Eternal Thief

"Mmm~hmm~mmhmm~hmmm~hmm~!" A melodious melody being hummed by a woman rang in Ace's ears. He found it very soothing and strangely familiar!

'Where am I?' Ace's vision became clear, and he was astounded when he found himself standing in front of an extremely beautiful woman. Goddess was the only word to describe her beauty, and she was sitting with a little baby cocooned in a golden runic blanket, cradled in her arm.

She was humming that tone for that baby with a loving smile on her face as the little baby was cooing happily in his mother's embrace and dandling his hands towards her peerless face while looking at her with his big starry dark blue eyes filled with curiosity and vaguely intelligent. His eyes were just like his mother's.

Ace felt his mind go blank as he stayed in a daze like a statue, watching this harmonized scene, which was unfamiliar to him yet familiar at the same time.

Because the woman with the baby was none other than his Mother, Stella White, and that baby was most likely himself, he didn't know why but was 100% sure. He finally remembered his mother's face!

He was bewildered and incredulously thought, 'What the hell is this? Some kind of vision because of the Bridge of Ascension? ' I was clearly undergoing the Law Body construction when I suddenly heard the system's voice about something, but I was in that strange suspended animation-like state where all I could feel was pain and then warmth.

'And now I'm suddenly seeing this strange vision? Is this some kind of test? T-Then why I'm feeling this strange foreboding feeling and pain in my heart as I look at this? It's like something bad is about to happen…'

"System, what is this?" Ace tried calling the system, and even the status interface, but nothing happened, and he found this situation more amiss, and he couldn't do anything about it.

So, he decided to investigate what was happening. He noticed one thing, though; he seemed to be invisible. Stella didn't notice him at all despite him standing right in front of her, and she continued to play with baby Ace.

'I-I… let me observe it for a bit, and then I'll try looking around!' Ace thought as his eyes were affixed on his mother's smiling face. He found her humming extremely relaxing and wanted to hear more.

It was a feeling of longing coming from deep within his soul as if he had waited for ages to hear that melody, and he would've given anything away to return to this scene.

"Bang!"

The sound of the door slamming open rang at this moment, startling Stella and baby Ace. The adult Ace was shocked as he looked towards the door with narrowed eyes. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes turned icy, with a hint of killing intent in them.

An imposing, tall, wizened old man with long black hair and a masculine build entered the room, and following closely behind him were two more.

A middle-aged man greatly resembled this old man. He was very handsome and slightly burly built, and his astute amethyst eyes were filled with hidden desire as he looked at Stella.

The third one was a woman with long white hair. Although she wasn't as beautiful as Stella, she was still beautiful, like a fairy in the mortal world. Yet her golden eyes contained deep jealousy and malice as she looked at Stella like a snake waiting to strike and reveal its venomous fangs.

Stella's sapphire eyes narrowed when she saw those three suddenly barging into her room. Her eyes flashed with a hint of disgust when she was the middle-aged man, and she was especially vigilant when she looked towards the golden-haired woman. Baby Ace was looking at those three with curiosity silently.

On the other hand, adult Ace, who was observing this, was trembling as hatred and rage suddenly filled his heart, like he was staring at his greatest mortal enemies; his killing intent exploded, especially when he saw that man and woman.

Stella completely ignored those two and looked towards the wizened man. While standing up and lowering her head slightly in greeting, she politely asked, "Father-in-law, what brought you here today so abruptly?"

Ace was shocked when he heard his mother calling that wizened man 'Father-in-law' and couldn't help but look at the old man's narrowed eyes, 'Is he my real Grandfather? But why didn't I remember this at all!? Is it a trick, or is it real, and why am I feeling this surging rage and hatred for them?'

Ace was extremely confused, it was getting harder and harder to calm himself like he would explode at any moment. He was no longer calm and was feeling anxious and restless.

But he knew this was just some kind of illusion and the people in this room couldn't see him. This only made him even more uncertain and jittery.

The wizened man didn't reply. Instead, he averted his eyes from Stella and looked towards baby Ace in her hands. She was also looking back at him with inquisitiveness and even flashed an innocent smile at him.

A hint of discomfort flashed past the wizened man's eyes before cold determination replaced it. However, this small change in the man's expression didn't go unnoticed by Stella. She instinctively squeezed baby Ace tighter, and her eyes went cold in warning.

"Stella, I owe you an explanation. First, look at this." The wizened old man didn't answer. Instead, he flipped his hand, and an ethereal black stele that seemed to be carved with the starry space itself appeared. There were shimming golden runes on it, seemingly alive.

He then gently pushed that black stele towards Stella, and it slowly drifted near her. However, Stella didn't dare grab it with her hands; instead, an invisible force flowed from her eyes, and that stele stopped a few meters away from her, flashing the runes on it.

Stella's eyes winded when she saw those runes, "The God Runes!"

Ace was also able to see the runes on the stele at this moment, and his eyes widened slightly as he thought grimly, 'Language of Ancient Gods!'