My Brother Is The Hero Of Earth

"Really?" I asked, motioning to her hands.

"You liked me gripping them enough last night," she chuckled.

"Can you let me up? I"d like to get some training in before things become too chaotic," I said.

She sighed but climbed off of me after a moment. I sat up and gave her b.u.t.t a playful smack before I fled to the bathroom, only dodging the vicious pillow thrown at my back by ducking behind the door. I hurried through my morning routine of washing my face, brushing my teeth, and such.

When I stepped out of the bathroom, Alice was mostly dressed and fussing over her hair. I chuckled as I walked over and went through my dresser for some workout clothes. She rushed into the bathroom once I was clear and I heard the sink turn on. I was fully dressed by the time she reappeared with a grumpy look on her face.

"What"s with that look?" I asked with a playful grin.

"It"s because of this!" she growled as she pulled the collar of her shirt to the side, revealing a purplish mark on her collarbone.

I couldn"t help, but sn.i.g.g.e.r as I scratched the back of my head and looked away. It was a bad habit, especially considering the strange situation she was in, but I never could remember that when things got heated. "Sorry," I said with a sheepish grin on my face, remembering last night.

"You"re hopeless," she said as she stepped in close to me.

I placed a hand on her cheek while the other fell to her waist and I gave her a gentle kiss as I held her tight. She returned it with far more experience than I could show before she pulled away.

"Let"s get something to eat before we start this busy day. Once she gets here, I want you to sit in for the introduction. I"m putting her under your care to start with," Alice said as she turned and headed for the door.

"Wait... what? I thought was Gus"s thing. Even with his "incredible charm" and telling them I am his sister, all of the other girls screamed at the first sight of me," I complained as I followed her down the hall.

"This one is another bloodline awakening like you, so she should be more understanding... plus, it has been over a year since the last time someone new was added in and your "human" form has improved greatly."

I sighed in defeat since I knew it would be impossible to change her mind once it was made up. We reached the kitchen where Terri and Kiara were already sitting at the main table while a stone golem was preparing breakfast. Terri was from a small town in Georgia before she wound up here. She had long, reddish-brown hair and freckles which gave her this innocent, girl-next-door look, but she was frightening with a bow in her hands and even more so when she pulled out her tool bag. Kiara was from India and the newest member of the group. Her long, straight black hair hung loosely past her shoulders accenting her soft jawline and she gave off a gentle aura thanks to her affinity with nature and plant magic which made her an excellent alchemist.

Terri got up and poured Alice a cup of coffee when we entered while Kiara gave both of us a polite greeting. I sat down in my normal spot and poured myself a gla.s.s of juice. Alice slumped down into the chair between me and Terri and only moved when a cup of coffee appeared next to her head.

"So, do they know?" I asked.

"Do we know what?" Kiara asked as she peeked over her mug.

Alice refused to respond as she focused solely on her cup while she enjoyed her first few sips. "No, they don"t know," she said when she gently placed down her cup.

"You two are annoying sometimes," Terri complained.

I laughed and replied, "Maybe, but this one is all Alice... A new girl will be brought in today."

"And we are only hearing about this now!" Terri exclaimed.

"Would knowing two days ago make any difference?" Alice sighed then took another drink from her cup with a melancholy look across her face.

"Still..." Terri said with a sigh.

"Does anyone else in the manor know?" Kiara asked.

"No."

"That"s not like you, Alice. What"s up with this girl?" I asked.

"It"s not the girl that"s the problem, it"s just that she is the last one..."

Everyone went silent upon hearing Alice"s words as we all knew what the "last one" meant. A countdown was started the moment her bloodline had awakened until, what Alice called the "Great Ward", would completely collapse and Earth would be plunged into a world filled with all various creatures of myths and legends. Alice went into great detail about the future each time someone new joined the manor and, even though we didn"t believe her words, there was little room for doubt after she "showed" us the future.

"How long will we have?" Kiara asked.

"Five... maybe ten years if nothing interferes with the Great Ward, but things will. If I still remain from the "Old Days", others will have as well. Any one of them could try something once they feel the ward weakening which would just speed up matters."

No one talked for a while as we just blankly stared at our drinks. We sat there in silence for a few moments before Sophia and Lesedi walked in, laughing then stopped when they saw us.

"Who died?" Lesedi asked.

Alice rolled her eyes as she once again shut everything out, but her coffee.

I sighed, knowing it was my job to explain since I started the whole conversation this morning. "We have a new member joining today and it seems she is the "last one"."

"Such a cheerful subject first thing in the morning," Sophia said, sarcastically, as she walked over and got herself a cup of coffee.

"d.a.m.n, I thought we would get a few more people to defend the world," Lesedi added in the same tone.

"Well, that leaves four left to tell. Any idea when they will make it to breakfast?" I asked.

"They are all with your brother, so who knows," Sophia answered as she sat down in the free seat next to me.

I made some gagging sounds in response which got a laugh from everyone, but Kiara, who just smiled behind her cup. The stone golem walked over after a moment, carrying a large tray filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit. Everyone helped themselves, filling their plates, then started eating. We chatted and talked about our plans for the day while skirting around the knowledge of a new member joining.

Lesedi, our weapon and armor crafter, and Sophia, our enchantress, had a project they were trying to finish up which, judging by the constant avoidance of going into detail, it was something for Terri or me. Kiara, as usual, would be spending the day tending to the large garden Alice kept in the side yard. Terri would be out in the training field, doing some target practice, and offered to spar when I mentioned I was going to do some light training. Alice didn"t talk about her plans, but we all knew she must have a lot going on with the government now.

As usual, everyone finished eating long before I did, but that was just a joy having the appet.i.te of a dragon. The stone golem continued cooking and presented me with a fresh tray of food, shortly after I sc.r.a.pped off the last bit of eggs off the old plate. The golems were all created by Alice over the years and, although they could only do specific tasks, they were always highly skilled at whatever it was that Alice had taught that golem.

Before I could more than a plate"s worth of food from the new tray, my brother and the remaining three girls walked in. Gustavo was much tanner than I was, and he had a few inches on me, much to my disappointment. Only after my bloodline awakened did we finally look like family, but it was more like a pair of brothers rather than a brother and sister as Ella liked to tease me. Ella was the one hanging on Gustavo"s arm, red hair, pale skin, freckles, and a beautiful Irish brogue. Yue was a stunning beauty with almond eyes and long, silky black hair that was always tied back in a low ponytail. Melissa was in the back and though she normally had a smile covering her face most of the time, she had a serious look on her face when she locked eyes on me. She was yet another stunning beauty that had fallen for my brother with curly, dark brown hair and an infectious laugh.

My brother, in his usual oblivious self, sat down at the table and started loading up an empty plate while the other girls had picked up on the change in Melissa and were looking at me with a strange look. I finished my plate shortly after they all sat down and pushed it away with a sigh.

"What"s up, Becca?" Gustavo asked between bites.

"Alice told us earlier that a new member would be joining today and that she would be the last," I replied.

The girls sighed while Gustavo"s face turned solemn. The five of us were the longest members of the manor, excluding Alice, so we all knew this day was coming sooner, rather than later. After a minute or so, I stood up and took my plate to the sink before I headed off to the training field.

Walking out the front door, the garden was to the right and the training field was to the left. Although it appeared as an endless gra.s.sland on the other side of the stone walls that marked the edge of the manor, the manor was actually placed within a high-security, military base. Within the grounds of the manor, we were sheltered and isolated thanks to Alice"s efforts, but when we step outside, we are treated like dangerous criminals, and in my case, like a monster. The government feared our power, despite using us to handle the occasional hotspot that appears, and it even made sense to a point.

Gustavo and I both could take a gunshot without any injury and Terri and Lesedi would only be bruised. The other girls might not be able to take a direct shot, but Kiara"s and Melissa"s natural regeneration would prevent them from being killed as long as their inner mana core wasn"t destroyed in the shot and Yue, Ella, and Sophia had their own unique magics that would prevent them from being hurt. Anyone one of us had ways to level an entire city if we wanted to, so all of us understood the government"s position.

Shaking my head free of those destructive thoughts, I made my way over to the training field. Terri was already at the range that spanned the whole width of the training field along the far side, somewhere around a hundred meters in length. The targets were all placed anywhere from fifty to one hundred meters away from where she stood, most of them were moving and, those that weren"t, had some kind of shield in front of them, yet she constantly fired arrows, each of them finding the very center of the targets.

In the center of the yard, a series of wooden pillars, three feet thick and twenty feet tall, were arranged in a five-by-five pattern so that they were ten feet apart. There were a number beams that jutted out randomly over the pillars made of metal so that they could be strong, yet thin. Numerous smaller posts were scattered at odd angles and various heights were scattered around the ground so that it was possible to cross the field without ever touching the dirt. Outside of the field itself, each side was arranged with a stone golem, holding a bow, in the center. Alice had turned an exercise to practice coordination, spatial awareness, and reaction time into a game by adding in a light you had to catch that would appear randomly throughout the field. The more lights you caught before touching the ground the higher your score, but you would also have to dodge the arrows fired by the golems or you would lose points. My brother and I had a constant battle for high score and the t.i.tle of "Riktonii Champion" which was usually mine.

On either side of game field was a reinforced sparring ring with a variety of stone golems holding different weapons. The golems were a reoccurring theme throughout the manor, but there was no question that they made great sparring partners. They were nearly indestructible, and they would scale themselves up in strength as they a.n.a.lyzed their opponent. They even had a training mode which they slowed down their movements so that you could learn the various moves that had been engrained within them. Alice never went into too much detail about how she made them, but she did mention knowing various Weaponsmasters throughout history.

Since I was going to be meeting the new member later, I couldn"t do anything too intense, so sparring was out for now. I made my way for the game field then started stretching as I walked towards the center. As soon as my foot crossed the stone line, all four of the golems raised their bows and aimed at me with blue energy-based arrows. They wouldn"t fire until my feet were off the ground for more than five seconds, but it was still unnerving having four faceless golems pointing their bows at you.

When my stretching was done, I let out a deep breath then slowly inhaled as I let my bloodline stir slightly. This was supposed to be light training, so I didn"t want to awaken my first form, but I could still get a few benefits. Although I couldn"t see them, I knew my eyes had turned golden with diamond-shaped pupils and my horns had grown an inch. Both my hands and feet grew talons which would help me grip the posts. I placed a single foot on the inclined post then dashed up the pole while counting in my head. Right at the five second mark, I jumped backwards, flipping through the air, just in time to dodge four energy blast. Another five seconds pa.s.sed, and the orb of red light appeared as the golems released another volley of arrows. I sprang from post to post as I made my way over to the corner where the orb was hovering high in the sky and dodging the arrows. I leapt up into the air and smacked the light, causing it to vanish. My foot had just touched a post when the golems released another volley. I kicked off right away and dove down to avoid the arrows. I landed on the ground to reset the golems since they would shoot faster with the more points I gathered. I just wanted to take it easy, yet still move around.

I spent more than hour, running through the course, never gaining more than a few points at a time. I finally stopped when Terri walked over and asked if I wanted to spar. Unlikely the golem, who only knew how to push you or "teach" you, Terri could keep it friendly. You could call it sparring, but without the long curve daggers in Terri"s hands, it was more like a game of tag. Both of us used hit-and-run tactics when we fought at close range, so it was just a back and forth of dodges and counters. Neither of used any of our real strength, just enjoying the time. It wasn"t long though before the sound of a car suddenly roared. Reality snapped back into place as Terri lowered her weapons and we both looked to the dirt road. I groaned since I didn"t think she would be arriving so early.

"What"s your problem?" Terri asked.

"Alice is a.s.signing her to me," I groaned.

"That"s not so bad," she said, encouragingly.

"And how long did it take you to warm up to me?"

"G.o.d, Becca, will you ever let me live that down?!?" Terri exclaimed.

"Dousing me in holy water? Never... I still don"t understand why you had it when you are a Methodist."

"Shut up! It was something my mom gave me!"

"Sure, sure... Let"s go. I want to try to duck in the back and clean up a little before Alice calls me over," I said as I pushed her towards the house.