“I can’t believe you!” Chantara shouted at Ignacio, an ongoing argument that had been commencing over the course of the past five minutes.
“What?” Ignacio shot back, his amber eyes fiery in the light of the lanterns in the inn, “You can’t blame me for doing this!”
“You stole from my people!” Chantara shouted back, jabbing a finger at Ignacio’s chest. When Ignacio dropped a bag full of Aquarian ducats, Chantara’s face turned redder than the fire in the fireplace and this whole argument started. “How is that not your fault!”
“Old habits die hard, I guess,” Ignacio shrugged, his face smug. I watched all of this with the Saxum boy named Jian.
Chantara’s face flushed even more, and she held her arms up in exasperation. “You are insufferable, Red Hands.”
At the sound of the name, Ignacio’s own face filled with anger. “I told you not to call me that. I have a name, you know.”
“No,” Chantara answered, “I will continue to call you by your criminal name until you stop stealing from my people and the rest of the people in this world! You are already getting paid for this mission, you don’t need to get your own profits from my people while you’re at it!”
“Look,” I said, trying to divide the two before one murdered the other, “You both need to calm down. I know we’re all-”
“Both?” Chantara shouted, her voice irate, “I’m completely calm!”
I blinked a few times, looking at her seething face. “Right…” I said, unconvinced. But I put my hands up in surrender, slowly backing away from her.
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“Look princess,” Ignacio said, pointing a finger at her, “I-”
“Would you stop calling me princess?”
“Oh, sorry, Your Worship,” Ignacio said in a mocking bow, “I didn’t know you wanted a more formal title.”
“No!” Chantara defended herself, instead saying, “I want you to just call me Chantara. That’s all you have to do. Call me by my name. I don’t like the formal titles.”
At this, Ignacio smiled smugly. “Until you stop calling me Red Hands I’ll continue to call you formal titles. I have a name, too.”
Chantara sighed. “Ugh, fine. I’ll call you by your name…Ignacio.”
“Very well,” Ignacio said and bowed once again.
“And stop bowing!”
Chantara turned towards the door of her inn room, and said, “Goodnight, Ignacio, Aella, and Jian. I will see you in the morning. Tomorrow, we shall see the Elders.”
“You got it, Your Majesty,” Ignacio did a two-fingered salute, which gave him a glare from Chantara and she slammed the door on his smiling face.
Ignacio laughed, a sheepish grin appearing on his face. He rubbed the back of his neck, then said, “Women, am I right?”
I rolled my eyes at Ignacio, especially since his attitude got my 500 ducats stolen in the first place.
“Goodnight, boys.” I started to say, heading to my own inn room.
“Hey, Ella,” Ignacio called, a nickname he would continue to call me. “How ‘bout my first payment to fix your debt?”
I turned around, and he flipped a coin on his thumb at me. It was one of the stolen ducats Chantara had found.
“This is stolen, so it doesn’t count,” I flipped the ducat back at him. “You have to earn them.”
Ignacio waved a hand, aloof. “Oh, earn ‘em, shmearn ‘em.”
I sighed, rolling my eyes. “Goodnight, boys,” I repeated and slammed the door as well.
And Ignacio repeated himself again. “Women, am I right?”
“Yeah,” Jian agreed, “Women.”
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I rolled over in my bed, sweat beginning to form on my body. Why was it so hot all of a sudden?
Throwing the sheets off my body, I lay there in the near darkness, only the lights from outside filling my room. I had stripped down to my under-clothes, laying on the bed.
I heard a single creak on the floorboard in my room and closed my eyes as I slowly began to grab one of my blades.
Something was coming…
There was another small creak, one that most people would ignore but seemed deafening in the silence of my room. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I became more alert.
I heard a single breath, a single sound that betrayed the person in my room standing there, hovering over my bed.
A small scrape of metal told me a blade was being drawn, and I took a deep breath, preparing for a fight. A moment passed and as I heard the wind silently whooshing as the blade began to fall down towards my chest I turned as quickly and blocked the blade.
I looked at my attacker, a man with dark skin and black eyes, his blade locked onto mine. I pushed up at him with a gush of wind, jumping to my feet.
He fell against the wall, and he shook his head, dazed. 202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCG65rDvR9t
I used the winds to lift up my other blade, standing up in a defensive position as I ignored the fact I was in my under-clothes.
“What do you want from me?” I demanded, but he instead charged at me, his sword raised. I pushed him back with another gust of wind, and, not caring who saw, I rushed out of the room.
I jumped over the balcony overlooking the ground floor, using the winds to slow my fall. There were a few gasps of surprise as the nighttime celebrators were having dinner.
“Sorry,” I apologized, then looked up at the balcony where my attacker was following me. Now that he was in the light, I could see him better. 202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhmSc74Gc9G
He glared at me from over the balcony, his dark eyes looking into my own. He took a step back, walking into the shadows behind him.
I creased my brow, confused at what was going on. He looked at me from the shadows, and then I saw his form slowly disappear, melting into the shadows.
There was laughter, a deep and rich chuckle, coming from my left and then right. I turned around, my blades ready. Where did he go?
“Come and find me, little Ventus,” he taunted, coming from the shadows in front of me. I heard the people at the inn’s restaurant gasping, looking around in fear just like myself.
The laughter came again, this time behind me. I whirled around, blades ready.
I saw his eyes first, the whites of them appearing from the shadows. His form slowly materialized, and he walked boldly in front of me, his sword still drawn.
Now I knew what he was. The signs were obvious. I gasped in fear, backing away from him as my eyes widened.
“You’re a Tenebris,” I breathed, staring into his black eyes.
“How perceptive, little Ventus,” the Tenebris said, raising his sword at me, “Now, will you fight me, or run away as you did in Mixta Civistas?”
I blinked, staring at him in surprise, “How did you-”
“I know lots of things, Aella Sefarina,” the Tenebris man smiled, his teeth white against his dark skin, “We see everything.”
Okay. This is bad. Like, really bad. Nobody has seen a Tenebris in almost a hundred years. Everyone thought they slowly went extinct, separated by the rest of the world in the south. 202Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeZImwZfzzc
“So what will you do, Ventus girl?” The Tenebris taunted, “Run, or fight?”
“How about she has help?” said a voice above, and I turned to see the others standing there.
Ignacio wasn’t wearing a shirt, revealing the muscular body he hid underneath loose clothes. He reached into his room, pulling his long trench coat over his shoulders, raising an eyebrow at the Tenebris.
Chantara stood there with her katana raised, her nightgown flowing in the wind. She glared at the Tenebris man, her eyes having the same fury as when she’d yelled at Ignacio before.
Jian had a loose undershirt on, but his muscular arms were put into fists, and he popped his knuckles as he looked at the Tenebris man.
Seeing as he was outnumbered, the Tenebris who had attacked me before now widened his eyes in fear. “You may outnumber me this time,” he said darkly, “But you will not for long. You will all rue the day you-”
Ignacio sent a fireball at the man, and he quickly dodged out of the way, backing once again into the shadows.
“You will rue the day you fought with the Tenebris,” he said as his form began to disappear, “There is no way you kids can win this war. It’s only a matter of time…”
Then I saw him close his eyes, and he was gone.
I turned around once again, looking at my new friends. Each was confused in turn, and Jian decided to state the obvious.
“This…is very bad.”
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As I took the first few steps on the beaten stone path, I looked up at the towering mountains above. This is the place of the Elders, the wisest masters of each of the elements.
“I’ve never been here before,” I said quietly, looking at the winding path up the mountain range, leading to the grand temples above, “It’s like a dream come true,”
Every child has been told the stories of the great Elders, the masters who are the most skilled masters of the elements. They can do things others can’t, like make an entire volcano erupt by themselves.
“Eh,” Ignacio shrugged, “I wouldn’t say a dream, but that looks like a lot of stairs.”
I turned around, an idea coming to mind. I started to grin, then said to Ignacio, “Race you to the top,”
Ignacio nodded, saying, “Oh, you’re on, Ellie.”
“Ready…” I said as we stood next to each other at the bottom of the stairs.
“Set…” Ignacio added, the smile wide on his face.
“Go!” I shouted and used the winds to launch myself up into the sky, flying up a few hundred steps to be high above Ignacio. I landed on the stairs, laughing as I began to sprint up them.
“Hey!” I heard Ignacio yell, “No fair!”
“We never made any rules!” I hollered back, laughing as I kept sprinting.
I heard the sound of fire, and saw Ignacio above me, using his fire like a rocket as he soared in the sky.
“Oh, it’s on, Iggy,” I muttered under my breath, launching myself into the sky again. Ignacio got more power from his fire, but it could only last small bursts of speed. I had control over the winds.
As he started to land himself on some of the steps, I soared above him, and this time I was determined to beat him. I used the winds to push myself higher in the sky, looking at the nearest temple which would be our finish line.
Ignacio flew up once again with the small burst of energy from his fire, catching up with me. Although he was losing, the smile was still wide on his face. “I’m gonna win,” he sang, acting like a child.
“Oh no you’re not,” I sang back, and with a burst of the winds, I pushed myself towards the temple, using the winds to slow my fall as I landed on the steps in front of the temple.
As Ignacio caught up with me, one of his feet which were pushing the fire out flickered for a second, making him trip and fall. But he caught himself, tucking and rolling as he landed on the steps of the temple.
“Are you alright?” I asked, worried that he’d hurt himself.
I saw Ignacio’s back shaking as he lay face down on the steps, his hands into fists. Oh no, I thought, was he hurt?
Then he lifted his head, the smile wide on his face. His silent laugh turned into a wholehearted chuckle, and he rolled over onto his back, the laugh growing louder by the second.
“Are you kidding?” Ignacio laughed, then he got to his feet, “That was awesome! Can we do it again?”
I opened my mouth to say yes, but Chantara interrupted us by saying, “No, we have to see the Elders.”
Chantara and Jian started to walk up the stairs of the temple, Jian giving a small smile as he passed me and Ignacio.
“Party pooper,” Ignacio muttered under his breath, making a pouting face with his lip.
I silently laughed at that, then said as the others were walking away from us, “That was amazing. I haven’t had fun like that in a long time, and I’m glad we had that race. I’ve felt so…responsible for the past few years, I haven’t really had any fun.”
“Glad I could help,” Ignacio smiled, then held up a hand for me to high-five. It was too high for me to reach, however, since he’s like two heads taller than me.
“Oh,” Ignacio said as he realized, “Sorry,” then he lowered his hand a bit, and I high-fived him.
“Come on, hermanita,” Ignacio said as he put an arm around my shoulder, “Let’s see the Elders.”
He called me hermanita. I don’t know much about the other tribes' languages, but I do know what hermanita means.
Little sister.
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