You know twenty years when two worlds were slammed together like a pb&j on a Monday morning before school, who would've thought that the legendary heroine and a librarian would end up together. No offense to my Dad but like damn, he really did well for himself. My parents always said the collision was the best thing that happened to them.
When the collision happened (which was really much more of a superimposition but God knows that people can't pronounce anything with more than three syllables without short-circuiting something in their brains), shit hit the fan. Up became down, left became up, right became tomorrow, whilst down didn't exist anymore. Did that make sense? No? Great, that's how it felt to be there when the collision happened. The world got mixed up like a rubix cube and continents got shuffled around. While at the same time expanding to double the size of the initial Earth. Physics became a lil fucky and we weren't even sure where we were in the universe any more. Goodbye to Sol I suppose... and hello to the new world of Terra.
With a new solar system, new continents, and new laws of nature, came the magic and everything that comes with it. A tech based society slammed into a magical based one and the conclusion is about what you'd expect. It was called a war but it was really more of a one sided slaughter. Bullets were borderline useless to magically imbued armor, and explosives can't really reach past a shield. Nuclear based weaponry which is apparently Earth's greatest weapon before the collision, didn't work anymore due to the ambient mana in the air interfering with its base physics.
In short magic won over technology. And after the collision war ended there were surprisingly few victors, resulting in massive countries taking up the entirety of continents. Unsurprisingly these super states were founded based off of racial unity. Who woulda thought huh? With such blatant racism came equally unoriginal naming sense. The Human Imperium, the Elven Queendom, the Dwarven Meritocracy, the Demi-Human Coalition, and the Demonic tribes.
Now that you know a thing or two lets get into the shit that ACTUALLY matters, me, myself, and I...
I hear a *SCREECH* coming from downstairs and the thumping of the stairs foretold my doom. The screaming banshee caught me and there is nothing I can do to save myself. Still I can't just lay down and let her kill me, so I leap over a pile of dirty clothes to grab my swordswand hoping I could make it in time for a quick barrier. Fortune isn't on my side as the door slams open with a loud *CRACK* that makes me fear for the wall.
"ARTHUR I SWEAR TO THE GODS ABOVE!", the screaming banshee yells into my room, whilst putting her foot down on top of the swordswand I was reaching for on the ground. My fate is sealed... Looking up towards the banshee who just so happens to also be my twin sister Anastasia, I can see she's only wearing a white towel wrapped around her tanned lithe frame. Despite being 5 foot 8 and the strongest person of our year she still looks like the princess in storybooks with bright crimson hair and violet irises. Combined with her high cheekbones and impeccable skin and button nose, she is easily one of the most sought girls at the university.
This wonder woman of a lady is also yelling at the top of her lungs at me about using all of the hot water before her shower. Of course, I did do it to spite her but would I even be her brother if I didn't? After a decent amount of time spent trying to deafen me, she pulls me up from my position knelt next to my swordswand by my hair. Being twins I also have the same crimson hair and violet eyes. However, much to my sisters glee I am also only 5 foot 5, thus fully inheriting both my father's height AND his clinically diagnosed Autism and ADHD.
"OW fuCK StasIA could you PLEASE let GO! I'll refuel the heating stone with mana just let me go I'm sorry" pleading with my sister only ever gets me so far, she lets go of my hair just to grab me by the shoulders pushing me forward.
"Fine fine, here lets go. By the way little bro your hair is longer than mine at this point, do you wanna go get it cut? At this point the guys in class are going to start crushing on you even more than they already do..." concerningly she pulls me back a little and instead of pushing me she wraps one arm around my shoulders. And in true sibling fashion she moves away from being angry at me to being friendly and concerned with the occasional insult.
"Fuck them and fuck you, *sigh* I like my hair long like this and it's not like I need it short like you do. I can just leave it up in a messy bun when I'm fighting" I respond back with a sigh and a indignant attitude. I attempt to push her arm off my shoulder but the attempt is almost pitiful against her strength.
Rolling her eyes my sister just leads me towards the bathroom where I promptly refill the heating stone and turn around rushing out of the bathroom while my sister is already taking off her towel and stepping into the shower.
"Thanks dork see ya", is all I get from Stasia when I close the bathroom door behind me, walking back to my room to finish drying and brushing my hair after my own shower I find my brush and sit at my desk looking up at the display on mirror mode.
I have a love hate relationship with my body, I don't really dislike how I look, but it does feel a little off sometimes. What I really dislike though is how others look at me and react when they hear my voice. Most people just look at me weird or with confusion, to be fair I'm almost a carbon copy of my mom and sister minus the height, strength, talent with the sword, voice, and ya kno... sex.
And my sister was right, in a crowd where no one recognizes me or my sister, guys will usually come to talk me up instead of her because I'm "petite". It only takes a couple of words with me before they bail and swap to my sister. Because of my appearance on top of my already non-existent social skills results in me only having a few close friends, all of which are incapable of speaking the same language, walk with four legs, and usually only respond with "meow" or "bark", they're always on my side though so that has to count for something. My sister pretty much mom's clone though, she's a heroine through and through. Everyone loves her and she is certainly the most popular lady around. I can't deny my envy for her and her life, but in the end I still love her, and can't bear to separate from her. We are surprisingly close, and inseparable in any place that isn't a social situation.
I can tell she holds herself back for me though, and it tears me apart, knowing that she loves me so much she'd sacrifice herself for me, but it hurts for the same reason. We eat together, train together, practice instruments together, play together and fight together. I'm not sure if I'll be okay without being able to lean on her for support but I also know she can't be shackled to me for forever.
Looking into my eyes in the mirror I see the same determination that's been there since I decided to leave and let her go. My violet eyes sparkle and swirl with mana as my emotions run through me, solidifying my will.
25 minutes later, my sister has showered and is knocking on my door to come down for dinner. We live in the same house my dad grew up in, a modest two story brick house located in the Imperium the country of California which is on the coast of the supercontinent Pangea where most humans live. We live in a relatively small community and sit on a couple kilometers of land filled with forestry, creeks, and a small field of flowers. Before the Collision when our grandparents on our father's side were still alive, they had a small beekeeping business. Post Collision dad quit his librarian job and came back to take care of the land after his parents passed away. We still have the apiaries with bee's but usually just keep products from beekeeping to ourselves and some family friends. We live off the stipend mom got after she retired from being the heroine and sometimes her friends back then will visit us and they take some fresh honey home.
With that said coming down the stairs and turning right straight into the living room, I see dad setting the table with meticulous care, first the plates, then the glasses, following with the silverware and napkins. Once the task is complete he turns towards my sister which has moved towards the island in the kitchen swiping strips of bacon and he admonishes her.
"Anastasia wait for everyone to sit at the table first please" Stasia guiltily slumps towards her usual chair at the rectangular dining table shortened for the four of us. She glances up towards me and pouts at me as if I can do anything to make dinner happen faster.
"Don't look at me~ I didn't do anything" I say as I sit opposite my sister at the table. Today is Sunday, and every Sunday our family has a breakfast dinner. Dad walks in with the plate of bacon and hashbrowns, mom walks over with the scrambled eggs and a pile of pancakes. I can smell the heavenly aroma of my dad's cooking and my stomachs hunger beings to make itself known.
"Alright guys lets pray first before we dish up, Dear Gods above, please watch over us and grant us your blessings for this meal, while you're at it please get rid of the bears that are harassing our beehives, thank you, amen~" mom takes her prayer seriously all the way up until the pixies where she will start to sing in a teasing manner.
"Mom I don't know if the Gods are going to do anything for our beehives, I think that's up to us" Stasia manages to get out in between her efficiently delicate bites of pancake that maximize food per second over dignity and grace.
"Anastasia, we can never be too sure with the Gods, sometimes they do weird shit just because they can or to mess with us. Other times they decide to play benevolence, helping us in convoluted backwards ways. With the exception being Torus, he's nothing but trouble *humph*" Mom lectures Stasia on this almost every night at the dinner table. Usually about whatever mom decided to ask for help with that night.
I sit watching them whilst eating my own food by habit as I start to get lost in my own head thinking about mom's stories. She's apparently met the God's more than once in her adventures, specifically Torus. Torus and mom has a love-hate relationship where he will send mom on some crazy adventure for some inane task, whilst messing with her the whole way. But in the end, he always made it worth it for her in some way. Mom and dad met on her quest from Torus to retrieve a powerful weapon of his from a Crypt hidden underground, only to find out the weapon was his favorite pen with the ability to never run out of ink. Mom was really annoyed with Torus about that one, but he just said "The pen is always mightier than the sword my fair lady" before fucking off to do Gods knows what. Fortunately where mom had been staying for a few weeks while searching for the crypt, was also the place where she met dad.
Mom had been searching through a dad's library's archives where any otherworld records were kept until translation. Mom and dad had worked together to find the map over two weeks, and when he found the map she immediately continued on to the crypt. Only to return a week later to "take a break" where she just so happened to get a sudden "desire to read more books", real smooth mom...
"Arthur quit spacing out for fucks sake and listen" Stasia calls out to me with an eye roll and stern voice. Jolting me out of my own head and focusing back in on the conversation. "Sorry sorry, what's going on I didn't hear anything" I say with a sheepish smile, knowing I got caught with my head up in the clouds again.
"It's okay sweetie, we know you didn't mean anything by it. We were talking about how to cut your hair for the first day of the semester tomorrow" Mom says, while looking at me with a kind smile.
"Actually I like the way it looks as it is. Not like its going to get in the way of anything like Stasia's would" I say, trying to maintain a straight face as my stomach feels like its about to drop.
"Sweetie your hair doesn't quite help your appearance... If you cut it shorter it might help you fit in with the other men" She says with the same sickly sweet innocent smile. I know she doesn't mean anything by her words, but it still hurts whenever she brings up how I look.
"It's okay I'm fine with how it is... really. I like having the long hair, I don't care what any of the idiots think" I reply, trying to mitigate mom's concerned expression.
"See, I told you he didn't want it cut, besides maybe this way he can get a boyfriend and you can finally have a son!" snickers Stasia, I roll my eyes and begin to tune out the conversation that I know is about me between my mom and sister. Instead I look over to my dad who, like me, prefers to observe quietly. However, this time he is staring intently towards me, watching me like I'm the most profound thing he's ever seen.
"What's up? Is there something on me?" I ask as his intense stare is beginning to make me nervous and my foot starts bouncing up and down. I try to meet his gaze forcing myself to push down the urge to look away and leave the room. He rapidly blinks a couple times as if to bring himself down from his thoughts.
"Sorry kid, I was just thinking that your sister isn't really wrong. You are quite pretty despite being a man" speaking these words at the dinner table, Stasia and mom grow quiet (a rare occurrence with those two in the same room together) My stomach drops as I feel my body switch gears into near-panic.
"Well um-" "He's right sweetie, if we could just cut your hair and adjust the way you wear your clothes and carry yourself, I bet you could be quite the handsome young man", I try to oppose dad's words, but mom cuts in to support him.
All I can do is stare down at my plate, meanwhile my stomach feels like its digesting itself, and my chest is hardly breathing. I can feel my palms and back starting to sweat as I pour over each word of disparagement. Before I can spiral any further over the thoughts and words of my parents, my sister decides to play heroine.
"Despite what I say, he actually does have a decent amount of women pining after him like some pretty boy prince. Anyway thank you for the dinner dad, I think I am going to get my bag together and sword maintenance done now for tomorrow. C'mon dork, you too" Stasia grabs me, pulling me away from the dinner table before I can get another word in. She pushes me up the stairs first and we say our 'see you tomorrow mornings' with a slight nod before we head to our respective rooms.
Despite being the ogress that she is, she always has my best interests in mind, and before I go to do my own preparing for tomorrow I say a silent thank you she won't hear. Tomorrow is the second semester of our first year of Frontier University... yaaay.