For some reason, I feel little girl just casually revealed one of the most valuable pieces of information that the scientists in the organization have been searching for so long.
She said it as if it were something trivial, with an innocent expression and a serene smile. But, to be honest, it doesn't affect me at all. In the end, it's not something that truly interests me.
As I got lost in my thoughts, the conversation between Arthur and the little girl, who called herself an anomaly, continued.
Arthur's voice sounded measured, as though he was processing an unexpected revelation: “To be honest, this is a bit surprising. The answer we've been searching for all this time... is much simpler than I thought"
When I looked at Arthur’s face, I noticed his brow furrowed slightly, a mix of confusion and contemplation. Probably, what left him this way was the realization that the reason anomalies wanted to kill humans was much more straightforward and simplistic than he had imagined.
The simplicity of this revelation seemed to prompt a brief reflection on the subject. I, on the other hand, as always, didn't feel the need to elaborate on any specific thoughts about it.
The room fell into a near contemplative silence after the little girl’s revelations. Arthur, clearly surprised, seemed immersed in thought, absorbing what he had just heard, unable to find the words to continue the conversation.
In contrast, the little girl kept her eyes fixed on me, fascinated, watching every move as I ate. A small smile appeared at the corner of her lips, as though this moment brought her some silent satisfaction.
Despite the strangeness of the situation, an unexpected wave of nostalgia washed over me, as if something in that moment reminded me of a distant and undefined past.
(By the way, I noticed you were with Nekra before coming to see me) said the little girl, an innocent smile forming on her lips, as if she were just commenting on something trivial.
I paused, leaving the cookie suspended halfway to my mouth, and raised my gaze to the little girl in front of me. Her innocent smile remained unchanged, her eyes gleaming with an interest that made me hesitate.
She watched me closely, as though waiting for something from me, but I couldn’t tell whether her words held some hidden meaning—something that only anomalies should understand—or if it was just in my head. Deep down, maybe I was overanalyzing the situation.
(How do you know that? And besides, you know Nekra?) I asked, confusion clearly evident in my voice. According to Nekra, virtues were rare entities, so enigmatic that even she didn’t know much about the others.
Additionally, one thing I noticed was that speaking mentally with her was much easier than with humans. Just like with Nekra, it was as if her mind were an open book, where I could just write with no effort.
With humans, however, it felt like the mind was a locked book, and to speak even a simple word, I’d need to input the right password. I know that comparison might sound strange, but it's the closest way I’ve found to illustrate the difference.
The little girl watched me in silence for a few seconds, her soft smile lighting up her face, while her eyes retained an innocence so pure it bordered on charming.
Time seemed to slow in that moment, until her voice echoed in my mind, clear and serene, with a nostalgic quality that made my heart hesitate: (This is pretty obvious with the horn on your head. I’m sure it’s a side effect of sealing Nekra’s powers. Part of Nekra’s destructive power is contained in that horn, right there, on your head)
Hearing her words, I unconsciously reached up to touch the horns now adorning my head, remnants of Nekra’s abilities that I absorbed—or at least part of them. Two small goat horns, spiraling from my forehead, gave me a curious, almost bizarre appearance.
The added weight on my head was noticeable, but other than that, I felt no other change. The sensation was odd, as if that detail were a natural extension of myself, though my mind knew it wasn’t.
We fell silent once again, the little girl watching me closely while I distractedly played with the horns rising from my head. The atmosphere seemed heavy, laden with stillness.
At some point, Arthur finally snapped out of his thoughts, casting a quick glance at the human-looking anomaly. His gaze, intense and thoughtful, flicked over to me for a brief moment, as though contemplating something important, before refocusing on the little girl.
"By the way, how have you managed to stay under the radar for so long?" Arthur asked, his eyes locked on the enigmatic expression of the anomaly, trying to decipher any sign that could explain the mystery.
"About that, as I mentioned before, this body is just a shell. My powers are stored inside it" said the little girl, her voice soft and serene, as if explaining something simple: "However, as the human body grows, it loses the ability to contain my power. As you might have noticed in the garden, my powers are already starting to leak. There will come a time when this body won’t be able to hold them anymore, and I’ll have to leave it...” She paused, a mysterious smile appearing on her face: “Oh! But don’t worry, when I leave this body, it will continue to function normally. The original owner will probably wake up thinking they had a long, strange sleep”
I watched Arthur raise an eyebrow, his gaze fixing on me for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, he broke the stillness and asked, his tone a mix of curiosity and concern: "And what happens if you don’t leave?"
At Arthur’s question, the little girl tilted her head slightly to the side, as if his doubt had been completely obvious from the start.
Her eyes, fixed on him, conveyed a strange calm as she answered in a soft voice: "Well, in that case, the body wouldn’t be able to contain the excess energy and would end up exploding, allowing my real body to reveal itself"
Though my expression remained impassive as I watched the little girl, inside, a wave of surprise overtook me. It was hard to believe that someone so innocent could speak such macabre words, especially with that pure and untainted expression.
Arthur, by my side, seemed to share none of the same surprise. His face, serious, was marked by a thoughtful expression, as if he were reflecting deeply on what he had just heard.
Arthur asked, his voice carrying an unusual seriousness: "How long until the shell can't handle your power anymore?"
The little girl placed her finger on her lips, closing her eyes for a moment as she deeply reflected. Her face displayed a thoughtful expression, as though she were organizing her words in her mind.
A few seconds later, she slowly opened her mouth, speaking with some hesitation: "I think... about an hour? Maybe less"
Although she spoke with the ease of someone who didn't think much of it, I couldn't help but notice Arthur's eyes widening in disbelief. In short, we had exactly one hour to find a solution that could contain her power. After all, if she really was a virtue—and given the fact that she knew Nekra, it was almost certain she was—another apocalypse was on the horizon, imminent and relentless.
"Well, you don't need to worry so much. We have the perfect solution for my excess power right next to you" said the little girl, her gaze locking directly on me: "But it would be kind of boring just to be sealed. For humans, it might not make a difference, but for anomalies like me, who are formed purely from the energy of our own existence, it's like we're handing over more than 90% of our life to someone. So, let's do something more interesting: let's play a game"
I watched as Arthur narrowed his eyes while staring at the little girl. He didn’t look pleased with the proposal, and his discomfort was obvious.
Noticing his reaction, the little girl smiled mischievously, a grin that seemed to toy with the situation. Her words, calm and mysterious, echoed again in the air: "Sir, you don’t have to look at me like that, there are no tricks. All you two need to do is say my name"
Hearing the little girl’s words, Arthur raised an eyebrow, and I could guess what he was thinking. If the only thing we needed to figure out was her name, wouldn’t that be absurdly simple? Just ask the neighbors, and we’d have the answer.
But as if she’d read our thoughts, the little girl smiled again, a mischievous gleam in her eyes, and a playful look quickly crossed her face, as if she were enjoying our confusion.
"Of course, I’m not talking about the name of this shell, but my true name" she said, with a playful smile on her face, staring at us with an intense and curious gaze.
Now, we were in trouble. I doubted Victor even knew her name; he barely understood the shapes of anomalies, let alone their names. I kept watching the anomaly as she seemed to delight in the situation, a curious glint in her eyes. Then, as if she knew exactly where I was, her eyes met mine, accompanied by an enigmatic, mischievous smile that only increased the tension in the air.
"Well, I doubt you, a mere human, know, but there’s someone here who definitely knows my true name" said the little girl, subtly drawing Arthur’s gaze toward me with a slight gesture.
Honestly, what are you two waiting for? I have amnesia, you know? Even if I wanted to help, I can’t just guess her name... or at least, that’s what it should have been, but for some reason, her name—the true name—was so close, on the tip of my tongue.
I knew I knew it, but I couldn’t speak it, as if it were a lost memory, a strange and contradictory sensation, a void that prevented me from fully grasping it. As I got lost in my thoughts, the little girl stood up, drawing both my and Arthur’s attention.
We both watched her closely, and her gaze met ours just before she turned to leave. With a lightness in her voice, she said: “All in due time. My parents are coming late today, so you can stay as long as you need to think about it. I’ll do my homework. If you need anything, I’ll be in my room upstairs”
With those words, she turned and walked toward the stairs, disappearing from our line of sight. Arthur let out a heavy sigh beside me, and then his gaze turned to me, making me look at him, waiting for what he would say.
"We need to find a way to figure out her name" Arthur said, his gaze determined: "I’ll go to the car to grab some papers I left there; maybe they’ll give us a clue" He stood up with a sigh and walked toward the front door, his steps hurried.
Then, I was left alone with my thoughts. I blinked briefly, allowing my eyes to adjust, until my gaze fixed on the cookies on the table. My hand moved almost automatically, as if it had a mind of its own, grabbing a cookie and bringing it to my mouth.
It was an almost mechanical sequence: one cookie, another, and another. However, despite the apparent calmness of my gesture, my mind was in a whirlwind of thoughts, running wild and aimless, as if it wanted to escape the silence that surrounded me.
(Her name... I feel like I know it, like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but at the same time, it slips away from my mind, like something I should remember but can’t. And that feeling of nostalgia... the closer I get to it, the more intense it becomes, a growing pressure, as if it’s something important, though I have no idea what it really means. Could it just be my imagination?) I thought, as I brought another cookie to my mouth, trying to shake off the undefined sensation.
According to the anomaly, we had a little less than an hour to figure out her name. If we didn’t manage to do so by then, we’d face what could be considered a second apocalypse.
And honestly, I didn’t think the organization was prepared for something of that magnitude, especially after what happened with Nekra.