She wore an intricate white gown that went down to the floor, with the fabric bunched up on the obsidian floor beneath her. Her attire looked ethereal, emitting an aura of light that made her look angelic and full of life; merely looking at her would be enough for someone to feel rejuvenated, as if new life was breathed into them. She wore a tiara on her head, and her golden blonde hair fell down her shoulders to her waist. A golden medallion with a formation of ten suns at the joints of a pentagram shimmered on her neck with an attractive quality, constantly enticing anyone who looked at her to focus on it. Her entire being looked as if it was bathed in holy white light, making her look unapproachable and distant from all life, nevertheless full of life. Yet her face was marred with a slight frown.
“I’m not fond of all these dark and dreary interior design choices that Libitina has…” She spoke to herself while observing her surroundings with judgement. “Would it kill her to put a plant in here?”
She was in a massive hall made of a glistening obsidian rock; the pillars were decorated with skulls that increased slowly while moving closer to the end of the hall. That was where the throne stood. Made entirely of skulls that were finely grafted to make a comfortable seat. There was no roof to the hall, giving a free view of the endless starry void that existed above. Some were stars, some were shiny orbs of light—moons that reflected the light of the sun, and some were orbs that were positioned in such a way that they didn’t receive the light of the sun, appearing as dark orbs that hid the stars behind them.
She had a disappointed expression as she closely examined the intricate carvings all over the walls leading up to the throne.
“She has such a talent in interior design, and she uses it to express death and destruction. She doesn’t even help me do my tower like this.”
She continued mumbling to herself with dissatisfaction, passing time by expressing her thoughts with words. She calmly walked around as if frolicking in a garden and not the terrifying, skull-laden throne room of a dangerous entity.
As she continued passing time, seemingly without anything to do, she noticed a particularly bright glimmer in the night sky. As she looked up to examine it, she discerned it to be a bright white light emitting from a moon that was behind the Alfian Realm’s shadow, covered in darkness.
“That’s Luna, right? What a bright light,” she spoke, raising her brow. A faint glimmer appeared in her eyes, only to disappear with her following blink. “Interesting…”
Her lip curled slightly on one side as her eyes narrowed curiously. With a faint movement of her hands, her gown started fluttering as she took to the air. In the next instant, she shot toward that dimming source of light. Leaving Libitina’s Magic Tower and the Alfian Realm behind her.
She traveled at such a speed that time seemed to move back in her eyes. The dimming source of light slowly brightened as she got closer to it. By the time she stopped, it had completely disappeared.
“Ugh, dummy,” she said and smacked her head just as she stopped. “I should’ve teleported. Chronos is going to annoy me now.”
She seemed slightly annoyed but looked intently at the coalesced darkness that was stirring. In the next moment, a white light burst through the darkness, releasing smoke that drove away the dark shadows all around the source. That light grew to a blindingly bright intensity, yet she kept intently looking at it without pause as it slowly dimmed, revealing an unconscious man on the surface of the moon. His skin shimmered with a faint gold sheen that protected him from the effects of the vacuum on the moon.
“Poor soul,” she said, slowly floating toward the man. “It would have been better to die. You wouldn’t have had to endure this curse any longer and could have come into our embrace instead.”
As she landed on the surface of the moon, her gown fluttered and gathered around her as if being corrected by someone and spreading appropriately behind her.
“He’s cute,” A man’s voice entered her ears from behind her. “Are you planning to take his heart?”
“Ah!” She shouted and jumped over the unknown unconscious man, putting him between the source of the voice and herself. “Cronos. You startled me.”
“You startled me, Ceres. What are you doing moving beyond the speed of light? Do you know how troublesome it is to deal with a Doppelganger Paradox? Why would you not simply teleport? Moving beyond the speed of light is both a waste of energy and inefficient and increases work for me…”
She looked to the side, into literal nothingness, and opened her mouth.
Yap Yap Yap. Chronos is a bit of an overprotective mother, if you will. We Exalts hold a terrifying power, Authority. And Chronos holds Authority over Space and Time. Naturally, someone who has witnessed our births and deaths and all of their possible iterations is going to have some sentiments toward us. Don’t think of him as a paper tiger, though, okay? He is the strongest of us all. Objectively. If Libitina and I are the governors of all that is magic, he is the one who oversees even us and more. All right, he’s finally done with his lecture.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Chronos didn’t seem to notice any of the actions made by Ceres as he concluded his scolding lecture.
“Will you please pay more attention to such things in the future?” The man asked Ceres.
“I got it, Chronos,” she nodded with an earnest expression. “I just got curious about this bright light that suddenly appeared and acted without thinking. I’ll be more cautious in the future, I promise.”
“Too earnest… You were doing that thing again,” he said.
“What thing? I wasn’t doing anything…else.”
“Ceres…” Chronos spoke threateningly.
“What? I wasn’t doing anything. I was just listening to you speak.”
Chronos narrowed his eyes and looked at her threateningly for a few seconds as Ceres maintained an innocent expression on her face.
Tell them I look cute.
Ceres maintained an innocent expression that made her look like a cute angel who could never lie to anyone.
To go above and beyond~ thank you.
“Fine, just don’t cause trouble for me anymore. Paradoxes are dangerous.”
“I understand,” she said with a nod.
Chronos shook his head with disappointment before pausing at the unconscious man.
“That’s...”
“Is there something special about him? He released enough light to rival a miniature star just a few seconds ago. That thing in his hand is probably what released that.” Ceres pointed at the intricately carved cylindrical object in the man’s hand.
“It’s dangerous is what it is,” Chronos said after some hesitation. “One who already is cursed with the fate of a Hallowed, but now he also has this thing on his shoulders. Let us leave, Ceres.”
“What? Why?” She asked curiously, her eyes darting between Chronos and the unconscious man.
“That bright light was emitted by the release of a terrible thing. That thing is the key responsible for it. He has countless descendants, but this man is the first who was not only the target of the Hallowed Curse but also held the key at the moment of his death. A terrible thing has been unleashed upon the world.”
“What is so terrible, Chronos? I don’t sense any malice from his heart. While a bit more on the pragmatic side, his soul is pretty high up in terms of honor.”
“It is best left buried in the past, Ceres. Leave him be. Let his life end here. Otherwise, a massive storm would ravage Alfian. You do not want that to happen, do you?”
“Well, no… but he didn’t do anything. You know how much I hate letting people die.”
Chronos looked at her with a mix of helplessness and amusement. “You realize that it is a part of your job, right?”
“That’s Libitina’s thing, Chronos. I give life.”
“Do as you will, girl,” he said. “Just keep my words in mind when he overturns all sorts of status quos throughout Alfian.”
“I think that will lead to prosperity. The Magus Association has gotten too unruly recently. That Caelus guy recently killed more than a million people in a recent storm because he wanted to play with the weather.”
“His target was more than just playing with the weather, child.”
“Of course it was,” she said, rolling her eyes. “He took the appropriate precautions to make sure his actions were sufficiently hidden. You won’t tell us, and I don’t want Libitina to kill him based on a suspicion.”
“If you save this man,” Chronos brought the conversation back to the main topic. “Whatever he does in the future is on you. Keep that in mind before you take any action.”
“I don’t mind,” Ceres smiled. “Look at how cute and handsome he is. How could he do anything bad? If he has the kind of power you are warning me about, he might even make those fakers apprehensive.”
“If one day he pursues you, make sure to let Libitina handle things. You are too soft.”
“Pursue?” Ceres widened her eyes. “What are you talking about? He is never even going to see me. I’m just going to send him back to his last spatial coordinate. That’s all.”
“Remember my words, Ceres. That is all I ask,” he said.
“Fine, whatever you say, Dad,” she said sarcastically as Chronos''s body started shimmering, and he disappeared into a mass of particles. “Show off. He knows I haven’t learned how to teleport like that.”
“That’s why I showed it to you, Ceres. So you can learn it.” Chronos’s amused voice reached her ears directly, making her brow twitch.
“Now, what’s so special about you?” She spoke as her eyes glimmered while looking at the unconscious man’s body with intent focus.
Seconds passed, and a frown appeared on her face. She waved her hand over him, and a faint green light was released from it, illuminating the man’s body completely. She tried almost everything, yet the expression on her face didn’t change.
“Nothing… What the hell is special about you? You are nothing more than a typical Hallowed, with a slightly higher talent than the average guy. Even if you become an Exalted Warrior, you might barely be able to hold off a real mage, but that’s all. Still, Chronos can’t be wrong. This power is either something that doesn’t exist right now or is just too far beyond my means.”
After failing to find anything satisfactory, she sighed and shook her head.
“Whatever, since Chronos told me to stay away from you, I have to entangle you with myself somehow. Consider this your lucky day, mister nameless Hallowed.” She waved her arm over the Hallowed, but nothing visible appeared. “You get a free blessing of an Exalt.”
She suddenly let out an amused giggle. “It would be amusing to see what happens when you encounter one of Libitina’s devout followers. Can’t miss that. A monitoring spell should be fine as well.”
With an addition made to whatever spell Ceres had cast on the unconscious man, she pointed at him, and he disappeared.
“I should get back to Libitina’s Tower…” Ceres also disappeared, leaving the barren moon lifeless, save for a single icy human sculpture near the unconscious man. It went completely unnoticed by the two entities, or if they noticed it, they couldn’t be bothered to care.