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“Sooooo, let me get this straight. You want me to…. climb a mountain? Why? Why grandpa? Explain this to me.” Shella and Grandfather Kiev the next day were working on Shella’s farm when she decided to ask him again about her mission. He briefly told her the night before but exhaustion finally hit her hard and she needed to sleep. If she wasn’t so tired she would have bombarded him with questions one right after the other that same night. However, she was so exhausted from the events of the day, that her curiosity wasn’t at its peak capacity. It was the first night in many nights that she was able to finally get some sleep.
“Sigh…. It will reveal to me that you are ready to receive the second half of your training.”
“...by climbing a mountain? Seriously, I cannot stress this enough, grandpa. This idea of yours sounds brutal and exhausting right now. Come on, just finish my training. We can skip the whole climbing a giant boulder thing. That boy, ummm, Geoni, was it? He had a point. We are running out of time. I do not have time to waste it on going up a big stupid rock.”
“Shella! Once again, I will explain this to you.” Grandfather Kiev had a serious face as Shella pouted, sighed, and crossed her arms. She looked away annoyed at the idea. She didn’t want to go out and climb a mountain to prove that she could handle the next portion of her training. “Climbing Mount. Aixin will prove to me that you have the mental capacity, skills, and discipline needed to handle the next part of your training. It is essential that I know for a fact that you can handle the next level of what I want to teach you. It will be more intense than ever before. I will not be holding back when facing you during those moments of training. It is vital that I know for certain that you can handle it.”
Shella turned her head back and studied his body language. Grandfather Kiev was more serious than ever before. “Oh, you are serious. I can tell. You are not going to hold back during our training?”
“No. I will not. And if it turns out you cannot handle it, even after coming back successfully from your climb up that mountain, your departure from this village will be delayed. I will not allow you to start your journey ill prepared.”
“What? No. Delayed? Even if I cannot handle the training, you should still let me head out in my search as soon as possible. What is the big deal anyways? We are running out of time. You know what, grandpa? I am ready now! I can search for the Chosen One, I can start today in fact.”
“Slow down girl! You want to know what the big deal is? What if you’re out there and you get ambushed by a group of Darkness warriors?”
“Uhmm.” Shella looked at him and didn’t know what to say.
“Exactly! I thought so. How am I to know that you can handle taking on enemies twice your size, huh? What if your Aleeyah partner cannot get to you on time?” Grandfather Kiev tried to calm himself down. He got a bit emotional because in the end Shella’s life was in his hands. He cleared his throat and continued. “Climbing this difficult mountain will make it clear to me that you are or are not ready to search for the Chosen One. Even with a partner, it is essential that both of you are ready to take on whatever comes your way.” Shella's face was serious. She nods, finally agreeing with what he said. “When you leave to go climb Mount. Aixin, that boy, Alrin, will begin his training as an Aleeyah warrior. When he is ready, I shall make the journey to Zygen Kingdom and retrieve some Aleeyah stones and swords.”
“Alrin….?” Shella whispered to herself. She still felt conflicted about the idea of Alrin being her partner. She would wonder what Alrin himself thought about it too. She imagined he was thrilled with the idea.
“Hey, just a thought, grandpa.”
“Sigh…. Another one?”
Shella sticks her tongue out at him in a playful manner, then continues. “Has any Aleeyah warrior used both? A sword and a stone? That would be really interesting, right?”
“No. I cannot recall anyone ever using both. The rules are strict. It is not part of tradition to give the warrior both weapons. The ceremony states they must choose only one.”
“Oh, alright.” They both continued working on the farm together.
The day finally came. In the morning, Shella ate a big meal and packed all the essential things she needed in a travel bag. Shella stepped out of her home. As she closed the door of her cottage behind her, she noticed Alrin standing there, outside waiting for her. He was leaning on a tree just outside her property under the shade, looking in her direction. She quickly and discreetly looked down trying to pretend to adjust something on her bag. “Alrin….. Oh great, what now? Was he just waiting for me out here?” Before she even walked over to him, she took a deep breath and told herself to keep calm. She gets closer to him, she makes a beeline toward the training grounds where she was supposed to go, trying to avoid him, pretending she didn’t notice him. “Sigh… I am not in the mood to speak with you. Please let me walk away, please let me walk away, please let me walk away….” She looked down to the ground as she approached him, passing him by several feet, trying to avoid eye contact.
“Hey…” Alrin’s voice was a slight whisper to Shella, but she could hear it. Alrin waves and lightly jogs up to her with a smile on his face as she tries to turn a sharp left and pretended she didn’t see him in the most natural way she knew how but it didn’t work.
“Sigh…” she quietly sighs as she comes to a full halt once he says ‘hey’. His angelic voice was so hard for her to resist. She loved him so much. But she couldn't afford to become emotionally attached to him, not now in her life. She already had a big enough scare with the thought of losing her grandfather. She didn’t want to think about losing Alrin too.
“How are you this morning, Shella? Did you sleep well? Y-you didn’t see me leaning against the tree over there?”
“Oh, uh, t-that tree, over there? No I, I…. Must have not noticed you standing over there. Silly me, I must have missed you completely. I am just so focused today. I have a lot on my mind. ”
"I can imagine, haha.” He rubs his head awkwardly trying to stay natural and calm around her. But deep down Alrin’s anxiety was building and his heart was thumping hard in his chest being next to Shella. “It’s… it's a big day for you, huh? So umm, I uh. That day…. that day when ummm….. You know." He looked down to the ground because he felt his anxiety building each time he looked into her eyes. He was trying desperately to find the words he wanted to say. "Uh, when that boy entered our village.” He coughs and clears his throat. “There was something... I wanted… What I wanted to say is that…"
“Stop.” She puts her hand out in front of her and interrupts him. “I know what you want to say, do not say it Alrin.” Shella shakes her head. “Like I said before, I do not have time for a relationship. I am heading out on my mission and that’s all I have on my mind right now. So if you will excuse me, I will be leaving now.” She turns and is about to take off.
“But wait I just…” Alrin reaches out to her trying his best to say what he wanted to say to her for so long.
“I said that’s enough!” She stops herself from moving forward and turns to face him. She has the most serious face now. Her eyes, her look, cuts through Alrin, making him stop dead in his tracks. He can feel every pounding of his heart in his chest. It felt like it was about to rip itself out the moment she said those words. “Why do you have to keep persisting on this? It is pathetic, just leave me alone! I am stressed out! This mission is important to me! All you are doing is getting in my way!” Shella snaps at him, turns around and walks away from him at a faster pace. Alrin gulps hard and doesn’t say a word. Chills went down his spine as she walked away. His hands were ice cold and almost shaking from all the anxiety he felt inside. His heart couldn’t stop pounding and he felt a sick feeling in his stomach. He didn’t want things to escalate like that. But Shella’s emotions easily get the best of her. She knew from the moment she saw him, she wouldn’t have been able to control herself if he started to insist once again about their relationship. It was clear to her that he didn’t want to just be friends. His body language and his facial expressions gave it all away that day that she declared that to him.
As she walks away from him he doesn’t look away. He shakes his head as he sees her leave. He knew he messed up. He was so upset with himself. He thought, if only he could have approached the situation differently or maybe said something else and then got into the topic. There were so many negative thoughts in his head. He felt like a failure. “I love you, Shella. That’s all I wanted to say… That’s all I needed to say but… It is never the right time.” He whispers to himself as she becomes a dot in the distance. He swallows hard trying to calm his heart breathing deep, his eyes almost to the point of tearing up.
“Hi Alrin!” Klairra shows up all of a sudden, almost making him jump back a bit. Her energetic perky voice caught him by surprise. It cut through the silence as he was lost in thought about Shella.
“Oh! Klairra. Hey ummm, y-you startled me.” Alrin tries to fake a smile. After the situation with Shella, he wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. But his forced smile however, only came off as nervousness. He chuckles slightly trying to pretend he wasn’t feeling downhearted.
“Uh, I am so sorry about that, Alrin. I did not mean to scare you. I just saw you right now and dashed over here as quickly as possible.” Klairra’s friendly smile and bubbly demeanor was enticing to Alrin, a warm and inviting personality, a stark contrast with Shella’s harsh and jagged behavior. But nonetheless he kept looking over Klairra’s shoulder while she was talking trying to see if Shella was still walking in the distance.
“Uh so, anything new?” Alrin wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. He just suddenly blurted that out just to be nice. In fact he had nothing to talk to her about. He even wondered why she approached him in the first place.
“Well, that is why I ran over here. I need your help, like right now.”
“Uhmm, now? I am kind of busy, I guess.” Alrin wanted to head over to the training grounds and show his support to Shella as she was about to head out to her mission. But he soon thought about it and realized that she would probably get upset with him even more if he showed up. He wanted so badly to show his support and say good-bye to her.
“Busy? Haha. With what exactly?” Klairra chuckled and looked around. It didn’t really seem like Alrin was in the middle doing anything standing around a big tree.
“Uh, umm.” Alrin couldn’t think of anything quick enough to say to her. His mind just drew a blank.
“Well, you see, ever since my father was... you know… Banished from the village..... I've been on my own tending my fields and crops. Can you come by as soon as you can, to help me with my crops? Alrin…. You're very talented when it comes to plants. Your amazing Alrin. Your vegetables and flowers are the most beautiful in the entire village.” Klairra takes a step forward toward him. Alrin instantly notices her wide glistening eyes. Her elegant hair caught his attention as it was flowing in the wind. She flutters her eyelids open and closed hoping that he would notice her but in a different way. Her pink cheeks and her pink lips soon started to invade his mind. Thoughts of wanting to see Shella in the distance started to fade away the closer Klairra got to him. She kept insisting but with her eyes and her body language. It was starting to overwhelm him. She had a needy, pleading expression on her face as she flirtatiously twirls her hair. “Pretty please.......... Alrin…..” She takes another step closer to him. When she finally says his name her voice becomes a soft gentle whisper.
He hesitates gulping down air. He became nervous around her the moment he began noticing her features but after she said ‘pretty please’ to him, he felt like he couldn’t say no to her. He felt bad about her situation. She was on her own. He looks into her sad puppy dog eyes. And he finally gives in to her begging.
“Uh, s-sure. I can help you today.” He looks down and that's when Klairra becomes even more energetic and wraps her arms around him, giving him a quick but tight embrace.
She was overjoyed to get Alrins help. “Oh my! Thank you! Alrin, please, you need to help me right away. I believe my crops are dying. It is really serious.” It caught Alrin off guard when she did that. He started to blush. To Alrin, Klairra was the last person on his mind right now. After he finally agrees and she starts to pull him away while holding his hand, he turns quickly one last time. He took one final glance at the horizon while walking in the direction that Klairra was pulling him, just to see if Shella was still there. But she was gone.
It pains Shella to have to treat him that way. But she couldn’t confess and tell him the truth. That her biggest fear was losing him once she became completely attached and in a relationship with him. If she ever lost him, Alrin, traumatic emotions of losing her father and her little brother would return to the surface. She didn’t want that to ever happen. She tries her best to keep those memories, feelings, that trauma, locked away deep within her mind. Now she can’t fight the growing anxiety, the tremendous fear of losing someone close to her and if it happened, there was the fear of that trauma unleashing itself in her mind, triggering her emotions.
As Shella walked toward the training grounds to meet up with Grandfather Kiev, her emotions were a whirlwind inside her mind. She held herself back from crying. She didn’t want to hurt him, this was the thought swirling around in her head. “I am sorry…. Alrin. Sorry…. I am…. sorry! But I cannot be with you right now. I do not want….. I cannot lose you too.” She knew this was not the person she wanted him to see, an irritated, pushy, and unloving person. “This is not how I really feel for you Alrin… I care… I care for you! If only I could tell you that…. without…. without you catching more feelings for me. I do not want to toy with your emotions.”
She turns the corner to see her grandfather waiting in the distance. She still had a bit more walking to do to get to him. And that’s when she suddenly realized something. “Oh yeah, why am I walking? Ha. I was so stressed out about Alrin, I completely forgot.” Shella said to herself as she smiled. She closed her eyes and concentrated. Instantly her wings materialized behind her. “I know how to fly now!” She's still shaky and trying to get the hang of flying. She tries her best to concentrate and have the wings lift her body up from the ground. Her flight is unsteady and unpredictable. She tries to focus as she gains more and more height in her flight. “I do not think I have flown this high before! I love flying! This feels great!” The flight felt so invigorating to her. Her smile grows as she moves forward in the air getting closer to her grandfather. However, her thoughts begin to drift away from flight and she starts to think about Alrin. Right at the very moment she starts to gain momentum in the air, her progress comes to a halt.
Grandfather Kiev sees her in the distance as she approaches. He begins to chuckle as she gets closer. He's impressed with how high Shella was flying. She never flew that high before with her wings. She was still some distance away from him. He has a big smile on his face. Although she’s still a little shaky when using her wings he knows she will eventually get the hang of them.
Her sudden shift in thought to Alrin made her wings stop responding. “Oh no! What’s happening?” Shella starts to panic wondering why her wings stopped moving. Her heart began pounding wildly as she started to free fall. “Come on! MOVE!” She yells at the top of her lungs trying to focus and get her wings to move again but to no avail. Her hands are now flailing about in the air trying her best to get her wings to move.
“What? Shella!” Grandfather Kiev could see instantly that something was wrong as soon as she was falling straight to the ground below. “She’s much too far away for me to get to her on time! CHILD!”
Out of desperation Grandfather Kiev started to make a run for it as quickly as he could and summoned his wings. "Arghhh!” He grunts as he begins his flight toward her. He jumped up in the air, spreading his wings apart. He flew as quickly as his wings could carry him. “A fall from that height will injure her badly. Hopefully I can make it, fly up and catch her!!" But he knew it would be impossible to get to her on time.
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