Chapter 8: Power Limits
I mouthed those words, utterly bewildered by what I was seeing. I extended my fingers to the mirror to see if there would be any reaction but it just phased through it like the rest.
I noted this scene in my mind. I had no reflection in this state, meaning, visible light couldn't bounce off me, apart from my eyes since I could see.
It was an interesting discovery that brought a smile to my face because it meant I had invisibility as a sub-power anytime I was in this state.
And I could speak for almost ninety-nine percent of my gender who would agree with me that, invisibility had always been a childhood dream. Now, I was living it...
With a smile on my face, I hovered backward and phases through the wall, going back to my bedroom. I phased out of the desk and chair and stopped right in front of it. I checked the time again and realized I had three to four minutes left.
Enough time to do another important test. It came to my attention that anytime I was in this form, my clothes stayed on and I could touch or feel my skin and body.
Did that mean that anything attached to my skin or on my body was considered as my body? And did it mean that if I held something in my hands, like let's say my phone, and transition to this state, it would still be physical and not pass through me?
And if I decided to leave this physical thing in this state, and it falls on the ground, would I be able to touch it again among other things? I had to know the answers...
So I put my hand in my left pocket and took out my phone. I could feel its hardness and coldness and it seemed to work just fine when I pressed a key.
The only problem was, it couldn't receive any signal as indicated by the bar on the top right corner of the phone's screen.
Curious, I opened the camera app and what I saw surprised me. The entire display was pure white, as blank as a clean sheet of paper. I intentionally took a picture to see if there would be any changes but the result was the same, blank.
Suddenly, the screen started glitching, like static or scratches on a television when there was no signal. It was intensifying so I quickly switched it off, afraid it would spoil.
"Noted, never turn on the camera when I'm here." I shook my head with a wry smile and pocketed the phone.
This showed me that my power had to do with something related to space. My first guess was that I had shifted my body into a different dimension. I didn't know which one but it was probably one that mirrored the 'physical' dimension.
I wanted to test what would happen if I dropped my phone but I didn't know when I'd get a new one if it ended up destroying so I scheduled that test for later. I try it out with something less valuable, possibly a pen.
All that was left was the invisibility test but when I looked at the time, I was left with two to three minutes so I put it off for later in the day together with the object test.
But what I had observed and recorded about my power or ability was enough to make me confident and giddy. I could fly, phase through matter, and I left no traces of my existence, even cameras couldn't capture me.
The applications for using these subsets or sub-powers were almost endless. I could sneak up on someone without making a sound, phase back to physicality, and knock him off guard without the person being able to retaliate.
If I was held at gunpoint, I could transition and become essentially bulletproof. And anytime I was in a pinch, I could just transition and fly away. I'd have to work on the speed though but still, I would be able to escape anything.
If the invisibility was also true, then I would practically be invincible to normal people and even some superhumans. I also wasn't sure if this was all my power had to offer or if it could possibly evolve but it was enough for now.
There were limitations of course like my possible time limit, the need to transition back to the 'physical' dimension in order to hurt someone, my speed, and my weak physique.
There were speedsters in this world and any of them could catch me slacking if I did even a teeny tiny mistake. Especially since this body was trash in anything combat related.
There was a lot of work to do if I wanted to be on top of the food chain in this dangerous world but nonetheless, I was overly excited and my confidence bar had risen, almost reaching the limit...
A grin plastered on my face, I checked the time again and saw I had only a minute and half or two left so I decided to do something fun. It was time I explored the house...
I phased out of the room and imagined myself speeding up and it worked, just that I could feel some strain on my mind, and so with my newfound speed akin to a sprint, I started exploring the parts of the house I hadn't been to.
I first went to my father's room. It was a large room painted blue with a black carpeted floor that had a well-laid King sized bed at the front head of the room, a large or wide desk holding large stacks of papers or files with an office chair in front of it, bookshelves filled with books that covered the walls, wardrobes, and fixed on the wall behind the bed were portraits of him, a familiar beautiful blonde haired woman, and me.
A woman who I was sure by now was the mother because my face greatly resembled hers, minus the eye color.
Seeing enough, I phased out of the room, moving downwards until I stopped in a large underground space. The walls, ceiling, and floor were painted brown but the floor was tiled. It was lit by a round lightbulb.
The back side of it was packed or filled with large stacks of boxes neatly ordered with markers.
The right side of the room had three washing machines, arranged beside each other, and the left side had, from what I could tell, the heating and cooling systems of the house and other technical or mechanical things.
Just as I had finished observing the place and was about to leave, I felt a painful tingling sensation in my brain so I stopped. I saw an analog clock on the wall and realized I had one minute left.
A part of me wanted to transition or shift back but my inner scientist wanted to find out more so I just hovered still and waited, feeling extremely nervous inside as the tingling sensation increased.
"It's for science Nana, we are doing it for science..." I told myself to calm myself down as it was almost time. I hoped I won't regret this...
The next moment, my power disappeared and just like before, I fell on my ass, and immediately, the accursed nausea and splitting headache settled in.
The nausea this time was a little bearable since I didn't necessarily feel like puking but the headache was atrocious. It felt like hundreds of ants were gnawing on my brain.
I held my head in agony and lay on the floor, almost about to scream as my body shook.
My resistance was waning as time passed due to the increasing pain and just as I opened my mouth to scream, the pain and nausea vanished like it never wasn't there.
"Fuck this shit! Why did it feel my own freaking power was punishing me!?" I cursed loudly in anger, as I forced myself to get up, breathing heavily.
I still had strength in my body but I felt drained, as if all my energy was taken away from me.
I was pissed but at the same time I was elated since I now knew my limit. I could shift into the other dimension for eight minutes and I had a one minute warning signal before the shit hit the fan.
I wasn't exactly sure why I had a time limit but I could guess. It was related to my brain. It was possible that my brain wasn't equipped to fully handle information from that dimension hence, the deactivation accompanied by headache and nausea.
I could vaguely recall something like this happening to some of the superhumans with overpowered abilities.
Sylar for instance, got an obsession that bordered extreme hunger to cut open people's brains to study from his power and Hiro got something like a brain disease or something from manipulating time and space willy-nilly.
This should that certain powers could fuck you up if you were careless. But with proper well-planned training, these things could be overcome since Hiro didn't die and Sylar managed to suppress his killer instincts.
If I didn't want to get a brain aneurysm or turn out like Hiro then I'd have to train and do this step by step till I don't have any issue.
The brain was a relatively malleable organ that could adapt or be trained so I just had to be careful and not push myself too much. Wouldn't want to off myself this early...
My anger subsided, I straightened myself properly and climbed out of the basement, using the stairs. I arrived at the surface and almost stumbled but I gritted my teeth and walked to the kitchen.
Opening the fridge, my eyes scanned it and dismissed the groceries to fall on a small crate of stylish glass bottles that stored violet-colored grape juice. The label read 'Grapee'.
I took one bottle from the crate, closed the fridge, and walked to sit on one of the white couches in the living room. It was soft and comfortable.
My eyes fell on the television and now bored and exhausted, I stretched my hand, as I bent, to the remote which was on the rectangular glass table in front of me.
Grabbing it, I switched on the television and put the remote aside, opening the plastic lid of the chilled bottle. The news started to play as I drank mouthfuls of the satisfying and sweet juice. I could see why the original liked it...
"Coming in, we have confirmation that the anticipated solar eclipse will happen at approximately four-thirty pm. If you want to enjoy it with style, I recommend you buy some shades.
"More on Channel Five news, a wanted man by the name of D.L H...."
My mind tuned out the rest of the news the moment I remembered what the solar eclipse meant.
The plot was starting and this meant that whatever grace period I had was now thrown out of the window. A whole lot of crazy shit was about to happen and I was very likely to be in the middle of it all.
If it was the me from yesterday, I would be scared and freaked out but now, I didn't care.
I was more or less prepared and equipped to secure my safety and that was all that mattered...
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