In the very same neighborhood where Antonio and his retinue had spent a healthy portion of the day setting up shop, a sleek, black 2011 Cadillac CTS was being driven by an elderly, but skilled doctor. The car was transporting two of the neighborhood’s wealthiest locals to an unknown destination. The distant sun was slowly beginning to set.
“So what do you think happened?” Asked one of the people in the car, the passenger. His voice was soft and as he asked that he glanced at the driver beside him, his husband, curiously.
“I have no idea, but whoever appears to be in the house now are people I’ve never seen.” His husband, a skilled doctor who was steadily nearing retirement, replied. There was no edge of concern in the man’s voice, only a sort of plain curiosity.
The luxurious car was making its way through the neighborhood at a decent rate. It wasn’t dashing through the mansion-filled region, but it also wasn’t crawling through it either. It was slowly and steadily making its way towards the small hill which was wholly the property of whosoever owned the prodigious estate atop the hill.
“I sure hope Eddison and Annie are okay…” The driver’s husband muttered, a small amount of concern audible in his voice. He was referring to the previous inhabitants of the estate atop the hill, though he didn’t know that the kindly couple were now considered “Previous” inhabitants instead of just “Inhabitants”.
“I am sure they are. I do wonder if someone managed to talk them into selling the estate though… If someone did, they must have made a hell of an offer since those two have repeatedly said they’d never sell their home.” The driver replied, speaking more confidently than his husband. He was right, though he didn’t know it, the estate was priced in the millions, and the offer that Manuel, the merchant who represented the buyer, made had been almost twice what the estate was said to be worth. And, remarkably, that was an investment that was worth it in the eyes of both Manuel and Antonio, the actual buyer.
“God, could you imagine?” The driver’s husband replied, a mischievous grin on his face as he imagined what sort of incredible number would have to be put before the couple to get them to even consider selling their home.
The car reached the base of the hill that defined the Lopez Estate, which had previously been known as the Bamford estate and began to drive up it. As soon as it did, the estate’s new owner learned of the coming visit of at least some of his neighbors. And did nothing, aside from telepathically ordering the robotic gatekeeper who operated the estate’s gatehouse to pull out and prepare a guestbook. The robotic servant, a shapeshifting android, did as it was ordered and by the time the guests had reached the top of the hill was ready for them.
The car steadily drove to the gate and the robotic gatekeeper watched as the windows of the vehicle lowered. When they were lowered the robot opened the window of the gatehouse and began to speak.
“Welcome to the Lopez Estate. How may I assist you?” The creature asked, pleasantly. The driver of the vehicle was an elderly, but handsome, black man dressed in the sort of outfit one might expect a mall walker to wear, but that was more indicative of his personal style than of his financial status, since the man was the richest doctor in the city.
“The… Lopez Estate?” The man asked, surprised to hear that the estate had changed names, especially since he had spoken to Eddison that very morning.
“Yes sir. The Lopez Estate!” The gatekeeper replied, cheerily.
“I… I see. Is the owner of the estate home at the moment? I am one of his neighbors, Blake Wingston. I would love to welcome him to the neighborhood.” The driver asked, before turning to look at his husband, concernedly. The robotic gatekeeper, who, deceptively, looked like a tanned Latino man at the moment, stepped back into the gatehouse and pulled on a phone just inside of the building. A second later he began to talk.
“Is Mr. Lopez accepting unscheduled visitors at this time?” He asked. Distantly, a speaker near the pool projected his voice to the people currently stationed around the pool, including Antonio himself. Antonio, a newly apotheosized deity, smiled and began to reply.
“He sure is!” The young man answered, happily. Those who surrounded him, including a beautiful seraph playing a lovely golden harp, and his own self-described “Consort” smiled at him. The entire cult, aside from Imani, were currently lounging around the beautiful pool that was a part of the mansion. The gatekeeper smiled and thanked Mr. Lopez, before placing the phone back where it belonged, grabbing the guestbook, and promptly returning to the side of the driver.
“Hello again. I am happy to inform you that Mr. Lopez is both home and accepting visitors. Please sign this guestbook, both of you, and then you can drive up the road.” The gatekeeper merrily informed the couple.
Blake cautiously took the guestbook, mentally noted that it was empty, and proceeded to do as he was asked by the gatekeeper. He then handed it to his husband, who also signed the thing, and then returned it to him, who immediately returned it to the robotic gatekeeper. The robot studied the book for a moment, and then pressed the button to raise the gate. A second later the car slowly entered the fully utilized portion of the estate.
Antonio was lazily lounging on a bali bed beside the gorgeous pool. Beside him, equally relaxed, was his consort, who was also just enjoying the luxuries before her. The two of them were being watched over by several individuals.
Cecilia and a newly created blonde angel were hovering over high-tech grills and listening to the sounds of the party’s food being cooked. The two of them wore swimsuits and water glistened on their skin, as both of the model-like beings had spent time swimming in the pool before getting out to cook for their master and for the others in the cult.
Maion was seated further away from the pool, in a special performer’s area, beside the entrance to the guest house. She was skillfully, and casually, playing an incredibly beautiful harp created by and gifted to her by her master. The sounds of her skillful fingers plucking at the strings of the instrument filled the air around her, and created a luxurious, peaceful ambience.
Ortholox was carefully grabbing drinks for Titania and Antonio, and he was dressed in a more casual version of his butler’s uniform, one suited for serving his master in the North Carolina summer heat.
Alphor and his daughters were also casually relaxing around or in the pool, with Natalie actually sitting in the sun shelf side of the pool, on a shelf lounger, and Catalina and Alphor being seated just outside of it, on the same sorts of seating as Antonio and Titania, but just opposite of them.
The group silently, aside from the gentle sounds of Maion’s skillful harp playing, listened as the distant car containing the first of their neighbors to visit them, began to approach. They were able to listen to the car slowly approaching for nearly a minute, before the thing came to a stop at the front of Antonio’s mansion. They could hear the sounds of one of the robotic servants who lived in and would maintain the house greeting the neighbors, and telling them that Antonio was at the pool, and for the two of them to follow it. That was when everyone turned their heads in the direction of the visitors.
Neither Jay nor Blake had known what to expect when they began to approach the pool off to the side of the mansion. The couple had been friends with Eddison and Annie, and the two of them had both sincerely believed that the lovely couple would never have parted with the mansion and estate, so they were cautiously curious to learn the identities of the new owners.
As they approached the pool, their senses were treated to a number of delights. They could smell the scent of expertly grilled meat. They could hear the sounds of someone skillfully playing the harp. They could even see a number of handsome or beautiful servants heading to and from the house to care for the needs of their mysterious employers, something new to the manor since Eddison and Annie had not cared for having servants and only occasionally relied on part-time housekeepers and other such help.
When they were able to lay their eyes on the strange, yet incredibly beautiful, group of individuals in and around the pool, they were only barely able to hide their astonishment. Every member of the strange group was aesthetically beautiful or handsome, and were curiously waiting to lay their eyes on the strangers coming to their new home.
The couple first looked at the pool, and noted the lovely redheaded woman seated on a floating chair. She had rather elfin features, including pointed ears, and internally both of the older men wondered if she was some sort of cosplayer.
The next people they noticed were the four people seated around the pool. On one end of the pool they could see two more scarlet-haired strangers, one of whom was clearly the twin of the girl on the shelf lounger, and the other of whom appeared to be some sort of relative of the two, perhaps their father or uncle. And then the couple, as one, turned their eyes towards where Titania and Antonio were lounging.
Titania and Antonio were both sitting upright, looking at the couple, with curious, yet warm smiles on their faces. As Jay and Blake stared at Titania and Antonio they had to work to be able to focus, as the two beings were easily the most attractive, most beautiful beings either of the men had ever seen.
Titania had the countenance of a goddess of beauty, with full lips, soft eyes, lovely hair that almost shone in the light of the setting sun, and a figure that stirred envy and lust in the hearts of all who saw it. And she was the less beautiful of the two!
Antonio, due to the potent effects of “Eternal Ascension”, was already more beautiful than the very instant that the couple had laid their eyes on him. He passively radiated an aura of attractivity, a sort of unconscious, subliminal aura of pheromones that made it impossible for anyone in his presence to not desire at least his approval, if not his affections, even though it wasn’t especially hard for someone to resist it, at the moment due to its relative youth. He also perpetually grew more lovely to look at, his body slowly and subtly pushing itself to become more and more attractive with every passing second.
He had a surprisingly soft-looking face, and possessed a sort of ethereal beauty that wasn’t entirely dissimilar to the sort of almost fairy-like beauty possessed by Titania. That said, his muscles were also fully on display, so despite his soft face he also had a sort of fully masculine sexiness that did distinguish himself from Titania, whose curvy form was fully feminine.
The couple, revealing surprisingly strong wills, managed to pull their attention away from the man gazing at them from the bali bed. As they did, they happened to turn their attention to Ortholox. He was carrying a bottle of soda to the elegant glass table next to the true owner of the estate. His summer’s butler outfit was a shortened, more easily breathable version of his regular outfit, and he was himself a rather striking figure, since he was a powerful, muscular, butler.
The others, such as the model-like blonde chefs using a large grill, the musician playing the harp, and a dark-haired man seated not far from the musician who was scanning whatever was on display on the screen of a sleek laptop before him, were all beautiful in their own ways, but none of them could compare to the brunette or her boyfriend.
The two of them possessed a sort of weirdly enchanting beauty, and as the couple were guided to the pool by a skilled servant, they couldn’t even hear the servant introducing them to “Antonio Lopez”, the supernaturally beautiful man who with but a curious glance had left an unforgettable impression on the two men.
“Welcome to my home, gentlemen.” Antonio said, in the wake of the servant’s introduction. His words were able to rouse the two men from their somewhat stunned state.
“Hello!” One of the gentlemen, an older white man, stammered out. He was Jay, Blake’s husband. Antonio chuckled, and the lovely brunette next to him giggled. She wrapped her arms around one of his arms, and leisurely kissed the tanned, muscular limb.
“Are the two of you the local welcoming committee?” Antonio asked, a good-humored smile on his face, as Titania proceeded to stop paying attention to the gentlemen. Blake laughed at the young man’s observational skills, his deep voice and laughter sounding quite nice besides the pool.
“We are not. We are just a little too curious for our good. Some of our neighbors saw you, and saw Eddison and Annie leaving today with a moving truck, and wondered what had happened there.” Blake informed Antonio, causing the young man to chuckle.
“Well, my assistant Manuel, made the kindly couple a very generous offer, a few days ago, and today was the day that our offer went into effect. Eddison and Annie are now even more wealthy than they had been before.” Antonio remarked, idly, while Manuel nodded at the two gentlemen when his name was mentioned.
Antonio was lying, but he subconsciously utilized a combination of powers to make his words the truth, while altering nothing else about the past, by combining “Presence”, “Omnikinesis”, “Causality” “Timeless”, and, of course, “Power Matrix”. He was able to touch the past and make his fib a reality, and through the potency of “Causality” able to alter literally nothing else, by eliminating other timelines these actions would have created.
“That must have been a hell of an offer. What do you do?” Blake asked, curiously. Blake stared at Antonio, finding it increasingly hard to look away from the man, the more he stared.
“Oh I’m the heir of a Puerto Rican businessman.” Antonio explained, lying through his teeth and doing so incredibly easily. He was a heir, an inheritor, but not of a businessman.
“Oh really? That’s very interesting! I’m a doctor, and my husband is an artist.” Blake explained, to which Antonio’s eyebrows raised and the young man gestured to another of the bali beds that surrounded the pool.
“That’s super cool! Why don’t the two of you join us for a little bit? I’d love to hear about your career. I’m a student at the University of North Carolina at Redsville. I’m still deciding what to study. Maybe hearing from you could help me decide?” Antonio asked, smiling beautifully at the two men. They grinned, having to work to not be enraptured by Antonio, and did as he asked, moving to the beautiful bali bed he pointed at.
Titania still continued to largely ignore the two, focusing on the inheritor exclusively. Meanwhile everyone else, aside from Ortholox and Manuel, turned to casually listen to their neighbors.
