"B-Brother?" Primula was taken aback when she saw her brother walk out with a blank face.
She ran up to him with a worried face and grabbed his hand. "Brother! Brother! Are you okay?"
Varian's eyes remained lifeless.
"Brother, don't be like this! Please!" Primula's eyes started to water and her voice cracked.
"Please, please! I'll be good! I won't talk back anymore!" She brought his hand to cup her cheek and pleaded. "You can pull my cheeks any time! I won't complain!"
There wasn't even a shred of reaction.
Primula's lips trembled in anxiety. "Say something! Please! Brother, I'm scared!"
The little girl shook the young man, hoping to elicit a reaction. She beat him with her tiny fists, pulled his hand.
He didn't flinch, groan or retort. Like a soulless body, he just stood.
Primula's tears broke out as she grew anxious and in desperation, she said. "B-Boost! I'll give you the boosts!"
It shouldn't even work.
She knew her brother just them for fun in their game.
But if there's even the slightest chance they could work…
"Brother is the best."
"Brother is the most honest person."
"Brother is the most kind hearted man, he won't hurt even an ant."
The words she uttered in a breaking voice seemed to be drowned by the howls of the wind. But they reached the man in front of her.
"Ah…"
Vitality returned to Varian's eyes and tears flooded down his cheeks. Collapsing onto his knees, he started crying.
"Brother…"
The girl hugged her brother's head with her small hands and patted his back, trying to console him like he always did for her.
But the more she did that, the more he cried.
"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" He apologized again and again, like a broken record in a cracking voice.
Seeing him like that and hearing his heartbreaking voice, Primula's tears flowed on their own.
She didn't want him to be like this. She wanted to console him, to make him smile and turn him to that happy brother again.
So, she did what he would always do to her.
In a tone as kind and loving she could muster, Primula said.
"It's okay…it's going to be okay…it'll all be okay…"
It's what he always told her when she got those horrible nightmares and would bawl in the middle of nights.
He would take her into a protective hug, gently pat her back and tell her in his warm voice. "Whatever happens…"
"I will be there for you, brother." Primula promised. "Always."
It began to rain and Varian slowly got up.
Rubbing his eyes, he smiled. "Damn it, why did it rain already? Water is falling from my eyes!"
"Yes, yes!"
Primula had a sweet smile on her face.
A smile worth dying for.
Varian held her hand and they walked out of the manor.
The next stop was a second-tier academy.
"Hurry! The defense test is not going to wait for your sorry asses!"
Teenage students walked through the narrow roads and practice grounds with an annoyed look on their faces.
"You're studying in one of the best institutes ever! Match the standards!"
The words blaring through the speaker this time evoked a lot of eyerolls.
'Best? We are close to 1st at the bottom than the top.'
'These guys have no shame.'
'Some XYZ studied here a zillion years ago and that's the selling point? If I didn't have a choice, I wouldn't be in this sh*thole.'
None of the responses were positive.
But looking at the half-dried gardens, patchy roads, decaying buildings and the gloomy atmosphere throughout the campus, it'd be surprising if the academy had any fans.
Varian and Primula, invisible to everyone else, stood in front of a large board recording the names of the academy deans.
The oldest board dated back to the era of abyssals and it was carefully preserved. After all, that's the selling point of this academy.
[You're going to study in one of the founding institutions of humanity.]
"Anna spent her whole life here." Varian sighed. "I guess the old maiden had a soft spot for children."
After the rebellion, everything that could go wrong did. The academy fell into the hands of profiteers who looted everything they could and sold the hollow shell of the institution to a group of greedy corporates.
"Let's go." Varian sighed. "Nothing left to see."
It was barely two years for him but the academy where he conflicted with Charles, bonded with Siarah group and grew short but fun bonds with some seniors became history.
Varian traced all the places he had meaningful connection with.
The city he spent most of his life in turned into a wasteland.
Valos grew into one of the biggest cities before degrading into a mid-tier city due to a battle that killed half of the population.
A lot of museums recording the history of humanity pre-Varian was preserved. The severity of the human-abyssal war was severely slighted.
Instead, these museums were used as 'evidence' for the theory that humanity was captured by the 'Three Demonesses' using the pawn 'Varian'.
The narrative that they're all trapped here was fiercely supported and exploited by the ruling class to crush any faction bearing any other explanation.
"Brother…I'm remembering a few things…" Primula placed her head on her forehead and groaned in pain.
Soon, her face contorted in anger. "How dare they?! I'll not lea—"
"Don't." Varian suppressed the process, pushing down her rising memories. "Primula, just enjoy your time. At least for now."
"…Okay." Primula no longer made any attempts and the memories were pushed back.
A few seconds later, the little girl rubbed her head with a confused expression. "I feel like I'm forgetting something."
"You asked for bubbling choco shot."
"Ah, yes, I did! I did!" Primula nodded with a bright expression.
Varian rubbed her head with a complicated smile and brought her the item. While she enjoyed it in relish, he bought a land vehicle to drive.
Primula hopped onto her seat and asked with a full mouth as she savored her bubbling choco. "Wel ale v ghong?"
Varian shook his head with a smile and started the vehicle.
"I bid farewell to the dead. Now, we have to go see the living."