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"Hah, Maria was right. I really need to find soone. I can't keep living like this—I'm used to company. Being single has its benefits, but feeling this lonely is the worst."
As she sighed and checked her phone, she suddenly felt sothing.
"Huh?"
She looked behind her shadow and noticed it twisting, forming a massive portal, a gate to another world.
From it, a phantasmal figure erged.
"Maria?!"
"Hey, Alia. It's been a couple of days. How are you holding up?"
"Are you coming back already?! You're not leaving again, right?"
Alia ran toward Maria and hugged her tightly, as if trying to keep her from ever leaving again.
"I'm sorry. I'm not returning just yet," Maria said. "But I ca because... well, I t soone. Soone who might be really connected to you—to us."
"...Huh?" Alia blinked, confused. "What? Where? In another world?"
"Yes, precisely," Maria nodded. "This person is... well, I'll be blunt. Does the na Veronica ring any bells?"
"...!"
Alia's eyes widened. The world around her seed to freeze for a mont as mories she thought were long forgotten surged back into her mind.
It was almost painful.
She saw soone, a little girl she had watched grow up over the years. Playful. Adorable.
With long white hair and large, golden eyes.
She had been clumsy, but full of spirit. As she grew up, she beca soone admirable. Alia had done her best to raise her after their parents passed away.
This wasn't her "sister" Maria.
No, this was—
Her real sister.
The one who had used her powers to create an endless loop in this world, repeating every seven days.
Always just before the Nightmare Demons or the Original Nightmare Curse could consu everything.
Each loop took sothing from her, her mories, her identity. And when she had nothing left to give but her na, the world began to forget her entirely.
Eventually, she was erased from existence, replaced by those who visited the world between loops. Only Alia rembered her, watching strangers pretend to be her sister.
Disgusting people.
And yet, in the final loop—when she had lost all hope—those very people she despised ended up saving the world.
"That's the na of my sister..." Alia whispered. "Of... my real sister? What? How did you even...?"
"I t her," Maria said. "I don't know how. I don't know why. But she's alive—sohow."
"...?!" Alia's heart began to race.
She couldn't believe what she was hearing.
After all this ti mourning her sister... was she truly alive?
Sowhere in the tower?
"W-What?! How?! How do you know it's her?!" Alia demanded. "You're not joking, right Maria?! You're not ssing with ?"
"No," Maria said seriously. "She rembers you. She rembers your parents. But she's changed... It's hard to say she's even a living being anymore. I don't know if I was speaking with a Dream Spirit, a Soul, or sothing else entirely—but it's her."
"What? I don't understand..." Alia said. "I thought she disappeared. That she was forgotten forever. How... how is this possible?"
"She lives in a manor, much like this one," Maria explained. "A Haunted Manor filled with ghosts she calls her friends. She's lost most of her mories—except her na, and yours. Sowhere in the cosmos, or another dinsion, a fragnt of her—or maybe a mory of her—survives in this being. The tower assimilated it into a 'World' called Nocturnhall."
"...Nocturnhall?" Alia's eyes widened.
"Wait, you recognize that na too?" Maria asked.
"That's the na of a show about ghost friends she loved when she was little..." Alia was stunned. "Maria... is this really true?"
"Yes," Maria nodded. "But even now, I'm not completely sure. That's why I wanted you to et her. Please, don't be afraid of how she looks. She forgot her own appearance. Her form is... distorted. She's regressed to childhood. But she needs soone—her big sister—to help her rember."
"Bring to her," Alia said, standing up. "I want to see her for myself. Can you do it?"
"Yes. Co with . I'll add you to my party temporarily and... done," Maria nodded. "Now, hold my hand."
Alia took Maria's pale white hand, and together they sank into the miasma-like shadows, vanishing.
FLUOSH!
Alia's eyes opened. She was in the attic of her own house. She recognized it instantly—she had visited it just yesterday, crying as she looked through her sister's old toys.
"This is really... Ah!"
Then she saw a System notification:
[You have been granted temporary Player Status by joining the Party of [Player: Maria]]
[You have entered {Floor 41}: [Nocturnhall]]
"Floor 41?! I'm really in another world right now! But this is my house?! What's going on?!"
Alia panicked. It made no sense for a world so distant to perfectly replicate her ho.
"Here she is, Nyx," Maria said. "Sorry for making you wait. How is she?"
"Almost asleep," Nyx replied. "Co on, Veronica. Look who ca to see you—your big sis!"
"...?"
Veronica slowly sat up on the bed, glancing around before locking eyes with Alia.
Maria had warned her, but Alia still felt sothing strange.
It was... bizarre.
That feeling crept into her very soul.
She felt nauseous and dropped to her knees, groaning in pain.
"Oops, let help with that."
Maria enveloped her in an Aura of Light, soothing the discomfort. The effects of gazing upon the strange child faded.
But even then, Alia felt sothing else, a strange closeness. A bond that shouldn't exist.
This entity. This child-like being.
"BiG sIsTeR...?"
Alia looked up. The girl was already in front of her. Her face, mostly featureless and white, semitransparent, slowly revealed a strange "face" drawn in black lines, like ink on paper.
"A-Ah..."
Though distorted, the voice was unmistakable.
It was her sister's voice. Veronica's voice.
"Is it really you? I-Is it really you, Veronica?! What... is it really you?!"
She stepped forward, grabbing the girl's dress. A slight sting ran through her fingers, but she didn't care.
"Veronica...! You don't know how much I missed you...! My little sister...!"
"..."
Alia burst into tears.
Despite how different she looked—this entity...
No, this girl—
She was her sister.
Alia knew it the mont she saw her.
Even if she had beco sothing else entirely.
To her, she was still her baby sister.
"Big sister... is it really you?"
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