Once everyone had gone, I started talking first. I used Stealth just in case, but we could see the rooms for quite a ways around, and I didn't notice anyone. "So." I said casually. "I'm guessing do you know who I am? Did you know right away or...?"

Chelsea sighed. "Not right away. All the pictures mom has of you are old. You don't look exactly like dad either. The resemblance is there, but the bones in your face are softer, more like mom. I figured it out when you told me your name." She swallowed hard. "It's nice to meet you, Shane."

"You too." I said. My voice rough with emotion. "Are we twins? I didn't even know you existed until recently, but we should be around the same age, right?"

She nodded, smiling slightly. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out a worn and beaten up picture. She passed it to me, and I almost dropped it as a wave of...something, tore through me. Frustration, sadness, rage, love, longing, and about a hundred other things trampled each other for the honor of gut punching me as I looked down at a picture of my family. My WHOLE family.

Dad stood behind us, looking somber, while mom crouched down holding us both up. We were too young to really stand on our own, so it was hard to clearly identify us. Well, me anyway. I just looked like a blonde kid. Chelsea was pretty noticeable, given her black and white hair color.

I passed it back. "I guess so. You can keep it, I won't be able to take it out of here anyway. Soul stuff. Do you mind if we sit down? This is really a lot."

"Of course." She said quickly, seeming as nervous as I did. She pulled out a pair of chairs, setting them down in a corner, out of the way of all the doors. "So...how was it? Living with dad? I never met him really. Not that I remember at least. He doesn't come around. Grandpa doesn't like him."

"Shocker." I said with a smirk. "He's a devil now, and I somehow doubt the Radiant Pope approves of his daughter being married to a literal creature of darkness. What's he like Anyway? I've heard some crazy things. Does he treat you ok? You and mom?"

She snorted. "Mom has grandpa wrapped around her little finger. She's his only daughter, and one of his most impressive children. Not to mention all our uncles were from his first marriage. Mom is his only kid with his current wife." She trailed off at that, like there was something she wasn't saying. "The point is, mom and I are treated very well. Some of the stories about grandpa are blown out of proportion."

I didn't mention the whole 'killing a planet' legend. I was sure she'd heard it, and she knew the guy better than me. I had a million other questions, but in the end, I was only able to come up with one. Everything I wanted to ask just dissolved on my tongue, and I ended up blurting out. "Why did mom leave?"

Chelsea looked away. "Because of me. I was born with two abilities. I'm sure you've heard of it happening?"

"Yeah, Aidan, the current Wishmaster has two." I said with a nod. "Why is that a reason to leave? I would think dad would have been thrilled, hell, mom too. Having two abilities is pretty great."

She shook her head. "There's something wrong with one of them. I can't really go into it. But I shouldn't have one of the abilities I do, and if someone found out they might come after me, and you. At least, if they knew who my dad was. By taking me away and raising me on my own, they were able to pretend it was some big secret. It was to protect me, and also to protect you."

"I don't understand." I said in frustration. "How does being born with an ability matter? How did they even know? And what about dad?"

She looked away guiltily. "They knew because of a wish. And the ability I was born with is a bloodline. I wasn't supposed to have it, and its existence gave away some kind of family secret. I can't say more, please don't ask. I'm begging. As for dad. When he found out mom had to go, he was furious apparently. I was too young to remember any of it, but from what mom said, he refused to let her leave."

"That seems to have worked out well." I spat. "Seems like he really stood his ground there."

"She made a wish." Said Chelsea sadly. "As a way to keep the secret. That's how she got her second ability. She thought having it would make it easier to explain mine. It wouldn't have worked, probably, but she paid with the most valuable thing that she had. Your ability. Kept under lock and key until your eighteenth birthday. Another layer of separation between us."

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

My head was spinning. I'd always wondered about the strange way I'd gotten my ability. Most people just developed it, but mine came in a scroll on my birthday. Mom had done that? Dad had helped? I could have been an early bloomer like Callie. I could have been a fucking B-ranker like Zeke by now. Whose bloodline ability did Chelsea have that prompted all this? I didn't know nearly enough about bloodlines to figure it out.

Plus...she'd asked me not to try. She wanted me to let it go. Despite how PISSED I was at mom and dad (less so at mom than I had been, though that didn't let dad off the hook for the way I grew up) I didn't blame Chelsea for any of it, and I could tell from her face that she expected me to.

You'd think that would have made it harder, in some ways. To just...drop it. But it didn't. The realizations from the forest came back to me. Mom and dad weren't here, but that didn't change the impact they had on me. Neither would finding out the truth. It might hurt my sister though, and she didn't deserve it. This wasn't her fault. I leaned forward awkwardly in my chair and hugged her.

Chelsea stiffened at the contact, clearly expecting me to be upset and lashing out, but once she realized what was happening she hugged me back. "Family secret bullshit or not, you got something wrong. This didn't happen because of you. It happened TO you. None of this was your fault." I pulled away. "Now, tell me a bit more about your life. I want to know what growing up as the Radiant Princess is like."

I still had so many emotions tangled up inside. I was still reeling. And honestly, I should have been angry. That she got the childhood I didn't, that she was with mom being adored and fussed over while I was stuck on some backwater nowhere hellhole. But...I wasn't. Any of those things. Forget dad. I'd had Zeke growing up. And Benny. I loved my life, and I didn't need to fantasize about growing up being pampered by strangers.

She groaned at the nickname, chuckling wetly as she wiped her eyes. "Please don't call me that. it's so lame. But really, it's not as crazy as you might be thinking. Mom keeps me out of the limelight when possible. Which can be hard. It's why I had to come to the trial to begin with. She didn't want me using the Church's heritage in case something about my second power leaked."

"How is she?" I finally asked. I'd been avoiding it, but I couldn't help myself. I hadn't seen my mother for so long that my only memory of her was a single glimpse of her face.

"Quiet." She said sadly. "She misses you. A lot. Part of the contract she signed with dad is that she can't seek you out. She did it that way on purpose, so that she wouldn't be tempted and put both of us in danger. She hates herself for it though. I still catch her crying sometimes."

Contract. She'd said wish before, which made me think it was both. My dad was a wish devil, after all, he granted wishes through contracts now. That was basically ALL I knew about him these days. "Does that mean I can't see her?"

"Nope." She beamed at me. "Contract says she can't seek you out, doesn't say anything about the other way around. I think she'd love to see you. We'd have to be a bit creative about it, and it would have to be after the trials. If you want to see her, I mean." Her smile wilted. "I'd understand if you didn't."

"I do." I stated firmly. "I still have questions, but even if she can't or won't answer them...she's still my mom. Knowing she did all this to keep us safe makes it a lot easier to deal with."

Her smile this time was enough to light up the room. "Well, what about you? I noticed you came here with friends." Her tone took on a teasing lilt. "And a girl. It must be serious if you're traveling together. You going to bring her with you to meet mom?"

"Probably." I said without flinching. "I've met hers. And yeah, it's pretty serious. My friends are all from my home planet. Mom ever tell you anything about Callus?" I wasn't actually sure mom had BEEN to Callus, actually. My memory of her didn't come with context or location details. It was possible it had been before I'd moved to the psuedo-D ranked planet.

Chelsea shook her head. "Not that I remember. I'd love to hear about it though. Mom said you were raised by dad's best friend?"

I couldn't help the laugh that bubbled forth as I tried to think of how to describe Zeke. "Yeah. He's...he's a hard guy to explain. But he's taken care of me my whole life, and always been there when I needed him. I think you'd like the old drunk. What about your protector? I heard he's a big shot for his level, but he's been keeping his rank down so he can stick around and protect you."

"Callen has his own reasons for remaining at F-rank." She giggled. "But he's definitely kept me safe for most of my life. He's my guard for places higher ranking Ascendants can't go. You'd be surprised how often that comes up." She gestured off into the temple. "He's around somewhere. We got separated in the second trial, of course. I'm sure he's looking for me everywhere, but it's a big place and there are a lot of people."

I shrugged. "Not a huge issue though, right? If you die in here you just get kicked out. It's a safe place for you to do some exploring on your own. What's the power you can use, by the way, since the other one is a secret."

She held up a hand, and an ivory, crystalline flame flickered into existence. It looked weird, like an animated opal statue of fire. "Purifying flame." She said proudly. "It's grandpa's bloodline, though he uses it a bit weird, so most people don't know that." I was kind of curious what that even meant, but I decided there'd be time for that later.

I changed the subject, asking her more about her childhood, and she asked about mine again. I shared stories, embarrassing incidents, and just stupid things I'd done, and she did the same. We got to know each other, sitting there in that stone room and catching up with our lives. The rest of them got further ahead in the next trial, but I didn't care. i was finally getting to know my sister, learning more about my family, and that was plenty for me.