The Summoner's Rebirth: Awaken, Milady

"Peculiar.. as in?"

"They are a strange bunch. But they are all strong in their own ways. I got introduced to them through my older sister, but I don't know if you'll be able to handle it..." Jin-kyung ruffled her hair in embarrassment.

'So this girl also has a sibling. I just hope that it won't turn the way it did with Yoo Jin's brother...' Recalling Sung-ha, she felt like her impression of a sibling had been stained.

"Don't worry about it. I will be fine,"

Considering that she had met a lot of crazed people, a few more wouldn't be a problem.

"Then.. I will lead you to my older sister first, I suppose," Jin-kyung took out her phone, dialing a contact number in a flash.

The name 'Arin' was displayed as the other party's name.

In less than ten seconds, the call was picked up. "Hello?" A fresh and clear voice rang.

"Ah, big sister? Where are you right now? The café..? Again? How many cups did you drink? Four?!!! Big sister!!!" Jin-kyung's conversation ensued, and her mood quickly got fired up.

For the next minute, she scolded the woman on the other side of the call. The other only replied with perfunctory words, answering with clarity and not showing any traces of apologetic behavior.

"How many times do I have to tell you that you're killing yourself by continuing your.. your unhealthy habits?!!" Jin-kyung raged on, attracting some strange stares from the surroundings.

After relieving her stress, she huffed in disappointment. A defeated look was shown. It seemed like she had experienced this quite a lot before.

"...Well. That aside, I'm bringing someone for you to meet. Please stay there," Jin-kyung pressed her palm against her forehead, trying to relieve the distress caused by her sister's antics.

Aria was led by Jin-kyung to a café not far from the gate. It was just a couple blocks away.

Jin-kyung went ahead and opened the door, letting Aria enter first. From the exterior, nothing strange was there. It was a simple, cozy café.

When she first entered the building, she was hit with a strong scent of coffee. It wafted all over the place, creating the perfect heaven for lovers of the drink.

Other flavors like vanilla and chocolate were also mixed in, creating a jumble of thirst-inducing aroma.

Tables with matching chairs were neatly organized, and the decorations were also pleasing to the eye.

Aria knew the drink called coffee, but would've never thought that there would be a specific place catered to it. She had tried the drink once, and found its stimulating effect amusing.

She preferred to steer away from it. Once, she had consumed the drink too much to push her body to the fullest limits, which ended up in her collapsing out of exhaustion.

This place was unlike the shop she went to buy coffee beans from, it was relaxing and stress-relieving. The store she knew housed the beans in packets, but they didn't brew the drink for you.

It was sold in small amounts but with high prices, and was considered a specialty drink for how little was circulated in the market.

"Big sister!" Jin-kyung called out with enthusiasm, waving at a woman who sat on the farthest corner.

The woman, whose eyes were covered by a large straw hat, had a dazzling blonde hair in contrast to Jin-kyung's light brown shade.

She wore a short, light blue spaghetti dress and wooden sandals, emanating a refreshing summer vibe from the overall appearance.

However, it wasn't summer. It was currently approaching winter.

"Jeez, why do you look like you're going to a beach? It's almost the winter season, the temperature's dropping a lot! You'll get sick, you know?"

Aria recalled that a large part of the passerby she saw along the way wore thick jackets. She didn't feel cold because of her special physique.

She looked at Jin-kyung, who wore considerably thin clothes as well, just with more layers.

"It's warm for me, though,"

"Ah! Is your condition acting up again?" Jin-kyung quickly grew worried and ran over to her sister, touching her forehead in an attempt to test her temperature.

In the process, the woman's head was raised.

Aria was able to see the beautiful blue irises the woman possessed. It was icy cold, like a sapphire gem glinting under light.

"And that is?"

"Savior-nim! There were a few incidents inside the most recent dungeon we discovered. Savior-nim was the one who got me out of the problem," Jin-kyung beckoned for Aria to come over and sit with them.

"Good day. My name is Aria, Aria Schreiner," Aria made a light nod before taking a seat on one of the chairs.

"Aileen. Korean name Lee Arin," The woman reciprocated the gesture.

She looked over to the front desk, where one person was sitting down listlessly. "One cup of vanilla latte, and..?"

Arin looked at Aria, who quickly understood that the woman was planning to order drinks for the two newcomers.

"The best thing here, please," Choosing a traditional answer, Aria's fingers fidgeted under the table. She didn't know any of the new drinks.

"Then, give her the specialty mix, Joon-young," Arin ordered.

The man on the counter, identified as 'Joon-young' nodded and started to get up, presumably to take care of the new order.

"Wait.. big sister! That drink is-" Jin-kyung rose from her seat and looked at Arin in disbelief.

Arin was calm. Taking a sip of the brown liquid served inside her cup, her brows raised as the drink's warmth spread throughout her body.

"Since she is your savior, shouldn't she be able to withstand it? It'll be fine,"

"That is correct, but... It's bad manners!" Jin-kyung pouted, dropping the matter upon realizing that Arin was correct.

Aria was caught in confusion. "What drink?"

The two sisters chose to kept silent.

Minutes later, the two beverages arrived.

One was brimming with the scent of vanilla and light whiffs of coffee. By intuition, Aria knew that this was the vanilla latte.

It wasn't only based on common sense.

It was also because the other drink was too abstract for her to understand.

A white cup.

A normal looking cup.

That was what Aria saw.

No contents, no nothing. Just the cup.

'Are they playing a joke on me?' Aria thought.

However, it seemed like that wasn't the case as Arin asked her a question.

"What do you see?" Arin took another sip out of her drink and stared at Aria. Judging by her strange expressions, Arin deduced that the other must've received quite the unusual drink.

"Nothing...?" Aria only saw a cup. What specialty drink was there?

Jin-kyung's jaw visibly dropped as she inhaled sharply.

"..My, oh my. Where did you pick her up, Jin-kyung? Did your powers lead you to her?" Arin's expression faintly changed, but her calm was restored in mere seconds.

"What do you mean?"

"Jin-kyung, tell her what the cup holds,"

"A red liquid.." Jin-kyung winced. She hated the drink for what it entailed.

'Red liquid?' Aria stared at the cup, but still couldn't find anything strange. She was able to see the bottom of the cup with ease.

"Drink it," Arin chuckled, twirling her finger in circles on the table's surface.

Aria was daunted by the puzzling drink, but she still took a sip.

One thing that the two siblings mentioned was that she 'would be fine' since she was strong.

Aria didn't know what that meant, but she herself was curious. She took a sip from the cup.

It didn't have any taste, but something was indeed there.

"Any reaction?" The woman continued to interrogate, treating her as an amusing subject.

"Still nothing," Aria couldn't see any change. The cup was empty.

Yet, she was sure that she gulped something down.

"Let's see... Try to think of the greatest tragedy that happened to you," Arin proposed another solution.

Lowering her gaze, there was only one incident that she would classify as a 'disastrous tragedy'.

Aria imagined the scene once more.

The scene that kept repeating from time to time inside her mind when she was inside the coffin.

The poisonous figures that stood above her pitiful body, who jeered and ridiculed her despite all the contributions she had made.

The betrayal that caused her to be entrapped inside the coffin, left to burn for an eternity.

Thinking about it, her hatred was once more incited.

"What do you see?" Arin asked once more, this time displaying a more serious expression.

"White... like paint," The previously clear cup was no longer there, a white liquid filled it up.

It made her have a sense of disgust and loathing towards the drink. Unconsciously, she clutched her stomach. She had drunk that same liquid, whatever it was.

There were several white-colored drinks. For example, the most common one would be milk.

However, the drink wasn't that simple. Aria was sure of it. If not, why would Jin-kyung freak out?

Aria brought the glass closer to her mouth, but instead of drinking it, she sniffed the scent.

It was a bizarre aroma.

One could say that it had no fragrance at all, but Aria felt that there was a certain sensory stimuli inside it.

There was nothing, but at the same time, there was something.

"Hmm... Very interesting," Arin smirked, shooting a meaningful glance at Aria.

"What was it?"

"Shall I explain?" Arin lazily leaned her face on her palm.

"The drink is imbued with magic. Drink it, and the magic shall unveil the truth behind one's psyche. One's fear, one's happiness, and.. one's past,"

"The first time you drank it, you didn't think of anything. There are many choices that could appear. Any color would've sufficed, but nothing came up,"

"The second time you drank it, you thought of a tragedy. And the color ended up being black. The color white, in the magic spectrum, signifies death along with black. It starts at black, which signifies an injury or harm to the drinker. Then, the color lightens up. The closer it is to white, the worse it is. A near-death experience, for example, would show up as a pale grey. Near white, but not exactly white,"

"Your color is white. I'm really curious on what happened to you," Arin gave a creepy snicker, one that made others feel unsettled.

Aria started to get agitated on the thought of her past and how it relates to the current her.

Before she was about to retort and provide an explanation, Arin beat her to the matter.