"I killed my brother…I drove my sword right through his heart." Elara broke into tears.
Lucas had no idea how to respond to this. He was shocked by this answer; he had thought of many different versions, but this wasn't one of them. He watched her as tears trickled down her cheeks. He had no idea what to do; he held her hand and kept quiet. After a while she narrated the whole story.
Elara and Ryan, one and a half years older than her, had entered the city with a hunter assigned to protect their village. They wanted to become hunters and had trained in their village with the same hunter. He had brought them to Nameless City and trained them for a year more before they fought to get the training quota. Ryan was the best in their arena, and Elara was second to him only. They both entered the training program together and became hunters together. They were assigned to the same team of hunters later.
During one of the nights, some vampires attacked that village. They defended the village, and vampires started to flee into the woods. All of them were excited, and they chased the fleeing vampire. Ryan shouted at them not to chase, but they still did. He and Elara also started chasing. When they reached a little deeper into the woods, the vampires surrounded them. Vampires attacked, and they fought back. But hunters were outnumbered. Their only good luck was that all of them were weaker than Ryan and Elara. Ryan shouted for them to retreat while he wanted to defend alone, but Elara didn't leave him behind. Others retreated while Ryan and Elara stood their ground. Ryan had killed five and Elara three, but still, there were ten more. The fight continued, and the number of vampires reduced to four, three fighting Ryan and Elara fighting one.
After killing her opponent, Elara looked towards Ryan. She ran after seeing the scene. Ryan had killed two of them, but the third one had given a severe injury and demobilised him. And had started feeding on him. She reached there and slashed the vampire's head off. She held Ryan in his arms and began calling for help with all her energy. She supported him on her back and started walking towards their village. Ryan's feet were dragging, and Elara's injuries were bleeding, but she continued. After a while, she heard a growling sound from her behind. It was so close that she turned back instinctively, lost balance and fell along with Ryan. When she looked at Ryan, he was frowning; his eyes were red, and his fangs were visible. Elara was shocked, and she didn't know what to do. Her thoughts were in a complete mess. Before she could decide what to do, Ryan asked her to kill him in a weak voice. She started crying. Ryan insisted; he even tried to pull her sword. She grabbed it, but before she could put it away Ryan moved swiftly in such a way that her sword pierced his heart. Ryan's pulse grew weaker, and the vampires' features reverted to normal. She was crying, hugging his body. Her brother, who had always been with her, left her with only his last words: "Don't cry! Know I have always loved you" and a cold body. She kept crying there, holding him tightly and passed out.
When she woke up, she was at her house in Nameless City. Later, she found out that she had been marked as a coward by other hunters, and she had caused the death of Ryan. Only one of her friends had believed her story. He even fought with gatekeepers for her when they stopped her from visiting Hunters' Stone. Later, he was sent on a Long exploratory mission with some senior Hunters. After that, she lived alone; she had no friends until she brought Lucas and Elara.
After hearing her story, Lucas hugged her, and all he could say was, "Sis, you will always have us." She hugged him tightly and giggled after hearing him. They stayed there for a little longer before coming down. Elara slept with Ivy, while Lucas slept in the living room as usual.
Lucas's training was progressing rapidly. He was the first to have become this capable at such a young age. In a month, Elara started taking him for practice duels with the ones who would compete this year for the training quota. On his first day, people laughed at them, and even Lucas's opponent, who was three years older, also ridiculed him. Elara, confident in Lucas, only smiled at these ridiculous comments. All the ridicule turned into silence when Lucas defeated his opponent within a few exchanges. Even Lucas was shocked by this result, but only Elara was not shocked in the whole arena. However, she knew this was likely his easiest opponent, among the ones who would participate in the challenge for the training quota. After accepting the result, many wanted to challenge Lucas but Elara didn't let him fight. She took him away.
When they returned to her house, they found Ivy holding a stick in her hand and chasing someone around the living room. When they entered, Ivy ran to Elara. Ivy wasn't scared but was angry at the stranger.
"Hey Lara, do you still remember me?" said the young man with a smile.
"Dashiell! When did you return?" Elara shouted out loud. She was so excited that if not for Ivy hugging her legs, she might have run and hugged him.
Dashiell was her only friend during the incident with her brother. Lucas had remembered this name when she had told him about her past.
"How many times have I told you not to call me Dashiell but Dash." He said.
"By the way, who is this little cutie and this boy?" He asked her, looking at Lucas.
"This is Lucas and her sister Ivy. I have taken them in from outside." She introduced the siblings.
Later, he sat in the living room, and they started chatting about how they had been during this time. Dashiell had been away for almost one and a half years. Lucas was sitting there and watching Elara. He had never seen him this happy until now. Dashiell was a cheerful and humorous guy. He would describe severe and dangerous moments as if they were nothing. They had a mini celebration and went to eat at a tavern. Dashiell tried to hold Ivy all along, but she never left Elara's side. He wanted to feed her, but she rejected him. They had a fun day today. Elara was especially happy; after all, such a good day had come after a long time. When she described what had happened at the arena, Dashiell was shocked and started examining Lucas from top to bottom. He wanted Lucas to fight him once, but Elara shut him down. They enjoyed that day.
From the next day, Dashiell also started training. Dashiell was two years older than Elara and had passed his training earlier than her. He was on equal terms with her when it came to fighting techniques, but his body was stronger than her. Lucas had a hard time fighting against him because he was rougher, and he didn't care if he hurt him, unlike Elara. Lucas started spending more time training with him than Elara.
One day during his training, Dashiell mentions him about Elara's birthday. It was on the first of the month, Moonlit. He wanted to plan some celebration for her. This reminded him of Ivy's birthday on the twenty-eighth of Darkwood, four days earlier than Elara's. Earlier, he had never mentioned birthdays or any celebration because he always felt sad about his village. He also started putting his thoughts into her birthday. Lucas had fifteen days to prepare. He wandered marketplaces for anything that he could get, anything suitable for her. The things that he found suitable were expensive, and things that he could afford were not very attractive. When he was confused, he asked Elara for suggestions. After thinking about it, she suggested going to the forest to search for her gift or find something that could be sold for some money and buy the things Lucas liked. She wanted to accompany him herself, but since anyone had to look after Ivy, she stayed back, and Lucas went with Dashiell.
Dashiell took Lucas through the eastern gate; this gate was different from the one Lucas had entered the first time he had come to. As they ventured into the forest, Dashiell Whistled, and his wolf ran to him. It pinned Dashiell and started licking him. Both sat on its back, and it took them deeper into the forest. They searched for the whole afternoon, but they got nothing. They started to return.
While returning, they were blocked by an adult wolf and a pup. Dashiell would have attacked it with his wolf if you didn't know that the adult wolf belonged to Elara. It was a she-wolf, Elara had named her Aurora. They got down and moved closer to her. The pup dashed to Lucas and started pulling him towards the direction they had come earlier. Aurora also did the same with Dashiell. Both were confused, but they followed them. After walking for half an hour, they reached an ordinary lake, except something was floating in the centre. It was a dagger made of silver. Dashiell dived into the lake, and when he reached the dagger, it repulsed him. He couldn't even touch it. Aurora caught Lucas's hand with her mouth, and before he knew he was in the lake.