Moro woke up another day, ready to go to school. He was already thinking about how he would have to apologize to Uvie for missing her birthday party. But when he fully woke up, he heard fighting coming from outside. It sounded like his parents.
He shot out of his room. When he got out, he saw both his parents at a table with two men in black suits. They look like classic movie depictions of government agents.
"Mom, Dad, what's happening? You two should be resting right now."
His parents looked down in shame. Meanwhile, one of the agents walked up to him. "Mr. Walker. Please sit down. We have some questions for you."
"..." Moro did as they said. "This is a bit odd, don't you think. The government doesn't usually get involved with kudos, afraid of outside regulation and official ranking. Most of that stuff is left up to the Timekeeper. She decided what we can and can't do with kudos."
"Politicians and world leaders hate what they can't control. Many masters are just that. When over 4% of masters have the strength of a small nation in their back pocket, it makes almost any technology humans make feel meaningless. You, Mr. Walker, are in the top 0.21% of that 4%."
Moro leaned back in his seat. "So, even after 340 years, humans are still afraid of these monsters. No matter how similar they are to us in speech, language, and emotions, they will never have a true home here."
"We're not talking about the kudos, Mr. Walker. We're talking about you."
"What?"
"The government and the Timekeeper Foundation constantly monitor anyone who has tamed a kudos above orange ranked in order to preserve the human race. Either you don't know or don't care, and both would make sense. Afterwards, you're still just a kid who doesn't know much about the real world. But you are being watched all the time."
"Oh, scary." He said while shaking his hands sarcastically.
"This means we also saw you go completely off-grid. There are only two ways you could have done that. Either by dying or going 500 million kilometers away from Earth, where we could no longer efficiently track you. So, I'll ask you this once: where did you go?"
"If I told you, would you believe me?"
"Depends on your answer."
"I have one question. With this question, I'll answer your question, but I expect a response."
"You're in no room to negotiate?"
"Am I? The nation's power is dependent on how many black and red-ranked kudos are tamed in it. However, this is also assuming that all the tamer, who possess these borderline godlike powers, would actually comply with what the government says. Sure, as only a red ranker, I can't go against government authority, but nothing is stopping me from making a civil war."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Moro chuckled. "I'm just messing with you. In truth, I don't know what happened. But I ended up on Pluto for about 6 minutes and met a naruon. That's all I'll say. No, more like all I can say. She said that she couldn't leave the dwarf planet."
"I see. One last question, how did you get back?"
"My wife brought me back."
"Wife?"
Suddenly, Eternity came from behind the agents holding waffles and bacon in her hands. She placed a plate in front of Moro, his mom, and his dad. "Enjoy, master."
"Thanks, Eternity, you're the best."
"Sorry. I failed to tell you we were having guests."
"I see." The other agent said. "You're married an anubis."
"Not married. But plan to marry."
"So, you used the anubis's ultimate skill to alter the mathematical consistency of distance to go between the boundaries of space to come back home?"
"What, no. You really think a red rank is that powerful? That's not how it works, Mr. Government Guy. She just shrank the distance between Earth and Pluto by multiplying it by zero, effectively creating the illusion of teleportation."
"I see. That's all. Thank you for your cooperation. Have a good day."
The two agents left. Moro sighed. "That's the 5th one this year. And that was probably the easiest one yet."
Eternity bowed. "Forgive me, master. I've been causing you a lot of stress."
"Don't apologize, Eternity. I love you. No hardship is too great if it means I can be with you."
"T-Thank you, master."
His dad tapped his shoulder. "You know they won't let this go, right?"
"Yeah, such is the nature of humans. But I think it should all be fine. After all-"
In the middle of the room, a spiral of green fire appeared. Yet, nothing it touched was burnt or caught on fire. When the fire disappeared, a figure appeared in the center of it. A skeletal, reaper-like figure with blackened bones and glowing green eyes beneath a shadowed, horned skull. He wore a ragged cloak and layers of cloth wraps around his arms and torso, along with dark, tattered pants. Gold chains were wrapped around his chest and limbs. His hands and feet were clawed, and green spectral flames flowed from his head like hair. He wielded a massive scythe with glowing runes etched into the blade.
"About time you came back, Scorch."
The skeletal figure, named Scorch, bowed before Moro. "Master, I have returned."
"I'm glad to see you're safe. I want you to rest up today, because tomorrow, I have another mission. It won't be as long as the last one you took on, but it will be pretty intense."
"I understand. I gratefully accept any assignment from you."
"Good. Now, I gotta get to school before I'm late. Oh, actually, before I do, did you get the item I requested from you?"
"Yes." Scorch got up and handed Moro a small black box. He then got in front of Eternity and got down on one knee. He opened the box, and inside was a rose gold ring featuring a large, round-cut light purple-blue sapphire at the center. A curved halo of small, white, round-cut sapphire wraps around both sides of the band.
"I've never been a big fan of diamonds, but I wanted to give you this. It's a promise ring, saying that we will be together for the rest of our lives. So, Eternity, will you be mine?"
Eternity stood there speechless. "You finally remembered..."
"Sorry, I'm not great with birthdays. You know this. But Uvie's party reminded me that your birthday was 3 days later. So, I had Scorch make one last stop before he came back."
"Master, why are you even asking such silly questions. Of course, the answer is yes."
Moro put the ring on Eternity's finger, and the two kissed.
His mom then smirked behind him. "Now I'm really expecting grandkids."