidden door.

He was tall, with long, silver strands cascading from gray skin. His attire was, well, threatening.

"Yes, Master Ran, she awaits in the front room." A voice with an unknown owner spoke, dark and deeply. The other one, Ran, with large, curling horns protruding from his skull stepped across the room with a purpose. He exited, and didn't return.

"So the one who's supposedly behind this all, his name is Ran." Aisha stated, putting a finger to her chin.

"Can we leave now." Aisha frowned, but nodded. However, before they began their search for a way out(which would surely be tedious) Elsword saw something. An abnormally large glow emanating from the room Ran had emerged from originally. But was the unknown voice watching them? "Maybe we should investigate in there first." He nodded at the room.

Aisha agreed, and they sneaked over to the door leading into the room. It opened without sound, without disturbing the deafening peace. A dais, right smck in the center of the room. Then there was a sort of bed, made out of rock, holding a very frail girl.

With long dark hair, and skin so pale, but so smooth, she looked a bit like a doll. She appeared to be in a peaceful sleep. The moment Aisha had laid eyes on her, she backed away. Eyes wide, she quivered a bit.

"That girl is dead."

NAA: SO MANY SORRIES FOR TAKING SO FLIPPING LONG TO UPDATE! I was being lazy. But I'm pretty sure I'll be able to update more often, now that I'm able to take my laptop home!

Aisha: Hmm, I WONDER WHO THE WATCHER IS.

NAA: Really? I thought it was obvious.

Aisha: I was being sarcastic, you dolt.

NAA: Oh. But seriously guys, if you don't know who she is, than I suggest you look your Elsword classes up! Since, I'm pretty sure everyone knows who she is, than I'm going to say something. Originally, it was going to be VC, but than I realized I already used him as LK's buddy =w=

Aisha: What's with that look?

NAA: It's a very content look, thank you very much!

Toodle-loodles,

~Not-Alone-Anymore