"Nova, what are you doing right now?" Hanah entered her child's room.
Inside the room, Nova was lying casually on her bed while reading a book.
"Hmm... what is it, Mom?" Nova answered without shifting her gaze from the book she was reading.
"You! When Mom is talking to you, please look at Mom's face." "Mom wants you to call Hina and Noah back home. They've been playing outside too long, it's almost 6 PM now."
Today was indeed Saturday, and as usual, Saturday and Sunday were holidays for all schools, from ages 12 to 18. So it had become normal for the children to play until they lost track of time.
Nova finally closed her book and placed it on the bed. She got up from her bed and walked toward her mother, stopping right in front of her.
"Payment?" Nova extended her palm toward her mother.
Hanah laughed softly while pinching her child's cheek. "Hey, that park isn't too far from home, you know that, right? Why do you need payment?"
"I want to buy something there later," Nova replied.
"Haah... Mom knew you would ask for this." Hanah took money from her pocket and handed it to Nova. "Here's 5 Ringgit. Now quickly go there before it gets dark."
"Ready," Nova took the money, put it in her pants pocket, then left her room. Before leaving the house, she took a black hoodie from the hanger and put it on. The evening air was starting to get a bit cool outside.
After leaving her house, Nova walked left toward the park.
"Huh? Nova?"
A familiar voice greeted her. To her left, right next to her house, a woman was standing inside the fence while holding keys. It was Aina, mother of Ena, a child the same age as her younger sister.
"Are you about to go to the park?" Aina asked while locking the door.
"Yes, Auntie. What's up?" Nova replied, stopping momentarily.
"Wow, what a coincidence! Auntie was just about to go there to call Ena back home, but since you're going there, Auntie doesn't need to go there then," she said while smiling. "By the way, do you know? Ena just awakened her power! And if I'm not mistaken, your younger sibling did too, right?"
Nova nodded while putting her hands in her hoodie pockets.
"Yeah, so what?" "What does it have to do with me?" Nova answered with a straight face.
"Nothing much, just telling you." Aina laughed seeing Nova's expression. "Hey, when do you think you'll awaken your power? Although Auntie knows this is still too early, but since your sibling already awakened their power at their current age, you'll surely awaken your power like your sibling, right?"
Nova shrugged casually. "I think... maybe when I'm near death."
"Ha ha ha! That's not funny!" Aina shook her head while laughing. "Well, anyway, Auntie hopes you can awaken your power like your sibling. Now go quickly, but be careful. It's dangerous walking alone."
"The park isn't far from here. I'll be fine."
As Nova said, the park was only a 5-6 minute walk from their house. After saying goodbye to Aina, Nova continued her journey. But it turned out she didn't need to reach the park, because halfway there, she met her younger siblings who were on their way home.
"Ah, Big Sister!" Hina, her younger sister, waved. "Where is Big Sister going?"
"Ooh, you must be calling us back home, right?" Ena, the neighbor's child, same age as Hina, stood to her right.
Behind them stood Noah.
"Yes, exactly what you said. Good that you already know." Nova continued walking past them. "You all go home first, okay?"
"Hey, where is Big Sister going?" Hina called out, looking back when Nova walked ahead of them casually.
"I want to buy something at the shop near the park. You go home first."
"Okay then! We'll go home first!" Hina said.
Nova continued walking to the small grocery store near the park. She wanted to buy some snacks.
"Huh? What's this?!"
"Is this blood?" Nova looked down at her feet.
Her feet felt like they were stepping on moving blood.
"Ah, this is not good. I need to get out of here." Nova tried to pull her feet out of that strange blood.
But instead of getting out, she was pulled by the blood. Suddenly, her feet felt like they were being pulled by a very strong force.
"What's this?! I can't pull my feet out?!" Nova said, trying to resist the pull, but it was useless. Her strength was nothing compared to the blood's pull.
In a few moments, Nova's entire body was sucked into that strange blood. After Nova disappeared from that road, the blood there also vanished without a trace.
◇◇◇
THUD!
Nova felt her body fall from a height and land hard on the ground.
"What happened?"
"Huh? Where is this?"