Going Back (2)

Vincent's heart raced as he dashed through the wrecked living room, calling out desperately.

"Marina! Sis Amara!"

Silence answered his pleas. Panic rising, he bolted up the stairs, taking them two at a time. He burst into Sis Amara's room first, only to find it in a similar state of disarray. Clothes were strewn across the floor, drawers hung open, their contents spilled out like entrails.

"Damn it!" Vincent cursed, spinning on his heel and rushing to Marina's room.

The scene that greeted him was no better. Marina's beloved anime posters lay in tatters, her collection of figurines scattered and broken. The sight of her ruined sanctuary sent a chill down Vincent's spine.

Last, he entered his own room. The destruction continued here, his belongings tossed about carelessly. But amidst the chaos, a glint caught his eye. His phone lay miraculously unscathed on the floor, having fallen between the bed and nightstand.

With trembling hands, Vincent snatched up the device. He quickly navigated to his contacts, finding Marina's number. His finger hovered over it for a moment before he tapped, bringing the translucent hologram to life.

The call connected, but it wasn't Marina's voice that greeted him.

"Little Vince?" Sis Amara's casual tone came through, a stark contrast to the turmoil in Vincent's mind.

"Sis Amara! Where are you? Where's Marina? What happened here?" The questions tumbled out in a rush.

"Whoa, slow down there, kiddo," Sis Amara drawled. "We're fine. We're at the Stellar Plaza Hotel. Room 507."

Vincent exhaled sharply, relief washing over him.

"I'm on my way," he said, already moving towards the door.

"Take your time, little Vince. We're not going anywhere," Sis Amara replied before ending the call.

The journey to the hotel passed in a blur. Vincent's mind raced with possibilities, each scenario more terrifying than the last. When he finally reached Room 507, he knocked with more force than necessary.

The door swung open, revealing Sis Amara in her usual tank top and shorts, a beer in hand.

"Hey, little Vince. Glad you could join the party," she said with a lazy smile.

Vincent's eyes shone, seeing the usual calm and lazy Amara. The heaviness in his heart was largely alleviated but not completely gone.

"Sis Amara..."

His eyes scanned the room until they landed on Marina. She sat cross-legged on one of the beds, engrossed in a holographic anime playing before her.

"Rina!" Vincent called out.

Marina's head snapped up, her eyes lighting up at the sight of her brother.

"Big bro!" she exclaimed, leaping off the bed and tackling him in a hug.

"I missed you so much! Did you see what those jerks did to my limited-edition figurines? They'll pay for that!"

Vincent returned the hug, relief flooding through him.

After a moment, he gently disentangled himself from Marina's grip and turned to Sis Amara, his expression serious.

"What happened?" he asked, his voice low and controlled.

Sis Amara took a long swig of her beer before answering.

"Robbers, looks like. Hit the place while we were out. I was at work, and Marina was at school."

"Robbers? How's that possible..?" Vincent muttered to himself.

He was baffled since, based on Vincent's memory, they had never encountered any kind of situation like this in the couple of years they had lived in their district.

"Is that really it?" he thought, feeling there was something more to it. Though he had no definite suspicion who would do that to him.

He had been quiet all his life and rarely talked or got in touch with anyone.

Amara saw Vincent in deep thought, so she asked him, "What's wrong, little Vince?"

Facing her question, Vincent simply shook his head. He had no plan to implicate anyone if this event really had a connection to him.

"Have you reported it to the authorities?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah," Sis Amara waved her hand dismissively. "They came, took some pictures, said they'd look into it. Don't hold your breath, though."

Vincent nodded, his mind already working on their next steps. Since it wasn't safe to live in their house, it must be better for them to stay in the hotel for a while before he found them a new place to stay.

"Brother, what do we do now? Are we going back to Sis Amara's home?" Marina couldn't help but ask, glancing at Vincent and Amara.

Vincent didn't answer immediately; he instead stared at Amara.

Sensing the siblings' gaze, Amara quickly understood that they were waiting for her decision.

"You're a big guy now, you can decide what you want to do..." she said before sipping her beer, as though she didn't care what would happen to her place.

Vincent kept staring at Amara. He was truly curious about her background and what was going on in her mind. She had been so calm and collected despite what happened to her house, as though nothing could shake her emotions.

Since Amara let him decide, without thinking twice, he decided.

"Then let's just stay in the hotel for a while before we look for a new place to stay."

Hearing his decision, Marina, who was silent, couldn't help but ask, "We're not going back?"

Vincent simply nodded in response.

"But where do we get the money to get a new place? Is sister Amara going with us?" Her eyebrows rose.

Once again, Vincent turned to look at Amara, who was drinking her beer in silence with her eyes closed, as if she didn't hear Marina's question.

He then turned to face his younger sister and pinched both of her cheeks.

"What the hell are you thinking? I was just gone for a day. Why are both of you like this?" He wondered.

Ever since he arrived at the hotel, he felt as if something was amiss between them.

He deeply wondered until realization dawned on him.

Looking at both of them, he questioned, "Did Sis Amara force you to eat something she cooked?"

Marina, who was still being pinched by her cheeks, exclaimed, "You know it, brother!"

Her eyes shone and her eyebrows rose, glaring at Amara, whose eyes were still closed but lips were twitching.

Although she was being glared at, Amara just completely ignored her. She knew Marina had reason to be angry.

Since Vincent had gone to Origin World and no one would cook for the both of them, she decided to cook for herself and Marina.

And the result was Marina's hate.

Seeing them acting like this, Vincent could only sigh. They were too dependent on his cooking. Well, he could not dismiss Marina's hate for Amara, since he clearly knew her cooking.

'Sis Amara's way of cooking is definitely cursed,' he thought.

"Alright, alright. That's enough. Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I lost my appetite since yesterday morning..."

Marina didn't even hide her thoughts.

Vincent chuckled, stroking her head to calm her down.

"Let's just order food downstairs. I'll cook for you tomorrow."

Enjoying her brother's caresses, Marina simply nodded her head.

After ordering a meal and having breakfast, Marina went to school while Amara stayed in the hotel and had no plan to go to work.

Vincent, on the other hand, checked his email.

It had been almost a month since he awakened. He had never been to the school since then and was focused on preparing to go to Origin World.

He knew that event was about to come.

As he expected, he found an email from school, which notified him to report back to school in order to participate in the Annual Battle Ceremony.

Annual Battle Ceremony was a tournament battle between awakened Origin Warriors to showcase their abilities and promote their school to different guilds, institutes, and organizations' recruiters.

Therefore, it was basically the most important tournament for newly awakened Origin Warriors for their future career.

Although he felt that with his talent, he could improve on his own, he had no intention to ditch the tournament.

He was quite interested in the other awakened students and the champion prizes.

Last year was also a blast; the Annual Battle Ceremony champion won a lot of high-quality items.

Therefore, he had no reason to ignore the prizes if they wanted to hand them to him.

Yes, Vincent felt that with his absurd improvement, he believed no one could compete with him, unless some cosmic fate interfered and caused him to lose.

Hence, he immediately left the hotel and went out after letting Amara know.

He didn't immediately go to the school since the tournament would start in the afternoon. It was still early in the morning; he had enough time to sell his loot for quick money.

After calling a hovering cab, Vincent arrived at the Origin Warriors Trade Market Branch of District 12.

Although it was a market, the place was a towering skyscraper, although not as grand as the branch of Origin Warriors Association.

Similar to the Origin Warriors Association building, Vincent was also scanned by blue lights as he entered the establishment.

The moment he entered, he was greeted by a robotic AI.

"Greetings! May I kindly know the purpose of your visit today?"

"I'm here to sell my items."

"Great! Would you like me to guide you to the Central Bazaar?"

"I'm good, just let me know where to find it."

"If you want to visit the Central Bazaar, you can go to the 10th to 13th floor. Just a reminder, you can freely visit the first floor of Central Bazaar, which is on the 10th floor, where you can buy or sell various resources that are common in quality. And if you want to buy or sell higher quality items, you have to visit the higher floors, which will require authorization from the Bazaar host."