Chapter 406: _Make The Boy Ours

Somewhere Outside The Main Universe

Floating through the void of space was an entity whose very form would confuse any mortal.

He had masculine features and clear white skin—taller than most stars —and wore pristine white robes. Ten pure white feathered wings sprouted out of his back, furled to his sides.

An Archon.

Not just anyone, either.

He was the one who Orion had seen when the boy accidentally slipped into the cracks separating every reality in existence.

Before him, a black hole gradually consumed a white star. The roaring energies being released from the center bathed his skin but had zero effect.

His expression was plain.

One that belonged to a being who’s seen stars die and be born so many times that seeing it again was... normal.

’... Adonais.’

The Archon paused, his face shifting with the first sign of interest since he crossed these parts of the cosmos.

’Asherah.’ He responded to the voice reaching into his head. ’Finally. Have you found the timeline the boy now resides in?’

★★★★★

Back On Earth

In a dark, lonely alleyway somewhere in the streets of Los Angeles, Ramona Richards appeared, looking completely dishevelled.

She rasped, clutching her stomach with one hand while the other balanced her against a wall.

Her clothes were all but obliterated, eyes glowing with a white light as she reached out to the only Archon who’s been within the confines of existence the longest.

’Yes, Adonais.’ She answered. ’Things have been... fundamentally changed in this timeline. The mortal known as Ambrose Hale really took precautions.’

The burns on her skin and her stomach healed at a visible pace, broken bones from Gabriel’s increased gravity attack mending themselves with an eerie snap.

’Precautions?’ Adonais repeated. ’How so?’

’The soul that inhabits this timeline’s Ambrose Hale... is a soul that was whisked from an entirely different universe.’

’What?’

’Yes, and that has caused so many changes.’ Ramona finally got back enough strength to stand upright. ’I believe this runs deeper than we first thought. This timeline is separate from the one we conquered. The universe has anchored itself to a different history.’

A long silence lingered from the other end of the ever-expanding multiverse.

Eventually, Adonais spoke. ’Have you obtained the child?’

’... No.’

’What are you waiting for? The whole point of coming after the Higher Mortal’s son is because he’s still barely above infancy. Overriding his will should be easier regardless of how much power he has.’

’There seems to be a hole in that...’ Ramona recalled the last thing she saw before teleporting out of that office.

The Higher Mortal’s current self had jumped to the boy and shielded him with his body. Those other humans had attacked with everything they had just to protect him from her.

She could’ve easily taken him away instead of going through all that annoying stress.

But—

’.. If we take the boy now, overriding his will may prove impossible.’ Ramona explained. ’He has recalibrated himself to this timeline quite perfectly. He has a family. Friends. People he loves and who love him... things he won’t want to abandon just to willingly be our Vessel.’

Adonais didn’t say anything.

His silence was more than enough to punctuate how dire this was.

’That boy is currently the most compatible host we’ve found in this multiverse so far.’ He intoned. ’Break that in any way you can. If we have to send in more of our brethren to—’

’No.’ Ramona cut that idea short. ’I can handle this.’

’Good.’ A pause. ’The Silent One’s creations have always been stubborn. But there is always a way. Find that... and make the boy ours.’

With that, the mental communication died.

Ramona—aka Asherah—sighed for the first time in a while.

This body was already weak and unstable as it is. If it ended up getting destroyed by one of these pests, the multiverse might sense her presence and reject her.

Or worse.

Ramona exhaled, long and slow, testing the air like she wasn’t sure her lungs still remembered how to do this properly.

The alley reeked of piss and rust.

Fitting.

Even the parts of this world humanity tried to hide were dressed better than some universes she’d seen.

’Break his will any way I can...’

Easy for Adonais to say from where he floated, untouched by black holes and unbothered by decaying flesh. She flexed her healed fingers, watching the last bruise fade from her knuckles.

There had to be a way in without force. Something that didn’t end in five Espers cornering her again.

"Don’t move."

The voice cracked from behind her, unsteady like someone more scared of their own decision than of her.

Ramona turned her head and found a young man with sunken eyes and a shaking hand wrapped around a pistol.

"Wallet. Phone. Now." He jabbed the gun toward her. "I ain’t playing."

She studied him the way one might study a moth that had wandered too close to a flame it didn’t understand it was made of.

A human, threatening her.

Some days, this planet’s audacity was almost endearing.

"You picked an unfortunate night," she said quietly.

He clearly didn’t like that. His grip tightened, and he thumbed back the hammer with a click that was supposed to sound final.

Ramona simply glanced at the gun.

The metal didn’t explode or twist dramatically. It just... softened, drooping in his hand like melting wax, the barrel curling downward until it dribbled a thin silver thread onto the concrete.

The man yelped, dropping what was left of the weapon as the molten metal burned his hand. Without thinking, he turned and ran.

She didn’t watch him go. She was already thinking about Orion again.

Who knew familial bonds could pose a problem to their plans?

It wasn’t power that had stopped her inside Blue Diamond. It wasn’t even the combined might of the Hunters. It was something far more inconvenient.

Love.

Ramona pushed off the wall, stepped over the puddle of cooling metal, and let the shadows of Los Angeles swallow her whole.