Timeline: Some time after the Plaza Terror Incident.
Lock hasn't yet experienced his berserk transformation, so Pendrick is still alive.
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Alberu Crossman was currently in a private meeting with the heroes of the Plaza Terror Incident; Choi Han, Rosalyn, Lock and the former servants of the Henituse Household, Ron and Beacrox.
It had been some time since the incident which took many lives. Paranoia and anxiety among the citizens were all-time high since the memories of blood were still fresh. No one could afford to let their guard down since the terrorists were still on the loose. That's why Alberu immediately reached out to the ones that minimized the plaza casualties, knowing that with their impressive strength, they could locate the culprits.
At least, that was how this private meeting was supposed to go.
After only half an hour of exchanging information, the group within the palace had suddenly been engulfed by a mysterious bright light. In the next moment, the room had been completely deserted...
And the entire world being frozen.
"What on earth is this!?"
"Where are we!?"
"What the fuck is happening right now!?"
Countless shouts and screams pierced through the ears of the eldest prince and the heroes and the moment they opened their eyes, they saw that they were no longer in the palace, instead, they were inside a completely dark room within only a minimum brightness for everyone to barely see the other occupants.
Choi Han immediately pulled out his sword at the sudden change of the situation, and Lock quickly adopted a defensive stance. The father-son duo are seemingly unaffected, but they secretly brandished the knives in their sleeves.
Rosalyn and Alberu were a bit rattled by the sudden teleportation, but managed to gain their bearing fast enough to stop Choi Han and Lock from doing anything reckless.
The ex-princess quickly placed a hand on the swordmaster's shoulder, "Choi Han, Lock, don't, attacking first before assessing the situation may prove fatal for us."
Choi Han glanced at her and, reluctantly, put away his sword as Lock calmed himself. However, all of them are still very tense due to the unfamiliar scenery.
Alberu was quick to examine everything, taking note of the many, many races that seemed to be just as confused as the newest arrivals.
Human nobles, beast people, the whale tribe, elves and many other individuals are present. Alberu and Rosalyn wondered just who was capable of teleporting so many powerful races in a single room without anyone's knowledge.
Alberu widened his eyes when he saw that the dark elves were present as well. Thankfully, no one seemed to have noticed their presence yet due to their illusion magic as well as the lighting in the room. He saw his aunt, Tasha, nod at him before ushering Mary behind her along with the other hidden dark elves.
Rosalyn turned her head when she heard someone calling out her name. To her surprise, her brothers, John and Pen, are also present. The two brothers made their way towards her, apparently just as confused and out of the loop as everyone. Although, Pen glared at Choi Han and Lock before being scolded by his sister.
Harol was currently trying to prevent Toonka from going at it with Litana, who glared at the tyrant. Many individuals were quick to notice that there was some strange unseen force that was trying to prevent Toonka from harming the jungle queen and were sensible enough to not resort to violence, at least for now. Unfortunately it didn't stop anyone from panicking to the point of arguing with each other.
Ancient Dragon Eruhaben was sitting in the far corner of the room, only accompanied by healer Pendrick along with a mysterious man (Fredo) that seemed content to just watch the chaos unfold, drinking from his glass of red wine that teleported with him. They were soon joined by Rasheel, who sensed what Eruhaben was and didn't want to be near the lower species, along with Mila and her son, Dodori. Bud Illis and Glenn Poeff followed soon after, the former just proceeded to drink in the midst of this mess.
The dragons (and Fredo) were quick to notice Sheritt joining them. Though Rasheel wanted to speak up, a quick glare from the golden dragon shut him up before he exposed the white dragon's existence.
The whales kept quiet and avoided everyone so they won't be dragged into meaningless conflict, though Shickler had to stop Archie from accepting a challenge from Toonka (who finally stopped futilely going after Litana and proceeded to challenge every strong individual he sees). Witira was simply silent, still heavily affected by the recent loss of Paseton.
Cage nearly exploded when she caught sight of Venion standing among the many arguing nobles who were pointing figures as to who was the culprit of the current situation. She may not have proof, but she knows for a fact that Venion caused Taylor's death, given with how obsessed the younger brother was towards the successor position as well as being the cause of why Taylor became a cripple. Unfortunately, as if sensing her intentions, something seemed to be preventing her from marching up to the bastard and strangle him, as she can't move her feet towards Venion.
Adin simply watched the commotion, thinking about how he may use this in his favor. However, he put it on hold for now, there were too many unknown variables at this moment and he doesn't even know where he currently is. Meanwhile, Valentino stayed by his longtime friend's side, not wanting to get involved into a possible fight with so many different powerful races.
The Henituse Family were among the nobles that were standing by the sidelines, having never been ones to partake in any conflict. Hans and Hilsman were at the front of them, just in case there were anyone made physical threats to them. The family were barely managing to stay calm, especially Deruth, as they were still affected by the sudden disappearance of his firstborn that has yet to be found, no matter how many soldiers or spies Deruth sends away. Lily tightly grips the shaking hand of her brother, Basen, as he was still both affected by the plaza incident and guilt-ridden for having taken the successor position that was rightfully the eldest. She really missed her eldest brother, even if they had gotten distant for three years, she knew the redhead still cared for her deeply, especially during her younger years. That was why, no matter how justified Choi Han believed it to be, she, along with the rest of the family, was incredibly angered at the swordmaster for beating her eldest brother up and wanted to fight him herself until she was stopped by Basen. All of the Henituse narrowed their eyes when they saw the newest arrivals, still not having forgiven Choi Han for beating up the currently-missing eldest son, as well as the Molan duo, who left the redhead the next day after he was beaten.
Eric Wheelsman, Amiru Ubarr and Gilbert Chetter joined the Henituse, exchanging pleasantries despite all the confusion and panic around them. Eric became downcast when he saw that one was still missing from the family, causing his two companions to pat his back and shoulder in comfort. He may have been apprehensive to how the redhead's behavior had worsened over the years, he was still Eric's dongsaeng, despite the difficulties, they were still close as brothers and Eric nearly had a panic attack when he heard that his dongsaeng went missing.
Alberu internally groaned at the sight of the arguing nobles. Though, he widened his eyes when a bright light emitted to one part of the room (unnoticed by many due to all the arguments) and revealed his father and the two princes that he's competing for the crown against. Needing to sort things out before they go out of control, the first prince raised his voice.
"Enough, everyone! This is not the time to be arguing amongst each other when we should be working together to assess the situation at hand!"
The nobles finally stopped shouting and screaming at one another and noticed the crown prince. They immediately scrambled for apologies while subtly blaming each other for everyone's unsightly behavior.
Zed Crossman, along with the other princes, joined his son and was about to make a statement supporting his son's speech when suddenly...
"Are you all done now? Jeez, you guys took longer to calm down than I expected."
Everyone tensed up at the booming, yet laid-back voice that echoed throughout the room. Nearly every single combatant was about to draw their weapon before it suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving the physical fighters weaponless.
"Uh-uh-uh! No fighting in my place! Mana is disabled here too so mages can't use magic. I don't want anyone here fighting to the death like a few of you already intended to do."
Rosalyn widened her eyes before she tried to conjure a fireball in her hand. She gaped in disbelief when she couldn't even make a small fire on her finger.
"I-I really can't..." She stuttered, causing Choi Han and Lock to look at her in surprise before glaring at the ceiling as they tried to find whoever was speaking.
Eruhaben narrowed his eyes when not even he, ancient dragon, could perform any magic, to Rasheel's shock. This meant that whoever brought them here was possibly even more powerful than a dragon.
The occupants gasped when everything suddenly turned so bright that they had to momentarily cover their eyes. Once their vision finally cleared, what they saw was...
"Is this... a cinema?" Choi Han, having come from modern Korea, was able to recognize the kind of room their in, though it seemed larger than what he remembered. Many rows of red comfortable soft seats lined up right in front of a giant blank screen.
Though, the rest of the occupants, having come from what is equivalent to a medieval fantasy world, became more anxious and cautious at the scenery that shown itself before them, though some brave ones were more curious at unfamiliar room arrangement.
Everyone's gaze landed on the figure standing on the stage in front of the screen.
It was a young girl, with black hair and eyes and looked to be in her teens. She wore a simple red long-sleeved shirt and black leggings that only the shocked Choi Han recognized as modern clothing. However, despite her seemingly ordinary appearance, everyone knew she was no ordinary girl, as not only was she most likely the culprit for bringing everyone here, she is also emitting a powerful aura that made even the hidden dragons of the room tense and apprehensive towards her.
She looked over everyone in the room with seemingly lazy eyes before humming.
"So, you guys must be wondering why I brought you here."
"Yeah, no shit!" Many gaped at Bud at his bravery/stupidity as he continued to drink straight from his bottle of alcohol before choking and sputtering when an annoyed Glenn smacked him at the back of his head.
The girl looked at the alcoholic in amusement, she really liked Bud for his blunt honesty that gets him in trouble.
"'Kay, so... Long story short, your world is gonna be destroyed in the future and that's why you're here."
Everyone blinked at the girl several times, even the calm ones like Fredo looked at her with a raised eyebrow at her blunt statement. The awkward silence continued on for several seconds before everything predictably went to pandemonium.
"WHAT!?"
"What are you talking about!?"
"Why should we believe anything you say!?"
"We don't even know who you are!"
"ENOUGH!"
The flurries of shouts and protest quickly died down when Zed Crossman glared at all of them before Alberu took the reins, for once not adopting a friendly smile as he realized the possible gravity of their situation.
"I apologize for everyone's outburst. But what do you mean the world is getting destroyed? Is it possible that it may be involved with the terrorists that attacked the plaza?"
Those that were present at the plaza that day tensed at the reminder. Many still remembered the burnt and bloody corpses that were caused by the explosion of a madman. Violan and Lily hugged Basen as Deruth placed a comforting hand on his son's shoulder. Eric, Amiru and Gilbert took deep breaths and looked at each other, mutual understanding easily shared between them.
Choi Han clenched his fists but managed to calm down when both Lock and Rosalyn placed comforting hands on his shoulders. Though the expressions of the Molan duo remained unchanged, the fury within them as they are reminded of the targets of their vengeance is another story.
The girl nodded, "Yeah, pretty much. They're really powerful for you guys, especially in your current state. In fact, you guys went in a 20-year war against them but still lost in the end."
Not even Alberu and Zed managed to hide the shock on their faces as everyone fell into panicked chaos once again. Annoyed at the constant shouting, the girl finally raised her voice.
"ENOUGH!"
One shout held so much power that everyone was quick to turn silent again, even Toonka, the battle-crazy tyrant he is, was struck into silence.
The girl waved a hand and a fancy seat magically appeared behind her, she then sat with her legs crossed as she continued her explanation.
"Basically, your world is in so much shit that in this future, you're pretty much destined to lose. Not only that, the gods of your world are unable interfere with mortal affairs, so even if they want to help, they can't."
Many looked shocked, but didn't have the courage to interrupt her once again lest they become the target of her powerful aura again.
Cage looked on with a grimace, so even if she tried to demand something from the God of Death, he would still be unable to actually provide direct aid to her.
"However, I managed to find some way around the lack of interference. However, in the end, it's going to be up to you guys whether you'd be stupid enough to take advantage of the help you're going to gain for your own selfish ends. Especially you nobles."
Said nobles flinched at her narrowed glare, as if she was looking directly into their souls. Venion and Neo Tolz couldn't stop shaking as they felt the power of that gaze. They're afraid she may know something of what they did, and would rather keep their mouths shut and walk away alive.
The girl didn't know why He wanted to bring some of the enemies in the cinema, but the girl didn't really bother to care. After all, another main reason why they were brought here was simply entertainment, but she's not gonna tell them that. He probably just wanted the reactions of the enemies as well, regardless of the consequences it may bring.
Alberu took a deep breath and honestly agreed with the girl's statement, more than half of the nobles here are selfish pricks that only want to keep up appearances, "And what is this help, if I may ask?"
"Asking aid from another world."
Everyone looked at her in surprise, while many intellectuals looked shocked at the concept of other worlds.
"I... see." Alberu steeled himself to continue the line of questioning, "But even if we ask for their aid, would they even bother with the affairs of a completely different world that had nothing to do with theirs?"
"A valid question. But unfortunately for you guys, it's basically the only chance you got, because otherwise, it's gonna take a damn miracle for you guys to win on your own. Whether or not they will decide to help you if you ask is up to them, however..."
However...?
"As they say, first impressions matter. The reason I brought you guys here is to have you react to many scenes about that particular world so you can have a better understanding on how life works there. Just to hope that you guys won't do anything stupid like, for example, calling their different races "cursed existence" or something idiotic like that, simply because you didn't understand how their world works."
The hidden dark elves and one necromancer flinched at what she said. It was true, it was basically the lack of understanding on one side that causes them to act and spout prejudice.
"In fact, one example of the difference of your world and theirs is that era of nobility and royalty in that world has long since passed. There may be a few noble families left, but they are held in much less importance in that world compared to your."
Many nobles looked outraged and in disbelief at the concept of having no nobility or royalty to run the world while some just looked curious and interested at how people run their nations in that world.
The girl then internally grinned, knowing that what she was going to say next is going to blow their minds.
"Another example is that the majority of the rulers in each nation of that world... are gods."
Silence.
Everyone stared at the girl in disbelief, especially all of the priests of the church that were transported here. In their world, after all, the gods were only deities of worship, no one, not even the churches themselves, can ever expect that any of their gods would be in the lowly mortal realm.
"Hopefully, this should give you a reason to not do anything stupid when you ask for their help."
"...'When'. She said 'when'. Is our future so hopeless that she already expects that we would ask for aid of another world?" Alberu clenched his fists but managed to calm himself down. This... this was certainly unexpected, but the power the girl radiates is no joke, the eldest prince doubted anyone here could actually take her on when a simple eye contact is enough to make everyone in the room freeze in place.
If everything she said is true, then all the more reason to see what this other world may have to offer if the girl believes that world is their only chance. He still clearly remembered the terror and blood spilled by the terrorists that day, he cannot take any more chances just for it to happen again.
"Though, fortunately, your world may have gotten a good impression already."
The kidnapped occupants looked confused.
"What... do you mean by that?" Alberu asked, "Is... the other world is aware of our existence already?
"In a way, but they don't know about you guys specifically."
Alberu and his father looked at each for a moment in continued confusion.
The girl sighed, as if getting bored to having to explain further.
"One person from your world is already staying at that world for a while now. In fact, the scenes you're going to watch? He's involved in majority of it." The girl hummed as she went deep into thought, "Should I bring him and his friends here too?... Maybe later."
Majority of the occupants looked shocked and surprised, including Alberu, who did not expect the girl to drop another bomb like this.
"If I may ask, who might this person be?" Do we know them went unsaid.
"Oh, it's the guy that's been missing in your world for a while now. Cale Henituse." The girl nonchalantly as if she didn't drop another bomb for many of the occupants.
"CALE!?"
"Hyung-nim!?"
Deruth and the rest of the Henituse family, including Hans, Hilsman and Eric, looked absolutely gobsmacked at the revelation that the reason why the eldest was untraceable for months was because he was in another world. How did he even get there in the first place!? According to the reports, Cale was still barely in any condition to walk so much after the beating he got. Did that mean he was kidnapped to another world!?
"Wait, Cale Henituse? You mean the trash noble?"
"How did the trash even end up there?"
"Hey, isn't that bad? What if that guy made things worse for us because of his trashy acts?"
Almost all nobles of the Roan Kingdom murmured and whispered to one another. The eldest son of Deruth, Cale Henituse, was infamous for being trash. Everyone considered him to be a disgrace to the point that many agreed that the son that came from the Count's second family was a better heir for the successor position. After all, no one wanted a violent drunkard to be the next lord. Due to his infamy, no one cared when he suddenly went, a trash was better off being thrown away, anyway.
The assassin duo who were former servants of the Henituse Household, as usual, showed no outward reaction. But they were surprised that the trashy master they previously served was actually sent to another world. Both of them heard of the news he went missing, but neither of them cared enough to go looking for him. Ron might have felt the usual pity he held for the young puppy master, but Beacrox simply didn't care, as he had his cooking being insulted for years by the trashy master.
Choi Han was one of the many who didn't care for the redhead's disappearance. Why should he care for a trash that insulted his deceased family? While the swordmaster may have already calmed down from that event, he still held a grudge and hatred towards the Henituse eldest for his outright disrespect for the dead. His friends, Rosalyn and Lock, also held a low opinion on the missing trash due to what he had said to Choi Han and thus, didn't care for what happened to the redhead. Plus, they never even met him.
The other races simply watched the whispering nobles in curiosity and interest, as they have never even heard of the missing noble because they rarely ever get involved with human affairs. Though, many were wondering why the nobles kept calling Cale Henituse 'trash'. But a few, like Tasha, has heard about his infamy.
Unfortunately for them, the girl was getting increasingly annoyed at each insult being spouted towards the missing redhead. As she knew everything, including the reason behind all of his trashy acts, she felt her irritation spiking up before she finally snapped.
"Silence."
The rude nobles who were whispering immediately shut up.
The girl narrowed her eyes, and everyone could tell that she was not happy at the discussion that had occured just now "Before you try to blame him for anything, this trash as you call him, is one of main reasons why you guys even had the chance of asking for otherworldly aid. No, he did not make anything worse, it's the opposite, in fact. If anything, he's the one who might be able to convince everyone from the other world to help you guys."
The nobles stared at her disbelief. It was expected of them to be shocked. The known trash of the Henituse Family, the disgrace and violent alcoholic who would rather spend his days being a drunkard is their hope of saving their world from destruction?
The silence went on for another few seconds before the girl checked the watch on her wrists. Sighing tiredly, she waved her hand at them before gesturing towards the seats, "Look, do you want to save your world or die in inevitable despair? Make your decision. I'm getting tired of waiting."
At that, everyone, including the other races who silent most of the time, began discussing whether it was okay to take her offer while some human nobles whispered whether watching the trash noble was truly worth their time.
The Henituse Family already made a decision to accept and watch, if only just to find out how Cale is doing in the other world.
The eldest prince and group of heroes began to discussing as well. While Choi Han is understandably reluctant to watch the same person who insulted his dead family, he decided to set his grudge aside for the greater good and his revenge against the culprits of the Harris Village massacre.
Alberu had only heard of the rumors regarding the trash of the Henituse family. From what Choi Han had told him just now, there may be a truth in that. However, the prince is not going to make a conclusion just yet, because it's possible that the swordmaster is biased due to being in despair over the recent deaths of Harris Village. After all, Alberu hasn't even met the guy yet and the only things he knew about him were from the stories of other people. He would prefer to personally make his own conclusion about the trash himself.
Beacrox expectedly did not care much but decided to accept the girl's offer for help if it meant having an advantage against the targets of his vengeance. Ron felt the same as his son, but was more curious about the current fate of his former puppy master.
After a few minutes of continued discussion, it finally came to an abrupt end when Alberu stepped forward and called out to the girl.
"Before we make our decision, there are two things I wish to ask of you since the beginning of our conversation."
The girl knew what he was going to asked, but played dumb anyway, "And that is...?"
"...Who are you? What made you decide to help us?"
The entire cinema went silent, this had been the question all have been wanting to ask, but never found the courage to out of fear of interrupting her and being subjected to the her immensely powerful aura.
"...I hold many names, Prince Alberu Crossman, however, all of you may simply call me Red, as it is simple and the easiest name to remember. I am a god..." Red ignored the gasps of the priests, "Well, it's more complicated than that. You could say, I am a creator of many alternate realities of many worlds outside of your own. As for why I decided to help you, well... Your God of Death is an old friend of mine and pretty much asked me to help you guys. He basically used me as a loophole to the 'no-interference' rule. And since I'm not actually a god of your world, I'm not bound to the same rule as your gods."
The priests that came from the church of the God of Death gasped, and many began falling to their knees and praying their thanks to the God of Death.
Cage gaped at Red before looking thoughtfully, the God of Death was an incredibly annoying whiny bastard. However, the fact that he was indirectly helping them save their world is enough for Cage to give him a break... for now.
While everyone else looked surprised at the information regarding the God of Death, Red's admittance of being a god herself was shocking, especially the fact that an actual god herself is physically in the same room as mortals.
The hidden dragons in the room believed Red's words, as it explained why she seemed so much more powerful than them, the creatures who are considered the strongest species in the world.
Alberu took a deep breath, he already had a suspicion, but hearing confirmation made him feel anxiety towards the gravity of their situation. No matter, he will take all the help he can get for the sake of a bright future.
"I see. Thank you for your answer, Lord Red-"
"Don't call me 'Lord'. It makes me feel old."
Alberu sweatdropped, "A-Apologies. Thank you for your answer, Red-nim. We, of the Roan Kingdom, will stay and watch."
Zed Crossman stared at his eldest son with an unreadable expression, before nodding in approval. He had let Alberu take the reins of the situation as he was the only one courageous enough to speak directly to the immensely powerful girl who turned out to be a god. He was already beginning to favor the eldest compared to the rest of his children, anyway, so perhaps...
Shickler spoke up, gaining everyone's attention, "We, of the whale tribe, will also stay."
Eruhaben, Sheritt and Rasheel glanced at one another before nodding. Bud Illis just continued to drink as Glenn facepalmed, though neither of them seemed to want to leave. Fredo looked quite interested, chuckling in barely concealed excitement at what the future may have in store for him.
"Hm." Red looked over to the rest of the occupants, "What about the rest of you? Other beast people, elves, dark elves-"
"Dark elves are also here!?"
"What are those monsters doing here!?"
Said hidden dark elves flinched at the familiar shouts of insults towards their races as Alberu's expression momentarily darkened. However, many stayed silent, while some may discriminate against those who use dead mana, they were not as stupid as those idiotic nobles who interrupted Red. They've already learned their lesson.
As expected, Red glared at the stupid nobles who dared interrupt her. The full force of her glare was enough to suddenly make them shut up and choke in fear as they fall to their knees, frantically gasping their breath.
"This is why I have my doubts about the future of your world. Instead of uniting to fight a common enemy that would lead to your world's destruction, you would rather remain stagnant in your prejudice against others, blissfully ignoring the struggles and pain other humans and races have to go through throughout their lives. The moment any of you interrupt me just to spout ignorant bullshit about the dark elves, well, you wouldn't want to know what would happen, do you?"
The ignorant nobles who spouted insults quickly nodded in fear, not daring to further anger a god. The dark elves looked at Red with awe at her lack of prejudice against them. For Alberu, it was at this moment the otherworldly god had quickly gained his respect for protecting his beloved species.
"So, your decisions?"
The other races glanced at one another before nodding. The dark elves finally found the courage to disable their illusion, stepping out of the darkness as many instinctively took a step away from them. Red's eyes softened as her gaze landed on the discriminated race before nodding herself.
"Very well, then. Everyone, take a seat. I will prepare the viewing." Red instructed them as she disappeared into thin air.
Red then teleported on a blue seat. It seemed everyone managed to find their own seats without much of a fuss. Many all sat with the rest of their own races while others like Fredo and Healer Pendrick sat with Eruhaben and the rest of the dragons at the corner of the cinema.
Red snickered, no one noticed the dragons yet.
She hummed as she sees everyone seated and ready.
"If anyone's hungry, there's a table of food over there at the side of the cinema, it's unlimited supply so eat all you want, just be quiet when you get some. Now... Let's start."
Click.
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I'll be honest, the reason I came up with this fic was because while I was reading TCF fanfiction, I suddenly imagined them reacting to Klee.
Red is short for "RedOmega", my fanfiction.net username. She's me, and she basically just admitted that she's an AU fanfic writer in a fancy way lmao.
I'm planning to have the TBOAH dead characters (except Pendrick since this is before he died) come back to life in this fic.