Snap!
Azaelia snapped her fingers and made a black flame appear that burned blue at its ends.
"Oh, sweetie," Azaelia began in a motherly tone that you can tell had an edge to it. The kind that causes a chill to run down your back when you know you said something you weren't supposed to, but your parent or family member smiles a smile that doesn't reach their eyes. "I dare you to repeat what you just said."
I jumped up from lying on the floor and ran towards the door.
"I don't think that'll be wise," I said as I opened the door and ran out into the long hallway that housed the doors to the room and past the door that had that large indoor bath. As I reached the stairs to take my first step, I looked back to see if I was being followed, but I didn't see her.
"Haha, safe." I laughed out, thinking the coast was clear from being murdered by my aunt.
"Far from it." A demonic female voice said beside me, causing my heart to hit the pit of my stomach. My legs went weak, causing me to miss the step I was going to take. Time slowed down as I locked eyes with my aunt's red eyes, continuing to fall.
The last thought I had before impact was 'This is going to hurt.'
My aunt sure was right about one thing. I was far from being safe. I tumbled down the stairs so fast that I was already at the end of the steps before I even blinked. The only thing that made me know I arrived at the end of the steps was my groaning from pain and trying to stand back up.
Azaelia began to slowly descend the steps, still holding the ball of fire in her hands.
"Aunty! Wait, let's talk about it. I didn't mean it." I said, holding my hands out towards her in the motion of telling her to halt her descent, but she continued. When she reached the end, she threw the fireball straight at me.
Thankfully, the throw wasn't too fast, and I was able to duck and watch as the ball of flame went over my head and continued straight to the door. However, before it could hit the front door, a young woman in an academic uniform opened it.
Seeing the flame heading in her direction, she reached her hand out, grabbed it, squeezed it, and snuffed out the flame all in one quick motion. I ignored the features of the individual, but once I saw another individual other than Azaelia, I ran straight to them and yelled out,
"My savior!"
When I got close to them, I hid behind their back, placing my hands on their shoulders and peeking over to see what else Azaelia might do to me.
"What's going on?" The person I was holding on to said in an annoyed tone.
"Nothing, Mika'Ella, Alex here was just wishing for death. I was about to grant it for them, before you arrived."
"Lies! No one wished for death!" I said, looking over Mika'Ella's shoulder at Azaelia. "Wait…did you say Mika'Ella? As in your daughter?" I stepped from behind Azaelia's daughter and stepped in front of her to get a good look. Then looked back at Azaelia for a brief moment and put my attention back on Mika'Ella.
The resemblance was so crazy that it felt like I was looking at the younger version of Azaelia.
"Damn, Aunty. You practically cloned yourself. She's pretty. " I said as I looked back at Azaelia, who rolled her eyes at me but smirked at me.
"Mika'Ella raised an eyebrow even though her cheeks took on a pinkish tone, "Aunty?" She questioned while trying not to seem embarrassed by the sudden compliment.
I reached my hand out towards Mika'Ella and thought while smiling, 'Hi, I'm Alex. Your cousin.'
An awkward silence followed as I held my hand out, but she didn't grab it.
'Is the telepathy not working? I thought Aunty said that family can communicate telepathically.'
"Uh, I…sorry…I thought that—,"
'I heard you,' Mika'Ella's voice said in my head. 'I just can't shake your hand right now.'
I tilted my head, wondering what was keeping her from doing so, until I saw the blood dripping down her right hand and the red coating her uniform. I looked down at my hand and also noticed that it was red with blood.
"Oh crap, are you alright?" I asked as Mika'Ella turned to close the door with her uninjured arm.
"I'll be fine. It's part of the academic life." She said nonchalantly as she turned back around after closing the door.
"Were you challenged today?" Azaelia asked, crossing her arms and walking up so she was next to me, still staring at her daughter.
"Yes, mother."
"Did you win?" Azaelia asked
"I did," Mika'Ella replied, and Azaelia just nodded her head.
"Good," Azaelia finished and then walked off in the direction that I assumed was the kitchen, which was past the boxes.
"Hold up, Aunty," I said as I saw her walking off.
"What?" Azaelia stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me over her shoulder.
"Your daughter is hurt, and you're walking off like nothing happened."
Azaelia shrugged, "You heard her. It's part of the academic life. One you'll be heading to soon. So get prepared."
I looked at Azaelia with a face of disbelief. "Seriously?"
"Yes. Now you can either get to know each other, or you can start getting settled in to take care of these boxes. Mika'Ella can take care of herself with a healing spell." Azaelia informed before she disappeared into the kitchen.
I just shook my head at the strict mother, tough daughter act between the two of them.
"It's fine. That's how she is." Mika'Ella said, clenching her right shoulder with her left hand and saying something under her breath.
"Sana et Munda."
She then proceeded to drag the blackish golden energy down her arm, immediately healing her wound while cleaning away the blood on her academic shirt.
She moved her arm to see if it was healed and nodded her head in satisfaction when it was. This time, she stuck her hand out to me.
"I'm Mika'Ella, but you can call me Ella."
'Oh, she gets to call you Ella, but I can't. Hmph! I see how it is.' Azaelia's voice said, sounding in my head and causing Mika'Ella's…well, Ella's eyes to roll.
I smiled and let out a small laugh as I grasped her hand and said, "Alexander, but you can call me Alex."
"Isn't Alexander a boy's name?" Ella asked as I let go of her hand after shaking it.
"Haha yeahhhh, there's a long story about that."
'Alex here was a boy cursed by a Witch to be turned into a girl.' Azaelia's voice once again sounded in our hands. I raised both my hands and dragged them across my face.
"Ugh! Stop eavesdropping, Aunty!"
'What? You said it was a long story, so I gave the quick and simple version.'
'I hate you!' I said, pretending to be mad by puffing my cheeks and crossing my arms.
" I don't careee.' She sang out in our heads, and I just shook my head.
"Anyways, yeah, that's the quick and simple version, like she said."
"Hmm," Ella hummed out, and I could've sworn I saw her release a bit of a greenish undertone energy from her body before it disappeared. If I remember correctly, the green undertone was for Envy. Making me wonder what she was envious of.
"You okay?" I asked as I head over to one of the boxes in the living room and pick it up.
Ella was walking towards the stairs but stopped when she heard my question. "Yeah. Why?"
"It's just that I'm pretty sure you just released the sin of Envy just now."
"You're probably just seeing things," Ella quickly said as she shook her head. "I'm going to go change. I can assist you afterwards with the boxes if you want."
"Okay, sounds good," I said as we both began to ascend the stairs. "I'd appreciate that."
"So," I added to try and keep a convo going, "I'm curious. What kind of sin did you awaken?"
Ella looked at me as we slowly walked down the hall to our rooms.
"Wrath and Greed 75/25. You?"
"Lust and Wrath, but mostly Lust," I said, and Ella immediately stopped in her tracks, clenching her fist tightly. Her body began emitting a reddish black aura. However, I didn't notice her stopping and releasing wrath energy as I kept walking.
"Lust?" I heard Ella's voice question behind me, causing me to stop in my tracks and turn to see her emitting her wrath.
I can already tell why she was though.
The energy she was emitting caused slight fear in me, but I made sure to add on, "But I am planning on reawakening my sin core for personal reasons. If I could change my Sins immediately, I would, but your mother recommended I get used to Lust and Wrath beforehand."
The explanation gave Ella a reason to stop releasing her Wrath, but I continued to say,
"Listen, I can understand why you hate the sin of Lust. I wouldn't have liked to know that my mother sleeps around to gather the energy of Lust. But you should probably try to read the book instead of judging the cover."
"Read the book instead of judging the cover?" Ella asked, confused by the weird analogy.
"Meaning, talk with your mother before actually hating her guts, Ella. Look at me, I didn't know I was a ShadowKin till recently, and I only found out because my parents told me I was going to awaken due to gathering too much Lust. Now…" I paused, holding back tears that welled up, but I forced myself to hold them back because I was tired of crying.
"Now they're somehow dead cause of me, and I have to live with that.
You see…I got my heart broken by a past lover, and I slept around to fill the void. Your mother's choice of Sin might just be her coping with a loss that hit her hard. People like me searched for pleasure to hide the pain. I'm not speaking for her, and this is only an assumption, so I might be wrong, but do you know what your mother said to me while she was teaching me about Sin?
'I've lost someone close to me due to their sin.'
I don't know what happened, but she seemed in pain remembering the past. So do me a favor, don't hate the only family you have left." I said, completing my whole spill and turning back to put the box in my room.
"You don't know anything! So don't act like you do." She yelled out, getting pissed again.
I sighed, "You're right. I don't, but I know someone in pain when I see one. I'm going to continue with these boxes. If you still want to help, then that'll be great. If you changed your mind cause of one of my Sins, then that's cool too. I'll understand."
With that, I walked through the door of the room that was left open and placed the first box to the left of the door frame on the wall. Allowing me to quickly walk by Ella, who was opening the door to her room and closing it behind her to change.
I sighed once again at the closed door of her room and went to descend the stairs to grab the following box.
When I reached the bottom of the stairs, Azaelia was staring at me, sitting on one of the boxes with an apron on, with her legs crossed.
"You didn't have to give that whole spill, you know." She said with her face void of any emotion. I can tell that it was just a mask she was wearing, not to look soft and weak. But I can tell her face wasn't void of any emotion in actuality, since I was the same way at a point.
"Eavesdropping again," I said, walking towards her at a slow pace.
"Hmph! Perks of being a high-ranking demon. Sometimes it's hard not to."
"I understand," I said, wrapping my arms around her in a hug, which surprised her.
"What are you doing?" She asked, trying to push me away.
"I don't know," I began squeezing her tighter to hang on, "I just lost my parents, and you just lost a sister. I feel like we both need this right now."
After about two or three minutes of staying in a hug, I backed away and looked at Aunty Azaelia.
"I know you're hurting just as much as I am, if not more. And I know I just met you, but I meant what I said in the bath, Aunty. I'm very lucky to have you."
The no emotion mask she had on her face cracked as a small smile appeared on her face.
"At least someone notices it."
I just shook my head and grabbed the following box. "You should probably get back to cooking or whatever. I think I smell something burning."
"Oh shit," Azaelia said before teleporting away from me in a flash of flames, making me laugh as all I heard from the kitchen was.
"Ass wipe! I didn't even put anything on the flame yet!"
"Ha, tricked you," I said to no one in particular as I walked towards the stairs, but I accidentally bumped into something. I twisted my upper body a bit to see what it was I bumped into, and it was Ella.
"Oh, I didn't see you. Sorry."
"It's fine. You can give me that box and stack one or two more on it."
"You sure? They're already heavy?"
"Yeah I'm a SinBound ranked ShadowKin. I'm stronger than I look."
"I don't know what that means, but okay," I said, handing her another two boxes, which she carried as if they were nothing. My manliness soul didn't take to having a girl carrying more weight than me nicely. My pride and ego felt attacked. I'll let it pass and blame it on my feminine body to feel better about myself.
"You don't know your demonic rankings?" Ella asked as she walked towards the stairs, and I followed behind with a box of my own.
"No, I know nothing about this world. I just recently learned about the sins and their flaws and how to grow my wings from your mom. I'm like a newborn in this realm."
"You mean to tell me, you aren't from this realm?" Ella questioned as we walked down the halls, and I shook my head.
"I'm not," I replied as we entered my room and placed the boxes inside. "According to your mother, I'm from the mortal realm."
"Uh…Alex. How long did you stay in the mortal realm for?"
"All my life," I answered, and I could've sworn that all the color was removed from her face from my response. One minute she was in front of me and the next she was gone, leaving behind an afterimage of herself, which later phased out, followed by the echoes of her steps catching up to her down the stairs. All I heard coming from downstairs was Ella screaming out,
"Mother! What the nether!? He's an illegal ShadowKin; we can't keep him here."
After hearing that sentence, I ran down the hallway, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Azaelia was attempting to make what seemed to be some soup and homemade bread, judging by the mess in the kitchen.
"Mother!" Ella yelled out, "Didn't you hear me?!"
"I heard you," Azaelia said as she took a sip of the soup to see what else it could need.
"Did you forget what happens if they know that he's illegal?"
"Yes, we just have to make sure that doesn't happen. So keep your mouth shut and we'll be fine."
"So you'll risk having us die too?! Don't forget you almost died when the soul bracelet broke."
"You what?" I whispered in shock when Ella said that her mother almost died herself.
"Mika'Ella! Enough!"
Ella scuffed "Whatever. It's not like you'll listen to me anyway. Besides…," she turns to look at me with disgust, "you Lust users seem to understand each other just fine. Why should I care, right?"
Ella left the kitchen area as fast as the flash, leaving only a gust of wind that blew by me.
"Is it true? What she said just now?" I asked Azaelia who turned the flame of the stove down low. She placed her hands on the island in the center of the kitchen, which was a mess with flowers and other ingredients everywhere.
"Yes, me almost dying is a consequence of wearing the soul bracelet," Azaelia said, shrugging as if it wasn't a big deal. "You also being here is also dangerous for us. If the Shadow and Veil find out you're an Illegal, then we're dead."
"So I'm literally a ticking time bomb, and if I'm caught, everything blows up?"
Azaelia nodded, "Pretty much."
"Why didn't you just turn me in?"
"And let your parents' sacrifices go to waste? She believed in me…in us. Even if I haven't seen her in years, I couldn't do that to her."
I just stared at the floor with clenched fists. My father and mother are dead, and now my Aunt and cousin can die because of me.
'All this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't existed…it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been heartbroken. Everything is my fault.'
"Hey," Azaelia said, stopping in front of me and lifting my head to lock eyes with her. "You have 3 months to cram as much as you can into that head of yours to act like you've lived in this realm all your life. In 3 months, you'll be taking the deadly test to enroll in the academy. That will be the ticket to see if you belong with us. If you can't survive the enrollment, then you for sure won't survive this world.
Your training starts tomorrow. Now go organize your room."
Azaelia snapped her fingers, and all the boxes disappeared, and a heavy thump was heard above us.
"If you could've done that before, why didn't you do it?" I said a bit annoyed and pushed her shoulder, which didn't budge at all, so I just ended up pushing myself back.
"Wanted you to try and bond with my daughter, which failed miserably at that. Now, go upstairs and fix up what you can. Dinner will be ready in like 20 minutes."
I turned around and headed out of the kitchen and to the base of the stairs, but heard Azaelia's voice in my head.
'Oh, and Alex, your parents left you a book. I placed it on the bed in your room. It'll assist you when you begin training.
'Got it.' I responded, heading up the stairs.
Tomorrow is the day I'll start training. I'll make sure to put in all the effort I can. No one else is going to die because of me. I have 3 months to get to a passable stage.