I stared at the rising sun through the window of our temporary room, my eyes going blurry from staring so long.
I didn't sleep.
Why would I?
Then, there it was again. The ringing echoes of my so-called sister's snoring. My left eye twitched as I glanced at the bunk above me, and then at my fingers.
Maybe I should just strangle her. No, I promised Mẹ I'd take care of her. It seems integrity is the true bane of my existence.
I sighed, feeling heavier than usual. Given that I haven't eaten much in the last few days, I should've lost weight. Forget it, perhaps it's because of the lack of sleep. I didn't necessarily have a good night's rest yesterday either. Although that was only because of a certain idiot who decided that it was a good time to be stupid. It was then that another snore rang in my ear.
I threw a glare at the fool sleeping above me, suddenly feeling the urge to snap her neck again. I clenched my fists.
Mercy is a virtue. Mercy is a virtue.
I inhaled a good amount of oxygen and then exhaled, getting up from my temporary bed. I walked towards the window, still glaring at the sun rising above the buildings. As I glared, I scratched my itching wrist. Now that I think about it, my wrist has been itching a lot for a while now. I looked down, fully expecting the skin to be fucked up from all the itching I've been doing. But instead, there was a line of black symbols written along my wrist.
…..
The fuck?
I looked closer, blinking a few times to make sure I wasn't schizophrenic. Though I wouldn't be surprised if I was. Most of me is still hoping that this was all just some giant hallucination, and I'm currently in some mental asylum somewhere. Unfounded, yes, but a hope nonetheless.
Unfortunately for me, it was very real. I squinted at the line of symbols, them being suspiciously familiar. After a few seconds, a wave of dread crashed into me.
Ah, there it is. The feeling of impending doom, how wonderful.
I brushed my thumb over the symbols, feeling what was left of my optimism leaving me, and hopefully never coming back. Even if I can't leave this hellhole of a place, I can at least save a part of me.
Suddenly, the symbols along my wrists started to glow, the light surging upwards, forming into a small ball of light that floated in front of my face. My eyes widened, staring at the light, then at my wrist that was no longer shining.
"What the fuc-"
"Morning."
I paused, turning around to see the idiot staring at me from her lofty bunk bed.
"Morning Satan."
She rolled her eyes, "Fuck off."
"Ha! No," I smiled, turning back to the glowing orb that just came out of my arm.
"What's that?"
"A magic trick," I answered, so flatly that I felt like it was my soul talking rather than the sarcasm.
Alright, I did not realize something like that was in me. I'll just ignore that for now.
I stared at the orb hovering over my palms. It looked somewhat fuzzy, like a glowing cotton ball, which I will admit is kind of adorable. But, if I know anything about this world, it's that nothing should be trusted, everyone's trying to kill you, and there is surprisingly good food here.
It is imperative that I remember the last one, very important.
Anyway, back to the subject, I don't trust this thing like how I don't trust health insurance companies to not drain out all of my money if given the chance.
So of course, I poked it.
It felt like air, like hovering your hand at the back of a fan but not really. Is it absorbing light? Is light tangible????
Is it a particle? Is light even a state of matter?
Suddenly, the small orb that I had half my finger through broke apart into smaller glowing orbs, dispersing in different directions before disappearing into nothingness.
... Oh
... Well that happened.
I then proceed to stare at empty air. Perhaps if I judge the air molecules long enough, they will tell me where they put my glowing orb. It came out of my body, it was shiny, and as far as I'm concerned, it might as well have been my child. Yes, there is a high chance that CPS doesn't exist in this world, but I will not be labeled a neglectful parent.
While I was in the middle of my staring contest with the air molecules in front of me, I was rudely yanked away by my own sister.
"Minh!" she shouted, as if I couldn't hear her ugly face from a foot away from me.
I may act old, but that doesn't mean I am old. I'm not hard of hearing yet bitch.
"MINH!" she shrieked, shaking my poor shoulders like they personally offended her.
"What?!"
"When the fuck could you use graphien?!"
Oh, that.
I didn't tell her about that, didn't I?
Well, other than the writing in my own blood thing, it wasn't an important subject. I also haven't revisited it ever since the first attempt, so it simply slipped my mind.
I moved my stare to the runes written into my skin, the text staring back at me. A chill went through me, and the all too present feeling of impending doom followed after.
Welp, my future is fucked, isn't it?
I turned back to Phuong, who's been glaring at me for a bit now. I raised my wrist to her face as my response, and she, like an old man without his spectacles, squinted at the text, leaned forward- practically sniffing it, read in silence for much longer than she needed to, leaned back, and went-
"Oooooh."
Oh indeed, oh foolish sister of mine. Look upon the consequences of my own actions catching up to me. Surely this is just a one-off thing and won't bite me in the ass later.
Wait, I feel the impending doom. This is definitely going to bite me in the ass later.
.... Well, fuck me.
I watched Phuong's face turn from enlightened, to confused, to mildly annoyed for whatever reason, to then finally landing on an expression of various suspicion. Gasp, me, partaking in nefarious deeds beyond proportion? Phuong, you should know I'm only in business on Tuesdays. And besides, 'Tuesday' is practically nonexistent, and I've also been trying to not die constantly, so I doubt I'll be anytime soon.
"How, did that get there?" she asked, growing more suspicious by the moment.
I could tell, she doesn't exactly have the greatest poker face in the world. The worst however? Yes, I think that title would fit her quite well actually. She's quite shit at a lot of things.
I would know.
I pushed my chair back a bit. I can't handle seeing Phuong's ugly mug so close to my poor eyes. They have better things to see than... that.
I turned to the line on my wrist, then at Phuong before proceeding to lie to her face.
"I wrote it with pig's blood."
Not necessarily a lie, a white one at best. Besides, if I told her the truth, she would panic, and I'd rather not deal with that in the morning.
"You what?"
She stared at me, shock all over her face, mouth wider than the Mariana Trench. I took the courtesy to close her mouth for her. I personally don't enjoy the idea of my sister choking on a fly and dying because she failed to shut her mouth. That would be quite embarrassing to explain.
"I copied the demonic scripture in those books and wrote it on my wrist with pig's blood," I repeated, this time giving more context.
"It's not demonic text."
"Really? Seems like it."
"It's just Greek, and English, its not evil," she grumbled, as I started to question her social intelligence.
"You do know that that was a joke right?"
"Shut up!"
"No thanks," I mocked, flicking the fool's forehead.
"Ow!" she yelped, holding her forehead as she dramatically backed away as if she had just been shot.
I held a laugh, glancing at the clock on the desk. We should start going; we've wasted enough time here.
I got up from the chair, yanking Phuong by the back of the collar towards the door, of course, grabbing the room keys before leaving.
"Hey, let go you asshole!"
Ah, did I mention Phuong's fussing? Yeah, that's happening.
"We've overstayed our welcome, we need to leave for the capital remember?" I reminded, waving the key in front of her face.
After a bit of struggle, I presume out of spite, she finally settled down. Now I can put her down.
She got up immediately and punched me in the shoulder.
I punched her back as usual and retreated before she could retaliate.
"Hey! Wait for me!"
No.
-------
All that walking I've been doing since we got here must've paid off, because Phuong couldn't catch up to me for a while. Maybe I should extend my training sessions. Escaping a pursuer via speed walking should be very helpful; that could save my life one day, I could also shove it in Phuong's face. But the life-saving part is still a major factor, even if I love making fun of her.
We found our way out of the dormitories and out of the station- or more like I found the way out and Phuong tagged along. That's normal, though; she is terribly directionly challenged, even back home, my poor mother was worried sick for her future.
Anyways, after stopping by a bakery for a sugary breakfast, I managed to arrive at the destination safely without Phuong leaving my sight or getting lost on the way there. I'd say that is one of my most profound achievements I've done so far in my life.
We stared at a partially underground building that appeared to be a train station, one of those old ones you'd see during the second industrial revolution, except that parts of it didn't line up historically speaking. For example, some of the architecture, like the towers beside the entrance and the roofing, is almost identical to Alamay station during the Victorian era in England. Yet, the bridge atop the building is similar to the bridges that were used for train transportation during the Second Industrial Revolution. Then again, I could be overthinking this. There's no use in using history in a different world.
Besides, we won't be here for long. Once I start working on a way to get back home, we can kiss this accursed place goodbye and forget that this ever happened.
I took Phuong's hand and dragged her into the station. Surprisingly, she didn't object to my tugging this time.
The inside of the place was as expected. Think the train station from Harry Potter, but with less whimsy. We walked through the loud crowd of people, squeezing through the horde before spotting a distinct head of silver hair near a ticket booth.
I dragged Phuong over, with her complaints, it wouldn't be her without them, as I made my way to the white-haired individual known as Emily.
She turned to us, giving us the courtesy of a wave as she took out two files from her bag. I pulled Phuong behind me just in case and took the files from her.
"Your tickets are in the files, and you're already registered as citizens of the capital. Just follow directions, and you'll get to your new place safely. You'll get your assignment tomorrow," she explained, walking to the elevator door beside the booth as she took out a silver ticket from her pocket.
"Understood," I said, watching her enter the elevator with a few other people.
She nodded, and the doors closed, a static radio announcing its descent. I peeked into the files before handing Phuong the file for her, then sifting through my own.
From what I've read so far, I'm keeping my name; however, my background has changed a good bit- not that there was much to begin with. It shouldn't be a problem.
I took out a golden ticket from the file. It had my false information, as a ticket would, and, as a bonus, was very shiny. If this were back home, these things would probably take a lot of the funding out of this place. Although given that we're currently in war times, prices and taxes should be skyrocketing, especially with a war this long. Realistically, the countries of this world should have run out of resources to continue the war long ago. I'm aware it's a fantasy world, but shouldn't it at least have some realistic aspects?
Haah, fictional economy aside, that isn't my problem right now, and I doubt it'll be later. We'll just stay here for a little while and leave, go back home, and back to the way it used to be.
After some waiting, a golden light shone atop the elevator sign, and the static radio voice sounded once more.
"All Golden ticket passengers, you may now board. Please be mindful of other passengers and enter single file. Thank you for your patronage."
We got into line, quickly entering through the elevator doors. Inside were rows of cushioned chairs and small tables between them, all labeled by letter and number, similar to a plane, given that the text under seat on my ticket is A003. I look at Phuong, who was looking around the elevator with an awed expression. I elbowed her, pulling her down from her fantastical clouds before she ended up standing there for the whole ride. I looked at her seat number, which was A004. Good, we'll be sitting next to each other at least.
I nudged her over to the front row, which had the distinct letter A on the armrests, and I dragged her to sit down. Once everyone else was seated, the radio sounded again.
"Departing for the Capital, please remain seated during this time."
With that, there was a slight quake before the elevator started going down. I let out a breath, leaning back in my chair. I looked through my file again, reading through it a few times for some type of reassurance.
At least I don't have to act a certain way, that'd be annoying. Besides, I doubt the idiot next to me can act her way out of a paper bag. Let's just hope that all goes smoothly.
Suddenly, the dreadful chill crawled up my spine, the looming feeling of doom weighing me down.
Never mind, hope is dead.
A/N
Hello everyone! So sorry for the late update. My plane got rescheduled twice and I got stuck in Seattle for a while. Anyways, I'm glad I'm back and uploads will be posted as normal. Thank you for waiting and hope you enjoyed this chapter!