*VIOLA*
I got scared when Therius' parents arrived in the village asking for them since they had an accident on their way to the village. My parents calmed them down a bit and gave them some food. When they relaxed and told us what happened, several villagers approached them, offering help to search for them.
As the days passed, some villagers and my parents returned to the village where the children and some residents stayed to take care of us. When they arrived in the village, everyone gathered. "You must pack your things in case we have to evacuate the village," my father shouted.
"We met the LEVIATHAN guild. They told us that a wave of monsters may be heading this way, but first, they would have to pass through a village located in the mountains," he warned, and everyone started to get scared.
"Altea and Dorian went with the guild while they ordered us to return to the village to warn them," my mother said. Quickly, everyone went to their homes to pack their things in case we had to evacuate.
Hours passed as we waited for the guild's explorers to warn us to leave, but they never arrived. Night came, and we all calmed down, imagining that the wave had been stopped. "Go rest; some of us will stand guard in case they arrive," my father told us, as he was one of those guarding the village.
Morning came, and my father and some guards were still outside waiting for the warning. Afternoon arrived, and in the distance, we saw a caravan, hoping it was the guild members. I managed to see Therius on a carriage with equipment. Then my parents ran towards them. "Kids, are you okay?" The people from the village bombarded him with questions, and Therius' father just smiled, "Yes, thank you for your concern."
"Therius, you're back!" I hugged him tightly, causing him to wince in pain. "I'm back, Viola," he said. "Hi, sister Viola, we're back," Elowen said. Then I hugged Elowen. "What a relief that you're back; I was worried," I said as I looked at them.
"Attention, residents of Shira," a woman spoke. "I am Atheria, the master of the LEVIATHAN guild. I can tell you to relax; the wave has ended, and there's no need to worry about them. Yesterday, we were able to end the wave and prevent them from reaching this village," Atheria finished speaking.
I could see the relief on everyone's faces; some shouted with excitement to know that they didn't have to leave the village to escape. "Well, in gratitude to the guild, we'll have a party for them, so get ready; we need to prepare food and drinks," a man shouted, and everyone agreed.
With a last-minute celebration, we managed to prepare everything we could, and everyone celebrated. I looked for Therius, but I couldn't find him anywhere. In the distance, I saw him, but I noticed he was with his parents, discussing something, so I didn't approach and watched them leave.
The next day, after bidding farewell to the guild, I went to Therius' house, but his parents wouldn't let me see him, saying he needed to recover according to them. I asked if I could visit him, but they refused, so I thought Therius was the one who didn't want to see me.
For several days, I did the same thing, but in the end, I resigned myself and stopped going to see him. So during those days, I continued training with my sword out of sheer frustration for not being able to see him. "Daughter, is something wrong?" My mother asked.
"Yes, Therius doesn't want to see me, and I'm angry about it," I told my parents. "Calm down, dear; maybe he's still not recovered since he was in bad shape recently, and his parents must have forbidden him from leaving his room as punishment," my mother tried to comfort me. "Yes, it could be, but I want to see him," I replied.
"Well, wait a little longer, and maybe his punishment will be lifted, and you can see him," my father said. Another week passed, and I still hadn't heard anything from Therius, so I kept training, hoping he would come looking for me. "Daughter, we'll be back in a while; wait here," my mother said. "Okay, be careful," I replied.
Half an hour after my parents left, a voice pronounced my name, "Viola, I'm here," I turned to see that Therius was the one calling me. Seeing him made me angry, and taking advantage of having my sword in hand, I went straight to him, attempting to attack him. I lunged towards him, directing my sword towards his head.
As my sword approached, he dodged it. I adjusted my posture and continued to launch myself at him. My attacks went from right to left, from top to bottom; each of my attacks was either avoided or blocked. I kept pressuring him, and Therius grabbed a sword from the shelf, "Well, if that's how you want to settle this, we'll do it," he said.
We both took our fighting stances and began to fight again. Our swords clashed faster and faster. "You've improved, Viola. If you keep this up, you might be able to catch up to me or even surpass me," he praised me. "Stop talking and keep fighting," I replied angrily.
"Alright, let's continue, and then we'll talk," he said while we kept fighting. I moved mana around my body, increasing my speed, and I could see Therius doing the same. I swung my sword towards his abdomen; I barely managed to reach him with the tip of my rapier, but it still wasn't enough to land a hit. But as always, I stopped to catch my breath.
"Come on, keep going; a little more, and you could do it. So once more, let's go," Therius encouraged me once more. Even though he's only a year older than me, he's always been the stronger one, and no matter how hard I try, I never manage to reach him. If he's only 12 and I'm 11, I don't know how much stronger and farther ahead he could be in the future, where our strengths rise even if that barrier does too; I reproached myself in my mind.
Therius now takes control of the fight; I lost control of it when I tried to turn right to avoid his sword, but I lost my balance, and he was able to press me. I don't know how he can be so strong if he's not supposed to wield a sword. My anger at my damn lack of swordsmanship isn't enough to touch him.
With a roar and a strong blow, I tried to regain control of the fight, but it was futile when he sidestepped and avoided my blow yet again. When he dodged, I saw a small opening in his posture.
I tried to go for it, but when I finally felt like I could land a hit, he blocked it, swinging his sword with mine and making it fly far away from me, meaning I lost.
Damn it, how am I supposed to fight alongside him if I can't even touch him, let alone help him the next time something like what happened to him occurs? I screamed internally at myself as I got up from the ground after losing my balance when my sword flew away.
Therius offered me his hand, but still angry, I brushed it off, making him understand that I could manage on my own. But as I stood up, I felt dizzy and almost fell backward again, but Therius caught me. "Hey, be careful, sit down for a moment; you must be tired from that fight," he said, holding me as I sat on a nearby bench.
"I'm fine, just let me go; I want to catch my breath. Besides, aren't you supposed to be resting and healing in bed?" I asked, still angry and tired. "No, I'm fine; I managed to leave my room, so I decided to visit you and talk a bit," he said, wiping the sweat off his face.
"It wasn't necessary; the desire to see you and talk to you disappeared days ago, so you can go back; there's nothing to talk about here," I said as I stood up and placed my sword on the shelf where I always left it.
"Viola, wait, let's talk a bit, okay?" he said as he followed me.
"Talk, I'll listen to you, and when you're done, you can leave," I replied without looking back at him, heading towards the house. "Okay, listen, I don't know how you must feel about what happened in the mountains, or what you heard, or how much you heard, but if you're angry about what I did, tell me. I can't stand seeing my childhood friend angry with me," he said, but I felt a pang in my chest upon hearing that word, knowing that's how he saw me, just a childhood friend, and that's how it would be, at least for a while, I wanted to imagine.
"Or if it's about me not accepting your visits, please tell me because if you don't tell me what's wrong, then I won't know what to apologize for, or at least I want to think that I should apologize, even if it's just that," he said as I still only listened.
"I won't tell you what you did right or wrong, Aetherius, but him not wanting to talk to you depends on me, not on the stupid things you did in that place. But it makes me happy to see that you really didn't die after that, that you came back safe and alive," I said as tears welled up slightly in my eyes. "For now, just leave me alone; I'll be the one to look for you again when I feel it's the right time, but for now, just go," I said finally as I entered my house and left Therius outside.
Looking out the window, I could see him walking away, and seeing him walk away made my heart ache at the thought of how he might have felt if they had come with the news that he had really died that day. I cursed myself for getting angry without justification, but still, it bothered me that despite knowing each other for a long time, he didn't have the confidence to talk to me, let alone tell me what he thinks.
I moved away from the window while I could still see his figure about to disappear. Angry, I let out a scream and jumped out of the window and ran towards his direction, "THERIUS!" I shouted, apparently he couldn't hear me as he didn't turn, so I infused mana into my body and ran faster towards him. I lunged towards his back, causing his body to move forward because I hugged him from behind.
I could see that he was surprised by what I did when I saw his face, but still, I stayed on his back. "Please don't go, forgive me, please forgive me, I'm not angry, really, I'm not, it's just that I'm angry with myself, I feel like I'm not enough to be useful to you, I think I'm still not capable of helping you when something like that happens again and you can get away from me," I said as I was still holding onto his back. He managed to make me let go, and now he hugged me around my chest, and I kept talking.
"I feel weak and insignificant when I remember hearing that you fought fearlessly against the wave of beasts, and how you fought against the beast that controlled them. I feel useless when I see that even though we're almost the same age, I can't even fight against a single beast like you did," I said as I cried.
"I was scared, Viola, scared that I wouldn't be strong enough to survive that, and I was afraid of not coming back and dying thinking that the beasts could reach the refugees I was with Elowen, and I was afraid of not being able to say goodbye properly to each of you if I had died that day," he said as he hugged me tighter.
Ironically, I thought that this scenario might resemble something that happened to adults and not children who had just turned 10. "I'm sorry, Viola, I'm sorry for making you think all that, and I'm sorry for not realizing that you could feel that way," he said. I moved away from his chest, and he wiped my tears.
"Stop crying, and let's walk a bit and talk about what happened while I was away," he said as he grabbed my hand, and I just smiled and walked happily beside him.