The Frozen Hour

Damien took out his phone and picked up the call

"Hello?" 

"Young Master!"

"White? Why are you using a ran-"

"I'll explain later, please come here!" White interjected

"Hmm? Why are you so worked u-"

"Miss A-Anieal... she was attacked."

"...."

"What?" Damien asked with a shaky voice

"S-she got into an accident and a few Midnighters came to take her away but… I don't remember what happened afterwards" White answered as he tried to remember what had transpired.

"I'm on my way! Make sure to take care of Anna" Damien ordered as he hurriedly opened a portal and entered through it

***

A few hours ago-

Anna and Henna were returning to The Starborne mansion after meeting Zora and her mother, The bold sun had already hidden behind the blanket of darkness and the shy moon was visible in all of its glory.

Suddenly Henna started to have a heavy headache. Henna parked the car at the cross roads beside a relatively safe spot and started massaging her head

"What's wrong?" Anna asked with a worried tone

"Just a headache" Henna replied as she continued to rub her head with her thumb and index finger.

"Should I drive instead?" Anna asked with a calm voice

"No… I don't want to die yet" Henna replied and continued to rub her head as she closed her eyes

"Lemme just close my eyes for a few minutes it will be fine soon" Henna said in a reassuring tone

"Mhm.." Anna nodded and started to move her hand around the fur of Veylor

"Myu.." the cat called out with half closed eyes soon, however Veylor opened his eyes and started to look towards the road beside them.

Suddenly a truck came towards their car at a terrifying speed, its headlights blinding all the passengers sitting in the car and

*Crash*

It crashed into the car's rear door with a terrifying force causing it to roll over a few times. At this point both Henna and Anna had lost their consciousness and had few large and a lot of small wounds all over their body.

The back door of truck opened as four hooded figures exited from it, All of them started moving towards the car however as they were about to reach the car, A bike came towards them at terrifying speed, one of the hooded figure was unable to react at time as the bike crashed into him causing him to lose consciousness.

The remaining hooded figures looked towards the direction the bike came from and there they saw a hooded figure with crimson eyes looking at them with clear hostility. He had pistols in both of his hands, He pointed the muzzle of pistols at them and started firing much to his dismay, however none of the bullets reached their intended target

One of the hooded figure started moving towards White with a speed above the levels of average humans and landed a punch to White's chest however, even he hadn't anticipated what came next, White, an unawakened was able to take his strike head-on and grabbed his head, White then landed a knee to his face then a punch to his lower abdomen and grabbed his head and planted it on the ground with as much force as White could muster. The hooded figure lay down beside his feet, blood dripping from his nose and mouth, unconscious.

Seeing White take care of an Apex-Seeker rank Midnighter, while being an unawakened left both of them stunned soon however they came out of their reverie as White was about to land a punch to the weaker one of them, The hooded guy sidestepped and grabbed White's arms but just as he was about to punch him white twisted his body at a weird angle and freed himself

White continued to look at both of them with vigilant eyes, as he got ready to take on whoever moves first much to his dismay, however Both of them moved together and started to throw a barrage of punches and kicks.

Seeing the predicament he was in, He tried to make some distance between them predicting his thoughts the weaker of two placed his hands on the ground-

[Earthen Wall]

-and created walls made up of mud, stone, etc all around them efficiently foiling all of White's plans to make distance

The exchange continued for a few more moments until the stronger one of the two placed his palms together and flames started to cover his arms till his elbow.. and punched the air a deafening sound was produced from his punch making White lose his balance

'So that's the strength of a Midnighter.. It's fun' 

Suddenly White's vision started to blur as a punch landed to his head making him unconscious.

"He is one tough human, huh" Said one of the hooded guy

"Yea… is he even supposed to be like that?" Said the another one as he rubbed his still aching arms

"Forget him.. Go and wake up those idiots"

"Yes"

The hooded guy moved towards his unconscious teammates and kicked both them

"Ugh.." "ah..ae" Both of the unconscious figures stood up and looked towards White with a gaze full of hatred and hostility.

"Forget about him, remember we are here to take that Starborne girl" Said the strongest one as he started moving towards the car, the other three hooded figures followed behind him just as they were about to reach the car they heard the sound of soft steps behind them and turned backwards.

There they saw a cat of black and white fur with topaz eyes looking at them its eyes had no emotions only indifference, Veylor walked toward the crashed car. Soon, his eyes fell on Anna who was unconscious due to the accident, Veylor walked towards her and placed his right paw on Anna's head which soon emitted a faint golden light which died down within a few moments.

Veylor turned his head towards the hooded figures and snorted, The hooded figures however were still standing at the same place not moving an inch, well It's not that they didn't want to move—more like they couldn't because as you know, the dead can't move. Yes, all of the four hooded figures died as soon as Veylor gazed at them. A swift, silent and painless death. Soon their bodies crumbled like they were made from dust, even their garments turned to dust alongside them.

Veylor walked towards White and placed his right paw on his head which soon emitted a green light which completely covered White's body and died down after a few moments, Veylor walked towards Anna and lay beside her and closed his eyes.

Present-

*Wrr* *Wrr*

White saw the space in front of him ripple which soon turned into a purple portal from which Damien hurriedly came out

"Where's Anna?" Damien asked White, He tried to appear calm however his hurried tone gave him away.

White pointed towards a bench on which Henna, Anna and Veylor were lying, Damien hurriedly walked towards the bench and hugged Anna

"Anna..! you are safe... y-you are safe" Damien said his trembling shoulders, however, didn't stop. A single drop of tear left his right eye.

Damien stood up with Anna in his arms, Veylor who was lying beside stood up and started to follow Damien. As soon as Damien's eyes fell on Veylor he felt like he was looking at a ferocious beast, a predator. Soon however he shook his head

'Strange'

Damien waved his arm and created a portal leading to his office. Once inside, Damien walked towards the elevator and went inside it as White followed behind him while holding Henna in his arms, Damien pressed a few buttons and the elevator closed.

The elevator rumbled to life and began its slow descent. After a few moments, it came to a halt with a soft chime. The doors slid open, A white marble hallway could be seen Damien walked forward and after a few moments a medical facility with state-of-the-art tech came into the view

All of the employees, doctors, and nurses bowed when their eyes fell on Damien, However Damien was too worried about Anna thus he just passed through them, Soon he reached a room which had a star carved on it and entered it as soon as he entered, the faint hum of advanced medical equipment echoed softly through the sterile, brightly lit room. Sleek monitors lined the walls, and robotic arms hung ready above each station. Three neatly arranged beds, each surrounded by state-of-the-art technology, came into view.

Damien walked forward and comfortably lay Anna on one of the beds and urged White to lay Henna on one of the beds.

Soon a few doctors entered the room and started to check up on both of them, their hands moved across the digital screens with precise and experienced movements.

After a few minutes the doctors started to clean all of their wounds and started their treatment. They moved away from the patients and talked with each other.

One of the doctors, who appeared to be in his fifties, walked toward Damien and spoke.

"Young Master"

"How did the treatment go?" Damien questioned still worried about Anna

"Both misses are fine.. However"

"However?"

"Miss Anieal seems to have suffered a brain injury from the accident which might delay the recovery. We estimate the recovery to take at least a month."

"Anything else?" Damien was worried yes but… still he felt relieved because even if Anna took more than a month it wouldn't matter much because at the end she is still with him. because, in the end, she is still with him, unlike

Damien shook his head as soon as that person came to his mind.. Even though he loved and respected that person more than anything he must move forward in his life and take care of his little sister.

"And Miss Henna should be fully recovered within a week"

Damien bowed before the doctors and replied with an earnest and grateful tone

"Thanks, thanks a lot.."

All of the doctors smiled at Damien meanwhile the old doctor erratically waved his hands as he spoke

"You don't have to bow to us, Young Master! Afterall we too are children of the family"

Damien smiled at the old doctor's words..

"Haha" Soon all of the doctors started to leave the room while chuckling to themselves

Damien looked towards Anna with a blank gaze which soon shone with a determined glint, his steps felt heavy but purposeful, his back appeared lonely yet it was as strong and as determined as a monolith, After all, that is what he is. The one and only Maestro of Space.

White who was standing there moved his eyes towards Veylor who was licking his paws, he moved forward to speak however

"Shut up" Veylor shut him up.

"B-but I didn't even s-say anything"

"You were about to"

"Can you tell me about yourself?"

"It's neither the correct time nor the correct place, you shall wait.. .If it's fated, then you will obtain it no matter who stands before you."" said Veylor as his eyes shone with wisdom.

"Yes.. yes, Lord Veylor"

"Vey"

"Lord Vey"

"Just Vey"

"B-but"

"I don't wish to make Anna suspicious so just do as I say."

"Yes, Lord Vey"

Veylor clicked his tongue and continued to lick his paws while White stood there in a daze soon however he shook his head and left the room

Within a place full of grassy land and vibrant flowers Anieal could be seen moving. A soft, contented smile graced her face, She didn't know where she was, nor how long she had been there when she came here it could have been just a day or it could have been a year, strangely enough though she didn't feel worried it was like she was at somewhere she was always meant to be at, thus instead of worrying she was calm. From time to time, she would recall vague figures she didn't even know. However, whenever that happened, she will simply shake her head and get rid of any useless thought

She was alone, but she was fulfilled... or so she thought… still unaware of the mystical land she had stepped in…