Author's Note: Hello! This isn't my first fanfiction, but it IS my first one in this archive. I'm still a newbie author, though. I've been reading stories in the Elsword Archive since June, and I've seen so many great stories that are absolutely beautiful. But... compared to me... ugh, mine are just... T.T

Pushing that aside, I've gathered up my courage, after playing a bit of Elsword for the first time, to write a fanfiction.

To readers of Sakura of the Garden: I'm really, really sorry that I'm using this time to write a new story instead of continuing to the next chapter. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about it and I will come back to update that one later.

School has started for me, so I'll update faster than I do in the summer. Ironic, right? One more thing: I know this chapter isn't the best I can do, but please read it. There will be better chapters later on.

I noticed that the beginning and end seem better than the middle... so... uh... just saying. Ok, I think I rambled on and on for too long. Enjoy this chapter! Disclaimer: The cover picture is by swd3e2. I do NOT own it.

Purple eyes were staring intently into a gigantic, dusty book, absorbing the complicated nonsense organized professionally on the pages, like how paper just soaks up water. It was phenomenal how a little 15-year-old girl could easily comprehend an ancient book that even adults would have to struggle to understand.

The setting of a girl reading a book peacefully on a simple, yet beautiful wooden bench was adorned by the cherry blossom trees that rustled, its lovely pink petals slowly drifting down one by one, finally landing quietly on the sturdy ground. The scene's beauty was further enhanced when lively birds sang a delightful song, as a playful breeze swept purple bangs to the side. The yellow pages ruffled, causing the girl to tighten her hold on them. Her legs alternately swung back and forth while she hummed a merry tune.

Most of her hair in the back was tied up in a bun with an exquisite gold-trimmed item that also included a glimmering pink gem in the back. She was wearing a white shirt and skirt decorated with thin black lines, a big yellow bow on her shirt, and a piece of cloth above her knee and down to her heels; it was baggy near the bottom, followed by durable brown shoes.

The colossal, ancient book she borrowed from the library this morning was quite interesting. Sure, it was pretty heavy compared to a normal book, but that also meant that intricate, irresistible details were bound to be inside the wrinkled, aged stack of connected papers. Out of all the books she had found in the library, this one caught her attention immediately and was by far the most amazing book she had read. Well, started reading, anyway. From the elegant designs that decorated the cover, to the endless tons of information, it was just impossible to simply ignore it.

By just looking at only the face of the female teenager, most people would infer that she was just a normal, ordinary village girl. But that wasn't the case. Recently, the organization of High Magicians accepted her prodigious skills and abilities and announced her as an official member. As a result, she wore the uniform that proudly proved her accomplishment. Not that it was a big accomplishment for the genius magician. Of course, there were other organizations like the ones that contained Dark Magicians and Battle Magicians, along with bigger ones, but those weren't important for now. Ever since she officially became a High Magician, she had studied books about elemental magic for endless hours, even late at night. Her hunger for information hadn't ceased, no matter how much she took in. Noticing that the library at the High Magician Association was larger than the one in Elder, she browsed for reading material that would be some of use to her. That was how she found the book that she was reading. It had a simple title, nothing too complicated, which was easy to remember.

The book was called…

The Path of Elements.

The girl's hands brushed the tip of the right page's corner. Flip! She turned the page, ready for some more. It turned out that she was having difficulty reading the first sentence. Why was that? Laughing families passed by, disturbing her quiet reading. She checked the time. 3:00 P.M. It was around that time where it was noisiest. Should she go somewhere else to read in peace? This specific place was a wonderful one to read, with the wind occasionally caressing her face, the luscious petals decorating the floor and bench, and the weather perfect and just the right temperature. She decided she would stay here. She had gotten used to reading in a noisy place anyway, due to her love for reading.

"Hey, it's that nerd again!"

Perfect… She supposed since she came here every day she was in Elder to read, someone would eventually call her a nerd. She had difficulty understanding why people had hate for someone more intelligent than them. Perhaps they were jealous? She shook her head, unable to understand why someone would do something like that JUST because they were jealous.

One of the guys cracked his knuckles, trying to look all cool and powerful. He sneered at the girl, a plan forming in his head. He was the leader of the gang.

"Hey, nerd. You don't belong here. Get yourself out of my place! You no-life person, trespassing in my territory! Who do you think you are, huh? It's too bad you're a girl. I'll have to ask my girlfriend to do my job for me."

The purple-haired magician snorted. They were just normal people who decided to gang up against people who they deemed unworthy. She was sure that their small heads would tremble against the weight of doing simple addition. Maybe she would show off a little of magic to them, so they wouldn't disturb her again. She closed the dusty old book, held it in her hand, and stood up and faced them, with her hands on her hips and a look that said 'Stay out of my way and you'll escape unharmed'.

The gang leader's girlfriend stepped up to the front, a sneer on her face. Apparently she didn't get her message. She grabbed for the magician's hair, but the purplenette, who was used to fighting in battle, dodged it easily with one flick of her head.

"Go get her, Karen! Beat her to death!" The rest of the gang cheered on the girl named Karen. She cracked her knuckles, resembling her boyfriend, and punched left and right, the High Magician dodging each one. Karen grunted in frustration and tried something new. She lifted her leg to kick the mage, which evidently failed. She continued like this, yet not a single hit landed. The annoyed magician rolled her eyes. Really? If they were going to try to attack her, at least they could show some real strength and intelligence in their every move. The bored High Magician couldn't afford to waste time playing with annoying peeps who didn't know how to mind their own business.

Thump! Karen managed to knock the book out of the purplenette's hands when she caught her off guard. No! That book was precious to her! The High Magician scurried over to grab it, but not before the gang leader did. He held up the book in her face with a smirk. She grabbed for the book, but he yanked it away from her. She would've shot a fireball at him for doing that, but with her book in his hand, she didn't want to risk burning it.

"Give it back!"

"Why would I?

"…Just give my book back!"

"No. In fact, I'll rip this junk apart!"

"STOP!"

He tried to open the book, but it wouldn't let him. His eyes searched for a lock or a hidden opening, but to his dismay, there wasn't one. The purplenette was also thoroughly confused despite her fuming anger. Why was she able to open it normally? The teen boy used all of his strength to get it open. Flash! A bright light surrounded the tome, making the cherry blossom trees sway away from it. The magician closed her eyelids shut tight. When the light dimmed, she peeked through one cautiously opened purple eye. She gasped. Everything was normal. Except for the gang. They lay on the ground, all in a circle with the book in the center, as if there was an explosion. She walked over and picked it up slowly. Her hands carefully opened the book, while she held in her breath. Nothing. Nothing happened. She was at the same page she was at. Her purple eyes widened.

What in Elrios was going on?

A redhead boy came running over, obviously searching for the cause of the light. He stopped at the current scene, panting heavily. He simply gaped at the sprawled group of people and the purple-haired girl holding a… When did books get that big?

The gang leader stirred and opened his eyes. In a flash, he was up on his feet. He looked around wildly at his friends and the boy, before focusing his gaze on a shocked girl and pointing an accusing finger at her.

"You! What did you do?"

The purplenette closed "The Path of Elements" with a loud thud. She turned her head slowly, her beautiful features shining as she did so. This left the leader blushing slightly.

"What do you mean?"

He quickly snapped out of his daze. "You must have used some kind of trickery!"

"Like what?" She knew what he was talking about, but wanted to know if this brat actually knew something.

"Like… the… you know." He used his hands to symbolize the explosion, since his mouth was unable to talk for once.

"I didn't do that. You opened the book and that light explosion happened. What did YOU do?" She smirked. She had turned the tables.

The blond leader, who accused her, was actually at a loss for words with no proof to back this up. The redhead, who was on the side watching the two argue, decided to walk in. The blondie smiled with relief when he saw the familiar redhead walk towards them.

"Hey, Elsword, how's it 'goin?"

"I'm doing great on my travels, Steve. What happened here?" The accused one groaned. Great, another annoying brat just HAD to come here.

"It's like I said. SHE…" He took this moment to point another accusing finger. "…did something and me and my friends ended up like this." He smiled, knowing that someone was on his side. His friends stood up and growled at the sight of the purple magician. The mentioned girl slowly backed away from the "wild animals". Her eyes caught something. Red. Purple and red stared at each other, curious about the other.

Elsword had spiky red hair, almost like the tendrils of flames, with a red half shirt and a white jacket-ish cloth except that it was short and covered his arms, and gloves and a belt that had a dazzling ruby on them, with black pants, and silver shoes. His red and white sword was strapped to his back. His eyes widened when he realized what she was wearing.

"You're a High Magician, right?" The magician's eyes widened, too, before reverting back to normal a split second later. How did he know with one glance? She averted her gaze, unhappy that this stupid idiot decided to spoil something that she was going to show. Whispers erupted within the accusing group, voices astonished with this new piece of information.

"Yes, of course. I was going to show you, but-"

Steve smirked when the High Mage confirmed it.

"See! I told you! You are a witch!" Cheers erupted, with Karen jumping up and down gleefully next to her boyfriend.

"First of all, I'm not a witch, but a magician! Second of all, I didn't do it." The gang quieted down. It was weird how fast they changed their moods, wasn't it? The purplenette snapped out of her thoughts. This wasn't the time to try to get off topic. "Look, I'll even show you. I'll go to the center of Elder to find somewhere else to read, and you guys can pick on other poor victims, ok?" Without waiting for approval, she took a step forward, already casting a spell for teleportation. Light glowed in a circle around her feet. In any second now, she would be in the center of Eld-

"Stop." That one word seemed to terminate her process of teleportation, just like it was meant to do. Glaring furiously at the stupid redhead that interrupted her, she realized she would have to wait a bit longer until she could freely dwell in curiosity and interest in the tome that rested in her hand.

"What now?"

"I want to hear from you what happened."

An exasperated sigh escaped from her mouth. Oh, well, she supposed she could get this over quickly.

"Fine. They tried to attack me because I was reading on that bench over there and grabbed my book, and opened it in an attempt to tear it apart. And… that light explosion happened."

Elsword pondered about the information that he gathered, but… well… he wasn't exactly the type of person to think. She said more than Steve, so she definitely was the correct one. That was his "logical" thinking, anyway.

"Ok, so it wasn't your fault." Purple eyebrows raised, their fuzzy hairs above the confusion in her eyes.

"What?" Steve gaped at Elsword. "I thought you were my buddy!"

"Who said I was your buddy?"

"You know what, I'm sorry about your girlfriend, and I'm not going to talk to you, loser." Elsword lifted his right hand, already engulfed in hungry flames that licked the air. The scaredy-blonde ran away, his friends trailing after him.

Meanwhile, a vein popped in the purple-haired magician's forehead. Who was that guy to think that at this age, she would have a boyfriend? Sure, he had a girlfriend, but he was an ordinary villager. She, on the other hand, was a prodigious mage. She had no time for flirting. Especially since… that happened.

Elsword turned around to face her. He chuckled lightly.

"My name is Elsword. I'm sorry for stopping you earlier. I know the jerks are annoying, but I just wanted to hear the solid truth about it. I'll treat you to a meal as my apology." Hm, maybe Elsword wouldn't be too bad to have as a boyfriend.

At the Elder restaurant...

"So grapehead…" The insulted mage's eye twitched in annoyance. She took back her words. A name calling idiot wasn't suited to be her boyfriend.

SLAM! Her hands slammed the table. Really hard. Her chair fell backwards on the polished floor when she stood up abruptly. Chatting people quieted down as their attention directed to the scene.

"You know, I HAVE A NAME. IT'S AISHA. A-I-SHA. Oh, wait, I bet your small, idiotic brain doesn't know that. My apologies." Elsword stood up, too, while also slamming his hands and pushing his chair backwards so it fell, just like the furious girl.

"WELL GUESS WHAT!? YOU WEREN'T SMART ENOUGH TO TELL ME YOUR NAME, SO I KINDLY GAVE YOU ONE!"

"EXCUSE ME!? KINDLY GAVE ME ONE? YOU KNEW I WAS TIRED AND ACCIDENTALLY FORGOT TO TELL YOU MY NAME, SO YOU TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THAT! DON'T TALK ABOUT THIS "KINDNESS" BUSINESS WHEN YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT IT MEANS!"

"OH, SO YOU THINK I'M STUPID AND MEAN! I TOOK TIME OUT OF MY PRECIOUS LIFE TO HELP YOU WITH THOSE GUYS AND EVEN TREATED YOU TO A MEAL AND THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME!? I THOUGHT THAT YOU THOUGHT I WAS SO STUPID THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW YOU HAD A NAME! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME HERE THAT I WAS SMART ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT YOU WERE TIRED? HAH! LOOK WHO'S THE DUMB ONE!"

"HELPED ME WITH THOSE JERKS? DON'T TRY TO MAKE ME LAUGH! I COULD'VE HANDLED THEM MYSELF! BESIDES, YOUR RUDENESS WAS THE REASON WHY I'M YELLING AT YOU RIGHT NOW!"

"COULD'VE HANDLED THEM BY YOURSELF? HOW ABOUT YOU TRY TO NOT MAKE ME LAUGH! I BET THAT YOU WOULD BE CRYING RIGHT NOW IF I HADN'T GRACIOUSLY LENT A HAND TO YOU, GRAPEHEAD!"

"THAT'S IT! YOU ARE SO INCREDIBLY STUPID; YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHERE WE'RE SHOUTING! AND YOU'RE EVEN SHOUTING LOUDER THAN ME!"

At the mention of their current location, Elsword and Aisha rotated their heads just to make sure that nobody was listening to their bickering. Unfortunately, their eyes focused in the direction of an annoyed manager, anger written all over his face, standing right in front of the arguing pair with his arms crossed.

Aisha's face was red, but it was because of embarrassment than anger. "Oops, I'm sorry." The manager pointed to the exit door.

"Leave."

The redhead widened his eyes. "B-but, I haven't finished my food! And I paid for it!"

"I SAID leave." The pair walked out the door. Aisha tried to walk proudly despite the embarrassment on her face. Elsword sulked as he realized he almost spend all his money and didn't even get to eat one piece. It was because of that stupid grapehead. The night sky twinkled brightly with radiance as the angry pair walked in silence until they reached their inn, which they found that they both stayed in it, coincidentally.

"You deserved it, Elbaka."

"What did you just say!?"

"I SAID ELBAKA! DID YOU NOT HEAR ME? YOU'RE NOT JUST STUPID, YOU'RE ALSO DEAF!" And they argued over and over, until their lack of energy told them to stop. They managed to mumble 'Good night.', but not without a few insulting words here and there.

Aisha yawned. She slipped into her sleepwear and climbed onto the inn's bed. Today was actually… quite interesting for once. She found a book, read it, and it flashed in a brilliant and incredibly blinding light when they were about to tear it apart. At first, Elsword seemed rather nice, "helping" her with the problem and even going so far to treat her to a meal, but when he called her 'Grapehead', that was when the arguments started. She chuckled lightly at the thought of one event after another, like how one word led to a series of following quarrels, and how that flash of light was followed by meeting Elsword for the first time. She even felt sorry, since she was the one that actually started those series of pointless bickering. It was weird how life worked, right? Too bad she couldn't read the book from the High Magician Library that she borrowed. But… what was that flash of light? Was today… possibly… a fateful day? Would… there… be… more… "fateful"… days…? Her thoughts slowed down as her sleepiness took over. Soft peachy eyelids covered her violet irises, letting them rest from the tiring day.

Next to Aisha's room, a beautiful elf with long green hair and lovely verdant eyes laid on the bed. Remembering her Chief's panicked words and the mission that lay in front of her, she was having difficulty trying to sleep. On her table laid dark teal ribbons and a finely crafted green, dark teal, and white bow.

Aisha, Elsword, and the delicate elf eventually fell asleep, unaware of the treacherous journeys in front of them. Nobody knew the unpredictable future, one day traveling solo, and another day traveling with at least 7 people from different backgrounds and motives, but sharing the same goal. After all, the future was, still is, and will still be… a mysterious thing.

Author's Note: See what I said about the beginning and end being better than the middle? I seriously thought that the small fight with Aisha vs. Villagers was a bit too cliche, especially when I just HAD to drag Elsword to the scene. I really did wanted to smack myself in the head. No, wait, I already did. Does anyone recognize something... unique about the title of the book that Aisha was reading? Did anyone notice that I didn't use a character's name until it was mentioned? By the way, I'm sure you realized that I have an almost-next-to-nothing-knowledge-of-clothing-terms . I apologize for that. I'm terrible at describing clothes! Since I failed at describing them, I'll tell you what they were wearing. Aisha was wearing the High Magician promotional costume, and the outfit that Elsword is wearing is the Magic Knight promotional costume.

Overall, I think I did ok, considering my newbie abilites, but it doesn't look like I did well. For example, in Sakura of the Garden, the first chapter was shorter than this one, but when I compare both, Sakura of the Garden seemed better. Is school making me tired? Ugh, why did I feel the need to drag the topic of another fanfiction in a whole completely different archive in here? In fact, I'm going to be really shocked if I get more than 2 or 3 reviews on this. Heh, I'll be surprised if I get even 1.

Edit: Thanks to Breathless Abyss's kind suggestion, I have deleted the author notes in the middle of the story that included my rambling about how horrible I was at describing Aisha's and Elsword's outfit. I have put them at the end of the first paragraph in this bottom author note.