Inside the room, decorations of flowers, framed pictures, and brightly colored ornaments filled the space, making it stand out warmly against the sterile hospital walls surrounding it. A generous collection of gifts had gathered around the room over time, each one sent by visitors who genuinely cared, offering quiet sympathy for the family’s long, difficult situation.
Mark and Tasha sat close beside one another, hands clasped together, facing a clinical pod fitted with transparent glass. Inside it lay an extremely slender woman, an oxygen mask covering her face as she rested in complete silence. Her smooth auburn hair spilled outward like a soft curtain around her, and her chest rose and fell in a slow, steady, rhythmic pattern.
Even in her current, fragile state, she remained beautiful, her clean, gentle features still striking to look at. This was, without question, the gift Mark had always considered his rightful mother.
Mark had been living with this reality since he was six years old. Their mother had spent years struggling against a mysterious illness, one born from a deadly infection, whether pathogenic or viral no one could say for certain, that had slowly eaten away at her body over time. No true cure had ever been found, only carefully managed through the combined efforts of the medical staff and his sister’s own summoner abilities.
He was tired of carrying the guilt and quiet shame of never doing enough to help. His older sister had shouldered nearly the entire burden of their mother’s care on her own, and that reality had never once sat comfortably with him.
Because of that, he pushed himself as hard as he possibly could, determined to finally step up as the reliable man of their small family, the only family he had left in the world, by enrolling in the summoners academy in hopes of eventually securing enough fortune to make a real difference.
Tasha was three years older than him, currently nineteen years old, a young adult already carrying far more responsibility than most her age. Unlike Mark, who had remained an ordinary mundane for most of his childhood, she had been born a summoner from the very start, giving her the ability to step into a caretaking role their mother could no longer fill.
As mentioned before, Mark’s father had been a summoner, while his mother had not. The two had fallen for each other and built a life together, welcoming Tasha first, with Mark arriving later, before his father’s eventual passing. According to the genetic patterns typically observed in such pairings, only one child was expected to awaken as a summoner while the other would not.
Yet, as things currently stood, Mark had proven that long standing assumption wrong. Now that he had finally awakened as a summoner himself, he intended to take on the majority of the responsibility from his sister, determined to prove just how much he genuinely cared. His years spent at Amstral High, it seemed, had not been wasted on recklessness after all.
Tasha sat quietly, lost in her own private thoughts, her hands clenched tightly against her tense, folded lap. Her lips pressed firmly together as her eyes remained fixed on the pale white floor beneath her feet.
Mark studied her closed off posture with quiet, immediate understanding. She had sacrificed so much over the years to help their family however she could, relying entirely on her own abilities. As an undergraduate, she had already secured a formal affiliation with the authorities, largely due to just how promising her summon had proven to be.
Turning his head toward the left corner of the room, Mark caught sight of a large unicorn resting quietly there. It had bright, sparkling eyes, a rose pink coat, and a flowing violet mane that draped like a curtain over its long, elegant neck. Most striking of all was its long, spiraled horn, formed from prismatic crystal, its jagged, curved structure doubling easily as a formidable weapon.
The creature’s presence radiated both quiet majesty and clear, underlying danger. It was a Lifespring Unicorn, a 7.5 Top Level High Tier summon.
Many had tried over the years to obtain material from its horn, drawn by its rarity and the small fortune it could command on the open market, but every attempt had ultimately failed. It was widely regarded as one of the most valuable resources known, largely because of the powerful healing properties believed to originate from it.
Tasha had used her summon extensively to help offset the cost of their mother’s ongoing hospital care. Unable to bear the weight of that financial pressure alone at such a young age, she had once gone so far as to offer transport services to wealthy clients willing to pay handsomely for the rare privilege of riding a serene, mystical creature like hers.
"The last time I saw her awake was last month, before that it was almost a full year earlier, right around when you first left for the academy. I just can’t hold this in anymore. Mom means everything to me, and I want to help her as much as I possibly can."
Tasha’s voice began to shake, her lips trembling as her body went rigid, her hands tightening further around the hem of her skirt.
"...But as much as I want to help her, some part of me also just wishes she were the one taking care of me instead, like a mother should. I wish my ninth year hadn’t been the last time I truly felt her warm, motherly care. I want to hold onto her the way a child hugs their mother, not the way a nurse checks on a patient. It feels far too early for me to be carrying this kind of role at my age, and it’s genuinely traumatizing when nothing seems to change no matter how hard I try."
Mark moved closer and pulled her into a soft, steady embrace as her body finally broke down completely, overtaken by convulsing, uncontrollable sobs. She buried her face against his chest, her breathing ragged and uneven.
After a while, Tasha gently pulled herself back, and the two slowly separated. She wiped the tears tracing down her cheeks and carefully smoothed her disheveled hair back into place.
Then her phone rang from her pocket, and she pulled it out, staring down at the screen. Her eyebrows lifted sharply as she rose quickly to her feet.
"I think I need to step out for a bit. Can you watch over things here for a while? It shouldn’t take long."
"Of course, take as much time as you need. You’ve really given everything you have here, and I mean that. Honestly, you deserve this break far more than I do."
Tasha’s tear filled eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by his words, though she recovered quickly enough to understand what he meant. Still, this wasn’t quite the Mark she remembered. He had always claimed to care deeply about their family, but he had rarely shown it so plainly, so directly, before now.
Perhaps he was finally growing into a more mature version of himself as he moved further into adolescence. She found herself genuinely happy about the change taking root in her little brother.
"Precious, help him out if he needs it, okay?" Tasha instructed her beautiful summon, who responded with a soft, gentle snort before she hurried out of the room.
Mark turned back toward his mother, leaning in closer, both hands pressed lightly against the transparent glass as he studied her still, peaceful form. She looked, in that moment, almost like a sleeping princess, quietly waiting for some distant prince to finally arrive.
It might have seemed a little absurd to think of it that way, but the truth underneath was far more serious than any fairy tale. This was his chance, the opportunity to grow strong enough to finally change things for the both of them. She was the only family he had left in this world, and he refused to let her down.
He walked over to the unicorn resting quietly in the corner. The creature technically remained under the custody of the authorities, a fact that never sat right with him. Mark already knew his sister had stepped out to take a call from her manager, a demanding, often harsh figure known for pushing his workers hard, since he had witnessed it firsthand once before.
She worked for the authorities within the department of health and care, a role where her summon was treated as little more than specialized medical equipment, valued only because it had been shaped for support rather than combat. He hated watching her get pushed around like some obedient tool under someone else’s control, and he silently promised himself he would put an end to that arrangement someday.
Much like his own father, who had once served as a celebrated figure of justice and public safety, only to see his legacy eventually torn apart in a heated debate over whether he was truly a hero or ultimately a menace. That single shift in public opinion had marked the end of everything he had built, leaving lasting, painful consequences for the rest of his family.
It was as though every remarkable thing his father had ever done simply ceased to matter the moment disaster struck. Mark wondered, quietly, whether that same fate awaited his sister, or more likely, whether it awaited him instead, given how readily people already seemed willing to label him an anomaly.
Mark reached out and gently patted the unicorn’s head, feeling the creature relax instantly beneath his touch. They had known each other since his early childhood, back when he and Tasha used to play together with her cherished little pony. It remained one of the few genuinely warm memories he still carried, one capable of softening even his most bitter days.
"Don’t worry, Precious. Tasha and mom are both going to make it back home, with my help. I promise you that."
A/N: I hope that you enjoyed. Please help support the book by adding to your library and giving a powerstone or two. Thanks for your attention.
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