Chapter Three

“Now this is where the fun begins.” A figure murmured to himself as he stepped out from behind the house where he had hidden before the girl-Tivona he corrected had approached the bush.

A malicious smile then made its way across his face as his eyes glinted. “I can’t wait to see what the two of you can do.” 

He then quietly walked away from the village, hands in his pockets and disappeared in the air with a chaotic laugh. 

Sunlight pored through the leaves of the trees, casting a long shadow over the path as Tivona

scanned her surroundings to search for her friend.

How she could talk about that with the other when they barely managed to get past the hostility stage of their relationship. But for her, people that she meets are friends-regardless of what standing or situation in life had been dealt.

She frowned as she walked deeper into the forest, at first, she was intent on waiting for the other to returned back after her excursion, but the other had been gone for hours already.

And it was nearing sunset.

‘Aedre, where are you?’ she thought as she walked through the forest. No one in her village had ventured this deep into the forest before, saved for a few hunters and travellers seeking game and new lands. 

Her mind flashed back to what she said to the other prior to her departure.

“A guardian?” Tivona repeated as she looked at the older in confusion. She then shook her head as she couldn’t believe such a person exist. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

‘Maybe she had been offended somehow,” she thought as she tightened her hold on the scarf she was wearing around her neck, and was tugging at in nervousness as she walked through the forest. 

“But who would believe something that’s considered a myth by others?” she asked herself as she listened to the cycle of nature as it went through its daily life. “Regardless if there’s a testament of it.”

“It’s almost as believing that an Angel existed out of the specter of religion.” she added as she looked up at the sky, frowning at the absurdity and truthfulness of it all.

Aedre slipped through the trees as easily as water slipped through any opening. Her blue cloak waving behind her as she ran through the foliage. Her eyes never straying from the path she was intent on sensing.

As a water elemental, she could sense water moving under her feet and could easily tell that a stream or a small river is close by. And only being in close proximity to her element could help ease the tension she was feeling.

‘How foolish I was.’ she thought as she slowed to a walk. ‘Believing that I could find someone like me in the village. To also believe that someone would believe me if I say that I’m a guardian of water.’

She shook her head sharply. ‘I should have expected it.’ then let out a sigh as she stopped and closed her eyes. Letting her senses take over her realm, as she gleaned out possible sources of water.

A twig snapped and she abruptly opened her eyes. Someone was in the vicinity. She could tell by the strange aura that settled over her surroundings.

But who?

She turned around, trying to sense anyone near but had found none. 

Her braided violet hair hung over her shoulder as she looked around her one last time then quickly left. Whoever the person was, should very well know not to mess with her in this state.

Even if she had just woken up from a three-month long slumber, she still could put up a fight, not with magic but anything she could get her hands on.

She ran through the forest, letting her instincts take over for she knew that she does not have time to let her senses gather up any information pertaining to any whereabouts of any type of water source.

As she was running through the section of the forest that was unthreaded, a hand grabbed her wrist out of nowhere and pulled her behind a huge tree.

Tivona could’ve sworn that she should have received a far better reward than a mere argument that had no beginning when she had practically saved the other’s life.

And to make matters worse, the other had refused at point blank to even listen to her which is highly annoying in her part.

“What do you want?” the other demanded as she looked at her. Her green-orange eyes narrowed at her in dislike. “When you flat out said you don’t believe me.”

She let out a sigh then turned to the older. “Will you stop, Aedre? You must be this dependant on your powers if you haven’t sense anything wrong.”

Aedre blinked in confusion and slight anger. “What do you mean?”

She looked out from behind the tree they were hiding then turned to look at the other. And had said one word that explained it all. “Poachers.” 

“Poachers?” 

“Yes, poachers.” she told her. “But they’re no ordinary poachers. They’re after elemental beings that encroached in this forest. They believed that a fairy or an elf could greatly help boost whatever they need the creature for.”

“They don’t exist.” Aedre noted. “How are they-“

“The thrill for searching that they know doesn’t exist excites them to the core.” she explained. “But they’re after also after humans who’re blessed with extraordinary abilities.”

“I thought that-“

Tivona shook her head. “I just said that to let you know not all in this world knows about the Guardians nor their sole purpose on why the Lord had bequeathed them with such abilities.”

“At any rate, poachers believed that these beings are both different in the physical sense. People who are born to be very different than the usual race.”

Adre looked at the younger and noted how someone at such a young age knew all about the evil the world has to offer. Which she wasn’t so different herself but still, the thought of someone as young as the girl beside her...to be taught then to learn that the world you thought as a fairytale.

Was a world filled with betrayal, death and sins? One that a parent or anyone shouldn’t ever wish for a child to witness at her own age when she was starting to come out of her mother’s arms and embrace the world. 

She was woken from her thoughts when they heard quiet footsteps coming near them. And cursed under breath as she no doubt had to use to her magic.

A hand laid on her shoulder and she turned to look at Tivona’s green eyes. Green like the blades of grass in spring. The other shook her head, telling her not to expose herself lest she wanted to put herself in danger.

But she had no choice. She had to. That’s what she was born to do.

To protect something that was not supposed to be known.