Chapter III: 13th Lake Inn

Like the title says, it's an inn next to a lake just past the pass through Redwood Forest. Fun fact about this place is that it has a hot spring bath at the back. Perfect after surviving an assault of one-hundred reanimated corpses and unnatural volcanic eruptions.

"Welcome to 13th Lake Inn!", greets Lanette while she beams up a warm smile.

"We'd like a room, please", says her new female guest. It looks like this girl ran a few thousand miles then slipped and fell on powdered soot.

"Oh, you two are coup-"

"Yeah... we're not a couple", remarks the guy, her other guest. In the same way, he looks like he put all his effort on chopping down a skinny tree over and over again but he can't so he fell and collapsed on a pile of ash.

"Okay..."

"Please forgive my friend. He's not that good with people", Lanette's guest apologizes.

"Don't worry, it's fine", says Lanette still in character as an innkeeper.

With that, Lanette takes them to their room. She couldn't help but stare at the small cats following her guests, one was dark and the other one was all golden. Her female guest notices this.

"I hope it's okay to bring our pets in", she asks.

"Well, my father says it's alright as long as they defecate outside", Lanette answers.

"Oh, they're not those kinds of pets but I'll keep that in mind", she smiles.

They walk to their room and Lanette returns back down and tells them to ask if they need anything. The room wasn't that bad. It had a nice bed with a coffee table next to it, a lamp shade, and a desk with a chair. Looks all warm and cozy with it lit up like that at night with a window by the bed.

"Not bad", says Solis -if you really haven't noticed yet. He gets all comfy and sits on the bed.

"Now...", says the pretty, unnamed female character who's about to ignite the flames of the rising action of this epic story as she picks up a chair and sits on it backwards, "... Let's talk...."

She smiles... or is that a smirk? How should I put it? The smile would make you say: "'dat smile" while you get mesmerized at how mischievous she looks.

The sound of the nightly breeze fills the air while the moon shines on that lakeside inn. It's such a beautiful night there, having a background of a purified lake and a moonlit forest. It's so awesome that it'd be as nice as to be lying on a sofa with a good book, a cup of coffee, and some peace and quiet.

As the night ages, their talk begins:

"There are three main races, right?"

"Humans, Elves, Demons..."

"Yeah. A few years ago these Demons used to thrive in the Underworld, which is where they should be. But one day, they were able to cross over to the Living World because of the extinction of the fourth race."

"Fourth race?"

"Elementals..."

"I've heard rumors..."

"Oh?"

"They're the ones that keep all three races in check, right?"

"Yes. They make sure that the Living World and the Underworld and the people within never cross with each other, else they'll cause a bit of a havoc."

"And since they're dead, no one's keeping the three races from doing so...."

"Correct"

"But why are they after me?"

"Well, not all Elementals died. They say there were some survivors, one for each element, and I'm looking for them. Unfortunately, so are the Demons."

"What, you need my help to find 'em?"

"Close... but no."

"Then what do you need me for?"

"I need your help to find them... and I need you."

"Me?"

"You're an elemental, baka, and so am I. We need to find the rest and deport these Demons back to the Underworld."

"So they wanted to kill me before you get to me."

"Yes, and Lycomedes is the demon who's after us. He's been on my trail for weeks. I don't know who he works for, but I'm sure they want to eliminate the remaining Elementals before we get together."

"I see. Is that why we have these two?"

"They're called Anima. They are given to those Elementals who are too strong that they need a living being to keep them from excess power and to guide them. Lux, in my case, suppresses my powers to keep me from hurting myself with it. I'm sure yours does the same involuntarily."

"So... what are we supposed to do?"

"This world's in a pretty dark grip right now. We're the last of the last of our race, and also the only ones that are strong enough against this threat once we collect with the others. We'll just have to find the rest and send back these evil beings to their rightful place."

The epic script of epicness for the story ends here, but still, the story continues.

The dark-haired girl stands up and says: "So how about it? I'm not forcing you to do this. You can turn back now and continue being a Slayer. Or... you could help me out with this. It'll be a hell of a ride but it's nothing without company."

"Alright...", Solis stands up too, "... but it'll cost you."

"What will it be?"

What's he thinking? Saving the world is its own reward! What could this idiot possibly ask for return?

"You can give me your name."

Oh, that's okay then.

"It's Eve." Woah. Did anyone else notice her blushing?

"Solis. Nice to meet you", he reaches out his hand for a shake.

"Nice to meet you too, Solar Elemental", she shakes his hand. After that, she walks to the door.

"Where are you going?", her new friend asks.

"Gonna talk to the innkeeper; you get some rest", with that being said, she walks out the door with her cat tailing her.

Solis turns to his Anima, peacefully sleeping on the window sill... again.

"Hey, Tenen."

She rubs her eyes. "What?"

"What do you think?"

"Yeah she's telling the truth. Except for the part about her name, though."

"Good enough for me, but do you think we can trust her? I mean, she doesn't really look like the type of person we should trust, just like Luno said", he says, sitting down again. He turns to find the one he's talking to fast asleep.

"Tulog na nga lang..."

Reviews

[❀Subaru_Nyaa!
..]

"'dat smile" I think that it should be in bold characters and not the inverted commas
I think the name Eve is a bit too generic, not telling you to change it since you wrote a ton now but I would suggest Konron since its cute

Tulog na nga lang, I think you should translate that for readers who don't understand tagalog. I mean it's fine for me but the others might not understand it

[Oran]

I actually meant her name to "sound" generic because I had stuff planned for Chapter 11 and 30, so you'll probably understand why if you get that far in the story. Let me just say she's a "darkness" elemental for a reason.

For the tagalog parts, I like to keep it that way but I'm going to try to keep it as minimal as possible. I don't think it affects the story that much, though, but I'll make sure to snip off the unnecessary parts.

As for the rest of the composition, I'm thinking about editing chapters 1-8 since I made those pieces before I even thought of writing a novel, plus my chuunibyou powers weren't as much as developed back then.

Thanks for the comment. It means a lot to me for someone to criticize my work persistently.