Kart's fantastical journey!

Vertigo

It's been a week since Kitty and Leo left. After their father came to pick them up, that's when I knew, I needed to move on. I should be happy for them. They have a home elsewhere, somewhere that is not Ambermoor, a place which is safe.
We also don't have any school sessions right now since the Academy of Essence decided to let us rest over the autumn. But the holiday isn't meant to just have us students put our feet up and do nothing but relax. We basically have self study. We are supposed to train and become stronger regarding our powers. Which made me realize something, I've completely forgotten about my strength.
After the incident at the beginning of autumn, with Dagobert, I mainly refrained from experimenting with my so called Darkness. This week would be perfect to exercise, but I have other plans. I must find out what the goal of the evil organization really is. Regarding Malinda's statement, Master Novius wanted to euthanize Earth and reform it. And Zoe, who was working with her, seemed determined to follow his wish. However, Haley and Knologos ended it all and their plan never happened. Either way, this doesn't mean we get a happy ending and can stop worrying about everything. I still haven't found out how Nerdy, the girl in black, was connected in all of this. Plus, we have the black fog, which is most likely the strange creature on the wanted poster, roaming around somewhere here in this valley, or perhaps in whole Ireland.
Then we have a missing woman. Most of us already forgot about her since Diva's murder case was worse, but on the night of the murder, a woman disappeared. She hasn't been found yet and is suspected to be dead. Then we also have the blue girl, who we saw in the past when we time travelled with Fault. She was called Annabelle and talked to her boyfriend called Nathaniel. Annabelle went missing that day. Plus, we never found out how Moss died, and then we have Knologos who is an extraterrestrial, alongside Leonie being a cursed child who is over three centuries old. To summarize it up, I have so much more to find out before I leave Ambermoor completely. That's right, after this is over, after I find purpose, I will leave Ambermoor. But for that to happen, I have to break the promise with my father. I have to go up the attic.

It's dawn. Most of the students are rather outside or inside minding their own business. That gives me the best opportunity to investigate the attic. But I'm not sure if I should tell the others about it, besides, there is one person that has to go with me. I know it's my house, but I really can't afford anyone finding out my backstory, I already have a bad reputation because of my dark magic.
I stand up and observe my desk. I have my diary placed on it with Zoom's note. It's all a lie. I still haven't figured out what he meant, I might ask him when I have the chance to.
I stand up and walk outside my room. Luckily, the attic doesn't have a key lock, or else that would be troubling. But before I climb up the attic  for the first time, I call out for someone.
"Sunny!"
Nothing happens. I look inside her room and see that it's not occupied. Where is she?
"Is something the matter?"
I turn around and see Posa appear near the stairwell. Great, this is the least idealistic position to be in right now. I have to somehow try and charm talk my clone to not reveal the secret about what the attic is holding.
"Oh, hi, Posa." I simile awkwardly.
I'm not off to a great start.
"I heard you." assumes Posa. "Sunny is practicing her power right now."
I look at him. He seems calmer than before.
"Thank you." I bow and walk downstairs past him.
I waste no time looking for Sunny. I leave the house and first thing I do is look at the garden. She's not there. Weird, I was certain she would train her Nature Manipulation ability by growing plants and stuff.
The next area I check out is the hideout right next to our garden. I look if anybody is watching and enter it. At first I thought she would probably not be here, but I was wrong.
"Sunny?" I find her sitting on one of the armchairs, but lugubrious.
She's staring at the carpeted floor and doesn't say a word. Her long hair is covering part of her beautiful, freckled, pale face.
"What's wrong?" I ask.
She doesn't reply. It's as if she's an automaton that only reacts by turning its power on. I near her body and crouch in front of her. I then hug her.
"I'm sorry." she suddenly says. "I...I was kind of lost in thoughts for a minute."
Sunny looks up and stares into my face. She forces a half smile. I haven't done much since Kitty and Leo left. I was mostly in my room taking notes of everything strange that occurred to us in Ambermoor. I neglected my friends, and my own sister. And now she's right in front of me, looking unhygienic and frayed.
"Don't apologize." I grin. "Don't overwork yourself, you have enough time to improve."
"No." she immediately says. "I don't, we don't."
I was kind of surprised by that absurd reaction, "What makes you believe that?"
She stares at my forehead and then says, "If our future battles are going to be far worse than the ones we experienced, how are we supposed to survive?"
I realized that she has also been thinking the same as me. We both are still trying to find out more about our current situation.
"Well, I might have found something that could help us." I persisted.
"You found?" Sunny gawks at me. "You can't find experience."
"It doesn't have anything to-"
"We have to become stronger to win, don't you see that?"
"I do, but-"
"Then let me practice."
"Sunny." I got annoyed by her always interrupting. "Listen, you won't get better if you keep on overworking yourself, take a break."
"I'm sorry, but what if they attack again and we have no chance?" she asks tired.
I didn't want to waste any more time so I just got straight to the point of the conversation, of the reason why I came to visit her.
"We have to go up the attic."
Sunny's dead eyes suddenly started sparkling, "But Father prohibited it to us to go up there, did he not?"
"What kind of father abandons their children and then forbids them to go up an attic of a house they never even lived in?"
She was speechless.
"True, but what is supposed to be up there anyways, cobwebs?" asks Sunny.
I don't know myself, but I recall that when me and Sunny first came here, we only threw our empty suitcases up the attic without looking into it. So besides the suitcases alongside dust and pollution, there really might not be anything worthwhile up there, but we will never know if we don't try.
I smile and hold her hands, "Let's find out, sister."

We are both standing beneath it. After nine full years, we are finally able to open what we started. We came here when we were only just seven, and now we are 16. It is about time to finally get behind this, find out why our parents did this to us.
"What if Posa finds out?" questions Sunny.
"He won't." I smirk and grab the ladder. "Ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." Sunny looks way better now.
She isn't as exhausted as before. She really looked like she had trouble training. Perhaps whatever spell she was trying to perform didn't come out like she wanted it to, and it drained her Mana and Stamina as well as her desire to fight.
I take my courage and grab the handle of the trapdoor. My heart is palpitating like crazy. I wonder why I listened to my father all these years. I mean, he literally abandoned me. Maybe it's because he's still my father.
I push the handle and crawl into the attic, holding it open for Sunny to shortly enter after me. I then close it and look around. There are a lot of cobwebs everywhere. The floor is full of dust and the air is thick. There is enough oxygen here but it's kinda dark. There are two small windows up here, but besides from that, there is only dust and a couple of empty wooden crates. I notice Sunny exploring the attic without any fear. I guess she isn't arachnophobic or nyctophobic.
"Hey, here are our suitcases from when we got here." I walk towards Sunny's voice.
I look at what she's got her eyes set at and marvel. Leaning against a box are two little suitcases. Their completely covered in dust, but it really is something antique from the past.
Sunny bends down and pats the case. A lot of dust floats around and we start to cough. While Sunny was observing the old suitcases, I looked around more. I decided to peek outside the window. I spot some kids practicing their powers outside. One of those people is Kitty. Never mind, it's not her, just another girl who resembles her. I frown and turn around and nearly bump into a box. Howsoever, I discover something grandiose. It's a family picture of Father, Mother, Sunny, and I. It's been a while since I've seen us together. I turn it around and see something astonishing. There is a date and a name of a city. London.
"Sunny, you have to see this." I mumble.
She quickly hurries over to me and I hand over the picture. She observes it a while and I spot a small tear on her left eye.
My sister then turns it around and gasps, "Huh? We lived in London..?"
Perhaps this picture was just produced in London, I say to myself. I was sure we lived in Ireland, and still do. I mean, the ride to Ambermoor felt like an eternity, but if we would have lived in London, wouldn't we have had to cross the water to get to Ireland? Something doesn't add up.
I couldn't hold it in anymore, "Do you think our parents are there?"
She quivers, "Perhaps they are, but how would that benefit us? We don't even know their location exactly."
Sunny has a point. We decide to put the picture back where we found it and explore further.
Not even a minute passes and Sunny calls my name.
"Kart, how did we miss this?"
I rush over to where her voice is coming from and startle. Right in front of us is a giant gramophone.
"There is a record on the player." notices Sunny. "...do you think we should play it?"
I hesitate for a moment. There might be useful information by listening to the CD, but what if it's just a plain old song or something that will tear us apart? I'm not ready to face the truth yet after all, but then again, I am not always an adolescent, so I have to try before it's too late.
"Let's do it." I demand.
Sunny nods and places the stylus on the record and spins the manivelle. For a while it's just static until a deep female voice can be heard talking.

Hello, this is Herastina talking.
Today is my final day. I will have to let Myrril and Rahni's children inherit this estate since my own son is deceased. My husband Hadwyn wasn't around to see him inherit it, and now I will not see it either, in fact, it will never happen, but I keep forgetting it. I can't accept my son as a soul of the afterlife, it seems so irresponsible.
Before I die, I as the progenitrix must at least have the family blood end this madness. I am sorry for the children of my sister Rahni.
They did not deserve this.

The next few seconds is just static. Then the stylus stops and the audio ends.
"I get it now." mumbles Sunny. "Kart...

...we are the ones who inherited this house."