The Advent of Madness: My Twin Sister And I

The ebony sails hanging high above us began to twist as Hildekar controlled Jill and Elden indirectly to back the sails.

With the aid of the anchors pulling The Canary backwards and the sails pulling the ship in the opposing direction, its speed came down drastically within less than a minute; is it enough to stop us from crashing into whatever is ahead, though?

That, I couldn't be sure of.

Whatever I had spotted, whatever that silhouette represented, I had no way of knowing what secrets it contained and what form of danger it held towards us.

But, either way...

Everything here is a danger to us.

...it was best to think in that direction.

Seconds later, a person came to rest by my side. She, too, gazed into the distance, towards the silhouette breaking through the dark haze. Neither of us spoke out, not that I could have spoken, and, instead, observed this discovery of ours.

As The Canary came to a steady halt, and as Jill and Elden swung down from the sails with weary faces-

Thrum...

-it broke through the veil of darkness.

Thrum...

The silhouette began to reveal itself.

Thrum...

And, from the core of this silhouette, came something none of us had expected; something not even the brightest of minds could have believed to be possible in the damned darkness, in this damned Sunless Skies.

Floating, sternly, unwaveringly, with the tip of its obelisk piercing towards the sky as it towered at a phenomenal height...

A monument.

A sleek, white monument stained with black streaks, engraved with words composed in an unknown language. It stood upon a vast mound of rock, requiring a steady trek to arrive at the foot of the towering monument.

Nemora and I stared solemnly whilst Hildekar brought The Canary to a stop beside the rocks. There was no worry that this ship could be damaged by a few rocks scraping along the side of its hull.

No normal materials were used in its construction, after all.

Within minutes, The Canary stopped. It bobbed quietly by the oddly calm waters surrounding the monument.

I watched Nemora's lips move for a moment, then she turned to me and spoke to me, "Extend the link to Esme. She'll be joining us with landfall; her prowess is extremely convenient in this scenario. And, no, Hilda won't be coming. Her intelligence is still lacking."

...Understandable.

I'd be worried to bring her along as well.

Having her act as a bodyguard alongside Vanessa for Hildekar, Lily, and Yulei was a hard enough job for her petite brain.

In the midst of our conversation, two familiar faces came up on my left side and leaned over the railing alongside us as they gazed at the unfamiliar terrain.

Elden looked over at Nemora, then pointed his finger at me for some reason?

"Elden is asking to create a connection between the two of you for a moment. He wants to speak to you."

Oh?

Moments later-

"Alora."

"Yes?"

"Why can we see the entirety of the monument? Why can we see the entire mound? It's much farther than your ability allows us to see, no? Did you alter it, or is this location unique in some way?"

That... I hadn't thought about that.

"...It has to be unique. I didn't change anything. Also, now that you mention it, it felt as though we broke through some sort of veil, then the moment we entered this location, I could see the entire monument immediately."

"If not unique, then it has to be at least different." Elden mumbled, but his words came through due to my Manifestation's capabilities nonetheless.

"Connect me to Nemora this time."

Soon after, the connection between me and Elden resulted in a backlash that I had to painfully endure while I conjured up a second link between Elden and Nemora.

The man promptly passed the information along to the leader of this cohort, allowing her to ponder over the meaning of these facts that she'd likely already noticed on her lonesome. Still, better to pass it along than blankly assume that Nemora had already figured it out.

While this was going on, I spotted Hildekar move into the belly of The Canary from afar, and my sister, the adorable, the cute, the sexy, Esme, came out and dashed towards us with vivid intrigue in her eyes.

I could understand why she felt that way; these past few hours had to have been a draining cycle of monotony, where nothing had happened yet, yet so much had happened simultaneously.

Pitter-pattering her way up, Esme hopped behind me, and, as I was about to turn around to face her-

Swoosh.

-she wrapped her arms around my shoulder, looping them around my neck as she embraced me from behind with a joyous smile. The sweet nectar scent wafting from her body doubled my heart rate instantly as I fought back the damningly strong urges to pounce her right there and then.

I can't.

Not in front of others, and especially when she hasn't realised her love for me.

And also not while my situation with Hilda...

Thinking about it, I was quite in a predicament; never mind that, forget it, ignore it, let's pretend as if everything is fine for now.

Just as the cohort came together in preparation for landfall, we all noticed something else occurring at that same moment.

The sound of receding waves.

The deafening waves relaxed as our ears began to take in the sound of each other's heavy breathing and the groaning of the wood beneath our feet.

"...We can talk again?" I mumbled very quietly, but everyone heard it.

"Seems like it." Nemora confirmed my suspicions as she relaxed her throat. She had no need to abuse her Blessings for the purpose of basic speech anymore.

With that in mind, I cancelled the tether between Esme and Nemora, whilst extending both the time and distance on the one linking Nemora and Vanessa.

Nemora glanced over for a split second in acknowledgement while my adorable Esme nuzzled her cheek onto the back of my head. But, secretly, almost imperceptibly to the unsuspecting eye, Esme was pulling my head backwards.

Just slightly, just enough to faintly squeeze my scalp onto her breasts.

...Hehe.

Had I not known the emotions brewing inside of her chest, I'd have dismissed it just as the others did at this very moment.

But I knew.

Esme was beginning to reciprocate it; this dense love of mine was starting to be returned.

Esme is being sneaky~

Doing this in front of the others~ Naughty naughty sister~

As my sister and I continued with our shenanigans, the others, Jill, Elden, and Nemora, shuffled over to the bow of the ship and prepared the way down.

Nemora had Elden enter the storage compartment of The Canary to bring back an anchor and rope for repelling and climbing back up—not that it was necessary when taking into account our prowess, but in the case of us being incapable of taking advantage of our Blessings and Curses, we'd have a way back up by climbing a rope.

Within minutes, everything was ready.

I wriggled my head out of Esme's embrace and glanced back at her, "Come on, sister, we have to get going." I smiled innocently at her gorgeous visage and said, "We can continue later."

Perhaps only I understood the hint laden within the word 'continue', but on the off-chance that Esme caught it...

On the off-chance that she, too, was interested in continuing...

Hehe.

"...Ahem." Clearing my throat, I patted Esme's waist and stepped back, "Come on, deary sister."

Winking playfully, I twirled my butt around and hopped off towards the others; she's staring~

I could feel her eyes twitching up and down repeatedly from my head to my butt. It's almost cute how poorly she's hiding her rising tendencies.

They weren't much yet, but as she comes to understand what these feelings are, as she digs herself deeper and deeper into the rabbit hole of love...

I'll be waiting at the bottom with my sticky little black heart.

Anyway, regardless of my naughty thoughts, the cohort had begun its descent onto the mound of rock.

Jill was the first one down, followed by Nemora, Elden, Esme, and, as the last one, I grabbed onto the thick rope, planted my heels firmly on the sides of the rope below me, and slid down alongside them.

Crunch.

Wet pebbles crackled below my feet as I stepped onto solid, stable land.

With this came a moment of disorientation as I adjusted to the lack of swaying, but within seconds, everything was back to normal.

I stood at the back of the pack alongside Esme. In front of us were Nemora and Elden side-by-side, and Jill led us at the head of this small group.

We marched up in quiet concentration.

It was a taciturn decision made by us to allow those with the sharpest ears among us, Jill and Esme, to listen out for any threats. I kept my eyes open for any vivid projections of Curses that would pre-emptively reveal any hidden Heathens, while Jill took care of the role of bait.

Any ambushes would be dealt with by him.

But as we marched onwards, as we stepped up the rocky mound towards the towering monument, we found nothing.

We saw nothing.

We heard nothing.

Only the monument sat grandly above us, towering solemnly with a subtle thrum oscillating from deep within.