Seducing the Guideverse With My System — Raising an Anomaly [BL]

Ambrose gasped like he’d lifted himself off an ocean when his consciousness got to the other side—the Black mask’s dimension, not hell.

The place was as dark, vast and empty as he remembered. He floated at the centre of it all, already feeling way too exposed for comfort.

"Enough of this," he muttered right before raising his voice, "Hey, Ambrose? OG Ambrose! It’s me—the other worlder. Slash the new father of your son. Who’s also technically my son too."

If Aura could slip into this dimension with him, she’d probably make fun of how awkward he was being right now.

Ambrose bent his neck to the left. Then right.

He was beginning to wonder if the damn black mask was broken when it echoed from behind him:

"Don’t tell me you’re going to make these meetings a habit, Benji."

That made the Guide freeze. He spun his neck slowly around, not at all surprised when he saw a cloaked figure hovering about ten meters away.

And as usual, this figure wore the same black mask he used in getting here to begin with.

"Well, you can’t blame me." Ambrose smiled sarcastically at the original him. "You brought me into this shit hole. You’re basically my cosmic babysitter. Or guardian."

"You have Aura for that." The older Ambrose snorted. Beneath the mask, there was a genuine smile tugging the corners of his lips. "You seem troubled."

As much as Ambrose felt like lashing him with something sarcastic, he held back, resorting to flinging his arms into the air instead.

"Of course, I’m fucking troubled." A shuddering breath slipped past his lips. "In case you’re going to pretend like you can’t see it all from here, my body is in the middle of a desert world. I’ve been on the run from the Void Entity for over half an Earth day—mind you, according to the system’s calculations, Earth is probably a whole week ahead of me."

His chest fell after he let out all those words. His fists balled. "And to make things infinitely worse, I can’t find the one God damn thing that should be my ticket out of here."

Older Ambrose nodded solemnly. "The black key."

"Yes!" Ambrose sighed. "The system isn’t any help because of dimensional interference or whatever. S-So I need your help." When he swallowed, his throat still felt parched. "Please. I need to get back to my family. D-Devon. Orion... all of them."

That struck something soft in the older Ambrose’s chest. He didn’t say anything, doing nothing but staring at the ’random’ soul he picked out.

The system had offered him countless candidates. Benji Foster had simply been the most compatible.

It’s been only over a month but... for the most part—

"You’ve changed drastically, Benji Foster." The original Ambrose shook his head in pure astonishment. "And yes—I have been watching you."

Ambrose blinked a couple of times. "... That’s not weird at all."

The original doubled over laughing, eventually making Ambrose join in as well—albeit more quietly.

"When I first brought you here and handed you the system," the original went on, "you were selfish. Closed off emotionally from anyone and everyone. A valid trauma response after the hell you went through during your final moments."

"Now look at you. Placing honesty in your relationships. Fighting hard to protect people who, weeks ago, you would’ve sung Kumbaya if they left your life. Even if the enemies you protect them against are unimaginably superior."

Ambrose’s expression softened.

Yeah.

He really has changed.

"I mean, even Loki knows about all your secrets now." Those words made Ambrose’s eyes bulge. "Back in my day, I waited much longer before I could trust them. I—oh, wait."

He snapped his fingers. "That’s right. Your boyfriends told them while you were away." An apologetic smile. "I guess you weren’t aware of that."

Ambrose lifted a hand... but then rubbed his forehead. "For the love of everything unholy, no! I wasn’t." He shook his head. "Y’know what? Doesn’t matter. What matters now is that you show me how to find the black key before I go ahead and miss Orion’s high school graduation."

The original Ambrose nodded, clapping once. "Well, that’s quite simple." That made Ambrose’s attention spike. "The black key is an artifact capable of opening doors to other dimensions across the multiverse. The black mask is what grants you the control needed for it."

"If you want to find the black key faster, you simply have to concentrate with the black mask. Think of it as a guide dog leading a blind person. The person might be unable to find the dog if they become separated—"

"But the dog could sniff out the person if the need arises," Ambrose completed that, mouth opening and closing repeatedly. "Huh... turns out metaphors aren’t completely useless."

He folded his arms, suspicion already creeping into his face. "Okay, but how exactly am I supposed to know it’s working, though?"

The original tilted his head.

"When I put the mask on," Ambrose continued, gesturing animatedly, "what am I expecting here? A glowing map? Some magical arrow? A radar? A giant floating sign saying, ’Congratulations! Idiot lost key this way!’"

A laugh escaped the older Ambrose before he could stop it.

"You’re enjoying this far too much," Ambrose accused.

"Oh, absolutely."

"So?"

The older Guide merely smiled beneath his mask, folding his hands behind his back. "Now where’s the fun in telling you?"

Ambrose stared at him. Then blinked once.

"You know..." he said slowly, "I was this close to calling you wise."

The original only chuckled harder.

Before Ambrose could think of a creative string of curses worthy of the situation, the endless black dimension suddenly trembled.

CRACK.

A jagged fracture split across the darkness overhead. Another followed.

The peaceful void began splintering apart like glass struck by an invisible hammer.

The older Ambrose glanced upward before looking back at him. "Looks like your body’s waking up."

"Wait—already?"

The fractures exploded across the entire dimension.

"Hey!" Ambrose pointed accusingly. "You can’t just dump me out after giving me half the instructions!"

"You’ll figure out the rest."

"That’s literally the worst mentorship I’ve ever—"

The black world shattered.

Everything dissolved into countless fragments before his consciousness was violently ripped backwards.

★★★★★

Ambrose’s eyes snapped open.

Air rushed into his lungs as reality slammed back into place.

He was still seated against the cool stone wall inside the cave, the twin blue suns casting orange-blue light through the entrance. Nothing had changed... yet everything somehow felt different.

His breathing gradually steadied.

Instinctively, his fingers rose to the smooth black mask still resting over his face.

[Honey?] Aura’s cheerful voice chimed inside his head. [Welcome back.]

A small smile stretched the corner of his lips. "Good to be back."

He pushed himself onto his feet, rolling his sore shoulders before turning toward the cave entrance. Beyond it stretched the endless desert once more.

Only this time, he couldn’t shake the strange feeling that something out there was calling to him.

Ambrose adjusted the mask with one hand before smirking.

"Well then," he murmured. "Let’s go on a little treasure hunt."

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