Having officially abdicated his throne and left the underworld in the capable hands of his brother, the Devil King had set out on a new, monumental pursuit: tracing the origin of "the Wave" back to its very roots.
That cosmic hunt had been a grueling, six-year endeavor. Back when the former king first turned his gaze toward this remote corner of the galaxy, Kael had been a mere ten-year-old child, entirely unaware of the forces shifting in the dark. Now, the search was finally nearing its end.
Floating amidst swirling stardust on the cold fringes of the Milky Way, the Devil King narrowed his purple eyes at the local planetary alignment. His massive wings flapped in steady, rhythmic strokes against the vacuum of space.
"So, this is the cradle where the Wave was born," he murmured, his voice heavy with the ancient, suffocating weight of a tyrant.
But as his gaze swept across the celestial bodies, a wave of profound disappointment washed over him. He exhaled a sharp, irritated sigh. How mundane, he thought, scanning the barren rocks. There is absolutely nothing extraordinary about this solar system.
Then, his eyes locked onto a vibrant, swirling blue marble. A slow, amused smirk spread across his face.
"Earth..." he chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest. "The only speck of dust in this entire wasteland capable of sustaining life."
The sheer absurdity of the situation struck him, and his chuckle escalated into a dark, resonant laugh that shook the surrounding void. "Those fragile little bastards truly have no idea. The moment they spot a flying creature they can't comprehend, they lose their minds and cry 'aliens'!"
With his laughter still echoing through the cosmos, the former king began his descent.
Earth: The Calm Before the Storm
Down on Earth, sixteen-year-old Kael suddenly felt an icy chill ripple down his spine. He shivered involuntarily, his eyes instantly snapping toward the open sky.
"Something's strange," he muttered aloud, his instincts flaring.
Something suspicious is coming,Sara'svoice echoed sharply, vibrating directly within the chambers of his mind.
Kael tilted his head slightly, keeping his eyes glued to the gathering clouds. "Aliens?" he whispered.
With a soft sigh, Sara materialized on his balcony, shifting seamlessly from a mere thought into physical form. "Why is it that humans always assume aliens are the only things living outside of Earth?"
Kael looked over at her, a faint, nervous smile tugging at his lips to mask his growing unease. "So... devils, then?"
Sara didn't smile back. She kept her gaze locked onto the sky, her expression tightening into a mask of grim focus. "Perhaps..."
Kael's eyes widened in genuine shock. "What...?"
The sheer weight of her seriousness silenced him. For a few tense seconds, neither of them breathed, both staring up into the vast, unsuspecting expanse. Suddenly, a sharp knock shattered the silence.
"Kael? Kael..." his mother's voice called out from the other side of his bedroom door.
In a flash, Sara vanished into thin air, leaving Kael entirely alone in the sudden quiet of his room. Trying to shake the lingering dread from his bones, Kael walked over and pulled the door open. His mother, Elara, looked at him, completely oblivious to the cosmic pressure building right outside.
"Kael, your friends are calling for you," she said, gesturing toward the front of the house.
As an only child living in a comfortable home built by his father's highly successful business, Kael was used to a quiet, structured life. But today, reality felt increasingly fragile. He glanced past his mother toward the living room balcony, catching a glimpse of the neighborhood below. Forced to step back into reality, he nodded softly. "I'm coming."
Unnatural Youth
Downstairs, the quiet of the afternoon was broken by the sharp screech of tires. A sleek car pulled up and stopped abruptly in front of the house.
Adrian stepped out. He carried an aura of profound age and experience, yet his physical features remained bafflingly locked in the form of a teenage boy. Walking inside with practiced familiarity, Adrian entered the living room. Seeing Elara, he asked directly, "Where is Kael?"
Elara, who was currently standing in the kitchen holding a cooking spoon, glanced up. "He's just heading outside."
Adrian walked into the kitchen, his brow furrowing as he looked at her. "You shouldn't be overdoing it. You literally just performed a major surgery last night."
She offered him a warm, weary smile. "It's alright, Adrian."
"That's exactly what I like most about you," Adrian said softly. He gently patted her head in a reassuring, protective gesture before picking up a water bottle from the counter.
The Second Sun
High above the stratosphere, the Devil King hovered, his purple eyes fixed intently on the blue planet below, his wings cutting through the thin upper atmosphere.
Suddenly, the space directly above the Devil Lord erupted in a blinding flash of light. The cosmos illuminated with a fierce, violent brilliance. Startled, the former king snapped his head upward, his amusement instantly evaporating.
Down on the surface of the Earth, the sudden, unnatural brightness caught everyone's attention. Across the neighborhood, people poured out of their homes, shielding their eyes and staring up at the daytime sky in absolute bewilderment.
Amidst the growing chatter of the crowd, someone yelled out in a mix of awe and dark humor:
"Woooo! Look at that! A second sun? Because clearly, one wasn't doing an efficient enough job of burning us alive!"
Hearing this, Kael raised an eyebrow. An intense gut feeling took over, and he immediately turned and ran back toward his house.
"What was that?" Kael asked Sara telepathically, his breath heavy as his sneakers pounded against the pavement.
"Maybe... another sun?" Sara replied, her telepathic voice laced with uncharacteristic confusion.
"No, that's not a sun," Kael thought back, casting a quick glance up at the sky without breaking his stride. "I'm not feeling any increase in temperature. If it were a real sun, we'd be burning right now."
All around him, people were pulling out their phones, frantically recording videos of the strange, heatless light.
Meanwhile, just beyond the atmosphere, the Devil King glared into the blinding radiance. "So, even the Gods want this Earth destroyed," he sneered.
Suddenly, a divine, booming voice resonated through the vacuum of the solar system—shaking the cosmos, yet completely silent to the ears of the humans below.
"Devil King... you will die. We are waiting to claim your soul."
The Devil King smirked, his eyes flashing with dangerous amusement. "Oh? And who exactly is going to kill me?"
The divine light offered no answer. For a few tense seconds, the silence stretched, and then the brilliant radiance vanished as quickly as it had appeared, plunging the upper atmosphere back into darkness.
The Devil King scoffed, shaking his head. Why does the Divine never reveal the whole picture? They truly do love their suspense.
By the time Kael reached his house, the divine light had completely faded. He skidded to a halt, panting, and looked up at the balcony. His parents were standing there, side by side, staring blankly at the sky where the anomaly had just been.
Within minutes, the event was trending globally. It dominated television networks and flooded social media feeds, with everyone scrambling for answers.
On one news channel, an anchor reported: "Scientists claim it was merely a rare, natural atmospheric event."
Meanwhile, a prominent mythological scholar countered on another broadcast: "These are the marks of the gods. They are signaling the end of days."
Kael looked down at his phone, watching the conflicting theories flash across his screen. With a heavy sigh, he locked the device and whispered into the quiet afternoon air:
"Everyone is just making up their own assumptions... but nobody actually has a clue."