Under the moonlight of the calm night, Luna found herself staring at the starless sky while lying in the sand.

Right now, she was enjoying the silence of this strange world alongside her sister who just happened to be sitting right beside her while staring at the silver flame in her hand. It didn’t cackle nor burn at all, but it emitted a coldness that could only be felt by her.

“What do you plan to do after this?” Luna turned to her sister. She wanted to speak of anything else but the tower and the message in the shrine.

They were both avoiding that conversation.

Lena extinguished the flame and faced her sister. “Hmm…me? I think I want to go on a three-month break in Sector 18, Gaen district to be exact. I want to eat an organic strawberry cake,” she answered with a gentle smile.

Luna was silent after that answer. 'Strawberry cake?’

“Organic fruit is so expensive to grow. A cake made of organic fruit will cost a fortune,” she said, slightly surprised. “I know you have millions of credits hidden somewhere but…”

Luna paused to rethink what she was talking about.

Noticing her pause, Len laughed softly. “But what dearest sister?”

“Never mind.”

“I also don’t have a million credits stashed in a hidden account. And who the hell thinks strawberries cost millions of credits? The fruit you ate at the mansion was mostly organic.”

“It was? Oh. My bad…I always thought…” Luna looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed. She needed to get her facts updated.

Lena chuckled but didn’t bother to tease her little sister. “I simply want to enjoy some organic fruit and its cake. Can’t a girl have that for herself?” her face suddenly lit up when she remembered something. “And by the way, we should celebrate your eighteenth birthday when we go back to the real world.”

At first, Luna didn’t react to her sister’s words. But then, her eyes went wide with realization. “Wait! Is it summer already?”

“No, but by the time we get out of this place, it might be. So…”

“If we go back to the real world and its summer. We can celebrate. It hasn’t been a bad year so far.”

‘Though I’m fighting for my life…literally.’

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Yes!” Len made a fist and punched the air. This would be the first time she’s celebrating her little sister’s birthday in two years. The parties were usually thrown, but Luna was never present for them. This year, Luna would be turning eighteen….and she would be turning nineteen in November.

“What about you?” she asked, out of curiosity. “What will you do when you become a high-ranked professor?”

“I plan to continue teaching. I believe knowledge is power and sharing it only makes humanity stronger.”

“Wise words from a former shut-in…” Len snickered. “Though I can’t believe I’m going to be calling you High-lady Feng in the future when Mom passes on the clan to you.”

Luna’s expression softened after hearing that. By now, she had already accepted herself as the named heiress of the Great House. In fact, she was surprised her mother wanted her as her successor. Sure, Luna felt negative toward responsibility. But after fighting cursed creatures for the first time and seeing how the world viewed her as a Feng, she was finally getting to understand why she needed to be here.

Her mother was trying to create an image for the public so that when she finally announced Luna as the next leader, the world wouldn’t be in shock and think that it was the end of the clan after choosing an unblessed.

“I was surprised, by the way. You know, when Mom announced me as the heir. I was okay with not being the next leader.”

“But I wasn’t,” Len replied.

Luna lifted herself, surprised by Len’s response. “What?”

Len chuckled at her reaction and said with a genuine smile, “Being the clan head was never my thing from the start, Lunaris. I just wanted to travel the world and fight for humanity. Cliche if I may say. But that was my dream.

“I was simply born to achieve great things. While you…you were born to be great. Look at you, even without a shred of divinity, you have managed to become a force of your own. You fascinate me, little one.”

Luna blushed at Len’s words. “I will let you call me little this one time. Turns out, I like compliments.” Luna giggled. Then dropped her body back into the sand.

“Also, I want to eat strawberry cake too. And I want to see Gaen. I’ve seen images of it on the network, so I want to see it someday.”

Her requests came out like whispers but she was sure her sister received them. Was it really the right time to make such requests? Where they weren’t sure if they were going to make it out of this place alive?

Of course not. But maybe that’s what humans were like; making plans without certainty. Maybe that’s what kept a few people alive despite what they were going through in life.

…looking forward to a better future.

‘I like that.’

“As long as you’re paying for the accommodation, oh great Raya.”

“I thought we don’t use our user names, Lady Onslaught324. I still don’t get the numbers, though.”

“Lady Onslaught was already taken.”

Luna burst into an unladylike laughter.

“Then you should have picked something else. Lady Slayer…lady slaughter…lady killer.”

She winked at Len on the last one and clicked her tongue.

And as a response to that win, Len rolled her eyes and stood up when she felt like her zenshi was back to a sufficient level. She turned and stared at the city behind them. The dune they were resting on was a pretty high one so the rest of the desert looked like an ocean of red.

After a brief moment of silence, her pale face turned grim before she opened her mouth.

“That message was meant for one of us. The fact that it was written in ancient Mandarin confirms that there might be other forces at work. We should send for backup,” she suggested as she remembered the words written in the shrine.

“That would take weeks, though. Both for the call and the backup to reach. Much as I hate to admit it, we don’t have that much time. Let’s face off the undead king and his army and win. We won’t die, I will make sure of that.”

Len’s eyes widened a little after hearing those words. She then turned her gaze to her sister who now had her eyes closed. “You sound like dad, you know. That confidence,” she said with a smile.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m terrified. But that’s not an excuse. We have to protect our world, it's our responsibility…I guess.”

‘But they owe us nothing.’

Luna suppressed that dark thought. Then turned to her sister who was now wearing a hopeful look.

“I guess it's high time I try to get stronger. That fight was embarrassing.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” Lena asked. “The limiter can be taken off, but...”

“I know. My body isn’t compatible with my strength. I don't know how, yet. But I want to become so strong that the gods can turn in their pitiful graves.”

After her statement, the pair remained silent for a while and enjoyed each other’s company before calling it a night and returning to the city.

Tonight, Luna was just glad she got to spend quality time with her older sister and learn a little bit more about the mysterious figure she occasionally admired in secret.