"You said you liked living alone in your small house. Is this the small house you were talking about?"
Arlo asked as a small, unmistakably prideful chuckle escaped Captain Ennessa’s lips.
She walked forward and placed both hands against the large astral-blue doors, which rippled strangely before slowly swinging open.
"Welcome to my humble abode," Captain Ennessa said.
Arlo stepped inside and was immediately awed by the sight before him.
While it lacked the vast throne hall of the palace, its design was unlike anything he had ever seen.
What stole most of his attention was the enormous chandelier suspended from the ceiling, releasing countless motes of astral-blue light that bathed the room in a gentle glow.
Four sofas were arranged in a rectangular formation around a glass table sculpted in the shape of a sleeping bear, each covered in a strange, fluffy material that looked softer than anything he had ever encountered.
"Are those your family?" Arlo suddenly asked.
Captain Ennessa turned toward him and noticed that he was staring at a wall-sized portrait hanging in the living room.
The picture depicted four people.
A dark-haired man and woman stood at the back, clad in armor similar to the one they had worn back on the mission though theirs appeared far grander and more refined, with gigantic swords resting across their backs.
Standing before them were two younger figures: a young man seemingly eighteen or nineteen also dressed in armor, and a small blue-haired girl who was dressed normally in a blue gown and looked no older than seven.
That little girl was undoubtedly Captain Ennessa, and in the image, she wore the brightest smile Arlo had seen on her face since their meeting.
But someone else really caught Arlo’s attention, so much so he simply stared blankly at his face, his head suddenly blank of thoughts.
’How’s that even possible?’
"So... what do you think of my brother?"
Captain Ennessa suddenly asked almost like she could read his mind.
"Doesn’t he look exactly like you?" She asked walking over to stand beside him.
Arlo studied the young man for a few moments.
It was simply unbelievable.
The royalty of the Eclipsion kingdom had always had a peculiar physical feature. Midnight violet hair, and crimson eyes speckled in black.
This was an unordinary appearance mainly belonging to the main royalty, and originated from Nine generations back, yet the man in the picture had that same exact hair colour.
While his eyes weren’t a full crimson speckled with black like Arlo’s, it was close, white, but with a center crimson iris.
What was strange was that his features didn’t seem to have been inherited from either of his parents.
His father had normal dark hair and dark eyes, and his mother, who Captain Ennessa looked remarkably similar to, with her blue hair and blue eyes.
Slowly, Arlo nodded, replying.
"He does bear about a twenty percent resemblance to me. His facial features are somewhat similar, though his complexion is a little darker than my fresh, princely white skin."
A burst of tinkling laughter escaped Captain Ennessa.
"You sure have a sweet mouth, don’t you, Kiddo?" she asked.
Arlo merely snorted before glancing around the silent house.
"That said, I don’t think they’re home, are they?"
"They’re gone," Captain Ennessa replied nonchalantly as she turned away from the portrait.
Arlo’s lips opened to say something but he paused at the last moment, noticing the subtle change in her aura. At that moment, he understood.
She was an orphan.
"But your brother, don’t tell me...?" Arlo asked quietly.
Captain Ennessa stopped in her tracks.
"He was very talented. So talented that the government decided he was ready to enter the war at eighteen instead of waiting until the normal minimum age of twenty-five."
"He went together with my mom and dad."
She paused briefly before adding, "And that picture was the last one we ever took together."
"He also lost his life due to his talent, huh...Sounds familiar.’
"They seem like good people. I’m very sorry for your loss,"
"Nah. That happened ten years ago. I’ve already moved on, Kiddo," Captain Ennessa replied as she climbed the staircase.
"There are five rooms in the house. Pick whichever one you like."
"Just stay away from the one on the highest floor, or I’ll rip your face off," she added with a wicked grin before disappearing upstairs.
"Um... I think I’ll just take a room on the lowest floor," Arlo muttered to himself.
He began exploring the house and soon found a door with the words Aiden’s Room written above it.
Pushing it open, the first thing that caught his eye was a gigantic bed that almost rivaled the one in his palace bedroom.
A wardrobe stood against one wall, a restroom lay to the right, while a table and chair sat beside a bookshelf lined with several books and a few other furnishings.
Locking the door behind him, Arlo let out a long breath as his heart pounded heavily in his chest now that he was finally alone.
"I... I didn’t die. I was brought to another world. A world called Earth.." Arlo muttered as he slowly dropped to his knees, his hands gripping his head.
"I know this isn’t a dream. This is real. But how?"
"Did the dark portal at the bottom of the sea truly bring me here? And I was burned almost beyond recognition. How did I survive without a single injury...?"
[That is due to the power of the Fourth Black Sun Shard that chose to bond with you.]
The translucent screen suddenly appeared before his face, causing ev]ery muscle in Arlo’s body to stiffen as he stared at it in a daze.
[I know this is strange, but you have nothing to worry about, Arlo.]
The words appeared once more as beads of sweat rolled down his face.
’It knows my name!’
[Yes. I do.]
’It...It can read my mind too!?’
[Yes, I can.]
"I... Am I slowly going mad?"
[Well, you definitely will one day.]
"WHAT!?"
Immediately, the message disappeared before Arlo could confirm it the second time, as a new set of words appeared.
[Before you completely convince yourself that you are, perhaps you should allow me to introduce myself.]
[I am the Infinity Joker System, an entity contained within the Fourth Black Sun Shard that you discovered and fused with before entering the portal and arriving here on Earth.]
[According to my scan, you have inherited the power of the First Black Sun Shard, the Black Sun legacy.]
[That inheritance appears to be ancestral, meaning you are not the first to possess it.]
[However, the Fourth Black Sun Shard the Infinity Joker Shard, which happens to be the most unique of all the shards, has you as its very first host.]
It said, and Arlo couldn’t argue it. All it had spoken was indeed the truth.
He had awakened the Black Sun Legacy, and also discovered the shard beneath the sea.
[The Infinity Joker Shard is the only Shard blessed with consciousness, and that consciousness is I.]
"And who is I?"
Arlo asked cautiously.
[You may think of me as the lingering will of the Black Sun, the divine existence that shattered into five fragments.]
[I am the ultimate consciousness behind Umbrasol’s source of magical power.]