SSS Void Ascension: I Devour All Elements

Killian walked behind Reginald, taking note of the escape routes just in case he met an unfamiliar incident while within the enclosed dorms.

He counted how many guards in uniform that stood at different checkpoints, and how many had weapons.

Reginald paused in front of him, and Killian unconsciously kept walking ahead, counting the next guard he saw.

He paused, when he noticed Reginald hadn’t been asked ’Do you remember this place?’ within the last minute. He turned to the boy standing behind him with folded arms.

"I will remember the places," Killian said anyway.

Reginald sighed, shaking his head. He continued moving. "You are really an airhead, my man. Maybe your ears are still ringing but you’re toughing it out. There’s a clinic nearby."

Killian kept walking, discreetly taking counts of escape routes. He forced a smile when Reginald looked at him again. "I will take note of that, but I am doing fine. Really."

"Well, if you say so," Reginald shrugged. "You know us men always fear going to the clinic for shots but we really need it sometimes."

"Yes..." Killian could very well tell that it was a projection. He looked ahead and his forced smile flat lined. "Just who I wanted to see," he cursed under his breath, slowing his steps.

Meanwhile Reginald walking ahead passed by a figure, and nodded, before pausing and grabbing his arm mid motion. "Where are you—" he paused when a darkened glare was shot at him.

He let go and snapped his head at Killian behind him, his eyes widening in disbelief. "T-Tell me... that he’s your twin brother or something."

"He is." Killian folded his arms, annoyed at the fact that somehow, Keith had also grown an inch that made them indistinguishable again.

It might also be why Evelyn never noticed his changes because Keith looked exactly the same. ’So your evolution did practically nothing for me. It was just natural growth.’

"What makes you think he didn’t go through some evolution too—"

’There are no cunning sentient lightning elements living in my brother’s head! Or at least, I would like to hope there’s not!’ Killian snapped back in his thoughts.

Keith marched straight to him, having no visible expression and seemingly no thoughts behind his eyes.

Reginald followed Keith to walk back to Killian, while looking from Killian to Keith, searching for differences other than their current outfits.

Keith stood in front of Killian and just stared.

Killian didn’t say anything and just watched him back.

Reginald sensed the tension between the brothers and stepped away from them, but he stayed close so that he could enjoy the show.

"Are you sick?" Keith asked first.

Killian’s eyes stuck at the back of his head for a split second as he rolled his eyes. ’What an odd first question?’ "What? Are you projecting your mental health on me? I think I look fine."

Reginald snickered, enjoying the conversation a little too much.

Keith subtly raised a brow, then pointed at his brother’s skin. "You are paler and your voice is... well rougher? So I asked. Also, you were hospitalized with your older sister, weren’t you?"

Killian’s expression softened. "Oh, right."

He stared at his hands, and wondered if the paleness was due to his inherent gene or the Void’s coldness. He couldn’t understand his body anymore.

He ran his hands through his hair in mild frustration. Sometimes this younger brother of his acted like he cared, and then the next second, he treated him like they never shared a womb.

So Killian didn’t know how to act around him, other than simply staying away. Also, he would expect his brother to hide in shame after his demotion but he was already moving around.

’Well he could make friends with others here who didn’t know that he was a fraud. So there’s really no need to fake being friends with the brother he always ignored.’

"Anyway, you were going somewhere, right?" Killian said, looking ahead to walk away. "Same with me. Later—"

"I was searching for your room actually." Keith said before he could leave. "Evelyn had your card so I asked her and she said it was Room Dragon—"

"You spoke to Evelyn?" Killian’s red eyes shifted to him. "After what you did last time, you are the last person who should casually speak to her especially if you use me as an excuse to do so."

Silence stretched between them for a while. Reginald cleared his throat, and tried to pull Killian away but found that he couldn’t move him. Keith looked away first. "I apologized to her first."

Killian frowned. "You did?" He felt worse for getting angry over nothing, the second time. "And she accepted your apology?"

Keith shrugged. It wasn’t a response. "Mother gave me something for you when I was leaving, so I wanted to confirm your room first before bringing it up. I’m staying at the Golden Lion."

Killian watched his brother walk away after that. He turned to Reginald who stared at him suspiciously. "What is it? And will you tell me what kind of room the Golden Lion is?"

Reginald tried to pull Killian towards him again, but only after Killian walked towards him was there a movement. He sighed. "You don’t look like it, but you weigh a ton, man."

He pointed at the ground under them. "The Golden Lion is the dorm under us. Dragon is currently the highest dorm for ’newbies with potential’ so all the four rooms here are all Dragons. Same with the Golden Lion, the Crimson Tiger, and I think there’s a White Panther?" Reginald sighed. "I don’t know. There are just four rooms in each dorm, with our dorm being the highest at the moment."

While he spoke, Killian stared back at the rooms he had passed. While the dormitory was called Dragons, only his room had a gold plate, while the others had platinum, silver and bronze plates.

"Wait, is the platinum-plated room higher than ours?" He pointed at the farthest room, at the left. It looked too disconnected from the rest to not belong to the elitist elites.

Reginald nodded. "The very top newbies with crazy potential stay there. I also heard it is a five-member room so I’m glad I’m not in there. Our room already has a lot of chaos."

Killian quickly agreed with a nod. His eyes tarried on the platinum door, wondering if he knew anyone there.