A village with multiple houses surrounding a mansion. In one of its houses, a tall woman with green eyes and green hair is swinging a spear in different directions.
"Clara!"
She stops swinging at the sound of her name being called. Clara turns around and sees a small elderly woman looking up at her.
"What happened?" Clara blinked.
"Your mother! She's giving birth!"
Clara throws her spear at the round wooden board, and it hits the center of the board.
Inside a wide room, Clara pushes the other elderly women. On the bed, her mother is panting, and Clara holds her hand.
"Ma! I'm here. What's happening?" Clara kneeled on one knee.
Her mother continues panting, and she begins to release cries while all of the elderly women are raising their hands at the belly of Clara's mother.
Green energy appears on their hands. A green energy covers the belly of the mother as she continues to cry.
After what seems to be an hour, blood stains can be seen on the blanket beneath the mother's buttocks.
"She's beautiful." Clara smiled while holding an infant covered in a light green blanket.
Her mother is staring at her, and she stops panting only to put a light smile on her lip.
"She looks like your father," her mother said
Clara chuckles. "But she looks a lot like you, ma."
Clara looks down and sees the hand of her mother resting on her knee. Clara sits down on the chair as the other elderly women begin to leave the room.
"Ma?" Clara looked into her mother's eyes.
"You remember your father and I's dream for you and your sister Elesia?"
"Oh, her name is Elesia?" Clara took a quick look at Elesia with a smile.
"Yes," her mother smiled and placed her hand on the infant's head covered in a blanket, "what a beautiful name."
"Clara… I know how much you're holding back your tears."
Clara begins to shake, and she looks down on the floor with tears building up in her eyes.
"How can I be okay? Now that I can feel your power stone blinking?" Clara's lip trembled.
Her mother smiles. "Don't cry. Seeing you cry makes me feel broken."
"Ma!" Clara looked up at her mother's eyes, tears falling from her eyes as a gentle streamed down to her chin.
Her mother chuckles and raises her hand. Clara leans forward, and her mother plants a lingering kiss on her hair.
As Clara leans backward, her mother says, "Raise Elesia very well. Love her and fill her with joy. Always tell her that I love both of you equally."
Clara continues to shake as tears are falling from her eyes. Her mother chuckles again.
"D-Don't laugh at me!" Clara attempted to narrow her eyes.
"My eldest daughter, thank you for making me the happiest," her mother placed her hand on her arms, "you're the strongest, most beautiful, and I couldn't wish for more to be your mother in your next lives."
"Ma! Thank you! Thank you for being my mother! Thank you for seeing the beauty in me that I didn't know existed," Clara bows her head, "I will tell Elesia everything, and fill her days with love and joy."
Tears fall from her mother's eyes as her eyes are closing, and she whispers, "I love you more than what I can say, my daughters."
Her eyes are witnessing the tears painting Clara's eyes, and the cries coming from Elesia.
Her mother's eyes seal tight as her smile never vanishes from her lip.
Many seasons have passed, and the village continues to live along with its settlers.
A horse stops in front of a village, and a woman hops from it. She is tall, her body is wide and muscular covered by iron armor.
A man carrying a heavy sword stops right in front of her. He smiles. "Happy Nature Day, Clara!"
Clara rolls her eyes. "Let me guess, you're going to give me a bunch of flowers, Kurt?"
Kurt scratches his cheek before showing his other hand clenching multiple flowers placed in a bouquet.
"You guess too well, my beloved." Kurt grabbed her waist and pulled her closer.
Their lips meet, and their lips continue to suck each other as they share their saliva.
Both of them pull away from each other, and Clara licks her lip.
Clara winks at him. "Delicious but I need to teach my sister first. She'll be inheriting the role of a guardian when she reaches the right age."
Kurt smiles and looks at the other houses built in wood and stones. He looks back at her. "Well, the people are asking me about you."
"Like?" Clara carried 10 logs over her shoulder.
"How are you and have you encountered any monsters yet?" Kurt answered.
"Well, I encountered wolves, giants wielding hammers, and fireballs breathing flames." Clara chuckled.
Kurt smiles. "Are you ready to encounter my 'monster' later at night?"
Those words cause a faint red tint to occur on Clara's cheeks. "Well, the female expert in the woman's body said that today is my safe day."
Kurt smiles and forms his right finger into a hole, and his left index finger thrusts in and out of the hole.
A young girl is sitting on a bench inside the quadrangle of a school located in the village.
She releases cries of frustration. "I don't want to inherit that stupid guardian role! Why do I need to learn it?!"
"To master it, and inherit my place, little sister."
The young girl groans again and turns around. Clara smiles widely, and she rustles the hair of the young girl.
"Elesia, your school time is over. What have you learned?"
"I've learned to not force someone to learn something he or she doesn't want."
Clara laughs while touching her belly. "I find that experience funny. I learned a new thing, Elesia."
Elesia raises her eyebrow. "Let me guess, that doesn't apply in real life?"
Clara nudges Elesia with her elbow. "You are so straightforward! Because of that! We will train all day!"
Elesia's shoulders jerk as she cries her frustration while raising her hands. "WHY ME?! I'm tired of this repeating cycle!"
As the sun begins to sink from the highest peak in the sky, painting its orange hues all over the land.
Elesia crouches from the blade of a spear, and it manages to cut a few of her hair strands.
She performs a backflip and raises her scythe right in Clara's direction. Elesia inhales deeply, and sprints at Clara.
"Take this!" Elesia swung her scythe, its blade heading toward Clara's face.
CLANG!
"You're improving."
Clara is holding her spear as its blade is blocking the sharp edge of the scythe. Clara smiles at the disappointment painted on Elesia's face.
"How can I not defeat you?!" Elesia groaned and jumped away from Clara.
Clara puts her spear over her shoulder, her smile not wavering. "Because you are always focusing on your frustration. That frustration is your desire to run away from me."
Elesia screams and tosses her scythe on the ground. "YOU WERE ALWAYS TEACHING ME THIS! TEACHING ME THAT!"
Clara stands as she listens to her sister while displaying a neutral reaction.
Elesia is panting but she straightens her body, and yells, "I don't want to be a guardian! That is so stupid! It's a role that I will not allow myself to have!"
"Go on," Clara said, still neutral.
Elesia begins to look down before looking up at her. "If our parents are still alive! They will listen to me!"
She points her index finger at Clara. "No one appreciates you being a guardian of this village! No one will want that role! And that will vanish!"
Clara's eyes widen but she looks down, and she swallows the lump in her throat. Elesia groans and runs away while wiping the tears from her eyes.
As the night progresses, an elderly woman walks inside a large mansion, and its distance is a bit away from the village but stone walls surround it; with a large gate as its entrance.
She enters the temple, and she sees a woman standing in front of a crystal floating on top of a pillar.
"Clara?" the elderly woman walked to Clara's right side.
Tears are falling from Clara's eyes, and the elderly woman pulls her head on her shoulder.
"Shh… what happened, my child?"
"Me and Elesia have a misunderstanding."
The elderly woman gently rubs Clara's back. "She's just a kid who doesn't understand what being a guardian is."
Clara sniffs as tears fall from her eyes. "I-I just want her to be strong because I don't want to get my heart crushed when… when the day comes that I'll no longer be by her side."
Clara's teeth clench as she shivers. "I don't want her to be weak, I want her to be strong because I love her."
"Shh… just let it all out, Clara. Just let it all out," the elderly woman looked down, "it's our fault that such responsibility has been passed upon you."
Clara places her hand on her chest. "I love her so much."
Walking back to her house, Clara pushes the door. Elesia is sitting on her bed while staring down at her toes. Clara takes a peek through the small gap in the door before pushing it.
"Elesia?" Clara called out.
Elesia looks down and inhales deeply. She looks over her shoulder.
"Hello."
"Hello also. About earlier," Clara takes a seat beside Elesia on her bamboo bed, "I'm sorry that I'm making you feel that I'm forcing you to inherit being a guardian."
"You are not always here," Elesia said.
Clara's lips shut after hearing those words, and she tries to speak but Elesia looks at her.
"Elesia, your eyes," Clara looks at Elesia's eyes, "they're red, have you been crying lately?"
Clara touches her cheeks and begins to check her neck, arms, and legs. "Is someone bullying you?! Tell me who it is!"
Elesia slaps her hand away, and Clara gasps. Elesia's lips tremble and she pulls herself into Clara's body.
"How can you not tell me about your suffering?!" Elesia cried.
"Elesia." Clara rested her trembling hands on Elesia's back.
"I know that being a guardian is a heavy responsibility! How can you not go home and rest?!" Elesia trembles as she releases more tears, "I'm here! I'm your sister! I can be your rest too!"
Clara sniffs, and her eyes release tears. She burrows her face on Elesia's shoulder while her body is trembling.
"I-I'm sorry!" Clara sniffed.
"You're the only one that I have!" Elesia held Clara's back, "I don't want to lose you!"
The sun soon rises from the horizon, giving light to the once-dark sky. Clara is standing in front of a wall with carvings of a humanoid wearing armor, and wielding a spear.
"That is a guardian, it's a defender of a village," Clara said.
Elesia steps toward it. She raises her hand and rests it on the carving. "This is a guardian? Then, why are you not wearing any armor?"
Clara smiles. "I have my armor, silly. I left it back home."
"I don't want to inherit your role," Elesia turns her eyes at Clara, "but I want to learn more about it. You want me to grow stronger, right?"
Elesia faces Clara. "Train me without making me your successor."
After that conversation, under the orange skies with the sun sinking from the horizon, the sound of blades clashing can be heard in the meadows.
Elesia swings her scythe from every direction as Clara slams her spear against all slashes.
"That's it!" Clara smiled widely, showing her white teeth.
From a distance, beneath the shade of a tree, Kurt is gazing at them while holding a sugarcane.
"Those two are bonding very well. Clara, I can feel your smile even if we're not near each other." he smiled and walked away.
He reaches the path where tall trees with no leaves are still standing. The ground has dark vines but those vines seem to emit green light.