Chapter 2

Marry

“I-Impossible…”

“What’s impossible brother, com'on get up already, mom sent me to get you. You do know it’s only Friday right, not yet the weekend.” She replied exasperated.

It was not strange for her brother to fool around, in fact even while being a year older than her he sometimes acted younger to fool around, of course, this was only with family and close friends. Marry didn’t think much of his wide and disbelieving stare first thing in the morning, for although her brother wasn’t exactly a morning person, he still wasn’t not a morning person either, so for him to be acting the way he was could only be because he was fooling around.

“Com’on bro, I’m making pancakes, if you want to enjoy them while they’re hot you have to come down quick!” She replied to his astonished face while turning around to leave, her job done.

“W-wait…” the seeming request from her brother caused her to once more face him.

“What is it bro? Hurry up though because I have to get back to the stove.”

Raised in a traditional family, well mostly traditional at least, calling an older sibling or parent by name was not how they were raised, so Marry often addressed him with either brother or bro, or any number of other terms that were appropriate.

Lucius

“W-wait…” ‘How is this possible!’ The actions, the movement, the voice, the poise… it was all the same! All of it, this just wasn’t possible, there was no way a beast could trap him in this type of situation. It was only his years of experience and mental cultivation that stopped him from jumping at the one who he had missed for nearly a century, all that stood between breaking down over the memory of his dead sister was the maturity that had developed over the years of surviving in the new world.

As his sister once again returned to his room, he was able to better observe her. Younger by one year, she seemed to be around 17 year’s old, the youthfulness still vibrant in her eye’s. Back during the Great Cataclysm, he had only heard of her death, not even able to confirm it himself due to his powerlessness. But now… now she stood in front of him once more, in the flesh. No sign of damage, no scars to prove injuries, even her eye’s only showed innocence and the feeling of ease, not something one living in the world after the Great Cataclysm would still possess.

With cascading dark hair and lightly tanned yet pale skin exhibiting her day’s in the sun, she stood a little over five and a half feet. Her face carried trace amounts of continental European ambiance with a slim yet slightly curvaceous figure. An above average female specimen for sure. She was dressed in a school uniform with the crest of a falcon on her left breast. With white socks and a knee length skirt she seemed ready to head out, if not for the lack of shoes and the spatula in her hand.

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Seeing his silent stare, Marry was obviously irritated, he had stopped her from leaving and now he was just staring at her. She had to get back to the pancakes!

“Say something already, what do you want, I reeeeeeeealy have to get back!”

“I-Is it really you Marry? What was it I got you for your 7th birthday?” His doubts had not yet disappeared. After all, if this was all an illusion from a beast, then why was he still alive? He couldn’t use his cultivation and his physical prowess was as if he was a mere mortal again, whatever was hunting him could have easily killed him by now. The question was to allay his doubts.

It was not unknown that strange things happened in the Secret Region. People went missing, people died, and people came back with drastic changes. Emperor Napoleon – a famous, if eccentric - leader from what was once France had entered the Second Water Secret Region as a mere Adept magician yet had returned a week later with the prowess of an Arch Mage, allowing him to stand at the summit of power.

Yet just so, Lord Marcus, a powerful King Rank Martial expert who had entered the much weaker Fourth Earth Secret Region off the eastern coast of China was never heard from again.

Secret Regions were just that - Lands shrouded in mystery and danger, where the rewards were as great as the risks, one of the reasons Lucius himself had been desperate enough to enter one with mere Middle Foundation Establishment Cultivation.

Lucius had believed everything so far to be false, a mere illusion. But with what he was just seeing it was becoming more and more obvious that this could very well be the reality. The question he had asked was something no one alive other than himself should have known, even illusion’s had limits, they would not be able to look into his brain and find ancient memories he had buried to overcome his grief.

“No, I’m not real, I’m a mere figment of your imagination who is wasting her time to answer this pointless question rather than going back to making pancakes – pancakes you wanted if I remember correctly. Com’on bro, lets goooo, and if it’s all you wanted to ask then fine. You got me a gorgeous iPhone 4 box that was filled with rocks. You knew how much I wanted a phone, even if I was only seven at the time. I was soooooooo excited until I opened it. I recall mom was pretty upset with you for making me cry that day, hehe.” Marry answered with a smirk as if the incident from nearly a decade ago was a victory for her. Doing so she once more left without waiting for a reply – her pancakes awaited her!

As Lucius watched his sister’s back as she walked down the hallway before turning the corner, her words caused him to almost choke.

“It seems- it seems I returned to the past?” The question was mumbled and uncertain, disbelief still apparent even with the proof presented so far.

The pressure felt in his stomach was another sign, yet the century-old cultivator in the body of a teen was unconvinced. No matter how amazing Secret Regions were – time travel -, it just shouldn’t be possible!

Only after determining himself through research would he be convinced.

‘It seems the old saying from Indian folklore was true… the difference between the truth and a lie is the four fingers gap between the eyes and the ears.’

Lucius had to go out and find out if this really was the past, and if it was… what exactly should he do?