Chapter 7 : Lincoln (Present)

He reappeared in midair to get a birds-eye view. To his surprise, spotting the prisoners were easy. There were four of them, darting from the rooftops of buildings. Two seemed to be weak which Lincoln figured was the reason they were moving slow. He warped and reappeared on the roof of a tall building, from there he mimicked the movements of the prisoners, using his energy as a boost to catch up to them as he leapt from one building to another. He closed one eye and his IC with Dexter came to his pain of vision. He saw that Dexter had messaged him.

Dexter: We're moving.

Lincoln: They seem to be running towards to east walls, they're just crossing the Berm Square now. You need to move quick and intersect them from Royal Mall. If we're not there on time then look for us on the rooftops of buildings near Berm Square, we might be fighting.

Dexter: Okay, got it. We're moving, it's fortunate I was near the east walls, we're just a few minutes from the exit of Berm Square, we'll make our way into the mall from there.

Lincoln: Good, make sure the citizens don't see anything. We don't want them feeling unsafe.

Dexter: Dear God Lin, you're too late for that. The damage done in the lab is already on the news. People spotted you destroying it from the side of the lab. You have a lot of explaining to do.

Lincoln sighed, that was very careless of him.

Lincoln: We can handle this later...

He almost caught up to the prisoners before one of them spotted Lincoln and sent a fireball towards him.

Lincoln leapt into the air and thrust his arms forward. Just like he dealt with explosions; energy wrapped around the fireball and slowly absorbed it until there was nothing but smoke, the energy taken from the flames was then absorbed by his body. Lincoln then created a platform in midair and kicked at it, sending him flying towards the one who had attacked him.

An energy blade formed on each arm as they collided. Lincoln stabbed the man immediately, but his blade didn't go deep enough before he was sent flying by another fireball. He created another platform of energy, kicked at it and collided with the man again. Lincoln held his collar and dove to the ground with him, the man jumped before he could hit the ground, sending fireballs towards Lincoln as he did so, which Lincoln dodged immediately. He then leapt to the air and prepared an energy beam.

Their fighting had finally gotten the attention of the other three. A lightning bolt zipped past Lincoln and into a building behind him. Lincoln's eyes went wide. Before he could react, the time slowed down while he was still in midair.

Shit. He thought to himself. His arms gradually came to protect his chest as a sound wave followed by a lightning bolt successfully hits Lincoln sending him crashing to a building behind him.

He collided into the building, shattering its windows, and onto a desk causing it to topple over with him. The people in the office screamed and rushed to the exit. His energy immediately went to work on healing his injuries, he could already feel his broken bones mending and grunted as the pain slowly subsided.

How is he going to fight three people at once? They worked well together, Edgar slowed time and the others attacked Lincoln while that happens. Not to mention him having the ability to choose who to slow time for. This is why time slowed down only for Lincoln but his comrades were allowed to move freely and attack him. He'd never fought people with abilities before, this would be a hard fight especially since he wasn't able to go overdrive again today.

Once he was completely healed, his body radiated with red energy before he bolted towards Edgar at the speed of light. A ball of energy formed in his hand and kept increasing in size and intensity before he hit Edgar with it in the back with such great force that the impact sent him crashing towards the ground.

However, time had slowed again and the fire elemental caught Edgar before it sped up again. So, he can slow time down for himself too. Lincoln thought to himself.

He dodged the punch of the sound manipulator also dodging the sound waves that came with it. Lincoln grabbed the man's arm, spun and threw him towards the lightning manipulator. They collided and dove down towards the roof of a building.

The sound manipulator was able to survive by levitating, but the lightning manipulator hit the ground with a thud, losing consciousness.

Lincoln landed on the ground shortly after. Three clones appeared next to him and dashed towards Edgar and his remaining comrades. The clones each took one, blasting them countlessly with energy.

The sound manipulator was able to create a forcefield deflecting most of the blasts, however, it wasn't for long. It didn't seem like a technique he was specialized at. They were, however, suddenly surrounded by a hurricane of flames destroying the clones immediately. Lincoln thought fast, warped into the hurricane and shot an intense laser beam into the middle. However, he warped away immediately after because the heat was too much for him to handle.

Lincoln could feel his energy draining from him, it had just been five hours ago when he had last used his overdrive mode. He would not be able to fight them any longer. He came down to his knees, and the hurricane dissipated. The fire elemental then prepared a huge fireball, Lincoln had no other choice but to take the attack on headfirst.

However, he never released it. He wasn't able to. In a sudden orange blur, the fire elemental got a kick to his face knocking him out immediately. Lincoln couldn't make out who had kicked him before all three of them were knocked out the same way.

A split-second later Lincoln's quick instincts got him to block a kick to his chest, however, the force was so immense it sent him falling to the ground. While he expected to be falling on concrete, the surface he fell on was much softer. He looked around quickly and couldn't believe his eyes, he was anywhere but the city. He was transported to a desert of some sort.

He didn't have time to react as he rolled away from a dagger and quickly got up. He then had to jump away from another, but he couldn't spot his attacker. He pulled out his sword from his back and deflected three daggers that came at his face, all he could see were orange blurs before seeing another flying at him. Damn, he's fast! Lincoln thought to himself and kept his sword ready.

He tried thinking of a strategy, but quickly spun and blocked a kick with the blunt side of his sword, the power of the kick sent him sliding backwards, a dagger then whizzed past him, barely missing his ear. He wouldn't be able to think, attacks just kept coming at him. He jumped backwards dodging another dagger and struck his sword to the ground before using the hilt to take a big leap to the air. It would be harder to attack me midair, hopefully at least. Lincoln thought to himself.

A fist was thrown at him but he caught it immediately, then his other arm charged with crimson energy before he punched the man with immense force sending him crashing towards the sand. However, he never touched the ground, instead teleported away just before impact.

He was teleporting at rapid speeds.

He reappeared a few feet in front of Lincoln, he seemed to be recovering from that teleportation. Lincoln then landed on the ground and thought fast. He picked up his sword then his body started radiating with energy before bolting at the attacker, the same way he did with Edgar not so long ago.

Lincoln moved so quick that the man wasn't able to teleport away, he quickly brought two daggers up to block his attack. Lincoln's sword collided with the daggers, shattering them, but they had somewhat slowed down Lincoln's attack.

Lincoln's sense went in slow motion for a second as he could make out the wide orange eyes of the attacker before he teleported away. Lincoln, however, wasn't letting him escape, spikes of energy shot from him in all directions. Lincoln kept his stance until he heard a loud grunt, then stabbed his sword to the ground and leaned on it, breathing rapidly.

This combo move was something he used against a huge crowd of people. He would bolt to one person, take him down and shoot spikes in all directions taking the surrounding people down too. He used this move on the man because Lincoln wasn't sure where he would end up, but after analyzing his tactics Lincoln knew that he would be attacked as soon as his attack was dodged. And when the attacker dodged the move, he teleported behind Lincoln to finish him off, but the spikes had got to him, stunned him and now he wouldn't be able to teleport for a while.

Lincoln had blocked the energy used by the attacker to teleport, through the spikes, this can only be done by an energy manipulator like Lincoln.

He fought every breath as his vision kept switching from red to normal, his body was trying its best not to let the overdrive kick in, it'll kill Lincoln. If he uses even a bit of energy again, everything would be over.

Plasma energy was something Lincoln could manipulate, which allowed him to teleport to anywhere in Lincoln's pane of vision. He does this by forming energy wherever he's going to teleport to and then switching places with that energy, this all happens in a split millisecond to anyone else, but it was a little longer for Lincoln. This movement is something Lincoln described as warping.

The way this person teleported however was different, he could teleport long distances and there didn't seem to be any energy particles left behind if he did. Lincoln could also see that he had no other ability than to teleport, and makes up for this by using melee weapons like daggers to deal damage, he was also good in martial arts. This man was certainly trained very well.

But one question remained. Where did he come from?

Lincoln didn't know whose side this man was on. He couldn't have been on Edgar's side and didn't seem to be on Lincoln's side. Who was this person fighting for? Was there another artefact that grants powers to people? If so, how many of them are there?

Lincoln turned around and took a better look at the mysterious man. He looked much younger than Lincoln, he could've been sixteen years old. His hair was bright orange as if it were a flame, and his eyes were also orange but a darker shade. One more thing Lincoln realized was that the pupils in his eye were not round like human beings, it was shaped like a diamond. Everything about this person seemed so foreign, but why?

Lincoln removed his sword from the ground and pointed it at the man. If he's an enemy, Lincoln must kill him, there was no way they can keep him restrained. Lincoln would have to constantly put spikes in his body to stun him then.

Lincoln moved to attack but was stopped once the man put his arms up in defeat. "I was only testing you..." He spoke while holding his chest. Lincoln however did not let his guard down immediately, "You didn't seem like it, I would've died by any of your attacks had I not dodged them." Lincoln said. "Which is why it was a test. If you died, then you would not be a useful energy manipulator and we would need a new one, which we can get through your death, If you lived then we would have to test you more." The man replied his look calm. Lincoln's heart skipped a beat, "We?" he managed to ask.

"You won't believe me now, but it's something I need you to accept sooner or later. You are the talk of our planet, the first wielder and energy manipulator of the human race. Our race has waited for someone like you for billions of years." The man said.

"When you say our planet, do you mean Earth?" Lincoln asked but was cut off, "No. I'm not from here. My name is Aytrex, but you can call me Trex, which is my alias on Earth. I'm an Alvan, from the planet Alvanian which resides in your neighbouring galaxy, the Cryptic System, or in simpler words the Cyber Galaxy." Aytrex explained.

"Is this a joke? I can't tell. Theories of other planets supporting life have been abandoned long ago. It's already been proven; Earth is the only stable planet to support life. I can believe powers been granted through a genetic fusion from a meteor, but I can't believe this much, at least not without evidence." Lincoln replied, not believing what he's hearing even one bit.

"Humans are so reductionist with theories which is why it barely gets them anywhere. Where do you think the meteorite came from? And if there are billions of galaxies as how you humans believe, then wouldn't there be just as many planets that support life in those galaxies too? Let that sink in Crimson Weidler." "Why are you calling me that?" Lincoln asked defensively. "There's already too much for you to process, I'll give you that time," Aytrex said and moved to teleport away.

Lincoln shook his head, "No, there isn't anything I can believe now. What you said isn't enough to support your point here. I need more." Lincoln pushed. "Okay then, now that you're interested," Aytrex said and sat on a rock. "Be ready for some history. This might take long, but it'll answer most of the questions you humans must have had since the first man stepped on this planet." Aytrex added.

Lincoln sighed again and nodded, then took a seat on a rock across from the self-claiming alien. "We are Guardians, we go in a long line of wielders that use their powers for the better of our planet. Wielders are beings that wield supernatural abilities. Since you came in, we now classify them into two groups, Earth Wielders and Alvan Wielders. And these abilities are made possible through a substance we refer to as Charge, which is the source of either spiritual or physical power, which means Wielders can be further divided into two categories, Spiritual Wielders and Physical Wielders." Aytrex explained.

"Which brings us back to us being Guardians. You see our planet has been influenced by war for billions of years, this is not like the warfare you humans go through. This has extra steps, which includes battles with powers that may also be unexplainable. It was tragic." Aytrex continued, shaking his head in despair.

"It was then when our ancestors decided to use their ultimate weapon. And this would grant people of a different race, powers that would easily combat the natural powers most of us Alvans were born with. Your planet was the only planet that supports life in our neighbouring galaxies, and even so, your planet was going through the first stages of its life, which was a big risk our ancestor Guardians took. But it was done anyway, due to the desperate times on Alvanian, and our ancestors were forced to send a meteor to Earth, but little did we know the intelligence that resided on Earth." Aytrex said, his voice lowering as if empathizing with the people he was talking about.

"This discovery was not only disappointing, but it crushed the hope of our ancestors, as they had so much hope on the species so-called the 'Dinosaurs'. They didn't have the intelligence to fend for themselves and the meteor wiped out most of the species and got scattered along with Earth and concealed till the right time approached." Aytrex continued. Things slowly began to add up, it was like most of the plotholes humans didn't know the world and its history had, were immediately filled up by the words of this man. "I see..." Lincoln replied, implying that he continues.

"The right time never came for at least a millennium or so, Earth remained a planet that didn't support life for a long-time. War influenced our planet until the first man and woman stepped on Earth. Our ancestors again had hope for the new life, but then realized humans did not have the technology to extract these meteor fragments. So, our ancestors waited, more hopeful than they were a billion years before this. They waited until the human population became dormant and then waited until their technology advanced until it finally became the right time for them to extract these meteor pieces. And then humans started extracting powers until they finally had a successful subject, moments after our energy manipulator was killed in action. And this subject was you, Lincoln Blaze, or we call the Crimson Wielder."

"Why was I the actual success? Didn't they have all the pieces before I was given my powers?" Lincoln asked. "No, it wasn't. Only you completed it." Aytrex explained. "Why was the meteor completed when I was tested on?" Lincoln asked. "Isn't it obvious? The reason is in your hands. The gemstone you carry around all the time is the final piece of the meteor..."

Lincoln shook his head to process what happened as he walked down the street alone. He closed one eye and saw a message from Dexter and immediately opened it, he'd completely forgotten about them.

Dexter: Where did you go? We've secured four of them. I'm not sure where the other two is. Maybe they were not able to escape.

Lincoln stopped walking. Where were the other two people? He tried thinking of possible outcomes to the situation. Only one seemed valid.

Lincoln: Something happened. I'm not sure how to take it. But the fight's over. Two of them were missing from the bunch, however. I have a bad feeling about this. They must've gone ahead and already escaped.

Dexter: Not possible, we've had no reports.

Lincoln: Oh. This is not good; they may be hidden among the people now. I'm not sure what they're planning but they let themselves be captured the first time.

Dexter: What do you mean?

Lincoln: I mean that they wanted us to capture them, and escape to blend in with the people for some scheme of theirs.

Dexter: That could explain things, but if so then there's a lot we must do.

Lincoln: We still have four of them. Hopefully, we can catch the others...

Dexter: Yeah, I'll meet you soon, then explain everything.

"I must go," Lincoln said. Aytrex nodded immediately, "You have a lot to process, and I will give you that time." He spoke. "Thank you," Lincoln replied. "Also, I have captured the remaining two of the escaped prisoners and have already returned them to the compound they were held in," Aytrex add.

Lincoln facepalmed, "Right, thank you for telling me."

Lincoln: False alarm, the remaining two were already returned to the laboratory.

Dexter: Oh, great I just issued an order for a search party. Nice timing man. But either way, that's good, how though?

Lincoln: I'll explain everything later.

Aytrex teleported Lincoln back to the building where he fought Edgar's comrades and teleported away.

He leapt from the building and dove headfirst down several stories. Wind pushes against his face and hair until he reached the ground, levitating before he landed. Now he would have to meet Dexter, explain things, and possibly find out what is happening.

This day was full of emotional rollercoasters...