"No you can't!" the sister said, her hands grabbing her waist as she frowned. she glanced at the youth then looked back at her brother, "he looks suspicious. His hair is black and we don't even know who he was in the upper world!"

The girl was called Ruria, Roar's twin sister. Her apparent eye was light blue, and the youth guessed that her short light blue hair covered a red eye.

They had just left the chamber room and Ruria stood before them. Roar tried to convince her but she never withered. She didn't like the youth, that was clear for him. He looked at her with half-opened eyes, bent at her, his smile as gentle as ever.

"I won't cause trouble."

"How would I know that?" she crossed her hands against her chest.

"If you think I'm scary. Don't you think I can go out without your permission?"

"Threatening me!!" she yelled, her single eye gaping along with her mouth.

The youth thought that this little girl was overprotective and somehow, mature?

"I'm not threatening you." the youth said, his voice calm and quiet as his pupils moved to make sure Roar wasn't affected by her screams. Roar looked nervous, his face sweating, and his arms shaking around as he tried to think of a way to quieten the situation.

The youth sighed, patted Ruria's head, and said: "come with us, you can always observe me."

"That's a good idea," said Roar.

Ruria looked at the youth, then at Roar, and sighed in disappointment.

The corridor they walked through was made of dark rocks as if this whole place along with its rooms had been dug in a mountain. And it was logical because Roar had told him about the steeps outside, the ones that extended high enough to not see their ends.

The youth followed Roar and behind him, Ruria walked, all of them silent and awkward. And in seconds they got out. And the youth's eyes trembled in amazement.

He skipped his breath for a second. Even though he had been told about the place, he couldn't believe how vast it was.

Roar's home was like a cave on a cliff that had no end. The shore was filled with crystal trees, of different colors. Every tree tall enough for people to climb, and their branches filled with shining crystals. The smallest crystal was the size of his fist, and their color differed with the trees. Some trees were light blue, some green, some red, and some white.

And between the trees enough space for them to walk. Still, instead of walking on the shore Roar stepped on the water, the water that extended to where he could never see, to where the dark overwhelmed his sight. No, he could see, something far in the distance.

"Look you can walk on the water, if you practice you can even run," Roar said, spinning as he walked. But the youth was more concerned with the diming lights far away.

"What are those lights?"

"They are the trees on the other shore," said Ruria, her arms crossed against her chest and her face turned to the side. "This is a fjord, an extremely huge, extremely deep fjord."

"Where does it end?"

"No one knows."

The youth looked back at Roar, who was getting far.

"Big bro try it. You can!" Roar called from afar.

"That idiot he's going away again."

"Is he always energetic?"

"Don't talk to me casually!" Ruria snorted as she looked away.

"Why do you hate me?" the youth asked, squatting to match her height. "I'm not a bad person."

Then patted her head. But she swiftly pushed his hand, "how ridiculous!" said Ruria, looked at his half opened eyes and smirked. "Someone inside me keeps on saying that you are the worst creature he has ever seen."

Then she stared at his hand, "Just a glance at that smoke and I can know the truth."

The youth looked at his hand, pondered his fingertips for a second. He didn't know who he was, he had no memories to use to stand against her accusation. But he believed that he didn't need memories to show who he was… he was a good person.

He touched the girl's head, and with a gentle smile said: "I encourage you not to trust the one inside you. Because I'm a good person."

The youth stood, and with light steps walked on the water. At first, he slipped, but after a few tries, he walked perfectly.

"You learned! I thought it would take at least hours."

"I think I'm a quick learner." he scrubbed the back of his neck, looked around, and then looked at Roar again. "Now let's learn about the place."

Roar showed the youth a puzzled look, but the youth only pointed his index at Roar. Before Roar, there was a few rectangles, one above of the other as if they were stairs.

"Let's play a game."

Roar smiled, "what?"

"The steps. Every step required a question. Answer the question and you shall take another step up."

Roar looked at the stairs before him, ten steps, every step connected to one of the youth's fingers. His legs trembled, the tenth step was at least ten feet above the water.

"Are you scared?" the youth said mockingly. But Roar took a deep breath and his legs stopped shaking. He genuinely liked to be above the tenth step and if possible he would ask the youth to make it move again.

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But, he looked at the youth. The youth had yet to tell him anything about the upper world, and more had yet to tell him his name.

Roar smiled, straightened his posture, and said, "I want to ask questions as well."

The youth smiled back, "well, why not. For every step, you take you can ask a question."

And with a nod. The youth asked his first question, "what are the crystal trees?"

"They are the trees that emit mana to the world."

The youth wanted to ask a subquestion about the meaning of mana, but before he could, Roar stepped on the first triangle and asked a question, "what's your name big bro?"

The youth widened his eyes. True, he had yet to tell him who he was, he forgot about that. Because he didn't know who he was.

"I don't remember."

"Ha?" Roar frowned and the youth flexed his eyes surprised. Roar wasn't like that a few hours ago. He was scared, nervous and even his smiles were forced. But now, It seemed that Roar was getting used to him. Which for some reason enlightened his heart.

"Don't you believe it? I don't remember anything, but some facts, like the existence of the sun and the snow and that there are warmer days up there."

"What should I call you?"

"Is that another question?" the youth asked, making Roar flex his nose dissatisfied. He just smiled and asked his question, "what's mana?"

"Really? You don't know even though you can use magic?"

"Magic?"

"Is that another question?" Roar said, his smile devilish and sarcastic. "Well, I won't be as stingy as you. I will say everything I know."

Stingy? Roar really was getting along with him. He even forgot his manners.

"A magician id a person capable of using magic. Magic is the ability to manipulate mana through a processing system that's inherited from the parents. Thus, some systems are better than others, and some are really weak. That's all I know. The usage of mana is called magic. My dad told me this much."

The youth looked at his fingertips, so he was a magician, someone capable of using magic. His heart skipped a beat as he felt a sting of happiness. He felt like jumping, maybe another one would jump if they felt what he had just felt, something like uniqueness? But he decided to save that reaction to something bigger, he had good expectations for his life.

Roar stepped up, and asked, "if you forgot your memories, why can you use magic."

"I can. It's easy. When I saw this smoke I was surprised and the smoke trembled. It followed my feelings and my mind. It was that easy."

"My dad told me that magic isn't easy."

"Maybe I'm a quick learner."

Roar looked at the youth, his eyes fixed on the youth's fingertips… Roar looked down.

"Is there something wrong?" The youth asked.

"Well, we are different. Usually, our mana systems are dead. We can't control them by ourselves. That's why we need a spirit."

"What's a spirit?" The youth asked, noticed how Roar flexed his eyes thinking something like, is that a question? And feeling how funny Roar was. But Roar also wasn't childish, he ignored the thought and answered.

"We see spirits that differentiate us from the other humans. And because we can see spirits, we can make a deal with them, for a price of course. But for some reason, I had yet to see my spirit."

And the game continued. The youth understood the place better, he asked why this place was called deep hell, but Roar didn't know. He asked why the water was dense, and the answer was the mana, the mana melted in the water, and densified it to this degree. This place was rich with mana, people didn't have to eat or to drink. Mana was enough. Everything could be fixed with mana except for death…

"But there is a way to return the dead," Roar said, stepping on the eighth triangle. "Somewhere here, there is a sealed vampire. We were told that she is bad and the clan had to seal her. But the stories about her are amazing. She was someone so powerful that she could even revive the dead. No one could kill her, not even by destroying her heart. That was why she was sealed."

Roar smiled while saying that as if he had huge plans behind those words.

"Big bro," said Roar, gently turning at the youth. "The world must be amazing. I only know about humans. But there are vampires here. Maybe there are more in the upper world, but..." Roar's eyes glided down, half-opened, full of desire, but sadness as well, as if Roar was imprisoned and could never attain his dreams.

The youth stared at him, those thoughts diving in his head and he could only ask, "but what?"

"But, how would I reach the upper world?"

Roar looked up… for a second Roar looked like a child with a dream but for the same second looked like an old man who spent his whole life chasing a dream and never reached it. Roar was losing his hope.

"Why?"

"We are prohibited from seeing the clan. And only the clan knows the way up."

The youth moved his lips. But he retreated. He wanted to say something, but another thing pulled him back… the youth wanted to stay light, free and weightless. He could never tell Roar that he would take him along if he went up… he would never want a weight over his shoulders.

"I see..." said the youth.

And Instantly asked a question, "how are your parents? That's a question."

Roar stepped on the ninth step. "They are amazing, beautiful, and strong. My father is taller than you, his hair waves like a flame. My mother is quiet, cool and her sound as calm as a silent lake. Probably calmer than this water. Both of them are kind, both of them are great. They get us novels whenever they come. They tell us stories in the dark… they are the most precious people to me. My parents and Ruria are the best."

Roar didn't stammer on any word. He recited his love for his family as if he had memorized and repeated it hundreds of times as if this love was engraved in the back of his heart. And that smile, the shining smile he had on his face when he recited his love, delighted the youth. The youth found himself smiling by the end of Roar's speech.

"Big bro, will you go up?" Roar asked, and the smile faded slowly. But he didn't hesitate to lie, "not for now."

The youth wanted to go up. He didn't belong here but to the upper world. Because, if there was something the light, free and weightless youth wanted, it would be venturing the world. Alone. With no one else.

Roar waited for the question to reach the tenth step, he was already high. But the taste of victory had yet to come. And The youth understood that look, he asked a question his curiosity didn't dig deep into, but it was there, his curiosity thought about it.

"What's the story of your blue eye?" said the youth stiffening Roar.

It was written on the face of Roar how troublesome the question was.

"If you don't want to talk it's okay."

"It's not like that. I was told not to show it… but I wasn't told why."

"That's a sufficient answer."

"Really?"

"Really. Step up."

Roar jumped on the tenth step forgetting to ask his last question about the youth and the upper world. The other steps disappeared and the triangle under him moved up and around the place. The breeze hit Roar's face and he was too chilled to hide his smile.

The youth smiled down, and Roar chuckled up. Both of them were satisfied with what they knew, and with what they said.

And after some time, the youth came back, his hand holding the hand of Roar.

Ruria, who was standing by the shore crossed her arms against her chest and stared at them.

"How was it Roar?"

"It was great!"

"I see," said Ruria, frowning. She stood and walked into the cave, nose snorting all the way in.

"Is your sister always like that?"

"She is happy most of the time. But she doesn't like you."

The youth went to his chamber. After some time Roar came in. They played rock, paper, scissors. And a game called thumb wrestling. They spent most of the time. But by the end of their theoretical day, the youth wanted to sleep. Not because he felt sleepy. This place abnormally had no use to sleep, but because he felt that someone inside him wanted to talk.