SYSTEM ASCENSION

It wasn’t a dream. He remembered now. The incident that separated them.

"Seems like a nightmare." A voice muttered.

He glanced sideways. Keen was flipping through a book, the eye glass resting on his nose bridge.

"Was it?" The little boy asked.

He sat up, his body still shaking.

"It wasn’t. I remember now."

Keen shut the book and turned to him.

"Remember what?"

"When I lost everything," he put his hand over his face. "Zeal was eaten alive. Mom, who can detect danger, saved me and also met the same fate. Father died a day after because he fought so hard to protect everyone. He saved everyone."

"Zeal has a regeneration ability." The boy raised a brow.

"He was unawakened." Rowen panted. "He must have awakened in the heat of the moment..."

Keen huffed and glanced at the birds chirping by the window side.

"He saved me..." Rowen continued to mutter his words to the little boy. "He saved me, and I forgot it."

He chuckled softly. "When I met him a few years ago, I...I was confused. I didn’t know who it was. I didn’t remember him. He felt like..."

"A familiar stranger?" Keen muttered.

He slowly nodded.

"Why did I forget that..."

"Hippocampus," Keen muttered. "Creates and organizes memories. If it’s disrupted by extreme stress or injury, memories may never be properly stored or become difficult to retrieve."

"...what?"

"Amygdala," the boy continued. "Processes fear and emotional significance. During trauma, it floods the brain with stress signals, making some memories extremely vivid while others become fragmented."

"I..."

"Prefrontal Cortex. Acts like a manager. It can consciously suppress certain memories or keep traumatic ones from surfacing so you can function normally."

He stood up and walked over, tapping Rowen’s shoulder. "It’s not a surprise that you never remembered. You were a kid too."

For some reason, the boy’s words brought a little bit of peace to his mind.

"Those moments where Zeal suddenly pop up after vanishing for months and end up consuming all the foods in the house,"

Rowen’s eyes went wide.

"You mean..."

"He’s here."

It took a minute for Rowen to process the words before he scrambled out of the sweaty bed and rushed off to the door. As he moved, his mind was in a troublesome phase.

’What do I say to him? Act normal? Or tell him that I remember...’

He slowed down.

’Did he remember me all this while and never said it? I gave him a suspicious look when we met and he didn’t mind it.’

He got to the door and stopped. Running his fingers through his hair, he chuckled slightly. "Why am I suddenly nervous?"

He pushed the door.

He was met with a scene of Elias sleeping on the ground, with a strange egg beside him and Zeal sat on a stool digging through the food that should have been Rowen’s lunch.

He didn’t even have the nerve to be pissed. He stood there till the latter turned around, mouth full.

"Aah! Rowen!" Zeal waved. "I’m back!"

Rowen took a step forward and his eyes suddenly caught the necklace around his neck. The light from the window catches it, reflecting a ray on the wall.

"That ...you weren’t with it when..."

"This," Zeal grabbed the necklace and looked at it with a nonchalant expression. "Aunty Amy said I wore it since I was younger."

"Aunty Amy?" Rowen felt bile raise in his throat.

’He doesn’t remember.’

"Look! It matches yours."

Rowen began to move to him.

’He doesn’t remember me, or mom or dad. Then...’

"How did you know that you had a brother?"

"Huh..." Zeal thought back to a certain incident. "His highness told me."

"The king?!"

"Yes."

"..."

Zeal returned his attention to the food and left Rowen standing there. It suddenly felt like there was a gap. Sure, Zeal was still his usual self, but Rowen was not.

He took a slow step forward and another and another. He wanted to grab him and argue, or ask questions, and make demands, but instead he was pulling Zeal into a hug.

The latter froze, nearly choking on an extremely large slice of green onion. He carefully raised his head to look at his brother’s face, but he couldn’t find a reaction. Rowen’s face was hidden in his own hair.

"Umm... brother..."

"..."

"Rowen..."

"..."

"Rowen?"

"Yes?"

"You didn’t even hug me when we met each other eight years ago."

Rowen almost laughed. He tightened his grip.

"Shut up."

"Yes..."

They stayed that way for a few seconds before Rowen actually laughed. "I don’t think we have ever had a real hug. It was weird, even when we were younger."

Zeal raised his head again. "Really? What was I like?"

"Look in the mirror idiot. You’re still the same."

"Hehe..."

Rowen sighed. "I might have searched for you...no, I would have searched for you. You were my responsibility. I forgot the one person I swore to protect,"

Zeal continued to eat.

"You were unawakened, yet you were faster and smarter. I was really happy I had a twin."

Zeal scoffed. "Don’t burn yourself," he raised the necklace to stare at it. "I don’t know where I got this from. Perhaps, I’ll never know."

Rowen pulled back and went around the table. "Ask me anything. I’ll answer what I remember."

Zeal chuckled and leaned against the table. "It’s almost cute except that we are both thirty. Too old for this."

"Twenty nine." Rowen corrected.

"Same thing."

Zeal sat up. "Then, tell me about our parents."

They spent the rest of the day discussing the two people who had sacrificed their lives that day. Loiia had come into the restroom, grabbed Rowen and handed him safety to Owen before returning to find Zeal. Only her tattered clothes were seen at the scene.

Luke personally faced every creature while Owen evacuated all the citizens, ending the case with three deaths and zero injuries. Although he wasn’t able to close the portal, he was able to minimise the numbers of opponents.

By the time Rowen was done explaining, Zeal felt chilled to the bone. Nothing sounded familiar to him, yet it felt so real.

"I didn’t get the chance to apologize for stomping his toe that day too." Rowen scoffed.

Zeal laughed. "He deserved it."

Just then, the door opened. It was two raiders from sound league. They came in and bowed.

"Sir! Sir One!" They glanced at Elias sleeping on the ground. "Sir six!"

"Get to the point." Zeal waved.

"The team sent into the S rank portal had returned. They requested an emergency meeting."

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