“There are days…” An old elf spoke as he held on to his walking stick watching the sun set. His hair was bizarrely out of unkempt and wrinkles covered him from tip to toe. If only his skin color were green he would resemble ‘Yoda’ from ‘Star Wars’. “When you can keep looking at the sun setting forever…”
A young female elf joined him in balcony which was perched on a tree. “The wind is swift…”
“But very calm.” The old elf corrected her.
“Nonetheless, Ji-san, I think it is better to come inside.” The female elf motioned.
“Just till the sunsets.” Ji-san complained. “You can see the beautiful colors of the crimson sky, see those colors painting the sky? Is it not beautiful?”
“I see a bloodied sky…”
“Young ones such as yourself are not amusing. Speaking such dreary words is such a headache.” The old elf complained as he stood up.
“I apologize.”
“No no… its quite alright. There are days when the skies are drenched with the colors of blood and there are days when they are lit in flames of hatred, it is a never ending cycle.”
“Yet you stare into the sky everyday, Ji-san?” The female elf asked.
“Aye, nothing better than the skies where we can fly freely, isn’t that what it means to be a wind elementalist?”
“I think it is better not to be an elf or wind elementalist than to be both.”
“Such a distasteful reply.” Ji-san grumbled. “Do you truly hate being an elf?”
“We are a dying race. It is only right for us to envy those ignorant and arrogant brutes and beats who are alive and waste it away.”
“I would live my life right now, right here to the fullest…than vicariously live one while watching others with envy…” Ji-san replied.
“Is that why you watch the sky?” The female elf repeated her question.
“I think you too would enjoy the world more if you were to accept it if even a little bit.” Ji-san said as he held her hand and motioned her to watch the setting sun.
“I see this everyday.”
“Yes…you do…I know…but don’t see it…feel it….” Ji-san told her. “Feel the light, feel the heat, feel the colors, elves are distant to emotions it does not mean we do not have any, it just means we can choose to bear them or not.”
“What is this lecture about?” The maiden elf asked him.
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“Ah…nevermind alas the sun has set.” The old elf gave up on the female elf and walked in.
The female elf looked back into the sky one last time. She really didn’t get what Ji-san wanted her to see.
“Are the preparations complete?” Ji-san asked her as he put on a white cloak. “Has everyone else already left?”
“Yes, my liege.” The female elf spoke with a bow. “We are the last of the High Elves to be departing.”
“Then let us depart.” Ji-san said as he looked at the young female elf. “It’s time to say goodbye to this world, though I really feel I am forgetting something…”
“…medicine?” The female elf asked.
“No…I feel something much more important…”
“It couldn’t possibly be important if you forgot about it…” The elf spoke while rolling her eyes.
“No…I feel this is fairly important….like the fate and balance hangs on it…” The old elf scratched his chin thoughtfully.
“I think you have stayed here long enough….you are sounding senile…” The female elf retorted as she held the old elf’s hand firmly.
“Ah who knows…fighting age is more troublesome than a human wife, couldn’t possibly be important if I don’t remember it…”
‘That’s what I said…’
“Shall we take our leave?” The female elf asked making sure that Ji-san had no more regrets or doubts left.
“Yes.”
A mist set into the forest, hiding the elves from prying eyes. The duo closed there eyes and concentrated of the space in front of them; purple flames appeared in thin air. They soon spread out in the shape of a ring. Both elves chanted fervently for the portal to stabilize. Once the flames stabilized the center turned black.
Ji-san smiled, “You have become better at this…”
The female elf began pushing Ji-san into the portal. She didn’t want to hear anything more the old man had to say. “Do you want to hear a story of mine when I sealed powers of two terrible monster…it all happened nearly two hundred yea..."
The female elf continued pushing the old senile elf into the portal, ignoring everything he had to say. The portal closed leaving no trace of the elves just a faint lingering scent of chrysanthemum.