Aina looked down at the two figures kneeling before her. On the left, her little brother, Elias, bowed his head. On the right, his creation, the shadow clone , an entity that looked like but was not her brother remained perfectly still, afraid of angering the young girl and getting 'chastised'. While the metal bands that were used to bind 'him' had been removed ,there were signs of bruising around his wrists and neck.
The air in the room was thick with a silence that was entirely of her making. It was a silence filled with anticipation, a silence that demanded answers.
Aina had sensed something was wrong the moment Eli had approached her. His energy signature was different. His gait was a little off, his posture slightly too rigid, his eyes a little too bright yet had nothing behind them. His speech patterns were too perfect, as were his mannerisms and gestures, but she knew her brother too well. Elias would always look you in the eye when speaking but Eli's darted here and yhere. Elias would get close to her but Eli kept his distance that was almost exactly out of her reach. Elias was always reluctant to train and she was always the one to go get him not the other way around. Then there was the fact that,for whatever reason her brother had developed faint dark circles under his eyes. She didn't know why but she had to admit that that , oddly enough added to his appearance,like make up. But that wasn't the point.
The point was,Eli had none of that and was way too energetic and what of course there was the issue of his flow.
Initially, her brother's Flow had been a mystery to her. She couldn't really tell how much he had,even with Flow perception,only that he had some and based on what he had demonstrated she assumed it was a significant quantity.But with this clone, she could not only sense the quantity of his Flow but also the opposing Anti-Flow, and the two forces were rotating seamlessly within his core. This was a contradiction.
Earthborn unlike the Aether or the Akuma could use both Flow and Anti-Flow,yes,but their bodies could not handle the strain and so they used one and alternated with the other though they were more proficient with what they had a greater affinity for. Not both at the same time. You had to reverse the rotation of your Flow to use Anti-Flow and yes while it was posible to use both at the same time it was basically converting a part of your own Flow into Anti-Flow as against alternating by influencing it's rotation.
The clone on the other hand has two completely different energy pools, Flow and Anti-Flow both rotating seamlessly and independent of one another. The only other people capable of maintaining this dual energy source werw the half-blooded races; The Yaksha, The Fiends and The Nephilim.
However,to her knowledge, Elias was a fullblodded Human,so how?
A deeper inspection showed that this thing had a lot of energy saturating it's body aside the opposing forces within its soul. Even if this was Elias,she had made sure to drill into him the key steps of surpressing ones internal energy so he wouldn't have been that sloppy in his attempt. Then of course he revealed himself in the wagon as it was leaving.
She could have stopped the wagon and brought him back, but she would allow him in the care of Miss Gable. In the meantime, she would have a discussion with her brother's little accomplice.
'If only you knew how much I care about you,Elias.' She thought with an internal smile.
Outwardly, she was as cold and composed as ever. She took another sip of her tea, the warmth of the liquid a stark contrast to the coldness of her demeanor.
"Little brother," she said, her voice a low, dangerous hum.
"Care to explain why you left the house without anyone's permission?" She paused for a moment, letting the silence hang in the air.
"Anything could have happened once you were out there without any help. I know Miss Gable and a few of our maids were probably with you but they are mundane humans. What if you encountered a powerful Flow user?Contrary to your belief, the world isn't made of vanilla and roses."
Elias said nothing. He just looked at her, and his eyes dropped to the floor.
"I know," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
"And I'm sorry."
Aina sighed, a sound that conveyed a deep sense of disappointment.
"If you wanted to go out that bad, you could have at least told me. I would have come with you."
"I know," Elias said, "but the last time we went out with Roric, you were opposed to the outing. And besides, I didn't want you to go out with me this time."
"Why?" she asked, her voice turning to ice.
Elias pondered. He didn't want to tell her that he had met up with Lyle. He didn't want to elaborate on his encounter with S.K. She would surely be annoyed by him chatting with strangers, especially those kinds of strangers and make his situation worse. He looked up at her, putting on his most innocent face.
"Your birthday is coming up. I wanted to get you something special in appreciation of all you've done for me till now. If I had told you or anyone else, it would have ruined the surprise. Well,I guess it's already ruined."
He saw the corner of her lip twitch.
' Didn't work huh?' Elias thought.
Meanwhile, inwardly, Aina was elated. She was excitedly wondering what Elias got for her, her mind racing with a hundred different possibilities.
She loved him so much.
She wanted to ask him what he got her but decided against it, wishing it to remain a secret. It was a secret, after all, and she knew that whatever he had got her would be revealed when the time came.
"I see," she said, her voice cold and even. "While your intentions were good, it was still dangerous. You are a child, Elias. I expect you to act like one. Do you understand?"
"I'm sorry big sis."
Aina stared for a moment then sighed.
"I'll let it slide this time," she said, her gaze shifting and narrowing as she looked at the clone.
The clone, Eli, shuddered under her cold gaze, a faint shiver running down his spine.
Elias, seeing her gaze at his copy dismissed it. In a puff of smoke, it vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind. Aina returned her gaze to him.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"Do what?"
"That technique. How did you do it,how did you make a copy of yourself?"
"Oh that. I just simply moulded Flow to a humanoid shape and filled in the blank spaces with some Arrays."
Aina stared at him for a while, and Elias got really uncomfortable. She then got off the bed, taking the teacup and saucer.
"Make sure you bathe before dinner. Afterwards, you're going to give me an in-depth explanation of that technique." She said as she left the room.
Elias, who had been holding his breath, let out a long, shaky breath and fell on his back, staring at the ceiling of his room.
' I thought she was gonna kill me.'
He took out he threw artifacts he got and looked at them in his hands. He contemplated studying their structure then and there but he changed his mind and put them back, getting to his feet. As he did, he reached for his pouch and frowned. He took it out and shook it but it was empty.
He then remembered.
He had put all of the money on the table of the cafe when he left. With Lyle.The thought made him groan.
Meanwhile, Aina maintained her composure as she moved towards her room. She walked with a confident gait, her head held high, a perfect picture of a Noble. But once inside, she slammed the door shut, and her composure broke. She excitedly jumped onto her bed and giggled into her pillow.
"He's enius! To be able to create a clone out of energy! I've never heard of such a technique but he did it!He's even more wonderful than I thought!"
A smile crept onto her face. As his big sister, she couldn't just sit idle either.
She sat up with determination and began to meditate, a smile on her face as she thought about Elias. She would not be outdone.