Elise

*****(1)*****

"It is neither black nor white always. Sometimes, shades of grey can be found. The question is whether you have the key which can lead your way through the impossible choices." Elise murmured as she finishes reading the book.

"What nonsense! People don't use words wisely these days. What does it even  mean by shades of grey? The world is not black or white? Of course it isn't! If you ask me, I'd call it RED! Moreover..!" She was mumbling when a familiar yet gentle voice interrupted her.

"Lisa! Are you there?" A girl standing at the entrance called.

"Risa! It's you after all.. huh.."

"What do you mean by 'huh'? I came all the way here to get you some snacks. Anyway it's almost time to leave and.."

"By the way Risa dear, I told you not to call me that. My name is Elise. Don't go giving me some random, weird names."

"It's not random! Listen, my name is Risa and you are Lisa. See! Matching names makes it sounds like we're sisters. Right?"

"Keep your voice down. We're in a library. I still need to arrange few more books. It'll take a while. Why don't you go read a book till then and give your brain some exercise? Oops! I forgot you don't have a brain."

"Verryyy funnyyy.." Risa pouted. "As if you have any! Fine.. I'll wait by the reader's section."

Elise couldn't help giggling over her cuteness.

This had become her usual routine. They always bickered over everything possible. But at the end of the day, noone could compare with the warm bond they shared. 

It has almost been 2 years since that day. Risa had helped a lot when Elise first came to Kingdom Comet and is her only friend even now.  She can now talk to people normally. Though, she still doesn't meet their eyes. As if it scares her. And her cold tone of speech has made many angry and even hate her. But she is fine with it. As long as Risa is with her she could go on living.

"Oh it's 5:10, we should leave." Elise placed the last book in the shelf when she heard two men at the end of the row. 

"Lisa! No, I want to meet Lisa!!.." A man wearing a black jacket with a big STAR on its back was arguing with Mr. Weiss.

"And I've already told you many times there's no Lisa working here. I'm sorry, young man, you have come to the wrong place.."  Mr. Weiss was trying to explain him when Elise interrupted. 

"Is there a problem sir?"

WEIRD. That was the first impression Leo gave her.

Elise saw that the young man arguing was wearing a star-shaped pendant, bracelet with a star studded into it, a bandana covering his forehead.. with a Star printed on it too, obviously. She didn't notice it all.. it was more like the Stars were calling out, "Look at me!" She tried to ignore them and come back to the matter.

"You're looking for someone, Mr. ..?"

"Leo."

"Mr. Leo. I heard you talking to Mr. Weiss that you want to meet Lisa. And he has already told you there's no such person here. You have come to the wrong place. Please, enquire somewhere else."  

"But I've been told, Lisa works here."

"Excuse me, that's not true." Mr.Weiss spoke up. "I have been owner of this library for about 14 years. If there was any person named Lisa working here, I would've told. I remember them well those who have worked here. And currently also, there's no...!"

"Name?" Leo asked suddenly. He was facing Elise.

"Huh?"

"What's your name?"

"Elise.." She couldn't grasp the sudden change in his expression. It was few seconds later that she noticed he had been staring at her waist for quite a while.. NO. But her sword tied at her waist. She subconsciously placed her right hand on the handle, as if to hide it. By the time she could speak up, a hand with glovelet grabbed her wrist.

"Come with me for a minute. We need to talk." A serious expression had covered Leo's face.

What's wrong with this guy..? Elise followed him out of the library. Very soon, she realises she shouldn't have listened to a stranger.

"Join my army." Leo asked as he stopped walking.

"Pardon?" Elise couldn't believe her ears.

"Join my army. Together we will defeat the Aster Kingdom."

"Wait, wait, wait! What are you talking about? Army? Aster? Lisa??" She tried to evade him.

"That crest on your sword. I know it. It is from the Aster Kingdom. And seeing that you have tied it to your waist even in a library, you must've been an elite warrior over there. It is said that elite warriors of Aster are never seen without their sword. Like their souls reside in it." 

"Yeah, but I'm not.." Elise was not getting any chance to speak. Seriously, what's with this guy! He doesn't listen to others at all.

"We are seeking people to join us in a rebellion which would overthrow the thousands year old Kingdom of Aster. Join our army as a warrior, Elise."

*****(2)*****

It is dark.. I can't see anything. Huff! Where am I? Huff!bWhat happened? Huh? You.. are you dying? And.. and I can't breathe.. huff..something feels stuck in my throat.. Ugh! Maybe.. I am also dy..?!!!

Leo shook her shoulders violently, "Snap out of it! Oi! What happened to you? Open your eyes! C'mon! What's wrong? What happened?.."

Elise opens her eyes slowly. She could see light. She's alive. Ouch! Her head is aching. Too much.

"Oi! Are you okay? What happened to you?" 

"My head hurts! Ugh! What happened?"

"That's what I'm asking you. You were about to take out your sword. And then, you suddenly passed out.. while standing. Just like that. Are you okay? For a second I thought you got scared of them. But then you didn't move an inch for quite a while.. you were just standing. I was about to call you.. when you suddenly grabbed your throat. I ran over to see what happened and you started gasping.. it looked as if you were being.. uh..strangled. Is everything okay? What happened to you?"

"It's okay.. I'm fine now."

"Are you sure? You.."

"I told you I'm fine now, didn't I?!!" Elise shouted.

Leo kept silent. It might be better to leave her alone for a while, I guess. But then, it might not be too. Afterall.. she lost a MEMOIR just now.. NO! It was.. Maybe I should stay with her after all.

Elise was still lost in her thoughts. What happened? Everything was fine until just a while ago. But then, they came. And, they took her memoir. Memoir? A memory? Is that all?? NOOO!!!! SHE LOST RISA! RISA IS DEAD!!! She's no more!!! How did it end up like this? Why? Why did it happen? WHY?!!! Even though she had sworn to protect her, then why? 

"It's just like.. that day two years ago. Again.. it happened all in a flash. Again I couldn't.. Why? Why me always? Why does this happen every time?" She mumbled. Her voice was so low that even Leo could barely hear it.  

"She slept." 

Leo could see she had no strength left. Her face was expressionless. More like she was drained of life. If this goes on..

After few hours, Elise woke up in a tree's heart. 

It was a well built room at one of the Giant trees. As the name says, giant trees were really big and tall. Their top would pierce even the clouds in the sky. And some were so tall that you couldn't even see the top. It would just continue about the clouds endlessly. And on these trees, people had built small living places on the branches calling it 'Tree's heart'. They were much more popular before the civilisation grew. Nowadays, people have shifted to land. Very few still reside in the Giant trees.

"I carried you here." Murmured Leo while he was standing near the balcony. 

"I see." Elise realised she had been sleeping for quite a while when she saw the dark sky outside.

"What are you going to do from now on?"

"..."

"You know anything about them?" 

"Them?"

"Those two men who attacked us."

"..." Elise didn't want to think about it.

"I know you are going through a tough time and you don't want to discuss this. But if we don't search for them now, we may never get a second chance. That's why..!"

"Search?" She turned at him.

"Ye-eah.."

"For what?"

"For what you say.. isn't it obvious? They took your memoir. Don't you..!"

"Don't call her a memoir!!! She was.. a HUMAN. A living being!"

Leo could see her trembling. That's right.. she was a living being. But for this world, people who are dead are simply referred to as a memory. Just a Memoir. Since once they die, their whole existence is erased from this world. Their pictures, possessions, names, memories.. Noone remembers them. Just a feeling of emptiness remains in the people who knew them, like they lost someone. There was a person.. that's all they can remember.

"Elise, you called her a living being. That's all the more reason we should search for those two men."

"What do you want to say?" 

"Join our army."

"You're still saying that? First of all, it's because of you.." She stopped. That's wrong. It's because of herself that all this happened. 

Few hours back..

At library, she had  blatantly refused to join Leo. Just because she keeps a sword doesn't mean she wants to be a warrior. To be honest, Leo just sounded crazy to her talking about army and defeating Aster. But he wasn't. When she was on her way to home with Risa,  two men appeared suddenly and attacked them. They were holding spears. That's when Leo came running holding a dagger. Though it was a dagger, it was larger than normal. With a sheen of a black, the blade was atleast half the size of her sword. Her instincts warned her immediately to run. 'He's dangerous.' With a speed of lightning, he slashed one spear. The two attackers didn't have a chance.

And then he turned to her, "how's that? If you agree to join our army, I can defeat the other guy too for you." 

She wasn't going to take this standing. She clasped the handle of her sword. "I alone would have defeated both of them. What are you doing here? And didn't I tell you clearly I don't want to join?"

What happened in the next moment was too quick for Elise and Leo to explain.

Leo pushed back Elise suddenly, when she saw a gust of wind cut through Risa. Her body started disintegrating little by little into tiny flickers of light. She was  slashed by the spear. And then, everything became black. It was completely dark until she regained consciousness to find Risa's no more in this world.