"Cyrus! Hurry up, I'm going to be late for school!" A young girl's voice carried throughout the house, waking a boy from his slumber.
"What...?" Cyrus grogily sat up, and stretched his arms with a yawn. A moment later, his eyes snapped open as his sister's words finally registered. "WAIT! LATE FOR SCHOOL?!"
Cyrus leapt from his bed and flung open his closet doors. They banged against the wall, but he didn't care. Today was the first day of the school year, and he promised his parents he would get Sylf there on time.
"Come on... Shirt! Pants! Shoes!" Cyrus threw on random items of clothing, not worried if they matched or not.
Racing out of his room, he grabbed his phone, backpack and a piece of toast before searching for his sister.
"Sylf? Where are you?"
"I'm by the front door!"
Cyrus followed the sound of his sister's voice to find a young girl putting on shoes at the end of the hallway.
Her curly blond hair cascaded over her school uniform, while her bright green eyes sparkled in the morning light.
Hearing Cyrus approach, the girl glanced up.
"Hey... Wait, you're not going to school like that, are you?" She asked, eyeing Cyrus's outfit warily. "I thought you said you wanted to make a good first impression."
"What do you mean?" Cyrus asked, glancing down at his attire. He wore a pair of torn jeans and a grey shirt that read 'Real man, coming through.' His wavy black hair was a mess too, and it lightly covered his amber eyes.
"Well... I don't care if you don't..." Sylf glanced at Cyrus's shirt again. "But your walking on the other side of the road."
"Oh, I see how it is," Cyrus said, narrowing his eyes. "You don't love me anymore, do you?"
Sylf smirked and sauntered out the door.
"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. I'll tell you if you can get me to school on time."
Cyrus laughed and followed his sister out, locking the door behind him.
'It would have been nice if Mom and Dad were home to see us off,'
He thought, glancing up at the small house. Their parents were out traveling again, leaving him to take care of his younger sister.
Cyrus tossed his backpack over his shoulder, and turned around. By now, Sylf was already halfway down the street, and he had to run to catch up.
"Could you slow down? I haven't been able to finish my toast yet."
Sylf rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.
"It's not my fault you woke up late. If only you had set your alarm, you could have had a delicious breakfast made by me, your amazing sister."
Cyrus crinkled his nose and looked away, 'Maybe it was a good thing I forgot my alarm...'
"What did you just say?" Sylf asked, whipping around and glaring at Cyrus. "If you don't like my cooking, I'll... I'll... I'll hate you forever!"
"Whoah! When did I say I don't like your cooking?" Cyrus asked, holding up his hands in mock surrender. 'I didn't accidentally say it out loud, did I?'
"Wait... how are you doing that?" Sylf asked, squinting her eyes.
"Doing what?"
"Talking without moving your mouth, obviously," Sylf said, peering at her brother with a curious gaze.
'Why is she looking at me like that? Do I have something on my face?' Cyrus pulled out his phone and checked his reflection. In the corner of his mouth there was a bit of jelly, but even after wiping it away, Sylf continued to stare.
"You did it again... And- and your mouth never even moved... How?" Standing right in front of him, Sylf focused all her attention on his mouth. "Do it again. I'm sure I can figure this out."
"Do... what? I'm not sure what you're talking about, but if we don't hurry..." Cyrus trailed off as he showed Sylf his phone. "I have less than five minutes to get you to school, and there are still three blocks to go."
Sylf stared at the phone in shock before screaming.
"WHAT?! But I made sure we left fifteen minutes early! No, no, no! I can't be late my first day to junior high!"
Sylf took off running down the street, leaving Cyrus behind in the dust. Kirosan Junior High was one of the prestigious schools in the country, but it was also one of the strictest.
'With how fast she's running, maybe I should get her to sign up for the track team.' Cyrus thought, chasing after his sister.
The only problem was... He was out of shape from spending all of his time reading web novels. In fact, the entire reason he had forgotten to set his alarm last night was because of a book called Adapting to the Apocalypse.
"Was... running... always this hard?" Cyrus asked between gasps of air. Falling to his knees, he crawled the rest of the way to his sister.
"Get up!" Sylf whispered angrily, dragging Cyrus to his feet."Your embarrassing me!"
Laughing, Cyrus stood up and peered past the tall silver gate before him. They were standing in front of a two-story school, with wide, open windows that allowed sunlight to grace the classrooms. Students roamed the surrounding courtyard, enjoying the shade brought by the blossoming cherry trees and discussing what clubs they wished to join.
"Alright, this is it. You have everything you need?" Cyrus asked. When Lily didn't respond, he gave her a light nudge. "Hey, you good?"
"Huh? Yeah... Yeah, I'm fine," Sylf said, before looking at Cyrus. "You'll... You'll be here to pick me up, right? Exactly when school ends?"
"Yeah, of course," Cyrus said, patting Sylf's shoulder. "By the way, I have something for you."
Cyrus slipped off his backpack and dug through it before pulling out a dark wooden box. He handed the box to Sylf, motioning for her to open it.
"What's inside?" She asked, turning the box around a few times.
"Just open it."
Sylf glared at Cyrus before slowly opening the box. Peering inside, she let out an audible gasp.
"Cyrus... This is...?" Sylf pulled out a sapphire butterfly hanging from a silver chain. A golden band wrapped around the pendant, keeping everything from breaking apart. "Is this really for me?"
"Yeah, I found it inside an old antique shop, and thought it would look good on you," Cyrus said with a smile. "It supposed to bring you good luck. Do you like it?"
"I love it!" Sylf said, beaming brightly as she slipped the pendant over her neck. "I'll have to hide it though, the school doesn't allow us to wear jewelry."
Cyrus watched as Sylf tucked the pendant beneath her shirt before giving him a hug.
"I'll pick you up later, so have a good first day, okay?" Cyrus pulled back, and wiped a tear before Sylf could see it. 'Gosh, I miss her already.'
"Miss who?" Sylf asked, looking up at her brother oddly.
"What?"Cyrus asked.
"You just said you miss someone... Who do you miss?" Sylf stared suspiciously at Cyrus. "You don't have another little sister I don't know about, do you?"
"Nope, one little sister is enough for me," Cyrus replied, before noticing all the students heading towards the school. "Oh, looks like your school is about to start. You better hurry."
Sylf gave Cyrus one last suspicious glance before running to catch up with the other students. Along the way, she bumped into several girls she had known in elementary school, and they quickly grouped together.
'That's good, I was worried the other students might ignore her.' Cyrus thought, turning around to head to his own school. Although he and Sylf currently lived in Japan, they had been born in England. It had been their father's choice to move them all to Japan, claiming that it was going to be the leading country one day.
As he walked down the street, Cyrus scrolled through his phone, checking his social media. He still had thirteen minutes before class started, and he wasn't in a hurry to get there.
'Let's see... Mom and Dad should be in Egypt at the moment, exploring the pyramids... I wonder what the weather is like over there.'
Cyrus pulled up the weather app and focused it on Egypt. While it was downloading the information, he looked around in confusion.
'It's so quiet... Where are all the birds?' Cyrus scanned the trees around him, his frown deepening. With it being spring, there should have been flocks of birds, but no matter where he looked, he couldn't spot a single one.
'Ding.'
Shaking his head, Cyrus turned his attention back to his phone, only to find a strange message running across it in a cycle.
'Error-Place Does Not Exist.'
"Maybe I typed in the wrong place?" Cyrus went to scroll back up, but before he could the phone glitched out. "Oh, come on! I just got this phone!"
Sighing, Cyrus restarted his phone. As the phone was booting up, he felt sweat dripping down the side of his face. The temperature had risen a few degrees in a short amount of time, and it didn't seem to be stopping.
'Did I run into a black cat this morning and not realize it?' Cyrus wondered, moving to the shade of a nearby tree. Waves of heat rose from the asphalt, turning his surroundings into a wavy mirage.
A few minutes later, Cyrus's back was drenched in sweat, and he was beginning to feel dizzy.
'Damn, what is with this heat?' Cyrus wiped the sweat off his forehead for the fifth time within the last two minutes. Checking on the progress of his phone, he found that it was done rebooting.
"Finally... Wait, what the hell is this?" Cyrus stared at his phone in shock. A message glowing red was running across it in a loop.
'Warning. Natural Disasters have been occurring around the world on a massive scale. People are advised to take shelter immediately... This very well may be the end as we know it.'
With a loud pop, the phone went black once more, leaving Cyrus to stare at his own shocked expression.
This only lasted a moment though, for in the next instant, a massive explosion shook the ground for miles around.
Catching himself on the tree, Cyrus slowly turned his gaze in the explosions direction, which was marked by a massive smoke plume.
"No... That's where Sylf's school is."