World of Elestia: Seasons of War

(Spring) Chapter 12: An Old Dog's Regret

Oliver hadn't missed the frigide cold air surrounding Ringabell City. The city was currently going throught a raging blizzard and because of it the vision of the group had been severly diminished. Thankfully Xofamai knew this place like the back of his hand and was still able to navigate around.

But as they came closer to the entrance of the metro Oliver tripped on something and fell into the snow. Oliver groaned and peeked behind himself to see what he had trip on but he only saw more snow. That was until a batch of snow started to move and began to take a new shape before his very eyes.

The creature that appeared had a very thick body and black beady eyes. It had dozens of thin snow whiskers coming out of it's muzzle. It advanced toward Oliver slowly because it's only mean of transportation were two pairs of flippers.

''A snow seal?'' Clara asked in confusion.

''Careful Oliver. I'm might not look threatening but it's still an Elestia.'' Xofamai said in a warning tone.

Oliver nodded and called Sandy to assist him. ''Alright Sandy grab that Elestia with your vines and throw it far away from us!'' The Fawna tried to do just that but as soon as the vines made contact with the Ice Elestia they began to freeze and slowly whittered away.

''Huh?'' Oliver said in confusion.

Xofamai shook his head at this. ''Earth Elestia are weak against Ice. Sending Sandy in battle was really not the optimal solution.'' He said before walking in front of Oliver and blasting the Elestia with his dark energy. The snow seal was sent barreling a few meters aways from them and looked dazed and ready to black out.

''Alright then! Bolt finish it!'' Oliver yelled the lightning Elestia chittered loudly before sending a bolt of electricity toward the Ice Elestia. The creature yelped in pain before melting away before their very eyes. Clara looked away when she saw the pained expression of the Elestia. Once it was done she glared at Oliver.

''Did you really have to kill it? He was arleady dazed we could have just walked away!'' She yelled at him angrily. In response Oliver shrugged at her nonchalantly.

''It's a wild Elestia why would I spare it? We're here to get rid of them aren't we?''

Clara gaped at him and scoffed at him with disdain. ''I thought you were getting over your hatred of Elestia! If you hate Elestia so much you sure don't show it when you're with Sandy and Bolt!'' She protested with indignation in her eyes.

''Look I came to realise that Elestia that are trained by humans can become good. But that doesn't mean that wild Elestia aren't a threat to be dealt with. I know you like Elestia and you learned a lot about them by reading books on the subject. But you weren't there when they were destroying towns left and right. Entire settlements I used to visit are gone because of these wild monsters. I can't just let them live and let them kill people just because I like a few of them.'' Oliver said with a serious expression.

With that Oliver walked ahead of them. Leaving Clara fuming at him. ''I can't believe him! I thought he finally got rid of his hatred for Elestia but it look like I don't know him as well as I thought.'' She said with a huff.

Xofamai put himself in front of her and crossed his arms. ''He's not exactly wrong you know.''

Clara gaped at him. ''So you're taking his side?'' She asked with a betrayed expression.

Xofamai shook his head. ''No I didn't say that, you're not wrong either Clara. We should spare Elestia if we deem them harmless enough. But at the same time there are Elestia out there that we must kill before they become a threat to humans. It's not as black and white as either of you seem to believe. Telling what Elestia should or should not live is not always easy and it's something you will need to learn to do if you don't want to have innocents blood on your hands.'' After that Clara was left following Xofamai and Oliver in silence deep in thoughts.