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Chapter Thirty Five

I blinked at the twins, a little startled by their sudden excited exclamation.

"You want to see my powers?" I repeated their question, my cheeks reddening suddenly.

Lyra nodded eagerly, her hands clasped together tightly. "Yes!" Her green eyes were sparkling, and it reminded me of Papa. "I was thinking about it, and because I want to major in a science-branched department for college, I want to see if maybe I can understand your powers."

Lukas peered at me with a goofy grin, his hair over his eyes because of the beanie on his head. "I just wanna see them because your Summoning was very beautiful and mesmerizing to look at."

I blushed at how positive their reactions were to wanting me to use my attributes. My hands began to sweat a little as I played with the ends of my hair, nervous and flushed and thinking of their words. Everyone always told me my attributes were nothing but weapons because they judged me for my parents' murders. I let out a low sigh, feeling it shake in my throat. They called me a weapon, and they refused to acknowledge me the most powerful person in the world.

Smiling lightly at the two, which surprised them, I replied, "It'd be my pleasure. Let's go outside for this."

However, these two... let me find what my worth is.

I have none.

We all have none.

There is no such thing as a price tag of self-worth pinned to every being in this world, or my world, or any other worlds for that matter.

Labeling a sticker onto myself with a price, a worth meant nothing, was probably something people wanted me to do so they could break me down.

I think... I understand it now.

~~~

After Lukas and Lyra led me outside to their backyard, they sat on the porch swing as I wandered the grass, finding a place to stand in front of them. Turning to look at them, my eyes glowed suddenly, and I saw Lyra flinch when the air around me visibly changed. Lukas didn't react as much.

Calmly, I asked, "Which attribute would you like to see first?"

Lukas had a notepad out, which he said was where the notes he took during our call of revelation were located. Flipping through the page, he suggested, "Let's start with Summoning since I mentioned it earlier. It'll be the least dangerous of them all." The tip of his pen touched his cheek as he added in, "Try summoning.. a bike."

"Dangerous?" Lyra repeated, suddenly unsure of her excitement now.

It was too late to back out, because I rolled up the sleeves of my cardigan, exposing my arms. I learned something new yesterday while training with Ryan. Maybe I can utilize it now. I breathed in deeply, closing my eyes. I've never summoned anything much other than weapons, but this'll be more practice for me. I could hear Lyra's squeak when the ground beneath my feet began shaking, the dirt crumbling and pulling towards me.

An unsaturated red circle appeared on my stomach, glowing brightly through my clothes. The light traveled up my torso and to my arms, swarming back to my stomach as black tattoos of swords embroidered themselves on where they were exposed. Julia's mark. My eyes opened suddenly as I stared at the sky, trying to concentrate as shocked and amazed gazes watched me. Through the light on my body, the silhouette of a bike pushed itself out, collapsing onto the ground. The lights disappeared, as well as the tattoos, and I let go of the breath I was holding from earlier.

"W-Wow!" Lukas exclaimed, taken aback in astonishment. He turned to Lyra excitedly. "Did you see that?!"

Lyra's eyes were wide as she stared at me, and my lips pressed into a thin line as a reluctant look crossed my face. Is she traumatized, maybe? Her expression is hard to read. Immediately, a bright smile broke out onto her face, and she held onto her brother's arm tightly.

"O-Oh my god, that was amazing!" Lyra squealed. "T-The light made a shadow of a woman behind her!"

I sighed in relief, smiling softly. So it worked. Using Julia's mark, her attribute's spirit acts as a godly power source for my Summoning if I deem so. Unfortunately, the spirit shows itself behind me as a much bigger being, which makes it almost obvious that I have a trick up my sleeve. It works for any other attribute of any spirits I met through my Dream Factory attribute, so the attributes from my parents won't work because they aren't dead. Putting my hands on my hips, I grinned at the two sitting on the porch.

"I guess I'll use my Time attribute now?" I asked, waiting for permission.

Lukas nodded, smiling back. I let out a soft breath, and my left eye glowed emerald green. In a second, I was in front of them, grabbing a water bottle off the table. Lyra almost fell off her chair at my presence, squealing suddenly. I laughed lightly, holding in my snickers to be polite.

"God, that scared me!" She exclaimed, her hand to her heart. She turned to Lukas and asked, "How come that wasn't first?! It seems less dangerous than Summoning."

"Time is a very dangerous thing to meddle with," Lukas responded, thinking of the answer himself. "If anything, we'd be lucky if her interference with time didn't affect anything, even though it was only a second." He looked back at his notepad, saying, "We can't let you use the Dream Factory attribute or the Music attribute because they're too wickedly dangerous."

I let out a huff, smiling quirkily at his use of the word "wickedly".

"That only leaves Deceiver," I commented. I put a hand to my chin, laughing nervously, "I don't usually use it unless I accidentally spill something on my clothes and don't want anyone to see. What do you want me to trick you into seeing?"

Lyra chirped in a questioning manner, "Well, can you change anything other than your appearance?"

"Yes, I can," I answered.

"This'll be fun!" She exclaimed cheerfully, her eyes sparkling once again. I gave her a puzzled expression, implying my confusion. "It's like magic! In our world, powers like these don't exist and the closest thing to deceiving the eyes around you is something called magic. It's basically a riddle for your eyes."

"A riddle for your eyes," I repeated under my breath. Smiling, I pointed to Lyra and said, "Yeah. I like that."

"Let's get started then!" She squealed. She hopped out of her seat on the porch swing and sat me down beside Lukas. "You can change things from afar, right?" I nodded. "Okay! Just settle down here, and change... that chair over there! I wanna see it up close!"

I couldn't help but giggle at how excited she was. "Alright then. Your call, Lyra."

The next few hours was spent with Lukas and me laughing at how ecstatic Lyra was whenever she encountered the changes of the Deceiver's powers. It was quite fun for me to see someone so unfamiliar with attributes get accustomed to them.

However, the fun wouldn't last much longer.

A/N

Oooohh

Foreshadowing O-o