Distortion

This Just Took a Turn for the Worst. . . .

"Lindsey...."

She clamped at her mouth, breathing slowly and calmly to stop her beating heart as she hid away in her little spot under the bookshelf, hidden away by the stairs. It was extremely dusty and a small space, which forced her to curl up into a ball and press herself onto the wall, but it worked. Nobody but her was tiny enough to fit in her tiny corner.

She could hear the sigh of her brother. "Lindsey, I know you hate training. But you have to okay? Kids your age at least start practicing or experimenting with their magic." His footsteps came into the room Lindsey was in, causing her to stiffen up and suck in a breath harshly. She watched as the shadow went around the room, efficiently missing her tiny hiding space. "Ugh, this is stupid."

She let out her breath quietly as his footsteps faded away from the room. "This is useless," She could hear him complaining to someone. "Lindsey is refusing to cooperate with us. She should start learning to control her powers soon, or she's going to find herself completely useless one day."

Lindsey could hear the familiar laugh of her guardian, and she subconsciously leaned in. "It's fine, Lindsey is just shy. She'll start learning soo-" His sentence was interrupted by a series of coughs. She clenched her fist as he coughed, the coughs echoing around the halls and into the room. She could hear his wheeze for breath, the same every time as it got worse and worse each passing day.

"Are you sure you're fine? Take a break from work, your cough is getting worse every day." She could hear Michael's worried tone, a rare side of him that was only brought out by him.

"I'll be fine," Her guardian wheezed, despite not sounding fine at all. Lindsey carefully wriggled out of her hiding spot while listening in. "I'll see the doctor soon, don't worry about it." That's what you said last time and the time before. She grasped her necklace, given to her during her birthday. You're not getting any better.

"You said that last time and the day before." Michael drawled, repeating her thoughts. "If this keeps going, I'll drug you and personally drag you to the nearest doctor myself."

Her guardian laughed, a hearty, full sound despite being so weak and sick. "Don't worry about it~ I'll be fine~"

Lindsey freed herself, and pat the dust away from her dress. Fine. If you're not taking care of yourself, I'll have to take care of you instead. She ran towards to direction of their voices, towards the living room. You're young too, hyung. You forget that a lot when you're trying to take care of a bunch of young children. You're only one year older than Michael. She burst into the room, earning herself startled looks. She felt her face turn a little red, but she ignored the others. I'll train to be the best for you guys. I'll gladly give my life for any of you.

"Jinueng hyung, I'll train really hard now." She said, pulling stubbornly at her guardian's sweater. "I'll become the best in this world, I promise."

I'll train to become a Universal just for you.

~~~

Soren and the others were confronted by Level 17 monsters. They came in all shapes and sizes. One of them had a missing eye and was replaced with a dark void. It had a mouth drooling with green liquid and its scales gleamed in the light. It looked like one big snake. The other one that caught his eye was a very tiny monster. It looked very . . . should he say this . . . adorable. Its eyes were huge and seemed to have a very innocent shine in them. It looked like a dog. A very cute and small dog.

"Aww~," Sotaru said. "Cute little dog~"

Sotaru ran over to the monster only to get thrown backward. The small puppy writhed and growled until it had morphed into a grotesque three-headed demon. "Aww, that's not nice~" He pouted.