I lifted my hand and quietly face-palmed, thoroughly embarrassed by my own ignorance.
Through the tiny gaps between my fingers, I could see Steph tilting her head in confusion.
“…Brother?” An exasperated sigh escaped my lips as I lowered my hand and forced a smile.
“Ah!
It’s nothing…” I paused for a moment, desperately searching for the best response I could give without making myself look like a complete idiot.
“Yes…
your Ability.
Would you mind telling me what it is?” The moment I asked, her eyes practically lit up with excitement.
Sparkles seemed to appear in them.
Literally.
Or maybe I was just imagining it.
Either way, it startled me enough that I instinctively leaned back.
“Of course!
Just wait…
uh…” Her voice trailed off.
Then…
Something changed.
The excitement faded from her expression as her gaze slowly drifted somewhere beyond me.
Her eyes became distant, almost unfocused, as though she had suddenly wandered into a place I couldn’t see.
I stared at her for a moment.
“…Steph?” No response.
She remained completely still, her brows slightly furrowed as though she were searching for something buried deep within her thoughts.
A small uneasiness crept into my chest.
“Steph…
what are you doing?” She blinked once, but her eyes remained distant.
“Just let me focus…” Then…
Her distant expression suddenly broke into a radiant smile.
It was the same kind of smile she’d worn earlier, bright and almost childlike, as though she’d just discovered something wonderful.
“I did it!” I scratched my head.
“Good…?” I still had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.
“Wait.
What exactly were you looking at just now?
You zoned out again.” Steph blinked before her expression turned thoughtful.
“I saw something strange.” “Strange?” She nodded.
“There was a screen floating in front of me.
It looked…
digital, I think?
But the letters weren’t normal letters.
They were more like runes, and I didn’t recognize the language at all.” She paused, then tilted her head.
“But somehow…
I could understand everything written on it.” I stared at her.
A screen.
I vaguely remembered hearing about something like that from the Elders.
Ability Users didn’t simply possess an Ability.
Their two Cores could develop and evolve through something called a Pathway, allowing them to eventually reach higher Tiers and transform their Abilities along with them.
But how exactly did they know what their Abilities could do?
How did they keep track of their Cores and Pathways?
I had never bothered asking.
Why would I?
Back then, becoming a Superhuman was something so distant that it might as well have belonged to another world.
There was no reason for me to waste my time learning things I would never have any use for.
But now…
That had changed.
Stephanie was an Ability User.
And apparently, she had her own little window into that world.
“A screen…” I muttered.
So that’s how.
I glanced at Steph.
“Can you make it appear again?” She nodded.
“It’s actually pretty easy.
I just have to call out to my Ability in my head, and it appears.” Interesting.
I rubbed my chin.
Then again, this was probably not the best time to be fascinated by it.
We were currently sitting inside a cave in a Death Zone, surrounded by ash and mist, with an Urban powerful enough to turn both of us into minced meat wandering somewhere outside.
Still…
I had to know.
“What does the screen say?” Steph looked at me.
“Everything?” “Yes.
Everything.
Read it to me exactly as it appears.” She puffed out her cheeks.
“That’s a lot.” “Please?” She sighed.
“Fine.” Her eyes slowly drifted away again.
For a moment, she looked as though she were staring at something directly in front of her, even though there was nothing there.
Then she began reading.
“Name: Stephanie.” I listened carefully.
“Age: Thirteen.” She paused briefly before continuing.
“Ability Core: One.” Her voice became slightly more deliberate.
“Tier of Cores: One.” Then…
“Status: Human.” Steph suddenly stopped and glanced toward me.
I raised an eyebrow.
“What?” “Nothing.” She cleared her throat and continued.
“Ability: Deceitful Gaze.” “Ability Type: Divination.” I frowned slightly.
Divination.
I had heard of that type before, though only in passing.
Steph continued reading.
“Pathways Discovered: None.” Then came the description.
Her voice became slower as she tried to repeat every word exactly.
“Ability Description…” She cleared her throat and continued reading, her eyes drifting over the invisible screen as she carefully repeated each word.
“Once upon a time, there was a little boy who possessed a bounty on his head.
Hunters from all over Atla searched for the boy in order to claim the bounty, but none managed to find him, because everything they did…
led them straight to their demise.” Steph’s brow furrowed as she concentrated.
“Until finally, someone found him.
But the boy had already passed…
and died peacefully of old age.” I stared at her.
That was…
one hell of a strange way to describe an Ability.
Steph continued, still struggling to read the apparently unfamiliar wording exactly as it appeared.
“This Ability allows the user to cast their sense, or…
Gaze, upon those they wish, leading them far away from wherever they wish to go.” My expression slowly changed.
Something clicked in my head.
The Urban.
The moment I’d coughed, it had noticed us.
I remembered the creature’s eyeless face bending toward our hiding place, those strange muscles beneath its skin rippling as though it were trying to sense us through the mist.
It had been close enough to kill us, and for a few terrifying seconds, I had been certain that we’d finally reached the end.
Then…
It was as though it had simply lost interest.
It turned around, let out an ear-spliting roar and ran away.
At the time, I’d thought we’d somehow gotten impossibly lucky.
But now, everything fell into place.
I slowly turned toward Stephanie.
She was still staring at the invisible screen, seemingly unaware of the conclusion I’d just reached.
“…That’s why.” Steph looked at me.
“Hm?” My lips curled into a smile.
“That Urban…
you used your Ability on it, didn’t you?” A tiny smirk could be seen appearing on her face as she looked at me.
“I did,” She said proudly.
At that moment, proud laughter escaped my lips as I leaned on the rocky wall of the cave.
So that’s what happened.
Straightening my back, I looked at the little girl sitting a few metres away with her legs crossed before walking over and pulling her into a warm embrace.
“Thank you.” Steph stiffened slightly.
“For what?” “For saving me…
once again.” My voice came out quieter than I’d intended.
Relief slowly settled over me, easing some of the tension that had been weighing on my body ever since we’d arrived here.
“If you hadn’t used your Ability…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
There was no need to.
For a moment, Steph remained silent.
Then, instead of pulling away like she normally did whenever I got too close, she wrapped her arms around me as well.
“You’re not welcome,” she whispered in a hushed voice.
For a few moments, neither of us said anything.
We simply remained there, holding onto each other in the cold, ash-filled darkness of the cave.
Then…
Rumble- I froze.
Steph froze too.
Then her stomach rumbled once more.
“…I’m hungry.” I stared at her for a moment before letting out a quiet sigh.
“Yeah.” My own stomach answered almost immediately.
I placed a hand over it.
“…Me too.”