"Oh, I must say, as expected of the great detective! Don't you agree, Arthur Leonharth, king of mysteries?"
Arthur had barely left the scene quietly, after the police came to arrest the man, who he later learned was named Bond White, and was sitting on one of the wooden benches in a remote corner of the park near the trees, when a cheerful and unfamiliar voice pierced his ears, coming from beside him, addressing him in a confident tone that carried a hint of humor.
As soon as the strange and unfamiliar sound reached his ears, Arthur quickly turned to his left to identify its source, and his eyes fell upon a young girl who seemed to have stepped out of the pages of a fantasy tale. She wore a dark black witch's robe intricately embroidered with magnificent golden and silver patterns, complete with a pointed hat that added a touch of fantasy to her strange appearance, making her look like a living illustration from an ancient book.
Her platinum-gold hair cascaded down past her shoulders, shimmering with threads of light between the tree leaves. At the same time, her delicate features, as beautiful as a finely carved sculpture, were highlighted by brilliant emerald eyes, like precious gemstones, brimming with life and curiosity. Despite her imposing appearance in a witch's attire, her age couldn't have exceeded twelve or thirteen at most, which lent her presence an amazing blend of innocence and mystery at the same time.
The girl stopped at the edge of the shadow, her footsteps so light they were barely audible on the grass, as if the earth conspired to conceal her presence. She lifted her head slightly, allowing her dazzling emerald eyes to meet Arthur's amber ones directly, and a mysterious smile formed on her lips, half innocent childlike purity, the other half carrying traces of inexplicable defiance.
"A beautiful deduction... or rather, I should say, as expected from you, great detective. But if this is the extent of what you can offer, merely being slightly smarter than average, then let me advise you not to delve deeper than that, Mr. Detective. The other side of this world is not something you can interfere with easily and arrogantly."
As soon as the mysterious girl in a witch's attire finished saying this, she moved to sit beside Arthur, who had fixed his eyes on her with alertness and caution. After all, the current situation was far from simple; it wasn't normal for a mere "ordinary" girl to bypass his sharp senses without him noticing her presence at all.
Especially considering that Arthur had made monitoring his surroundings a deeply ingrained habit, almost like an involuntary reflex he practiced continuously, even in moments when he appeared absent-minded. Therefore, her sudden appearance so close to him wasn't just a passing coincidence, but something that stirred deep suspicion within him.
However, after a few moments, he noticed something else that heightened his alertness and made every hair on his body stand on end, while a cold shiver ran down his spine. This was when he saw how the atmosphere, which had just returned to liveliness after the thief was arrested by the police, had suddenly transformed into an eerie and nerve-wracking silence. Even more disturbing was how the world around him seemed to have lost its colors, as if he were living in a scene from an old black and white film!
It was as if time itself had frozen around him, not realizing how accurate his feeling truly was. Time, in a sense, had indeed stopped around him, not a real stop, but something much deeper than that.
"Don't you find my domain enchanting?" the mysterious girl's sweet voice whispered through the absolute silence. "This silent black and white world... I like to call it the 'Silent World,' though the real name of this ability is the 'Eternal Domain,' the timeless world suspended between temporal moments."
"My goodness, mystic eyes... Ah, but I must say... perhaps I was truly wrong about you. You're far more interesting than I initially thought, great detective. Don't you agree, bearer of the golden blood?" The mysterious girl continued her words with a voice full of amusement and joy, as if the current situation was nothing but an entertaining game to her.
The reason for this was that she had noticed the radical transformation in Arthur's golden amber eyes, those eyes that had been completely ordinary just moments before. But now they had begun to change gradually as soon as he noticed the world's changes around him due to the "Eternal Domain."
His eyes began to glow with a strange multi-colored light like the seven colors of the spectrum, while mysterious glowing symbols danced within his golden irises like small stars telling ancient secrets.
Of course, it was completely clear to Arthur that this mysterious girl knew the meaning of this strange transformation in his eyes, when he noticed how she had given his eyes another strange designation, "Mystic Eyes," in addition to that other title he was now hearing for the third time: "Bearer of the Golden Blood."
The first time he heard this designation was when he was captured by that cursed cult, while the second time was in the "Eternal Dream World" when he heard that mysterious voice calling him by the same title, and now the third time with this mysterious girl standing before him with a puzzling smile.
"Well, now I'm truly confused! What's this about 'Bearer of the Golden Blood'? What is golden blood anyway? Besides that, what do you mean by 'Mystic Eyes'? What's wrong with my eyes? But most importantly of all, who are you and how do you know everything you know?"
Normally, Arthur wouldn't have been this direct with his questions. But because of all the madness he had witnessed recently, plus a more important fact, that Arthur himself, despite his emotional and mental maturity, was still trapped in his childhood body at present.
The hormonal changes and levels of certain neurotransmitters were affecting him and his emotional fluctuations, making him behave in such a direct, childish manner, asking his questions without any hesitation or consideration of consequences, ignoring all the rules of caution he had grown accustomed to.
While Arthur was rapidly firing his questions one after another, the mysterious girl in witch's robes remained standing before him, smiling calmly and with amusement, as if she had been expecting every word that came from the mouth of the reddish-brown-haired boy before her. She answered with a voice and words that were calm but full of mystery.
"Now, now, no need to be so excited. I'm already planning to answer your questions, but not all of them. So I advise you to choose your questions carefully, Mr. Detective." She paused briefly and smiled a cunning smile. "Let's see, what's your first question? And again, I advise you to think well before asking, because I won't answer more than three questions at most!"
Upon hearing this, Arthur fell silent for a moment before beginning to look toward the distant horizon at the blue sky, which had turned gray from his perspective due to the mysterious girl's so-called "Eternal Domain."
He was thinking deeply about what questions he would ask her. "This girl is extremely suspicious, and she's undoubtedly connected to the mysterious world. Worse than that, she knows the truth about my regression through time to the present. Moreover, it's clear that she was extremely powerful or possessed extraordinary abilities, if her stopping of time now indicated anything. So it was obvious that she was deeply connected to the mystical side of this world."
But he quickly gathered himself before beginning his first question, his eyes gleaming with multi-colored radiance. Unaware of how he, without any consciousness on his part, had used the power of his "Mystic Eyes" for the first time to force himself to calm down before speaking and asking his first question.
Of course, the mysterious girl had noticed this obvious change in his eyes, which made her smile widen, as if she were witnessing something she had been expecting to happen for a long time. She tilted her head slightly as she watched him with growing interest, as if she were studying a rare animal discovering its abilities for the first time.
"Excellent..." she whispered in a voice barely audible, even for someone with extremely sharp senses like Arthur, as she noticed how he seemed calmer and more focused than before. She thought, "It seems you've started to subconsciously learn how to use your gifts without even realizing it."
She straightened in her stance, placed her hands behind her back in patient waiting, her eyes carrying a look of anticipation, full of curiosity and amusement.
"First, my initial question is, Who are you, and how do you know everything you know about me? I'm not the 'Great Detective' or 'King of Mysteries' you're talking about, so what makes you think I'm that person?"
Arthur stood firm as he awaited her answer, his eyes still glowing with that multi-colored radiance without him realizing it. His voice was steadier than it had been before, as if whatever hidden power was in his eyes had helped him regain his inner balance.
"Fufu, Mr. Detective, your question could be considered two questions in itself, but very will. Since I'm in a good mood from meeting such a famous person like you, or at least one who was or will be famous, rather, which is extremely exciting and entertaining, I've decided to answer both of your questions, and you still have two more questions left."
She paused for a moment before continuing. "Now, regarding your question, I think I must introduce myself first. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Arthur Leonharth of the distinguished Leonharth House. I am called Chloe, Chloe von Zeitbreen of the Zeitbreen House. Again, honored to meet you."
She then performed a polite bow as she spoke, as if she were at an elegant ball rather than in a frozen world outside the bounds of time.
"As for why I know everything I know about you, and why I'm confident you're indeed the intended person, my great detective, all I can say is this: The past doesn't die, and time doesn't repeat itself, but grants us new opportunities, yet there's always a price."
Chloe then paused for moments before continuing her speech in a soft tone, her emerald eyes glowing with mystery, carrying indescribable weights of secrets, as if behind her gaze lay worlds difficult to reach.
"And that alleged price... is what binds you to this world, Mr. Leonharth, and it's the same thing that made you return to this present time once again, trapped between fates you didn't choose and paths you didn't draw with your own hands. Therefore, whether you wish it or not, you will always remain the bearer of the golden blood and owner of the mystic eyes, the sole witness to what is coming."
Chloe then fell silent briefly, giving her words the chance to sink deep into the depths of his mind, and then a mysterious smile formed on her lips, behind which lay a secret that would never be revealed.
The moment Arthur saw it, he felt as if the air around them had begun to grow heavier, as if Chloe's mere presence had stirred something within the boundaries of the "Eternal Domain," where the gray void began to ripple gently around her, responding to her mysterious existence.
As for Arthur himself, despite everything that had happened, his outward appearance remained still, revealing nothing of his inner thoughts, as if he hadn't been affected at all. Except that what was happening inside him was completely different; his heart had grown heavier, beating slowly weighted with doubts, as if each pulse carried a new question he didn't even dare to voice.
Arthur had naturally picked up enough from Chloe's mysterious words to understand that this meeting with her wasn't just a passing coincidence, but an inevitable fate and a key to opening a dark door waiting to be opened. Now, he had to decide whether he would dare to open it and cross to what lay beyond, or remain stuck at the threshold, prisoner to his hesitation and fear.