He didn't know why he did this.
An accident.
A whim.
His spiritual intuition.
Or maybe it was fate.
His hand raised, he touched a crimson star, then another, and the two burst with splendid light.
***
Surrounded by gray mist, Audrey Hall regained her sight. She started recalling the situation in a state of horror and confusion when she noticed the blurry image of a man on the opposite side of her doing the same as well.
Immediately after, both of them discovered another person standing not far from them who was shrouded in a gray mist.
The person, wearing a top hat and dressed like a gentleman, simply stared at them without moving.
"Sir, where is this?"
Audrey and Alger were startled at first, falling silent in the process. Then, they immediately started speaking in unison.
"What are you planning on doing?"
The man in question was silent, feeling at a loss.
After a few moments, he opened his mouth and answered, "An attempt."
An attempt… an attempt? Audrey Hall looked at the mysterious guy veiled in the grayish-white fog, and the only thought was that whatever was happening was absurd, funny, horrifying, and weird.
She was at the dressing table inside her bedroom only moments ago. But just by turning around, she had "come" into this place that was filled with gray fog!
How inconceivable!
Audrey took a breath, revealing an impeccable, courteous smile. She asked in a somewhat perturbed way, "Sir, is the attempt over? Might you permit our return?"
The man stared at the two in silence, not showing any emotion in the slightest.
In this eerie atmosphere, Alger felt even more uncomfortable and cursed in his mind. Did the woman ask something she shouldn't have? Were they not allowed to leave?
Perhaps having sensed the two's uneasiness, the man smiled—or at least attempted to—and chuckled dryly, as if all of this was amusing.
In the same empty tone as before, he replied to the blond, "Of course, if you make a formal request, you can return this very moment."
Although she was still a bit scared by the gloomy atmosphere, Audrey overcame her hesitation thanks to her curiosity for the Beyonder world. She decided to believe him and became excited.
She said in an anxious, anticipative and tempted manner, "This is such a wonderful experience… Yes, I have always been hoping that something like this would happen. I mean—I like mysteries and supernatural miracles. No, my point is—what I mean is that, Sir, what can I do to become a Beyonder?"
The man blinked, surprised that someone could make such a demand in this situation. Slightly tilting his head to the side, he wondered if this woman wasn't a bit too naive.
Why would someone willingly enter a world full of chaos and madness, fated to bring themselves and their peers into danger by their mere presence? Why did humans like to gain power so much when it brought so many misfortunes to themselves…
The man hesitated to answer.
However, it wasn't his business if she wanted to go down this path, so he didn't try to dissuade her.
He imagined a palace with a long table, and it appeared.
Maybe it was a coincidence that there were 22 chairs, or maybe it wasn't. He didn't really want to know the answer.
The gray fog started to churn, giving both Audrey and Alger a shock. In an instant, they saw a number of towering stone pillars around them. Above them was a vast dome that encapsulated them.
This entire edifice looked magnificent, grand and lofty, just like a legendary palace for giants.
Directly under the dome where the gray fog gathered, a long, bronze table appeared with ten high-back chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement. The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with crimson red, drawing the outlines of weird constellations that differed from reality.
Without their knowledge, he pushed some things they weren't supposed to see under the table.
Audrey and Alger sat face-to-face, sitting next to the seat of honor. The girl looked to her sides, and could not help but mumble, "How fascinating…"
His chin resting on his hand, the man thought that it wasn't really that impressive.
After all, there existed time loops, someone could replace another person's fate and identity without anyone noticing, and even the Ancient Sun God controlling everyone's actions like a script was more-
Nevermind, didn't this girl ask how to become a Beyonder? She couldn't know about all this.
Alger inspected the surroundings, and after a few seconds of silence, he suddenly opened his mouth, and answered Audrey's question in the man's stead.
Audrey silently listened to Alger before sighing.
"Mister, I know all about what you just said; I even know more than that, including the Nighthawks, the Mandated Punisher, and the Machinery Hivemind, but I don't want to lose my freedom."
Alger gave a low-sounding laugh, and said vaguely, "You can't become a Beyonder without sacrifices. If you don't consider joining churches and accepting their given challenges, you can only seek the royal families and the few nobles with family histories of more than a thousand years. If not, you can rely on your luck to search for clandestine evil organizations."
Audrey puffed her cheeks subconsciously and looked around in a fluster. After confirming that both the "mysterious man" and Audrey did not notice her tic, she pressed, "Are there no other solutions?"
Alger sank into silence. About half a minute later, he turned around to look at the "mysterious man" who was watching the two of them in silence.
The man, who had been lost in his thoughts, only heard the last sentence and didn't know what to answer.
Realizing that the man had no plans to make any comment, Alger looked back at Audrey and said with deliberation, "I have two sets of Sequence 9 Potion formulas."
"Really? Which two sets?" Audrey clearly knew what the Sequence 9 Potion formulas meant.
The man sank back into his thoughts again, not really used to paying attention.
"—As for promises, I think that both you and I can feel rest assured under the witness of the mysterious sir."
Oh, he did it again.
The man snapped back into attention. However, since his spiritual intuition didn't warn him, he didn't stop them.
Then, Alger addressed him.
"Sir, the fact that you brought us here shows that you have tremendous strength unimaginable to us. Neither one of us would dare violate a promise with you as witness."
"That's right!" Audrey's eyes sparkled and agreed with excitement.
From her perspective, the mysterious gentleman who had unimaginable abilities was definitely an "authoritative" witness.
Audrey half-turned her body and looked at the man earnestly.
"Sir, please be the witness of our trade."
At that moment, she then realized that she was all too impolite, having forgotten all along to ask a particular question. She asked hurriedly, "Sir, how should we address you?"
Alger nodded slightly, and echoed the same question in a serious manner, "Sir, how should we address you?"
The man blinked slowly, dazed. It was unknown whether it was because he had difficulty recalling his own name or due to everything feeling so unreal.
"Um…"
The two listened attentively as a hard to pronounce word came out of his mouth.
"…Zhou Mingrui?"
Zhou-Ming-Rui? Audrey repeated the syllables in her mind, wondering if it was the air-headed gentleman's name. Alger also thought something similar.
Then, as if changing his mind, the man corrected himself.
"No."
As he said this, his empty voice had a strange nuance. However, Audrey couldn't exactly distinguish what it was.
"You may address me as…"
The man thought that maybe it was sadness.
Calmly, he declared, "The Fool."
No, it couldn't be sadness.
Then, as if it was supposed to be added to his name, something that actually belonged to his title, he looked at them and added, "An evil god."
There was silence above the gray fog.