4 Chapter 4: Magic Stones

[AKARI'S POV]

"What are the things that Alrick specifically taught, huh? Huuuuuh? Maybe...he taught you how to kiss too?" Aki slyly asked and nudged me with her elbow.

I instantly covered my face. "Stop it, Aki!!"

Aki was about to say something but Alrick butted in. "By the way, Akari, I got all the magic stones here. We can continue checking your magic aptitudes with your sister." Followed with a smile.

Ackk!!! He looks so cute and innocent whenever he smiles!

"Akari?" Alrick called out to me once again.

I got a hold of myself and finally spoke. "A-Alright!" I said in a panic.

Aki poked my waist. "Someone's got a crush."

"A-Ate!" I called her out. I only call her Ate whenever she gets me flustered. Ate means older sister in my mother tongue, Filipino. We both grew up in the States so we're more accustomed to using English. We do however speak Filipino from time to time.

"Okay, okay! I'll stop. Sheesh," she said while raising her hands in defeat.

I stood up and dragged my sister inside the house. There, I saw Myr and Fia greet Alrick.

"Alrick! Welcome home." Myr smiled and gestured for an embrace. Alrick then gave his mom a big bear hug. Then Fia, his younger sister, made a pouty face before squeezing in to join the hug as well.

"Aki, this is my mom, Myr." Alrick gestured to his mother. Similar to my dress, she was also wearing a long beige worn-out dress that almost reached the floor, along with a red bandana on her head that went great with her short and wavy blonde hair. Despite the maturity of her face, her body still looked smooth without a single wrinkle. She looks like a typical farm girl in video games!

"Then this is my little sister, Fia." Alrick pointed to the little girl hiding behind Myr. I bet she's just around 6 years old since her height is just past our waist. She was wearing a white oversized shirt paired with brown shorts and sandals. Her clothes were a bit dirty too, probably because of playing and helping around the house. Aside from this, her long brown hair was tied into a half-ponytail using a small pink bow.

Part of me immediately wanted to squeeze her for looking so cute, especially with her looking at us with curiosity!

Even though a week has already passed, she's still a bit skeptical of us. Well, I can't blame her. Aki and I did look suspicious and out of place when they saw us. Both of us were wearing semi-burnt and bloodied clothes when they saw us. But, we didn't have any form of injury. It's a good thing that Myr and Alrick didn't interrogate me about our condition.

To them, we looked and acted differently. But they respected our boundaries and felt that it was a topic I didn't want to talk about.

Brushing my thoughts away, I gave Fia a small smile before following Alrick inside the house. Since their house was small, stepping inside already exposed the kitchen. Instead of a living room, their house was centered on the dining area.

Myr told me once that she valued food more because it helps in making people form bonds with each other.

"Aki, Akari, Alrick. I'll prepare some food for you. Just wait a while," Myr instructed us. Hearing Myr made it seem like a tongue twister since the three of our names start with an A. It's quite funny the more I think about it.

I nodded. "Got it!"

All of us walked past the kitchen towards the circular dining table. Like the rest of the house, the table was also beaten down—perhaps even a second-hand item. The four stands of the table were already wobbly, making it a bit difficult to eat food with others due to the constant shifting. Moreover, the three out of four chairs looked like they were made in a hurry with no care or attention to detail at all. Unlike the fourth chair at the middle which had thicker wood as its base with intricate engravings.

"I call that seat!" Aki shameless said while running towards the fourth chair that looked better than the rest. I facepalmed myself and gave Alrick an apologetic smile. He returned the gesture by giving a genuine smile—as if to say 'It's okay.'

I swear to the goddamn heavens, Aki is not my twin. There's no way that this barefaced woman is related to me—ME! I'm too poised and responsible for this crap.

As I unwillingly sat down beside her, Aki lightly pulled on the hem of my sleeves and whispered. "Was she the one who took care of me while I was out cold?" She said while pointing at Myr.

I shook my head. "Nope. It was Fia."

With that, Aki's eyes searched for Fia and intently looked at her. Fia seemed a bit frightened so she ran towards her mom and hugged her.

Because of that, I flicked Aki's forehead. "Stop scaring the poor girl, you sadist."

Aki pouted. "But I wasn't trying to..." Followed by puppy eyes and fidgeting fingers. I quickly turned away from her.

I'm not going to let Aki trick me with that stunt again. Hmph!

"Whatever, Aki. Let's just check our aptitudes," I told her as we waited for Alrick to finish setting up the magic stones on the table.

"What do you have there, Alrick?" Aki asked him.

"Well, from having 2 stones, I have now gathered 6. I was lucky enough to spot some golems carrying magic stones a while ago," he said with a triumphant grin on his face.

6 stones were now scattered across the table. I don't know what elements they hold but the colors are white, red, blue, brown, black, and transparent.

"Uhh so how does this magic aptitude thing work?" My sister asked again.

Alrick picked up the white stone and raised it. "What I'm holding is an air stone. You just have to let some power flow through these stones. If it reacts, then that means you have an aptitude for it. Not everyone is compatible with elements, though. So don't feel bad if some stones don't work."

He then proceeded to illustrate how to use the stone. After concentrating his energy on the stone, it glowed subtly. Then, a gentle gust of wind flew out from the stone and grazed my cheeks a bit. I smiled in excitement.

That's pretty awesome!

Even though this is the second time he did this for me, I still get fascinated by it. Magic really is a wonderful thing to behold.

"AAAAHHHHHH! That's so cool! Me next! Me next!" Aki screamed on top of her lungs. I did an internal facepalm because of that.

Sigh. Aki is always such a child even though she's older than me.

"Alright! Here, you can try this one first. It's a water stone." He handed a blue stone to Aki. Alrick got a wooden bucket and instructed Aki to point the stone there.

With glimmering eyes, Aki took the stone and held it. She closed her eyes and focused on letting her power through the stone.

I heard her grunt a bit but after a while, a powerful rush of water flowed out of it. The water flowed as if it was through a firetruck's water hose. Water splashed around, making Aki and I's clothes and surroundings a bit damp.

She was smiling from ear to ear while batting her eyelashes at me. It seemed as if she was waiting for praise.

I rolled my eyes before patting her head. "Whatever. You did well," I said in a low voice.

This made her squeal with joy and hugged me. "I can do magic now, Akari!"

I didn't mind what she said and took the stone from her hand. I aimed at the bucket and closed my eyes. Chills ran down my spine as I tried to visualize my power flowing through the stone. I imagined it as if a white line composed purely of electricity was slithering in me. Within a blink of an eye, a gush of water also flowed out of the stone and into the bucket. It was at the same power as Aki's.

Hold on.

Hmm...that's weird. My power wasn't like this before. When I tried the firestone before, its intensity was similar to a match fire. It was small and not this powerful.

When I looked back at Alrick, a surprised expression was painted on his face. Not just with him, but with Myr and Fia too. All 3 of them stood still in their position with shock written all over their faces. I returned my gaze to Aki and both of us wondered what was happening.

"Alrick?" Aki asked while waving her hand at his face.

"You okay?" I asked.

"A-Ah, yes," he answered before coughing to gain his composure back.

"Apologies. I got taken aback by what happened. People don't usually use magic stones with such power. It has a barrier that prohibits people from letting a lot of power flow through it. But in your case, it seemed like you're able to temporarily break that barrier while using it," he explained and got the stone from my hand.

He proceeded to aim the stone at the bucket. Within a few seconds, water flowed through the stone. But it wasn't as strong as ours. It was just a small stream of water, similar to how water flows from a faucet.

"Akari was also able to wield magic stones but it wasn't as strong as now. Akari was just similar to my level when we checked her aptitude the other day. Maybe it has something to do with both twins finally being together?" Myr joined in the conversation.

Aki had a confused look on her face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I checked my aptitude for fire the other day, it wasn't like this. The only fire I could procure was something similar to a match fire. It even took me 2 hours to let my power flow through it. But with you around, I feel like doing these kinds of things became much easier." I tried to clear up things for Aki.

A smug smile formed on her lips as she gave me a thumbs up. "Of course! I'm your big sister after all. I'm always here to have your back. We've been like two peas in a pod since our conception! Mehehe!"

At the corner of my eye, I saw Fia copying Aki's thumbs up and looking confused. Even Myr and Alrick looked confused with the sign.

"It's a hand gesture that means something like 'okay' or 'alright.' It's just something we made up as kids," I explained to ease the confusion for everyone as I forced Aki to put her hand down. This explanation is better than blatantly saying 'Hey guys. We died before and got transported in this world. We're imposters that Destiny decided to toy around with.'

It's a good thing that Alrick and Myr bought the excuse and nodded. I looked at Aki and gave her a death glare. She just shrugged it off and stuck her tongue out at me.

So childish!! This girl will be the death of me, I swear.

"Ehem. Now, wanna try the other ones?" Alrick asked, breaking my glare at Aki.

Aki went ahead and called dibs on trying some stones. While looking at her, I couldn't help but venture into deep thought.

I know Aki and I already died from our old world. But it's not bad to get excited with magic and adventure, right? After all, we were the last of our kin and we lived a very sheltered life. So no one will miss us, aside from our pets and a few neighbors.

But I guess I'll be sad about all of the things I could've done in my old world—like ride a rollercoaster, eat ice cream with friends, fall in love with a classmate, and all those typical stuff. There are still things from my old world that aren't present here.

I looked at how Aki was smiling brightly while Alrick gave her the transparent stone to try out. After directing her attention on the stone, it gave off a strong beam of light. I had to squint my eyes due to the intensity.

"I can do light magic! Woohoooo!" Aki yelled in joy.

Alrick smiled. "Good job, Aki!"

I know missing the people we left behind won't do good. I know it's sad that we left them without notice. But this new world gave me a lot of hope and joy these past few days. I don't know. Maybe it's because, in this world, I can finally express and find who I really want to be—not just Akari, the daughter that needs to fulfill an ancestor's dying wish. Not just Akari, the sheltered girl. This time, I can be Akari, the adventurer, the mage, or even the dragon slayer. I can be anything I want and this world just opens up a lot of possibilities for me.

Yes, it hurts to leave my loved ones. But...it's also not bad to be happy about being in this world, right?