Chapter 96: Hero Has Returned
Sunny quickly arrived at the scene, slipping between the reporters, the local police controlling the crowd and the Valor envoys.
He walked towards Cassie, noticing that she was standing right next to Morgan of Valor...
Using his shadow sense, Sunny managed to locate a few other people as well.
There was Seishan of Song, who was likely sent here by her to investigate. She was standing alongside a group of Song awakened.
Not far away, there were the government awakened... Master Jet didn't seem to be anywhere in sight though.
'That woman must be drowning in the blood of some abomination right now...'
Shaking the thought, he walked properly towards Morgan and Cassie.
"Ah, Master Sunless. What a pleasant surprise," Morgan said, turning her attention to him.
Sunny wanted to respond with 'The pleasure is all mine' but his flaw prevented him from doing that, so instead he offered her a simple nod.
Cassie also remained silent, which made Sunny think that she definitely knew something about what was going on... She was always like that, ever since the Forgotten Shore.
"What a mess," Sunny said, looking at the blue star.
It did not take a genius to guess that this was somehow related to Hugo and that watch on his wrist...
Moreover, the shadow that was hiding in the depths of that star was definitely that of an ascended.
'Not a human though... It's weird'
Sunny felt like he was staring at an amalgamation of creatures, each compressed tightly into a single shadow that took on the shape of a human.
Such strangeness could only come from one man, a fellow divine aspect wielder...
Soon enough, the rest of the cohort arrived, Nephis was the first to come then Kai and Effie followed soon after.
Kai and Effie were not really friends with Hugo like Sunny, Nephis and Cassie were, in fact Hugo himself had not truly been a part of the cohort for a while, however he was good to them and without him, they would've likely not have been able to escape the Forgotten Shore. So them coming was only logical.
Effie whistled "Sheesh, why does weird shit only happen to us?" She turned to Sunny "Doofus, is it because of you? I know you were cursed by short height but to think you also had bad luck! You really are a package deal!"
Sunny wanted to retort and get into their usual bickering, but he was in no mood to entertain Effie right now...
His mind was still wondering if his friend was going to come out of that blue star, or something else entirely...
The glow of the blue star suddenly ignited with a more dangerous light, making the observers tense a little.
Then, the light that emanated from the star was suddenly sucked inward, towards the centre of the light.
And without notice, the light disappeared completely, leaving only the naked body of a young man in the sky.
The young man fell to the ground at an incredible speed, unconscious and motionless.
Kai, seeing this, quickly flew upward and caught the body of the young man mid air.
Gasps spread throughout the people watching, with many people bringing out their communicators to record the event.
Kai landed on the ground calmly, carrying the unconscious Hugo.
"It's really him..." Sunny said with a shocked expression, as he got closer.
Cassie grabbed Sunny's shoulder and looked at the rest of the cohort
"Not now, bring him inside"
Seeing the people surrounding them, Kai nodded and headed towards the manor alongside Nephis, Effie and Sunny.
Cassie followed soon after, informing the Fire Keepers to stop anyone from entering the manor.
"It seems this is goodbye for now, Song of the Fallen. I hope we meet again." Morgan said with a smile.
"Yes, me too."
Cassie said as she entered the manor.
—————
Hugo felt himself laying on a soft bed mattress, which was unusual for him. Very very unusual.
There was noise around him as well, not chaotic or anything... But simply noise.
Slowly, he opened his eyes, and what met him was a beautifully polished wooden roof, one that was reserved for only the rich of NQSC...
He remained motionless for a few seconds, then he sprung to his feet jumping over the bed and preparing to slam his arm down at his Omnitrix.
He was not used to being in such positions, ones where there was no constant danger...
Looking around, Hugo's eyes widened...
He was in a wide room, that looked oddly similar to that of nobles. In the room, there were five individuals surrounding the bed, looking at him with peculiar expressions.
The first was a beautiful young man with pale skin, dark onyx eyes and even darker hair. He wore a plain black shirt and grey jeans.
The second was a tall young woman with silver hair and calm grey eyes, wearing jeans and a silver jacket with a shirt that had a music band on it. Her face was like that of a statue, beautiful and distant.
The third was a petite, exquisitely beautiful young woman who had delicate features, pale blond hair, and stunning blue eyes. Despite the fact that the young woman was dressed humbly, there was an aura about her that made it almost impossible to look away for Hugo. It was as though she was a pristine heavenly creature that had somehow found her way to the dirty, imperfect mundane world.
The fourth was a tall and attractive young woman. She had hazel eyes and beautiful brown hair, tied in a simple braid. Her build was extremely athletic, with perfect lean muscles rolling under the dewy olive skin with each movement. She was standing at a humble six foot tall towering above anyone in the room.
The last of the group was a slender figure, his face was young and handsome, mixing both the best feminine and masculine traits to produce a face that no woman or man could resist, his electric green eyes were mesmerizing and his luscious dark auburn hair was neatly cut and styled, his clothes were simple and exquisitely fashionable —a pair of jeans and white jacket—, and the several pieces of jewelry he wore somehow managed to enhance every one of those features by bringing it just the right amount of attention.
Hugo stared at the odd group for a moment, almost struggling to recognize them...
The group of people were older than Hugo had imagined, way older. Their features changed entirely from how they were in the Forgotten Shore, and their presence was also inhuman...
'Ascended... All of them'
Hugo wanted to speak, but no words came out of his mouth.
Eventually, it was Sunny who spoke:
"Are you alright?"
Hugo focused on Sunny for a long moment... Unsure of how he should answer
He had dreamed of reuniting with his friends for so long that he did not know what to say now that they were in front of him...
"... This isn't a mind hex, right?"
Hugo said, wondering if he had actually lost to Dagon and the unholy terror had trapped him in a mind hex.
"Ah, no. It's way too shitty to be a mind hex," Sunny said, before closing his mouth...
It seemed even Sunny was unsure how to approach this awkward reunion...
Hugo looked down at his body, finding out that he was wearing a simple hospital garb...
Looking at the group, he asked:
"Ah, how long was I gone for?"
This time it was Nephis who answered:
"Two years"
Hugo paused a little... He had been through a lot, and lost track of time... But he was certain that he was not gone for two years...
His eyes suddenly widened as he realized something
'Time on Primus doesn't work the same way as it does for the rest of the world... Of course that would also apply to the nightmare'
Hugo was lucky to come out of that hellhole after only two years, he could've gotten out hundreds of years into the future where humanity and all of his friends were dead.
"Ah, squid guy, seeing you in human form is weird... Although I gotta admit, you're not too bad looking!" Effie suddenly broke the silence "You're built like a cute doll, it makes me want to grab you and dress you up!"
Kai and Sunny sighed at the same time, while Nephis looked a little confused.
"Oh right, you two have never seen me in my human form," Hugo said, looking at Kai and Effie.
The three of them were acquaintances, maybe companions but not friends. They had only met the awakened devil Hugo, who was a shapeshifting squid that could assume many forms, except for a human one.
Being human was not a new experience considering he spent an entire nightmare as Ben Tennyson. However, being in his body once again felt bizarre.
His centre of gravity was different, as Hugo was slightly taller than teenage Ben, and his skin was paler as well.
As he was examining his body, his stomach suddenly growled.
"Ah, sorry to bother, but is there anything I can eat? I haven't eaten in... Actually I don't know how long it's been but let's just say it's been a while."
Sunny nodded, getting up from his chest, "Just a second, I'll be back"
With that, he slipped into the shadows.
After a while, the group was seated on the main dining area of the Immortal Flame Manor, with Hugo currently being busy devouring three plates of food that sunny had just preapered for him.
It was not synthetic, but the real stuff and more importantly, it was Sunny's cooking... which was shockingly good!
Although Hugo still preferred chili fries, which were unfortunately absent in this realm.
"Hugo," Nephis addressed him with a calm tone "... Do you mind sharing what happened to you? Where have you been, and how are you even alive..."
Wiping his mouth of food, Hugo looked at the group hesitantly...
He had been through a lot, and remembering everything that had happened to him was not pleasant, although he felt like they deserved to hear what happened...
'A little tomfoolery should lighten the mood'
He needed to get a lot of things off his chest, however, starting his first conversation in the waking world with a dramatic sob story was not something Hugo would like. He would rather laugh and enjoy his time with his friends while he has the chance.
"Do you guys want the long version or the short version?"
"Start with the short version, then give us the long version," Sunny said.
As he said those words, he got up and summoned a memory in the shape of a flute. He brought it to his mouth and sang a short melody. As he did, a small shimmering field manifested around them, clearly meant to block out any unwanted listeners...
"Let's see, first, I journeyed through the Forgotten Shore in search of a nightmare seed to challenge but I found none, so I headed east atop my flying ship. There, I discovered a death zone called the White Desert, or Ariel's Hell as the locals call it, it's a place where the dead rise and start killing the living during the night, it also has a pretty pyramid that's impossible to reach. I ended up meeting two ancient talking skeletons there, one was a fallen supreme and the other was a fallen sacred deity, can you believe it?"
The group stared at him with wide eyes, although Kai in particular choked on the water that he was drinking.
Hugo, seeing this, smiled a little and continued:
"I unfortunately had the displeasure of meeting a nasty great terror shortly after, which I managed to run away from after I dropped a nuke on it! Crazy stuff. Then I found myself in a pocket realm that had the last remaining civilization of the Beast Realm, where I met both humans and noble creatures! Can you believe that? Although they were not very nice, they tricked me into entering a second nightmare."
"What?!" Effie suddenly shouted, slamming the table "There's people living in the Dream Realm?! How?!"
"They had someone like me with them, so they survived"
The simple answer made Effie's eye twitch a little, however Hugo continued, unbothered:
"I was thrown into a war the moment I entered the Nightmare, after that I lived a simple life for a few days. Tried something called Fries, THEY WERE GREAT! After that, I just fought some guys that were real bad, one of them decided to drop a Transcendent Devil that was nearly unkillable, but I just kinda killed it by yelling. Ohh after that a nasty saint captured and imprisoned me, but I decided I had enough and killed him with a single strike. After that I basically fought an evil version of myself, but I actually had an encounter with him before but it wasn't important. Long story short, I lost... badly, but my supreme grandfather came to save me, so it wasn't that bad!. After the fight I lost my sense of self. But hey! A sacred being descended into the world and helped me come to my senses, then he took my DIVINE MEMORY! CAN YOU BELIEVE THE AUDACITY OF THAT BASTARD?! But that's not too important I guess, considering I can't do anything about it. After that I fought in yet another war that was gonna consume the entire Realm, just kinda killed a titan and a tyrant, oh and two saints that attacked me at once, they also died after I nuked them. After that I saw the evil version of myself fighting a saint, so we fought. While we were fighting a Cursed Tyrant was fighting two supremes in the atmosphere of the planet. Unfortunately they messed up and the master of the Cursed Tyrant manifested into the world, he was just an Unholy Terror, nothing special. He kinda took over the world but me and the evil version of myself united and transformed into a Divine Titan. We did have to talk to 2 beings that were responsible for maintaining it though, so I kinda got adopted by them in a way. Uhh then we kinda fought against the Unholy Terror all across the Universe, we witnessed the very core of Existence, the death and birth of the Gods and Daemons, a war that destroyed everything, then that cowardly Unholy bum summoned imitations of the Daemons, so it was kinda unfair but hey, he was still defeated in the end. Granted the Spell was barely containing us and all of existence becoming undone. So yeah, nothing too special "
Effie, Sunny, Nephis and even Cassie were now looking at Kai, waiting for confirmation. Either Hugo went crazy or... He did something crazy.
Kai was pale as snow, sweating.
"He-... H-he isn't lying... Everything he said was true..." Kai stuttered, not believing his words.
"Oh, I also got the cutest doggie, her name is Zed, she's very friendly, oh but she is bound to a Sacred Relic so do be careful, she might bite you if you try to touch it, but she's too good a girl to do something like that. Anyway, what happened to you guys while I was gone?"