Lesson Number Three
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Me and Marley appear in Fairy Hollow, in England, home of Gaius, Spirit of Nature and his fairies.
What, were you expecting it to be somewhere else this time? It’s not like Gaius can just move, he’s a giant magical talking tree.
Which you should already know, but I’ve warned you enough times, dear readers. Not my fault if you choose to jump in at the latest story and don’t know what’s going on.
Being a few time zones ahead, it’s twilight here again, the setting sun interplaying with the twinkling lights of the fairies floating around overhead rather beautifully.
It's kinda chilly here, being close to Christmastime, but me and Mar both have cryokinesis, and that comes with resistance to cold. We can handle subzero temperatures just fine, and we can handle this.
And Fairy Hollow is just as verdant as it usually is, being the home of a powerful Spirit of Nature.
We look past the Sword of Kings’ empty pedestal, up at Gaius’s big barky face.
“You know why we’re here, I assume?”
He smiles at us.
“Indeed, Sir Calvin. Our mutual friend has been waiting for you.”
“Is he behind me again?”
I turn around, but I don’t see the fluffy I was expecting to see behind me.
“Huh. Where is he?”
As I turn back to Gaius, I finally see the glowing, golden, one-eyed fluffy who serves as Skeleton Guy’s host, standing right in front of me, grinning wolfishly at me.
He IS doing that on purpose! Cheeky bastard!
“Son of a--”
He leaps at me, and everything goes white.
I come to in the misty realm of Skeleton Guy’s mind, seeing my skeletal, armored tutor a couple of feet away.
I give him a weary look.
“Did you have to do it like that?”
He chuckles softly.
“You should have been on guard, Cal. Lower your guard, and you’ll ALLOW the enemy in.”
“I’ve heard that before, but I guess I needed a reminder.”
“Now, let us move on to business. I can tell that you have mastered the Spellbreaker.”
I draw the Sword of Kings.
“I have a lot of magical friends who could help me practice it on real spells.”
SLASH
I swing my sword through the air, in a lightning bolt shape, a flawless execution of the Spellbreaker.
If someone was casting a spell at me, they’d be pretty surprised.
I mean, I’ve already got a few ways to deal with magic, but Val says it never hurts to have redundancies.
Eggs, baskets, yadda yadda yadda.
Skeleton Guy nods, clearly satisfied by my progress.
“Yes, that was perfect. You are ready for my third technique.”
He draws his own chipped sword.
“I believe that you will be able to make much better use of this one than I ever did. Your strength, speed and agility all exceed my own, back when I was alive.”
He crouches down, preparing to jump.
“Watch closely, Cal. Timing is key with this technique. Wait for the enemy to get close, focus your energy upon your sword like the Whirling Blade, and then…”
And as he jumps, ethereal pale blue light trailing behind him…
“…swing your sword like THIS!!!”
SLASH
He slashes his sword upwards, rising several feet into the air.
SLASH SLASH SLASH
He slashes the air three times before he falls, thrusting his sword pointy end down with both hands on the hilt.
THUNK
When he plants his sword into the ground, everything shakes slightly.
He stands up straight, pulling his sword out of the ground, which is really just a flat blank thing for us to stand on.
“I call this the Meteoric Slash. Carry your enemy up into the air with the first strike, and bring them back down to Earth with the last.”
He sheathes his sword.
“Go ahead and give it a try, Cal.”
“Alright…”
I do as he did, crouching down and preparing to jump and swing.
SLASH
When I leap, swinging the Sword of Kings up, I go several feet higher than Skeleton Guy went.
I see what he meant. I don’t know how strong he was when he was alive, and those of us with superstrength can jump much higher than normos can, without High-Jump Boots or lowered gravity.
SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH SLASH
I slash the air five times before I fall, even though I have pretty much unlimited air time. I can fly, remember?
As I prepare to finish the move, falling with the Sword of Kings pointed down, imagining Dehak impaled on the sword, screaming all the way down…
THUNK!!!
…my landing creates a powerful shockwave that knocks Skeleton Guy off his bony feet, everything shaking harder than when he used the Meteoric Slash.
“Oof!”
CLUNK
As I stand up, pulling my sword out, he gets up too, and it’s hard to tell, but he seems a bit embarrassed about getting knocked on his ass.
Maybe he should have heeded his own advice about staying on guard, but I’m not gonna make fun of him for it.
He dusts himself off, clearly trying to play it cool and pretend that didn’t just happen.
“…Yes, I was right. You’ll be able to accomplish much more with the Meteoric Slash than I could.”
Christ, that packed a wallop! He’s not kidding!
While this probably won’t be very helpful for the current situation, I’m sure it’ll come in handy eventually.
I’m already calculating which powers it would work best with.
If you use electrokinesis on the way down, you’re basically a human lightning bolt. Like Miles, but less literally.
That’s one.
“Let’s just do that a few more times to make sure I’ve got it down pat.”
THUNK!!!
Some time later, so to speak, I impale the ground with my sword for the umpteenth time.
Skeleton Guy has been bracing himself, so he hasn’t been knocked on his ass again.
“Good, you’re quickly getting the hang of it. You are an astoundingly fast learner, Cal.”
I pull the Sword of Kings out, sheathing it with a dramatic and showy twirl.
“Comes with the territory of being an Omega.”
“And yet, something in your stance betrays that you have another problem on your mind. What troubles you this time, Cal?”
I word my reply carefully.
“Oh, it’s just… I got a letter today, accusing me of… of something not so good. Something that I actually did, and I’m not sure if it was the right thing to do.”
“Whatever it may have been, I do not doubt that you had a good reason to do it. If I thought you a villain, I would not be teaching you my techniques.”
Fuck it, might as well tell him the truth.
“Well, you know that whole thing about Primal Earth I mentioned last time? I… I killed the guy behind it. The guy who hired the mercenaries who invaded Primal Earth. I gave him a chance to come quietly, and he didn’t take it, so I killed him in his office.”
Skeleton Guy folds his arms, nodding understandingly.
“But that has not been not the ONLY time you slew an evildoer, has it?”
“It was different this time. Usually, when I kill a villain, everyone knows it, but this time, I killed him by telekinetically stopping his heart. So most people think he died of a heart attack, and they don’t know that I did it… except my teammates, and whoever sent that letter. I don’t know what the latter wants from me, or if my rep will survive intact if I come clean. Will people still see me as a hero? Do I even deserve to call myself a hero?”
Skeleton Guy walks over to me, placing a bony hand on my shoulder in a fatherly manner.
“Cal, a hero must be prepared to do the right thing, regardless of what the world thinks of him, even if everyone is saying that something wrong is something right. Wicked men triumph when good men like you do nothing. You may feel conflicted, but I can tell that you ARE a good man. That you feel so conflicted about what you did PROVES that you are no villain. And if killing the mastermind behind the matter on Primal Earth was the only way to prevent him from trying again--”
“Was it, though? Wouldn’t the right thing have been to drag him off to prison? If I convince myself that it’s okay for me to kill all of the bad guys just because they’re bad and I’m good, it won’t be long before I’m branding everyone in my way as a bad guy. Because, by that flawed logic, anyone who tries to stop a good guy from killing bad guys has to be a bad guy too, right?”
“Yes, I see your point. We mortals are not beings of pure goodness, and even the best of us are corruptible, especially when we face corruption every day. It can become hard to stop yourself from going too far in the name of doing good, to avoid becoming as bad as your enemies are. But you must always strive to be better than your enemies, fellow swordsman.”
“He who fights monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster, for as you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.”
“Indeed! Such a splendid way to put it, Cal.”
I bashfully rub the back of my head.
“I can’t take credit for it, Friedrich Nietzsche said that. He’s… after your time.”
“Nonetheless, it is something I shall try to remember. As you learn from me, I too learn from you.”
“And maybe we can get your memories back.”
On cue, the mist around us thickens, and I hear that echoing, authoritative voice, slightly louder than last time.
“For… your… imes… ak…”
For a moment, I’m certain that I see three figures in the mist, standing in front of a fourth figure on their knees, but I can’t make them out clearly, and when the mist recedes, they’re gone.
“See? Like you said, what we’re doing is working.”
Skeleton Guy nods in agreement, taking his hand off my shoulder.
“My memories are getting clearer, if only slightly, but yes, it seems that my memories ARE returning as your training progresses.”
“So did you see those figures in the mist too?”
“I did, though I still do not remember who they are. They seemed familiar, but… well, all I can say is that they must have been people from my past. From a memory I cannot recall… I think that the memory which is slowly being revealed to us is an IMPORTANT one. And you, Cal, are the key to solving this ancient mystery.”
“Well, I already have a few mysteries to solve.”
He takes a few steps to face me directly.
“You know what you must do next: return to the world you know, and master the Meteoric Slash. Truly make it your own, and when you’re ready, we will meet again. Cal… the best of luck with your current situation.”
He points at me, everything going white.
“Now go, and do not falter!”
I come to back in Fairy Hollow, looking down at the golden fluffy.
Not even seconds have passed out here in the real world. In the realm of the mind, time passes at the speed of thought, remember?
“See you later, I hope.”
He nods, and scurries off into the woods.
I look up at Gaius.
“I forgot to say this to him, but can you ask him not to do something like that again next time? That shit’s already gotten old.”
Gaius chuckles.
“I think he heard you, but if he didn’t, I’ll ask him.”
“Good, ‘cause--”
I look at my wrist, seeing the words “INCOMING CALL FROM: VENOM” on my COMP’s screen.
I quickly hold it up closer to my face.
“Accept.”
Venom’s slimy face appears on the screen with a worried expression, their saferoom at San Francisco’s Isabella Faucheuse Foundation branch visible in the background.
Yeah, I kinda forgot to mention that earlier, but it turns out that the Foundation was named after Doc’s wife. Erwin’s flagship branch back in Cetteville is on the site of Pierre and Isabella’s old house.
That saferoom serves as a home base for Venom in San Francisco. They’re not obligated to stay there, there’s a balcony for easy access, and a videophone to call me and other ChaotiX members. It’s been designed specifically to accommodate their needs.
Host and Klyntar speak as one, their voices sounding just as worried as their expression looks.
“Caw! We gutta teww yu sumfin-- howd awn, am yu in a fowest? Whewe AM yu wite nao?”
“England. Mar’s with me too.”
Marley floats up behind me, looking at the screen over my shoulder.
“Hewwo, Venom.”
“So what’s up, Little V? Something going on in San Francisco?”
“Yu CUD say dat, yus. Caw, we fink dat Cawnage am come-in back tu San Fwan-siss-koh. An he nu am come-in fow US.”
“So why is he coming back?”
It’s at this point that the second bomb of the day is dropped on me.
“Cuz him SPAWN am come-in tu San Fwan-siss-koh tuu.”
Meanwhile, in New Jersey, the burning entity sits in his cave, still waiting.
He’s getting antsy. Surrounded by kindling, but the time to burn it all down has yet to arrive. If he had testicles, they’d be a vibrant shade of blue right now.
Even in death, his desire to burn everything to cinders dominates his mind, just like it did during his sixty-six million year tenure as the Incinerator feared across the universe.
And in death, being stripped of his identity as the Incinerator and the intoxicating power that came with it, he remembers clearly the events that lead him to become the Incinerator.
He remembers the events that lead him to discover one eighth of the strongest power in the universe.
He remembers why he wants to burn everything.
He remembers the true purpose that Vulcanus the Incinerator was meant to serve.
The entity’s train of thought is interrupted when he notices a black bear enter the cave, looking for a good place to hibernate.
The bear should have gone into hibernation a month or two ago, but food was a bit scarce around here this year.
And the bear has no idea that he just picked the worst cave to hibernate in.
He was drawn by the warmth, and has discovered the source of the heat too late.
WHAM
Something big, furry, black, and burning is sent flying out of the cave.
WHUMP
And the black bear lands dead on the ground several feet away from the cave, the body scorched even blacker and emitting heavy amounts of smoke.
The entity stomps out of the cave, a smug smile on his face, bits of bear fur and blood burning off of his massive fist.
“This pathetic planet has no shortage of creatures that are only good as kindling.”
He stomps off into the woods, looking for another cave to hide in.
He doesn’t want to be here when the bear is found.
And the fire he inadvertently started is quickly spreading.