SWNOVELXO Chapter 8: Her Shadow at My Side
It's been one and a half years since Ezrel has a new company.
Now, he is already three and a half years old.
Old enough to walk, talk, and take fake naps to avoid responsibility.
Lysette was just a year and a half old. Barely walking. Not yet blessed. Still technically a baby.
And yet… she always knew whenever he moved.
Today, his day started with a yawn.
The sky over House Dormir's inner courtyard was still dusted with grey.
Morning bells hadn't rung yet. No birds. Just frost-kissed silence and a boy sitting at the nursery window in fluffy socks, face scrunched in existential fatigue.
Ezrel yawned. Big. Long. Deep from the soul.
Across the nursery carpet, in a tangle of pink blankets, Lysette yawned too.
He blinked.
She blinked.
He tilted his head.
So did she.
"No... No, no, no. That was synchronized," he thought.
Later that morning, they sat side by side for breakfast on a carved bench, she strapped into a cushioned highchair with gold-leaf embroidery.
A maid sliced fruit while light filtered through the stained glass windows behind them.
Ezrel stirred his milk in lazy circles.
Lysette stirred hers, mimicking him precisely. She even tilted her head to match the same bored angle.
He groaned. Dropped his spoon.
She dropped hers.....
Too.....
A ripple of cooing erupted from the staff.
"She's so in sync with him!"
"She's learning by love."
Ezrel muttered, "No. She's studying me."
---
In the garden, spring winds ruffled the grass as fish lazily circled in the pond.
Ezrel sat cross-legged under a camphor tree. He liked this spot quiet, hidden, full of shade and bugs the maids didn't like.
Lysette toddled over. Sat beside him with deliberate care. Exactly two inches apart.
He picked up a pebble and rolled it in his palm.
She also picked up a pebble. Rolled it in hers with her left hand like a perfect mirror.
He narrowed his eyes.
She smiled.
He tilted forward.
She tilted forward.
He raised one eyebrow.
She tried to copy and fell over.
"Yeah, I'm sure. She's not just copying. She's… studying me."
That evening, he tried to report it.
They sat in the living room.
His mother wore a pale lavender gown, reclined beneath a silk sofa, his father wear a velvet robes reading some document labeled Lineage Urgency & How to achieve your goal.
A truly disturbing title
Ezrel cleared his throat.
No response.
He coughed.
Still nothing.
Finally, he said, "She's copying me."
They looked up.
"She blinks when I blink. She sneezes when I sneeze. It's weird."
His mother smiled. "She's devoted already. What a blessing."
"She watches me while I sleep."
His father nodded sagely. "True sibling love transcends consciousness."
"She followed me into the bath."
"She's bonded. This is rare."
"I turned a book upside down and she did too."
His father leaned forward, impressed. "Innovative shared cognition!"
"She waits for me behind doors!".
"She's playing with you, son."
Ezrel's hands clenched. "She's always watching."
"Then be grateful," said his mother with a wink. " You know, Velastra siblings ignore each other for years."
Ezrel looked at both of them, dead-eyed.
"One day you'll regret ignoring this."
They smiled.
"He's speaking in prophecies again!" his mother cooed.
-----
In the library, he flipped a heavy page with one hand. Lysette flipped a page in a book ten times her size upside down.
He reached for a new volume.
She beat him to it, hand on the spine first.
They locked eyes.
She grinned. A sleepy, adoring, terrifying grin.
Later, in the hallway, he tried to lose her.
He zig-zagged. Twirled. Walked in exaggerated stomps.
Behind him, the soft slap-slap of toddler feet followed.
Always at the same distance. Not close enough to catch. Not far enough to escape.
He ducked behind a statue pedestal.
Peeked.
She stood at the far end of the corridor, perfectly still.
Her gaze didn't wander.
She didn't smile. She didn't blink. Just stood there like a doll watching me.
Ezrel squinted, and for just a moment, the air shimmered faintly around her. A thin silver strand, humming lightly.
Then it vanished.
He blinked. Rubbed his eyes. Pretended it was nothing.
Unfortunately, He focused on reasoning why she was following him and did not notice it.....
"I'm being hunted by a smaller version of me."
That night, he didn't even fight it.
The nursemaids gently placed Lysette in his bed again.
She snuggled against his side like a cat with boundary issues. Her hand found his sleeve and clutched it like a lifeline.
Ezrel stared at the ceiling.
Her breathing synced with his.
His sigil pulsed faintly.
Not bright, not ominous, just tired. Like it had accepted its fate.
Above them, a single thread of light shimmered across the air, thin as a whisper.
It connected their chests, pulsing slow and steady.
It flickered… and disappeared.
Ezrel opened one eye.
He turned to her.
She was awake. Barely. Just blinking sleepily, still holding his sleeve.
Ezrel whispered, "Why do you keep following me?"
Lysette's eyes searched his face.
Then, softly...
Barely more than a breath, she murmured:
"Onii-chan… happy."
Ezrel froze.
His chest tightened.
Not from warmth, but from dread dressed as affection.
She nuzzled into his shoulder with a sleepy smile.
He didn't respond.
Didn't move.
Just lay there, eyes open, with a heavy heart.
Well its look like im to paranoid she just a baby who learn by mimicking others...