The murder

The story I'm about to tell is old. But not so long ago. It is set in Karesia, a long forgotten country. Where it was is still written in the stars to this day. At the center of this are three sisters, Ruby, Amy and Jade. They were named after precious stones.
Ruby, with her long dark red hair and wild personality, shares her name with the ruby. Amy, the beautiful one. Amazingly, her hair has a delicate purple undertone and so she has been equated with an amethyst.
And jade, her hair was dark brown, but her eyes were so deep green that if you looked inside you found yourself in a green forest, so her mother had given her the name of jade. The Edelstein girls had a happy childhood, but one day Jade, the youngest, came home and called for her parents.
Her sisters weren't home.
Ruby, the oldest, was probably involved in another argument.And Amy was only interested in boys and was probably with her boyfriend. She herself had concentrated entirely on school at the moment.
She was 14 years old and that year would decide whether she could go to a better school. Secretly, she had envisaged the Akademia Remi, the finest school in all of Caresia.
When her parents did not answer her calls, she walked slowly up the stairs. It was dark upstairs. All the windows were closed.
Jade couldn't see anything. Silence, she could hear her own breath. Panic slowly spread through Jade.
Someone jumped out of a window. You could hear that very clearly. Jade, frightened, rushed into her parents' room. That window was open. The ground was stained with blood. When she looked up, she looked into her father's dead eyes.
Her mother was on the bed. A large pool of blood had formed around her.
All Jade could think of was to scream.Ruby, who had just unlocked the front door. Heard her little sister's scream and ran upstairs. When she saw the carnage, she dropped to her knees. Ruby got to her feet, tears streaming down her face, just like Jade. Ruby took her sister by the arm and pulled her away. Out of the house. Jade sobbed and could hardly breathe. She inhaled noisily.
"We ... we ... have to go to Amy." Ruby said in a tear-choked voice. When they got to Amy's friend's house, Ruby pounded on the door. "What is?" asked the boy as he opened the door. “Amy.” Jade sobbed. He disappeared inside. Shortly afterwards he came back with Amy. When Amy saw the faces of her sisters she immediately ran up to them and took Jade in her arms. "What happened then?"
she asked Ruby and the howling Jade in her arms. She looked worriedly from one to the other. "Amy?" Amy no longer understood the world. "What?" Ruby looked at the floor. "Someone ... someone..has ...."Ruby got no further. She couldn't hold back another flood of tears.
“Someone has our parents on their conscience.” Amy's gaze went rigid. Her blue-green eyes grew cloudy. Tears welled up. But she could no longer control herself and so tears rolled down her face. The sisters stood like that for a while. Crying, angry, helpless. Ruby was the first to recover. "So, that's enough!" she said firmly.
"We have to go somewhere," she said and Amy wiped the tears from her eyes. “You're right.” Jade pulled away from her sister. She had cried all over her shirt.
“But we can't go home!” Ruby nodded. "To be honest, I don't feel like staying here. What's keeping us here?" Amy and Jade looked at her. "I'm for it, we're going after our parents' murderer." Amy shook her head
"How are we supposed to know who he is, where he's gone, why he did that, and besides, we wouldn't have a chance when we finally face him."Jade agreed." But I don't want to stay here either. Better we know what we want, right? I'm for it. "Amy shook her head." We won't find him anyway ... so let's go. "Without even the slightest provisions or anything like that, the three girls headed south.
In the direction the window was facing. Through which the killer escaped. He was completely reckless in what they did. Ruby was the only one of them who could defend himself in the event of an attack.
She had attended the prestigious combat school in her village and always had a blade in her belt in an emergency. Amy had never bothered with anything like fighting or anything. And Jade, even if she could. It was relatively small. And any mugger could have overpowered them with brute force.
And in the forest through which they went there should be many robbers. It's a good thing they didn't have the robbery with them. Neither food nor money.The only thing of value on her trip was the jewelry Amy always wore. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes. Ruby turned around. A young man calmly stepped up to the girls. A long ribbon was tied around his arm. It was white. Ruby's gaze drifted to his face. The fluttering hair revealed his pointed ears. "That's an elf."
Said Ruby in astonishment.
"Yes and?" replied the young man. "It is very reckless of you to go for a walk in this forest so late. Especially because the two smaller ones don't look like they can fight," he continued calmly. His auburn hair was blowing in the wind. "I could just attack you now." Said his calm voice and his elegantly curved eyes narrowed.
"What do you want?" Amy asked anxiously. She was a coward. It was and always has been. Jade stared at the stranger. She knew it was an elf, she had been taught that all elves were bad and dangerous.Still, she thought he was beautiful. His appearance was elegant and impressive. “Maybe I want to rob you guys,” said the man when Amy's question was asked. "You will not dare doing that!" Ruby growled. The elf smiled. Amy shook her head and got rid of the uncomfortable thought. Her shoulder-length, purple-blonde hair danced around her face. "What brings you into the forest?" continued the elf in a less threatening tone. Jade, who had been silent until now, spoke up: "Our parents have been murdered and we want revenge!" Now the elf had to laugh heartily.
"What's so funny?"
Jade asked a little more uncertainly. He calmed down a bit and then said, still smiling
"You don't really think that either of you can bring down a full-grown man ... What if it was an elf? What then? You wouldn't even defeat a teenage elf in a fight." He took a step towards the girls . Amy and Jade backed away. Ruby stopped, holding the dagger on her belt."Put the toothpick away. I won't hurt you." Ruby scowled at him, but he didn't seem to care.
"So you want to avenge your parents, yes? I have to get my sister back, I lost her." Jade looked confused in his direction. "What do you mean, you lost her?" The elf smiled. It was a smile without question, but it looked somehow sad. “She was kidnapped,” he said and stepped closer again.
This time Ruby backed away too.
A gust of wind came up and blew her hair in her face. When she had a clear view again, the elf was right in front of her nose. Amy, who could have watched everything closely. Didn't recognize. He had moved too fast. Jade wanted to take another step back, but tripped over a stone and fell to the ground. "Ouch!" it burst out of her. The elf looked over at her. Then he looked Ruby in the eye again. "I suspect the one who kidnapped my sister.Killed your parents too. "He said and crossed his arms over his chest." So I want to join you. "
Ruby was confused. "How did he know it was the same person who committed the two crimes. And why did he want to join them? Ruby's confusion grew bigger as Amy agreed." Yeah, that's a great idea. "Ruby lowered the knife and ran over to her sister.
"What shoud that?" she whispered accusingly. Amy leaned over to her. "I know what you mean, but you have to understand me too. He's right, if someone attacks us, then we don't have the slightest chance. Not even against a wild animal."
Ruby glared at her for a while, then nodded. She turned to the elf and straightened her shoulders. “Good, you can go with us.” The elf nodded satisfied. “Well, I'm Sayo,” he said, leaning forward slightly. Jade got up and dusted her clothes. "I am jade."She said." My name is Amy. "Amy said in a low voice.
“And that's Ruby.” She added, since Ruby made no move to introduce herself. "I suggest we set up camp for the night at the next opportunity, it is already late." Sayo said and went ahead, but he did not follow the path, but into the middle of the undergrowth. The sisters followed him with difficulty until they finally came to a clearing. Sayo picked up a branch. “I'm going to collect firewood, wait here.” Jade ran to fall into the delicate grass.
Amy sat down next to her on the floor. Ruby stopped. "So far everything is going very well." Jade said to break the silence. Amy nodded absently. "What?" Ruby asked and turned to her. "Oh forget it."
Said Jade and made a dismissive gesture. Ruby looked again into the trees, the tops of which swayed in the wind. Sayo came back, the elf put a pile of pieces of wood and branches on the ground.
"I'll be right back," he said and disappeared back into the forest.Then Ruby sat down too when her feet got tired. So they sat in the middle of this clearing. Sayo came back with a slain fawn on his shoulder.
"You see, without him we would have starved to death, too." Amy whispered to her sister and got up.
Shortly afterwards, Jade and Ruby also went to the fire that had just formed. The four sat by the fire and chewed on a piece of meat in silence.
"What is that for?" Suddenly Jade broke the unbearable silence and pointed to the white band that snaked up to Sayo's arm. Sayo looked down at his arm. "That's a sign. When the elves refused to disappear from the human realm,
people have given us this mark. Every elf has to wear it. So that you can recognize him immediately and quickly get away from it all. "
He grinned.
"What's so funny?"
Amy asked "It's just because it's totally ridiculous. Elves aren't dangerous any more than humans are."Sayo poked around in the fire with a stick, lost