Twelve Years----VIII

After last night's spooky events, Elias returned home with much weighing heavy on his mind. One was Drea's weird behavior, and the other was Eset's. Why did she fly ahead of him in urgency?

Once he arrived, Elias was suddenly able to hear again, and the voice of Eset wracked his mind, overwhelming him like a mother's missed calls. She was yelling in pain, saying that the loud voice was too much to bear. "A mind splitting headache" as she described it.

At that point, Elias was too confused, what loud voice? He couldn't hear jack!

[Touch your ears] she said, her wings motioning for him to hurry.

Confusedly, Elias slowly prodded around his ears until he touched something liquid trailing down his ear lobes and the sides of his jaw.

He scooped some of it onto his middle and index fingers, bringing it into his sight.

Blood,

Blood was leaking from his ears. Just then, the adrenaline and the fear wore off, giving way for the pain synapse. An insufferable itch tugged at the inside of his ears, too far to reach. Hurriedly, he placed both hands on his ears and muttered his healing spell

{Nature's kiss}

It was only after he was given respite from the pain did he take a moment to analyze what happened.

'It was not quiet, But deafeningly loud. So much so that my enhanced hearing could not track the height of the decibels.'

###

The next day, in the clearing in front of his house Elias practiced the staff arts movements.

He thrust, swept, leapt and evaded. He shadow sparred wooden dummies, controlling every attack to either connect, or stop mere inches from its target.

Bracelets and anklets of silver beads rattled on his arms and legs, their weight slowing his pace significantly, turning his once smooth flowing dance, into an awkward stumbling of uncoordinated movement.

His feet sank heavily into the earth and his arms strained with every attack, shaking under the crushing weights. Yet he was determined to push his limits.

Near him, perched atop her second favorite spot beside Elias's right shoulder, Eset sat on the willow tree's branch. After much contemplation, she whispered hesitantly into his mind.

[Hey Elias. Drea, do you think, she is….]

Stunned by her question, Elias's strike missed its target. It took him moments to pick the staff that buried itself into the ground and resume his training, yet his heavy mind, got a little heavier.

"I don't know. But we would be idiots to rule her out."

For hours, Elias trained tirelessly, sweat raining off of his tanned bare chest. His trusty staff, creaked under the high intensity. It's deep and rich color paled over the years, and its body was marked by nicks and gashes. The staff's body even contained markings of Elias's fingers, digging into its shaft and ripping apart the compressed wood. Splinters from the cracks would tear the flesh of his palm, and the skin in between his fingers.

Yet, Elias remained unbothered by all these, for he has achieved the flow state.

Increased focus, hyper concentration, and a blazing determination. Flow state was similar to meditation, yet at the same time it was fundamentally different.

To Elias, nothing mattered outside his training. At that moment of time, Drea's increasingly suspicious actions did not impede him, nor did his father's disappearance, nor the longing he held in his heart for his mother.

Elias was wholeheartedly focused on one task and one task only, Training.

Eset on the other hand, used her wind magic to flip the pages of an old magic tome, hoping to discover new information inside this worn out book.

###

"Alright, this is the last of them."

Once again, within the wild forest surrounding willow shade village, the young shepherd and his owl thinned environment of its demon invaders.

Tonight, they caught seven demons again. While all were low ranked foot soldiers, they still presented a danger to the village and its residents.

[Do you want to patrol the town?] Asked Eset, plugging her talon out the eye of a defenseless <Susurri Mens>. For some reason Eset has a very deep grudge with this specific type of demons.

After a brief warm smile at his sister's antics, Elias's eyes trailed in the direction of the town. He would not lie to himself, he was still scared of what happened the other day, and he was scared to discover the worst about one of his closest.

'No shame in taking a night off.'

###

Under the sleeping shepherd's nose, two individuals clashed in the dead of night.

One, honored by the heavens itself. A golden nimbus of blades rotated around her head as her divine white dress shone with brilliance.

The other, was the embodiment of maliciousness. A vile entity that even the depths of Tartarus was no place for.

Their battle was one sided.

The dark figure would aim at the houses of the village, intending to harm the innocent bystanders. He waved around his black scythe, sending energy attacks here and there with manic laughter.

The divine figure would block them with her blades of brilliance, sending a few out in attempt to smite the demon.

Their cycle had been repeating for twelve long years.

Twelve long years has the divine figure protected this village from the demon wishing it harm. Every night she would cast the barrier that would keep their battle hidden from prying senses. Only recently has her powers been diminishing, a reason unknown to the demon, but welcome all the same.

"Give up Drea, you know you can't win. Why struggle?"