The castle at the infinity crossroads shuddered as the infinity pit was being opened by the mighty beast, Titus, the pet of Lord Kael, ruler of the infinity crossroads.
Today marked his ten-thousandth birthday, and as he did in his birthdays before, which took place at the end of every hundred-year cycle.
He intended to gift himself something.
It was his responsibility to guard the infinity crossroads, preventing shadow souls and outlawed beings from crossing between realms. But he was infinitely alone.
His pet, Titus, was an ancient king of the ogre race, possessing immense strength, whom Lord Kael had shown mercy to millennia ago.
Instead of letting him go to serve his eternal sentence into the pit, Titus served as his bodyguard and performed all the tedious tasks Lord Kael didn't feel like doing.
"Yes, put it right there!" Lord Kael instructed the ogre as it lifted the lid from the bottomless pit. "Yeah, right there... Good boy!"
The ogre growled as it lowered the lid, triggering a seismic wave.
"This is good… this is so good!" the young ancient man exclaimed, rising from his throne and leaning over the pit.
He wasn't the first Lord to ever rule the Infinity Crossways, but he might be the most ridiculous and careless of them all.
Beneath the Infinity Castle, the pit held the Forsaken—beings who could no longer traverse the multiverse. Yet the little Lord, unwise in his choices, had spent every birthday fleeing them. He claimed it was an act of mercy, as the Lord of the Universe. Even though he wasn't even close to being that—he was just a prison keeper who had mistaken himself for a god.
He stepped to the edge of the pit. Darkness alone filled the void; even the ogre shivered at the sight below.
"So, what do you think, Ogy?" he asked. "Which one should we bring this time?"
The ogre grumbled.
"Oh, you think we should try a girl this time," the Lord said, pretending to understand the grumble. "I think you've got a point. We need a woman to keep things… refreshed. Only me, though," he added, eyeing the ogre with disgust. "You'll have to wait for whoever comes for you!"
"Okay, let's see who'll come out this time," he said, pulling back the lapels of his majestic cloak. "I summon you—" He paused, glancing at the ogre, who grumbled impatiently.
He sighed.
"Let me think of a name," he murmured, as a myriad of glowing eyes—blue, red, yellow—pierced the darkness of the pit.
"Very well," he continued, his voice echoing like a command from the void. "Whoever dwells nearest this pit, I release you from your eternal prison. Step forth… and—"
A roar erupted—not one or two, but hundreds, thousands—from the pit. Then a burst of wind blew from the endless darkness, something even Lord Kael had never witnessed before.
"Okay, Ogy! Close the pit now! Quickly, I don't like this!"
The ogre hurriedly lifted the pitch-black lid and sealed the pit's mouth.
"Phew… that was close—wow."
Lord Kael jumped in surprise, his eyes widening as a figure now stood atop the closed lid. The ogre looked more amazed than frightened.
"Who are you?" he asked.
A gorgeous woman stood before him, draped in dark attire, with jewelry adorning every corner of her body that could carry it—her skin, her hair, her arms, even her fingers glinting in the dim light.
Lord Kael's fear melted away as he realized the figure before him was just a woman. Not just any woman, but an astonishingly beautiful one.
"Verna is at your service, my Lord," the woman said kindly, her eyes scanning the castle—sharp, dangerous, yet undeniably alluring.
"You came out of that pit?" he exclaimed, eyes widening in shock. Even the ogre grumbled in agreement at his surprise.
"
Yes, my Lord," she replied with a small bow.
"But… but you're too beautiful—I mean, too normal—to be a Forsaken," he said hesitantly.
"I don't know, my Lord," she said softly. "The last thing I remember, I was sleeping as a princess in my home kingdom of Orbia… and the next thing I knew, I was here." Her voice carried a sadness that could make even the most tenderhearted weep.
But Lord Kael was not an ordinary person.
With access to the infinity knowledge holding the memories of every Lord of the Infinity Castle, he could have verified her story—but being as foolish as he was vain, he ignored it, following his whims instead.
"The kingdom of Orbia…" he mused aloud, tapping his cheek. "Isn't that kingdom extinct?
I believe it no longer exists."
Verna gasped, confusion flooding her eyes, and dropped to the floor.
Lord Kael hurried forward. "I'm sorry, Princess, but you need not grieve for what happened to your people, whoever they were. Stay with us here. Ogy and I will take care of you."
His naive offer was sincere, if awkward.
"This…" she said, sobbing softly as she looked around the unfamiliar castle walls, "...this doesn't look anything like the home I grew up in. And you," she added, staring at him, "look nothing like the people I knew."
"But your home is gone," the young Lord replied. "What choice do you have? You can either return to the pit—"
"Please, don't take me back there!" she cried, her voice trembling. "And please, don't make me stay here with this ogre either!"
"So, if I chase out the ogre, you would stay?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. She nodded, relieved.
The ogre grumbled.
"But Ogy is very useful… and I'm too lazy," Kael muttered to himself. "Can you do what Ogy does?"
Verna shook her head.
The young woman tilted her head sideways.
"Ugh," Lord Kael groaned. "I can't take Ogy away. I guess I'll have to find somewhere you could live… happily ever after."
"Yes, my Lord," she said excitedly. "That would be wonderful."
"Come on, then," he beckoned her to follow.
The woman hesitated for a moment, skeptical of his promise. But as the castle doors opened, they were greeted by a cascade of light scattered across the castle grounds, the entire estate appearing like a tiny speck in the vast night sky.
It was the Crossways.
The moment they stepped outside, the young woman felt the pressure that had weighed on her vanish. She stretched her body as if awakening from a long, deep sleep.
"So, where would you—"
Lord Kael cut himself off, startled once she saw the golden dark aura from Verna.
"You're a goddess!" he exclaimed. "But—but I command you to return to my castle!" he declared desperately.
"Too bad, my Lord," Verna smirked. "I think you forgot one rule—you're only powerful inside your little isolated castle. And guess where we are now!"
She laughed as Lord Kael's fear grew by the second; even the ogre shivered.
"Don't worry," she said, easing the tension that had nearly made him tremble, "I'm not a goddess of death or anything that sinister."
"Then what are you?" he asked.
"Nothing that matters to you," she replied softly, as the air began to swirl around her.
"Just a word of advice, my Lord," she said as beams of light began to erase her body from the ground up. "Don't try opening that pit again. There are Forsaken who are immune to your little infinite aura… unless you want to end up eaten by a Dremoskul."
"Wait—what's… a Dremoskul?"
By the time his words left his mouth, the young woman had already vanished.