Knock Knock
"I'm back." I announced my arrival after knocking on the door.
It took a few seconds before footsteps made their way towards the door.
"I keep forgetting you're free these days. Usually you would be training right about now." Kayla opened the door while rubbing her half opened eyes.
She was wearing light blue pajamas and seemed slightly big for her size.
"You sound like you would rather not have me be here?"
"Maybe."
I followed my sister into the room. She headed towards another room while I made myself comfortable on the couch.
I waited there for a few minutes. Kayla was probably getting dressed properly.
But slowly, time started to trickle by.
"Kayla?"
There was no response as I called out to the other room.
'Did she fall asleep again.'
Ever since I started training at the Dawn Mansion, I got a habit of waking up early. Kayla probably isn't prepared for that so it wouldn't surprise me if she fell asleep when she went to dress up.
'Should I just leave again? If she's that tired it would be better if I came back later.'
Before I could leave Kayla's room, the door on the other side of the room swung open.
She was wearing black trousers and a white shirt. But she was covered in a dirty cream colored apron.
She was holding a silver tray covered with…..cake?
Kayla put it on the table in front of me with a confident smile.
"Here. Eat it."
The cake was glazed white with strawberries and pieces of chocolate. The top was decorated with swirls of vanilla. There were red markings in between the cake that seemed to spell….
"...Goodbye?"
When I turned to look at Kayla, she nodded her head with her hands behind her back and a shy smile.
"Well, since you are leaving tomorrow, I figured that I should give you a proper send off. Because if you pass, I won't be seeing you for a while." There was a slight blush on her face as she avoided my surprised look.
"Kayla, you made this?" I couldn't contain the surprise in my voice.
Ever since becoming a rift hunter, Kayla had been the one who did all the chores around the house, since I came home very late. That includes cooking. She's always had a passion for it but we didn't really have the luxury for her to really indulge in it.
Ever since arriving at the mansion, I tried to encourage her to do some kind of cooking but she was very reluctant.
"Hmm. I've been giving the chefs here a helping hand while you were at training or having lessons. I ended up learning a lot about making pastries and cakes and came up with the idea to make you one."
"When did you even have the time to make this?" She was gone for a while but that wouldn't have been enough time to make the whole cake.
"Well, I've been busy with the cake for a few nights now. Since you didn't have training these days I had to do it after you left. I was preparing to finish it this morning but you came in surprisingly early, so I had to finish it quickly." She explained the reason behind the cake and the tiredness.
"So that's it, huh." I took the silver spoon next to the tray and scooped up a piece from the already prepared piece of cake.
When I put it in my mouth, an explosion of sweetness permeated throughout my mouth. I could immediately tell this was made with some of the most expensive ingredients one could find. The chocolate mixed extremely well with the sweetness of the strawberry.
"So….what do you think?" Kayla asked casually but I could tell that she was really curious about how it tasted.
I swallowed the piece I had in my mouth. But instead of immediately answering, I took another bite from the cake. And another.
I finished the entire first piece before cleaning my mouth with a napkin.
Kayla's eyes widened in surprise at the pace I devoured the cake. After cleaning my mouth, I turned towards her with a satisfied smile.
"It was delicious, Kayla. Thank you."
She remained motionless for a while before an innocent smile graced her face.
"You're welcome, Kael."
"Don't just stand there, take a piece."
"But it's your cake?"
"I can't finish all this by myself. Becoming awakened doesn't give me a bigger stomach."
We started eating cake and enjoying ourselves. When she tasted the cake she had made, Kayla's eyes started shining, mumbling things like, 'I made this?' and 'I'm the best!'.
A few hours later, the cake was completely finished.
"You say awakened don't have a bigger stomach but I doubt that. You almost ate the entire cake by yourself." Kayla's disgruntled voice reached my ears as I took the final bite of the cake.
"If you didn't want me to eat most of it, you shouldn't have made the cake so good, dear sister. And weren't you the one that said it was 'my cake?'" I was lying down on the couch, completely full.
"Oh please, just because I offered doesn't mean you should have really eaten most of it. The cake was really good!"
"Tooting your own horn now, are we?"
Though we started eating the cake in the morning, the sun was already going down. Not really a healthy day but it should be fine every once in a while.
Kayla was lying down on the other side of the table. Though not as full as me, she seemed to have her fill despite her complaining.
"Haaah," with a sigh, I started to look mindlessly at the ceiling.
'After today, I won't come back here for a while. I also won't be seeing Kayla.'
"Kaelith?"
"Yeah?"
"Is there any way I could come with you? To the Academy."
I kept my gaze on the ceiling as I answered. "Unfortunately not. The academy is only available for awakened students. You are not permitted."
"I know," she said disappointed.
"Brother, what am I supposed to do?"
I turned towards her as I felt her gaze on me.
"When you're gone, what am I supposed to do? The only reason I'm here is because of you. If you leave, I'll be…." Her sentence trailed off into nothingness. Though it was faint, I could hear her voice break slightly.
For as long as our father's death, we've been together. Even when I was hunting rift beasts, she was waiting on me at home, with dreams of a better future, a better life, where we could both do what we wanted. Just like me.
She even opposed me becoming a rift hunter at first. It was only after countless hours of arguments, that she allowed me to do it.
She never wanted us to be a part, ever. And now, we're going to be apart for a while.
She was never fine with it. My sister never accepted it despite how she acted. She's…..afraid.
"..."
"Do you remember your tenth birthday?" I turned away from Kayla and towards the ceiling again.
Before she could answer, I continued.
"You got mad at me and dad, for thinking we forgot your birthday and started throwing a tantrum hitting me and dad with your small balled up fists." A thin smile crept up to my face while reminiscing.
"S-so, what the point you're trying to make." I didn't have to see her to know her face was heating up.
"Haha. When we eventually showed you a small princess gown, your face lit up like a lantern."
"It was always your dream to be a princess back then…."
My tone turned more sentimental.
"Right before I awakened, I almost died." I could hear Kayla gasp.
I refrained from saying any details about the whole incident or any dangerous events in order to not scare her.
"When I was unconscious, I thought back to you and dad. I thought about what happened to dad and what would happen to you if I….died."
The room became silent. I tried to gather my words but it took a while. I raised my arm to the sky, as if trying to reach for something.
"I figured, you would probably be fine on your own, alive, in a better place without me…. But I didn't want that. I wanted to be there with you, to experience a good life together, where we could endlessly live out our dreams."
I clenched my fist with enough force that my knuckles turned white.
"And I realized that I need power for that. Not just any kind of power, one that allows us to do whatever we want, no matter who is in the way." I felt something within my body turn hotter, as if something new would emerge.
I finally turned back to Kayla, whose watery eyes reflected back at me.
"To get that power, I have to go to the academy. That place is the best way for me—no, for us to reach our dreams."
"So until then, I'm going to promise you something…"
I reached across the table with some difficulty and wiped away the tears on her cheeks.
"I'll come back soon. And it won't be long before you'll be able to do anything you want, understand?"
She grasped the hand that was on her cheek tightly as tears started coming out.
"Do you….promise?"
"I promise."
"You better not break it. Because if you do, I will start hitting you even harder this time," She said between sniffs.
"Haha, I sure don't want that to happen." I started holding her hand tightly.
"If I ever break this promise, let the Gods forget my name."
Kayla said nothing. She only held my hand tighter, as if that vow alone could protect us both.