Knight Time

Hi everyone! At the beginning of April, I helped found a project group called The ChronoKnights, with our main goal being to be our own protagonists in an in-game story that we would write as we went along. (Think in terms of those choose-your-ending books, but a whole lot more interactive with many more options.) As an addendum, I have decided to write a story of the group's exploits. This is my first effort into creative writing of this kind, so bear with me (I guess, haha). I have to thank Michelle a.k.a. Dark_Respite for inspiring me to actually put my character's journey in writing.

If you end up liking what you read, feel free to read about the group here. Also, I welcome comments, and am no stranger to criticism (constructive, preferably) so feel free to leave both. The story starts with a prologue, which goes into more of the background of the team and one of the characters. You may skip it if you wish. Chapter 1 is the beginning of the team’s journey, and each subsequent chapter will hopefully be written from the perspective of a different team member. With that, I give you...

Knight Time

Prologue

Victor looked at his watch: 11:17am. He let loose a quiet but frustrated sigh. City Hall was surprisingly empty for this time on a Friday, yet Azuria seemed to be running late, again. It is not that Victor had much else to do once he returned to the Paragon Paradox Partnership, but he did eventually have to get back. He just hated sitting in the near-empty hall outside the M.A.G.I. offices, with nothing to do, and waiting on someone who clearly did not value his time. A glance to his right revealed a newspaper someone had left on the bench. Headlines like, "Heroes to Advance On Praetoria" and "Pocket D becoming militarized?" were scattered across the page. It seemed like the entire city, including the company for which he worked, was being affected by the now-almost-immanent war. Back at the PPP building, their technology lab's equipment was working overtime, analyzing the temporal and dimensional rifts that had been occurring all over the city. None had lasted for more than a few milliseconds, and had therefore gone unnoticed by the general public, but it was clear that something was upsetting the long-standing balance. Before his imagination could run too far off, his thoughts were interrupted. "Mr. Luminski? Thank you for waiting, Azuria will see you now."

"Hello Victor, nice to see you again. I'll get straight to the point." Azuria's tone was short, as if she had a lot to do and not enough time to do it. She waved her hand over the desk, revealing a small vial containing a glowing silver liquid substance. He assumed a concealment spell had been placed on it to keep it out of view from unwanted eyes. "That was turned in to me by a veteran hero yesterday. It is called a "Drop of the Well," with "Well" being a reference to the Well of the Furies." Victor knew that, and was bemused that Azuria felt the need to clarify. It was common knowledge by now that Statesman had inherited his abilities from this obscure object, and also that the Well had recently begun showing interest in many veteran heroes. "He had no need of this component, and therefore turned it in to us in hopes that analysis may grant us some better understanding of the Well's behavior."

"I am not quite understanding what the PPP has to do with any of this..." Victor was gentle and inquisitive with his tone, but he was genuinely hoping that he had not been called here for nothing.

"More than you think." Azuria grinned. "You see, those rifts that you and the rest of your company have detected have occurred each and every time an item like this," she gestured to the vial, "came into existence in our world. The Well is playing with the fabric of our reality, under the guise of awarding super-powered beings with components to make them stronger. While our magic diviners have been working tirelessly to analyze these objects, we believe a technical analysis of the chemical make-up of this substance may help to find its point of origin."

Victor nodded, understanding. "Is there any particular way I need to handle this for transport?"

"No. And since we want to avoid suspicion, I recommend your inside jacket pocket." She handed him the vial, and it was clear in her tone that their conversation was done, so Victor took it and made his way outside.

The day was bright and sunny, for which Victor was grateful: his interaction with Azuria had left him rather peeved. As he made his way around City Hall and toward the north end of Atlas Plaza, he could see some heroes quelling a group of Hellions that had been loitering in the parking lot. Victor was quite skilled in avoiding encounters with these hot heads, but he was glad that, at least for today, there was a clear path across the lot and to the street.

The PPP building stood tall behind the hospital. There was still scaffolding around the 16th floor, where the Freakshow had decided to pay a visit only a month before. It had been short-lived though, as a couple heroes had them quickly subdued. Victor still remembered watching them march the Freakshow out the front door with the help of the PPD. He had recognized one from the papers, a tall man clad in blue, bearing a shield with a bird of prey emblazoned on it. As Victor approached the street, he felt grateful that there were so many heroes around to protect the city. He had never had the desire to be a savior, so it was a good thing so many others were glad to have the job.

The light changed and Victor stepped into the street, and heard a terrible screech of tires coming from behind him. He turned in time to see a car speeding around the corner and slamming on the breaks. Victor, having been lost in his thoughts, had no time to react. He faced the car with the intention of trying to jump on its hood, but it was moving too fast, and instead his torso slammed down on top of it. He felt a blunt pain on his chest, followed by a brief sense of weightlessness, then finally a scraping sensation on his back and head. Shocked, he lay there in the street, vaguely aware of people's screams and yells. Someone was now casting a shadow over his face, grasping his arm. As the shadow moved, the sunlight filled his eyes. In that instant, he was aware of only two things: that this must be the end, and that the light-before-death cliche was actually true.

The light filled his head, and he could feel it as it passed down through his body, every muscle fiber and nerve relaxing, becoming dead weight. Victor had no energy to fight it, he resigned himself to the feeling. Then there was a voice. A tonal quality not unlike his own, but with a far-away quality, as if it was an echo he was hearing from someone on the opposite side of a cave. "Thou art called Victor. Though I carry no moniker, your ancestors bestowed upon me the name of Aether. You lie near death, a death that would be caused by no fault of your own, and yet you have no will to fight for your life. Why?..."

There was nothing in Victor's consciousness but pure, uninhibited instinct, and his impulse was to answer. "Fate is beyond my control. If my life's journey is meant to end here, then no amount of resistance will change that."

"...Fate is the reason I have come to you. The Fates, or Furies as you know them, are testing the limits of their powers. I speak to you now as but a fragment of my former self, carelessly tossed from the Well into your world. The Fates have decided to upset the balance of your world, not only by infusing the gifted individuals among you with great power, but by introducing new ones as well. I cannot allow this to happen. I have watched civilization implode too many times due to unchecked power in the hands of those who do not comprehend the responsibility they have inherited. However, a man without even the will to live knows the value of power. You, Victor, shall fight as my champion. You shall fight Fate, and you shall not die this day..."

The light that had filled Victor's body surged even more brilliantly than before. Air flooded his lungs, his eyes were wrenched open, and he sat up abruptly. But he was no longer in the street, rather a hospital bed. Bewildered, he frantically looked around the room, unsure of what had just happened. Had be been dreaming? Was he still? How did he get here? How much time had passed? Where were his clothes? Questions flooded his brain so fast he could barely process them all. Then he spotted his watch on the bedside table. The date window, where the 3 would normally have been on the watch face, displayed "5." As far as Victor was concerned it had only been a few minutes since he had been struck by that car. In reality, two days had passed. He assumed he had been rushed to the hospital after the accident.

The accident! Victor checked himself, looking for any physical sign of trauma, but found nothing, not even a scratch. The only thing he noticed was a sensitive patch of skin on the left side of his chest, as though he had been burned there and it had all but healed. No visual indicators existed that he had ever been hit by that car, yet if it had not happened, there would be no reason for him to be in this hospital bed. Slowly regaining his senses, he noticed the room was obnoxiously bright, yet when he glanced up to examine the lighting, he discovered the lights were off. Torn between the notion that he was, in fact, still dreaming, or that he was crazy, he lay back on the bed, and that’s when he noticed that it was his own body that was illuminating the room. Panicking, Victor squirmed, rubbing his arms and legs, as if this was some powder he could just brush off. But as the heart monitor’s tone pace increased, he only grew brighter. Noticing the correlation, he closed his eyes and stopped moving. Breathe, he thought, just breathe and calm down. Within a minute, he could hear the monitor’s pace slow considerably, and as he opened his eyes, the room was dark except for the little blade of dusk sun creeping in between the closed drapes.

Something had happened to him, of that much he was sure. But what exactly… he had to find out.

***

Victor was released the next day, much to the doctors' confusion. By their accounts, he had been comatose and in poor physical conditions only the day before. After hours of tests, the doctors signed off on his release form. Victor made up a story that a bored Empath hero must have made a pass through the hospital recently, and before they could counter with the obvious argument that none of the other patients had recovered so quickly, Victor was out the door. He did not even care that they somehow had misplaced his jacket, he wanted out. He knew he needed to keep up normal appearances, so he walked slowly to keep his heart rate down, lest he start glowing in the middle of the street. Thankfully, his condo on Hyperion Way was only a couple blocks walk from the hospital.

As soon as he got home, he locked the door, closed the blinds, and sat at his computer. The first thing he noticed was a message in his inbox, from his colleague at the PPP lab.

Chapter I – Step Up, Step Out

Victor Luminski stepped out of his condominium building, onto Hyperion Way, with a shaky but resolute sigh, and set off toward Atlas Plaza. He passed the park where he had spent many a warm day with a good book and a cool drink. Then hurried past the alleyway that was currently swarming with Hellions. As he neared Wentworth’s, he paused to look. Inside, there were at least 8 heroes, colorfully clad, some glowing and some on fire, all quietly buying and selling things that, up until yesterday, had no meaning for him.

Over just a few days, Victor had been hit by a car, nearly died, woken up in a hospital bed, and was now basically a human light bulb thanks to the soul of the Greek titan Aether that was now a permanent resident inside his head. Victor felt dizzy. Where would he begin? He decided the best thing to do would be to ask someone who knew the ropes. Tentatively, he approached one of the supers in Wentworth’s. This young lady was clad in what looked like a black and crimson patent leather suit, with goggles and a cape; far more approachable than the 7ft tall armored behemoth (who also happened to be on fire) standing only a few feet away.

“Excuse me, miss?” She turned around, but looked surprised. Victor doubted she expected to see a man with civilian attire and glasses. “This is probably the most awkward thing I’ve ever asked but… I recently discovered that I may have super powers, and I was wondering whom I would talk to about… that.” He had a sudden urge to run away, but that would have been no-less-crazy looking than what he was doing right now.

She smiled and laughed. “I must say, I’ve never been asked that before. First off, I’m Meg, short for Meg A Zap.” She shook his hand. “I would say the first person to talk to would probably be Ms. Liberty, the trainer over in Atlas Park. If you give me a sec to finish this transaction, I’d be happy to introduce you.” Victor nodded, gratefully, and a few moments later they were on their way.

“So… I have to ask, how do you know you have super powers?”

“It is easiest if I just show you.” Victor concentrated, breathing deeply, closing his eyes, and tried to imagine himself as Aether.

“Oh!” He heard Meg say. He opened his eyes to see that he was glowing quite brilliantly, drawing more than a couple of stares from civilians on the sidewalk. As soon as he felt embarrassment come over him, the light faded. “I’d say that definitely qualifies!” Meg’s amusement lightened Victor’s mood.

Victor explained all that had happened to him recently as they neared the plaza. The shadow of the Atlas statue was already starting to engulf the eastern half of the park as the sun began its slow descent toward the West. Meg was a good listener. He knew he sounded like a dummy explaining super powers to someone with super powers, but he was glad for the company. Meg pointed at a blond woman in the distance, “That’s her.”

Victor had seen Ms. Liberty plenty of times before, both in the papers and in person since she was the trainer in Atlas Park and therefore was around most of the time. But he had never had a reason to talk to her. This was going to be interesting…

“Ms. Liberty,” Meg called, “I would like to introduce Victor Luminski to you. It seems he has had a rough couple of days, the culmination of which left him with a rather ‘brilliant’ gift!” Meg shot him a glance with the pun.

“Let me guess… light powers?” Ms. Liberty smiled as Victor gave a forced half grin. “Don’t looked so ashamed! You are in good hands. Thank you, Meg, I’ll take it from here.”

“Very well.” Meg turned to Victor, “It was very nice meeting you Victor. Here’s my contact information. If you ever have any questions, feel free to drop me a line. I have a feeling Ms. Liberty will be a bit busy to answer some of your questions.” With that, she gave Ms. Liberty a knowing wink, and took off into the sky. Victor felt amazed and alone as he watched the first friendly face he had met fly off into the clouds!

“Ms. Liberty, before you say anything more… I’m not sure I’m cut out to be a hero. I mean, I avoid Hellions like the plague, and now it seems like I am going to be expected to confront them. I just don’t think I have it in me.”

“Victor, I will be straight and to the point with you. You now have abilities, and I am assuming you are somewhat in control of these abilities, given the fact that you are standing here asking me for help and not checking yourself into a psych ward. You can either accept that this is your time, or you can wallow in denial for a while longer. Either way, you are eventually going to be in a bad situation, knowing that you have the power to stop it. Would you rather be in that situation by your own choosing, thus giving you an element of control? Or would your prefer to be on your back, against all odds, before you decide to see exactly what it is you are capable of?”

Victor was dumbstruck, offended, and galvanized all within an instant. He now understood how this cute blonde could run a militarily based faction like Longbow. “What do I have to do?”

She grinned. “That’s more like it. First, you need to discover your powers. I recommend taking out some Hellions around the rim of the plaza. They are usually the lowest of the low, grunts with bats and knives. If you take out a few of them, you might have a better idea of exactly what your abilities are.”

Victor didn’t need to be told twice, he turned and headed for the south rim of the plaza. Adrenaline was already pumping in his veins, so he kept up the jogging. Best to make use of it before his nerves get the better of him. He saw a group of Hellions in the distance, and stopped. They were attempting to steal some poor woman’s purse. But what was he supposed to do? Point and yell “SHAZAM!!” and hope something happens?! A familiar voice caught him by surprise with an answer. “ Remember what she told you: this is your time.” Aether was right. So Victor closed his eyes, raised his arms toward the hellions, and said quietly to himself, “This is my time.”

PHROW PHROW PHRRROOOWW

He opened his eyes just in time to see 5 bolts of yellowish white light burst forth from his fists. They flew toward his target, and knocked the guy flat on his back. Victor couldn’t believe what he had just done! But his victory was short lived. The Hellion’s buddy had pushed the lady to the ground and was now running toward him with a bat! Victor panicked, and tried to ready himself to catch the blow, but it was to late, and the Hellion caught him right in the side of his stomach.

Victor stumbled to the side, winded. That really hurt! He decided to hell with the super powers. If someone was going to hit him, he was going to hit back. Victor stood up and wound up, intending on giving the guy a taste of his own medicine with a nice punch to the gut. And as he went for the hit, his fists began to glow with the same energy he had just fired a few seconds ago. Then BAM! A hit that would have normally simply knocked the wind out of this guy now sent him flying about 20 feet backward, landing in a heap on the sidewalk. This was more like it!

No time for celebration though, the other guy had gotten back on his feet. Victor was getting the hang of this, so he turned toward the guy, raised his fists and concentrated, sending another 5 bolts of light straight into his first target. He ran over to the once-again prone adversary, and determined that he wasn’t getting up after that one. Victor turned, ready to dispatch the final thug, but to his surprise, the guy was running! Apparently Victor had put up a good front. But there was no way this guy was getting away. Victor instinctually chased after him, following him into the field in the plaza. Wait, he thought, why don’t I just shoot him!? Shaking his head at his own illogical decision, he planted his feet, raised his hands, and fired, catching the thug in the back and knocking him to the ground.

He had done it. He had saved a woman from being robbed, by himself, by harnessing energy that he had been in possession of for less than a day. His side still hurt, and there would definitely be a bruise there, but it was hardly worth getting worked up over. “You are the best!” A voice said from behind him. He turned to see the woman coming up to him.

“I can’t thank you enough. It’s not much, but please let me give you something for your kindness.” Before he could protest, the lady handed him some currency. Though he felt it was not necessary, who was he to turn down a monetary gift? He gratefully accepted, and she left him. Proud and surprised, he returned to Ms. Liberty.

“That was rather impressive. Most can’t put an enemy down that quickly.” Victor smiled at the compliment, and Ms. Liberty pulled out a blank ID card. “Given that you were able to dispatch those guys with a minimum number of hits, and that your obvious main offensive tactic is ranged blasts, I’m going to classify you as a blaster.” Victor liked the sound of that. “What would you say the origin of your powers are?” Victor started to explain (again) how he had obtained his powers, but Ms. Liberty cut him off. “If you don’t mind, an abbreviated version would be preferred.”

“Oh. Well…” He shrugged. Nothing he said at this point could possibly sound crazy. “An ancient Greek titan deity’s soul, who was the being of light, saved my life and is now in the passenger seat of my brain.”

Hiding an amused grin, Ms. Liberty continued scrbbling. “Okay, a Magical origin. You’re your primary attacks seem to be a type of energy blast, and your secondary attack was definitely using light energy to help you however you need, so I’ll call that energy manipulation. Now do you have a name?”

Victor was stuck. How was he supposed to just come up with a name on the spot? “Um… gee I dunno. I could go with something like, ‘Light Thrower!’ or something, but that sounds a bit cheesy, don’t you think?” Ms. Liberty smiled and nodded, but looked impatient. He had to make this quick. What is in a name? A name describes who you are, what a hero’s powers are, how a hero gets his powers, etc. Then he had it. “How about Essence of Aether? I think that pretty accurately describes what I've become.” Ms. Liberty gave him an agreeing look.

“Excellent! Then here you go. The rest is yours to fill out, at your leisure.”

Victor took the card, examining it. “Thanks! So now what?”

“Heh. You definitely need a costume. Not only do we not want to ruin those clothes of yours, but you have to protect your identity. Hellions are no big threat, but there are enemies in this city who could really cause you harm if they knew who you really were. But before anything else, you will need to talk to Azuria. She’s the contact here for Magic-origin super heroes.”

Victor’s heart sank. Having had previous dealings with Azuria, few of which he had enjoyed, he was not thrilled about the notion of interacting with her on a regular basis. But Ms. Liberty had yet to lead him astray. “Alright, thank you Ms. Liberty. Anything else I know before I head to City Hall?”

“Not really, except do come see once you’ve taken down a few more bad guys. Now that I know what your powers are and how they work, I can help you learn new abilities as you are ready for them.”

“Sounds great! Thank you very much. And… uh… I guess I can say this now: Away I go!” Victor headed toward City Hall, leaving Ms. Liberty shaking her head and smiling.

***

Much to Victor’s surprise, Azuria was expecting him! “I wasn’t waiting for you, necessarily, but I felt a very strong magical presence enter the building, which I assumed was a hero being sent to me.” Azuria’s tact was just as he remembered it. Victor was glad to see that some things in his life never changed.

Over the next hour, as per Azuria’s request, Victor explained everything that had happened to him since he left her company a few days before, being careful to account for every detail he could. When he had finished, Azuria looked concerned.

“This is bad. We know the Well has been taking quite an interest in our top heroes as of late, but we had no idea it was playing god by doling out abilities to every-day people. Who knows how many people are out there right now, in a similar predicament, but unlike you have chosen not to come out with their powers yet? Mmm.” Azuria quietly thought for a good few minutes.

“Victor I need you to do something for me.”

“I’ll do what I can.” He was finding it easier and easier to step up.

“I need you to get the word out to people like you. Use the internet, the newspaper, flyers, whatever you have to. M.A.G.I. can cover your costs, and I will spread the word to our affiliates in other parts of the city to have anyone who has suddenly found themselves with abilities to contact you. But I need someone to head this up, and you are most likely a step ahead of anyone else since you have decided to take control of your situation. Therefore, I am asking you to take a step further and take control of the whole thing.”

Victor was not expecting that “step up” to be such a big step! But Azuria was right. There were most likely other people out there, with voices in their heads, wondering how and why they now had powers. He remembered how he had felt only earlier that day: alone and lost. Those people did not deserve that.

“Alright. I’ll do it.”

“Thank you Victor. I assume you will be getting a costume soon?” It was a rhetorical, passive aggressive question. “I will let you know if I learn anything else about why the Well is behaving this way.” Victor found Azuria’s manner of farewell rather amusing. He had to laugh at it, otherwise he would just get annoyed for no reason.

As Victor walked back to his condo for the evening, he felt more confident than ever before. He had abilities, and was learning how to control them. But better yet: there was the possibility that he wasn't alone, that there were others out there with new powers, looking for guidance. And he was going to lead them.

Until next time...