… Dark… Empty… feelings of Solitude… and so many more words than I can describe this cursed place. Of course, I don’t miss this place at all. The place where I dwell while in a difficult and hopeless situation… I thought for sure that I locked this place ever since I became a Highschooler. I felt a lot more restrained in this place than ever before, but when I look down, I saw chains, coming from below, darkness, chaining my entire body, arms, legs, neck, chest.
“Hahahaha…” a heavy sound cackled behind me.
I’m chained in place, and afraid to even look behind me.
“Thou hast finally come…”
S- SHOW YOURSELF!
“HAHAHA, o’vr ere!”
It appeared right in front of me, faintly resembling a humanoid shape with its purple mist covering Its entire figure.
You can read my mind..?
“Precisely… for I live inside thy self…”
What do you mean by that?!
“I’d loveth to answer thy questioneth. Unf'rtunately, I don’t has't much time hath left …”
Wha- what do you want from me..? WHY DID YOU DRAG ME TO THIS PLACE!
“Heh… what I wanteth is to reward thee.”
Reward..? what reward?!
“I’ll giveth thee these… ‘Skills’. Bethink of this as a ‘Level Up’ gift from me”
Special Skills..?
“Useth mine ‘gift’ concluded, be it to thy heart’s desire. Justice, crime, it’s up to thee. I don’t careth how thee useth t…”
It started to fade away slowly.
W- WAIT! You haven’t answered my question!
“At which hour the time cometh, I shall answer each of thy curiosities… I desire we’ll seeth each other lief…”
See each other-?! NO! GET BACK HERE!
It breaks into dozens of small, purple glass-like shards and dissipates into thin air.
I tried endlessly to move my body parts. But to no avail.
…
“STOP!”
“…”
I’m… back..?
I looked around, my room is already dark, my hands are grasping forward, heavy breathing, and sweats all over my body.
I’m feeling really hot and tired… even my entire body is dripping with sweat again… how long did I sleep for..? it's already dark out...
I slowly got up.
“!!!”
What..?
This is… earlier…
No…
“Stop…” I muttered to myself as I cover both of my ears.
The sounds in my head gradually get louder
“This… is not the right…”
“NO!” I screamed with both eyes closed as I lose the balance of my feet and crouch.
Ellie’s voice gets louder and echoes in my head, almost splitting it open.
Somebody… please, stop…
S T O P I T
Knock Knock
“!!!” I got startled and look behind me.
A door knock..? does Ellie still waits for me to open the door?!
I’m too afraid to ask who’s behind the door, scared to even reach for the doorknob. I can only silently stay still, horrified.
...
“Dian..?” says a faint yet gentle sound from the other side of the door.
“C- Clara..?”
“May I come in..?” Clara said in a soft tone.
“…”
Should I open the door..? how do I know that this is not a trap, and Ellie is still waiting behind the door..?
“Ellie… is asleep in her room…”
“…”
“Okay…”
I got up, then I reach the doorknob, slowly opening the door.
Creek
There, I saw Clara, with a sad and troubled face while holding a lit candle. She looks at me with a face full of guilt.
“Come in…”
Clara got into my room and illuminates the candle beside the bed. She then sits on the side of the bed and placed the candle on the table as I close the door of the room.
“I… heard everything…” Clara said with a downcasted expression.
I got a little bit shocked, I then sit beside Clara.
“Why… why did Ellie have that kind of feeling… about me..?”
“…”
Clara paused for a second, gathering her thoughts for a while.
“Because… you are the only one that ever shown us kindness for the longest time…”
“What..?”
“You must be thinking… why this house is located on a huge tree branch…”
“Y- yes…”
“It all began a long time ago…”
...
Clara and Ellie once had a mother and father. They lived peacefully with the other Elves of the Erunggard Village. Their father is an elven guard that every Erunggard’s people respect and acknowledge named Brandor, he is one of the guardians of the village. But, it all changed when Brandor made friends with a human from the Lionel Empire, humankind’s biggest kingdom. Raising suspicion, the people of Erunggard warned Brandor countless of times to stop interacting with him, but Brandor shrugs it off and instead keeps being friends with him.
One day, Brandor brought the human to the village with a reason that the human only wants to know their culture. The Elves knew about this matter and was furious at Brandor, but he believed that Humans and Elves can develop a good relationship with each other.
A few days later at night. The Village of Erunggard is engulfed in flames, screams of terror were heard everywhere. The humans from the Lionel Empire attacked and burned the village, wearing full sets of steel armor with a count of ten thousand soldiers, fully equipped for war. They mercilessly slaughter every Elf that didn’t surrender. The smell of steel, mixed with the blood of massacre filled the damp air. Elves that surrendered are captured and taken to the Lionel Empire.
Brandor ordered his daughters to hide below an unburnt tree. He fought waves of raiding soldiers from the Empire, trying to find his wife that disappeared in the moment of the attack. He heard the scream of her wife and hastily went towards the direction of her scream. But, what he found was 4 Lionel soldiers, one of them is a familiar face that he thought was his friend, violating his wife.
“Albert… so you…” Brandor said with a wrathful look on his face.
“HAHAHA! What a fool… you think WE want to establish a good relationship with YOUR kind?” Albert said with a pompous look on his face.
“Damn you…” Brandor readies his stance, with an aura full of rage.
“But… your wife is pretty nice… I’ll take her to my room and make her my new toy to play with HAHAHA!” Albert said in a provocative tone as he continues to defile Brandor’s wife.
“Bran… dor…” Brandor’s wife whispered with a hoarse voice, looking really exhausted.
Brandor saw his wife that is defiled by Albert, with an empty look, and losing the will to live.
“ALBEEEEEERT!” Brandor shouts, consumed in wrath, then aggressively ran towards Albert with full of hatred and vengeance.
Before Brandor gets close to Albert, 2 of the soldiers blocked his way.
“Just give up, you are no match for us.” said one of the soldiers that blocked Brandor, wielding a lance and a shield.
“Yea! Just accept it, gramps! Hahaha!” said the other soldier in a belittling manner, wielding dual knives.
“DAMN YOU ALL!”
In a fit of rage, Brandor fought the two of them to make his way to Albert. Both of the soldiers retaliated against Brandor’s attacks that are coming towards them.
…
CLANG
CLANG
CLANG
“Oops.”
Brandor managed to break the lance wielder’s guard and make him lose his balance.
“GRAAAAA!” Brandor shouted in rage, striking the lance wielder when he's vulnerable.
“『Quick Step』” whispered the lance wielder.
“!!! Ack! ARGH!” Brandor screamed in pain.
Before Brandor got the chance to strike the lance wielder, he found himself impaled on the chest with the lionel soldier’s lance.
“I told you, you are no match for us.” the lance wielder said with a disappointed expression and a cold look on his face.
“Awww! Klein! You didn’t give me the chance to have fun yet!” The dual knives wielder said with an annoyed look on his face.
Brandor started to cough blood and fell into the ground.
Albert approached Brandor while yanking his wife closer to him.
“Hehehe, see? All of this? Your naivety caused it. If only you didn’t bring me here.” Albert said, chuckling and smiling widely.
“haaa…” Brandor exhaled, blood started to pour out from his chest.
“Plus, your wife here will make fine plunder for me, I'll enjoy her until. she. breaks! hehehe… HAHAHAHA!” Albert said, followed by his maniacal laughter, echoes throughout the forest.
“Mereena…” Brandor said, trying hard to reach his wife’s hand that’s taken by Albert.
Little Clara and Ellie saw all of it, unable to quickly tend to their father, painfully hides until all of the soldiers left the forest. They hurried to their father, lying on the ground on a pool of his blood, looking extremely weak with heavy breathing.
“FATHER!” Clara and Ellie screamed, tears streaming down from their eyes, filling their face full of agony.
“Clara… Ellie… I want to apologize…” Brandor said slowly with troubled breathing.
“HACK!” Brandor coughed painfully, vomiting blood.
“FATHER! Please… don’t say another word…” Clara said, crying hysterically while tending to her father’s severe wound.
Ellie only silently watched in shock, not believing all of what happened with tears drowning her sorrowful face.
“Clara… Ellie…” Brandor says with a weak voice, putting his hands on Clara and Ellie’s cheek.
“Don’t hold a grudge against humans… not all of them are bad… I once got saved by a human in the Great war… I was only careless… I didn’t realize that… that man was a spy…” Brandor said with guilt and shame.
“Sniff… Sniff… Father…” Clara whispered with more tears overflowing her face.
“Listen… my sweet angels…”
Brandor took a while to prepare his final words.
“Don’t judge people on a surface level… even to humankind… that did this…”
“I’m sure… there is… kindness… inside every per..son…” Brandor said with both of his eyes slowly closing.
“NO, FATHER! DON’T LEAVE US!” Clara shouts, releasing all of her emotions, grasping his dying father’s hand on her cheek.
“I… love you… my sweet..hearts…” Brandor said, putting a smile on his face as he closes in on death.
Brandor hugs Clara and Ellie, then with his last breath, dies with a happy expression on his face.
Clara and Ellie bawled their eyes out, not letting go of their fallen Father.
A few days after the incident, the Elves that managed to escape the slaughter tried to rebuild Erunggard in a faraway location from the Empire. Clara and Ellie are shunned by the Elves that hold a grudge against them because their father brought the calamity and destruction upon their peaceful village. They put Clara and Ellie on a humongous tree branch as their way of punishment.
Motherless and Fatherless, Clara and Ellie only have and rely on each other. No inhabitants wanted to even interact with both of them. When the Elves look at them, they stare with a spiteful look and full of hatred, then ignore them.
Ellie is shunned by the other Elves her age, each time they saw Ellie, they would throw rocks at her and marked her as a “Traitor’s Daughter”.
…
…
…
“…”
I was speechless and couldn’t believe what I heard.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”
“It’s okay… you deserve to know…” Clara said with a sad expression and teary eyes.
“But… why did you nurse me..? I’m a human…”
“At first… I was so scared when I found you, lying unconscious on the ground. But I remembered what my Father said…”
“…” I was stunned.
“Besides… I don’t have the heart to leave a person unconscious like that…”
Clara… this is the first time I ever saw her like this… the woman whose sweet smile and kindness I admire… in a sorrowful state… what can I do…
I instinctively hugged Clara.
“Di- Dian?!” Clara yelped in surprise.
“Clara! I… I’m so sorry to hear that… I didn’t know the hardship you both went through…” I said while embracing the sad Clara.
“Di… an… Sniff…” Clara whispered softly, then tears started to flow from her eyes.
“…” Clara starts hugging me back tightly and unleashing all the pent up emotion that she held back.
We both lament on our suffering, letting our emotions run wild, sharing our pain through one long embrace. We both lied on the bed and accidentally fell asleep beside each other moments later.
