I was born in the cold, winter night of year 3021.

Unlike how people described it in books, everything is fairly normal. Well, we did have a lot of technological advancements, and our quality of life had become more comfortable.

Just that, this world is still how it used to. Unfair and cruel, sometimes it's ridiculous.

But there are still those things that makes us go on and be happy.

I am an orphan and as a young girl in an orphanage housing a lot of kids, I was often bullied since I was weak and practically useless. I didn't have much friends, occasionally I would play with others, but as for bonds, there has never been one.

But there was this older brother, who took me in as his own and saved me from sadness. Unlike other kids, he stuck with me and provided for me. Even getting into fights for me.

I love this older brother. He was my everything.

Humans really have no heart sometimes. They wanted to separate us, me being adopted by a well-off couple because I was cute and everything, and him being left behind since he was skinny and looked dirty all the time.

He was like that because of me, I don't want to exchange his love for something so shallow as a family who only wanted me because I was cute.

Right here is my family, right here is my home.

But we were nothing but children, they wanted to force me to go.

"Brother, I don't want to go..."

I remember pleading with him, and remembered the dread in his eyes as he hugged me into his tiny, thin frame.

He whispered reassuringly, words that made my heart warm.

"It's okay AhSu, I won't give you up."

At age 10, he ran away from the orphanage with me, a five years old in his arms and the whole world in front of him. I always think about it and admired him for his bravery.

Such an indecisive move, he was willing to bite the bullet in order for me and him to never separate.

To live in the streets as children was not very good. Both society and world was not good to us. I remember him begging even in winter so we could eat, and I would be inside our small hut in the back alley.

We also had to hide from other strays and gangs that lurk in that area. They were not so kind with us.

Brother would get beaten by them, and he would still go work the next day. Some of them offered him weird, odd, illegal jobs. But he never took them.

Brother, even if he had the personality of a scumbag, never resorted to evil means in order to feed me and himself. He was a bit of a trickster, but he never conned anyone. I always marvel at house smart my brother was.

I aspire to become someone of use to him, and also raise him. Because my brother gave me a home, I want that home to last forever.

Nothing can change my heart, nothing.

Although I hate school, when things were looking up my brother wanted to send me to school. Of course I hate school since it means I won't be with my brother anymore and I had to face those mean people at school.

Every single one of them would surely look down on a poor orphan.

"AhSu, I have money now and ability! You can go to school and get an education. Can you do this for me?"

I sighed and looked at him.

"Aish, sure."

As long as he is happy, I can try my best.

My brother got a job in an organization that handles his school. In this era, things like flying cars and trains or space travel isn't the hottest sensation.

It's the abilities that awaken once evolution is achieved.

My brother is as such, and so the government values him too. His ability is of the agility attribute. A skill which is very useful as he said.

He looks so happy with his ability, and I also praised him for it. Although we get into childish fights over it sometimes, I still praise him subtly from time to time.

Hmp, he always seems to be working really late or overseas.

Also, we don't live on the streets anymore, nor do we beg. Brother often sold eggs, noodles and tofu in the morning or at the early hours of night so he saved up for at least 3 years, and finally we could rent out own apartment and live comfortably.

I don't care if it's not ours, it's still home.

Usually I would be studying, but brothers clothes needs to be cleaned and dried.

After all, he's a scholar at the Middle East Highschool. He must look presentable at times. I do our laundry since he's always working outside for food and shelter, this is the least I can do!

But I really have a sickly body and so I get sick from time to time. The laundry washing here is done by hand, and winter made it harder to do our laundry.

Well the good side is that we can save water since we learnt to use the piled up snow on the side of the yard to wash clothes.

First, I bring out the small pail, then go outside wearing winter clothes and scoop out some snow to bring into the house. Then I would heat it up in the big pot and use that to wash clothes.

It was so cold I got bedridden for Ten days.

Brother looked so terrified and worried. He was constantly beside me, taking care of me. Then he would be hesitant to go out and make a living, and even neglected some of his studies.

"It's okay, Reom. I'll be fine."

He would hold my hand so tightly as if he was afraid I would be gone. I made sure to reassure him, made sure he go to school and not worry.

"I can handle myself."

But he would only go out to find food and medicine, so I knew that after ten days later, he was scolded by the teacher for not attending class.

I pity my brother, he was so good he had to endure a sister like me.

"AhSu? Are you alright?"

"Ah yes! Let's go buy some wonton!!!"

I ran ahead of him like every other day, and he would chase after me with a smile.

If this isn't home, then what is it?

In Zircon City, the Jade Dragon Organization existed to protect the welfare of Zircon City's citizen.

With all the new abilities popping every now and then, they have to peer their eyes and ears open. Those who have abilities are both a gift and a curse to a place.

There are some who are good, and some who were bad. But there are ones who are practically crazy and commits acts no one could understand. They live like essentrics sometimes, or moves like shadows ready to strike.

When there is a new ability user, they must be checked for anything suspicious.

So, if there was an ability user who does not comply, they are seen as threats to society and were either k*lled or imprisoned.

Its based on what type of misdeed they had committed after all.

Some of them gets a chance to work for their freedom, and that's where the Jade Dragon gets the best of their intelligence officers.

"Hey Reom, here's today's tofu."

Uncooked Tofu and smelly tofu for today's stall since its Saturday.

"Ah thank you AhSu. I'll be going now, finish your homework and eat lunch alright?"

AhSu pouted. Seems like her brother won't be home early today, huh?

She Escorted him to the door and watch him leave, waving him a goodbye.

AhSu, since it was Saturday, grabbed the broom outside and started to clean around. It was the early days of fall, and dried leaves surrounded the apartment.

"Good Morning AhSu!"

Their neighbor, Mrs. Lu greeted AhSu as always. She was already 80, but her gait looked like she was still 60. She walks around with a cane, and takes care of her blind husband.

"Good morning Mrs. Lu."

Unlike the world before, where ethnicity and nationality was a huge thing that everyone is so concerned about, the world today doesn't really know much of their roots.

After the great flushing decades ago, most races had ceased to exist and slot of new ones popped out.

That's the case with Mrs. Lu's husband whose family name sounds so western, but looked none like how they should be.

He's a tall man with tanned skin and crescent blue eyes. While his wife looked more western.

But AhSu liked the pair of old mandarin ducks, they're sweet, peaceful, and always gave her homemade sweets and soups especially back in the days where they were too poor to eat thrice a day.

"Good girl, is your brother working today?"

"Ah yes, he's selling Tofu today. Are you headed somewhere?"

"Ah yes you know me. I love walking to the market and pick fish for my husband. He's craving for fish nowadays and he definitely loves my fish stews."

For an old lady, Mrs.Lu always sounds energetic than she looked.

It never fails to amaze her how full of vigor she was. But isn't that something to be thankful?

After a few words was exchanged, she waved goodbye to Mrs. Lu and continued sweeping the ground.

'I wish that me and Reom could stay together as we grow old too, forever.'

In order to do that, she has to become stronger too.

Her brother just called to tell her he was called in for a mission, can't come back for a day or two. With nothing to do, AhSu decided to go out and eat some hot pot from outside and probably watch news online to guess which mission her brother had taken.

It always happens, especially since he is a messanger errand boy or something.

"Hey uncle, I wanna order."

As she sat there looking through her phone, a couple of men passed by her, talking in hushed voice.

But she clearly heard Jade Dragon and Demolition in their conversation so she followed them with her eyes until they disappeared into an alleyway.

" Lil' lady, here's the usual!"

The chime from the owner took her out of her focus. Is this why Reom didn't come home?

At that same time, Reom had boarded a plane to another country where he met with the team he would work with this time.

Unbeknownst to AhSu, her brother wasn't just a normal member of the Jade Dragon Organization. He passed the tests and qualifications as a special operations agent.

That's why his privileges and pay seemed higher than normal.

"Your task is to protect the son and daughter of Patriarch Mitchell Dawn. The enemy is from Scorpius so be careful."

"I'll do my best."

Of course he would, since he still need to go back to AhSu and have hot pot.

He can't mess it up, she'll be really sad.

He and the team dispersed, and his role would be a second generation young master so that he could stick with the clients.

This is how he would meet Shayla Dawn, the precious daughter of Mitchell Dawn from the Solarium Saints Palace, an organization that serves the deities of the Sun.

AhSu definitely misses her brother, worried for him but also dared not to admit she WAS INDEED scared for him.

She worked hard to maintain her tough image. If that Reom finds out she was so worried then he would make fun of her. He's really good at it!

So she held her phone and sent a bunch of mean sounding messages.

AhSu:Hey u still alive? (1:05 pm)

AhSu:Did u eat crap? Why not answer? (1:21 pm)

AhSu: Hey airhead, what type of trouble are you getting in to? Will this delivery service take long again? U should get your lazy *** up and do ur job faster! (1:30 pm)

She frowned. There's no use to this why was she doing it anyway? As if she wasn't used to it...

"Hmp! When he comes home he's paying for my hot pot! Curse that guy he doesn't even give me a call or something I'm worried here!"

With an angry frown pout, she threw her phone into her bed and went to take a bath.

Even checking it right after, Reom still didn't reply.

She disgruntedly cursed him again in her head before climbing into her bed to sleep at 6:30 pm.

Pretty early huh? well, she needs to wake up early since she decided to sell eggs tomorrow.

Reom would be so surprised when he comes back.

" Hmp, I shouldn't worry about him. He's gonna be fine. Wait, I'll tell him to bring back some sweets when he comes home."

So she sent him a message containing an angry threat for some candies.

AhSu: No candies no Studies, no college!!!

Then content with how she delivered the words, AhSu closed her eyes to sleep.

'Don't worry about him. He's gonna be fine.'

Was what she last thought before drifting into sleep.

AhSu wasn't a child who would dream. They say your brain is healthy if you have dreams, but in her case she was a dreamless person. Rather than that she just sits in a black abyss, with no sound, no nothing.

But tonight she dreamt of something that seems to be not a dream.

It felt.. Lifelike.

It started with roaring and searing flames. She could hear people in the background.

The'her' in the dream seemed so injured and tired, and she could see people flying and smashing things around.

On her hand, she supported her seemingly weak body with a sword.

The ominously black sword seemed to be feeding off her own soul and the misfortunes around her.

'How did I know that? No wait, who are these people? I had never seen them before...'

'Are they my enemy?'

She felt herself stand up and hit those people, who seem hell bent into subduing her.

"HOW DARE YOU!"

what seem like her voice, flowed out and immediately, everything swirled and changed scenery.

This time they were inside what seemed like a Palace and she was having tea while in the middle of a meeting.

She loved tea, especially tea Mrs. Lu would give her.

"The Northern Gods have taken a step. We must stop them before anything else."

'Northern.... I must've been watching too much TV these days I'm having a weird dream...'

The talk was about death and artefacts, she seems to understand and not understand at the same time.

'Is this my hands? It looks so strong covered in leather gloves.'

Suddenly the whole place shook, and from above, the ceiling collapsed.

Everyone saw a huge, Dragonic creature looking at them from above, its beady eyes deep and red, and for a moment no one moved.

They just stared with wide-eyes, too afraid to move or speak.

The beast also seemed to be waiting for one of them to f*ck up, and when one did, the beast's loud, earpiercing roar tore down and it raised its front legs to smashed them into pieces.

That's when AhSu woke up, sweating and breathing heavily. She washed her face with her hands, and covered them for a moment.

That fear, it seemed so real as well as the last screams of terror from the others with her. Something in her seemed to feel despair for them, but it was just a dream, she couldn't do anything.

AhSu began having these dreams every night that she started to loose sleep, and grew even more tired every time she dreams of it.

A young girl like her, whose brother hadn't been home for a month now, had to resort to caffeine and energy drinks.

Today, she can see the dark lines under her eyes had worsen as well as the drowsiness that plagued her and finally, decided that she had enough.

Whatever these dreams are, they must stop. She must get some sort of help.

She knocked on Mrs. Lu's door, the only place she could turn to, and the old woman opened her door with a smile.

"Hello AhSu I haven't seen you in- Oh my goodness what happened to you?! Dear, you look dead!"

The already irritable AhSu who lacked sleep frowned. It took her a lot of effort to not get an outburst since the older woman didn't do anything wrong.

But she was really easy to trigger these days, so it was so hard to hold it in.

" Can I talk to you over tea Grandma Lu?"

The old woman led her into their house, and she sat down in the living room.

"I will make the tea, sit down and have some fruits okay?"

Mrs. Lu placed a basket of grapes and bananas in front of her, and smiled in worry.

"Yes, thank you."

She slowly made her way to the kitchen, and AhSu opened her smartphone to check if Reom made a call or something.

This wasn't the first time he went to work for so long and didn't call or message. But he would leave her some voice mails if he could.

But this time, there was none.

AhSu ate some grape.

While chewing, she suddenly remembered a part of her dreams that was so disgusting she had to swallow the grape in her mouth with a dark face.

She did not pick any fruit from the basket, because she was being reminded of the limbs and heads she chewed in her dream....

The sound and texture of the grape made her rmemeber the sound and vivid texture of the bones and flesh the dream her had....

No, let's try not to remember.

"AhSu, you can tell me anything that's bothering you."

She looked at the older lady, and took a sip of her calming oolong tea.

"I came here to burden you, I'm sorry."

"No dear you're not a burden at all.. Are you worried about Reom?"

"I am worried about him but that's not the case."

She placed her tea cup down and sat back into her seat, looking out of the window tiredly.

"Is someone bothering you? Grandma will beat them up for you!"

"Haha no, I just keep having these strange dreams..."

"Oh, is that so? I see. Do you want to tell me about it? It might help."

The warm smile on her face softened AhSu quite a bit.

"Alright..."

The dream was summed up by AhSu to Mrs. Lu the way the older woman would understand.

It started on a scene where she seemed to be in her early 18 years. She's been dealing with life alone as if her brother did not exist or hasn't come back home.

But she instinctively knew she had been alone for some time.

Her life was like every other girl. School, side jobs, friends.

She made some friends, but she could tell they weren't so close. Just casual buddies. AhSu remembered that she went to this middle class Highschool after finishing her primary education and she met a group called Talisman.

They were students interested in super powers and artefacts, and one day AhSu received their club pamphlet and became interested. There, she spent her time researching and stuff.

Then she found out in another dream that her brother hasn't come back home from the said two day work he did overseas when she was eight. She's still trying to find him, always so obsessed about anything that has to do with Jade Dragon.

The her in the dream mentioned in her thoughts how she went to find him in the Jade Dragon's building but they threw her out, even banned her after she went to ask them everyday.

For some time, people would look at her in pity. Only Mrs. Lu took the time and effort to settle her down, and sometimes console her.

At age 20, she awakened an ability. The happiness it brought her was indeed immeasurable, and she was eager to show her skills.

The goal was then to enter the Jade Dragon, and find her brother.

After all the hardships, she finally got a license from the Jade Dragon as a power type. Her strength became useful in conquest, so taking the opportunity, she advertised herself through sheer strength and was noticed by the higher ups.

She was then assigned as an inner guard for one of the higher ups, a man who had long grey hair and fair skin.

They called him Master Su, but his family name was Asher. They were known for their ice abilities and among them, Master Su was the most skillful.

She was now doing modular schooling at night, and working for Jade Dragon at day. The pay was good as well as the information source.

After 2 years of tracking down her brother's marks using the network of the Jade dragon, she found the most recent place he had been in.

The Sun God Temple.

So at one point she managed to get into the team travelling to the Sun God's territory overseas. She was assigned with the defense team.

They arrived there after some time. At first she did not see her brother, only those annoying Sun Cult people.

But she was adamant, day and night she kept her eyes and ears open.

And it payed off.

Her brother, who looked like he changed a lot, came back with a group of people from some type of mission. Then, at a burst of emotion, she ran up to him crying.

Reom seemed so glad to see her, and they spent a whole week catching up with each other. When asked why he did not come home or communicate, her brother sighed heavily.

"Alot of things happened, Alot of things changed. I'm just glad to see you well, AhSu. I definitely missed you. I'm sorry, I broke our promise to stay together forever..."

AhSu in the dream, although she has Alot of question, received and forgave this brother she loved so much and even offered him her assistance.

" It's too dangerous. I can't risk your life. "

Even as she insisted, her brother said no.

AhSu was a stubborn person, it was hard to decline her if she wanted to really do something so in the end, she had to say good bye to Jade Dragon and her acquaintances in there.

The first thing her brother told her after she settled down is that he is the son of someone really important and he had a fiancé amongst the girls tailing him around.

The shock of this took long for her to process and she definitely felt betrayed. But nonetheless she felt that he also deserved happiness... But she never told him she was happy for him, as expected of AhSu.

Still keeping up with the tough and unreasonable sister attitude.

Her brother threaded carefully around her, getting her accustomed to everyone in the Sun temple.

She did her best to fit in, but even as years passed she felt like she did not belong in there.

She accompanied her brother and his group through thick and thin, wanting to become useful and more powerful to be even more useful. She strive to become better than the girls around him, better than the so called little brothers, better than the so called Family.

But deep within her she felt that everything she does was all meaningless, that even if she became strong and useful, she would never be close to her brother like she used to.

The warmth of the home became colder and colder as time passes, threatening to collapse and bury her under.

Alot of bad things happened, some of them were blurry. But Alot died, Alot happened.

But the most important thing was that her brother rose to power. He was above anyone else and she was one of those who helped him ascend. She was happy for him and proud of herself.

Although he seemed cold and emotionless, he was still her brother. Just that, his burdens made him like that.

As long as she can stay beside him, nothing else matters.

That is until he had a son and then after a son there's a daughter, and another daughter.

She became second, third and then last priority. For an affectionate sister, she felt so bitter.

She became farther and farther from her brother to the point they only exchanged greetings a bit as he was busy both publicly and privately.

This brother of her, matured and weathered, she understood well how hard it was for him to even meet her in his busy schedule.

So she silently swallowed all the complaints, and kept her heart.

Kept her heart even after she was assaulted by his wives.

Kept her heart even if she felt alone even in the peak of power.

Kept her heart and continued to fight.

Fight for her brother, fight for herself, fight for the greater good.

But eventually, she began asking herself.

What was she fighting for? Is it really for her brother? Herself? Greater good?

She felt like she has to find it, in order to feel sane.

In order to continue being useful for the ones she loved.

Focus on the job, the things that did not matter and does no do good for her job was disposed of.

Things like love.

She fought and killed, fought and killed, fought and lost a lot of familiar faces, burnt and killed both good and bad.

She could hear herself in a moment of hesitation, asking herself if this was right while looking at the leather gloved hand, clad in armour and sword body of hers.

She could see all the destruction, all the misery.

And she became numb as she got stronger.

This must how he must have felt.

But unlike her, whose willing to save her? Her screams of help are drowned by the expectations of others, it was a lot of pressure but up and pent up with nowhere to vent.

She has to hold on, think about her brother, think about all the hard work they have all put into this, think about the new tomorrow.

It's okay, she wasn't that broken yet. She can still go on.

Push everything in and stop breathing, otherwise she'll just crumble into a pool of disappointment. That can't happen, she can't be useless..

This is the only way for her to stay.

Then, there was this great Draconic creature which destroyed and killed alot of people from the Sun Temple right in front of her.

Their dying screams and their crushed bodies, everything was so vivid.

She remembered that one person who, in the last moments of his life, tried to shield the others, especially AhSu from that beast, taking the beast on even if he knew he wouldn't be able to come out alive.

She remembered needling near his body, feeling empty and nothing.

That one person, who might have been the only one who would openly tell her how much he loved her, without worrying about any consequences, died due to her negligence.

That was, what started all of it.

She began to feel even more incompetent. If it was before, this AhSu would stand up from the ashes and avenge her comrades. But this time, this time she just let the darkness sink in bit by bit.

She vowed to avenge him, but her brother, the one to whom he dedicated her whole life to, told her it was no use. She was not that strong, she could never defeat anyone in this state.

She was forced to resign her position after consecutive infightings with others and developed a choleric-melancholic personality.

She spent her days in her mansion, alone, drunk, and depressed.

Her brother tried to come and visit but after all of it, how can she face him?

She disappointed him, she embarrassed him. His sister, who should be strong and just, became someone unable to even control her temper and caused infightings, resulting to alot of damages and failures.

She was also embarrassed to see her comrades with her current self.

She just thought of slowly wasting away in her mansion, at age 34.

But on one dream, somebody came to mock her for being a stupid cattle.

"Hey, you spent your bug life serving a selfish man. He does not care about you at all, if that's what you're thinking. If he did, he will not do so for long. Me and my children, along with the others will replace you. You're not worth of the worries and the affections, you're just trash he picked up from an orphanage, someone who has a lowly background. A God like him, how can he mingle with you? A human? If you leave now he might still spare you. If he gets bored with your insufferable attitude, then off with your head! "

She did not believe it, dare not believe it.

But at some point, she was forced to believe that he had changed.

The home has crumbled down and now she was exposed in the darkness, all alone and helpless.

She let it sink in and all hell broke loose. After that was chaos, people feeling righteous blamed her for things she did not do.

Schemes and sins, that's what drove them apart and just like that she was consumed by the darkness, fought with no reason, became a big villain and drove herself to her death.

It replayed again and again for a month, feeling more real each time.

Mrs. Lu's tea had gone cold. The dream was horrible, and she felt the burden it had put in the young girl's body, mind, and heart.

"This had been repeating? So you really aren't getting much sleep."

"Yes. I'm afraid, so afraid. What if it becomes real? I don't Want it to be like that!"

"Calm down, AhSu. Do you want to go somewhere with me tomorrow?"

She looked up, and saw that the older woman had a calm expression on her face. Whatever it is, made her calm down too.

"But where?"

"A friend of mine."