Hylla poked at her food, which was only some stew and bread for the day. It wasn’t that she didn’t like it, but that it was the only thing she knew how to cook properly, other than oatmeal. And she was getting tired of it.

“Ung,” she groaned. “I don’t wanna eat this. I would rather look for my little brother than eat right now. At least then I could have a variety of meals. Then again, I’m assuming he’d cook for me.” Hylla banged her head on the table. “Damn it all. I want him back. But, of course, the big, bad father says, ‘no, no, no, Hylla. He has to live his own life-’.”

Suddenly furious, she smashed her fist into the table, breaking it into pieces. “Damn him! He hasn’t been in our lives since Jason was born and he thinks he can tell me what to do?! I’m going to look for my brother whether he likes it or not!”

As Hylla stood up, she looked at the food on her clothes and deflated. “Right. I should probably clean up.

~~~

The great thing about [Void Armor] was that she effectively had infinite armor, assuming she had Mana. The other thing was that she didn’t need to worry about spending Mana to go to different planets, since all the Crystals were constantly filled with Void Mana. That was one of the upsides of living in the Void. Infinite Void Mana, which her body could turn into Abyss Mana at will.

Walking to one of the Portal arches, she took a look at her cloak to make sure it was still working.

Cloak of the Fool - Level 250

A cloak capable of completely hiding your presence while also allowing you to take on the form of various races. It’s made of the wool of a Chameleon Sheep and infused with a few Runescripts.

+ 50% Void/Abyss Damage Bonus

+ 30% Skill Damage Bonus

-20% Mana Cost

Available forms :

Dark Elf

Elf

Human

Voidling

Dwarf

Wolf-kin

Sea-kin

Mer

High Abyssal (Unavailable)

As usual, she frowned at the mention of High Abyssal. Personally, she found them very insufferable due to their high and mighty nature, but she could deal with them. She also found it interesting that Mer was separated from Sea-kin. However, she could assume it had something to do with the Goddess of the Sea. From what she knew about the Goddess of the Sea, she had previously lived on this world but had one day disappeared from the System entirely. Gods were completely different from normal people since the System could only affect them minimally. The word of the Sea Goddess Cthulhu was that she was somehow transported to a world without the System after nearly destroying the System itself some few million years ago. She had been known as the most powerful God by far, but got ahead of herself one day.

“Why am I thinking about this right now? I’m supposed to be leaving.”

She shook her head and was about to look into the Portal before someone cleared her throat behind her.

Hylla scowled and turned around to see her least favorite person in the world: The High Abyssal who was apparently betrothed to Jason. She was taller than Hylla, but not by much. Her black hair went down to right below her shoulders, and she watched Hylla with an interested expression, her green eyes slightly widened. She had pretty dark skin for an Abyssal, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that she spent her time on a planet that wasn’t incredibly racist against Abyssals. Though, High Abyssals were completely different from Abyssals, so Hylla wasn’t sure that people would even go against them.

“What do you want?” Hylla hissed.

The girl seemed a bit confused as she looked down slightly at Hylla. “I was just curious about what you were doing. You were walking over here with a pretty determined expression on your face.”

Right.

The reason Hylla couldn’t find it in herself to completely hate the girl was because the High Abyssal was a bit of an airhead. She only really thought of one thing at once and she really only had a singular thought in her head at once, or, in some cases, none at all. She’d jump at something without understanding what she was jumping into, and when she realized she didn’t know anything about the subject, she’d make up things and try to gaslight herself into thinking they were true. The girl was just really strange. However, she was quite… violent when it came to certain topics. Specifically, whenever it was mentioned to her that she didn’t even know who her betrothed was, yet she was somehow attached to him.

“Uh huh. I know what I looked like. I’m going to find my brother. So, goodbye, Layla.”

Layla, the High Abyssal, blinked. “I can come with you. I think I was supposed to find him as well.”

“Well, he’s obviously in Aurora, since that's where everyone went when Earth was Integrated. I’m worried for him and I cannot have you making him more confused than he probably already is.”

Ms. Mental Deficiency tilted her head. “Would I? Wouldn’t you make him more confused?”

Hylla pinched the bridge of her nose. “Explain to me in coherent sentences how I would make him more confused.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Layla seemed to think for a moment, which it seemed that no matter how much Intelligence she got, as a mage, no less, her mental capacity didn’t exceed that of a puppy. “Well, if it were me, I’d wonder why it took my sister so long to look for me.”

“...Family problems, obviously.”

“I dunno if he would believe that.”

Hylla was about to retort when she realized that the girl was right. She imagined her face was scrunched up the same way Jason’s would get when he realized he’d lost an argument. She glared at the high Abyssal for a few moments before sighing.

“Fine. You can come. I just need some way to distract my father…”

***

Half an hour later, the said father stared at the very angry looking Abyss Dragon which had somehow gotten into the Void Islands. Of course, Abyss Dragons could be very annoying and would unknowingly travel from plane to plane just because they were bored.

“This damnable girl… How in the hell did you manage to gouge out the thing’s eyeball? With water, no less. I’m going to have to start calling her Madam Firehose…”

***

Hylla had always wondered why the dimensional portals seemed so slow. She knew, in reality, they were so fast that her mind couldn’t possibly process it, but she also didn’t really know how they worked.

For some reason, as Layla flipped around in circles, Hylla thought back on a few years ago, when her mother told her that she was accepted into a College. Hylla, excited, told her brother, but he was still out of it after Juli’s funeral. Hylla was also suffering, but she absolutely refused to show that side of her to her brother, no matter how much she loved him.

Though Jason was unable to remember the specifics of what had happened, he knew that there was a car accident and that Juli…

Hylla shook her head.

Anyways, she’d told her brother that she’d be going to a college, but what she didn’t know was that she’d never be seeing him again after that, when her mother transported her through some sort of portal into the Void, where she’d spend a small amount of time in while Jason was still really young, reaching Level 50 there. She could still remember the sheer horror she’d felt when she learned that she wasn’t Human. Juli had been terrified for years and refused to Level, even though it would make sure she was safer. Hylla knew that Jason would probably take it in stride, at least outwardly. Inside, it’d eat him up until it exploded, assuming he wasn’t already destroyed from the inside out.

She’d known the basics during that fateful car ride. Hylla wasn’t able to save her twin sister, who was still Level 1 and had no way to protect herself when Jason’s Mana exploded.

“-lla, Hylla, Hylla, Hylla-”

Hylla slapped the waving hand of Layla from in front of her face, glaring. “What?!”

“Why are you crying?” Layla asked, confusion written all over her face.

Hylla snorted. “Me? Crying? What sort of fever dream are you having? There’s just something in my eye.”

Layla frowned before flipping herself upside down and doing an upside-down shrug. “Okay then.”

“Well, off to the Abyss we go,” Hylla grumbled, wiping the stray tear from her cheek.

***

“Ung…” The newest Queen of the Abyss groaned. “I hate meetings with the council. They’re still trying to comfort me. I’m (mostly) over it now. I don’t need to keep being reminded of my mother’s death by the hands of some overpowered Valkyrie.”

Jasmine had her cheek pressed against her desk, making her cheek grow cold and her horn slightly puncture the desk. She reached up to rub said horn, wishing that she could do something other than lay down for hours on end, bored to all the hells. Ever since reaching Level 80, she’d nearly given up on the grind for Levels, but something kept pushing her to go further?

Was it a need for revenge? The desire to be on par with the person she wanted as a husband, but would most likely never get?

Jasmine sighed. “No point in wondering about things that are unrealistic. Though…”

The young Queen debated on whether or not she should go down to the orb and watch Jason for a little while again. She then yawned and decided against it for the night.

I should go to bed… She thought, her eyes slowly closing.

Before she could drift off, however, there was a rap on the door to her room, which was down below her. She felt electricity crackle between her horns as annoyance churned through her.

“This better be life-changing if you’re knocking on my door at this hour!” She hissed. “In!”

The door quickly opened, revealing a messenger who was practically trembling in his shoes. He somehow gathered the courage to speak clearly.

“Your Majesty… there have been two very insistent ones at the palace gates. One is a Voidborn and the other… is a Highborn-”

Jasmine practically turned into a bolt of lightning as she went over the railing and down to the boy. “A High Abyssal? What-”

“Um… the Voidborn seems to be more insistent… she claims to be the sister of ‘Jason Andromeda’-”

A shiver went down Jasmine’s spine as she realized the meaning of those words. “Call the council. There’s an important meeting to be held now.”

~~~

Jasmine gulped as the Voidborn girl tapped her foot on the floor. “You’re the Queen now? I mean, no offense, but you’re far too young to be a Queen. Hardly my brother’s age. Speaking of him-”

The High Abyssal looked down at Jasmine, who was a bit shorter than her. “You know Jason? Where is he?” she asked, her face filled with curiosity.

Jasmine was slightly taken aback by the High Abyssal. It seemed like her expectations of High Abyssals were a bit… flawed. The girl’s green eyes looked around in wonder, as if she’d never been in a palace before. She seemed to gravitate towards the nearest shiny thing like a crow, with the Voidborn having to pull her back and berate her, which didn’t seem to stop her whatsoever. She would just find something else and try to go over to it. It was seemingly a never-ending cycle.

The Voidborn girl groaned. “I’m sorry about this airhead of an Abyssal. She’s not here to reflect High Abyssals. Most are actually terrifying. Wait, did I even introduce myself.”

Her face contorted into a frown that Jasmine saw everytime she slept. This girl is definitely Jason’s sister. They even look the same, with the same shade of black for hair and their obviously blue eyes. They make the same expressions, though hers seem more… restrained.

“You really are related to him, aren’t you?” Jasmine said, unable to stop herself.

The girl blinked. “Duh. I said that already. Also, you do know him? So you know where he is, right?”

“Um…”

One of Jasmine’s guards slammed his claymore against the ground. “Announce your names and purpose for being here-!”

The girl glared at the man. “Oh, shut your trap. That’s an order.”

The man immediately went silent, his eyes wide as he somehow was rendered unable to speak. The girl smirked. “So this ‘Princess’ Title really is good for something, huh? I’ll try not to abuse it.”

She then shook her head. “Though he has a point. I should introduce myself.” She cleared her throat. “My name is Hylla Andromeda, sister of Jason Andromeda, and this is Ms. Idiot-”

The High Abyssal interrupted, clearly eager to introduce herself. “My name’s Layla. I’m her brother’s betrothed.”

Hylla cringed as Jasmine gaped. There was a few moments of silence before Layla frowned.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Jasmine couldn’t keep her surprise contained. “Y-You’re his WHAT?!”

Hylla groaned as Jasmine stared in confusion at the High Abyssal.