In the three years that passed since that day, I continued to learn more about the world I was in. First, I learned to read. When I heard this world’s language spoken, it sounded like Japanese. However, it had a different alphabet, which I had to learn from scratch. Marie didn’t start reading until she was five, but I began at three. I begged Mom to teach me, and eventually she did.
Mom educated me about everything here. Our noble house, House Ornstein, apparently had a long and respectable history. Dad and Mom both received proper nobles’ educations, so she was qualified to teach in a wide range of subjects. Children’s brains have pretty great retention, so I mastered basic reading skills in half a year. Marie was still working on it, but considering I had the body of a kid and the mind of an adult, I had a huge advantage over her when it came to studying efficiently.
Beyond reading and writing, my studies extended to figuring out how to live my life in this world. I learned about the currency, the basic legal system, geography, and history. House Ornstein was situated in the western Etten Region of the Kingdom of Lystia. The region was relatively undeveloped and featured spacious territories suited for agriculture.
Etten’s population was small, but there was one large city within striking distance, although I hadn’t been yet. I wasn’t allowed. Dad forbade it because he said it was too dangerous or whatever.
Basically, I learned as much as I could about the outside world without leaving the house. And along the way, I confirmed that there really was no such thing as magic here. Not even the word existed.
It was hope against hope that Mom and Dad were just ignorant of it. That was possible, after all. It was a big world; surely there was magic in some faraway place. I soon concluded that was unlikely.
I learned that Dad had traveled to other countries when he was young. He went to all sorts of places, and he had never heard about magic in any of them. In addition to that evidence, I never encountered any possible leads.
The truth became clearer day after day. There was no magic in this world. It didn’t exist.
So, by the time I turned six, I’d lost all purpose in my life. Were I still living in Japan, I could probably go through the motions and find some sort of happiness. I would’ve just moved on. Sure, I waited all those years just to find out there was no magic, but I regretted nothing.
Instead, I’d been reborn into another world. There was the potential to find magic here, and that had given me hope. My dream that I might get to use magic was renewed. And now, that dream was crushed into dust for a second time.
This truth made me become completely apathetic about everything. I lost the will to do anything but space out and look dull. I never spoke unless spoken to. All I did was watch Marie run around the garden.
She’s still at it, even at eight, I thought. Shouldn’t she be out-growing this?
I’d grown a lot bigger in the last three years. I had more strength and stamina, and my body did what I wanted it to do. But who cares? Not me. It made things slightly more convenient, but that was it.
“Whoa! Hiyaaah!” Marie shouted. She was always in such high spirits. Today, she wielded a wooden sword, flourishing it through the air as she jumped and hollered. I guess she was into swords nowadays. Apparently, Dad had thought it would be handy for her to know how to swordfight, so he taught her the basics when he could.
I didn’t know if there was a concept of ladylike grace in this kingdom. If so, maybe Dad felt differently about it.
“Phew,” sighed Marie. “I’m wiped!” She came over next to me. She’d been at it for some time and was breathing heavily.
I was six to her eight. We were kids, but I felt we were a little too old to just be running and jumping around. Not Marie. She’d put the sword down for now, but she was still running in circles.
I never asked her why she liked running so much. I mean, she was a kid. What other answer did I need? Still, I couldn’t stop asking myself the same questions: Why did she always run in circles? Why did she repeat the same loop over and over again? Was it fun? I was starting to wonder about her.
Girls are supposed to grow up faster than boys. Marie had changed a lot in three years. She was only four foot three or so, but I could see how fast she was sprouting. She always ran in her skirts, which often revealed boyish legs. Our parents didn’t seem to mind, or they would’ve certainly yelled at her to be more proper.
Mom and Dad were generous, but they kept a close eye on us. They only got mad when we did something risky that hurt ourselves or others. Then, they would blow up.
“Alrighty!”
Marie plopped down next to me. She quietly stared up at the sky. She never asked me what I thought about, or how I felt. It didn’t offend me, as I’d heard that kids tend to do as they please, sometimes to a dangerous degree. It wasn’t unusual for a self-absorbed older sibling to bully their brothers and sisters. Marie never did anything like that to me, though.
I glanced at Marie’s profile. She had a nice, symmetrical face. When she was feeling victorious, she could look bold and gallant. Marie had so much more spirit than I did.
“Marie,” I said, “why do you run around so much?”
Marie paused and bit her lip. She tilted her head, thinking carefully. “Well, because I’m your big sister,” she finally responded.
“I don’t get it.”
“You know,” she said. “I’m training just in case anything happens.”
I didn’t get the connection. It made sense that running and learning swordcraft could help her prepare for danger. What I didn’t understand was how that related to her being my big sister.
Marie wasn’t bad at conversation, but she tended to over-simplify things. I knew she wasn’t stupid, even if studying wasn’t her thing.
“In case anything happens?” I prompted.
“Right. If monsters show up, or some bad guy, I need to fight them! I’m good at fighting.”
“But you said it’s because you’re my big sister.”
“Duh,” she said. “I need to protect you, obviously!”
“Huh?”
I felt like I’d been struck by a thunderbolt. That wasn’t the answer I expected.
“I’m your big sister. If something happens to you, and I’m not strong enough to protect you, it’ll be a disaster!”
“Happens to me?”
“Yeah. I get tired sometimes, but I kinda like it.” Marie said all this while gazing at the sky, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Maybe I’m not the brightest, but I’m athletic. This is what I’m good at.”
“So, that’s why you’re always running and training so much?”
“Of course.”
I was at a loss for words. I knew she wasn’t showing off or trying to earn favors. Although she was completely nonchalant about it. Her feelings for me were so pure. She was working this hard for me. I was speechless.
I felt happy, but also guilty. I had been so self-absorbed all this time while she had been striving so hard for my sake. I felt the same about my parents. They always looked after and worried over me. Marie, though, was just a little girl, and yet she worked her butt off for me. These were huge actions from someone so small.
Marie glimpsed over at me. She seemed to be thinking. She stood up, extending a hand toward me.
“There’s a place I wanna go,” she said. “Follow me.”
“Mom said to stay here,” I said.
“It’s okay. It’s close, and there are no monsters.”
Feeling uncertain, I took Marie’s hand. This sister of mine toyed with me a lot, but it was never ill-intentioned.
We passed through the garden and out of the gate. Beyond, fields and forests extended as far as the eye could see. I followed Marie down the road. Then, without hesitation, she took me into the woods.
I had never been here before. Trees covered every square inch of my vision. One was supposed to stay on the road and never enter the woods. Regardless, Marie kept moving forward, fearless. She knew where we were going. Even though she was only eight years old, her figure looked strong and reliable.
We walked for a while. The forest started to thin out, revealing a lake.
“We need to wait a little,” Marie said. “You can see it at sunset.”
I didn’t ask what. I was a little afraid to.
From here, we could get back home in less than fifteen minutes. Even if we left at sunset, we’d be home before nightfall, before Mom would notice.
“Is Mom gonna get mad?” I asked.
“Maybe. But it’s worth it,” Marie said. “Probably.”
That made me nervous. I didn’t mind if Mom got mad, but I didn’t like worrying her. When I saw how serious Marie looked, I decided to drop it.
Her eyes stared forward straight at the lake. I had no clue what was happening, so I sat next to her, waiting for the sun to set. Time crawled on, and the lakeshore afternoon crossed into evening. When I noticed the sky starting to blush, I had decided it was time to ask Marie to go home, but then she sprang up.
“Look! There!”
I followed her pointing finger toward the lake. I didn’t think anything had changed, but there was something unusual about the water’s surface. There was something moving below it. That something became two things, then three, and, at last, they rose above the surface and into the air. They were glowing orbs of light rising up towards the sky.
Born from the lake, cast to the sky.
It was like an optical illusion. Orbs of light rose out of the lake and shined on the woods around us. As soon as they began to fade, others ascended to replace them. How was this real? Whatever I was witnessing should have been impossible. Yet, there they were. Beautiful was the only way I could describe it.