The voice was soft. Careful, but it struck me harder than any weapon ever could. I didn’t need to look to know who it was.
It was her. My sister
Leaning against the door was a beautiful woman with long black hair and enchanting golden eyes that seemed to glow in the dim moonlight.
I had never seen her before, yet all I wanted was to hold her and never let her go. Instead, I froze, caught between my stolen memories and my closed heart.
I had made my choice before: death. Death was peace, death was an eternal nap. I’d thrown myself into the river because life was painful and cruel.. But now there was someone who wanted me to live, someone I couldn’t abandon even if I wanted to.
She was a stranger, sure, but she was also my sister at the same time, a paradoxical problem. On one hand, I had never seen her before, but on the other, I knew everything about her.
For a second, the thought of me dying formed in my mind. Would my death hurt her? Would it hurt me?
I didn’t know the answer, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to find out.
"Sebastian, are you okay?" Her sweet voice broke me out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, just surprised, I thought you would still be in the academy."
My sister was in her second year at Astralis Academy, the number one academy of the human empire. Not only that she is the student council president, so all things considered, she shouldn’t be here.
Now, most normal siblings would have hugged over a tearful reunion or something like that, but our relationship was a little different. Instead of doing something normal, she jumped and caught me in a chokehold.
"You little rascal!" she practically screamed with how loud she was. "How dare u ignore my calls? I called you three times, THREE TIMES!"
"I was busy..." I huffed, trying to pry her arm off, though part of me couldn’t help but have a small, startled smile tugging at my lips.
"Busy?" she repeated, eyebrows slightly lifting. "Doing what, scrolling on TikTok?"
I coughed, "Something like that..."
I tried to keep my face neutral, but inside my thoughts were a mess.
Bastard’s voice cut through my thoughts without warning.
{That’s a great idea, you should tell her how you jumped in a river, then got burned, and after that, you almost fried your brain.}
Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t, and saying it like that it makes me sound like a masochist.
Alectra rolled her eyes and loosened her grip just slightly.
"Sebastian, I told you to stop wasting your life . What if you don’t awaken? What will happen then?"
I smirked in response, tilting my head upwards to meet her eyes. "Hell freezing over is more likely than me not awakening."
She blinked, surprised by my change in attitude. "Oh, really?"
{It’s time to tell her Sebastian} Bastard’s voice reverberated in my head, unusually serious. {Tell her our grand plan for conquering the world.}
Wow, and here I thought you were about to say something important. My bad, it’s my fault for expecting you to say anything useful.
Alectra’s golden eyes narrowed, her voice teasing. "My little star, there’s a difference in confidence and arrogance."
Seeing the worry on Alectra’s face pained me. In the end, I wasn’t her real brother, just an imposter who had the same face and memories.
Hey bastard, what happened to the real Sebastian? ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0veI.Fiɾe.net
Bastard’s words rang inside my head, his voice devoid of emotion. {The only reason you were able to take control of this body was because he died.}
{You didn’t kill him; he was dead before you even came here.}
I didn’t bother answering. Bastard’s words kept repeating inside my head, loud and unwanted yet impossible to ignore.
He said Sebastian had died before I ever came here. A lie - it has to be. Bastard always lies.
Color started bleeding from my face, and the world narrowed to a single possibility that I had ended something that was never meant to end.
Alectra’s rambling faded into the background. She noticed the change before I could hide it, her eyes sharpened, and the teasing edge left her voice.
"Sebastian?" She took a step closer, concern crossed her beautiful face, dimming the golden light of her eyes. "What’s wrong? You look—"
I just lifted a hand and said, "Nothing. Just... thinking about how to tell you about something, give me a few minutes."
For a second, I saw the retort forming on her tongue, but she swallowed it down, choosing silence over pushing me away.
The thought that I killed him gnawed at me again, but this time something else crept in, that it wasn’t my fault. Nothing I could or didn’t do could have changed the fact that he’s dead. I wasn’t his executioner; I’m just the shadow that was left behind.
The realization loosened most of the guilt in my chest. It didn’t vanish, only dulled.
I drew in a deep breath and finally turned back to face her. "Alectra... I awakened a few hours before you arrived."
Her eyes widened, and a smile blossomed on her face. "So that’s why you were so confident you’d awaken," she murmured, her tone full of pride.
But just as quickly, her expression shifted again. "Why did your face go so pale just now? You looked like you’d seen a ghost."
I forced a small smile. "Probably just... an aftereffect of the awakening." Alectra didn’t look completely convinced and was about to say something, but I cut her off.
"Believe it or not, I’m an Ascendant now."
Alectra’s golden eyes locked on mine. Then, slowly, her smile returned, brighter this time, filled with pride and something almost childlike. She leaned in, eyes gleaming with curiosity. "Incredible. Tell me, my little star, everything that happened?"