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Chapter Twenty Six

Lukas James

After a few minutes of explanation and clues pointing to it, Meredith and I came to a conclusion I never thought I would ever hear in my life.

"We live in different worlds."

I felt my heart pounding to pump blood to my brain as it started to rush with thoughts. Everything makes so much more sense this way. How her time is different from my time. Her civilization is different from my civilization. She lives on an Earth about a thousand years ahead of us, but we're on the same page when it comes to days of the week and dates of a month. Sitting up, I saw Meredith holding her head in her hands, her eyes closed shut. She was thinking really hard, and I couldn't help but smile at how cute she was to me.

Yet, what can I do if we live on opposite ends of the parallel worlds?

I was thinking about telling her my feelings during this call, but with this in the way... now what?

"Do you think I'm insane..?"

I looked up from my desk, seeing Meredith staring at me through the screen. She had a concerned expression on her face, and yet, there was a glassy look to her eyes.

"What?" I choked out the word.

She turned away and looked out the window of her room, curling into a ball on her chair with her arms wrapped around her legs. "Do you not believe me? That we live in different worlds? Different Earths and times?" She hid her face in her knees, though her eyes peeked out. Every time I saw the green and purple clash together, I held my breath because it was still so alluring. "Do I look insane to you?"

I didn't answer, and I knew it inflicted some pain into her chest when it was silent. Clutching my fists, I shook my head. "You would never look that way to me," I said quietly. Peering at the screen, Meredith was fully cocooned. "If anything, I'm only able to see a strikingly high sarcasm in you."

I heard her laugh lightly at my small attempt at a joke.

It made me smile.

~~~

Meredith spent a few minutes teaching me about what attributes were in her world. She said the average number of attributes each person was born with was two, but those with birth defects sometimes received only one (rarely) or none at all (more common than having only one). For her, she was more special. Because of her parents and her mother's family line called the Blood Assassin, Meredith was born with four attributes, a fifth one she was training with to awaken.

In order of most powerful to least powerful, the attributes she had were Music, Dream Factory, Time, Deceiver, and Summoning.

She told me that Summoning was still very powerful, a high tier level, but it wasn't as strong as the others. I found myself immersed in taking notes about attributes, from groups of attributes and how they all connected. Some attributes seemed absurdly specific, and I learned that it was better to have a broad attribute. Different branches of broad attributes existed, and if someone wanted a specific branch of it, it would be acquired by training, such as Weapon Summoning.

I was taught the following: herded attributes (example being Dream Factory's only location being in Japan, though hers was an exception), high tier attributes, mid-tier attributes, low tier attributes, and attributes suited for what career.

Meredith sat up, smiling at me excitedly. "And that's how attributes work! Any questions?"

"Uh, yeah," I said, looking down at the notes I had taken. They were surpassingly nearer than I expected, with only random words I couldn't decipher here and there. "What's with the Blood Assassin line? Like, uh, in detail?"

Meredith seemed a little confused by my question. "You wanna know more about my family's late dynasty?" I nodded, blushing furiously. She smiled with light pink on her cheeks. "I guess I can tell you."

I quickly grabbed a pillow and hugged it in my arms, letting her explain.

"According to both my parents, the Blood Assassin dynasty is a line of powerful people with powerful attributes and such. Way back before, the name Blood Assassin was a harsh name for what the dynasty really was. We were people who fought for the sole reason of loving and living. People with the blood of a Blood Assassin were fiercely protective over their family and lovers, and most fell in love younger than other dynasties would." I noticed her blush a little more. "I can see why that was true, because my parents loved each other since their teenage years."

She brightened a little more. "But, there was one possession we all loved more than anything, not because of actual memories it held, but because of its precious creation by the first of our dynasty. No one knows her name or how old she was one she created the object, only knowing that she was the origin of Blood Assassin and a female warrior. The possession she created is called the Blood Assassin, and it's a knife that can sever someone's attributes from them by killing them. The handle's basically a bottle where you can intake the victim's attributes as your own." Meredith smiled blankly. "Anyone with the blood of our dynasty can summon it without an attribute unless it's locked up. Fortunately, it's in our possession, though my mom won't let me summon it or take a small look at it."

I smiled up at her. "Bummer," I said, playing with my pen. "I'm still a little shocked by this.. whole thing, but it's kinda cool."

Meredith looked up at me with a worried expression. "I mean, now what? Are we supposed to tell authorities or something?" Before I could reply, she looked down and muttered, "This is an incredible discovery, and it could be groundbreaking."

"We can't tell them."

"Huh?" Meredith glanced at me, confused. "Why?"

"The government's gonna abuse this information. People are going to mess up the whole time to space continuum." I put my pen down and leaned over to the screen, asking, "You said your father almost broke time when he revived your mother during the Atlas Bomb, right?" Meredith nodded. "If that happens again, it could either weaken the continuum even further or actually break it. Who knows what'll become of us if that happens!"

Meredith sighed, and I watched as she put her head in her arms. This must be really tearing away at her mind. "I guess you're right. The government will never change, huh?"

I shook my head sadly, agreeing, "Never..." She turned up to me, still seeming aggravated, and I smiled softly at her. "This'll be our secret, Meredith."

Meredith smiled back lightly, a small blush on her cheeks. "Yeah..."