Omen of a Bluebell

It takes some time for her to calm down enough for me to understand what’s got her so excited.

But when I finally manage to piece together her verbal assault, my grin widens to match her own.

“I did it!” she squeals. “I passed the exam! And I’m ready to evolve to Tier One!”

I can’t hold back my own screech of excitement at the news, and it takes even longer for us to finally settle down into something more or less controlled.

Though she still practically vibrates with glee, and my tail never stops swishing despite my best efforts to restrain it.

Then I check her tag.

Human Mage

Level 49

I frown.

She gives me an overly dramatic sigh.

“I postponed the evolution, silly. Not everyone is as crazy as you.”

“Oh,” I say, scratching behind an ear. “Right.”

She shakes her head at me with a fond smile.

“Anyways, come one. I can’t wait to get started, and I want to make sure we record everything we can,” she starts, leaping from the couch.

As my personal warmer separates from me, I let out a low cry of dismay. I even droop my ears to make myself seem as pitiable as possible.

She laughs. “Oh, hush. You can snuggle up for as long as I’m out, you needy fox. Now come on!”

I perk up instantly, and she rolls her eyes.

Then I pause as I suddenly remember that Bella has been in her room since the Headmistress asked for a private moment.

Easily an hour has passed since then, and with each room soundproofed there’s no way she would know that the Headmistress had already left.

“Wait!” I call out to Cari, finding her already pushing on her own door.

She gives me an impatient look, so I quickly run over to Bella’s door and knock.

It only takes a few seconds to open, and I freeze at the sight of the glowing woman who greets me.

Seconds pass as we watch each other in silence, her cheeks taking on the barest hint of rosiness.

“Has she gone?” she asks quietly.

I nod.

It’s quiet again, but Bella seems to be back in her stride.

“Are you okay?”

I nod again, too quickly. “Y-yeah, just… Well, Cari’s ready to evolve to Tier One. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t trapped for however long it takes.”

Her lips twitch upwards into the ghost of a smile.

“It seems we have our third, then. So long as her evolution doesn’t take too long, anyways.”

My eyes widen. “Right! The exam!”

I spin on the spot to find Cari glaring daggers at me from across the room, one foot tapping with obvious impatience.

“Do you want to go with us on our Delve Exam after you evolve?”

She freezes, her annoyed expression melting away and shifting into confusion.

“What do you mean? Didn’t you already…”

I shake my head, but Bella beats me to the explanation.

“Unfortunately, our resident fox is a magnet for trouble,” she says, and as she speaks I can feel her breath tickling my ears.

My whole body twitches with surprise at her sudden closeness, and my tail brushes against her leg for a fraction of a second. The contact fires a jolt of energy straight through my spine, causing my tail to wrap halfway around her leg on pure reflex.

I hold very, very still.

“Our exam results were invalidated due to reasons we can explain later. Needless to say, we’re being allowed to reattempt it. And the Headmistress said we could invite you, if you returned in time and managed to reach Tier One.”

It takes every ounce of willpower I have not to shudder as she speaks, though my ears still swivel this way and that with minds of their own.

Cari’s face lights up. “Gods, yes! I’ve been waiting to delve with Emilia for months! When do we set off?”

“Tomorrow. I assume we’ll know more when the Headmistress returns tonight, but I would assume the worst and be ready for an early morning,” Bella says, sounding pleased.

Cari starts at that.

“Then what are we waiting for? Come on, Emi!” she blurts, then explodes into her own room.

I slowly turn to face Bella.

Scarlet eyes meet mine mere breathes away, and for a moment, I almost freeze up again.

Then I spot the smallest hint of a smile. A tiny peek into some private delight she’s indulging in.

And I get the feeling I know exactly what it is, too.

My tail flicks once behind me.

Play.

No.

If she’s going to do that to me… then it’s only fair I return the favor.

I let the feeling settle into place, leaning into it, taking control of it. The world sharpens just a touch as my focus narrows entirely on her.

“Is it just me,” I say, a slow smile tugging at my lips, “or have you become more bold, Princess?”

A flicker of something crosses her expression.

My smile widens.

Before she can answer, I turn, stepping away to stay in control. And partly to hide the heat creeping up my neck. My tail sways behind me in slow, deliberate arcs the whole time.

“One might start to wonder what your intentions are,” I add lightly, glancing back over my shoulder, “and whether you have what it takes to make them a reality.”

Then I’m stepping through Cari’s door and closing it behind me, the image of Bella’s face flushed a bright, vivid red lingering in my mind.

For a moment, I feel the flash of victory coursing through me as I luxuriate in the knowledge that she started it… and lost.

Then Fae Ferocity fades, bringing with it a wave of white-hot embarrassment.

Oh, gods, why did I do that? What was I thinking?!

“Come on!” Cari huffs, pushing a thick notepad and pen into my chest. “I’m so excited that I can’t wait any longer, and we have to record the changes.”

When I don’t respond, too stunned at my own actions, she pinches my shoulder.

“Emi! You promised you’d help me!”

The disappointment in her voice snaps me back to the moment more than the small twinge of pain in my arm, and I immediately feel ashamed.

Here she is, ready to take one of the biggest steps of her life, and I’m stuck in the clouds.

And while I still don’t know why she needs my help to write down her Status information, I naturally agreed to do it the moment she asked. Not only because I’m interested in seeing it, but because it shows just how much she trusts me.

Nobody shares their Status with anyone unless they have to or unless they trust the person they’re sharing it with.

And even then, ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s a heavily restricted partial Status share at best.

But the fact that she’s willing to share all of it with me?

Even though I've seen it a couple of times now, it still gives me the warm fuzzies.

“Sorry. Yeah, let’s do this.”

She hops in place with a squeal for a moment before leaping into bed. She scrambles to be face up for a moment, then gives me and expectant glance.

I sit cross-legged on the edge of the bed, facing her, and open the notebook.

“Okay, I’m ready.”

She nods, then shares her Status.

I begin writing.

Status

Name: Cari Ward

Race: Human

Age: 20

Level: 49

Health: 1163/1163

Health Regen: 129.9 per minute

Mana: 2058

Mana Regen: 363.9 per minute

Stats:

Strength: 48

Constitution: 58

Dexterity: 329 (473)

Intelligence: 289 (416)

Wisdom: 102 (147)

Charisma: 15

Available Stat Points: 0

Racial Skills:

Adaptability

Endurance

Combat Class: Thuunite Witch (E)

Active Skills:

Witchmind Overhaul

Void Whip

Mass Summon

Eldritch Ministration

Passive Skills:

Multi-mind

Witch’s Intellect

Thuunite’s Flexation

Void Infusion

Profession Class: Great Administrator (R)

Passive Skills:

Organizer

Quick Thinking

Quick Sorting

Overtime Endurance

I already knew her stats were much lower than my own, but seeing them laid out so plainly… stings.

I’ve begun advancing in power quickly enough that I’m almost certain that even Bella would be hard pressed to keep up with me.

At least, once my mana restrictions are gone.

And Bella has two legendary Classes.

Cari… doesn’t. And there’s no guarantee she’ll get even one this evolution.

I shove the morose thoughts away and finish jotting down her information. Then I give her a nod and pass the notebook back for her to double check.

Her eyes dance across the paper with expert precision, and in seconds she’s smiling.

“Okay,” she says, taking a deep breath in and setting the notebook aside.

She breathes out, long and slow, her eyes slipping closed. Another breath follows, deeper this time—and the air in the room tightens.

It’s not a visible change at first. Nothing shifts, nothing moves. But the pressure builds all the same, subtle and suffocating, like the space around us is being pulled inward toward a single point.

Mana rushes from Cari, the space around it… and from me. It warps the world around us, condensing at a singular point just above Cari’s chest.

My chest tightens in response, immediately recognizing the phenomenon.

Then my Oathstone reacts.

There’s no warning. One moment it rests quietly within the space between spaces, as constant and unremarkable as my heartbeat. The next, it’s here.

Mana surges through my body in a sudden, overwhelming rush that steals the breath from my lungs, and with it comes awareness.

Not of the room, or of the shifting air and the gathering mana.

But of Cari.

At first it’s faint. Little more than a flicker at the edge of perception. Then the world snaps back into place as the mana finishes condensing, and Cari’s Oathstone emerges in full.

Where mine gleams with soft, flowing blue light, hers burns with depth. Deep purple bleeds into near-black, scattered through with tiny, star-like points that seem to exist far beyond the surface.

It doesn’t glow so much as consume, drawing the eye inward toward something vast and distant.

The moment it stabilizes, both stones react.

Strands of mana lash out between them, fast enough that I barely register their movement before they collide. They twist together in a chaotic weave, overlapping and folding in ways that defy any kind of pattern I can follow.

For a split second, it feels unstable. Like it’s too much, too fast.

Then it just... resolves.

All at once, the chaos collapses into a single, thick band of mana linking the two Oathstones together with absolute certainty.

I don’t know what Cari chose for her evolutions, but I know what we are.

Family.

Sisters.

I already knew this. Accepted it. Lived it, even.

But now it’s as real as the Oathstones themselves. Whatever she did, it made her my family in ways that go beyond even blood.

I let out a slow breath I hadn’t realized I was holding, my gaze fixed on the bond as it stabilizes. Cari’s Oathstone is smaller than my own, its void-dark depths still swirling faintly with distant light, alien in a way that feels entirely… her.

I hesitate only for a moment before activating Relic Whisperer on the stone that is now part of my sister.

I see exactly what I expect.

Faen Oathstone

My gaze shifts from it to Cari, and I smile at her peaceful expression as she rests, knocked unconscious by whatever changes the System is enforcing.

When I see the new tag above her head, and I almost want to weep with joy.

Fae Mage

Level 51

Then something strange happens.

Notice

Would you like to view your siblings’ Status?

Y / N

I stare at the notice, utterly flabbergasted.

Then, hesitantly, I select ‘Yes’.

Status

Name: Cari Ward

Race: Fae Hybrid (Human)

Age: 20

Level: 51

Health: 8,742/8,742

Health Regen: 2,512.6 per minute

Mana: 10,027

Mana Regen: 3,261.5 per minute

Stats:

Strength: 280

Constitution: 437

Dexterity: 2,502

Intelligence: 1,075

Wisdom: 501

Charisma: 313

Available Stat Points: 0

Racial Skills:

Fae Adaptability

Fae Endurance

Manakin

Titles:

True to Self

Of Fae and Kin

Combat Class: Voidwitch Brawler (L)

Active Skills:

Voidmind Overhaul

Void Impact

Mass Summon

Void Manipulation

Passive Skills:

Deep Minds

Voidwitch’s Intellect

Voidwitch’s Body

Void Essence

Profession Class: Queen of the Desk (E)

Passive Skills:

Office Detective

Oversight of the Queen

Prim and Proper Paperwork

Ever at Her Post

I pick up the notebook and begin writing once more, more certain than I've ever been that Cari is my sister.

Only a chaos demon like myself could pull off something this ridiculous, after all...

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