The housemaidens greeted Klaus and Jhin upon their arrival at the Queen's residence, their presence acknowledged with courteous bows before they were guided into the grand estate.
Though Klaus had visited before, the sheer opulence of the interior still managed to strike him. As they moved through the hallways, his gaze swept over the intricate carvings along the walls, the luxurious tapestries, and the gleaming artifacts that lined the passage. Each detail spoke of an ancient yet refined taste, and he couldn't help but wonder: if just the hallway was this breathtaking, what did the rest of the house look like?
Upon reaching the designated waiting area, Klaus and Jhin settled into their seats while the maidens moved ahead to announce their arrival to the Queen and Prince. Moments later, one of the maidens returned.
"The Queen will see you shortly," she informed Klaus with a polite bow. "However, Prince Ash is currently preoccupied. If you wish, I can escort you to his location."
Klaus exchanged a brief glance with Jhin, slightly surprised that he was being given the option. He hesitated for only a second before responding.
"I guess," he muttered.
The maiden nodded gracefully. "This way, please." She gestured toward a door leading deeper into the estate.
Leaving Jhin behind, Klaus followed her through the lavish corridors, his eyes lingering on the many paintings and ornate relics that adorned the walls. Each piece carried an air of history, a silent story etched into its form.
Eventually, they arrived at a spacious room, and as the door eased open, Klaus took in his surroundings. The room was vast, filled with various pieces of equipment, and though their designs were slightly different from what he was used to back on Earth, their purpose was unmistakable. It was a home gym, but the size was unlike anything he had expected.
His gaze traveled across the massive space until it locked onto a figure in the far corner of the room. There, moving with unwavering focus, was Ash Brimstone.
Klaus recognized him immediately, his striking silver hair making him impossible to mistake. Ash was in the middle of an intense workout, his body lowering and rising with rapid precision as he powered through a relentless set of push-ups.
Beside him stood another demon, one who seemed to be observing closely, likely a personal trainer. The demon's sharp eyes tracked Ash's movements, waiting for the exact moment to speak.
"That is enough, my Prince," the trainer finally said, his voice firm. "You have completed your thousand reps."
At the words, Ash eventually halted, smoothly rising to his feet. Klaus took note of the demigod's attire, or rather, the lack thereof. Ash wore only a pair of sleek black joggers, his upper body left bare, revealing a physique sculpted from sheer discipline. His muscles, lean yet powerful, carried an effortless strength.
Without a word, Ash placed his left palm over his right shoulder, letting out a quiet sigh as he tilted his head, stretching out the tension from his workout.
Klaus remained still, saying nothing. It was faint, but he could feel it: the sheer presence that Ash carried. The force emanating from him was unlike any of the other demigods.
Eventually, Klaus shifted slightly, his gaze flickering to the maiden beside him. To his mild amusement, she was frozen in place, utterly mesmerized by Ash's form. The moment she noticed Klaus watching her, she immediately straightened, regaining composure before stepping forward.
"M-My Prince," she addressed Ash, her head lowered in respect. "Your attention is needed."
Ash turned his gaze toward her, his dynamic, smoky pupils locking onto her with an unreadable, almost detached expression.
"It appears we have a guest," she continued, carefully keeping her gaze averted. "Sent by your father."
With that, she motioned toward Klaus, and for the first time, both demigods' eyes met.
Klaus and Ash had never directly looked at one another before. Their only encounter had been through the battlefield of the Cosmic League months prior. Now, standing in the same space, Klaus realized just how much weight Ash's presence carried up close.
A quiet moment stretched between them before Klaus finally spoke.
"Hey, Ash," he said, his tone casual, his expression as relaxed as always.
Ash's gaze lingered for a few seconds longer, unreadable as ever. Then, in a voice hollow of emotion, he spoke.
"Who are you?"
The words hit harder than Klaus expected. For a brief second, he nearly faltered. It was a simple question, yet it carried the weight of an unspoken truth: Ash had no idea who he was. Though they had never officially met before, Klaus had fought in the Cosmic League against Ash. But it seemed like all his actions hadn't been enough to leave an impression on the demigod.
Still, Klaus didn't flinch. He had no intention of faltering in front of another demigod, especially not Ash. "I'm Klaus Walker," he stated firmly. "I'm a demigod, just like you."
"I know," Ash finally said, his gaze shifting away from Klaus to a neatly folded shirt resting atop a nearby piece of equipment. "I can tell."
His words were blunt, but Klaus could sense no malice behind them, just a simple statement of fact. Silence settled between them as Ash picked up the shirt, sliding it over his defined frame with fluid motions.
Klaus had half-expected Ash to continue speaking, perhaps to question him further or acknowledge him in some way, but the demigod remained as silent as ever. His demeanor was unreadable, and for a moment, Klaus felt like his presence had been all but dismissed. Still, he refused to let the silence deter him.
"Your father sent me here to retrieve you and the Queen for important matters," Klaus stated, keeping his tone steady.
"I see," Ash responded, his voice as soft and detached as before.
Without another word, Ash turned to the demon beside him, giving him a brief glance as if awaiting his input. It took a moment for the demon to register that Ash was expecting a response. When he did, he stiffened with an awkward jolt before he abruptly dropped to his knees.
"Uhh... Y-You may take the rest of the training session off, my Prince," he stammered.
Ash exhaled quietly, the faintest hint of disappointment threading through his breath. Without acknowledging the demon further, he turned his attention toward a door at the far end of the room.
"I'll be out shortly," he muttered before striding away, disappearing beyond the doorway.
Klaus remained where he stood, unsure of what to make of the brief encounter. Had their first interaction gone well? He had no idea. But he quickly dismissed the thought since he felt there was no use in overanalyzing. It didn’t matter whether it was a good first impression or not.
As he turned slightly, his eyes landed on the maiden who had accompanied him. Once again, she was frozen, her gaze fixed on the door Ash had just exited through. This time, however, she lingered even longer in her trance, her breath barely perceptible.
After an agonizingly long pause, she finally blinked herself back into reality. Realizing that she had been standing there in silence, she quickly adjusted herself before speaking.
"Uhh... M-May I assist you back to the waiting room to await his presence?" she asked, her voice betraying her flustered state.
Klaus arched a brow at her reaction but shrugged. "I guess?" he muttered, choosing not to address it.
With that, he followed her back, eventually settling into his seat beside Jhin. The two waited in silence as Ash prepared himself. Soon, the doors opened, and Ash reappeared, this time walking alongside his mother and the Queen, Shynx.
Even though Klaus had seen Shynx before, her presence never failed to command awe. Her beauty was nothing short of ethereal, her silver hair cascading over her shoulders like strands of starlight. The dress she wore was also breathtaking as it shimmered ever so slightly upon her movements with grace.
With their preparations complete, the group finally began their departure.
Klaus, Ash, Jhin, Shynx, and a select few of the Queen’s escorts and maidens made their way toward the exit of the grand estate. As they stepped outside the home, they were met with the sight of the massive dragon still resting near the side of the house.
Ash soon approached the creature. Without hesitation, he stretched out a palm, pressing it lightly against the tip of the dragon’s snout. The beast’s eyes slid shut at the touch, a low, rumbling growl vibrating from its throat, a sound not of aggression but of acknowledgment.
Klaus watched, his unease suddenly escalating as a thought crept into his mind.
"We're not going to fly there on its back, are we?" he asked, his voice carrying a thin edge of concern.
Jhin, who had been observing the interaction, scoffed slightly. "Of course not," he replied. "Why would we ride the Prince’s pet to our destination?"
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Klaus opened his mouth to respond but hesitated.
However, after a moment of contemplation, Jhin's curiosity seemed to get the better of him. "Perhaps it is a human custom to ride their pets?" he mused, turning toward Klaus with genuine intrigue.
Klaus blinked. "...Not exactly," he admitted, realizing how absurd his assumption must have sounded.
Content with Klaus' answer, Jhin let the matter rest. With the dragon left behind, the group finally set off toward the Facility.
As they walked, Jhin took it upon himself to explain their chosen method of travel. "Walking is our preferred form of transport, as the Queen favors it," he said. "Most individuals in Nyxia opt for teleportation instead, which means fewer people occupy the streets."
It made sense. Klaus had always noticed how empty the roads seemed in Nyxia compared to what he was used to on Earth. But he wasn’t particularly bothered by the walk since he didn't tire easily under the world's night skies.
As they moved, Klaus found himself positioned beside Ash, just behind the Queen. Their escorts and maidens flanked them on either side, with additional guards ahead and behind. The formation felt heavy, weighted with importance.
Klaus had never been part of something quite like this before. The gravity of their presence, the silent authority they commanded as they walked through the world, was overwhelming in a way he couldn't fully grasp. He tried to imagine what it would be like to live this way every day, but he simply couldn't.
As they walked along the path, Klaus was suddenly pulled from his thoughts by a voice echoing telepathically in his mind.
"Klaus?"
He recognized it immediately.
"Quinn?" Klaus responded.
"You really need to stop asking something so blatantly obvious all the time," Quinn quipped before continuing. "I can sense your presence in Under World."
"Yeah," Klaus admitted. "I was summoned to attend the trial for the demon responsible for the monster crisis."
"Don't worry, I know," Quinn replied. "Shade already filled me in."
"Then why are you contacting me?" Klaus asked, trying to understand her intent.
"Well, I just wanted to update you on everything you've missed while you were gone," she explained. "As you'd have expected, I've been in contact with Shade, Riley, and Ace, and they brought me up to speed on everything. They also told me about the decision to withhold the information from the gods for now, which I fully agree with."
"So what exactly did I miss?" Klaus asked, keeping his pace steady as he walked alongside Ash in silence toward the facility.
"Well," Quinn began, "I'll start by confirming your theory: what Ace experienced was indeed one possible future. But after hearing his explanation, I’ve developed some theories on how the future works and how his ability interacted with the flow of time."
Klaus listened intently as Quinn launched into her explanation.
"Time," she began, "is like writing a book. There are three crucial points in this process. The first is the infinite number of words and sentences the writer could potentially write; this represents the future. The second is the exact moment the writer is currently in, which I call the Occurring Timeline. This is critical. But the first important part for our discussion is the third, the portion that has already been written. The past."
Klaus remained silent, letting her continue telepathically, though he could already feel her tendency to over-explain creeping in.
"My first theory is that time cannot rewrite what has already been written, no matter what," Quinn continued. "Ace's experience confirms this. When he tried to return to the exact moment he leapt into the future; he couldn’t. Instead, he reappeared two months from his original point of motion. My hypothesis is that because time is relative, moving at such an abnormal speed displaces a person from the Occurring Timeline, ejecting them from the flow of time before anchoring them to one of the possible futures."
Klaus found himself struggling to balance walking normally while processing the dense information Quinn was throwing at him, but he did his best to keep up. He knew there had to be a reason she was telling him all this.
"While displaced," Quinn continued after a brief pause, "the individual experiences a possible future, one that feels real but is instead disguised as the Occurring Timeline. However, when they attempt to return, the same displacement phenomenon that had ejected them happens again, which readjusts them back into the Occurring Timeline, but at a different point in time since said timeline remains in motion despite their absence. That’s likely why Ace didn't return to the exact moment he left."
Klaus considered her words carefully before posing a question. "If that's the case, why didn’t Ace return just a few minutes from when he first left? Why did it take two whole months?"
"Excellent question," Quinn said, clearly pleased with his reasoning. "That leads me to my next theory: The process of being displaced to and from the Occurring Timeline and a falsely occurring future timeline operates in a fixed cycle, specifically thirty days of the true timeline in either direction. This theory is supported by the fact that Ace used his ability twice, once to jump forward and once to return, resulting in a total of sixty days missing, exactly the amount of time he was gone. And once again, since time is relative, this lost period wasn't experienced by him, but rather, the Occurring timeline."
Even if her explanation was still a bit vague, and overexplained, Klaus was starting to see the logic in it. "You came up with all this in just a few hours after learning the details?" he asked, genuinely impressed.
"I mean, at the end of the day, it's just speculation," Quinn admitted. "They're just theories."
Klaus gave a small scoff. "And when have your theories ever been wrong?" he asked, the weight at which he held her words evident.
"You never know," Quinn replied with amusement in her tone. "Still, there are things I haven’t figured out yet, like how Ace was even able to return just by running backward. Logically, it doesn’t make sense, considering it’s the same motion, just reversed. But I guess that’s one of those minor details that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things."
"I guess so," Klaus muttered before shifting the conversation forward. "Is that all you needed to tell me?"
"For now," Quinn confirmed. "I’m still analyzing everything, but our best bet at a real answer is waiting for that strange girl to wake up."
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I guess that means she’s still unconscious?"
"Yeah," Quinn replied. "But I’ll keep in touch if anything changes or if I have another epiphany."
"Sure."
Quinn's tone brightened slightly. "See, this is why I like talking to you. You actually listen."
"It’s not like I have anything better to do," Klaus said flatly.
They exchanged light words before preparing to cut the connection. But just as Quinn was about to sever the telepathic link, she hesitated.
"By the way," she began, her voice carrying a note of curiosity. "You and Ash have been walking side by side in silence for nearly half an hour. Isn’t that… kinda awkward?"
Klaus exhaled sharply, an almost imperceptible sigh. "I guess," he admitted, though he had no interest in addressing the matter further.
"Well…" Quinn lingered for a moment before finally muttering, "See ya."
And with that, the telepathic connection faded, leaving Klaus alone with his thoughts once more.
Klaus pondered Quinn’s final statement, his thoughts drifting toward Ash and his life.
He found himself wondering what it must have been like for Ash, growing up as a demigod in a world populated solely by demons, his very appearance an anomaly. The isolation must have been suffocating, a quiet loneliness pressing in at all sides. It explained why Ash rarely spoke, his silence forming a stark contrast to his more vocal and expressive demon counterpart, Drake.
But what struck Klaus as even more unexpected was how Ash was seemingly the more prominent presence between the two beings despite their residence in Under World. It was an irony he hadn't fully considered before.
As he reflected on Ash’s life, Klaus gradually began to question why he even felt sympathy for him in the first place. Their experiences were not so different. Though Ash had instead been born into isolation, Klaus had chosen it, voluntarily distancing himself from others, speaking less, and living in solitude. If anything, his lifestyle mirrored Ash’s in ways he hadn't considered before. So why did it feel different? Why did he feel bad for Ash when he himself had willingly embraced a similar path?
As he wrestled with the thought, a quiet realization settled within him. Perhaps this was his subconscious way of acknowledging something he had long refused to admit: that his chosen solitude may not have been the best path after all. That deep down, he was less content with his decisions than he had believed. Maybe, even, he regretted them.
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt as they finally arrived at the Facility.
Upon entering, Klaus and the others were led to a designated room, where they awaited the trial’s proceedings. The atmosphere was quiet, with only the occasional murmuring between Shynx and her maids breaking the stillness. Klaus sat beside Ash, and considering their personalities, the silence between them felt almost expected.
After several minutes, Klaus glanced around briefly. "How come Nekro isn't here yet?" he muttered softly to himself.
"Father does not interact with mortal life," Ash responded suddenly, his gaze remaining fixed ahead, away from Klaus. "The only exceptions are his assistants and we demigods."
Klaus turned to him in mild surprise. Regardless of how Ash had even heard him, this was the most he had ever heard the demigod speak in a single breath. His voice was low and subdued, yet strangely soothing in an eerie way. Even so, his explanation made sense: if Nekro followed the same rules as the other gods, then his absence was expected.
Klaus had always assumed Guardian Gods had the privilege of interacting with the mortals they oversaw. If that were the case, Nekro would naturally have contact with his wife, the Queen. But recalling his own father’s words about no longer being able to see his mother in person, Klaus realized this situation mirrored that as well. The thought left him with an odd sense of melancholy for the gods.
Klaus and Ash fell back into silence as time stretched on until, at last, they were called to proceed to the meeting chamber.
As they moved deeper into the Facility, Klaus couldn't help but be struck by its sheer size. He had explored parts of it during his last visit, but as they descended further, he began to notice new passageways and chambers he hadn't seen before. The underground layers of the Facility were intricate and expansive, a maze of corridors that only grew more complex the deeper they went.
Finally, they arrived at a grand room, one that bore an uncanny resemblance to a courtroom. Its architecture was unique to Under World, but its purpose was unmistakable. The chamber was scarce, which made sense given the confidential nature of the trial.
Shortly after entering, the Queen was guided to a special section alongside her maidens and guards. Ash was expected to join them, but he did not comply.
"It's fine," he said softly, turning his gaze away from his mother towards Klaus and Jhin. "I'll sit with them."
His words caught Klaus off guard. Ash’s choice to sit apart from the royal section, instead positioning himself beside Klaus and Jhin, was unexpected, especially considering how little they had interacted.
As they settled in, waiting for the proceedings to begin, Klaus found himself wondering. Ash’s actions suggested something deeper than mere preference. It almost felt as though he didn't particularly enjoy his role as the Prince of Nyxia. This unspoken distance had been noticeable throughout their time together, but now, Klaus was beginning to wonder if it ran deeper than he had assumed. He wondered if this was the case or if he was merely overthinking it.
Before he could dwell on the thought, a demon approached the Queen, bowing respectfully.
"My Queen," she announced, "the judge will be here shortly."
Shynx gave a small nod of acknowledgment, prompting the demon to bow further before retreating.
Once again, silence settled over the chamber as they waited. Klaus exhaled subtly, his patience beginning to wear thin. He understood the need for composure, but knowing what he knew about a possible grim future, waiting idly was proving to be far more difficult than he had anticipated.
Suddenly, the door behind them creaked open. Klaus instinctively turned his gaze, watching as a man and a woman strode into the room with effortless confidence, flanked by several guards.
It took only a glance to recognize that they were no ordinary demons. Their presence carried weight, their attire dripping with wealth and status. The way they moved, their heads held high, spoke of influence. They were among the select few privileged enough to be granted access to this trial.
Klaus’ attention shifted when he noticed Jhin, whose eyes had darkened into an intense glare the moment the couple entered. The shift in demeanor piqued his curiosity.
"Who are they?" he asked quietly.
Jhin hesitated, his gaze lingering on the pair before he finally responded.
"That man is Hoax," he began, his tone measured. "The greatest Games of Champions warrior to ever live and the previous titleholder before Hex. And the woman by his side is his wife, Syx."
A strange weight clung to his words, and Klaus could sense that there was something more behind them. But before he could ask, Jhin exhaled and added to his words, catching Klaus off-guard by the revelation.
"And they are also... my parents."