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(SOUL) - SISTER
Allen dazedly awoke and slowly regained consciousness; an ice-cold concrete was the first sensation that woke him up. A strangely unfamiliar distorted world filled with delayed shapes and colors still vexing his mind. As strong sense of disorientation washed over him with ripples of confusion, the swirling world left him unresponsive. Until, a sudden realization hit him like a jolt.
He appears to wake up on the top of a skyscraper, somewhere over the high-level floors of the underworld. Presumably, the whole city seems to have a great acropolis on top of the underworld as the ceiling of its world. The vantage point clearly demonstrates the Upper's discrimination all over the Under's.
—Since when he had been blacked out, how long did it take to relocate him here? Is a little girl’s strength capable of carrying him this far? He couldn’t think of anything capable of dragging him along this far, the missing memory leaving second to none mysteries.
As he observes around, many unanswered clues nerve-racking his mind. Then, a small voice interrupts.
“So you’re awake, Allen. Any good dreams?” A well-known voice, nostalgic but with a more girlish tone than the original he remembered. Jolts of Allen’s reminiscence are now connected.
“Not just her looks, but you sure are able to adapt my sister's voice and even make it more mature.” He takes a look at a young girl in her early 20s, an older version of his little sister. As his vision slowly cleared, a clear figure of a woman revealed herself to be a young biracial girl standing before him. Just like Allen, who bears mixed heritage—Spanish, French, and predominantly Asian black hair traits.
“So you found yourself a gender, huh? Choosing my little sister as a vessel, wasn’t sure what you were back then, Humanoid.” Allen raises his voice over the last word, intentionally discriminating against it. There's no other choice but to believe it; only humanoids with inhumane strength could have carried him this far from the depths of the underworld's abyss.
“Well, I wasn’t sure about the gender ideal of humans.” She replies, looking over her body, and continues: “You're curious, aren't ya?”
“Why my sister?”
“I opened my eyes as a woman, so she seems to match me
... But I believe that isn’t all that you want to know, right?”
“You sound too human for a humanoid and too perfect for what you copied.” Allen couldn’t stop shaking his fists in anger, but he had to suppress hatred in his heart.
“A grave of your sister’s—”
—With no hesitation, Allen's uncontrollable rage drove his fist straight at her face in a flash. But Noel calmly caught it in mid-air effortlessly, as if plucking a flower from a garden. The thunderstruck was stopped by the gentle touch of mere beauty.
“Forget about someone’s wounds?” Noel’s emotionless expression triggers Allen to slap her palm with his other hand. As he readied to rotate his whole body for strong swings, he paused shockingly.
“No pain, right?” Amusingly, Noel speaks with arrogance; she doesn't even lay a sight in his eyes, seemingly an outsmarted girl. The pain that deteriorated vanished like a miracle, and for sure, that deep wound took weeks or months to fully recover.
“If I never stitched you back then, you might be rotten dead already elsewhere. Do I owe you a million thanks, Yes—?” She dusts off her hand and also her clothes, exposing her incomplete regeneration. Some bruises and scratches are still visible over her shoulders. Convincing or not, Allen takes a step back, bringing cool to his fierce.
“Where do you learn about my sister?” Allen is certain that his sister doesn't even have a grave. A victim who accidently walked in the midst of annihilation will inevitably be suppressed, Noel (his sister) was one of them, her death was not even known by Apex. To be precise, they don’t even care.
“The raided sector. Where you buried her—I rather say that preserves would be a proper fit?”
Allen calms himself, controlling redundant emotions within.
“How?”
“Memories, yours.”
..
“Do you think I believe that? Even Apex couldn’t—”
“But I could.” Noel cuts him off right away, her petrifying gaze inflicting him with an ice-chilling fear as he caught a glimpse of her.
“Then why am I still alive? Any reason behind it?” Allen leers over his sister’s doppelganger, untrusted, but he is no match for her.
“To hide me from the Apex. And for my lovely brother, ~of course.” Noel’s high pitch suddenly changed the mood; she began to throw him some annoyance. However, her unexpected moment left Allen completely speechless and blank.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Hello—are you there, sweetheart?” Amusingly, she began playing around with his feelings.
“There’s no sweetheart for my unreal sister.”
“Which makes me a soul-sister to you?” An unexpectable comeback.
“None of them. Noel!” As soon as he yelled out loud, her eyes widened as she squealed happily and laughed. Allen couldn’t get it. But he saw a sprinkle of little tears at the corner of her eye and a shaking hand she hid. She dusts off her eyes, covering her obscure reaction.
"Well, you called my name for the first time. I’m glad.” Noel smiles, an unexpected heart content from his sister’s replicant resonates him.
He paused. Said nothing.
.. “I remembered the last time I laughed, and you look as cold as this, like the last time we went to that central garden—quite a long time, isn't it, brother?” Allen immediately looked back at her after the speech.
“—Wait a minute!” Allen is frustrated, he’s confused, whether to be impressed or terrified by her response. Memories are immersive chunks of data, and to process something meaningful or understand a valuable feeling is the only thing that souls are capable of. “What exactly are you..” He asked astonishingly.
“As I told you, I’m your sister, Allen.”
“How do you imitate—
..No.. how do you understand her, Noel’s feelings?—”
Noticing the shock in Allen's voice and the disbelief in his eyes, Noel gently replies: “Because she is with me, inside me.” She placed her hand over her chest, slowly metamorphosing into a little child. A figure of Noel at the age before she died, her looks and clothes are perfect. As he watches a fluorescence light pattern traveling in circuits over her body, he believes that what current Noel is—is beyond any other humanoid or Automata.
“I consumed her soul, embraced her will, it's our mutual contract between us, Noels.” Allen couldn’t answer anything. He kneels down, letting tears rinse his cheeks, speechless and powerless. As Noel watches over him, who is both blessed and agonized, she chooses to stand still, allowing the moment to linger, unwavering to the overwhelming emotion coming towards her.
“What are you—”
“Primordials.” She spread a temporary wing on her right, newly metamorphosed–pairs of incomplete dark feathers, looking grim and spooky. Visualizing a power she harnessed.
“Allen, now you can choose your path. Do not let your past haunt you any longer.”
“—Then, what path do I have?” Allen lifted his chin, slowly looking at a beautiful juvenile before him.
“Me—.”
As she replies, Allen grabs Noel’s bestowed hand before him, standing up in her assistance and steady—onward to whatever consequences.
“So be it.” He neglects any upcoming bias; his sole purpose is for his atonement. Allen plants his feet firmly, looks up and withstands his past, looking at rays of light casting over the skyscrapers together with Noel. A blooming of new dawn refreshes his past along with the strong breezes.
◤
..
As moments passed, Noel raised her first question.
“But you know..”
“Huh—something bothering you?” He swiveled toward Noel.
“Something has also grown up very-well after a decade, brother.” Everything goes smoothly, except that as Noel slowly transforms back to her young adult form, she can’t let go of her hands that are groping her own chest unscrupulously. Clearly meant to irritate him.
“For god's sake, Noel!” He grunts.
“A heh– hahaha~”
“Geez. How old are you actually, acting like a child, Noel?”
“In this form,—” She observing herself before replies him annoyingly with cheeky smiles “—20 my Brothaaa~”
“Great, whatever.” Allen muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes to the skies, walking away with long strides.
She quickly follow up, walking aside facing him in his strides. “Don’t be mad—my Broo—thaa~”
“Noel never called me like that.”
“It’s my original, I need my trademark, right Bradaa?” Noel, the Cute-little-brat smiles, mischievous girl tingling around his nerves unrelentlessly. At least she would never be replaced with other doppelgangers (if have), in an optimistic way. Even so, Allen upgraded his long grunts on his face while striding away even faster.
“So what do we do next?” Allen suddenly stopped.
“Eat. I’m hungry.”
“Do you have money?”
“Nope.” Noel replies confidently.
◤
They went down to the middle layers of the underworld in these sky-reaching cities. The reason Noel dragged him all the way upward was still kept secret, like there was a hidden agenda. He wouldn’t understand her motives, but believed that they were personal, as she hadn’t revealed everything yet, seemingly ‘Breathing out the fresh air’ would probably not be the best fit if she ever spit it out. What comes to his suspicion and consideration is the fact that Apex has been seeking her more than anything else, which would solidify the fact that she isn’t a villain in the scheme. Who knows, but the fact that there are no other claws sharper than Apex still resonates in Underworld’s mind—the fact that anyone against Apex would likely buy their trust. Trust the enemies of your enemy, but somehow Noel was able to convince Allen to go along with it despite all the obscurities.
As they walked, Allen couldn't help but think about Noel’s being. She is one of Primal/Primordial, which does not strengthen the fact: Foe’s of the foe at all, she may not be a true ally to their cause. More likely, it might be even worse if we’re aware of it carefully. She might possibly be one of the top-tier apex predators in human history—or even worse.
It was a gift from Mother Nature for survivalists, to fear something, an initiative instinct that establishes sustainability over human evolution—a survival instinct.
Allen, surely, knows whether to touch certain subjects or not in his first hand. Otherwise, human civilization wouldn’t exist until the present. Without fear and boundaries.
As a representative of the presence of the primordial with intimidating abilities, Noel possesses the power of what we called God that possibly bestows an annihilation.
Worshiping the powerful entities had been major encounters that prevailed fear of civilization from ages, due to histories of Sapiens, in order to live with supreme entities in the past, generations had been pleasing their gods and deities—more likely preventing their terrors instead. But Allen is different from other Sapiens. He also learned to tease this little brat as well. As he’s untouchable due to the fact that she needs a brother to conceal her identity from the Apex.
They stopped in front of a local family restaurant nearby. Noel swiftly jumped in and ordered like it was the end of the world. She had been swallowing the supplies of an army squadron, more likely.
“Ouch! —” He flicks his finger over her forehead, telling a little gluttony to calm down a bit. Even though she is powerful, that would be nothing if she’d choked on mere grains, which could potentially end the world's disaster and save humanity.
“We have time. Have some table manners, please, Noel.”
Noel mutters and continues to enjoy her delicacy. He thought that the stimulant would be her ultimate favorite meal, but those images were erased by what he witnessed before him— a grain muncher, chewy-chewy girl. At least she ate more properly, more like a human, than a few minutes before. He thought he had awakened a mini-Beelzebub over the realm, but luckily she was now able to eat properly.
He thinks back then, during their journey to here. He remembered that Noel pointed out the top of Apex as her final destination. At first, he thought that she had been joking, but no, it was too damn serious. That totally makes her a true enemy of the Apex. No wonder why Yaksha arrives in the underworld secretly, veiled like an outlaw assassin.
◤
Time-flies as Allen watches over the windows; he has been revising his past and regrets and presuming the foreshadowing reasons for Noel's advent in his life. The probability is even lower than hitting a lottery jackpot in order to deeply interact with Primordial. Is this an ordeal for his redemption, or does atonement choose him as a shepherd? But what will Noel bring upon this wicked planet—a liberation? As she never mentioned her primal’s entity, Allen has no clue at all. But she, in the past, has lived thousands of years—mostly slumbered.