The Sister Part I

Talent. When the word are mentioned, people begin to imagine an artist who paints a beautiful masterpiece, or a musician that hypnotizes the audience with their music, or a person with an extremely flexible body doing acrobatic stunts that seems inhuman, or any other exceptional feats a person can do.

But talent exists in everyone. Yes, even you. Some are shown for the world to see it, but some are hidden waiting for YOU to find it within. The difference in talent is what makes each one of us special."

"Mia! Turn the TV off! Dinner is ready now." Dalila calls from the kitchen. Mia looks away from the program that's running on the television before getting up from the sofa.

Mia enters the kitchen to see her sister already seated at the dining table, glancing at her before continuing to read her book.

"Come on now sit Mia." Dalila calls, pulling a chair beside her. Mia, with Dalila helps, slowly climb the chair that's a bit too big for her stature. "Leyla, stop with the book already. It's not nice to be doing that while the food is in front of your eyes." Dalila scolds lightly. Leyla quickly put her book aside.

"Now, we pray." Dalila holds both her hands together and closes her eyes. The room fell quiet for a moment as they recited their prayer. Mia prays the longest as always.

"Mia, come eat, you don't need to pray too long, as long as you're praying, Therian's blessings will surely reach you." Dalila said. Mia opened her eyes.

They eat in silence, only the sound of utensils lightly scraping the dishes can be heard. It stays that way until Dalila begins to talk.

"How's school Leyla?" Dalila ask. Leyla kept the question hanging for a bit before answering.

"Same as always. I got a letter of recommendation though. Some place called The Blue Dome." Leyla said nonchalantly. Dalila hands stop.

"Pardon? You got a recommendation for The Blue Dome?" Dalila ask, emphasizing on the word "THE".

"Yeah. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. It's a really good school, that's why I'm shocked for a bit." Dalila said before continuing to eat.

"I know it is. I mean, who wouldn't know of such a place?" It's meant to be a rhetorical question but since Mia overheard it, she raises her hand.

"Where's that? Somewhere far?"

"Don't worry about it sweetie, it's not that far." Dalila answers Mia. She wipes a bit of the food on the child's chin.

"I won't call being in another galaxy 'not that far' tho." Leyla continues.

"What's a galaxy?"

"Do you want to go?" Dalila ask. Leyla paused for a moment as she thought.

"I'm not sure yet. Oh, and don't worry about money, I got there on scholarships. They said that they're impressed with my capabilities and want to sponsor me to enroll." Leyla explains.

"What's a scholarship?"

"Think about it carefully, it's your future after all. If you ask me, I'd tell you to go." Dalila said. The conversation ends there as the three of them continue to eat their dinner.

———

"Will you go far away from here sis?" Mia asks, her small figure hugging onto the door frame of Leyla's room. Leyla just smiles as she gestures to Mia to come towards her.

Mia runs with her small steps before falling on top of her sister's lap.

"No matter how far I go, you'll still be my favorite sister." Leyla said, fingers playing around Mia's silky black hair, the same color as hers. Mia smiles at Leyla's word.

"Promise?"

"I promise, whatever I do, I do it because of you, okay?" Leyla hugs her little sister.

"What are you reading?" Mia asks as she notices Leyla's book laying beside her sister.

"Oh this? Just some books from my school." Leyla takes the book and shows it off to Mia.

"Mana Theory and Practical"

The title of the book says. The covers are light blue in color with some pictures of the human body silhouette covered with blue aura around it. Mia opened the pages just to be disappointed with the lack of colors and pictures like her picture book.

"You're studying this?" Mia asks, totally not understanding a word said in the book. Leyla just nods.

"Here, let me read it to you." Leyla clears her throat. "Mana are the essence that flows out of a living organism." She continues. "They have many names. Some called it life essence, some Ki, some souls and some call them life itself." Leyla continues to read it to her sister. Mia only kept up for about 3 minutes before she fell asleep in her sister's arm while she was still reading.

———

It was raining that night. They're staying at Raya's house, one of their father's far relatives. Raya's not there that night, he's called for emergency at the village perimeter.

The sisters stayed at home that night with tense pressure. Even the 4 year old Mia is able to sense it.

It wasn't even 10 minutes later when they heard the roars of the beast. Leyla immediately knew what was happening. The line of defense is gone, that means Raya is...

Tears welling in her eyes, she's old enough to understand the weight of someone's life but there's no time to mourn, Leyla can hear the flapping of the giant wings soaring above their home.

Not a moments later, everything around them was instantly razed with flames. Fortunately, she was able to react fast enough, she instinctively made a shield to protect herself and Mia. But their nightmare is far from over.

Leyla can feel it, the beast massive amount of mana. It soared around the village, spewing flames as hot as the sun towards the building below, roasting anybody caught within it without mercy.

Leyla stays still, her body freezes in fear as she feels the Mana of the villagers in her vicinity began to dissipate.

"Sis, I'm scared..." Mia mutters. Leyla begin to hug Mia, keeping her head closes to her and her ears covered to muffle the screams of those still alive after the flame attack.

"We just need to stay hidden, between the flames to hide the presence of my mana, don't move a muscle, don't even take a breath. I'd rather ran out of breath than being burnt alive." Leyla thought. Muscle tensing everytime she hears the screams gone silent.

Leyla feels as the monster's mana begins to disappear from her range. Good, that means it's far enough away. She doesn't waste any time before taking her sister's arm and rushes through the burnt remains of the village.

Leyla haven't forget to covers Mia's eye with a piece of cloth. They're passing through ruins of house frames and human remains. Scent of roast meat and burnt wood fills the air around them.

"Leyla... It hurts... My feet hurt..." Leyla heard her sister call from behind. She looks to see Mia's bruised and injured feet as they run. Stepping through hot melting glass and stones, it's no wonder. Leyla stops and apply a slight freezing spell to calm the pain in her feet.

"Here, get on top of me." Leyla said, before quickly helping Mia to mount her back. "Hang tight." Leyla flows any of the remaining mana she had into her own feet, before running towards the forest at lightning speed.

She swiftly soars through roots and tree branches. But carrying Mia greatly reduces her speed and panic making her made all kinds of mistake. She zips through the torny bushes and trips for a bit on some oversized roots but her feet doesn't stop running. All she could think about is to get her sister far enough away from the village.

Suddenly, a cold ran through her spine. The beast, it's right behind them, it's chasing them. It knows they're here. But she can't feel it's mana. And the realization dawn onto her. She thought that the beast gotten farther away when it disappears from her mana detection... But it simply flew upwards...

"No—"

She sees as the area around her lights up, before it all cuts to fires and blaze. Burning the sister alive.

———

"Mia!" Leyla wakes up screaming. Her screams jolt her sister awakes from her slumber. It seems that they both fell asleep while reading Leyla's book. Thank God it's just a dream.

"I escaped— We escaped..." Leyla mutters with exasperated breath, trying to remind herself that she escaped those tragedy. It was 6 years ago, a huge Mana Beast rampages through the parameters of the village the sisters were staying in. They managed to escape before help arrived to rescue them. 1,895 people died that night including Raya, their legal guardian at that time. The sister were the only recorded survivors of the attack in that village.

"Mia! Leyla! Are you okay?" Dalila comes busting through the door. Her mana already flaring up, readying if any danger has befall her kids.

"N-no... I just had a bad dream." Leyla said. Dalila's tense body began to calm.

"Thank God, I suddenly heard you screaming while in the kitchen..." Dalila took a long breath. "Are you okay?" Dalila ask, Leyla just nods.

"Since you're both awake already, go downstairs, I've cooked some breakfast." She said before heading downstairs.

Leyla turns her gaze towards Mia. "Sorry for waking you up like that." Leyla said, her hands caressing Mia's cheeks.

"It's okay... I was just shocked when you suddenly screamed." Mia said. Leyla just smiles and picks her sister's nose.

"Ow!"

"Let's wash our faces before we go downstairs." Leyla said, already gotten up from the floor.

———

"I am Lukas! The Golden Lion!" Lukas screams as he exudes out his golden aura, mimicking a lion's mane. Mia and the kids around him look in awe as Lukas begins to dance awkwardly with his golden mane.

"Grawr! I'm a lion!" Lukas screams. The kids laugh at his performance.

"You've been able to control it well." Compliments Leyla, Lukas just smiles proudly. "Although your dance moves could be worked on a bit more." Leyla chuckles, Lukas face immediately reddens at Leyla's comments.

"Yo let me try that!" One of the kids said before taking the stage besides Lukas. They tries to control their Mana and mimic the way Lukas uses up his aura and able to do it. A crimson aura surrounds the kids head.

"Woah!" The kids screams. One by one, each of them try to do it. While Lukas seems displeased as the attention on him has been taken away.

"I wish I could do that." Mia comments, but none can hear it except Leyla.

"One day you'll be able to. You'll awaken someday, I promise." Leyla said, patting her sister's head

"I'm not a kid anymore, I know it's impossible for me to awaken." Mia pouts.

IMBS a.k.a Internal Mana Blockage Syndrome, the illness that made a child unable to awaken their mana core. As a result of this, the patient cannot exude, control or feel mana around or inside of them. Experts don't know what causes this. Anytime a hypothesis is made, it is quickly disproven with another case of this happening, slowing further progress towards preventing future cases and curing current ones.

Mia was diagnosed with this illness at the age of 5, where most kids her age are already awakened months prior. That was 3 years ago. She's now 8, most of her peers can already throw some basic fireballs while she can only watch from the sideline.

"You will awaken someday, I'll make sure of it." Leyla said holding her sister's hand while her voice filled with determination.

To tell you the truth, a cure has already been made 2 years ago. But Mia was deemed unfit as her body has developed past the recommended age for the treatment. The process of curing includes forcing open the Mana core with external mana, it is effective on younger kids where their mana are still in small quantities. But Mia is 8 years old already when the cure is found, the Mana accumulated inside of her would've been too dense and with the practices being practically new, no doctors are capable of performing it without the dense mana exploding, harming boty the doctor and the patient.

"Even if we find someone capable enough, they'll charge a ton of money just to cure her, and if it fails... Mia wouldn't survive. Without awakening her mana, her body would naturally be more frail than awakened human and the explosion would inevitably kill her." Leyla recalls the words of Dr. Ovent, the town's doctor that owns the only clinic in this area.

"Sister? Are you daydreaming?" Mia ask. Leyla shakes her heads and smiles.

"Nothing. Where did your friend go?" Leyla asks. She notices Lukas and the other kids playing around are nowhere to be found.

"They said they're gonna play in the forest there." Mia said, fingers pointing towards the trees at the edge of the field they're staying on. But no sign of Lukas or his friends are there.

"I don't see them." Her gaze darted around, between the trees, behind the bushes, but no signs of Lukas and his friends were there. "Did they tell you where they are going?" Leyla asks.

"They said they're going to the edge of parameter, Lukas wants to try to hunt some Mana Beast." Mia said, Leyla's eye widen.

"Mia, go and notify any of the adults at the town. I'm going there inside the forest to check on Lukas alright?" Leyla task. Mia nods and Leyla immediately boosts her speed and dashes inside the forest.

"Lukas!" Leyla calls. But no answer. "Did they gone that far already? I literally doze off for just a second!" She thought. She extends her mana detection range as she dashes. She can feel the subtle mana around her belonging to the trees and critters that lives in the forest but no sign of Lukas or any of the kids.

"Did they arrive at the edge already?" Leyla asks herself, but she spares not a moment to answer it. Her figure darts through the forest.

"There! I can feel them!" She finally senses the Mana belongs to the kids and Lukas. "But who is this?" She asked as she felt another, larger amount of mana around the kids.

"They're in danger!" She thinks. She fastened her speed, reaching lightning speed.

"Impressive." A voice said, Mia stops in her track. A tall man, clad in black towering above the kids. He's holding Lukas who exudes his golden aura. "That large mana detection and that speed of yours, you'll be great—" The man's speech halts as a barrage of water bullets flies onto his face, unfortunately, it does no damage.

"Hold on miss, I'm not here to harm these kids." The man said. Leyla halts her attack. "Thank goodness, at least you're listening." The man smiles.

"Who are you?" Leyla ask. She's at ease as she confirmed that the kids are safe, but she still kept her water bubbles suspended in the air around her, readying to attack at any moment.

"I'm Vincent, a wanderer, I meant no harm to you or these kids. If I did, I wouldn't stop these kids from going to the edge of the parameters wouldn't I?" The man explains. Leyla stays vigilant, still doubtful towards the man's identity.

"But that stance of yours... Wonderful. For someone your age— wait, what's your age?" The man asked.

"15." Leyla answers. "I'm sorry for attacking you, but I won't let my guard down until you hand over the kid in your hand." Leyla said, all of the other kids already ran off as she distracted the man, but Lukas is still in his hand.

"Oh, sorry! I didn't realize." Vincent said, he lets go of Lukas and raise his arms. "But honestly, impressive, not only your timing but your precision too. Not a single of your attacks harms the kid. And such ability at 15 years old?" Vincent continues to compliment Leyla. Lukas already ran towards her and hid behind her back. After making sure that the man really had not intention of fighting, she let go of her spell, the water controlled by her falls to the ground before dissipating into mana.

"Thanks for your compliment and for saving these kids from making some stupid decisions. I'll get going now." Leyla bows, dragging Lukas head to bow alongside her. Vincent just smiles.

"It's okay, I just so happen to be passing through as I sense them here."

"Even then, thank you, I don't know how to repay your debt." Leyla said, her head still bowing.

"It's fine really, I'm just doing my job as a responsible adult. I'm also impressed at your combat capabilities. You know what- here, take my card. You'll need it pretty soon." Vincent throws a black card towards Leyla. The card flies straight into one of her pockets. "Now if you'll excuse me—" Vincent said before disappearing in a burst of black smokes. Leyla watches as the man clad in black vanishes from their sight.

"Sigh, what a weird guy... But YOU!" Leyla wants to scold Lukas but he is already sprinting away from her the moment Vincent disappears with the black cloud. "You little shit! Get here!" Leyla screams as she starts to chase Lukas.

———

"So you doze off while the kids are able to go to the edge of the parameters?!" Dalila scolds. Leyla just kept her head low as Dalila continued to scold her.

"They aren't tho—" Leyla answers.

"Don't talk back to me. And yeah, they aren't cuz luckily, a fine gentleman is able to stop them but what if he isn't there huh what would their parents say?" Dalila continued to scold while Leyla just looked down to the floor. She can't even blame anyone. It IS her fault, she shouldn't be dozing off like that while she's the one responsible for them while they're playing.

"Oh my goodness can you imagine how my heart sank when Mia called for me to say that? I'm not only worried for them, but for you! I know you're strong but fighting the Mana Beast at the edge of the parameters? You could've died!" Dalila continues. Leyla kept her head down, realizing that she also made a rash decision in a panic.

"I'm sorry, it won't happen again." Leyla speaks. Dalila just shakes her head.

"Don't worry about it. I know it's an accident, you don't normally let them go into the forest. Just go and shower, you're smelly." Dalila said, her tones are now much softer than when she's scolding Leyla.

"Um- Mom..." Leyla calls. Dalila turns, shocked.

"What?" She asked. Tries to act nonchalant towards Leyla's words. Leyla is much older when she took both of them in after being rescued 6 years ago, so she rarely calls Dalila "mom", only Mia has been doing that.

"I've decided, I want to go to that school."