Back on the moon, the eerie silence of the space was suddenly shattered by a loud, resonating boom that seemed to reverberate through the very core of the shack.
The small structure groaned in protest, its aged wood creaking under the pressure of the sudden shockwave.
The girl, startled by the unexpected noise, instinctively recoiled, her wide eyes reflecting both confusion and fear.
Sitting across from her, the man remained eerily calm, his demeanor unchanged, though a shadow of irritation briefly flickered across his otherwise stoic face.
He barely moved, but the tension in his shoulders spoke volumes.
"These brats," he muttered under his breath, the words laced with a quiet fury. "How dare they."
The girl, her heart still racing, turned to him with a mix of awe and apprehension. The respect she held for him was palpable, almost tangible in the way she hesitated before speaking. "What was that?" she asked, her voice trembling slightly. "Do you know?"
The man's eyes, dark and intense, met hers, and for a moment, she felt as if she were staring into the abyss itself.
His response was cold, almost dismissive, but there was an undercurrent of something far more menacing. "Yes, I know," he replied, his tone clipped. "But don't ask me too much now, kid. If you know too much, you might die."
The girl's breath caught in her throat, her curiosity immediately stifled by the weight of his words. She had always known there were things beyond her understanding, mysteries that even she, with all her power, was not meant to unravel.
But hearing it from him, the one she revered so deeply, brought a new level of fear. It wasn't just the threat of death that silenced her—it was the realization that some truths were simply too dangerous to be known.
The hut seemed to grow colder, the air thick with unspoken tension. The girl lowered her gaze, her mind swirling with unanswered questions that she knew better than to voice.
The man, his expression unreadable, simply turned his attention back to whatever unseen task occupied his mind, as if the incident was nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
The weight of his presence was suffocating, and the girl found herself shrinking under it, her earlier bravado dissolving into quiet obedience.
She knew he was powerful—more powerful than anyone she had ever known—but there was something different now, something darker that lurked just beneath the surface.
The girl clasped her hands tightly in her lap, her knuckles turning white. She had been around power all her life, but this felt different.
It wasn't just power—it was control, the kind that could bend reality to its will and crush anyone who dared to challenge it.
Silence settled between them once more, heavy and oppressive, and the girl forced herself to remain still, every instinct screaming at her to flee, to get as far away from this man and his secrets as possible.
But she stayed, bound by a mixture of fear, loyalty, and a deep, abiding respect for the one who had taken her under his wing.
The man, sensing her unease, allowed a small, almost imperceptible smile to tug at the corners of his lips. He relished the power he held over her, the knowledge that he could command such absolute control with so few words.
As the moments dragged on, the girl's mind raced, trying to piece together the fragments of what she had just witnessed, but every thought led to the same conclusion: there were forces at play that she could never hope to understand, let alone control.
The man leaned back slightly, his gaze shifting away from the girl and out into the inky blackness of space.
His thoughts were elsewhere, far beyond the confines of this tiny shack, focused on a much larger, more intricate game that was being played out across the cosmos. And in that game, the girl realized, she was nothing more than a pawn, a piece to be moved at his discretion.
"Remember," he said finally, breaking the silence, his voice low and measured, "some things are better left unknown. For your own sake, don't dig too deep."
The girl nodded, her throat tight. She knew he wasn't just talking about the explosion. He was warning her, in his own way, to stay in her place, to accept her role without question.
And so she did, forcing herself to push aside the curiosity that gnawed at her insides. Whatever had caused that explosion, whatever those "brats" had done to provoke his anger, she would never know. And perhaps, she told herself, that was for the best.
The man's eyes narrowed as he raised his hand, his movements so fluid and precise that they seemed almost supernatural. With a simple flick of his finger, something shot out, too fast for the girl beside him to comprehend. It was as if reality itself had momentarily bent to his will, sending forth an invisible force that sliced through the void of space.
The girl blinked, straining to catch a glimpse of whatever had just been unleashed, but all she felt was a faint ripple in the air, a disturbance that was there one moment and gone the next.
Meanwhile, near the sun, the serene stillness of the cosmos was abruptly shattered by a deafening sound, a cacophony that reverberated through the vacuum of space. The white-clothed girl and the black-clothed boy, who had been standing guard near the sun, both turned sharply toward the source of the noise, their expressions shifting from calm vigilance to alarm.
"What was that?" the girl in white whispered, her eyes narrowing as she scanned the vast expanse before them. Her gaze settled on the direction of Earth's moon, and as she focused her vision, she could hardly believe what she was seeing.
A colossal pole, impossibly massive, was hurtling through space with a speed and force that defied reason. It dwarfed the moon, stretching out like a cosmic spear, its trajectory aimed directly at the sun. The sheer scale of it was beyond comprehension, a construct so vast that it seemed to mock the very laws of physics.
The boy in black, sensing the gravity of the situation, tensed beside her. "That... that pole," he stammered, his voice tinged with disbelief. "It's bigger than Earth itself!"
The girl's heart raced as she tried to process what was happening. This was no ordinary attack—this was something far more dangerous, something that could only have been created by a power beyond their own. And it was coming straight for them.
"Who could have done this?" she muttered to herself, her mind racing through the possibilities. But even as the question formed, she knew there was only one answer.
The man in the shack, back on the moon, lowered his hand, a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.