NOVEL NEXT B1 | Chapter 33
Ashley
I end up finding a surprise when I return to my Spire. One in the form of the sight of that man still being there as I’m trying to fly into a balcony again with one of my kills.
Right, so why is he still here?
At this point I can’t kill my curiosity towards the guy. After all, I was out hunting for hours, and he’s still here. Waiting.
So I proceed to dump my kill somewhere in the Spire, not really caring where so long as I remember the spot, then I walk down the Spire towards the bottom floor. Because I don’t want to end up fighting if they are here for a battle, and if I flew down then I’d be outside of my Spire. Where they can attack me.
But when I finally reach the bottom floor and open the door, revealing the man at the entrance, I find myself slamming the door shut without even giving them time to respond. Then I hear the man shouting on the other side of the door.
“Ashley! Please! I just want to talk!”
I frown at the door using all the emotions I can express on my face to do so. Which isn’t much. And it’s rather uncomfortable since I’m not used to it.
Why the hell is the Successor of Magic here? Chaos?
“Because he’s your twin,” Chaos answers, startling me for a second and knocking some memories loose in the process.
The memories in question are just fragments, but they’re enough for me to realize a couple things.
Blake Sinclair is indeed my twin brother. And he is a prodigy in magic, with the ability to make mana of ten different elements. All at the second highest levels of potential, with the exception of one magic that he has at the highest level of potential.
I also remember the fact that he was the closest of my siblings to me, and the only one who I was open towards.
And while I can’t remember my other siblings, I do know that I have one older sister and one younger brother in addition to Blake. But neither of them lived with us.
I don’t remember anything else, though.
“Ashley…” I hear the man who I now know is my twin even if I don’t remember really anything about him other than we were relatively close mutter. “I’m sorry. Sorry I couldn’t do anything. Sorry that I didn’t try to talk to them for-”
I push the door open and stare at him as he jumps to his feet in surprise, stopping him from saying what I didn’t want him to say. Then I tell him, “Leave. Please.”
And close the door again.
Because I don’t want to remember.
Anything.
I drop down to my knees while hugging myself, feeling myself shaking a little uncontrollably.
Then, out of nowhere, I feel a hand patting my head, and another stroking my hair.
And for some reason, it makes me feel a little comfortable. A little warm.
When I look up, I find what looks like a see-through Chaos kneeling down next to me. But after I blink at him in surprise, he vanishes without a word.
He… what?
The surprise of seeing him here is so great that it shocks me out of my previous condition.
Well, that and my stomach rumbling.
I blink before taking a deep breath and climbing to my feet.
Right. No one can bother me in this Spire.
Ignoring the fact that Chaos was just possibly here.
He gets a pass for snapping me out of that.
I glance at the door as I hear Blake say, “I’ll see you at the Council Meeting, sis. Stay safe.” Then nothing but the sound of the rain outside and his footsteps remain signaling his departure. Other than an occasional monster howl or roar, that is.
A few seconds pass as I stare at the door. Only for me to eventually shake my head and turn back around.
Time to see what spider monster meat tastes like.
The Outskirts of the Park
Blake puts his earpiece back in his ear as he flies up into the air using wind magic, heading straight towards one of the nearby Spires. But even as he makes the call to his father, he still can’t get the sight of his twin’s face out of his mind.
He can’t stop thinking about her expression. The way she looked at him.
Like he was a stranger.
When the call connects, he speaks right away without giving his father a chance, “She doesn’t remember me.”
Silence fills the call for several seconds as Blake flies straight towards the closest Spire before his father finally responds with a simple, “I see.”
Then the call cuts off.
Blake reaches up as he flies to take the earpiece out of his ear again, only to pause when he gets another call. And after checking the terminal on his forearm to see who it’s from, he answers, soon hearing his older sister by four years speaking through the call.
“Blake, I heard you were in contact with Ashley,” Elizabeth says without missing a beat, her own voice having grown far colder than her old warm self ever since Ashley’s accident. “Is she okay? Are there any side effects left from her coma? What’s she doing?”
Blake feels a pressure in his chest as he once again thinks of his interaction with Ashley before answering, “She may have lost her memories.”
He hears something freezing from the other side of the call. Likely from Elizabeth’s ability. Or root skill, as the System calls it.
The same one their mother, the White Enforcer, has.
“She claimed a Spire of her own and won’t let anyone inside,” Blake continues while flying through the air towards the next Spire. In the process finding his twin’s territory spanning for quite a large chunk of the capital city. A fact that the other top enforcers likely won’t be pleased about. “And she’s a lot stronger now.”
Silence fills the call, just like with his father. Then she eventually says, “If Father or Mother try to use her, I won’t hesitate to rip her from their hands.”
Blake sighs, remembering how Elizabeth had to deal with the same thing happening when she took their younger brother away and began raising him herself. Which is, in his eyes, probably the reason she feels so bad about Ashley’s situation.
She had taken Seth away, leaving the twins behind because she thought they were doing well, with neither having an ability their parents were forcefully trying to train. Unlike Elizabeth, who has the same ability as their mother, and Seth, who has the same ability as their father. Only for Ashley to end up in an accident, following which Elizabeth returned to learn about what Ashley had really gone through.
“I’ll relay that to Father for you,” Blake tells her.
“Thank you,” Elizabeth says without missing a beat. “I have my own territory in the capital if you ever wish to visit. It’s in the third district.”
“Got it,” Blake says before pausing midair after finding the Spire he’s looking for, only for the thing to have already been claimed by someone else. So he immediately turns around and heads towards a different Spire. “I’ll talk to you later, Lizz.”
Elizabeth hangs up the call, leaving Blake to stew in his own thoughts as he flies through the air.
Wondering just how things will proceed from here.
Ashley
Alright. So, as it turns out, raw spider tastes terrible. Regardless of if you have the root skill of some undead zombie that lets you eat anything.
And when I tried cooking it, all I ended up with was burnt spider instead.
Neither of which are good options.
In the end, I head outside to gather some berries to eat instead. Which taste much better, but are far less filling.
I probably shouldn’t rely on monsters as food anyways. Not when they won’t be here forever.
Just until the monsters die out.
I guess I could use monsters inside of Gates as food, but there are likely better options.
Like food stores nearby.
I would’ve gone to them already, but the chances that they’re open right now are rather unlikely.
After filling myself up with berries, I proceed to walk back up towards the peak of my Spire. At which point I collapse onto my back, just staring up at the sky above.
Not that there’s much to see, what with the rain.
I just lie back, listening to the sound of the rain falling against the barrier.
This has been a… rather eventful wakeup from that coma.
And a rather long one to boot.
But… at least I’m not powerless. I have a relatively nice repertoire of skills being built up, along with my System Star, and this shelter.
My eyes begin to droop a bit, my sleepiness finally kicking in after the tutorial.
I think… it’s safe… to get some shuteye…
I yawn as my eyes finally close.
Hopefully it’ll stop raining… tomorrow…