"Blink...!" "Blink...!"
I blinked my eyes open, waking up from the best sleep of my life.
After a few minutes of rolling and turning, at last, I decided to leave my bed.
After leaving the bed, I stretched, causing a satisfying sound to leave my lips.
"Haaahhh…!"
Seeing that it was evening, I moved downstairs, towards the living room, from where chatting sounds mixed with laughter echoed in the house.
My father, mother, and both of my Grandmothers were sitting in the room.
As I entered the room, Grandma Mary spoke in her usual tone, her voice reaching my ears.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Hm," I hummed in response, moving towards my mother, who sat on the front sofa alone, her back turned towards me, as her red eyes stared at me.
As I sat on the sofa, she poured me a glass of water with a bowl of biscuits.
"Where's sis?" I asked, not seeing her in the room, as I drank water from the glass.
"She's in her room," Mom replied, as she stared at my neck.
"Amelia, don't tell me that you are actually jealous of me." Grandma Mary spoke, looking at my mom.
"No, why would I be jealous, mother?" My mom rebutted.
'What's happening here,' I thought, glancing at my Mom's neutral expression and Grandma Mary's toothy grin.
"Leave it, Mom. How much longer are you going to tease her?" My father interjected with a defeated expression.
"Hahaha, Okay, Okay, I won't do it anymore."
Before I could ask, what was happening? My mom clasped my face between her hands, then leaned in for a forced kiss that lasted about a minute, making me nearly suffocate to death. After which, she leaned back, licking the saliva off, before sitting as though nothing had even happened here.
"See, I told you, she is jealous."
"Mom."
"What?"
"Hah," My father sighed with a defeated expression, before shaking his head, he added, "Nothing, do whatever you want."
After evening my breathing, I began to understand what was going on here.
'She is jealous,' I thought, looking at my mom, as a smile started to appear on my face.
As this incident came to an end, Grandma's next target was chosen, and that was me.
As she started to speak exaggeratedly about our afternoon practice session, before Grandma Celia stopped her, making the conversation move towards my Awakening Ceremony and then normal chit-chat between my parents and Grandmothers.
Seeing that, I didn't have any part in this conversation, I started to stand up as I spoke, "I will go talk with sis about my morning training."
"Hm, Okay." My mother replied with a smile before kissing me on my cheeks.
"What about me?" Grandma Mary uttered in an exaggerated, hurt voice.
"Night's long, Grandma," I replied with a cheeky grin, before leaving the room.
'I should also improve my relationship with sis,' I thought, advancing up the stairs.
...
AURELIA'S ROOM
Aurelia was lying in her bed, fidgeting with a shining orb oozing with raw essence, as it shimmered with green like liquid material.
The thing in Aurelia's hand was the Essence core of the Essent tiger, which she had killed yesterday. The original size of the core was huge, but her master reduced its size, and if she sells the orb, it would bring quite a lot of money.
But like always, things like these didn't matter to her. The only thing that mattered was her brother, Eden.
When she came home, she saw her Grandmother, Mary, who was teasing her mom about Eden. The words meant for her mother affected her instead, severely.
She already knew that Eden would eventually do these things, and she was okay with it. The thing that kept hurting her most was that her brother was not doing these things with her.
She could see that he had changed, and she liked this side of him even more than the previous one. But he still didn't kiss her goodbye, which he did with her mom.
'Why, I also want to,' She thought as her grip on the orb tightened.
As Grandma Mary's words kept echoing in her mind, making her thoughts erratic.
As she was lost in thought, a knock came from her door, making her look towards it as she left the bed, moving absentmindedly towards the door.
She was so lost in her thought that she didn't even sense a person walking towards her room, and didn't even think about who was on the opposite side of the door.
Reaching the door, her hands moved as her fingers tightened around the doorknob, before she opened the door.
"Click...!"
As she gazed at the person standing before her, her body went rigid.
"Hi."
The boy in front of her spoke, looking at her. Before his gaze moved towards her hands, which held the shimmering orb.
...
After reaching her room, I knocked on the door.
"Knock...!" "Knock...!"
After knocking, I lowered my hands while thinking about what to talk about with my sister.
My thoughts came to an end as the door opened.
"Hi," I muttered, looking at her, but something else caught my eye.
There was a shining green colored orb in her hands.
Seeing her holding an Essent's Core, I looked at her and spoke, "What is it?"
I already knew that the thing she had in her hands was an Essent's core, because I had seen one in the memory of Eden.
The reason I still asked was simple. I wanted to start a conversation.
"It's an Essence Core, I got it from an Essent I killed yesterday." She said with an emotionless face, as she brought her hands towards me, showing the shimmering core.
"Oh," I said, as my right hand moved towards the core, taking it from her hands.
As I took the core in my hands, I felt a cool sensation.
But before I could put a finger on the sensation or take a closer look at the Essence Core, a current passed through my body, making me shiver.
And then suddenly, a bluish hologram screen opened before my eyes.
[ SYSTEM ONLINE ]
'Huh'