Author: I apologize for the delay.
I now know the horror of falling asleep on your keyboard and waking up to a blank screen. Such a tragic sight for me.
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Dark, the last time I found myself in such a dark space was when I died. But this place is different, it's...not as tranquil. As though I would be consumed if I let my guard down. The subtle ripples in my surroundings feel like it's just waiting for the chance to end my existence.
“Why did you get in our way?”
What? Who is there?
“Why did you stop the fun?”
Fun? What fun?
“The fun we were having when we were killing our family of course. Why did you step in if we were going to kill them anyway? You should know that things would have been fine if you just left everything to us.”
...Who is we? What do you mean by us?
“Us, together. We are you, you are we. Together we are whole and together we become the new you. Answer the question! Why step in if we could have had lots more fun playing with the fools!?”
Forget your question! There is only one me and you can shove your fun right up your--.
“You dare, after all we’ve been through together! I thought we had a thing going with all the things we’ve done together. All the laughs, all the death we spread.”
I don't know what ‘thing’ you're referring to, but I don't know you.
“It doesn’t matter, one day we will be I and you will be the we. Hahahahahahahahahahaha. Disappear! We want to be the new you! You aren't having fun right! We can do better than you!”
Ugh!? This damn thing, Ah! The pain...
“Back off you leech.” (Amare)
“Eep, Intruder. Call the police!”
A-Amare?
“Kuro, don't listen to this thing. Don't EVER listen to it. And never stop fighting should you ever meet it. It will be your undoing if you don't.” (Amare)
Wait, what's going on? How are you here, and what is that thing?
“We are not a thing, we are you!”
“You are nothing! Kuro, there is more going on than we have all yet to realize. But don't worry, I’ll help you. Take my hand and you will leave this place, you are not ready to face this abomination.” (Amare)
“Damn you! That's cheating, you can't interfere!”
Amare? What is…
*Flash*
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“He’s waking up!” (Puerial)
“Kuro” (Shiro)
“...ugh. Amare.” (Kuro)
My head, it feels like my brain was dipped in acid and wrung out before being placed back inside. I-I need to focus. I charged into my family's estate, killed most of the heads before my father--sister. My sister ended the fight.
“Over here. Is your head working again?” (Sister)
My eyes slowly focused and the surroundings were no longer blurred. My eyes looked at Shiro and Puerial and calmed their worries as they felt I was alright for the moment. My gaze shifted to a girl sitting a bit away from me. She leisurely drank from a cup filled with what seems to be tea.
The killing intent she slowly let out faded as I nodded to her question.
“Good, I thought I would have to kill you.” (Sister)
“Kuro, she’s dangerous.” (Shiro)
“She tried to kill you while you were sleeping!” (Puerial)
“Cal-calm down. I’m willing to bet, she has a good reason to do so.” (Kuro)
“But-” (Puerial)
“Have a little faith.” (Kuro)
“...” (Shiro and Puerial)
As my mind cleared, the pain faded away as if it never existed. Following the return of my stabilized mind I began to observe the one in front of me.
Her hair was as black and silky as my own and reached her waist. Skin is as clear as the moon's reflection on water, and eyes as black as the abyss. Her ever emotionless face makes her look like a pristine doll from earth as she appears a bit small for her age. I’d say her height and figure was similar to Puerial's except for her bust being slightly larger.
“Now than, brother, can you tell me why you couldn’t wait a bit longer before entering the estate to wreak havoc?” (Sister)
“Is there a problem with wanting to get things done? Plus I did wait.” (Kuro)
“Not long enough. Another few days and everything would have been fine. Your lucky you didn’t get consumed by the curse in our bloodline.” (Sister)
“Curse? I learned that our race has a complicated history, but this is the first I have heard of a curse following our bloodline.” (Kuro)
“Did you not pay attention when you gained our races legacy? No wait...I sense you never received it in the first place. I can't glean a lot of information from you when you are really far away so I never realized....” (Sister)
The word legacy traversed my mind and I recalled a certain notification I got a while back when I was in Amy’s dungeon. It was about a mission involving my races legacy. But it was blocked and I was told I had a bunch of irregularities making me unable to gain any benefits from my race until it was resolved. It was one of the things the gods messed with from what Amare told me.
She seemed extremely heated about it, it was the one time I ever truly feared her as a matter of fact.
But my sister speaks as if she already discovered it. If it's not a place or lost treasure than it could only be--
“Memories within our bloodline.” (Kuro)
“So you understand. We usually receive it sometime within our adolescence. Though due to the curse, the memories we all receive varies. I only gained bits of our history and a few warnings from our ancestors. One being to never fight after a blood awakening.” (Sister)
“Why? I felt fine for the most part until this incident.” (Kuro)
“All I know is it's something about our blood not being meant to do something and our bodies trying to correct the issue. It usually takes a little over a month.” (Sister)
...BLOOD SURGE! Wait, shouldn’t I have gotten a notification for something like that. Why was my legacy also referred as a mission, to confuse me? It’s a possibility...I didn’t fall under a free system until the update. So it's possible to have messed with my notifications before then. There is more than one god that wants me dead. So it's not an impossible thought.
If so...then Amare is not only dealing with a bunch of idiots with inflated egos in stupid debates, but someone willing to sabotage their competitors. No, this is wrong, thinking back to what happened while I was unconscious. Amare looked liked she knew that there was something wrong. She said it involves everyone right? I need to see her soon.
“...I think I know what happened if this is the case.” (Kuro)
“Oh...do you now. Than do you also know that you almost got your mind destroyed as well. Do you know you almost made me have to kill you! If it wasn’t you that woke up…*Sniffle*...” (Sister)
Her expressionless face crumbled in anger and sadness. Even if it wasn’t completely my fault, I felt regretful for causing her to feel so distraught. The connection between us is flaring with her inner turmoil.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“There...is not many of us left. The curse is far more destructive than it first seems. It takes away who we are. What we strived to be. I may not know all of our history, but I do know we tried to overcome our dark past at one point. Now, we are withering away.” (Sister)
“...What is your name.” (Kuro)
After listening up to this point and feeling the anguish in her heart as tears filled her eyes. I felt it appropriate to change the subject, or at least make a small distraction.
“...I never received one.” (Sister)
“I know a place we can go to when we finish our discussion.” (Kuro)
“...Watching you, was the only thing keeping me going you know. They didn’t allow me to die since I was restrained by a slave collar. When I gained my legacy, I discovered I could connect with my brethren through our blood. It only works when other members of our race is close by though. I managed to make a one way connection to you when you went to go save that Abra woman. I have been watching you since. Sometimes, it became hard to see...and I feared you eventually going too far away. But you always came back in sight.” (Sister)
I felt my heart sink hearing this. Shiro and Puerial seem to have also become conflicted at her words. Even so, they refuse to enter the conversation. It would be a bit inappropriate to do so right now.
“I’m sorry.” (Kuro)
“? For what.” (Sister)
“For not knowing about you, for not coming sooner, for...a lot of things.” (Kuro)
“It’s alright, the moment you connected to me from the blood awakening was the moment I knew my freedom was coming. After all, you are a troublemaker.” (Sister)
If words can describe how beautiful my sister’s smile was at this moment. Than they would be thrown away due to being insufficient.
“You know, fufu, you need to work on your thoughts. If half the things you think were said allowed, women from all over will try to eat you up.” (Sister)
OF ALL THE--GOD DAMMIT! Even here my mind isn't safe.
“Also, If what I gathered so far is correct, Amare is the god you follow correct. Can I ask how you became her...chosen was it? I want to sign up. If it means freeing our people from our fate, than I want to fight under her. Like our forefathers, I want to bring dread to our enemies and liberate our people and the others like us as well.” (Sister)
My mind went blank at her words. but what followed left me in dire straights.
“Isn’t Amare one of the Gods that were named in the temples. My mother said she was a new god to this world but has been forsaken as the Elemental Churches don't allow people to believe in false beings.” (Puerial)
As Puerial said, Amare wasn’t one of the original gods that managed this world as the previous ones were essentially fired. Not like most of the new ones are any better than the last.
“What do you mean by chosen.” (Shiro)
*Sigh* Shiro can be quite perceptive whenever the conversation involved me. She should use some of it to improve her math skills, I won't tolerate her not being able to do algebra even if the highest standard for this world is up to basic multiplication.
“Kuro, you need to stop being so stingy with your secrets. I thought you told them already.” (Sister)
“It's not like I didn’t want to tell them, it's just not something you mention lightly. Sometimes knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and I don't want them to get hurt because people want to know what they do.” (Kuro)
“Ah, I think I can follow that line of reasoning. Sorry for exposing you.” (Sister)
“It's too late, you have to tell us.” (Puerial)
“No secrets.” (Shiro)
It's not like I never saw this day coming, might as well explain a bit of my situation. Minus a few personal bits. I’m going to have to figure out how to shield my thoughts at some point. This is getting ridiculous.
…
“Oh! You're just like the heroes from storybooks!” (Puerial)
“...*Sparkling Eye Stare*...” (Shiro)
“I refuse to be called a hero. They are unbiased pricks who think they have the right to judge the world from what I know. Not everything is so cut and dry.” (Kuro)
Based on all the things that have happened to me thus far. It's a fact that not everything is as it seems. How much do I really know of what's going on.
“Than you’re even more amazing!” (Puerial)
“*Nod**Nod*” (Shiro)
“I am merely me, nothing more, nothing less. So enough with the sparkly eyes.” (Kuro)
“Can you blame them? The world has already fallen into a sorry state. Especially in other places compared to here. And now they find out that you’ve been selected to set things in order by a goddess. It's hard not to feel excited.” (Sister)
“I don't want such attention. Plus, I only have a good relationship with Amare and Val. the others are trying to get me killed as I already mentioned.” (Kuro)
I didn’t hold back on mentioning the other chosen and the gods directing them. Though the impact of there being more than one chosen fell short of what I expected. It’s like they barely registered to these three.
“I’ve been connected to you long enough to understand how they operate. So those gods can go die in a cosmic ditch for all I care. I just want to see if Amare can make me into her champion at least so I can get stronger faster.” (Sister)
“Hey, how did you break free of the slave collar?” (Puerial)
“Now that she mentions it…” (Kuro)
“*Smile* I can't say I’m as good as my brother here, but after seeing him remove so many of them, I eventually figured it out myself. It was a bit difficult though since it suppressed a lot of my magic. It was a low grade collar though, so it wasn’t impossible. Our race used to be one of the top practitioners in magic you know. Though brother seems to be a bit of an oddball as he like to fight up close.” (Sister)
Quite resourceful, I’m impressed.
“I think we should finish up here and head back to the village.” (Kuro)
“Do you think I’ll be able to fit in.” (Sister)
“No doubts there.” (Kuro)
“Did you think of how you are going to cheer up Illis?” (Puerial)
“I'm...working on it.” (Kuro)
“Don't worry, Illis is strong.” (Shiro)
As my group began to settle things in the area, we continued on with our conversation. The new slaves were now clearing up everything with designated break schedules for eating. That girl from before seems to have already fled with the stiff my father mentioned. After getting a name for my sister and taking control of the rest of the city, we’ll head back to the village to finish the rest of my preparations before I leave.
Given how I can't trust these notifications as they are not part of the status system. I’ll have to judge them with a grain of salt. I hate being stuck in such a complicated situation. Amare, I don't know how you have managed to stay sane when dealing with these gods.
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A/N: I'm so mad I had to rewrite. Undo couldn’t even save me. Hope you enjoyed the chapter.