Burden of Life (Solo Quest)

Dread wrote:Masses of people strolled through the park to John’s rising frustration. It was not a holiday, but the sun had shined all day and people naturally took advantage of the good weather. He had observed several families enjoying their outings; some had opted to picnic beneath the cherry blossom trees that grew in abundance in the park. They attracted a surplus of tourists. Others crowded on the redwood bridge that divided the park horizontally in half. It overlooked a shallow and clear pond within which koi had been deposited some years ago for decoration.

John watched the comings and goings of friends, families, and even vendors; he observed them all from the topmost spire of a skyscraping building that had been constructed with beauty in mind despite its apparent corporate purpose. Children demanded ice cream when a white truck, decorated on either side with stickers of frozen treats and stamped with prices, rolled into view while playing a cheerful tune. Some parents denied their children while others catered to their desires. John heard an equal measure of wails and cheers.

John had no reason to be happy, but he also needed to eat; he had not managed to stomach Mr. Popo’s cooking back on the Lookout. He had been far too stressed out to eat then and, while he continued worrying over Tabitha’s safety, his empty stomach demanded food. It growled promises at him that it would keep down solids. John finally relented to his physical demands.

He flew down toward a vendor selling hotdogs along a path that meandered through many of the cherry blossom trees. The salesmen among many other people gawked at the oddly dressed flying man. John ignored the stares because he was used to receiving such unwanted attention. He casually proceeded to the hotdog cart. "I'd like to purchase two all-beef franks with mustard, dill relish, onions, and jalapenos." He said and waited, but the vendor only continued staring at him in disbelief. John thought of something to say, but all that eventually came out of his mouth was, "I'm a superhero...A very hungry superhero." People nodded and murmured amongst themselves, finding the explanation agreeable; the vendor was happily satisfied when John paid for his food in full.

He returned to his makeshift observational post with his dinner in both hands. “She is going to arrive any minute,” John said to himself when the sun started to set. “I cannot guarantee the safety of all these people when she comes.” He looked to the sky and wished for rain; there were clouds in abundance, but they were all scattered and white turned golden by the setting sun. It would not rain that night unless a miracle happened. “I wonder,” John began; he then left his perch with an idea.

He rose into the sky until he overlooked the sparsely spread clouds; he examined them then rose even higher until over a dozen more clouds entered his peripheral vision. He spread his arms out wide and angled his hands in front of him. He closed his eyes and focused until he entered a meditative state thousands of feet above the ground. He then directed his life energy, a small portion of it, outward and cast it into the wind.

He motioned not only his energy, but also the wind itself toward and into the clouds. The sudden change in the weather pattern would not go unnoticed. He had to work quickly before anyone realized he was responsible for the abnormal activity. He willed the clouds to congregate and they moved faster than he had expected. They soon became one roiling dark mass that centered itself directly above the park. John opened his eyes when he had finished his task; he actually managed to smile because he had succeeded. The single storm cloud had grown far larger than John had expected, but it pleased him because a small storm would have drawn greater suspicion.

Flashes of lightning flashed within the cloud and it soon rumbled its thunderous warnings to the people below. John marveled his own creation; it had taken little effort on his part to make it given his telekinetic abilities and the naturally available materials.

He descended through the cloud and literally felt the electricity in the air. He emerged from the storm’s underside where he noticed people quickly packing into their cars to leave for home. Many others walked or biked, some among that majority stared into the sky; they appeared confused and disappointed. Some remarked how the weather man never got things right.

John frowned when some people pointed at him as he headed toward the redwood bridge. He shook his head sadly as it began raining and citizens remained to stare at him. He had hoped for a speedier evacuation of what would soon become a battleground in which at least one life would be lost. He had tried his hand at subtlety because he did not want to terrify people and attract the attention of law enforcement. Where was the point in that, however? His opponent would not, in all likelihood, exercise similar discretion.

John placed one foot down onto the bridge; no one dared stand on it with him, which allowed him to perform his next trick. Without moving, John directed his will onto the bridge just as he had done with the clouds. The bridge groaned and creaked for a few seconds. The members of John’s small audience backed away fearfully. The bridge issued a series of bloodcurdling cracks; the people’s reaction was the same to a gunshot. They began to scream and run. The bridge then exploded all around John into millions of splinters with a thunderous bang as though blown apart by dynamite. The fragments splashed into the pond and were accompanied by heavy raindrops. The terror of John’s observers peaked and they all ran far away from him

GO HOME! John shouted into the mind of every adult that remained within a hundred yards of him in any direction. He could not control people; he could not force them to do anything against their will, but he could make them afraid and he could use that fear to convince them into doing what he asked of them. It was an addictive and horrible way to get things done and, for that reason, John hated it!

Dread wrote:Applause intermixed with the shower of rain; John would have mistaken it for water fall had he not sensed an approaching power. He rotated around while continuing to levitate. He stared down at the source of the noise. He faced a redheaded young woman; she had both the figure and smile of a cheerleader. Her skin was the color of almonds and, from his vantage point, appeared perfectly smooth. Rain slipped from her body as though running down the side of a glass. John stared at her in shock because she, like him, was a teenager! She floated toward him over the water.

“I’m glad I was in time to watch you put on a show.” She said to him.

She wore a white blouse, a small blue skirt, white nylons, and black shoes. She could have easily been mistaken for a private school student. “You can’t be,” John breathed.

“Can’t be what, John?” Her smile widened when John’s eyes widened; she lifted a hand over her mouth and giggled softly.

She flew around him in a single circle, but before she could pass him a second time, he reached out and backhanded her. She crashed into the pond below with a spectacular splash. John descended and watched the water carefully for disturbances other than the ones caused by the rain. He held a palm over the water where he anticipated her emergence. Her head broke the surface at the same moment that a black sphere of ki formed above it. John’s eyes narrowed at her. It was her turn to be surprised.

“I’m a lady; you can’t just-” She stopped when John revealed no emotion; she bit her lip in thought.

“Where is the girl?” John asked.

“What girl?” She coyly replied.

John deeply frowned at her then released his attack upon her. It exploded upon contact with her head and scattered water from the pond and from the storm. John used his telekinesis to split the pond around the girl; instead of sinking, she fell onto the pond’s muddy bottom. “Stop playing dead unless death is you wish.” John commanded as he prepared two more energy blasts above his hands.

She shivered and sobbed. “You don’t even know who I am and you just attack,” She whined without even bothering to look at John.

He refused to buy into her act; she wanted him to know she was coming. Her true power had flared only for a moment when he first glanced at her. John unleashed his twin blasts at once onto her; she shrieked as blackness erupted all around her and engulfed her form. “That was your last warning,” John spoke as mud crashed down all around from his last attack. “Show me where the girl is or I will make you suffer until you comply.”

To drive his point across, John held his arms out ahead of him and allowed his true power to surface. A black chain appeared that linked his wrists to one another. John blinked slowly once and directed the entirety of his will onto the central link. It cracked as loudly as a gunshot then snapped cleanly in half. The two chain halves fell from one another; each dangled from John’s wrist that adjoined it. Anyone for miles or atop the Lookout capable of sensing energy would have sensed a nightmarish abundance of it surging from John. He was pissed off.

“Is that it?” The girl asked as she picked herself up and joined John in the air. Their eyes met; hers were hazelnut brown. “I mean, it’s impressive and all, but I don’t think it will be enough to help you.”

She lifted both her hands high above her head so that her slim body formed an arrow. Incredible heat poured from her skin until a flaming energy burst from her hands and raced down her form until it reached the bottoms of her shoes. She appeared to be on fire, but John’s senses informed him of the truth. She was changing! Her hair had formed into perfect and blinding red points like the markings on a compass. Her skin had turned pure white with the exception of her lips; they had become charcoal black. “I don’t think you can make me suffer, John, but you’re welcome to try,” She laughed at him; he gazed blankly back at her.

She had ascended beyond humanity just as John had, but her ascension put his to shame. He had lost his previous confidence and resolve because, in her presence, he suddenly felt unfulfilled. Their transformations were different in appearance, but John knew they were both meant to achieve the same objective by nature’s design. He had fallen short of that objective. The obviousness of his situation hit home hard. His power was incomplete. “Why?” John asked.

“Why, what?” She asked.

“If you have this kind of power then why did you take the girl?” He demanded. “You never needed her!”

“You’re right, John. I didn’t need her,” She confessed.

“Then why did you take her?” John shouted.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out,” She teased. “Don’t look at me like that, John. If you really want to know where she is; all you have to do is look.” She pointed her right arm to John’s left and he dared to follow her pointing finger.

Dread wrote:John soon found himself staring at one of many cherry blossom trees. A sudden streak of lightning coming from that direction shed light on a most horrific scene. A child hung from the tree. An all-consuming silence muted all sounds within the world for John and time seemed to slow.

Not her. He thought. Make it me. Take me instead. Don’t you dare take her! John did not know who, if anyone, he was directing his thoughts toward, but he did not care. Of course you won’t take me. What am I? I am nothing to anyone! But her; people care about her. She has a family damn it!

His eyes warmed as tears formed and began to blur his vision. Seconds ticked by slowly then crashing thunder shattered the silence and roared in time with his waxing fury. He tore his eyes away from the tree and glared at the woman. “Why did you do it?” He screamed at her. “I don’t care about the money! I don’t care about this tournament! I don’t care about my teacher! I don’t care about me! And I certainly don’t care if I die!” He paused to catch his breath.

He then growled, “But that girl and her mother; you knew I cared for them. I am going to send you to hell for this even if I have to drag you down with me!” He yelled.

“Would you shut up for ten seconds and listen?” The lady asked him. “The girl isn’t dead.”

John looked back to the tree and heard a familiar sound that filled him with immense relief. He heard Tabitha wailing from the tree. He squinted and saw that she had been safely harnessed to a thick branch. “Are you happy now?” She asked him. “You know where she is and she’s ready to go home.”

John glared back at her; his hatred toward her remained as powerful as ever from the moment he thought Tabitha had been killed. “All you have to do is die and I’ll make sure she sees her dear mommy again. I may even give them a little prize money.” She told John.

“Is that all you care about?” John demanded of her. “The money?”

“Of course!” She replied. “Think of all you could do with that kind of cash! You could buy your very own planet with it! Believe me, I checked.”

“You would do anything for money so long as the price is right.” John growled, barely keeping his anger in check. “You must learn you cannot simply do as you please to get your way.”

“You’re not my dad,” She automatically retorted. “Besides, what can you do? You’re weaker than me.”

“You are right about one thing,” John told her. “I am not your father; he failed to teach you right from wrong. I am sorely tempted to kill you for involving the people I care about, but I will save you and those you would harm. You are my responsibility.”

“What kind of talk is that?” She asked.

“The preservation of life has become my burden.” John spoke solemnly. “I accept.”

She smirked at him then began to giggle. Her giggles became maniacal cackles. Her laughter eventually subsided. “You’re funny,” She told him. “Nuts, but definitely funny.”

John gritted his teeth, but not at her insult. She had already done everything she could to earn his ire, but he already promised himself he would not kill her. He did not know how someone like her had received her level of power, but he knew how someone like him could attain it. He did not know how he came upon such knowledge; all he understood was that it was the same as the last time.

Just like before, he had been forced to make a difficult decision, but his resolve in his choice had been absolute at the time. He had earlier made a promise to a good woman to find and return her daughter to her. His second decision was far more difficult and painful; it cracked his soul, freeing something greater and far more terrible than anything he had previously exhibited.

He willingly chose to set aside all his desires for love, family, companionship, and home. He could do things that other people could not and he, more than most other people, needed to make a sacrifice. He would use his power not to pursue his dreams and goals, but to benefit those who needed it most. It was not fair, but it was just. The transformation commenced.

His beard tapered to a sharpened point that jutted from his chin. The edges of his hair sprouted upward into spikes so that it resembled a crown fashioned from obsidian. Some of John’s residual energy crystallized above the tips of his transformed hair into floating and colorless jewels. They maintained their positions no matter what. One jewel among the dozens that materialized appeared larger than the rest; it was the size of a large marble. The chief jewel rose above all others from the tallest and centermost spike of his “crown”.

The rest of John’s body was shrouded entirely in darkness with the exception of his eyes. They glowed with eerie green light. His enemy had been kind enough to reveal to him that he could summon his aura while also ascending. He used that to even the playing field between him and his opponent. “Impossible,” His enemy spoke just above a whisper.

“It is time you learned your place,” John announced.

“Aren’t you afraid of what happens to the girl if we fight each other?” She asked; John had adopted silence as he often did when he determined that the time for talk had ended between him and an opponent. “Alright then, bring it on.” She said with a smile.

It was then that John heard the telltale sirens of approaching police cruisers. He had feared the arrival and interference of local law enforcement. He doubted he could ensure Tabitha’s safety let alone hers and those of police officers. John quickly devised something to say to his opponent and believed the presence of police might actually ensure Tabitha’s safety after all. “We should fight elsewhere,” John told her.

“Why? Are you afraid ‘innocent’ people might get hurt?” She accurately guessed; she knew more about him than he wanted to admit, but he had already guessed her game and was prepared to beat her at it.

“Anyone who interferes will distract you as well and now that I’ve grown more powerful, you cannot afford to waste energy dealing with distractions.” John told her.

She was silent for a little while; sirens wailed louder as the closed in on the park. “Fine, then, but I get to choose where we fight, but you have to fly in front of me.” She conceded.

“No; we will fly side by side,” John negotiated.

“Deal,” She agreed; with that, John and his fellow contestant departed the crime scene as one.

Your daughter is safe. John messaged Tabitha’s mother. The police will bring her back to you.

What about you John? The woman asked. Aren’t you coming home?

Not today. John answered.

When? She pressed.

I don’t know. John replied in all honesty.

Thank you, John. Thank you for everything you have done for me. She messaged.

You are worth everything I have to give and more. John messaged back.