Graven

Sunday, July 29, 2018

19 : Earth Mage

I was the world’s first superhuman. I suppose in some ways, that makes me responsible for everything that has happened since the Doorways appeared. Not that it was my fault that I was sent back with these strange powers, but that my actions which followed could easily be what kept more people going in.

If I hadn’t run away from the authorities, allowed myself to be tested, maybe we could have figured more out about the Doorways before it was too late.

If I hadn’t tried to follow some idiotic notion of being a superhero, made such a public spectacle of my abilities, maybe I wouldn’t have galvanized so many people to take their chance.

If I hadn’t been so squeamish about stopping my opponents for good, if I hadn’t abandoned my country for an easier life in a foreign land, maybe the women I had cared about would still be alive right now.

If I hadn’t…

18 : Hitchhiker

I’d only had three prior chances to possess a male superhuman, and it taught me several important things: One, that my own powers did not stack onto theirs, so the body didn’t get a strength boost from my joining them. Two, that while I still did not learn anything about the man I possessed, I had an innate knowledge of their powers and how to use them. Three, that the time limit on my possession was much shorter than with regular men.

My possession power got, for lack of a better word, “tired” after a while. I could stay in the body of a normal man for almost three days, before eventually I’d just pop out, feeling utterly exhausted. Even if I only spent one day in a man, I could feel fatigue start to set in; the host body also couldn’t go unconscious, either by sleep or by knock-out, or I’d pop out automatically. Holding the possession was like keeping a fist clenched indefinitely. It wasn’t difficult, precisely, but you had to put at least a little conscious effort keep it clenched, and eventually, your hand was going to get tired and cramped and be forced to relax.

I could, if I had to, jump from body to body to body in rapid succession, but the more times I jumped in a row, or the longer I stayed in a possession, the more I’d have to recover when I took a break.

17 : Hitchhiker

I’d never done any field work with the Fantasmas. My powers were simply never strong enough, no matter who I possessed, so I was never there for the actual fights. My work had always been to hide among the cartels and chip away at their networks from within. But it was my information that led the others to strike. Ghostwalker and his acolytes, in their righteous fury, held nothing back as they tried to cleanse the scum from our country. By the time I realized just how exacting our vengeance was going to be, I was in too deep to turn back.

And all the while, my constant tampering with drug and slave shipments, redirecting product, blowing up cargo, sending the kidnapped off into the wilderness to try and make their way back home, all that had its own consequences. I wouldn’t realize until much later just how bad the gang violence and cartel infighting had gotten, as they killed each other over their disrupted business, and didn’t care how many innocents were gunned down in the crossfire.

Ghostwalker may have been our leader, his supposedly god-given mission might have been what set us on the path, but in many ways, I was the one most responsible. They held the guns, I pulled the triggers. I kept pulling until finally, the United States couldn’t stand by any longer, and sent their hero teams to put us back in our place.

16 : Hitchhiker

I acted shocked, making an exaggerated look of surprise from Stocky’s face. “What the fuck?” I said with his voice. I looked at the other two. “Did she teleport?”

Handsome just whipped out a gun and shot me in the face, at the same time that Tall stabbed me in the back with another knife. The bullet bounced off “my” forehead and the knife blade slipped off my skin. I smiled.

“I guess my reputation precedes me,” I said.

15 : Hitchhiker

It was just past midnight, and once again, a phantom roamed the streets of Toluca. That phantom was me, and I was on the prowl for flesh of men. Hmmm, that probably sounded bad when I put it like that. Don’t worry, it’s probably not what you’re thinking.

I wasn’t going to just go into a bar and service the first drunk douche bag who offered to buy me a drink, though. There was no thrill in that. I preferred the hunt. I preferred men of a more bestial breed. And the best way to start the hunt was to set the bait.

14 : Strider

Glory still just hovered there, holding me, not reacting to the Earth Mage, not even reacting to me beyond the fulfillment of her last order to capture me. The Earth Mage spoke her name, asked her what she remembered. She didn’t say a thing.

“Listen, the only one that’s going to make her talk is Knock-Off, her creator,” I said. “Get me loose, get me on the ground, and I can take you to her.”

The Earth Mage had to tear his attention away from her. He looked at me for a moment, floated to the ground, paused, then floated back up. With a surge of strength, he pried Glory’s fingers from my neck and wrist, letting me drop from her grip. He then grabbed me to try and float me down to the ground, but Glory instantly snatched me back up, this time holding me up by the shoulders.

“Shit,” I muttered.

13 : Strider

After an hour of melancholy brooding, I got bored with regret, and decided to shift the mental subject. I left that life behind to start anew. To rebirth myself from the ground up. This was a rocky start, sure, but I wasn’t dead yet. Or dead again yet. Or dead again-again yet.

Atalanta was a fuck up. I was going to be better. Whoever “I” was. I hadn’t actually even settled on a codename yet, just used a placeholder so far. I’d figure out something better later. Right now, I needed to figure out how to get back on the ground.

I looked to the two silhouettes. Although I couldn’t see their faces, I had the creepy feeling that they were just staring at me, unblinking. Their breaths wheezed slightly. “So, you guys ever talk?”

Neither responded.

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