Well, since I have a little time I'll just
use it to write the continuation of my
story, here we go, chapter 4!
Elsword: You're going to be late at work!
Karis: I bet your manager will scold you.
No worries! I've already managed my schedule
so I won't be late, Now...
Let the fairy tale begin.
Chapter 4
-Kingdom-
The King watched the whole scene of Harza and Vara's fight through a crystal orb that projected a vision from far away.
"It looks like even Vara and Harza are not enough to bring both of them down."
"... Is that so."
"Your highness, what's our next plan?"
"-Do you still need to ask?"
The strong looking man was stunned in fear from the King's stern words.
"Y-You don't mean..."
The King face toward the man and declared...
"Kill all of them, including Harza and Vara, how you 'Void' do it depending on your own decision."
A 'death sentence' for 2 people that has been treated as traitors.
Elsword's POV
"Aisha... You're Aisha, right?"
I can no longer differentiate between the fake and real Aisha.
All I can see is...
Aisha's standing in front of me.
Breathing.
"... I may looked like Aisha from 'El Search Party', however I'm Vara, the member of 'Void'."
I no longer cared it's 'Void' or 'El Search Party'.
Aisha's standing before me!
She's alive!
My eyes are blurry.
I...
"Wake up, Elsword."
Harza harshly declared.
"... Harza."
I look at her with sharp look.
I don't care you looked like Ara or not, but I can't forgive you to disturb my reuniting with Aisha.
"No matter how hard you try to deny the fact, the one who's standing here is Vara."
She glare at me with an even sharper look than me.
"No, she's Aisha... I can feel her..."
"Stop dreaming, Aisha's already dead when Chung blasted her to nothing-"
"STOP! DON'T REMIND ME OF THAT SCENE!"
I held my head tightly as I shook my head.
The memories...
They're back!
"AAAARRGGGHHHH!"
"... You need to accept the truth, the more you run from the truth the more pains you will get."
Harza walks toward me in pain.
Her wounds are severe but she still managed to come here.
"S-Stay away!"
I make a wide swing with my arm, preventing her from getting closer.
Karis who's unconscious is lying beside me.
"Infinity Blades Elsword."
What's with her, calling me by my title?
Is she mocking me?!
"Your friends are dead. But, you're still alive."
"I KNOW! SO WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME!?"
The memories of my friends' deaths are resurfacing.
Their screams.
Their bloods.
"AAAAAAAHHHH!"
I'm going to be insane.
I thought I've forgot about it already!
"Even though they're dead, for what reason you're being the only one who's alive?"
"Why did Karis not kill you when she had the chances to do so?"
"Karis..."
"Did you ever think about it? Is revenge is the reason why you're alive?"
"I've already knew it! Revenge is a matter of course!"
"Then, why Karis killed everyone but only you that she left alive?"
What is she trying to say?
She kept repeating the same words all over.
I'm getting tired, just tell me what you really want to say!
"What do you mean."
"What I mean is-"
Harza look toward Vara.
Vara nodded.
"-Karis might think of you as someone special, and she might be the one who's protecting you all these times."
Impossible.
Such a thing will never happened.
"Hah, silly... If she's trying to protect me then for what reason she killed all of my friends?"
"That you must ask Karis herself. After fighting with her, me and Vara came to an understanding with her, so we decided-"
What?
Are you going to execute us here now?
"That we will join you in your journey."
...
Wait, I don't really follow the flow.
Join us?
"Wait, are you actually serious?"
Now it's Ai- No, Vara's turn to speak.
"I failed to kill her, as a prideful mage I will stay true to my words, I admit my defeat to her, however... Since I'm sure the King's already seen everything me and Harza will never be accepted to go back to 'Void'. We're treated as traitor because we aren't able to kill you guys."
"Exactly as Vara said. I've let Karis stay alive once, hence the King ordered me to kill Karis and you again now. Second failure isn't acceptable. So the King will surely treat me as a disposable trash if I fail again, and here I am, fail to kill you two again."
Wait wait wait!
This development is too outrageous!
"Wait, I'm very grateful that you will join us, but my sole reason to follow Karis is because she stole my sword and won't give it back and revenge, you still want to follow this kind of team?"
"It's not like we have a choice."
"Yes, besides, four are better than two, right? I'm sure more 'Void's will coming from now on. It's better if we stay together if we want to stay alive."
Vara and Harza calmly declared.
It's not like I disagree with this development... It's just...
"Ughhh... I've heard all of it..."
"Karis!"
She's awake, thank goodness.
Tell them, we're just enemies not a teammate!
"I would like you two to join us, we can't fight with only two people after all."
Karis weakly smiled.
...
I'm glad she's fine.
But how can she just accept her enemies to be her allies!?
"Karis! You're not thinking this seriously!"
"I did, from our fights we've came to a better understanding against each other. They're trustworthy people."
Again with this came to an understanding from fights.
Just what did they mean?
Is that something that only non-human can feel!?
"Before, I need to know. Who exactly are you guys?"
I pointed at Harza and Vara.
Those two looked at each other and shook their heads.
"That I can't tell you."
"Me too."
"What!?"
Ridiculous! And they expect me to believe them like this!?
Suddenly Vara sighed at look at me in a sad look.
"I must tell you the truth, even we don't know who's our parents and where we came from."
"We just happened to be borned and being kept in a laboratory."
Laboratory?
"What..."
"You can say... We're an experiment being. We're artificial being created by humans."
"Roughly speaking, we're something like clones."
They must be joking.
Cloning is a forbidden experiment.
Even I who never study about genes know that duplicating genes is a very severe crime.
"Who create you guys?"
"That we don't know. We're just happened to be here in this world about 1 week ago."
"And then we're suddenly assigned a mission to kill you two."
...
The Kingdom's hiding something.
I knew it for sure now.
This Kingdom's no longer the Kingdom I used to know.
How dare they replace our existence when we're gone like that without giving us a honorable burial-! I will get them for sure. They will pay for this.
"Harza, Vara, Karis."
"What?"
"... Yes?"
"What's up, Cherry boy?"
"I've now gain another reason for my journey. It's to make sure the Kingdom pay for my friends' sacrifices! To do that I need your helps, please!"
I bowed to them.
This is my only wish.
I will make sure my friends rest in peace.
Those three look at each other and...
"Of course, 'Infinity Blades Elsword'."
"I don't have any objection."
"Isn't that our purpose to join force, Cherry boy?"
Looking at them I smiled.
It looks like...
Teaming up with enemies who've became friends.
Are not so bad at all.
I'm reminded of when the first time I bring Raven with us.
He's so strong and hostile toward us.
But when we managed to change his mind he's a very reliable ally and master.
...!
No good, I almost forgot.
Even though we're friends...
Karis is the one who killed all of my friends heartlessly.
She still have a huge sin to atone.
And I will be the one to slay her.
Not anyone.
Until that time I will wait.
No matter how long it is.
So, don't die on me Karis.
Noticing my gaze she smiled at me.
Midnight 11PM.
Karis is sleeping, she's heavily injured so she needs to rest.
However, I can't sleep, so I decided to go outside and do stargazing.
This place is quite high since it's a hill, so we can look the stars closer than usual even though it's still too far to compare with stargazing from mountain.
"The stars are so beautiful..."
I lay down and close my eyes.
The sound of crickets and frogs are so soothing.
It helped me calm down.
Suddenly I can hear someone's footstep.
Noticing someone's coming I look at the source.
Vara's there.
"Ai-I mean Vara, what are you doing here?"
"That should be my question, I saw you going out from your cottage."
"Ah, you're right. I can't sleep, so I'm going out for a little stargazing."
"I see."
She sit beside me.
If I look closely she really resembles Aisha.
"Elsword, just who's this Aisha to you?"
"Why do you ask?"
"She seemed like someone very special to you that you keep mistaking me from her."
I don't know if I should tell her or not.
However, she's not Aisha.
So I think it won't hurt to do so.
"She's a very special person to me indeed."
"What kind of person is she?"
She seemed to be interested with it.
"She's a very loud girl, who kept screaming and yelling whenever you see her."
"Sounds like a very troublesome personality."
"However, she's really reliable when everyone needs her. She's kind toward others even though she may appear like she doesn't care what happened to you."
Vara kept on listening as I tell her the story from our first meeting, first fight, first job advancement, first time able to work as team, first time when I'm feeling she's a very special girl to me, and... The last time I saw her face.
"I really hope that I can protect her that time... If only I'm strong enough, no one should die."
"... You've had it hard didn't you?"
Vara's looking at me.
Her beautiful purple eyes are reflecting my face in it.
It feels like she's staring deep into my heart.
"To lose someone precious, it must've been hard."
"... (Not good...)"
If this keeps on...
"You're a man, so you must endure all this feeling for yourself. I don't know why, but when you saw me for the first time, I can feel a stare of longing for someone in your eyes. You're really a poor man, Elsword."
"... *Nod*"
I don't have anything to say anymore.
She's talking to me heart to heart, if I look at her face I might start crying so I looked away.
But...
"It's okay, Elsword. I maybe not your beloved Aisha, but if you need me to comfort you..."
She pulled me to her chest and hugged me warm and tenderly, like a mother.
"I will be here for you. So, don't be sad anymore, okay?"
I can no longer hold my tears.
I cried in her chest.
I really want to hug her.
But my pride doesn't allowed me to do so.
I missed Aisha so much.
"Aisha...!"
"... Yes, I'm here."
For some reason I can hear Aisha's voice.
But when I realize it, Vara and Aisha's voice are the same.
She's trying to comfort me.
"As a clone I don't possess a certain feeling, nor I know how to feel. Unlike Harza, but I can feel how you feel... Be strong Elsword..."
She patted my head.
A very gentle pat.
I don't know when but I fell asleep in her embrace.
"Good night, Elsword."
Vara's smiling.
Her very first 'true' smile.
Vara's POV
Elsword fell asleep.
He's just like a newborn child.
He will be very strong.
"Oh my, aren't you a cheeky one, Vara?"
I looked behind to see Harza's behind me.
"You're stealing start, Karis won't be happy about this."
She's smiling playfully.
I can't help but retort.
"What's this stealing start means, I just happened to see him going out and I hear out his story."
"Oh, but you're blushing you know?"
"Wh-Why would I-"
Harza showed me her mirror.
"Get that away!"
"See? You're really blushing, look at how red your face is. So even the emotionless Vara can feel something like this when she's with a boy, huh? Fufufu~"
"Stop that!"
"Alrite' alrite'~"
She stop her joke.
And then she get serious.
"I'm pretty sure they will be here tomorrow if we don't get away tomorrow."
"You're right."
I nodded and look at the Kingdom which located far away from here.
"This will be a hard fight, are you sure you're fine with it, Harza?"
"Who do you think I am, Vara? We've been training as partner for quite a time."
She smiled.
Well, that's just the Harza I knew.
The problem now is Karis, will she be able to recover in time?
If she's not able to recover in time we will be in trouble if the 'Void's coming in group.
Even I the second in command can't fight eight people at once.
The commander will surely not coming, so I can rest assure if only those eight, however if he really did coming, things will surely get ugly.
"...!"
This feeling...!
"Vara..."
"I know, they're approaching."
To think they will be here in such a short time, the King sure is angry.
This is bad, Elsword's sleeping, he's already fighting quite hard so he need to rest.
Karis' injured, Harza's unable to fight too.
"Vara... Let me help!"
"No, Harza. You need to help them escape. If it's you I believe you will be able to escape."
I planned to fight them head on by myself.
I can only hope that the commander isn't here.
"But-! You can't win against 8 people no matter how strong you are!"
"I'm the second in command. Don't underestimate me."
I leapt to the battlefield.
"VARA!"
I can hear her screaming my name, but I will not look back.
Be safe, Harza.
It's been so fun with you.
"How brave of you, to fight all of us. Hehehe."
"We will show you traitors what it means to die."
I grinned.
"I would better be a traitor, rather than not being myself!"
I cast a huge force field.
Harza's POV
That force field...
I escaped from the village while carrying Karis and Elsword.
Just when I reached the highest plain, I saw a very huge force field.
Is she planning to-!?
"VARAAAAA! NOOOOO!"
The force field glowed.
And a huge explosion occured.
Leaving nothing but a huge crater.
I fell on my knees.
"Va... Ra..."
Chapter 4 end
Okay! I managed to finish it in time!
Now, I'm going to rush for work!
Elsword: Hurry up! Here's your bag!
Karis: Leave the door to me, just hurry up!
See you again my beloved readers!