For so reason, I feel like this 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 sothing trivial, with an innocent expression and a serene smile. But, to be honest, it doesn't affect at all. In the end, it's not sothing that truly interests .
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 asured, 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 ti... 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 seed 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, seed imrsed 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 , fascinated, watching every move as I ate. A small smile appeared at the corner of her lips, as though this mont brought her so silent satisfaction.
Despite the strangeness of the situation, an unexpected wave of nostalgia washed over , as if sothing in that mont reminded of a distant and undefined past.
(By the way, I noticed you were with Nekra before coming to see ) said the little girl, an innocent smile forming on her lips, as if she were just comnting on sothing trivial.
I paused, leaving the cookie suspended halfway to my mouth, and raised my gaze to the little girl in front of . Her innocent smile remained unchanged, her eyes gleaming with an interest that made hesitate.
She watched closely, as though waiting for sothing from , but I couldn’t tell whether her words held so hidden aning—sothing 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 ntally 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 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.
Ti seed to slow in that mont, 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 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 closely while I distractedly played with the horns rising from my head. The atmosphere seed heavy, laden with stillness.
At so 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 for a brief mont, as though contemplating sothing 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 ntioned 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 sothing 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 co a ti 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 for a mont. 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 . It was hard to believe that soone so innocent could speak such macabre words, especially with that pure and untainted expression.
Arthur, by my side, seed to share none of the sa 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 mont 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 so hesitation: "I think... about an hour? Maybe less"
Although she spoke with the ease of soone 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 : "But it would be kind of boring just to be sealed. For humans, it might not make a difference, but for anomalies like , who are ford purely from the energy of our own existence, it's like we're handing over more than 90% of our life to soone. So, let's do sothing more interesting: let's play a ga"
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 seed to toy with the situation. Her words, calm and mysterious, echoed again in the air: "Sir, you don’t have to look at like that, there are no tricks. All you two need to do is say my na"
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 na, 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 na of this shell, but my true na" 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 na; he barely understood the shapes of anomalies, let alone their nas. I kept watching the anomaly as she seed to delight in the situation, a curious glint in her eyes. Then, as if she knew exactly where I was, her eyes t mine, accompanied by an enigmatic, mischievous smile that only increased the tension in the air.
"Well, I doubt you, a re human, know, but there’s soone here who definitely knows my true na" said the little girl, subtly drawing Arthur’s gaze toward 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 na... or at least, that’s what it should have been, but for so reason, her na—the true na—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 mory, a strange and contradictory sensation, a void that prevented 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 t ours just before she turned to leave. With a lightness in her voice, she said: “All in due ti. My parents are coming late today, so you can stay as long as you need to think about it. I’ll do my howork. 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 , and then his gaze turned to , making look at him, waiting for what he would say.
"We need to find a way to figure out her na" Arthur said, his gaze determined: "I’ll go to the car to grab so 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 chanical 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 .
(Her na... I feel like I know it, like it’s on the tip of my tongue, but at the sa ti, it slips away from my mind, like sothing I should rember but can’t. And that feeling of nostalgia... the closer I get to it, the more intense it becos, a growing pressure, as if it’s sothing important, though I have no idea what it really ans. 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 na. 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 sothing of that magnitude, especially after what happened with Nekra.
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