----
The lights of the grand hall shimred like starlight, catching the reflections of spinning couples and sparkling gowns.
Music floated like a dream in the air. And yet, for Alex, ti montarily stopped—not because of magic, but because of her words.
Evelyn stepped in close, her lips just inches from his ear as she whispered, "So tell ... do you like ?"
Alex blinked. His body froze. His brain sputtered.
’What the hell just happened to her?!’
His heart gave a weird thump. She was looking at him with a calm, expectant gaze, almost teasing.
’Useless, sothing tells that even if I were a godly beauty that even the gods can’t match, rejecting her with a straight-up "no" would be fatal. What do you think?’
A voice lazily echoed in his head:
[Why are you asking ? Deal with it yourself.]
Alex’s mouth twitched.
’Are you still pissed about my earlier comnts? Okay, okay, sorry about that—please help out here! Sothing tells this is not gonna end well.’
The voice responded again, this ti with a chuckle that felt far too smug.
[Yeah, not gonna end well for you... and that’s exactly what I wanna see.]
’Don’t say that, my friend! Please! Be a bro, not a bystander!’
Before the ntal conversation could continue, Evelyn tilted her head slightly, a sly grin forming on her lips. "Are you... talking to soone in your mind?"
Alex’s breath hitched.
’Did... did she notice?’
Her eyes narrowed, glinting like twin moons. "Are you also an avatar?" she asked, voice soft but piercing. "But it’s strange... there’s no way you could hide it from if you were an Avatar of a God. Not even if you’re at the pinnacle of strength in this world."
He took a slow breath, trying to keep up. The sweet music and laughter around them felt so distant now, like they were trapped in a bubble.
She smiled again, mischievous. "And you still didn’t answer . Do you like or not?"
Alex’s mind snapped back.
’She’s playing with . Alright... let’s play.’
Still holding her gently as they danced, Alex leaned closer and spoke in a low, curious tone. "You’re not Evelyn, are you?"
A blooming smile spread across her face—different. Not Evelyn’s usual coy grin. This was ancient. Knowing. Powerful.
"What makes you think that?" she asked, voice dancing with amusent.
"That’s not an answer," Alex said flatly. "Tell —who are you?"
Her smile cooled slightly. A chill crept into her tone. "Watch your tone, boy. I’m not obligated to answer you."
Alex gave a sharp smirk of his own. "And neither am I."
Suddenly, another voice crackled—this ti inside her mind.
|< What the hell, Aurora? Just get to the point already. My body can’t handle the strain much longer... and why the hell are you clinging to him so much?! >|
Aurora—inhabiting Evelyn—sighed internally.
’Relax. I’m just helping you match up with Alicia. She’s way ahead of you right now.’
|< I don’t care! Just get the hell off my body! >|
’Technically, it’s also my body too. So quit complaining, Eve. And don’t worry... I’m about to get to the point. I was just having so fun earlier. It’s been so long since I last danced.’
She turned back toward Alex, who was watching her with rising suspicion. She smiled sweetly, and with a snap of her fingers—everything stopped.
Alex’s eyes widened.
The music halted mid-note. The dancers froze mid-step. Waiters stood mid-pour, wine hanging in the air like suspended rubies. Laughter, motion, movent—gone. It wasn’t just the ballroom. The world felt like it had co to a screeching halt.
’No way... this isn’t like before...’
The last ti Evelyn used her ti affinity on him, it only affected the living—within a room. But this?
’Even the liquids are frozen... and... wait... what the hell? It looks like the entire Zenith Academy is frozen...’
A chill crawled down his back. This wasn’t magic. This was sothing else entirely. Sothing far, far older.
With another flick of Aurora’s finger, the polished wooden floor of the stage rippled like water. In its place, a grand obsidian table materialized, flanked by two elegant chairs carved from crystal-like stardust.
"Sit," she said, gesturing gracefully.
Still stunned, Alex slowly walked toward the chairs and took a long breath before sitting down. The mont he did, he could feel the weight of the world pressing against him. This space wasn’t just frozen—it was detached. Isolated from ti, from reality.
"What the hell are you?"
Aurora let out a soft laugh. Her voice echoed across the silence like a siren’s song. Her beauty in that mont felt almost unreal—like a goddess cloaked in mortal flesh.
"You’ve already guessed, haven’t you?" she said, eyes gleaming. "So why bother asking?"
She leaned forward, fingers interlocked, smile turning sharp and amused. "I don’t have much ti, so let cut to the chase."
Her eyes burned gold.
"What do you know about... the Age of Gods?"
Alex blinked, confused.
’Age of... Gods? What the hell is that? That wasn’t in the ga. Not in any lore. Not even in the hidden archives I dug through back then.’
"...I’ve never heard of that term," he admitted cautiously, narrowing his eyes.
He tilted his head with a casual shrug, masking the growing tension in his spine. "I don’t know what you’re talking about. That’s the first ti I’ve even heard that term."
’Age of Gods? Sounds like sothing out of a mythology expansion pack,’ he thought, keeping his tone light, his posture relaxed—but his mind was already calculating.
Aurora’s expression froze, her eyes narrowing slightly as her lips parted in disbelief.
"...It can’t be."
Her voice was barely audible, almost lost in the silence of the dream-like space they stood in.
"If that’s true, then... was it really Ethan I saw there?" she whispered, more to herself than to him. "But no... this aura—it’s too familiar. That unique essence... I’ve only ever sensed it from ’him’."
She stared deeper into Alex, her golden irises glowing faintly.
"Then what am I seeing now?"
A silence stretched between them, heavy with tension. Aurora’s shoulders subtly straightened as if she had just stumbled upon sothing that should not exist.
"Was Ethan truly the one who killed all those Outer Gods?" she muttered.
she took a step forward—her divine curiosity now fully in control.
"Who are you?"
Her tone had changed. There was no hostility in it—only wonder, edged with sothing like unease.
"There was never any ntion of you. Not in the threads of fate. Not in the past. Not in the possible futures." Her voice grew colder. "Your sister, Lily... she is acknowledged. This world knows her. The Akashic Records recognize her existence. Her destiny."
"But you...?" Aurora’s voice faltered. "You are an anomaly. A ghost in a world that never wrote your na."
Her eyes shimred with celestial power as she continued, "You possess a bloodline—yes—and a physique—but it’s one I cannot identify. It’s cloaked in sothing that even I cannot pierce. My eyes can see through anything—life, death, ti, reality itself."
Her tone dipped lower.
"No matter what divine power or curse one holds... I can see through it."
She took another step closer, now almost within arm’s reach of him.
"So tell —where the hell did you co from?"
Alex raised an eyebrow, arms folding.
"So... as I figured. You’re a god, huh?"
Aurora didn’t respond. She only smiled faintly, saying nothing.
’Thought so.’
"Sorry," Alex said casually, "but I only trade in equal value. You want sothing from ? Then offer sothing in return."
Aurora let out a soft chuckle. "You’re quite bold for soone who stands before a being that could erase you with a flick of her finger."
Alex t her gaze, unflinching.
"If you wanted to kill ," he said calmly, "I wouldn’t be breathing right now. Which ans... there’s sothing about you don’t understand. Sothing that bothers you."
’Gotcha.’
Aurora’s expression relaxed slightly. A wry smile danced on her lips.
"Gotta say... you’ve got a sharp head on those shoulders."
"Thanks for the complint," Alex replied with a grin.
Aurora’s golden eyes flickered again. "Fine. Ask. I’ll answer what I can—though I’m not obligated to tell you everything I know."
"That’ll do," Alex said, nodding. "Then I’ll go first."
He paused for a mont, fingers drumming on the edge of the obsidian table, then looked her in the eye.
"This thing you ntioned—the ’Age of Gods.’ What exactly is that?"
Aurora’s golden eyes glead like suns behind a veil of stardust. Her stare lingered on Alex for a beat too long, as if peeling back layers of his soul with every passing second.
When he asked, "This thing you ntioned—the ’Age of Gods.’ What exactly is that?"
—her lips curled into sothing between amusent and disbelief.
A heartbeat passed in stillness. Then she tilted her head, her hair falling in soft waves over her shoulder like flowing moonlight.
"You’re really asking questions that are far beyond your mortal limits, you know that, right?"
Her voice had softened—not out of kindness, but with the gentle warning of a storm cloud before it breaks. The silence of the frozen world seed to lean in closer, pressing in on him like the weight of the cosmos.
Aurora slowly leaned back into her chair, fingers steepled beneath her chin.
"It’s dangerous," she continued. "There are gods out there—who would erase your existence simply for knowing such things. Even hearing about the Age of Gods could mark you. Do you truly understand the risk of the question you’re asking?"
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A/N:
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