"What's wrong, honey? Aren't you feeling well?"

I opened my eyes and felt my mother's gentle touch against my forehead.

The sensation was warm and ancient, just like I remembered it.

Losing myself to my mother's gentle touch, I closed my eyes, choosing to embrace the delusion before me.

"Now, now. This isn't the time for sleeping."

Before I could sink even deeper, my mother's voice prompted me back awake.

I looked at her in confusion.

She was the same as ever.

Just like me, she was born with silk-like white hair, almost as pure as snow.

Her expression was gentle like always, and her eyes, gold in color, never once wavered.

If I could describe her perfectly, it would be someone passionate in showing affection.

"Heh. She deserves it. After all, I warned her staying up all night with that brat would be a bad idea."

Unlike my mother, my father was rough around the edges.

His hair, originally the color of blonde, had been dyed to white to match my mother's.

I once asked him why, but he merely shrugged it off, saying he didn't want to look out of place.

Either way, he was a very competitive man, especially with Mom.

As he taunted me with his words, his gaze darted off to the new addition to our home.

A child barely older than me.

He had blonde hair, sapphire eyes always swirling with myriads of emotion, and finally, a smirk tugged across the corners of his lips.

My family and I found him a few weeks ago.

He was a lost child suffering from a severe case of amnesia.

At first, we took him to the police, but an unforeseen incident transpired in the station before his identity could be recovered.

Our town was relatively small, so there were no other stations around.

Mom ended up shifting the focus to a nearby Awakeners branch to look into his identity.

With the recent rift sightings, the Awakeners were extremely busy; hence, the search for his identity had come to a halt, so he was staying with us for the time being.

The child... Arthur, being his name, was strange, but I liked him.

When Mom and Dad weren't around, he taught me how to use aura.

He even praised me a lot if I succeeded, but when I failed, he flicked my head.

Remembering it caused me to rub my forehead, while Arthur, observing me from the left side of the dining table, giggled.

"I think Uncle Seth is just jealous because I'm taking all of Val's attention."

"Argh... you see that, Ako? This kid... he's messing with me. I tell you, Ako, he's a bad influence on my sweet Valaria."

"Enough with your petty games, you old fool."

Stomping towards my father with her hand on her waist, my mother, who had taken in Arthur like her own child, began to defend him.

"Don't tell me, Ako... he's also influencing you. My dear Ako would never call me old."

My father, tearing up, commented with a heartfelt expression.

"Enough with your theatrics. How many times have I told you to leave my dear Arthur alone?"

"You're calling him dear now... you little brat. How dare you take... ouch... ouch..."

Mom was as lively as ever, this time going a step further and grabbing Dad by the ear. She twisted it, causing Dad to scream in agony while Arthur burst into victorious laughter.

"Kids, why don't you two go ahead and eat while I deal with this man-child upstairs?"

My mother, who seemed to be enjoying herself much more than I expected, began dragging Dad across the tiled floor.

If she was going to punish Dad, why do it upstairs?

That thought raced in my mind. After all, it would wound Dad's pride even more.

More importantly, I wanted to know why Dad was blushing as he was being dragged around.

"Is he enjoying the pain?"

Wondering so, I watched them quietly until they disappeared up the stairs, locking the door behind them.

"Arthur..."

Arthur had recently taught me how to enhance my senses with aura, but he told me that to use it I had to ask him first.

Since I was curious about what my parents were up to, I began to ask for his permission.

Arthur, now lost in thought, didn't respond at first.

I was used to this sight.

I also wondered if it was a side effect of his amnesia, but for some reason, I never bothered to ask.

"Arthur!"

This time I stood up from my chair and grabbed his shoulders.

"Huh?"

Only then did he come back to his senses, a bit startled by my method.

"Val... what's going on?"

Deducing I wanted something from him, he inquired.

"Mom and Dad... they went upstairs again."

"They're probably going to sleep," he responded, staring at the plate of food before him.

"But they locked the door this time."

"Val..."

"Mom and Dad never lock the door when they are going to sleep."

The sole reason I knew that was because my parents were always worried I might need their comfort throughout the night; hence, they left the door open for me at all times.

But lately, I had noticed them recently locking their door.

It started happening when Arthur came around, and I no longer needed comfort during the night.

"Listen, Val... they're doing grown-up things. It doesn't concern us."

For some reason, his voice was much stiffer than usual, and his face seemed to leak sweat.

He was nervous.

Maybe he knew what they were doing but didn't want to tell me.

"Arthur, please tell me?"

I pleaded, but...

"You're a child... when you grow up, I promise to tell you. Heck, not only that... I'll tell you much more. For instance, about you, abi—"

My dream ended there.

It was strange—the man I had grown to hate much more than I wanted... was also the same one responsible for some of the happiest times I had as a child.

"I hate... you..."

Regaining my consciousness, I muttered, my vision static and unclear.

"...and yet... I love you. Arthur... no, Art. Why don't you remember me? Or did you also forget? Well, it doesn't matter now... I'm dying either way."

"Oh, you're still awake."

The demon's voice pried deep into my soul.

My senses were so damaged I couldn't even feel pain... nor could I see properly, and yet I found the will to stand.

A sensation unlike any other burned within my heart as I pondered if anything truly mattered.

Cheshire was dead.

The Head Mistress was dead.

This academy was in ruins.

The only thing worthwhile now was the fact that I managed to piece together bits of my lost memories, but it wasn't like it would change anything.

Legacy was lost, and I, as the ace of the first year, did nothing and just fled.

"You know what, Val... you're not just a prodigy. You're a star... the protagonist. So—"

Those distant memories caused me to look up, a desire to see the stars once more.

"Very well then, I'll let you die standing."

Feeling the demon's advance grow stronger, my body began to lose balance and my vision grew more blurry and static.

With each passing second, I was losing blood and my ability to see.

But I wanted to see the stars one more time.

The stars he once compared me to.

I wanted to know, at my end, what the stars looked like.

It was dazzling... that was all I could think of as a golden light ignited from the skies and grew into a golden pillar of light that climbed the heavens.

Like a moth I found myself drew to the light and before I knew it, the path to survival was clear to me.

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