No, go back and make sure you've read my note from above.

Oh, you have? Then feel free to read. No one will stop you now.

•❅─────⋅☾✦☽⋅─────❅•

Conditions Reached.

Deactivating Vacillating Reality.

Beginning Restoration.

•❅─────⋅☾✦☽⋅─────❅•

˹ I felt it.

I knew I was returning to reality. I wondered why, after so long?

My very existence blinked back to the three-dimensional world. Since I couldn’t feel ‘time’, calling it the fourth dimension would be awkward.

I gave form to a spiritual receptacle with my own mana, returning my Vynexian body to Earth. Materialising afloat in the air was I, a young maiden with short golden olive hair wearing a white coat and scarf. I say Vynexian, but in human terms, that’d translate to a human that could use magic. I myself was constantly cloaked in a golden aura.

My human eyes slowly ope–

“Uwah?!”

*Thump!*

Uuuu… that hurt… I fell right onto the floor!! At least Sora’s bedroom was carpeted, so it somewhat cushioned my fall. I rubbed the back of my head, trying to allay the pain. My frail body creaked as I stood upright. Maybe I shouldn’t have manifested myself as who I really was? But I can’t just break my own image of my self – that stuff’s hard to do, y’know!?!

I was perfectly fine as the beauty I currently was!

After all, nothing can beat being yourself.

I puffed my chest out at nothing in particular, letting my pride get the better of me in the darkness of Sora’s room where a regular human most likely wouldn’t know their right from their left. It was kinda embarrassing… so I flinched upon realisation.

Speaking of Sora, I turned around and saw that he was soundly asleep with Yuki, his… younger sister? They’re blood-related, huh? Just by looking at them with my magic vision, I could tell their blood was all in all, the same. That pretty much confirmed it. How odd.

But I noticed another thing.

“Fufu!”

What a surprise. They were both in a dream-like state, stuck in 『The World of Paracosms』 it seemed. To think they’d be able to ascend there even as mere Ulmas. Ulmas are humans that can’t use magic, for your information! I’ll have to stop their eagerness before they die.

It was strange. Really strange. They shouldn’t be able to handle traversing between the realms, but here they were. Well, they were doing it spiritually so it should be fine, but I can’t let them stay for too long. Their souls will corrode away.

My eyes glowed with mana. But it wasn’t a glow that could be witnessed in the dark. Human eyes cannot perceive mana. And with my eyes, I directed their consciousness back into their bodies. Soon, they should be waking up.

In the meantime, I suppose I should check what’s up with this hyperspace.

We were high up at quite the elevation since Sora and Yuki lived in a modern high-rise apartment. They even had a clear view of the cityscape below: the urban metropolis of Central London.

I’ll link up with my other self so that I know what I’m seeing.

I translocated out into the corridor and hovered into a tall and spacious reception. I leapt across the expansive lounge like a balloon and went right through the glass window as if it didn’t even exist.

Compressing the air beneath my soles, I boosted myself up as if I kicked off onto the top floor where there was a rooftop garden. Underneath the murky sky, rain precipitated and soaked the city in nature’s tears.

Everything seemed so simple that it felt refreshing for a change. All the building complexes and skyscrapers shooting up in the distance. A panoramic scene of London conurbations had spread out in display, all assembling the skyline of midday London to the south.

The River Thames flows by in prevalence somewhere down along the streets while on the opposite side of its embankments, the stature of the Shard stood tall in all its renown.

“How unfortunate it is that Earth’s civilization is so primitive. Woe to humanity, for they are destined to never mire their hands in magic.”

I looked to the sky for something that lied even beyond those boundaries. I’ll check the inscriptions woven into this realm. To make sure of what my purpose was in being here.

I sent my eyes into the upper dimensions.

And I was made aware.

Exactly why I appeared before them, here and now.

“Ah, there’s no time left remaining in this world.”

That’s simply the reality I became aware of. ˼

-════════════════-

「Back from the abyssal depths of the murky sea called ‘consciousness’, my eyelids were gradually pulled back to reality.

It felt like being suspended in a hollow void filled with a mysteriously unrecognisable warmth. This whole time I’d been swimming in a sea of inexplicable happenings. Everything just felt like a mystery– ah… no, I lied.

It was an obvious perjury. It only took a moment for me to realise I was dreaming.

I didn’t even have the time to start processing a thing since I immediately felt a painful, prickling sensation in the blood flow of my right arm. As if pointed blades had stabbed into them… yeah, the numbing sensation of 'pins and needles’. It completely killed my thoughts.

Retracting my arm from beneath the pillow, I relieve my arms from the discomfort. I took out my smartphone on which a lit up analogue widget had displayed the time.

12:13.

Thirteen minutes past midday. At this time of year, the length of daytime is as short as it can get. Precisely 7 hours and 49 minutes in London. Only a few hours remained till night would fall upon the city.

The previous night on the 20th of December, I had been up till the eleventh hour in both meanings of that phrase, immersed in school work and other things that needed my attention before falling asleep in the exact same manner I’d always done for all past winters. Though it’s quite the truistic tidbit to mention at this point.

I’m a nyctophiliac. It’s hard to get out of bed at times. The comfort of night is a blessing no human should ever rescind – after all, who doesn’t want a good night’s sleep?

Attempting to get up and as I did, a susurration beneath the duvet could be heard to which I shifted my attention. Stretching out from the inside was a slender, pearlescent hand that wrapped around my neck and nuzzled closer. That’s one way of adding the final blow…

The pair of delicate hands belonged to the black-haired femme fatale in navy pyjamas that appeared from beneath, revealing the innocuously charming face of my younger sister. She breathed gently whilst asleep in my embrace.

Now of course I couldn’t see her, but I knew for a fact it was my sister. If not, there’d be more problems to worry about than my own sister sleeping with me.

Or was it Sonia? Nah, she couldn’t have broken in.

I loosened her hold and gently untangled myself from her. I got up from my bed before touching down lightly on the carpeted floor and replacing her hold of me with my dakimakura.

Right there in front of me was the view of my little sister, who had supposedly received an arm pillow from me earlier and a cuddle just now.

Even to this day, I’m still stupefied by Yuki’s fraternal instincts. Being able to navigate into my room every night in complete darkness was an impossible task. I’ve even checked for traces of lights being turned on within the room software, yet not a single piece of evidence was there.

Maybe she’s gotten used to somnambulating into my bed for a long time through the darkness? Or maybe it’s just that she deleted the logs on the system’s operation files? Or something deeper?

Once again, it’s pointless thinking about such things. Nothing would change even if I did.

Now that I think about it, it might be something I’m better off not knowing about. It gives me the shudders just trying to imagine what it might be…

Unlocking my phone with fingerprint recognition, I proceeded to open up the custom home utility app that we use to manage things around in our flat (the courtesy of my little sister who created the whole system). From there, I turned on the ambient lighting hidden in raceways throughout the whole flat to illuminate it in a cool, icy hue. Drawing back the curtains via the motorized rails, the light of the outside world could be seen through the double-glazed glass, pouring itself into this very room devoid of that light.

And alas, it was an overcast sky.

Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone about them. They rarely appeared, so I happened to always forget. Besides, this time it was such a clear dream unlike any others I’ve had in the past.

Even Yuki doesn’t know about those dreams I’ve constantly been having. I’ve always kept it a secret.

In that paracosm, I was able to recall what was in front of me and everything around as well. It was a mysterious, omnidirectional feeling. I saw myself and that young girl as a young pair of children.

I never knew who that young girl was. I never recognised the land that we stood on. I had never seen such a black night: the darkest of all nights. What she wanted to say so many times, why she was there, why it was me before her, who I was to her.

A dream that even till date, I haven’t a clue what it was. I never understood when, where and why such an orphic paracosm had been subconsciously appearing in my dreams intermittently throughout the past years. For my whole life, I could never seem to catch onto any of those vague wisps of residual traces left in my memory, if there were any to begin with.

Those visions were something I could neither say were fake, nor real. It’s been pointless thinking about it. I’ve asked myself plenty of times in the past.

Was it a tiny fragment of my past?

A sad delusion?

If it were a delusion, it would be sad seeing how I was dreaming of a little girl. I’d rather die of embarrassment than let anyone know I had such ephemeral phantasies.

So even as I stood here thinking, I ended up wondering just like always what in the world it must have meant.

What did it signify?

I thought it was pointless ruminating about a simple dream.

Should I wake up Yuki and tell her about it or not? I had considered it, but I realised it was a golden opportunity to watch the final episodes of the anime airing this season. But if Yuki ever finds out I'm secretly watching anime, I probably won't be able to live to see the sun rising the next day (not that she has ever caught me).

I should get some refreshments and snacks first.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「Yuki Amamiya.

The kanji written as 『雪』, read as ‘Yuki’ which simply means 'snow’.

Aged 14: she is an adolescent teenager in her penultimate year secondary school here in the UK.

An endowed beauty well-received by her peers, an exemplary student and a genius. In reality however, my imouto was a reticent and taciturn girl. Even though she was a friendly person, she’d never initiate a conversation with others. She would often feel out of place because she has little to say to others. They wouldn’t be able to fundamentally talk to her on the same level.

Because they were not similar.

Because they could not understand.

Because they were not able to reciprocate.

Because they were all banal beings.

People who were exponentially different from most others can’t really mix in with the crowd. In the end, they only end up blending themselves into the background.

You don't have to be a genius to feel that way. If you're too different from others, you yourself will always feel alienated. It’s a belief that comes from the heart, and when it manifests itself into reality, you only want to push yourself away even further from everything. There are some people who can adapt and assimilate to their surroundings, but more often than not, there are people who hide themselves away in their own skin while putting up a façade. Not all humans are flexible enough to do that, and there are even those who are capable of deceiving appearances but have given up even trying or putting in the time, effort and energy only to realise that corresponding change isn't just not worth it, it never was worth it to begin with, nor will it ever have been worth it. There’s simply nothing to gain from such a ludicrous entreaty.

They just resign themselves to fate because of who they are. And when one does, they will slowly but gradually fade away from one’s environs and become invisible. The world loses out on the colours you are dyed with and doesn't mix itself with your own colour. What point even is there in wasting breath to even acclimatize to something so evenly welcoming yet renouncing?

What reason could people ever have to change themselves for the sake of others they aren't even obligated towards? To change their own essence and discard themselves. You'd be better off on your own or even dead.

Because there is no reason.

That’s simply the truth.

No matter how you put it.

That's how both she and I had ended up as we drifted through reality.

Rarefied beings were what we were. And despite it, I love my little sister to bits. I know, at this point I’m simply implying that I’m a siscon but to reject her sisterly impulses like a normal brother might have...

In fact, it’s something I could never do.

Maybe it’s just the overprotective love of an older brother who dotes on his younger sister way too much to the point of being spoilt? I don’t think that’s really the case though.

Or maybe it is.

Anyway, enough of my opprobrium and back to reality.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「I grabbed a few snacks from the kitchen cabinets and took out a drink from our see-through smart fridge. I then began to head towards my room in a mondaze.

I fixed my eyes upon a specific wall towards the right side of the room, adjacent to the bedside table mounted onto the wall.

Approaching closer with my phone in hand caused the abutting wall to split down the middle before sliding open with a soft and pleasant mechanical whir. A tokonoma-like alcove was revealed which had led to another room within, beyond a second set of doors where I spend a lot of my time.

Entering the clandestine room, the door behind had closed itself with a sci-fi-like sounding mechanical whir. The room was no different to a regular room – quadrilateral in form – except that it was a soundproofed spanse that sat between two bedrooms.

There was a single story-height window on the left; on the right were shelves on a ladder-like bookcase.

Atop the white-framed desk was a triple monitor setup with 24-inch curved BenD monitors (no pun intended) mounted on the wall.

It was a high performing computer, setting aside the actual specs.

If you didn’t understand a single thing I said, just imagine an overkill setup with a rainbow of iridescent lights diffusing everywhere in a colourful gradation.

It was a workstation not just for entertainment and gaming but also for ethical hacking & programming, which I specialise in. Using a versatile set of programs on virtual machines, I find various different bugs and loopholes on many different networks and work with companies to enhance their security and the backend of their systems. I also work incognito for various other agencies from different organizations the names of which I shall omit.

I stashed the snacks into a drawer latched to the underside of the desk while placing the drink on the desk itself.

Turning on the hollow, bladeless tower fan on my right, it blww out hot air from the inner workings of its circumference. It had this futuristic ring design which I quite personally liked.

I placed my phone on the desk to the left of the keyboard so that it was out of the way.

The main monitor instantly booted up to the lock screen with a starry background of outer space. Logging in, three desktops with an animated wallpaper of the night sky stretched across.

I opened up a tab to stream anime to for the next 2 hours while occasionally browsing around a couple of websites, checking forums, news and social media.」

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

˹ “He~e~e~e~e~e Sora’s got good taste.”

I know I might be speaking out loud but no one’s gonna be able to hear my voice. I’m simply speaking to air. That’s it. Nothing weird. At all. This ‘anime’ that Ulmas call it are mostly animated Japanese stories. I’ve never actually seen something like it before – well, the other me has. It seems that my other self that lives among the humans on Earth is also the type of person that you’d call an ‘otaku’. ‘Weeb’? ‘Hikikomori’? Apparently, there are multiple nouns delegated for such anime viewers.

I assumed that this was how Sora was going to spend his time even though the world is going to end soon. It’s not like he’d know that though and even if I suddenly appeared before him, it’d be a pain having to explain things to him. For the time being, I’ll keep him accompanied for the single hour it’d last. Knowing about the duo’s antics, I could already envision how this’ll turn out…

It seemed like it’d be fun! ˼

✦ ✦ ✦ ✦ ✦

「An hour passed and little did I expect that at that time, an exceptionally particular notification would pop up on my phone. When it did, that was when I knew that the next few seconds predetermined the line between life and death.

2.7 seconds were all that was left to define the remaining time I had left to ensure my own survival. At least–

–until…

…the doors behind me slid open.」

“Hnnnnn…… Nii-chaaaaan?”

「Standing there was Yuki – my little sister with a dreamy, half-awake look on her peaceful face as she peered into the room.」

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