If I already had 7 HP from her slap, how much HP do I have now after that punch?
Hmmmm.
Things are getting a little dangerous here.
[HP: 3/15]
Uuuuurrrrrfffff.
Okay, whatever. I have other things to worry about, like this hunger that hasn't gone away yet, where the rest of my family is, and how they are doing now.
It took me a while, but I soon managed to compose myself enough to head to the living room, following the trail of glitter her wings were leaving (I don't even want to know what that was), while Nawa and Lumi stayed in the garage area.
"Oh, before I forget, I'm here for you."
She said, making some movements in the air, and soon some magic stones appeared, and she threw them at the orange tree, which is now apparently called Pomo for some reason, and at the pond where the pleco fish lives, which is apparently called Scrubber (I have no idea why, what an unimaginative name).
As soon as the stones reached the tree, she "caught" the stone with one of the branches. Immediately after, the stone seemed to melt like an ice cube, causing the tree, or rather the Pomo, to tremble.
Just below in the pond, the head of a fish as big as could be imagined came out and snatched the other stone.
"Are you coming or are you just going to stand there with your mouth open?"
She asked as she entered the hallway, while I stared at the pond, probably with my mouth open, but come on!. What would you think if you saw the head of what looked like an adult Sturgeon sticking out of a puddle?!
Okay, the pond was bigger and deeper, but not deep enough to comfortably accommodate a thing like that!!!
I quickly followed her, and once again, it only took me two steps to reach the corridor, 5 meters away.
"I don't think it's very good to keep stopping to appreciate the changes in your body like that. Do it later in a safe place, or you'll end up dead."
The way she so matter-of-factly said I could easily end up dead was disturbing, to say the least. But it's not like she was wrong; if I hadn't caught those goblins by surprise, I think it would have been harder to win... probably.
So we got to the kitchen/living room, and I went to one of the sofas, which was still there, albeit torn in some places. My sister just walked past and headed toward the stairs outside to the second floor of the house. I didn't understand that. Hadn't she told us to talk in the living room?
"Hurry up, I just came to check on you, but I still have to finish my rounds."
She said, signaling for me to follow her, which I did immediately. As soon as I reached the last step, my instincts forced me to duck, just as a ball of water passed over my head and opened a hole in the roof of the "barbecue area" behind. Which, by the way, was full of identical holes.
"Oh, I forgot, Beth doesn't need that, it's just Nando."
Would it be worrying that I wasn't startled when she called out the name of one of her turtles?
Wonderful! Another thing I'd better not think about too much right now.
I heard the characteristic sound Beth made when she turned and went back to her water tank. I looked up, but no new water balls appeared. I climbed the rest of the steps and soon saw a mini jungle in front of me.
My mother loves ferns and collecting plants. Whenever we travel, she always finds a plant she wants at home, and 7 out of 9 times she brings back at least one plant, which she usually put on the second floor.
So, the second floor was quite green with plants both outside and inside, but it wasn't quite that green before.
I could only accept that this was how things were now, telling myself it must have had something to do with magic or something, and continued to be careful not to step on any branches, stems, or vines that were scattered on the ground.
It took me a little longer to get to the sofas in the "second-floor living room." I use quotation marks because a living room would imply walls around it, but the second floor was completely open, with just a bedroom at the back near the bathroom. All the furniture was scattered throughout the floor in specific places, but without any walls separating it.
As soon as I sat down on one of the sofas with fewer fern leaves and stems on top, I noticed that the little ball of light my sister used to move around had disappeared, and she had returned to her normal size.
"Oh! Cool, is that one of your abilities?"
"One of my racial abilities, actually, feye form. What it does is pretty obvious, right?"
Yeah, that's how many of my abilities are. But before I could ask anything, she held up a finger and said,
"But!!! It's not that simple. My feye form not only changes my appearance and lets me fly, but it also creates a sort of protective mana around me that reduces the effectiveness of mana-based attacks against me by 40%!!"
.... Wow!
It's a really great ability, but that wasn't what we came here to talk about (or at least not only because of it), which also reminded me.
"Why did you want to come up here to talk?"
"Things here and in the barbecue area are more intact than anywhere else in the house. Seriously, people, at the first opportunity they get, throw courtesy and civility aside for 'survival' and 'convenience,' buff."
She said with obvious disdain.
"So everything down there was really caused by thieves, or 'survivors'?"
"Yes, that's the theory we came to after seeing how things were. But it probably wasn't just them."
She said with a shrug.
"Some goblins and other creatures must have also come after some #@!#!! basically blew up the gate, as you can see down there."
"Do you have any idea who or what did that?"
"None, just guesses in the dark, but does it honestly matter?"
Not really. But before we got to the main topic, I couldn't help but ask.
"How did here and there still stay so 'intact' according to you?"
The furniture here was indeed intact, but not exactly intact. She just pointed to Beth in the tank, which I could now see was still the same size as always, but her shell seemed to have turned blue, but it was a very subtle shade, almost imperceptible if you hadn't seen her shell before.
As I watched, she took her head out of the water and looked at me. We stared at each other for 3 seconds until a ball of water formed just above her and came at me, forcing me to throw myself to the ground.
Turtles are not the most expressive animals, like any reptile, but I'm sure I saw her smiling when I threw myself to the ground to avoid being hit by the ball. While my "sweet" little sister.
"Hahahhahahahaha ooohohoho, very- very good Beth, ahahahah, I'll give you some more rocks later."
It's so typical of younger sisters to laugh at their older siblings' misfortune. I just rolled my eyes and sat back down. Considering that, and the fact that Beth has the annoying habit of getting out of the tank on her own, I can already get an idea of why up here is so "intact."
Although it also makes me wonder how long Beth has been awake, that's for later. Now let's get to the point.
"So, how are things? Where are Mom and Dad? And how much do you understand about things?"
She thought for a moment before answering.
"We don't know much, just a few things. To begin with, they were quite shocked when they noticed these messages that appeared out of nowhere. They didn't understand anything. Absolutely nothing. It took me a few minutes to make them calm down and understand the situation... Well, the best I could do to make them understand. You know how they are."
Yep,I know.
The kind who care more about practical things like newspapers, occasional soap operas and series, and very rarely documentaries (the latter more for me and my dad). But are they the type who understands supernatural things like a magical apocalypse?
Definitely not. We had to explain the concept about five times before they understood the basics so we could watch a series with this premise that I found interesting and wanted to share.
"Okay, so what do you know so far?"
"Okay, get ready because it's going to take a while to explain the main points."
She took a deep breath and began.