"I love this!" Aren exclaims as he takes another big bite out of the meat. "Another reason to like the New Year, there's always yummy food!"
"But they always have loud music!" I whine, covering my ears from the pounding drums.
"You love the lion dance though," Aren points out with his mouth full. "Quit complaining, monkey! In the end you love the noise as much as I do."
"Are you kids having fun?" Mother sits down beside me.
"I want more food!" Aren smiles widely.
"I want those drums to quiet down!" I pout. "Mommy, I don't like the noise."
"Oh, Ara." She pinches my cheek. "It's tradition, you'll understand when you're older. In the mean time how about we sit by the lake?"
Aren and I exchange excited glances," is it time?!" We ask in unison. Mother smiles warmly at our reaction.
"Yes, it's time for the annual New Year story" She began getting up. "Come on, lets-"
"We can't just have you leaving like that!" Elsword's sudden shouting jolts me awake. Wiping the fresh tears off my eyes I help myself up. "Are you stupid, do you even know what time it is?!"
"I don't care!" Aisha replies with an equally loud voice. "I have something important to take care of, now stand out of my way and let me catch that plane!"
"Can you guys shut it?!" Raven pipes in loudly. "Some of us are trying to sleep."
"Not until she stays."
"Not until he gets out of my way!"
Do humans usually wake up to cause noise? Eun asks with annoyance. I never knew your kind was so ill-mannered.
"Not unless they're really upset," I reply while opening my bedroom door. Eun growls loudly as the shouting continues. I make my way downstairs to see
Aisha with a large purple suitcase and Elsword blocking her exit - Raven sat on the bottom step while watching the two rage on.
"Elsword, if you don't move I'll force my way out!" Aisha summons out her staff. "I'm giving you ten seconds to move!" She points her weapon towards Elsword.
"I'll take the hit!" Elsword stands firm in front of the door. "Attack me all you like but I won't let you step out this door!"
"What's going on?" I sit myself down beside Raven.
"Apparently Aisha is planning on leaving," Raven lets out a big yawn. "Elsword here won't let her leave."
"You're leaving?" I ask Aisha. "Why are you leaving all of a sudden? Are you coming back afterwards?"
Aisha lowers her head," I-I just need to go somewhere." A bright magic circle forms beneath her." You better move unless you want to be burned to a crisp, Elsword!"
Elsword takes a quick step forward as Aisha was about to launch an attack, he quickly grabs hold of Aisha's staff - I can see him wince upon contact with weapon.
"What are you doing?!" Aisha pulls her staff away from his grip. In an instant the magic circle disappears, her staff dissolving into glowing particles of light.
"Are you insane!?" She takes hold of his hand," idiot, you burned your hand."
I perk my head up to see his injury. I couldn't help but frown at his tomato red hand, few blisters can be seen forming on his palm. Raven simply shakes his head at Elsword's decision.
"Yes I'm an idiot." Elsword acknowledged shakily - he slowly slides his hand from Aisha's grip. "But as the leader of this party I won't let any of my team mates wander out alone - never again will I allow that."
Aisha's eyes widen at his statement, her bottom lip begins to tremble," Elsword..." She hurriedly wipes her eyes. "I'm sorry." At the corner of my eye I can see Raven stiffening up, I wonder what has gotten into everybody.
"What's going on?" I glance back to see Chung lazily walking down the stairs, Eve followed shortly after.
"I-I was trying to leave," Aisha began with looking back. "Elsword caught me in time and stopped me from going."
Hurt flashes through Chung's eyes, looking down he replied," travelling in the dark is stupid, Aisha. I thought you knew better."
"I know, I'm sorry for waking everyone."
"You should've also known better than to leave by yourself." Raven adds on quietly. Aisha simply responds with a small nod.
Eve clears her voice loudly," seeing how we are all up, how about we start the day early? I'll make us some coffee and Elsword can help with breakfast." She suggests. "We may discuss of this matter further after we have all eaten."
"Thanks, Eve." Elsword smiles warmly at the Nasod.
I sat in silence as everyone began shuffling around, some returned to their room to get dressed for the day while others went to the living room to play the usual video game. No one addressed the event that just took place, they continued on like nothing ever happened.
I wonder why everyone is so worked up over Aisha's leaving. Sure this event came as a surprise but I don't see the need to be so worked up over it. Perhaps the bond between this group is just very strong - a sudden leaving will upset the rest.
We are new here, so we should not think nor poke so deeply into this kind of matter.
'I think you're right, Eun.' I let out a sigh. 'I'm just so curious of what's going on.'
"Ara," Eve's voice snaps me out of my thoughts.
"Y-yeah?" I try to keep a calm look.
"Can you assist Elsword with the cooking? He is having trouble breaking the eggs," Eve shakes her head. "He has wasted three eggs already."
I let out a giggle," sure, wouldn't want him to waste all of our food, now do we?"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Lowe dropped by as we finished the last of our meal, he said there was something important to discuss and asked us to meet him by the river after we're done. Eun insisted this to be another El Shard discovery but I think other wise.
We bolted out the door once everyone was finished eating - no one bothered to clean up afterwards. So here we are now, sitting on the damp grass by the river bed as we wait for Lowe to speak up - he has been staring blankly into the forest since our arrival.
"I have received some disturbing news," Lowe finally began. "Yesterday an old friend of mines sent me an email, she told me her citizens has been under the influence of what appears to be Dark Magic."
"What?!" Aisha suddenly exclaims. "Do they know who is behind the Dark Magic?!"
"No, they have tried to patrol the surrounding areas for suspects but have come back empty handed. There were cases where members of the patrol parties turned against their own team mates, no one knew how to break them free from the magic's grasp and were forced to kill their own allies."
"Do you suspect an El Shard is behind the attacks?" Chung asks shortly after. "Does your friend know of the El Shards."
"Yes, he does, but i do not believe an El Shard is behind this event." Lowe glances back at us. "This time we may be dealing with a criminal."
Such a waste of time, Eun grunts. We should be dealing with the other Shards and not a low-life criminal.
'It's still serious, Eun. We still need to help.' I reply. 'Besides maybe the villagers have some crazy urban legend or song that can help us with our search.'
"I understand we are searching for the El Shards, but we must take on missions and requests from those in need." I notice how Lowe kept his eyes on me. "We may resume the search for the El Shards next time."
"So where will we be sent to this time?" Elsword cracks his knuckle loudly. "I'm all pumped up to beat up a criminal now!"
"Your team will be sent to a village not too far away from here." Lowe continued. "Due to the village's rough roads your team will have to walk there. You must travel North East from Elder, the walk will take at least one day. Today you will prepare, I expect you all to be gone by sunrise."
"This village," Raven spoke up. "What is it called?"
"Bethma, your next destination will be Bethma."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Hey, Yang." I whisper while gently closing the back door. I smile widely as Yang sleepily makes its way on the deck. "Let's go star gazing tonight."
Everyone has decided to sleep early tonight, they plan on leaving as early as five tomorrow morning. The thought of getting extra sleep shaken me, so I decided to sneak out for some fresh air while everyone's still knocked out.
I lay myself down on Yang, my eyes landing upon the billions of light scattered along the night sky - I instantly relax upon the view.
"I used to star gaze with my brother." I began narrating to my Phoru. "We'd spend all night making our own constellations and giving them each a story." My eyes grow misty. "Aren, I'm sure you would've loved Ruben."
"Who's Aren?" I spring up at the new voice piping in. I nearly forgot about Elsword and Aisha's argument this morning. Perhaps sneaking out wasn't a good idea.
"Aisha," I swallow. "What are you doing here?"
"Relax," she closes the door behind her. "I'm not here to get you busted." She looks up at the sky. "I just wanted some fresh air."
"Come," I gesture Aisha to sit by me. "Let's go star gazing together."
Nodding she makes her way over, I scoot over so she has room to lay on. She helps herself down, I can see her eyes twinkle brightly at the stars above," aren't they pretty?" I avert my attention back on the sky. "They're like little diamonds."
"They're so free." She whispers. "How could something be so pretty and free of worries, pain, and hate?"
"Hate eh?" I can picture a light bulb flicker on in my head. "That reminds me of an old story, my Mother used to tell me this every New year."
"Oh? Can I hear?"
Clearing my throat I began," long ago the Jade Emperor ordered that animals were to be calender signs, twelve were to be selected in total - the animals were to gather and attend a race. At that time the cat and rat were good friends. The cat suggested on getting up early so they can sign up, but that would be a problem because the cat usually woke up late."
"Sounds like Elsword." Aisha snickers.
I continued," the rat promised to wake up the cat so they can go together. However on that morning the rat was too excited and forgot about the promise - he left without the cat. During the race he encountered many animals, such as the ox, rabbit, tiger, and many others. He knew he could not be fast enough and asked the ox to ride on his head. The ox was kind and allowed the rat to ride with it. The ox was the lead animal in the race, and just as it was about to finish the race, the rat leaped off its head and beat the ox.
The rat had proved its cunning to the Emperor and was given the first year. Now this is the reason why cats hate rats, and why every time they meet the cat will chase and kill it." I conclude with a sigh. "There are many versions of that legend, but my Mother always told me that one."
"So the rat betrayed his friend and now they're forever enemies." Aisha thought aloud. "Ara, do you think the rat feels bad for betraying the cat? Does it feel proud of its actions or has it moved on?"
I'll admit, I was taken aback by her question. Never have I questioned the relationships and feelings that the animals held afterwards," I don't know." I reply with a shrug. "The story never said the rat hated the cat - well the version I was told."
"I see."
"However I do think the rat feels sorry," I add on. "In the end it was all a misunderstanding, the rat simply forgot. The relationship between them may not be there anymore but they'll always have the memories of the good days. I'm sure in the end both parties miss the past and they're both equally hurt."
"That makes sense," at the corner of my eyes I can see Aisha close her eyes. For once today she appears to be at peace. "Maybe they can have that relationship again."
"Yeah." I focus my attention back on the stars.
"All this cat wants is to be with her rat again." Aisha whispers softly to herself. "This kitty is sick of the fights. Why can't we be happy like back then, little rat?"