Cheryl POV

Kana, stopped us from advancing, rather we pressed against the wall to hide from something. Off into the distance I could hear footsteps, but what could this mean?

Has she taken us to a dangerous place? Can I truly trust her? 

From the beginning I suspected something off about her. One is her appearance, but two is the way she addresses Reiko. Her words get slurred, dragging out as if she was unsure if what she was saying was correct or not.

Reiko hasn't seemed to notice this at all, maybe out of excitement or rather her naivete. 

Either way I must stay vigilant around her, can't trust all that she says. 

Appearing from the dark of the arc. A man adorned in metal and chainmail. A guard... he, wielding a long halberd, a crest on his chestplate.

Why is a guard here!? A virtually abandoned labyrinth. No it there must be something more to it. Kana did say she had to 'check up' on something.

Thanks to magic bubbled around us, we were ignored. In the light it was noticeable that something was wrong, but in the dark under here, it was pretty much impossible to tell.

What lousy guard he is.

"Over here."(kana)

She said in a curt manner, impatiently. Reiko was happily bouncing around following her from the behind. 

Hm? Wait...

Wait a minute. Something is off.

It took me a while to notice this, but, she has a tail not just a regular tail, a fish tail. From the beginning I thought the two were nothing alike, Reiko had white hair, Kana pink. They both had pale skin, Reiko a bit paler, and red eyes. Reiko had a canine tail and ears but this Kana... had a long protruding shark-like tail.

It could definitely be possible the two are related, maybe one looks more like their father or mother, but even so if Reiko was the older one here, it's strange that one ages significantly faster than the next. 

But it seems like the little one's convinced, a hundred percent. 

Maybe for now I will trust her, but either way I won't drop my guard. 

Water droplets echoed, those were almost the only sounds you could hear, it was dead silent. 

"Have you been eating properly?"(Reiko)

"sure."(kana)

"Did you make any friends?"(Reiko)

"sure."(kana)

This and that, that was how their conversation went. Reiko asking question upon questions, it was the most active I have seen her be, completely different from he usual, bashful self.

"a- and h- hav- you-huwah~"(Reiko)

Yawning like a tired hippo mid sentence, must be sleepy, we've been awake this entire time after all. 

"Looks like someone's tired."(Cheryl)

"hm? no no, I'm fine..."(Reiko)

Shrugging it off like nothing, just happy and bouncing back to asking Kana questions. To be fair it isn't ideal to sleep in here and I doubt Kana is willing to meet up again the day after. 

"We can take rest for tonight, if you're tired that is."(kana)

"ah no no, it's fine."(Reiko)

"You sure? The kingdom is big, it will take a bit for us to reach our destination at this pace."(kana)

"uh... if that's the case, maybe a little would be nice..."(Reiko)

"If that's the case, we'll rest here."(kana)

It was by a large pool of water. Towers of cobble on the side with patches of moss. From where we began, we moved quite far, although it was still the musty dungeon it was better than before as before I could describe it as a sewer and now it's more akin to the abandoned and ancient temples I used to scavenge. 

Sadly we did not bring any equipment, best we can do is use our cloaks as blankets. 

Grrmm...

"Sorry honey, nothing to eat tonight."(Cheryl)

"oh, it's alright, I can handle it."(Reiko)

Reiko replied as she took off her navy cloak to use as a makeshift blanket. 

"Here use this too."(Cheryl)

I offered her my cloak to use as a blanket, of course, I cannot die twice but she on the other we cannot risk her catching hypothermia. Actually, hold on. 

I grabbed moss from the nearby area, collecting them in a giant moss pile. A snap of a finger and a flick of a wrist, a ball of fire in my fingertip, lit up the moss pile. 

"thank you."(Reiko)

The flame crackled as seconds turned to minutes. A soft breathing in the background, seems like Reiko fell asleep. The ground was tough and rough, usually she wouldn't be able to fall asleep so easily on such terrain. 

Back in the forest she struggles to get some shut eye, she must have been exhausted to fall asleep almost immediately. Meeting Kana really drained her huh?

"...huee~"(Reiko)

I brushed the bang of her hair, she is completely out, unconscious. Now it was only the two of us.

"Are you not going to sleep?"(Cheryl)

"..."(kana)

Quiet, giving me a side-eye with a mean glare. My trust was wavering to begin with so I need to pry as much information from her as possible. Even if Reiko believes her to be her sister, I find it still very suspicious, from her appearance to even her mannerisms. Of course I have to still consider that they have not seen each other in a while but...

I'll make my decision soon, whether to trust her or not, but right now, it's better I stay vigilant. 

"I am fine, I'll be on night watch."(kana)

She responded finally.

"Really? Then I'll accompany you."(Cheryl)

She shrugged my comment off. 

"Might as well strike a conversation while we're awake, per chance, may I know what your relationship with Reiko is?"(Cheryl)

"our relationship... well, she's my little sister."(kana)

Interesting.

"I see, what is that you need to check on in this labyrinth? And more so, why bring her?"(Cheryl)

"....family bonding time."(kana)

She slurs her words as if she was unsure and her answers were not lining up with what Reiko said, unless, Reiko  is really just the younger one and is lying, but I just cannot believe that fact. 

"You can't really carry a conversation with only one person asking questions can you? What would your relationship with her be?"(kana)

Before I can ask my next question, I was asked a question instead. It is true if it is only one person asking, it would be more an interrogation than anything. 

"Well, I met her about a year ago, maybe a little less. At that time I was, well a spirit as I am now, but at that time I was stuck, all alone in an abandoned village. It was when she came along that I was able to leave. I owe a lot to her just for that... speaking of which, may I ask, how were you able to deduce I was a spirit, I'm sure it wasn't obvious."(Cheryl)

"...well, I'll say it's mostly due to my genetics, what can I say? I was born with a good eye. Anything peculiar she's done of recent? Get a sudden surge of power or maybe learn a new form of magic?"(kana)

"...Actually, there was this one time, where she became this fire demon. Does this also run in your genes? or is this specific to Reiko?"(Cheryl)

"Really, that's what happened? I... guess in a way, it is genetic."(kana)

It was all interesting to hear. Ideally I wanted to continue this conversation but sooner or later she'll start to catch on on what I am doing. I cannot get too greedy here else I'll end up like a snared animal. She's been pretty open, giving me answers that weren't all too vague, I won't push my luck any more. Plus,

"Fuwah~"(Cheryl)

I'm getting a little tired myself. 

...

Is there something on my face? Why was Kana giving me a confused look? 

"You're an artificial spirit, aren't you?"(kana)

...a what?

artificial... spirit...

"What, is that?"(Cheryl)

"Never heard of it? Well it's not like it's common knowledge either way."(kana)

"I'm a... wait a minute."(Cheryl)

I snatched our satchel and dug inside. There was nothing much inside, just the compass a couple change and my encyclopedia that Camilla gave me. 

Quickly I grabbed the book, the pages flew until I found the right page. 'Artificial Spirits', bingo. My fingers glided through the words. Mostly, it was fluff, things like: 'the person who coined the term' or 'the history of artificial spirits'.

It was only a couple seconds until my eyes struck gold. 

'Artificial Spirits, a cursed existence where a spirit is forced out of its own body to exist alone in the outside world. Simply put, artificial Spirits, unlike true spirits, are neither quite alive nor truly dead.'

I'm not... I might be alive...? What...!?

In a surge of rushing excitement I grabbed onto the book tighter to the point the sides of the page began to crumple a little. 

'Due to their limbo existence of life and death, they can still go through certain human experiences such as sleeping or adrenaline. Although not certain, there have been theories of a possible resurrection of artificial spirits, however due to lack of samples these theories have not been proven or disproven.'

'Although not certain, there have been theories of a possible resurrection'

'there have been theories of a possible resurrection'

'possible resurrection'

'resurrection'

Are my eyes deceiving me? Not the first time something like this happened. Maybe I am dreaming, this is all but just a mirage in my head. 

...

I'm sure if I pinched myself, I would wake up.

...

Bam!

In that moment, the tome fell. 

I wasn't dreaming, this was all real.

Little portions of the pages became wet. Small droplets coming out in an unorderly manner. 

"I can be, alive?"(Cheryl)

"...perhaps."(kana)

-----

Reiko POV

"hhmm? Huwah~"(Reiko)

Waking up with a stretch, what time is it? Eh? it's dark out, wait no I forgot there's no sunlight. Looks like Cheryl's fast asleep, she's pretty much sitting, lying next to a pillar, head hung low. 

Where's Kana? Sleeping too?

Oh uh...

Ah there she is. 

"Oh hey, slept well?"(Reiko)

She was sitting by herself next to a pool. She held a globe of water in the air, it changed shape, grew and shrunk, what was she doing? Practicing magic? 

"Hello, little one."(kana)

"Little one? Eh? Don't patronize me."(Reiko)

Some manners, no respect in this generation. 

"Anyways watcha doing?"(Reiko)

"Just a hobby. Nothing much."(kana)

A bump formed from the ball of water and before long, a rod of water protruded out. A next rod came from the other side and two more from below, squashing and stretching until it became humanoid figure. 

A dress bloomed out, and with another stream of water became a hat. 

"Ah, amazing!"(Reiko)

"Really? Thanks. Want to give it a try?"(kana)

Although I was grateful, I knew my limits, I don't think I can do something as intricate as that. 

"no, I'm fine, I doubt I can even, you know, manipulate water."(Reiko)

"No no, I'm sure you can. Just try it."(kana)

It wouldn't hurt would it?

Might as well. 

Recalling what I knew, my arm was extended towards the body of water. Focus, focus focus! Let the familiar feeling course through my veins. 

Splash! 

"Huah! Ah, ah s- sorry!"(Reiko)

I failed...

Rather than the moving the water to my will, I just fired a ball of magic at the pool. Haha... I knew it...

"Why are you forcing it? Come on, over here."(kana)

Kana grabbed my arm and dipped my hand into the water.

Brrr...

Cold...

"You feel that? That's the water flowing. They're all unique essentially, fire is wild, alive, and the cold frost is empty. Water on the other hand, by nature is calm but yet it can become destructive in a matter of seconds. It needs precision and tranquility of mind.

The way you can manipulate it is by getting control of the flowing nature of it. The moment you try to force it off its course,"(kana)

Splaash! 

"it breaks. The only way you can properly handle such thing as water is using its own flow to gently set its course, only after you gain control can you start using power and force. Let your mana leak, a little bit at a time."(kana)

While holding onto my hand, she pushed it quickly into the pool, making me wet, cruel... 

"Understand?"(kana)

She turned and smiled. 

"Ah ngh, I think so."(Reiko)

I nodded. Recall what she just said, I have to be gentle... gentle...

Intertwining my fingers, it was cold. I tried to gauge it's flow just like she said. 

Feel it, gently, gain control...

My eyes were closed shut as I let leak the magic. 

Come on... come on!

...

Blop...

A single bubble popped on the surface...

"...better luck next time. Don't worry it will get easier over time."(kana)