Sometime later, they concluded their talk and Ross and Julia made their way back to their rooms. Looking at the darkening sky, Alex decided to wash up first and then order dinner.
'I'll cultivate a little after that.'
...
Julia returned to her room and went to her desk located in her bedroom. She linked her watch to the desk and brought up her assistant.
"Ices, call my uncle Zol. I want to ask him something."
[Yes, lady Julia.]
Ices went ahead and tried contacting Zol Knight, but after a couple of tries, the call failed to connect. Noticing the delay, Julia asked, "What's wrong? Is he not available?"
[No. It looks like he's on another mission.]
She was not that surprised to hear the response. That uncle of hers was almost always on a mission. Since he was in charge of Region 1 in Sector 2 of the empire, every incident involving cosmic mana waves and void creatures that might threaten the peace of the empire is taken care of by him and a team of his personally trained hunters.
After thinking about her next course of action, she decided to reach out to her older brother instead. This brother of hers decided on the path of research into void creatures, cosmic mana waves and any anomaly brought about by the changes in their universe.
Because he was also awakened, he had been alive for quite some time, long before Julia was even born. However, he was based in a different solar system within the Milky Way galaxy.
"Call my brother Kevin then." She ordered and waited for the call to connect.
In no time, a feed of a young man, with features similar to Julia herself was displayed before her. He had dark sclera, putting him on that side of the human species.
[Hey, little sis. How you doing?]
His tone was jovial, and it was clear he had such a nature. From his feed, Julia noticed he was inside what looked like a laboratory space.
"I'm fine, brother. And I know you're fine, so I will go straight to why I called." She said, getting straight to the point.
Her brother didn't mind her behaviour at all. He took on a serious face and asked.
[What's wrong? Did something happen?] His voice quickly switched to that of concern.
"No, nothing happened. I just wanted to ask for your take on something I talked about with Alex."
Immediately hearing the name Alex, a knowing look appeared on his face.
[Did something happen to your boyfriend?] He teased, resulting in a small blush appearing on her cheeks.
While he wasn't in the solar system as his sister, they always kept in touch. He even went the extra mile to know whatever caught her interest. This resulted in him knowing everything about her hobbies and the fact that a certain boy had caught her interest.
Interestingly, Julia never said a word whenever she was teased about Alex.
"No! Just listen, okay?" She got defensive even though she didn't explicitly reject what he said.
[Fine, fine.] Kevin replied with both hands raised in surrender.
[What's up?]
Taking a deep breath to calm her rising emotions, she explained what Alex told them about his situation and the kind of energy he utilized to power his abilities.
[…]
Kevin silently pondered on the words of Julia. She waited patiently for him to digest her words. After a few minutes of silence, Kevin responded.
[You said this energy felt dangerous to you, but when Ross touched it, nothing happened?]
Julia nodded in affirmation. It seemed her brother was on to something. He was also aware of what happened to Alex.
Zol had even told him about what Alex experienced in the veiled space. After thinking about it for some time, he replied.
[What you described is very similar to the aura void creatures give off. Not only that, but even cosmic mana waves also carry that same aura of danger to them. We believe that a similar kind of energy is what is contained within veiled spaces.]
His words stunned Julia for a moment. Why would he be giving off the same aura of void creatures and even cosmic mana waves? Then her mind went to the experience Alex survived and suddenly things started to make a little bit of sense.
'But what about the void creatures?' She thought to herself. While they had learnt a lot about void creatures and cosmic mana waves, they had not gotten to the point where they were told what fighting void creatures felt like, so she was unaware of this.
His brother spoke again, cutting her from her train of thought.
[If what you said is true, then my advice to you is to avoid being harmed by whatever he conjures with that energy.]
His ominous words scared her a bit and she swallowed nervously. But his next words calmed her.
[Don't worry too much. You also mentioned he never uses his skills outside and has only practised either alone or inside the VR. He should be sensible enough to realize the effect of his energy. If not, then we would have a serious problem.]
Indeed, Julia liked that about him. Their spars were mostly focused on using their physical strengths, and he practised his abilities alone in his VR world.
[Enough about that. Now, tell me, has he made any moves yet?]
He quickly changed topics once the boring stuff was over. Julia understanding what he meant decided to stay quiet.
[No luck I see. Is his brain only made for training or something?!] He began berating Alex for failing to make any moves on his sister. One would think as the big brother, he would be defensive of her, but he seemed to do the opposite.
[Do I need to have a chat with him?] He wondered to himself, prompting Julia to quickly convince him otherwise.
"We're currently focused on ourselves right now, so there is no need to push anything." She gave various reasons as to why their relationship hadn't evolved.
Her feelings for Alex began soon after they started the academy. She realized how much she enjoyed his company and always wanted to be close to him, making her realize how she felt about him.
Sometime later, her chat with her brother ended, making her sigh in relief. As she relaxed in her chair, her thoughts drifted back to what they talked about earlier.
'Veiled spaces, huh?' She thought in the silence of her room.