I woke up to complete and utter darkness. I tried to sit up in the darkness but couldn’t move. I could hear faint thumps and some muffled cracks, but couldn’t remember if I recognised any of it. I heard someone faintly yelling
“Oi! Wake up already!” a familiar voice suddenly snapped, the cracks and thumps fading away to dream.
Suddenly, light shined on my face and I groaned as I pulled the blanket over me. “Lemme, sleep, sis,” I complained. “Just another ten minutes-”
The blanket was then pulled off of me and I hissed at the sunlight in my face. “Hey!”
My sister glared down at me, annoyed that she had to walk up the stairs to my room to wake me. “Get up, Jay. Mom wants to talk to us.”
“Then she gets to talk to my corpse. I’m tired,” I mumbled.
For a few moments, there was silence and I assumed she left the room. Suddenly, however, I felt something fall onto the bed and I flew up and off the bed, yelping. I fell on my back into the floor and glared up at the smug face of my older sister peeking over the edge of my bed.
“You awake now?” Hylla (Pronounced Hi-la) asked smugly, looking down at me.
I threw the pillow that had landed next to me at her face. “You’re heavy, clearly. That’s all I have to say.”
She glared down at me now. “Don’t assume a woman’s weight.”
“If you’re a woman, then Mom must be a great-grandma, you’re that immature,” I said. “Also, I’m not assuming. I can back it up with evidence from about thirty seconds ago.”
She then rolled off the bed and fell on top of me, confirming my statement of her being heavy. After wrestling myself from under her, I dragged her out of my room and slammed the door as she continued to tell me how Mom was waiting for me.
“Isn’t she waiting for you as well?!” I yelled over her as I changed clothes.
She went quiet for a moment, then I audibly heard her curse before she ran over to her room which was right next to mine.
I smirked as I finished putting on my clothes. I debated on whether or not I should brush my hair out. Deciding against it, I opened my door and slid down the stair rail.
“Jason! I’ve told you not to do that!” My mother yelled, seeing me from the bottom of the stairs.
I jumped off at the end and landed in front of my disappointed mother. “Yes?”
She stared at me for a few moments before looking up the staircase. “Where are your sisters?”
I shrugged. “They’re slow at the uptake.”
She gave me a flat look. “Didn’t Hylla have to wake you up?”
I screwed up my face and said, unconvincingly, “Nope. Got up myself. Definitely.”
Mom shook her head. “You sure sleep unnecessarily long for a fourteen year old. I wonder why that may be…”
I gave her a flat look that matched her previous one. “I dunno, maybe because you keep making me take that stuff that makes me fall asleep nearly instantly.”
Before she could respond, my other sister, Juli, tumbled down the stairs, shrieking as she rolled past me before face planting into the ground.
My mom gave an exasperated sigh. “Juli! I just got those glasses for you! How do you always manage to immediately break them!”
Juli, who took more after my father with her lighter hair and green eyes, looked up at my mom, embarrassed. “Hylla pushed me down! I didn’t do it on-”
She was cut off as Hylla laughed maniacally as she jumped down the last flight of stairs and landed on top of me, knocking me to the ground and knocking the breath out of me.
“HEY!” I yelled, trying to roll from under her. “I already told you that you're heavy!”
“Don’t comment on my weight! Just get stronger!” she laughed, letting herself go limp on my back, rendering my attempts at escape impossible.
“THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS! CAN I BREATH NOW!?”
~~~
The car was nearly unbearably hot, as Juli had somehow broken the AC the last time she’d driven it. Juli was naturally just clumsy and could break nearly anything she touched, excluding people and animals. She “wore” glasses, though she always managed to break them in some way, shape, or form, therefore she never actually wore them for more than a day.
Mom, who was driving us somewhere to get breakfast to celebrate Juli’s acceptance to a college, namely Harvard, hummed to some foreign tune while Hylla slept with her head on my shoulder while her oversized shirt, which she’d borrowed from one of her friends (or so she said), slid down her shoulder. I frowned and pulled it back up her neck, not up to having her chest all up in my face.
Speaking of Hylla, she was, as one could easily tell from a glance, a massive troublemaker, the polar opposite of her twin sister. She nearly failed the last two grades she’d been in and was hardly accepted into a nearby college. I never really understood why she did any of what she did, but (in a definitely not biased opinion), I liked her slightly more than Juli, who hardly spoke to me as of recently due to her intense studying.
Finally pushing Hylla off of me, I stared out the window as she banged her head on the window and woke up with a curse. We drove towards Leah’s house, who was sitting at the curb, yawning. When she saw my Mom’s car, she stared suspiciously at the driver’s seat, trying to see who was driving since the last time she’d been in the car was with Juli driving, the same person who had a record of forgetting to use the brake pedal until the last second.
Mom stopped right in front of Leah, who immediately bounded forward and into the back seat, pushing me aside to sit at the window.
“Thanks, Mrs. Andromeda!” she said happily. “For inviting me, I mean. I’d rather not sit in that stuffy house with my dad not saying a single word for hours on end.” She then gave Hylla a smug look.
Hylla glared at Mom. “Really? I have to sit in the backseat with these two?”
My mom looked back with a flat stare. “Did you get into a good college? I thought not,” she said as Hylla’s frown deepened.
As we drove further, I couldn’t help but feel like I’d somehow lived through this already. I felt as if something was seriously wrong. Almost like something predetermined was about to happen. Something I dreaded.
Suddenly, something clicked.
Wait. I have lived through this memory. It had something to do with Juli…
The moment I realized this, I wanted to make my mom stop the car. To do anything. But I couldn’t do anything but happily talk with Leah while Hylla fell back asleep. But… nothing happened.
What?Juli… she was supposed to die in this crash. But it hasn’t happened. Why are we on our way? What-
“Jason, why do you seem so nervous?” Leah asked, confused.
I tried to keep quiet, but I couldn’t stop.
“I’m just worried that Mia might get out again; she has quite the record,” I said.
Wait, Mia…
No response, but I could feel something beyond whatever I was trapped in.
Leah nodded. “Huh. I’d assume you’d be worried about that.”
“She did eat the Thanksgiving chicken earlier this year,” Mom said disdainfully. “How does a snake her size get down the stairs and into the kitchen without anyone noticing her, huh Hylla?”
Hylla jerked awake again. “Snake? Chicken? What?” she sputtered, blinking. I rolled my eyes.
“I fed her last night, so she should be okay. I wonder if she’ll be allowed to go into our dorm when we get into high school this year…”
Leah tilted her head as I internally panicked. Why the hell could I not feel Mia? Why was I seemingly trapped in a memory that never happened?
“I wonder that too. I mean, I think her sheer size might not allow it.”
Hylla glared at me. “Well they should allow it. I don’t want to wake up again to a giant fucking snake in my shirt.”
I snorted while my mom gave Hylla an annoyed look. “Language, Hy.”
She turned her glare at Mom. “What?! Snakes are creepy.”
I frowned at her. “Snakes are cool,” I argued. “They just look creepy since you don’t know much about them!”
“They’re creepy! They unhinge their jaws when they eat!”
“No they’re not! That’s just an evolution, and the coolest part about them!”
“Yes they are!”
“No!”
“Yes!”
“No!”
This went on until my Mom silenced us. We rode with minimal speaking while I still warred over control of my body. I slowly pushed back the force that kept me from my Mana before, after a few moments I finally-
I stopped right before I unlocked my Mana, something feeling far too familiar about this situation. Why did my Mana never feel foreign to my body when I was first Integrated? Why did it feel familiar? Something that I felt I should not use?
Why-
Suddenly, pain exploded in my head and Hylla stared at me in object horror.
“Mom-!” she started.
No…
“I know! Get him out!”
Juli… I…
Leah looked at me, terrified as Abyss began to flow from my body.
“What’s happen-”
Then, the engine exploded as I couldn’t control the Mana overflowing through my body. The world went white momentarily right before darkness overtook my vision.
When I woke up, I could smell smoke and the smell of something burning.
“-li, Juli! JULI!” I could hear Hylla shreiking.
There were sirens, and I knew what happened. This memory wasn’t fake or altered. My original memory of the crash was altered and this was the original.
I killed my sister, Juli.
***
I opened my eyes to the warped face of the Queen bearing down on me as I hyperventilated, Abyss Mana surrounding my body.
I ignored her as I grabbed the {Corrupted} Queen by the neck and channeled all my Mana into [Abyss Touch], barely able to command it to kill all of the {Corruption} in her.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I then threw her to the side as she shrieked and writhed. I had just enough of mind to reactivate my cloak as I opened the door to the room, sucking in all the Abyss Mana in the room without a thought.
I looked at Mia, who was in her Draconic Form, looking down at me in confusion. Treia, not noticing my state, grabbed me around the neck and was clearly on the verge of tears.
“What happened?! You were stuck in there for hours! I could hear Systie yelling for some time, then she cut off-” She noticed my expression, which I could only assume was completely empty. “Jason? Are you-?”
I pulled her arms from around me and shook my head. “I need… some time to myself.”
Before I opened a portal, I looked at the guard, who was trying to move Mia along with a few dozen others. “The Queen’s fine now. But, I want to know : Does she have the power to meddle with memories, so to say?”
The guard, confused at my question, nodded. “Yes? She usually uses it for restoring memories or unlocking locked memories. What happened in-”
“Thanks.”
I ripped open a portal and jumped through, leaving both Mia and Treia behind.
~~~
I stared at Systie’s respawn timer as it ended and she poofed into existence.
-MIT JASON- She stopped her sentence as she seemed to assess my mental state. What the… What the hell happened while you were knocked out?
I looked up at her blankly. “The {Corruption}... what is it exactly?”
She seemed taken aback, but didn’t question my sudden inquiry. Well, I’d describe it as a sort of malicious virus that infected the System itself. It messes with your stats and whatnot. It’s really annoying-
“I know that’s not exactly what it does. It didn’t try to kill me, but used the Queen to send me into a memory I’d tried so hard to forget to find out that the memory that I knew was completely different. It… restored the memory,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s not malicious at all, is it? Its only purpose is to show people truths, though it has a different effect on things that are directly connected to the System. To put it simply, it undoes what the System does to a person’s mind. But because people are Integrated, it has immense effects on a person’s body, depending on how much a person has Leveled, or, in other words, how far they’re Integrated.”
Systie was silent for a few moments. Then she sighed. Then you understand why I wouldn’t like that. There’s a reason I have to Integrate people. I can’t live without them. I help them Level and get powerful, and when they die, if they die, I collect their souls to power myself and get stronger in the process. Smarter. Just better in general. When people are cut off from the System, they’re unable to control their Mana or they go insane. Some can keep their sanity, but they can’t do the same things I could let them do. They have to learn those things on their own. They can become Gods if they want. Yes, being apart from any System is an advantage, since it gives you the ability to be more flexible in your Mana and abilities, but when people aren’t born with latent Mana or lose control over it… disastrous things can happen, like, for instance-
“Mana overloads, right? Killing people around them, unable to do anything about it since they don’t have experience with it. Or because it was hidden from them for their entire lives.”
Systie bobbed in agreement. Yep, and- wait, how do you know-
She froze in place as I shook my head. It’s happened to you, hasn’t it?
I nodded. “I… killed my sister when I was fourteen. I almost killed Leah as well, but since she was a Demigod… She was almost unscathed. But… my sister wasn’t. She was definitely born with the System, but was never given the chance to use it to Level. At most, she had [All Seeing Eye of the Abyss] and a higher than average Intelligence. But no Endurance to back it up, unlike Hylla… I killed her.”
I forced myself not to cry and just barely succeeded, grabbing my cloak and wrapping it over my face.
“I don’t think I can do this-”
There was a crash from the tree next to me as Mia slammed right into it after flying into a few dozen more. She shifted into her Human form as she jumped at me, grabbing me around the neck.
She kept on babbling on and on, asking random things before I realized she was trying to console me in her own, convoluted, way. I blinked and placed my hand on her head.
“Yeah Mia, I’m okay. Mostly,” I told her, kissing her forehead.
She blinked at this before nuzzling her face into my chest and sighing.
“You act like I have a choice all the time,” I said.
She glared up at me.
I smiled at her. “Yeah, I guess we are.”
I let Mia sit on my lap and snuggle into my chest for a while. Finally, I sighed.
“We should get going now,” I said. “Treia’s probably immensely worried.”
Mia nodded as I leaned back through a portal.
***
After hearing what happened to Jason, Treia couldn’t possibly be angry with Jason for just leaving. He’d probably almost forcefully forgotten about his sister and then he was forced to remember what had happened. And what was worse, what he originally remembered was false. He learned that his sister didn’t just die in an accident, but it was him who killed her.
Treia pressed her head against his chest as he slept without a sound, twitching slightly when he clearly was dreaming. Mia slept between her and Jason, her cheek against Treia’s chest while she snored lightly. She thought about how he must feel after reliving that memory.
Looking up at Jason, she smiled slightly at his partially open mouth. Kissing him once, his face scrunched up slightly before he sighed, wrapping his arms around Mia.
“Good night, you big buffoon,” Treia whispered, closing her eyes.
***
Hylla frowned as her movement through the Void stopped suddenly. She then sighed.
“Now who’s stopping me?” She complained. “I just want to see how much my little brother’s grown over the past few years! Or, however long it is in Aurora, since it’s the only place that has years as long as it is, even after the newest Integration-”
“Oh, quit babbling,” a familiar voice said, pulling her through the Void again.
“Seriously, Dad? What’s the problem now?” Hylla said, annoyed. “Every time I want to see Jay, you stop me for stupid reasons.”
As she was dropped into a pocket in the Void, she glared up at her father, who rubbed the back of his head nervously, the only thing he had in common with his son.
“Well, this is an actual problem. The System itself has taken a slight interest in him. Or at least a piece of it.”
Hylla frowned again. “And… how exactly does this stop me from seeing my little brother?”
“Er… I mean-”
“Dad, just because he hasn’t seen me in years doesn’t mean he hates me. He might slightly hate you a bit, but me? His favorite sister?” Hylla snorted before looking to the side. “His only sister, that is.” Looking back at her father disdainfully, she continued. “Anyways, what’s the big deal with seeing him? It’s not like he’s in the middle of a place filled with {Corruption}!”
Seeing her father’s face contort, she immediately knew that her brother was, indeed, in the middle of a place filled with {Corruption}.
“Oh, you’re fucking with me!”
***
I stared down the guard at the kitchen’s entrance as he nervously looked at me.
“May I please go in there? I want to cook,” I said calmly.
He gulped. “The Queen has been calling for you for a-”
“Tell her she can wait a few hours. I’m sure she’ll be patient.”
“But-!”
I slowly cracked open the door before walking in and ignoring him. Once in, I sighed as I realized there was no one there.
“Time for a cooking spree,” I said.
For the next few hours, I spent my time cooking and trying out various Elven foods from many cookbooks that I found scattered around. Some were quite good, while others were just nice. I didn’t have many opinions on the foods themselves, but was mostly looking for things that seemed more complicated than others.
While I was engrossed in cooking one of the more complicated dishes, I heard the kitchen door open and many people shuffled in, saying things in Elvish.
Shit. I’ve overstayed my welcome.
Then, they stopped speaking as they clearly found the table full of duplicate dishes that I was planning to give to Mia to try.
“What in the-” One started.
“Did someone cook the feast for us?”
“Do you smell that? It’s divine!”
“I hear someone in here still! It must be them!”
Well, shit. I lost track of time. I thought, looking down at my flour covered clothes.
I commanded my cloak to shake it off and turn into an apron right as one of the Elves found me. I looked over to her surprised face and gave her a guilty smile.
“Uh… I may have made too much food?” I said, nervously.
She seemed to choke on her words as the next Elf found me. Then the rest. Soon, they were all watching me suspiciously in silence as I kept making the overly complicated dish while glancing at the cookbook occasionally.
Eventually, even I began to grow uncomfortable as they stared. Finally I looked over at them flatly.
“Do you always just stare at people for the fun of it,” I said in Elvish to them.
They all started at me speaking in their language. For a few more moments, there was silence. Soon enough, they all started speaking at once.
“You made all of this?”
“The Dark Elf? There’s no way!”
“How did you know that-”
“Why did you make so much?”
Soon I was overwhelmed with a few dozen questions at once and I refrained from shaking my head in annoyance.
“I’m just tired and bored. Nothing else to it,” I said. “Anyways, what’s the name of this dish? I’m not great at reading this language.”
Immediately they all looked at the book and tried to decipher it. When none of them could understand it, I looked over the book again. I then snorted.
“Ah. It’s in Runescript. No wonder. I completely forgot that there’s different Runes for inscribing and reading,” I said, shaking my head. “Sorry. No wonder it seemed difficult.”
For the next hour of cooking, they all watched as I cooked with apt attention, which was a bit unnerving, but I put up with it.
Finally, I finished, and placed it on the counter, looking at the large cake.
“Well… that was unexpected. I thought it would be slightly smaller for the little ingredients used,” I grumbled. “But, then again, it gives buffs depending on the Element you infuse some of the ingredients with, so it probably expanded”
The moment I said this, the Elves stopped studying the cake and looked at the book in wonder.
“Buffs depending on Elemental infusion?” one of them said. “That’s rare.”
I shrugged. “Really? The entire book is filled with stuff like that. My favorite was the muffin recipe. Fire Mana makes it increase your Elemental Damage output by 10%. Not much, but certainly useful. Ice Mana is even more interesting, it decreases your Damage by 10%, but all Elemental Damage has a chance to inflict the ailment it’s associated with. Water increases any of your healing Skills effectiveness by 20%; Earth decreases your Damage Taken multiplier by 0.1; Lightning increases processing and movement speed by 15%; Void, if it doesn’t kill you, increases all elemental Damage by 25%; Wind increases Damage Taken multiplier by 0.1, but increases Health Regen by 20% and etcetera. There’s a lot of things that are also dish dependent as well-” I stopped speaking as I realized some of the cooks were writing down what I was saying.
When I stopped, they looked up at me, eager.
I… don’t think I’ll be leaving soon.
~~~
I came into the dining hall immensely late, completely exhausted from translating half the cookbook for the people. I sat next to Mia, not noticing the empty seat of the Queen. I looked over to Triea, who seemed to also be too distracted by the Queen’s chair.
I looked over to see that it was empty and frowned slightly. “What-?”
Treia suddenly looked up at me, surprised that I was here. “You made it? What held you up so long?”
“The kitchen,” I said, looking away, embarrassed.
Mia looked up at me half drooling. I rolled my eyes and handed her one of the new muffins, which she inspected. I then looked at Treia who had just finished shaking her head and was now watching Mia with a strange look on her face.
“Does food have to pass the ‘Mia Test’ for her to eat it?” she asked, moving her hair out of her face. “I haven’t seen this before.”
I tossed her a Wind muffin and she blinked as she clearly [Void’s Eye]ed it. “Wind infused? Increases damage taken by that and increases health Regen by a percent amount? This is quite… interesting. These are really expensive to get. Where’d you find them?”
“I made them. There’s this huge recipe book full of things. I may or may not have snatched it,” I admitted, lifting said book from my storage.
Treia looked like she wanted to glare at me, but couldn’t bring herself to. I shook my head.
“Y’know, you don’t have to act any differently around me. Just because some dumb memory became clear to me doesn’t mean I’m a different person. I’m not going to explode at the moment's notice,” I stated plainly, causing both Mia and Treia to start. “I killed my sister. Big deal. I’ll get over it.”
Treia looked at me for a few moments, confusion clouding her face. “What are you saying-?”
I shrugged. “It’s better to forget than to remember. Anyhow, before you start yelling at me, the Queen’s probably been here for far longer than you think. She’s been hiding herself behind that big ‘ol chair for however long. Yeah, I noticed. Come on out.”
There was a squeak from behind the chair and I blinked, looking over to the chair and scanning it with my senses.
“Wait, you’re actually here? I was just trying to delay her yelling at me. The hell are you hiding behind the chair like a kid for?”
Treia looked at me, baffled. “Jason! Don’t be rude-!”
“It-it’s fine…” a small voice said from behind the chair. “It’s just that… whatever you did had some adverse consequences. You don’t have any Divine Skills, do you?”
I shrugged. “Nope. Took you far too long to notice.”
“Then… what exactly are you? You’re no Dark Elf, that’s for sure.”
I frowned at the tiny voice, suspicion growing. “Again, what’s up with hiding behind the chair?” I pushed one of the muffins into my mouth, curious on how it actually tasted.
A small head poked out from behind the chair and I choked on my muffin in sheer surprise. The Queen had… had-
Treia stared at the shrunken Queen in confusion before looking at me, baffled.
I simply hit my head onto the table and tried not to laugh. The Queen, now the size of Mia, glared at me the same way Mia did.
The Queen, clearly embarrassed that she looked like a child, hid behind her chair again.
“I… I can’t let anyone see me like this. Fix it!”
I shrugged. “Any ideas Sys?”
Systie didn’t respond and, when I looked into it, I realized she was completely losing her mind in the space she went in when she either died or simply was too bored to be outside.
I sighed. “No advice from her currently. Whatever; we’ll figure it out… somehow.”
Julia frowned at me. “There’s no ‘somehow’! You have to! You’re the one who did this-!”
I frowned back at the girl and she shut up immediately, clearly stopping herself out of instinct. After about four seconds, she realized she’d stopped talking and she was about to start complaining when my cloak draped over her head and Treia choked on her food.
“Just put some Mana in that and imagine what you want to wear; those clothes are way too big for you.” I then gave Treia a smug look as she stared at my chest, clearly expecting me to have not been wearing a shirt under the cloak. “What? Of course I wear shirts. Who knows when my Mana’s going to suddenly be suppressed- Erk!”
I clutched my head mid-sentence as Mia suddenly pulled out her Dual Core.
Meanwhile, the tiny Queen was trying to put on the cloak and stopped as she put it on. “Abyss… damage bonus? Void-” She then looked up at me and yelped before falling to the ground.
I blinked at her. “What? I can’t be that scary without a cloak on- wait, I’m not off balance.” I reached up to my head and patted my horns and froze. “Oh.”