"They?"

"Yeah, my foster parents."

Eight years ago.

United States Of America, New Dawn's Orphanage, November 1st, 2014. 8:55 AM.

"No...! No!! Why do I have to leave brother!? Why can't he come with us? Why?!"

The cries of a young girl could be heard as she struggled to escape the grasp of one of the caretakers. Tears could be seen streaming down her eyes as she called out for her brother.

But regardless of how much she cried or whined, the decision wasn't changed.

"Come on, Ria... You need to eat your food... I understand that your saddened by the fact that your brother isn't here... And I'm sorry... But think of what he would have wanted... He would have wanted for you to grow up strong and healthy...

I know you two were together since birth but don't you think he'll be sad if he sees how skinny and weak you look when you next see each other?"

Long brown silky hair, with round brown eyes and a gentle air to her. This was her foster mother, Ella. Meanwhile the father was tall, toned and quiet. He barely spoke unless it mattered in fact, and his voice was unusually deep. Short black hair and sharp black eyes.

Despite his frightening presence, he too was gentle. His name was Luke.

*Sniffle*

With tears still in her eyes, she nodded.

It had been a week since Ria arrived and she still hadn't opened up to them. She refused to eat at the table with the couple nor did she speak with them.

"If you eat properly, I promise you'll get to see your brother soon." She said

Ria gave a slight nod before wiping off her tears. She was only eight at the time, being at such a developing stage, not eating would definitely do her more harm than good.

"If you promise..." She muttered before taking the first bite.

"Yes... I promise."

8 Years later.

Soon had never come.

Ria was a bright student and had been admitted to a private all girls school which her foster parents had paid for. She never encountered any problems and one could naturally assume that she was happy with her life.

But although they took good care of her and she wasn't experiencing any grand difficulties other than worrying about passing her test, she would always feel as if there was something missing. Even though they promised when it came to her brother they would always make things up.

They even had an argument recently because they never ended up keeping their end of the bargain. The only thing they gave her which belonged to her brother was a name.

After a few searches however, she ended up discovering that it was fake. That or either Derek was simply too common of a name.

Now that she was seventeen, she had more freedom to do the things she wanted.

She searched the orphanage given to her but found nothing in the records, it was either erased or another fake name. Either way, she was getting nowhere.

What she hated the most out of everything however, was the fact that she had forgotten her own brother's name.

December 1st, 23:50. 2022.

Ria had been fast asleep when she suddenly awoke from all the commotion and noise outside. She woke up only to find the other half of her room, scraped off.

Was it a miracle? The fact that it was not her half which had fallen into the abyss of the labyrinth, or the fact that the buildings infrastructure could still hold despite missing half of it's foundation.

However, all of that didn't come close to the most bizzare thing. Blue sparks were flying around her, she had awakened her ability.

Chaos, everywhere. Houses set on fire, traffic congestion, things couldn't have been any worst.

Inside of one of the cars stuck in the middle of traffic was Ria and her foster parents, they had focused and serious expressions on their faces. Rather than being afraid, they seemed to be waiting for something.

It was then that the announcement was broadcasted all across the giant TVs in the city. A message from the president requesting people with abilities awakened to head to one of the military training refugees scattered around and help defend the city and telling them the others that they would be reimbursed so not to panic.

Then as if they had already planned everything out, they stepped out of the car and ran straight to towards the refugee. They even started running while holding

And so, they went ran to the nearest one. After an hour or so, they reached a military training refugee shaped like a dome. Other families were there, and they were allowed in as long as one of their members had an ability.

The others who had run had their entry rejected. Fortunately for Ria, they accepted her ability despite not knowing what it was.

They strapped a digital watch around her arm, and after a few talks with her foster parents, she was in, just like the others.

Things seemed to go well, but at the time she could never have imagined the sort of difficulties she would be put through.

"So? What happened next?" Gray asked as he glanced over at his sister leaning on his shoulder.

"I trained hard, got beat up by another female ability user as part of training, got stronger with my ability... Was told you died, got depressed... Was sent to the labyrinth after the zombie apocalypse. And ended up there, for well... I lost track of time." She muttered

"You too?" He asked with a surprised expression.

"You had it bad too, huh?"

Grays life flashed right by. His right eye twitched as he forced a smile before saying. "Not that bad."

"Eh? Really? So why are there veins popping out of your forehead?"

Gray snorted and the two giggled Shortly after. They were interrupted by the sound of her belly grumbling loudly.

*Growl*

"The ending caught me off guard."

"Believe me, there's more"

"Haha, tell me while we go get something to eat. Speaking of which, what's your ability?"

"Brother, you still haven't told me your story yet..." She muttered with a slight frown.

"I'll tell you while we eat." He replied with a smile.

"Alright... My ability is this. Spatial Manipulation." She muttered as she stretched her arm out.

Gray turned to where her palms pointed and, in that instant, the space ahead of them distorted, creating a small rift where the handle of a blade could be seen.

She grabbed onto the handle of the blade before swiftly pulling it out in a single motion. A rapier emerged as a result.

Gray clapped his hands upon seeing it.

"That looks cool. Explains how you reached the third floor."

She gave him a light chuckle before saying. "You could sound a little more impressed or surprised."

"This is me being impressed."

Half an hour later, Ria was fast asleep after eating and the shower with Aurora, Violet and Lara.

On top of the mansion's roof. Gray could be seen seated, staring at the moon.

"So they told her I'm dead... A coincidence or..? Don't know... if she works for the government I'm assuming she'll have to report to them. It's going to be a long day tomorrow..." Gray sighed.

"What are you doing up here?"

The horned princess called out to him as she appeared out of thin air, behind him.

"Thinking."

"About?"

Gray let out a sigh, before pointing at the naval fleets above the centre of the city.

"What I'll do now."

The horned princess sat beside him with a puzzled look and her hand beneath her chin.

"Well, you should start preparing to do what you owe me from saving your sister."

"And what's that?"

"You'll save your planet, and then my planet."

"You... What's your name?"

Her eyes widened in surprise, before. "Ruby. Ruby Starhert...". As if realising something, she cleared her throat before she holding the fabric of an imaginary gown on each side, putting her right leg behind the left one whilst she lowers down and bows her head.

"Princess Ruby Starhert of the Khouria Kingdom."

A wind blew by just as she finished speaking. Her hair swayed against the wind whereas the horns remained in place. Gray's eyes were glued to her as he could almost see the gown.

"Guess you really are royalty." He spoke before looking away.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You just didn't seem like a princess before."

Upon hearing this, her expression quickly changed to a pout as she was quickly offended. "Rude..."

A smile hovered over Gray's face before he glanced over at the screens which appeared ahead of him.

[10:03]

[Main Quest has been received]

[Unable to decline the quest.]

[Main Quest: Take over the continent claimed by the invaders.]

[Reward:

[???]

[+1000 Coins]

[+1000 XP]

--------------------- December Goals

250 - Powerstones - 14 Ch / Week

Golden Tickets:

Every 10 Golden Tickets - 1 Extra Chapter release, end of month.