Mother's Punishment

Terra walked towards the shuttle station, where she luckily caught a shuttle at the last moment before it departed. Despite being in a golden era of advanced technology and magic, resemblances of old human civilizations were still seen. For most human cities planning on habitable planets, the main idea is to have them be walkable. Public transportation was what many had in mind in urban planning. By eliminating the need for personal vehicle usage and improving public infrastructure, humans entered a new age of architecture and engineering.

Personal vehicles were only needed outside of rare urban areas. Most of humanity's population in habitable planets and outer space is concentrated in cities, even in the outskirts of the Federation. Only in the fringes of the Federation is when the rural population beats out urban density. Thus eliminating most people's need for personal ground vehicles.

Nowadays, those vehicles mainly represent wealth more than anything and slightly shorter wait times going to and from somewhere. Such as the vehicle Terra was about to step in.

Stepping off the shuttle, Terra soon arrived at the shuttle station's pickup section. A luxurious car was seen parked outside the station and numerous gazes landed on her as she stepped inside.

"Your brother isn't here today?" A soft voice asked. Terra's eyes briefly lingered on the driver; as she was about to answer, she suddenly hesitated, "he'll be here in 20 minutes."

"Yes, mam." The driver replied. The driver screen was closed, leaving Terra in the backseat. If someone were to look at Terra now they would be shocked to see her staring off into space with a blank look.

BANG! Thump! Hearth felt his arm become numb when a greatsword attempted to strike him. Hearth and Dillimore had been playing a classic capture-the-flag game in an ancient style of combat mode. It was one of the most favorite game modes of the capture the flag series. Its ancient maps were credited as being similar to humanity's birth planet, making it a highly desirable game.

Hearth, unfortunately, had no time to admire the scenery as he was in a battle with a ferocious big dude. He and Dillimore managed to capture the enemy team's flag and hauled it back to their base, only to be ambushed by a group of enemies. Leading them was a huge dude close to 7ft tall he towered over everyone, and his physique proved that he worked out often.

Knowing they were no match for the group of people, they attempted to skurry off until Dillimore caught sight of a big-breasted woman in the group of opponents. Her appearance resulted in his friend stopping to stare at the woman, and she grinned back in response before bringing her ax down upon him.

"You dumbass!" Hearth cursed as the woman's ax cleaved through his friend's body, chopping him in half. With his friend down, Hearth's situation became bleak. They had 5 people and were closing off his escape routes; if he didn't get out of their entrapment soon, he'd be done. Although it was just a game, Hearth didn't like losing if he could help it. Seeing that he was in a position where he could do so, he began to concentrate power on him.

The group of people seeing Hearth freeze up made them think he was giving up and they walked up to finish him off.

The big dude taunted Hearth, "Thanks for returning our flag, bud." He brought down his greatsword, thinking he would slaughter his opponent, but to his shock, he felt his blade slashing through the air. Seeing Hearth vanish he quickly brought his sword back in to parry his exposed front, but he was too late. Hearth's halberd swung diagonally down his opponent's left shoulder to his chest, instantly killing him.

The ambushers, seeing their leader fall, prepared to defend themselves against the monster, only to notice him flee into the distance.

"Shit, we let him get away with the flag." The woman in the group cursed. They had thought their victory was guaranteed only for their enemy to turn on their leader, killing him and running away with the flag.

"Want to play another match?" A man said. Feeling downtrodden with what was supposed to be an easy ambush, they nodded along with him and logged out of the game.

A couple minutes later, an announcement confirmed the blue team had won, and the red team had lost.

"Congratulations, player Two Faced, for being the MVP of your team; you can see your rewards in your inventory." Although Hearth was excited to see his awards, he knew he had to meet his sister by the transit station, so he hurriedly exited the match.

His friend was upset that they didn't get to play any more rounds, but knowing how Hearth's sister was, he didn't dare hold up his friend.

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When he finally got to the parked vehicle, he hopped inside, signaling the driver that she could drive them back home.

If an outsider were to see the two siblings seated in the vehicle, they probably would be bewildered. They were both staring off into space, almost as if they were refusing to acknowledge each other's existence.

As they were approaching home a huge mansion appeared in their view. Despite advances in technology and magic in this golden age, most buildings were still built on the ground. Why needlessly spend resources on making hovering homes if there was no other choice? Unless necessary, such as gas worlds, most provinces try to be as efficient as possible with their resources. Although that didn't stop rich people from being extravagant with their wealth, it's a universal concept that most people follow, like their family.

When they entered the mansion, Terra and Hearth walked towards the kitchen, where a woman's voice could be heard humming from the kitchen. The woman turned around as they entered the room and grinned happily at them. Standing at exactly 6 ft tall, she was considered the average height of the women on their planet. She had long dark chestnut-colored hair braided around her head, tied together by a blue and gold colored ribbon. She had a pair of similar violet eyes, spotting a modern-day pair of leggings that was complimented by a purple cutout hoodie that stopped just above her midsection.

"You can sit at the table. Dinner will be ready soon," She said.

Smiling in return the sibling sat at the table where Hearth pondered a few thoughts in his head.

He silently gazed at his mother, who happily hummed a tune while preparing a traditional BLT sandwich for their meal. Arya Frostfurn was an odd figure among what can be considered the elite of their solar system. According to her story, she used to be a model who aspired to be a fashion designer. She only talked a little about her background, from how she got where she came to be. But, it was clear that she established herself as a prominent figure in the fashion industry and her clothing designs are the most popular choices among women in their solar system. She has also been working her way into men's fashion and gaining traction in that field. Her love for modeling never faded as she frequently models almost every new clothing design she makes, resulting in the pair of siblings seeing her wearing a new piece of clothing every day.

However, it also made Hearth ponder how she had obtained master stem cores. Although they were incredibly wealthy in their system, at the end of the day they were supposed to be just big fish in a small pond. To not only be able to purchase 1, but 2 stem cores for her family members should normally have severely hampered their mother's company. But they were still outstanding and growing even further financially.

The smell of dinner drawing closer to their table interrupted Hearth's thoughts.

"Thank you for dinner, mom," Hearth said gratefully.

"You're welcome, sweety," she replied.

Hearth and Terra tore into their meals and tried to not act like they were wolfing them down.

Arya felt happy that her children were enjoying her cooking and started eating. As they ate, Arya interrupted their quiet dinner, "So, what grade did you get on your finals exam?"

"98%," Hearth replied.

Terra pulled up her grades and sent a digital copy to their mother. An outsider would find it odd that Hearth was speaking for Terra, but their conversation only became odder as they continued talking.

"I'm happy you're doing well, but I also hope you're studying and aren't just using your other self for the answers."

Hearth and Terra both paused, eating their food.

"I promise you, mom, that although I use that ability, I still study," Hearth said.

Arya smiled. She never had a problem with her child using that ability because it was simply something he was born with. Her smile slowly faded away after a while, and it formed into a frown, "I'm happy that you're not abusing that power, but I heard this afternoon that you used your counterpart's appearance as a form of distraction."

Hearth went silent and felt a shiver go down his spine when he looked up to see his mother's glare.

Seeing that her son failed to reply to her comment, she continued, "It's your bodies, and you can choose what you want to do with them, but I would appreciate it if you allow my daughter to have an excellent reputation. It would make your mother happy to have everyone know that her daughter is the best."

He felt a sense of guilt spread throughout his heart. Although he was a shameless person, when it came to his mother, he didn't want to disappoint her.

"I'm sorry, mother. I promise I won't embarrass your daughter's image next time."

Arya immediately smiled and accepted his apology. But, he felt his heart stop beating for a moment when he saw a mischievous smile appear on her face. "Mother, please, I-"

"It's good that you respect your mother's wishes, but you still have to face some consequences for your actions." Hearth didn't know whether to laugh or cry, 'what do you mean to face the consequences, nothing even happened!

His mother delivered the final line, "for the next week, I will only refer to your counterpart and only will hear her speaking." Hearth wished he could faint.

"Mother, please, you know that I prefer being referred to by Hearth," he begged. However, his mother's ear refused to listen, pretending she heard nothing. Terra sighed for the first time since dinner started and finally spoke up, "Yes, mom."

Her mother smiled, "good, I hope you enjoy the rest of your dinner."

Terra slumped back into her seat; mothers are simply too scary.