Peaches sat comfortably in the couch, arms spread wide and feet on sofa. Looking at the sandy blonde haired girl as she searched through the fridge.

  She was a peculiar one. Grabbing him and phasing them through walls, she stopped in an apartment allowed him to do what he pleased. Peaches knew that he could escape easily but, knew the girl didn’t want to kill him.

  He knew who the girl was. Peaches knew that eventually he would meet her.

  “Do you live here?” Peaches asked. It was in the slums so, there were good, illegal CDs. He inserted one into the TV, muted it and turned on captions.

  “No,” The girl answered plainly. She had two ice cream bars in her hands and slowly came towards him.

  “You seem pretty comfortable despite that,” Peaches didn’t want to admit it but he was slowly liking the show he was watching. About a hospital and work drama. Feeling a slight guilt of abandoning the others to deal with the troubles.

  “It’s because of my Detective training.” She answered plainly once again. Sitting in a mannered way in the sofa before him, she handed him an ice cream bar and ate the other. “Here, have one.”

  “Such a shame I will never experience a brain freeze,” Peaches sighed and took it. Opening to see it was his favorite flavor, strawberry. She was eating strawberry too and enjoyed it, Peaches scoffed and wondered if it was a coincidence. He continued chatting, “You seem calmer and focused than the rest of your bunch.”

  “That’s because I took my studies seriously,” Her slight joyous expression disappeared at that question. As Peaches guessed, she isn’t willing working with them. “They allowed their pride and grudges to get in the way.”

  “You don’t seem to like the Confederation though,” Peaches wasn’t afraid of being bold, asking the daring question with a strawberry smeared smile.

  The girl, as he also expected, avoided the question. Silence reigned momentarily until she spoke again, “You know who I am, don’t you.”

  “Of course I do, never underestimate a king’s nose,” Peaches wiped his lip and confidently pointed at his nose. His smile became warm, “What kind of big brother would I be if I couldn’t recognize my baby sister.”

  Her eyes widened by those words, Peaches could even see tears in her eyes. He thought the former nun would be as emotionless as Tristan, guess she isn’t.

  “What is my name?” She asked him sternly, stopping herself from breaking down.

  “Carolyn Hopkins…” Peaches answered her by her legal name, “Or should I say, Carolyn Dumak.”

  “How long you knew about me?” Carolyn continued to question him. Peaches was surprised, he thought she would hate her siblings.

  Sounds of battles echoed outside of the apartment. Peaches lost his focus on the TV.

  “I knew that I had half-siblings a long time but, not until little before Kisscensiata, did I know your identities,” Peaches answered her questions truthfully. He had no reasons to lie.

  “There are others?” He could see her lips quivering from the news. Peaches felt near nothing to it but, in the deepest corners of his mind, something stung.

  “Yes, two others. It used to be three others but, he died during Kisscensiata,” Peaches answered her question honestly. A bit sad that he finished his ice cream, he wondered if the freezer had anymore.

  “What killed him?” An enraged pressure erupted from Carolyn. Peaches was finding her stranger by the second, did she actually care about them.

  “Don’t worry, he wasn’t any regular person. Do you know Dirty Flags?” Peaches decided that he couldn’t get up in the middle of conversation to get an ice cream bar, so he continued to answer her questions.

  “I heard about them,” From her response, he could tell she didn’t know much.

  “He was powerful and was a high-ranking member of the group, and just like them he died for the cause,” Peaches recalled the man he was proud to call his brother. They didn’t know each other too well but the instances he met him were enough. “His death was not in vain.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “What was his name?” Carolyn looked like she was about to tear up.

  Peaches felt a deadly silence in his heart. An existence like his can never value those related by blood, he could only value his mother. He felt a void in his heart as he looked at his sister, a void that he wondered if he should fill.

  “Storm,” Peaches answered her as he internally went through an existential dread. “Storm Dumak.”

  “What about the others?” She held back her tears and asked. Peaches was surprised she was so trusting of her words.

  “I can’t tell you, you’ll know when you meet them,” Peaches didn’t want to give out the information and then she attempts to reunite all four of them. It was better for them to meet when he disappears.

  “Okay, I understand,” Carolyn had a meek smile on her face, was this interaction enough for her? Peaches wondered if all his siblings were so eccentric. “I have one last question though.”

  As per usual, Peaches listened attentively.

  “What am I?” Carolyn asked sincerely. A sad smile came Peaches face at the question.

  “I always feel like something is watching and listening. As if I am sharing my body with something else. As if I’m borrowing a half of my power from it,” Carolyn tried to explain the strange feeling as best as she could. “You know what it is, don’t you?”

  “Is this why you wanted to find your siblings?” Peaches asked with a solemn expression. He felt oblivious, just because Storm figured out how to use it doesn’t mean the others would.

  “No, the only person who I could ever call a father told me to find you all and stick close to you all as family,” Peaches’s heart trembled at those words, he wondered if it was the right thing to do. To have a family more than one member, his other siblings needed it too. “I wondered if you all were affected by it too?”

  “To explain it, I want to tell you about our origins first,” Peaches decided. She nodded and listened carefully.

  “Park Dumak, now a member of the Roundtable, was formerly a security guard to rich neighborhood in the suburbs,” Peaches began his explanation. Carolyn noted that name, the name of her biological father. “That man only knew greed and lusted after all the stay-at-home wives around him.”

  “His first victim was your mother, Portia Catherine,” Carolyn’s eyes widened. He knew her mother’s name, meaning that for a long time he was aware of all his siblings. Yet never tried to reunite them? “He forced himself onto her and then, she became pregnant with you.”

  Carolyn was starting to realize the dark truth behind all their births. Her selfish mother never told her because of pride.

  “But, your mother developed a Stockholm syndrome for Park Dumak. And stayed attached to him and helped his disgusted desires,” Peaches continued the cruel story and Carolyn stopped herself from trembling. “He forced himself three other housewives in the neighborhood until Detectives found him and ostracized him.”

  “Unfortunately for justice, he survived the [Acrimony].” Peaches rolled his eyes and sighed.

  “What about your mother?” Carolyn quickly asked him.

  “Huh?” Peaches wasn’t expecting that, he was prepared to tell what that strange feeling was.

  “There are five of us in total but, you only mentioned four,” Carolyn explained. Peaches smirked, her investigative skills were certainly excellent. “Your mother wasn’t from that neighborhood, was she?”

  “No, in fact, my mother isn’t even from this continent,” Peaches sighed. He didn’t like thinking about it, since his mother always told him it ultimately didn’t matter.

  “You were born outside the walls, weren’t you? Before all of us,” Carolyn questioned and Peaches nodded as an answer. “Where is your mother?”

  “She’s dead…. Park Dumak killed her,” Peaches’s expression became sour at the recollection.

  “I read your file and it says you’re affiliated with the Roundtable,” Carolyn could only assume that only her mother lived it considering her disgusting ways. All other victims were probably dead, “You’re living with him still, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, I am,” Peaches answered bitterly, slouching in the couch at the awful memories.

  “But, why?” Carolyn is just learning this and she wanted to kill him.

  “Because I promised my mother,” Peaches whispered loud enough for her to hear.

  Carolyn looked at him with a shocked and confused expression. Peaches chuckled, “Don’t worry, my mom will be back soon.”

  Carolyn wondered if her other siblings were psychotic or delusional too. She asked her last question, “What am I?”

  “There’s a special phenomenon that occurs in this world, one in a million. Where a man is born with something called the [Perfect Seed]. A Child born from the [Perfect Seed] is known as a [Child of the World].” Peaches began his explanation. Carolyn wondered where he got this information from, even the Confederation didn’t have it. “Park Dumak was fortunate enough to have the [Perfect Seed].”

  “Children of the World are born with strong powers, unstable stimulus and an early potential. But, most importantly, they house a special entity in them. When the Child of the World’s powers are pushed to the limit, the entity will show itself,” Peaches reached the climax of his knowledge. Carolyn could slowly envision the entity inside of her. “Known as a [Macrocosm], an entity that has the power to disrupt existence.”

  “What will really happen if I reach my limit,” Carolyn didn’t want that vague explanation, she wanted to actually know what she is.

  “The Macrocosm will destroy your vessel as it exits or you may survive. But, it will escape with a piece of your [Soul] and you can only get it back by defeating it.” Peaches spoke as if he experienced it, he hasn’t even reached close to it. “It’s best to defeat it yourself so you can gain the Macrocosm’s power.”

  “Brother, there’s so much more I want to….” Now that her questions had been answered, Carolyn truly didn’t want it to stop. She liked her brother more than anyone she has met so far.

  And though Peaches didn’t want to admit it, though he didn’t want it to even happen, he was growing fond of her. He gave her a special item, “Keep this, no matter where I am you will be able to find me with it.”

  “Just pour your stimulus into it,” She examined it and nodded at his words.

  “Now, let’s go. We have people waiting for us.”