"Hello, Kaushik!" The masculine gruff voice, containing a calm but steady tone resounded in his ears. The sudden unexpected sound startled him, its content shocking him to the core, immediately making him sever all connections with his actuatory muscles, falling unconscious.
'Dammit, what am I supposed to do now? I did it in a fluster.' Kaushik thought, unwilling to establish a connection and pick up the body that had fallen unconscious.
Heima gazed at him, her green eyes boring into him.
'He fell unconscious. But, he definitely heard it. This means…something is fishy indeed.' Heima thought, slumping Jyorta's body over her shoulder, rushing out of the house. She bolted through the stairs, heading to the ground floor and exiting the building.
She zoomed past the wide roads, startling the passerby, entering into the opposite building. She applied strength into her leg muscles, the force bolting her across the steps of the staircase, making her land on the wall beyond it.
In the same manner, she applied pressure on it, forming minute cracks on the wall, bolting towards the floor above with a single leap. She proceeded up, each step of her covering half the floor, getting her to the topmost floor in a matter of seconds.
She ran through the corridor, making the surrounding Bone family members look at her in surprise, noticing the figure of Jyorta on her shoulder. Without striking a conversation, she arrived before a pair of double doors, kicking it open to find it empty. She then rushed back along the way, noticing a depressed Hubert walking along the way.
"Uncle Hubert," She called out to him, her voice echoing across the surroundings, "Have you seen grandpa?"
"He's in the Ancestry Hall, mourning the deceased," Hubert replied, letting out an exhausted sigh, his back slouched. His eyes were red, the smell of incense covering his body, giving an account of the time he had spent mourning.
"Thanks," Heima rushed to the destination, arriving at a large open hall, filled with people who were sitting on the floor in groups. The sounds of sniffing and sobbing filled the air, a morbid feeling pervaded through the surroundings, intermixing with the smell of ash.
Heima noticed her grandfather, Jyovic Bone kneeling before a photo, setting up an oil lamp. He rubbed the cotton wick, rolling it with a bit of force, placing it in the lamp. He poured gingelly oil into it, igniting the end of the wick with a lighter. Held in his hands was a small garland of flowers; he hung it over the photo, covering parts of it.
"Heuk…hik…" Jyovic Bone let out a grunt, leaking out a couple of muffled tears, suppressing them. A minute later, he turned to look at Heima, his eyes red, "Only after her death did I know the value she had in my heart."
"She fought for our family," Heima spoke, her voice strangely calm, "It was an honourable death."
"There is no honour in death," Jyovic Bone muttered, "Honour cannot reclaim the lives we had lost."
"Nevermind," Jyovic Bone shook his head, regaining his calm, "Just pass it off as an old man's ramblings. Tell me, why have you come here? The ashes of your mother have yet to arrive."
"It is about Jyorta," Heima muffled her voice, trying to ensure only the two of them could hear her, "I couldn't find anything out of the ordinary when I observed him. When I probed him, he immediately fell unconscious, not showing any other reaction except for a rapid acceleration of his heart rate."
"So, you brought him here so that I could investigate him, right?" Jyovic Bone said, facing the entrance of the Ancestry Hall, spotting Jyorta on the floor, uncared by everyone.
"He…" Jyovic Bone trailed off, deep in thought, "Forget it. There is no use in continuing with this farce any longer. I have conducted hundreds, if not thousands of tests on him over the past few years, since the very first moment after his body had been healed. I have found zero abnormalities. I even invited Sir Ankrakhen Light to investigate him, only to prove no results."
"But, all his conversations, his choice of words, use of strange terms that never existed, and also knowledge about Wisdom Parasites hint at his abnormality. If we leave it alone, there is a chance that it might backfire on us in the future." Heima replied, showing traces of anger.
"So what?" Jyovic Bone said, his eyes turning sharp, "As long as he's a member of our Bone family and acts in the line of our interests, I don't care about his abnormality. Just think of it as him inheriting memories of his past life or something."
"But, something like reincarnation has never been proved, even with all the abilities and years we have poured into researching it." Heima retorted, her eyes widening, coming to the realisation that Jyovic Bone no longer had the intention of inspecting Jyorta.
"I think you have misunderstood something," Jyovic Bone said, his tone infused with his might, suffocating Heima. "The existence of Jyorta has been reported to the higher-ups in Central Command, reaching the ears of Ancestor Light. It has obtained his tacit approval, so, it is for the best if you no longer pursue it."
"But…" Heima was cut short, interrupted by Jyovic who turned his face, gazing at the photo of Henrietta, his eyes turning red.
With a sigh, he said, "He is Jyorta Bone, no doubt about that." Wiping his nose where some incense smoke wafted into, he said, "Those were the words of Ancestor Light, passed to me today morning. If there is nothing else, leave me alone."
Seeing the back of Jyovic Bone, looking sturdy but coated with traces of frailty, she turned around, not even sparing a glance at the photo before him. She walked towards the entrance, gazing at the face of Jyorta, unconscious on the floor, the chillness of it seeping into him.
'Are you really my brother?' She wondered, picking him up and slouching him on her back, proceeding to return to their home.
Closing the door shut, Heima placed Jyorta atop the bed, gently slapping his cheeks a couple of times, trying to shake him awake. With a start, Jyorta sat up, his face filled with horror. He turned around the room, his gaze inspecting all nook and cranny, a sense of alert and wariness present in him.
"What are you looking for?" Heima inquired, looking at him with curiosity and doubt.
"The voice, I heard it again!" He replied with a startle, breaking out into cold sweat.
"Again?" Heima noticed his choice of words, emphasising it.
"I heard it once, just before I was injured. It was the same voice. I heard it when I walked near the language teacher." Jyorta said, clutching his head, trembling with fear. His limbs shook, goosebumps appearing on his skin while his teeth rattled, as if buried under snow.
"What did the voice say?" Heima inquired, her expression mysterious. The words of Jyovic Bone reverberated in her mind, making her pay careful attention to Jyorta's words.
"I can still remember it clearly. It is like I cannot forget it no matter how hard I try," Jyorta screamed, heaving ragged breaths, tears streaming out of his eyes, his face filled with horror. His eyes started rolling to the back, as if affected by trauma, one that affected the depth of his psyche.
Heima hurriedly embraced him, rubbing his back as she began to console him. The warmth radiating from her body served to calm him down, albeit after 20 minutes, almost looking like he had fits. "There, there, everything will turn out fine. Your sister is stronger than anything out there. You will be safe with me being around you."
Jyorta nodded, wiping his tears and snot in his dress, gazing at Heima, "Nemesis of the Mother Parasite, I pray for your well-being."
"That's it?" Heima inquired, suppressing the explosions that occurred in her mind, churning her thoughts at rapid speeds, overwhelming her emotional stability.
'Rhachis Ancestor light,' she thought, focusing on the name, her gaze lost and filled with helplessness.
"That was all I could hear. The next moment, the language teacher started screaming with her hands clutching her head. A few seconds later, she attacked us. Sister, do you know why she did that? I asked dad about it but, he refused to speak."
"Don't worry about that and get some sleep," Heima muttered, wrapping him with a thick bedsheet, warming up his body. The moment he closed his eyes, the sounds of heavy breathing filled the air. He had fallen asleep in an instant.
Noticing his expression, Heima stood up, closing the door behind her as she exited the room. As soon as the door closed, Jyorta opened his eyes, pulling the bedsheet until it covered his entire body. He then fell asleep, the sounds of his heavy breathing filled the air once again.
Next to him, to the edge of the bed stood Heima, her eyes green, having activated her Skills to conceal herself. She observed Jyorta, her expression distorting. It changed from calm to vicious, morphing from one of scrutiny to one filled with languidness. She stood silent like a statue, her chest still, showing no signs of breathing.
"Interesting," She muttered, the sounds low enough to be inaudible to her own ears. She walked to the door, this time not bothering to mask her presence. She opened the door and exited the room, all the while her figure being undetectable to ordinary eyes.
Once the door closed, her lips curled up into a smile, filled with a sneer, "Another one of us. Tubed Freak, do you doubt my capabilities? Well, I guess I can't ask you since you are most likely dead by now, vanished from the records of history."
"I guess I will continue observing you, and see if you take a path different to mine." Heima laughed, the pristine sounds of her laughter echoing across the living room, painting a devilish charm.
She raised her arm, placing it over her face, flushed red with excitement, "My brother in terms of both flesh and soul, the only existence similar to my own, yet with a different fate. I wonder, if you know what it means to be a Psychic Parasite."
She reverted to her calm demeanour, slumping on the sofa and switching on the TV, watching a comedy-drama, and eating the leftovers of the sweet she had prepared in the evening.