Start of the Journey
10 advanced chapters in my Pat.reon. Pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.
This is the last Chapter of this arc. Next Chapter is when the next adventure starts.
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(Brian's P.O.V)
Yellow flashes of electric energy coated my form.
"Here we go. Test number #48."
A trail of energy was left behind as I disappeared from my position instantly. I skidded to a stop about a hundred meters away and looked at the watch on my wrist.
"A 100 meters in half a second. That puts me at just over 700km/per hour. Not supersonic levels yet but good enough for now."
The problem was twofold however. First of all, I still hadn't adjusted to stopping because of the unfamiliarity with the new speed. Secondly, making turns was still a bit hard. I would have to keep on with practice to get better. Sigh, story of my life.
For the entire week, I kept coming back to the stadium and using the track field to up my speed and also gain better control of it. Once I got past the issue of familiarity with the new speed, my progress picked up immediately. Making turns became as easy as breathing. I could accelerate almost instantly, by sending a burst if ki through my feet and back.
I had also reduced the huge explosion that action produced, ensuring that I didn't reduce my surroundings to burning debris. My speed had also increased to 900 km/h (559mph). I finally knew the joys of being a speedster. Trust me, it was all worth it.
Case in point…I was flying high above the city looking at a high speed chase between the cops and a few thieves in a white van. The car weaved around the other vehicles on the road expertly. The driver had a real talent for driving.
Peter was covering the other side of the city so the responsibility to stop them laid solely on my shoulders. Normally I would stick to serious matters because with my powers…I was a bit too overkill for every crime except the delicate ones like hostage situations but today, I wanted to test my new speed.
I flew down behind the chase scene and touched down on the tarmac. A few cars stopped behind me and people from the sidewalk started gathering and pointing at me. This was the era before smart phones but I was a bit surprised to see a flash from a camera.
"Oh my god. It's you, Valiant. Can I take a few more pictures?"
A man asked and I was instantly surprised to see that it was Eddie Brock. The future Venom in Spider man 3.
" Maybe later."
I smiled and bent down to a low running position. I pulled on my ki and sent the burst through my back. With a small pop, I flashed off in a streak of yellow colored light.
"Whoa!"
I heard Eddie shout from behind me but I was already far away. Thanks super-hearing.
I dodged around the vehicles and people on the road while quickly approaching the cop car. I pulled up near a school bus and reduced my speed to wave at them. The kids on the bus went crazy with cheers. I laughed a little before increasing my speed again.
There were 3 police vehicles at my front, chasing after the white van.
I drew closer to the first one and knocked on the window. The cop behind the wheel looked at me in shock. His partner had to grab the steering wheel to keep them from crashing. I felt a little sorry for that and decided that stopping the white van before they could blow past the intersection was enough of an apology.
My speed increased to maximum and it felt and looked like I'd teleported before the white van. I heard a screech of tires as the thief driving the car stepped on the brakes.
An ominous yellow light appeared in my eyes. Twin heat beams shot out and damaged the tires. There was the smell of burnt rubber as the van lost its balance and fell. The momentum carried it towards me while the screams and yells of people followed the scene.
The van hit my hands and stopped. Two of the assailants in the car were already passed out and one was bleeding from a cat on the head. The other one who was at the back, stumbled out of the van. After seeing me, however, his eyes were filled with despair and he gave up.
I waited for the cops to arrive before I floated above the scene and then shot off.
Now the only thing remaining was ice breath. This was the hardest to acquire of all the other powers.
You see, Superman has super lungs and as close to an invulnerable body as it gets. Although I have ki, it's a…in a word…a warm energy. It's not predisposed to any element but if I had to put an elemental energy that it slightly embodies, it has to be thermal or electric energy. That means I can't turn my ki into an ice beam attack.
I still hadn't managed to turn my ki into any of the elements, bearing in mind that the electric flashes of energy when I tap into my ki for speed, is just a manifestation of how fast my ki is circulating inside my body. It's not the lightning element or anything like that. I think elemental change is something that is solely in the next realm of ki control and manipulation. So generating ice breath that way was a failure.
Back to Superman, he has super lungs. I don't. Enough said.
That's not to say, I didn't have a powerful elemental breath myself though. I had flame breath granted to me by Extremis. It was great actually. I've always been biased to the fire element as opposed to ice. Fire is red, just like Natasha's hair. Kinda.
In a week I would be leaving which was also the time that Peter would be starting college. So I decided to spend the remaining time with my family.
The day before I was to leave, Peter and I were sitting on the roof of my building. We were watching the nightlife in the city.
" So, tomorrow you're going."
He said.
"Yeah. I figured it's high time the chick left the mother's nest."
I responded.
"I wish you luck in finding what you're looking for brother."
His voice had a sad undertone to it.
"Bad analogy though. 'chick left the mother's nest?' that sounds weird."
Aaaand he totally ruined the moment.
"Thanks Pete. I'll miss you guys."
I patted him on the back.
We were silent for a bit before he decided to say something else.
"So Uncle Ben suspects that you and I are into drugs."
He had a smile on his face and instantly started laughing at my surprised look.
"What?"
"Yeah. Can you believe it?"
I couldn't help it. I also started laughing.
"I mean, I know we have been acting suspicious ever since we started using our powers but still…drugs?"
It was a nice hangout that sadly had to end. The next morning, I boarded an airplane and took off towards L.A. I wanted to check up on MJ before continuing my travels.
L.A was amazing. Different from New York but similar in by some ways too. For instance, the city had a bit more…life to it. I don't know how to explain it. It just felt a but sunnier I guess. It probably had to do with the diverse ethnicity of the city when compared to new York.
L.A had more culture.
I stayed with MJ for a while and we had a great time.
Next, I took off to one of the most spiritually aware countries in the world, India. I travelled to Varanasi and stayed there for a while getting taught meditation techniques to better get in tune with my inner energy. My ki control was immensely essential for the next step of my plan.
I then flew over to the Himalayas and stayed there for a month, refining my ki control in the extreme cold. It was peaceful and quiet and I left there feeling freer than I had before leaving the US.
I practiced my martial arts and got taught the method of striking at the enemies will by being mentally resilient in a Shaolin monastery over at Nepal. Some of the masters there were beasts when it came to pure martial skills and I saw my strong fist get better. I stayed at that monastery for 2 months.
I headed over to Africa for a while. The African culture was deeply rooted in nature and the mystical practice of Shamanism. Shamans were witch doctors, that had a connection with the natural spirits of the world that existed in the in-between. This allowed them to perform abilities like, precognition, rainmaking and healing. That information was gleaned through True Reveal.
I sought the power for myself but realized that it wasn't a matter of having a special gene that gave you the powers but instead, you had to be chosen by the spirits.
I didn't stick around there for long however. The spirits in the in-between were not welcoming at all to my intrusive sight. Once one tried to mind control me, I got the hell out of dodge faster than the flash.
I continued with my travels all around the world. Some of the places I visited were interesting, others very scary but most were just mundane and normal places.
Through all that time I kept in touch with my family and sent them packages of interesting paraphernalia. I was happy to know they were all doing okay. Because, now it was the time to start my true journey.
All that travel around the world, a full 6 months was to prepare me for this stop.
I was floating in place over the Amazon forest. I pulled up the Interface.
[Name: Brian Parker]
Cultivation level: N/A
Life force energy: 250
Body strength: Superhuman.
Soul strength: N/A
Mental strength: High Psionic.
Special skills: Echo.
Danger Sense.
Life force manipulation.(Ki)- Superman set.
True Reveal.
Zenkai.
Extremis.
My ki reserves had grown and to complement that, my ki control as well. Which was necessary for the next step.
I'll be honest, after hitting a wall in teleportation, I had the bright idea about studying the spatial distortion, rifts, mystical phenomenal and energy conduits around the world. I knew they existed. I saw the evidence every time I used True Reveal.
That information was the glance I needed. The final key in a symphony that would fulfill an enthralling piece.
But I couldn't go around the world to every spot that I needed to study. That would be too inconvenient and take up a lot of time.
So, I came up with this idea. What if I used True Reveal to simultaneously scan every one of these individual spots and compile that information to understand the mechanisms of Spatial Manipulation?
It was a simple plan. A simple plan that depended on 2 things, the first one, a lot of ki. I needed sufficient ki to cover the whole planet. And next a lot of control. Control to enable me efficiently parse through the immense information overload that was a feature of True Reveal.
"Well, here goes nothing."
I told myself…my awareness to everything exploded.
I blacked out.
I jolted back to consciousness.
Then I blacked out again.
It was…too much. Too much information to comprehend. The knowledge passed through my brain without sticking. It left behind a jumbled trail of half truths and half lies. Information constructed by my brain to comfort itself.
I suddenly understood just how much I had overestimated myself. I had thought I was smart enough but it was now that I knew, I had overextended. Like Icarus, flying too close to the sun.
Hundreds of sights looked onto my position. One scary gaze pierced through the layers of the world and looked. Right. At. Me.
A scream of terror escaped my mouth. I immediately shut down True Reveal and breathed in deeply.
For a second…a brief short second…I saw him - it. I saw…Dormmammu. He had a rift pulsing with the dark dimension's energy over at the Bermuda triangle.
I breathed out.
"That is one place I am never going to travel to."
I promised myself.
A breeze blew around me and I stilled. A laugh escaped out of me. One born out of frustration. Frustration that sitting back and letting things work out has never been my way. I was a go getter. Doing what's necessary to attain my goals.
The laugh was partly also in shock. Shock because of the utterly stupid, dumb and idiotic idea that had just been born inside my head. Sweat coated my forehead.
"I am so going to die."
The plan was to use the rift to travel to another dimension. The dark dimension was a realm that was connected to the multiverse. All I needed was to use that connection, where the constraints on space were weakened to go to another realm.
My first plan had failed in a big way. I wasn't smart enough to decipher the truth of Spatial Manipulation just yet. The only way I could even attain teleportation now was if I crudely created a variant of the jumper gene in me.
And that brings us to why the plan was idiotic. Dormmammu was the personification of the dark dimension. He would definitely feel my presence once I made it in.
But…I could work with this. Already the bare bones of another plan were coming into place.
Damn my impatient nature.