After the little "bonding" session between them, Uncle Barns dragged him out the facility after saying a little goodbye to Blake.
He promised to bring Hugo back tomorrow.
The two of them left the building and headed down to the train station.
Uncle Barns dropped off back at the administrative center and sent him off on the train to his sector after telling him he needs to say goodbye to his mom and head back to the bunker tomorrow so he can at least get a little bit of training in various different aspects before the Gate.
The ride home was long and quiet.
The train wasn't as crowded as it had been when coming down.
His thoughts wandered, replaying the day's events in fragments: the test, the contract, the bunker, cadre 5.
It all felt unreal for someone who had been selling chicken noodles just yesterday.
How can someone's life just flip in a span of hours.
The rhythm of the train's motion lulled him into a half-dreaming state.
Every time it rattled over a joint in the rails, a soft hum resonated through his body — or maybe through his soul. Eon was everywhere, he realized now, thin as air but alive. Even here, deep underground, it shimmered faintly like dust in sunlight.
When the train pulled into his sector's station, the automated voice announcing the stop jolted him back to reality.
He stepped out, pulling his jacket tighter around him.
The air above the surface had cooled; a thin mist clung to the streets, the neon signs reflecting off it in fractured colors.
He calmly began his walk back to the outer sector.
His neighborhood hadn't changed — rows of concrete apartments, a few shops still open, the faint buzz of old lights struggling to stay alive. But tonight, it felt smaller than he remembered.
He reached home in no time. His mother's voice called from the kitchen the moment he opened the door.
"Hugo? That you?"
"Yeah, Mom. I'm back."
His mother appeared from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a towel.
"Well?" she asked quietly. "How did it go?"
Hugo didn't answer right away. Instead, he stepped forward and hugged her.
She froze for a second, surprised, then laughed softly and patted his back.
"I got in," he said into her shoulder. "They accepted me."
For a long moment, she said nothing. Then she pulled back, her eyes bright. "Of course they."
Her laugh filled the room like sunlight. She wiped her eyes with the edge of her sleeve. "I knew it. I knew my boy would make it. You always said you weren't special, but look at you now."
He smiled faintly. "Yeah… look at me."
They sat down to eat not long after — a simple meal, but she'd somehow made it feel like a celebration.
She many asked questions — what it was like, what they tested him on, how soon he'd have to leave — and Hugo answered most of them, leaving out the parts she wouldn't understand. The parts about cultivation, about resonance and Eon, and about Randalf.
When the meal was done, she cleared the dishes and said, "Oh, by the way, your boss called. Wondering why you didn't show up today."
Hugo blinked. "Right. The convenience store."
"I told them you had something important to do. But maybe you should drop by later and tell them in person. It's not good to leave on bad terms, especially when they treated you kindly."
He nodded. "Yeah, I'll go there after lunch."
She smiled and ruffled his hair the way she always did when he was younger. "Good. Then we'll start packing when you get back."
Hugo just chuckled since there was really nothing to pack.
The wind outside had turned colder by the time Hugo stepped out again.
He zipped up his jacket, hands tucked in his pockets as he walked down the dim street. The sector was quiet now — most people had already returned home, and the street vendors were starting to pack up.
A familiar voice suddenly echoed in his head.
'Master?'
Hugo smiled. "Hey, Randalf. You've been quiet all day. Thought you'd taken a nap."
'Ah, apologies," the raccoon-lich replied, his tone casual but distant. "I was… observing.'
'Observing?'
'Yes. Your world is quite fascinating. So primitive, yet so alive. I guess i had been used to seeing too much universal wonders that i forgot where most things start from. It's like watching a world in its larval stage.'
Hugo chuckled. 'You make it sound like we're insects.'
'In a sense, you are," Randalf said without a hint of malice. "But that's not an insult. Every great civilization started somewhere small — a spark before the flame.'
Hugo slowed his pace as he crossed an intersection, the orange light of a flickering sign reflecting off his face. 'Hey, Randalf… there's something I've been meaning to ask.'
"Yes, master?"
He hesitated for a moment. "Where are you from? And what's the world like outside ours?"
It wasn't just idle curiosity.
For most of his life, Hugo had been content to live and die in his sector, working shifts at the store, paying bills, making sure his mother had food on the table.
The rest of the universe might as well have been a rumor for him.
But now, with a new life about to start and the Gate exploration soon, the question wouldn't stop echoing in his head.
He wanted to see.
Randalf didn't answer immediately.
When he finally spoke, his voice carried a tone Hugo hadn't heard before — something softer, almost nostalgic.
"Well, master," he began slowly, "I can't tell you too much. Some things are for your world to discover on its own. But since you ask… I am from a world that has already completed its final stage of evolution."
"Final stage?" Hugo repeated, brow furrowing.
"Yes. A world where even the faintest breath carries enough Eon to shatter mountains here. Where the sky itself hums with power and the oceans sing with life force."
Hugo blinked. "That sounds… terrifying."
Randalf chuckled dryly. "It can be. Even the weakest beings in my world could sneeze your solar system into inexistence, as you might say."
"Oh, it's that bad?" Hugo asked, voice flat but amused. "How come we don't have people like that here? Is there something special about your world?"
Randalf's spectral form appeared beside him briefly — a small raccoon-like creature wreathed in faint blue light, walking atop the fence at his side. "As I said, our world completed its evolution. The Eon there is thick, pure, abundant. Cultivation is as natural as breathing. Even newborn infants are born with the strength of at least the Paramount stage."
Hugo stopped dead in his tracks. "Newborns?"
"Yes."
He stared at the little ghost, disbelief flickering across his face. "You're telling me babies in your world could wipe out entire cities here just by crying too loud?"
Randalf tilted his head. "That would be an exaggeration… though not by much."
Hugo let out a low whistle. "Well, that's comforting."
They walked in silence for a while, the sound of distant traffic filling the quiet. The smell of rain hung in the air — sharp, metallic, mingled with the faint scent of fried food from a nearby stall.
"After my world finally settled," Randalf said, his tone distant, "there was peace — if you could call it that. But peace breeds stagnation. I grew… restless. So I left, traveling between realms, seeking other civilizations, gathering knowledge. I made connections with many races — some kind, some monstrous, some beyond either concept."
Hugo listened in silence.
He could almost imagine it: worlds made of crystal forests, cities built atop floating islands, creatures that shimmered like stars. The universe felt bigger with every word Randalf spoke.
"And then," the lich continued, "one day, I sensed a faint signal — a resonance so fragile I almost, but giving out a feeling i had never felt before in my years of existence. It called to me. So I followed it, and it led me here. To you."
Hugo glanced at him. "To me, huh?"
Randalf nodded once. "To you."
"Huh." Hugo smiled faintly, turning down a narrow street lined with flickering lamps. "Sounds like your life's been pretty fun."
"I wouldn't describe it as fun, master," Randalf replied with a hint of humor. "But I suppose it's been… meaningful."
"I wonder if I could get to even half your level one day," Hugo murmured. His breath came out in a faint puff of white in the cold air. "Feels impossible."
Randalf stopped walking, his glowing eyes fixed on Hugo. "It is not impossible, master. You cannot see what I see in you… but you are filled with unlimited potential."