Chapter 16: A story of a past
I was once what humans call thief, but not any kind of thief but one that roamed planets, galaxies, universes.
I would take what I want, do what I want and be on my way, no one could catch me, I was strong, I was fast, I would never freeze, I was unstoppable.
From a moral point of view what I did was wrong, definitely a lot of sins if put into human terms and beliefs but the previous me didn't know or rather didn't understand any of those ethics or moral things.
I was like a beast, a monster, I liked eating, sleeping and having fun from time to time, and by fun I did many things that I regret and I am ashamed to admit.
My story begins when I was eyeing my next planet, planet G-reen was a planet million and millions of light years away from earth, in fact I didn't know of planet earth back then.
Anyway, the planet was a perfect place, rich with flora and fauna with an ecosystem and environment that most creatures would find suitable for their survival, the planet was recently discovered and the creatures on it were too primitive to be a threat to most other creatures who eyed that planet back then.
A ten meters tall giant with blue skin, bald head, long pointy ears and a long red beard, my skin was covered with several small hard scales which made me look as if I always was wearing some sort of armor, that was me, the being called Goliath, I looked a bit similar to those dragons in human myths but not exactly as my appearance was more humanoid, as for clothes, they were made from leathers of foes I beat and preys I hunted.
I am a decedent of a race called 'Golioraks', at least before they died in that accident I caused, which made the planet explode and the debris reached the close neighboring planets making lots of them explode as a reaction and unfortunately for me, there were survivors that suffered the consequences because their planets were part of the same solar system and… well, things happened, point is, they kept chasing me once they knew I was the cause and that I survived, nevertheless they never caught me, however, I became a wanted man for several years.
Anyway, as I got news of planet G-reen I hurried there, food, creatures, plants, lands, I thought many would be interested in the planet and would come as well, thus I could have all the fun I want hunting the primitives and preparing traps for the others who will come to claim that planet and then either kill them or sell them the planet at a high price, after all, even though killing creatures was my best joy back then but then again given how many creatures were after my head, I had to time when to strike and when to not.
Not to mention travelling, taking care of my weapons and other things to survive such life required a certain amount of wealth which I got mostly by killing and rarely by making deals, as I said I really was a monster who only cared for his own well-being, entertainment and survival but then, I never expected that trip to end up in a disaster for me.
It was a cursed day, decision and trip, I didn't even reach the planet and got entangled in something bad, true it wasn't the first time I found myself in a mess but it was the first time I regretted something.
Sigh~
I was sitting in my chair looking at the big screen in front of me, the ship was on auto pilot since the planet was in sight, only a matter of minutes before reaching the planet's orbit, what could go wrong when I was so close?
My target was in sight, only waiting to be claimed, what could go wrong?
I was relaxing on my new chair with my legs on the board that was filled with a set of buttons and controls of whatever that piloting system was, I didn't care for what they were as I kept my hands crossed behind my head and I rested waiting for the landing signal.
Yet what reached my ears wasn't the kind of signal I was waiting for
*Warning! Warning! Warning! Warning! ….*
It was that kind of signal as it continued on and on.
I didn't know what to do as I looked at the screen searching for what caused that alert.
I wasn't smart enough to understand tech things, in fact that space ship wasn't even mine, I boarded it, or rather, I sneaked on it then waited for the right moment to make my strike, I waited till the planet was in sight, as that space ship was originally headed to that planet as well.
It was when I was in a bar, I heard some bounty hunters who were talking about planet G-reen, it was also because of their conversation that I got interested in that planet, thus I followed them when they left, for days I kept tracking them till they finished their preparations and boarded the space ship leaving for planet G-reen.
Thanks to my race's special camouflage ability I could easily hide my presence that not even the most of advanced of tech could detect me back then, thus I stayed on that ship with twenty or so bounty hunters, I didn't really count them nor did I bother to remember who was who except for the pilot, after all, they were going to die once the planet was visible enough and for that same reason I needed to keep the pilot alive or at least I did till she thought she could sneak attack me.
Anyway, that giant lizard like pilot creature died, well, after I made her set the ship on auto pilot at least.
However, once that alert sound started I regretted killing everyone on that space ship, I should have left at least one half or barely alive to tell me what to do, I mean I could have just break their limbs or beaten them senseless till they couldn't move or something but I let myself kill them out of habit.
I regretted doing that, essentially because of what came next, the reason of that alert.
I was a bit troubled with that warning repeating from all around in that cockpit, being in a closed place with dead bodies in space never bothered me before but it did that time as that warning didn't stop, for the first time in my life I felt afraid or should I say, I felt anxious, strange as it was, that warning felt like the calls of many death angels in my head as each warning echoed in my head over and over.
Confused I pushed each and every button I laid eyes on, I screamed at the ship to stop and even hit the walls and everything in there and broke some other things but the warnings didn't stop.
What do you want from me? I screamed so, but the warnings didn't stop, finally it came into view on the ship's screen in front of me.
It was big, it looked gooey, it was dark purple with big bubbles popping from it, floating in space it looked like a vast giant cover of some sort that could eat a planet and stars whole.
It was approaching the planet at a high speed that was much faster than the ship.
To say how big it looked, metaphorically of course, the creature looked as big as a truck while the ship looked like a football in comparison, needless to say how small I was, who was on board of that ship.
I saw many creatures of different sizes and shapes but never anything like that purple thing, whatever it was, one thing I knew looking at it, it was alive, it was hungry, it didn't have any eyes, mouth or any features to define it as a living being but I could tell just by looking at it, because of what I felt when I looked at it, an indescribable feeling that made me freeze in my place unable to utter a word, I felt cold, weak and small looking at it, I felt terrified.
Location wise, that creature was right below the ship when it came on the ship's monitor, distance wise, I think it was some hundred millions of kilometers away put into human measures therefore, it was more or less as far as the sun was from earth yet that creature looked so huge even from such a distance, I shuddered and as several thoughts flashed through my mind I thought of escaping leaving the ship as I didn't know how to pilot it not even thinking about how to survive in space with the kind of equipments I brought with me back then.
Unfortunately, the moment I started thinking about running away, the alerts increased even further as many dots started to appear on the monitor like dots of light, they were in the hundreds, thousands, millions, billions… no trillions if not more!
One by one they appeared like new born stars, and as soon as they did, each dot sent bright strings of light to the other ships in the direct vicinity, and with all the dots doing the same it soon became a bright white web enclosing a whole galaxy in it as that web was big, many times bigger than that galaxy containing planet G-reen, that web of light was way too big to describe.
True, it was too spacious inside that web of light for me and that ship I was on but nevertheless I was entrapped with some purple creature that didn't stop moving and slamming into the web of light even!
I think it didn't like the fact that it was encaged and trapped like that, however, the purple creature's efforts were for naught as it couldn't break out and instead its body splattered on that web of light but it didn't die as the pieces wriggled and moved towards each other and merged back into one single being.
Come to think of it, when I later came to earth, I found out that the humans myths shared some stories about creatures that shared more or less the same appearance as that purple creature and even some of its characteristics, in human terms that purple creature would probably be classified as a 'slime', a big dark purple slime with bubbles popping up like erupting volcanoes and is capable of swallowing a whole planet and some stars if not an entire solar system, in fact if that slime came to the milky way galaxy, the earth would serve as a good appetizer for it.
Needless to talk about my mental and emotional state back then as my body refused to move and my eyes were staring at the ship's monitor as if glued on that big screen as my mind wasn't exactly functioning correctly and I think I got some sort of a mental breakdown at that time.
Anyway, as that purple slime kept wriggling around inside that part of that web trying to break free and maybe it wanted to melt it but what that slime wanted didn't matter nor what I wanted mattered either as those dots of light that formed that web didn't seem to care and each released a powerful stream of energy engulfing the whole space in a bright layer of light, so strong an beautiful but lethal as each of those streams of light were even hotter than a solar flare, burning, scorching and smiting anything in their path, all aiming at one single target, that purple giant slime.
Planets decimated, builders destroyed, stars of different sizes exploded and of course the tiny ship I was on was gone with me yet to believe how ridiculous everything that happened, me the one who was never caught, me who beats others, me the one who always win, was entrapped, scared from a creature that might or might not have attacked me, and finally was disintegrated with the ship by the streams of light without seeing what happened to that creature.
I died on that day, or so, I thought as my consciousness faded and lost all feelings of the world around me, but death couldn't be that easy and quick for me, perhaps, it was fate or what humans call karma or the will of god but, that supposed death was far from being the end for me.
I don't know what happened to that slime creature nor do I remember how much time passed since those streams of light nor do I have the slightest idea what or who were those dots of light but when I somehow became conscious again, I found out I was in some place.
Just some place, that's how I can describe it, as when I woke up, strangely enough as it is as I was sure I died, I found out that I couldn't see, feel, hear nor smell, I lost all of my basic senses, in fact I couldn't feel my body nor any of my limbs, yet I knew I was still alive, albeit not the same as I should be but I was alive.
Well, my consciousness was still alive at least and strange thing was, even though I lost all of my basic senses as far as I could tell back then, yet it was like I got a new sense of some sort, with which I could tell that I wasn't dead and still alive, that new sense, made the outside world look like a pitch black board with no colors and everything in it from creatures to sounds and smells looked like poorly draws pictures with white chalk.
I don't remember what my emotions were back then nor whether if I felt anything regarding my new discovery about myself but I remember that a long time passed before I started reacting…
Anyway, what I remember, was that there were white stick men on that black board like world, those stick men were talking about something concerning some experiments being a success and then one of them told another to turn the power to preserve the three successful products.
And as soon as that stick man said that, the other stick man pulled some lever like thing and then my consciousness faded again.
However, I wasn't dead yet, as I did regain my consciousness sometime later, the black board world was shaking as the white lines in it were a mess, I remember being confused but that not what was important, as at that time I could see some other words of different nature and color mixed with the white lines, and those words were gibberish to me, how should I explain this?
Before my death, despite my wild nature and lack of piloting and driving skills I was fluent in many languages and as such in those white lines I could see words of two people or should I say stick men, speaking but the mixed in words of different color were strange to me and were all over the place, I thought that they may be words belonging to the sounds of some of the other drawn pictures but that didn't make sense, as the white words seemed to be going in one single direction, for example whenever one stick man spoke to the other, the words would leave his head towards the other stick man.
But in the case of the mixed in words of different colors, they were all over the place, fading and appearing without context or timing, therefore my conclusion was that those other words were the thoughts of that black board and also it was at that moment that I realized that I was inside a living thing, not a being but something alive in a sense.
Ever since I woke after I died, I knew that wherever I was, I wasn't in my body.
For a human that might sound strange, and the human reaction and thought process would certainly be different than mine but from where I came from, losing one's body didn't certainly mean their death as some could change their body or should I say haunt or possess someone else's body.
However, for my race and technology, something like changing bodies after death wasn't possible that's why I was somehow shocked and at loss at what happened…
Anyway, it was strange but I could tell that I lost my body, yet I couldn't tell what or rather where I was, only after a while looking at those mixed in words I could understand more about my current situation.
I was a life or what remained of my person and thoughts inside an infant living thing, that thing was the black board around me, and those white lines and words was how that thing perceived the world and sounds outside and those mixed in words of different color were probably the thoughts of that living creature.
I didn't pay much attention to that thing's words because they literally were gibberish, a mixture of familiar words, unreadable strange symbols and other things, point is, those words of different color didn't make sense to me, that is why I paid more attention to the white words and lines.
From what I understood from the two white stick men's conversations, the two of them apparently broke into some mothership, and wanted to steal certain things, objects of great power, one of those objects was the thing I was in, it was called the sovereignty orb, these two stick men weren't successful stealing all of the three objects but only were able to take one of them as they were ambushed and had to run away so they wouldn't be caught.
Nevertheless, the two white stick men were happy with what they got, but even that happiness didn't last.
In the few days that passed after the two of them stole the sovereignty orb, one of the two stick men pressed the orb on their forehead making it disappear inside it and just as he did, the black board disappeared and so did the different white words and lines, instead, I was able to see what that stick man that pressed the orb on his forehead sees, and not only that but also sense and feel what he sensed and felt, however, the blue words didn't disappear and still appeared in front of me.
Anyway, it wasn't much later that I learned that I could converse with the person which introduced himself as Leto.
This Leto was a fighter, a human from planet earth and he works for a group that called themselves the rebellion.
As such, I learned of planet earth and how it got invaded by a powerful alien race and how the human populace was enslaved by them.
For the previous me I wouldn't have cared but after my supposed death and fusing with the human Leto, my view and how I perceived life and others changed bit by bit.
In a sense it could be said that I became friends with him, something that would have been strange and impossible for the previous me to do, especially for someone from such a weak race, the previous me would definitely have regarded him and the rest of humans as another prey.
Anyhow, I become a different person as humans say, and I couldn't really separate from my host so I became a member in the so called group of rebellion, not to mention I quite liked the thrill that came with the job and the powerful opponents that literally held the humans lives and the earth's freedom and prosperity, Leto's sailing with such conditions wasn't a smooth one as he was learning how to control the new powers he got and that wasn't easy at all for him and even me was still trying to get used to my condition or situation so I wasn't exactly in any position to help instead I was also learning at the same pace he did and I even kept trying to get more familiar with the blue words that I kept seeing or should I say the thoughts of the orb.
Days passed and Leto was getting more and more familiar with the new powers and as such also me albeit the progress was really slow and the enemy's retaliation for stealing the orb only became fiercer as time progressed.
As the rebellion group became bolder with their attempts now that they got a powerful member that can easily fend off the attacks of the aliens, albeit to a certain degree since Leto didn't get full control over the orb and was still trying to do so, but the amount of powers and abilities he learned to control and use were enough to make the rebellion group members proud, after all, having someone with special powers in the group was a good plus that adds to the group's overall fighting power.
Because after the invasion of the earth, more than ninety percent of the human population was exterminated and the rest were taken as slaves by the invaders.
The alien invaders belonged to a race called the 'Creecs' a race that excelled in science and technology and possessed a huge army that only few through the universe compare with, they were a race that shouldn't be messed with and they were quite famous through many galaxies and honestly, for the humans to have such race as opponents, they were simply doomed but the rebellion group seemed to have other plans and sees the light through Leto and his acquired powers, even Leto himself was getting more proud and vicious to the 'Creecs' the more powers and abilities he learned.
One fateful day, everything changed, the rebellion group members were planning their next move, the move that will change theirs and all of the living human lives and fates should that plan succeed.
However, an eerie aura suddenly emerged within the supposedly secret and secure base, that aura was cold, cruel and violent in nature as everyone who felt it suddenly went berserk, losing all rationality and self-control and would attack anyone and everyone in sight.
In mere seconds, the base was full of chaos, the only ones still sane were Leto and me because of the orb's powers to neutralize harmful substances from affecting the mind and body of the host, it was an ability that Leto was familiar with as it could be said it was his favorite as it allowed him to always be healthy, relaxed and clear minded.
Anyway, as Leto observed the chaos taking place, he tried to help his comrades but his efforts were to no avail as they were completely out of their minds thus leaving him with the only option to knock them out.
It was mere moments, the base was filled with laughter as many believed the new plan will be a success but then, out of nowhere one by one they started screaming, hitting each other, kicking each other and even biting.
Fortunately, Leto reacted in time so there were no dead but there were lots of injured.
As Leto looked at the unconscious group members, a figure emerged from the air, no rather than that, a crack appeared in the air, the space in front of us back then was split open for a split second as that figure came out of it.
Almost two meters tall, well built like a man of steel, from head to toe clad in a full body suit similar to that of Leto, but unlike the black suit with blue, this figure's suit was white with pinkish hue and the marks of the eyes were gold.
Body shape wise, the figure was a male but it got four arms rather than just two which meant that it wasn't a human in there.
That figure wrapped in whitish pink, stood where it appeared without moving a muscle as it seemed to be staring at Leto the only one conscious in the place.
However, that Leto despite being able to understand some of the orb's powers and can use them but he didn't know about the suit nor how to use it nor did I at the time so we both stared at that figure not realizing what it was until it pointed one finger at Leto and a gold beam like laser was shot from that finger, fast, too fast that it hit Leto in his left leg even though his senses and reactions should have been amplified because of the orb, even a speeding bullet wouldn't be hard for him to dodge and even catch it but that gold laser beam was so fast that it penetrated Leto's left leg decreasing his speed and maneuver.
Leto clenched his teeth from the pain that he felt and instead of thinking of escaping, he raised both hands in the air and with a motion that looked like he was grabbing the air around, two dark energy balls that looked like concentrated dark flames were shot from his hands towards that white figure.
Those energy balls although weren't hot like flames but the moment they hit anything, it would turn to ashes upon impact with no exceptions, well, perhaps, the only the exception would be Leto as he is controlling that orb skill.
No matter what the target was, living or not, big or small, on the ground or in the air, and no matter what defense it got, many alien ships were taken down just because of that skill but that white figure with just a simple move of one hand, made both disappear in a small blackhole that appeared in front of the two energy balls swallowing them in then it disappeared.
However, Leto didn't just stay motionless as he took the chance to shorten the distance in an attempt to drag the white figure into a fist fight, after all, that Leto was a warrior of the rebellion group and he excelled in brawls even before getting the orb, and needless to say his fighting ability and skills rose up exponentially ever since he started using the orb.
But the white figure easily dodged all attempts of physical attacks made by Leto and grabbed him by the neck as it touched his forehead and a small spacial slit was formed, from which the sovereignty orb was taken.
The white figure took the orb!
The white figure held the orb between its thumb and index finger as it raised the orb high to look at it or rather as if trying to look at something inside of it.
Leto, however, took that chance to hit the eye marks, I think he wanted to blind that white figure, and soon after he did that, he tried to grab the orb but the white figure threw it up and then another small black hole appeared above me or rather above the orb as I became part of it and we disappeared inside it but before that black hole closed I saw the white figure using all four arms and all fingers to shoot the gold laser beams around and before seeing what happened the black hole closed.
As we drifted inside, in space and time after being absorbed by that black hole, and I don't know for how long nor how the place looked around us as the orb didn't really show me anything, but after some time, the orb started to shake violently as if trying to get free from something and the next thing I knew a bright light appeared, thought that might be my misconception as I felt the orb hitting something before once again I was connected to someone's thoughts and senses, turns out it was Leto, but strange thing is, it wasn't the same middle aged warrior Leto nor was the earth the same as I remember it.
This Leto was much younger and, in a sense, wet behind the ears as they say on earth, lacking in combat experience and tactics, a far cry from the older Leto I knew, not to mention the earth here got people with powers and abilities, something I don't remember knowing in the other Leto's memories, thus, my conclusion was that, it wasn't the same world or at least not the same timeline.
I mean I was bad with tech but not stupid as to not understand what happened, my deduction was that the orb escaped being lost in space and time and somehow must have found its host but in a different timeline or a parallel world, and he was a teenager with love issues and teenage problems but things didn't stop at that point, as unlike the other Leto who forced the fusion with the orb, the orb this time decided on its own to fuse with this younger Leto and perhaps because of that, the fusion this time was different as the orb was the one that assimilated with him or should I say initiated the assimilation and even going as far as reshaping his body and cells to be a better host…
Honestly speaking, this kid Leto got many weaknesses but he also got his strong points, for example albeit he was too emotional but his moral sense was good even better than his older counterpart, and perhaps, it was because the orb reshaped his body or because he was a super hero nerd with a mentality and desire for super powers, well, his psyche was really different from his older counterpart, perhaps that's why this younger Leto did what his older counter part couldn't as he easily comprehended the abilities and powers of the orb and how to use them in almost no time at all, he was a natural at understanding the orb's powers, but using them to their fullest extent however was something else…
Anyway, a couple of years or so passed now, since coming to this timeline and meeting with the kid who chose the path of a super hero after he assimilated the sovereignty orb.
However, I find trouble understanding his choice for his hero name 'incarnate' as the kid seems to think it is a great one, saying, it reminds him of his dreams of being a good super hero before he got his powers and that it defines the 'new' him.
Well, can't really understand how he thinks, I mean I can pry into his thoughts, memories and I dare say I understand him better than his own parents but I still find trouble keeping up with the way he thinks and process the things he hears and sees, lots of times, especially, how he keeps narrating his life as if he is in one of those super hero comics, he is really influenced by those kinds of works.
But all of that doesn't matter now, as the kid took on a mission to investigate a strange incident of disappearances that have been going on for a while with no clear clues thus when he saw the chance he took it to know what happened but I never thought that I will feel just like that time before that white figure appeared.
The moment the kid entered a strange fog, all his tech stopped working and that wasn't all as he was teleported to a different place or a world in a sense few moments later.
But the moment we appeared in the new world after being in the fog, I felt it, the same cold aura that I felt before that white figure appeared, and this time it was like it was coming from everywhere albeit not as potent and almost faint, thus I opted to hide deep inside and hide my presence and the orb's because in case of that white figure appears, it might not necessarily realize that the kid got the orb as that white figure never seen the suit so it may not know it, in fact that white figure might never know as the way the kid uses his powers and abilities is completely different than how his older counterpart did, not to mention the quality and quantity of the produced energy and how efficiently it is used, honestly it is like the kid was born for the orb albeit it can also be because of his fear of getting hurt should he mishandle the use of the orb, true the chances are slim of the white figure appearing and more so realizing that the kid assimilated with the orb but better be safe than sorry, as I don't like taking any chances, I don't want to be thrown into a dark hole again and certainly I don't want to know death again either.
My current situation is more secure than those shut-ins, as such all of the kid's thoughts are blocked for now and also senses, from me that is, as I learnt how to use some of the orb's powers myself, I will know once we leave this place or when the danger is gone.
Sorry, kid but this is for your sake as well, hope you don't mess up.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone