A Day To Remember

Walking through the Inn and out the front door Tearia wondered where they were going but didn't say anything as she followed along. All she could was watch as her Grandfather walked forward with a solemn look while he walked through the streets towards the populated area. Approaching the crowds she was a little worried they would be overwhelmed by how much people were walking back and forth but whenever anyone stepped near them they would carefully avoid the two of them like there was an invisible wall around them blocking them from entering their space but she couldn't sense her Grandfather doing anything to cause it.

"Maybe it's instinct....?"

That assumption was right for the most part and thankfully it gave them a little bit of room to breath as they walked through the sea of people so Tearia stopped caring as she walked along with her Grandfather. Unfortunately it also made them somewhat obvious to see preventing them from blending in.

"Found you."

After that voice the person silently disappeared into the crowd after sending some orders out while the two of them continued on without noticing a thing. Meanwhile Eli was steadily growing into a worse mood the more time went on as he walked. "This time of the year again." It was approaching some of the days he hated the most and it was showing as his mood grew worse well he also grew more sad. However he was able to keep his emotions a little more in check this time knowing Tearia was beside him this time around but maybe he was just letting it all bottle up at this point.

"Turn here."

Speaking those two words he didn't say anything else as they approached the City Exit and left after quickly doing typical procedures that were a bit shorter than usual. walking out of the city boundaries, Tearia stepped into a world she hadn't seen for a very long time. "It's still how I remember." In front of her laid a giant open field filled with grass that went on for miles with roads here and there along with a forest way off in the distance she could barely make out. "But why are we here." She had only been outside the city once or twice in her life after arriving so it was surprising to her to be out here again and also a little strange.

Seeing such an open world with no walls surrounding her she felt a little afraid of all the things that were potentially out there but she also felt a little more free then before and with her Grandfather beside her she felt relatively safe. Seeing the same scene as every year Eli sighed as he finally sensed a couple presences around them following them and stopped before taking care of them in less than a second without anyone noticing before continuing on.

"Annoying."

It didn't take any effort but he wasn't in the mood to deal with such things but thankfully he didn't sense anymore. After muttering that under his breath he walked towards the forest area a little ways away. With some time passing they eventually made it into the forest and walked a little bit more before eventually they stumbled across a giant rock in the distance sticking out of the ground. Eli's stepped slowed as they approached while his legs felt heavier with every step but he still tried to do his best to hide his sorrow in front of his Granddaughter.

"Are you okay, we can stop if you want to. You seem to be in pain after all..."

Yet he couldn't hide it from her. Tearia was always pretty good at sensing things like this when she wanted to.

"No I'm fine so let's keep going. We're almost there anyway."

Getting himself together they walked into a small opening where the tree opened up around them letting some sun shine down on them as they walked towards the Giant rock Tearia saw before and approached a smaller rock that was in front of it. Tearia couldn't quite make it out at first but as she got closer to it she began to see small bits of writing along the rock until eventually they were right in front of it and could finally read it along with figuring out what it was.

"A gravestone...."

That voice silently leaked out of her as she stared at the gravestone in front of her but she didn't feel much as she stared at it but when she turned to her Grandfather she saw him almost breaking at this point as he stared at the stone.

"Yes, this...is what I wanted to show you today."

"...."

"You see tomorrow is the day someone very important to me died and you know her as well. She was once the little girl that came and trained with me that you saw every day in the past."

After that silence passed between them as they were both stuck in their own thoughts. Eli struggled to get anything else out though as he stared at that stone and the writing he had put on it. "She probably hated me as well. After all I did kill her one and only aunt." Yes the little girl he took in and trained every day was the only family left of his best friend who he killed. "But I couldn't just leave her all alone in the world especially when I'm the one who took her happiness away from her." He knew his best friend loved him dearly but he was already at a point in his life where he no longer wanted that and when she approached him, he had to refuse which resulted in one huge mess with no one happy in the end.

Yet the one to the suffer the most was the one lone little girl who had no part in all of their issues. To her she simply just lost her aunt and her only family left in the world after those events. Knowing that Eli swore he would take her in and raise her even if she hated every single thing about him. To him it was also a form of relief in the burden he felt about taking his best friend's life as well though "But I even failed at that." He usually let her live alone nearby to give her space from himself and only saw her when he needed to but he kept similar things on her like Tearia in case she was ever in danger. Yet that seemed to have failed.

When his piece of the Astral Tool finally reacted it was already too late. He rushed to an area nearby to find hundreds of corpses burnt and ripped into pieces with blood drenching the whole place. When he saw that sight he knew it was bandits as rage filled his body while he began looking for her anywhere he could and finally after a half an hour of searching he found what resembled her body off by its lonesome self a little ways away from the bandits bodies. But it was too burnt by electricity for him to recognize any of her features anymore. The only reason he knew it was her was because of the familiarity of the Lightning Energy around the body along with the small little necklace that was still around her neck broken.

"She didn't listen." She went way beyond her strength using the technique he taught her to try and defend herself but in the end all it did was get herself killed instead which was the big reason why he hated teaching or even using Lightning and anything related to it afterwards, especially his own Granddaughter. To him that girl was practically his second Granddaughter no matter what even if she hated and despised him and Eli didn't want to lose his last Granddaughter left if possible. That day he found her he spent hours upon hours standing there motionless until he finally walked off with her body bringing her to this area to finally rest and swore he wouldn't teach anyone anymore regardless if it was that technique or not.

"Yet it seems I've done one more thing to make you hate me." But he even broke that vow once again a month ago when Tearia came to him but he didn't regret it. All he could do was hope that one day history didn't repeat itself and leave him wallowing in sorrow once more. "I couldn't say no. Not after she came to me like that." He was scared to say no to Tearia at first but now he had hope that it would be different this time.

"I'm sorry."

Bowing his head he stood in silence until he heard Tearia's quiet voice beside him finally speak up again.

"What...was her name?"

"Her name was....Levia."