Past, Present, Future

Chapter 8: Aegis of Embers, Six!

Gajune, the city of Elementals, stood proudly upon the rest of the nations. Housing tens of thousands of residents, the city is split into five elemental districts. Fire, Water, Earth, Lightning, and Wind. The gift of the deities gave the city plentiful blessings and the skill for war. Before long, the residents were given the five Fragments of Ureinar. They were called in many names, but the people preferred to call them Brands. 

The Brand of the Firebird. 

The Brand of the Water Bear.

The Brand of the Earth Golem.

The Brand of the Wind Sylphid.

And the most powerful of them all, the Brand of the Lightning Dragon.

Manifesting as strange, colorful orbs, the residents treated them with great care and value. They have made altars with them in their corresponding district, each kept in a very secluded and discreet vault that only a chosen family will know about. 

According to Gajunian Legend, a great evil will come and take the fragments as his own. Thus, the fragments must be kept within. Only then shall the evil perish.

It has been 240 years since the orbs have been passed down. The orbs are now regarded as myths. Ever since the Dagineir War, most of the secret-bearing families have perished, yet the city came back to its feet. With this, no one knows where the orbs are. One could speculate that they're within city walls, but who knows for sure. They are myths... aren't they?

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"Dalia! Come on! Let's play!" Shouted a boy, no older than 10. The Silver-haired had a smile plastered unto his face. He had stood all day waiting for his friend to come out of her house. 

A girl of the same age peeked at the window and cheerily smiled. Her hair of inky black shook.

"Mommy! Geren is here! Can I play?" She shouted from the window, waving at her ecstatic friend. Her mother, who was chopping vegetables, replied, 

"Geren? I don't know any Geren."

"You know, the boy I met at the Elemental Academy! The boy with the silver hair, see?" She pointed at the boy outside the window, her smile still wide.

"Oh? From the Lightning District? I don't know..." She spaced off.

The girl pouted cutely at her mother.

"Oh please, mother. I won't get into trouble. You always let me play outside as long as I don't go near the dike. Please?" She pleaded, eyes nearly tearing up. One look at her and her mother gave up. Her daughter was just a spitting image of her father.

"Okay, I will let you out. But give me a kiss then." The mother cheekily smiled. 

Faster than anyone could blink, she pecked her mother's cheek and immediately bolted for the door.

"Bye, mom! I will be back before the Huran Lights!" She waved goodbye and ran for her friend.

The mother looked at them sweetly from the window.

I wonder if my daughter likes that boy. Children these days.

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"Oh look, the Taran trees are bearing fruit!" Dalia shouted, pointing to a clump of trees near a bakery. "My mom told me that they are sweet, but I haven't asked her about it because she hates giving me sweet things." Dalia looked at them in hope.

Geren looked at her and the fruits. They shone in a shiny red. The fruits, round and small, held together in clumps in a single stem much like the Erian grape.