Chereads / The Astral Calls / Chapter 2 - Strange Travelers

Chapter 2 - Strange Travelers

Bowie breathing became erratic, as Koyil swiftly tear off his now broken left eye and replaced it with the mark of the cosmos, and suddenly, the pain is gone like nothing has happened. Blinking rapidly Bowie shook his head trying to understand what is going on but instead of seeing nothing but darkness on his left eye, his eye is perfectly normal once again, the what was once his pupil has been replaced with the mark of the cosmos, which dilatate and constrict on light or emotions like one normal eye, Bowie could do nothing but looked on his hands once again regaining his sight so fast.

"W-What did you just do...? Wh-What in the hell is going on?!"

Bowie is confused while Koyil just stood there with an emotionless smile, putting Bowie's old left eye away and suddenly fading into the night. Bowie soon regains the normal vision once again from the town that was so quiet, now filled with people staring at Bowie. There were ambulances whaling in the distance along with police cars, a lot of people are recording how Bowie simply pulled out his left eye and suddenly the mark of the cosmos appeared in his emptied eye socket. After a second, Bowie looked up and stared at everyone in shock. His legs trembled and his mind ran wild. What is going on? Why are there people all around him, and why is his left eye on the ground? But instead of everyone running away, they started cheering as the new Valegant had arrived in this town.

He can't have a break, there are so much going on in such little time, looking around, a blue horse, cameras, flashing lights, cheering, Bowie only took a second to realize, there is a blue horse in the crowd, Bowie looked back at the blue horse as it just stood there in the middle of the crowd with a beautifully made carrier, a man and a lady stood beside the horse, smiling from ear to ear slowly approaching Bowie, clapping and cheering gleefully with the crowd they picked Bowie up examining him like he is an entire new species. Taking notice of their eyes Bowie identifies them a Valegant but what kind? The man has a horse as the mark and the lady has an own mark that he cannot identify at least at this time.

"Oh look, Helen, he took noticed of Josey really quickly, we need to get him out of here before he get suffocated by the people around..."

The lady and the man chatted for a bit as the lady showed her left hand and moves it in a circle gracefully while her right hand points at a random direction before snapping her fingers, gushes of wind hits Bowie's face and once he opened his eyes, he was already on a hill with grass, no sights of the city or tens of people covering him, or any police blaring for that matter, he felt at peace but still have yet to know who are those mysterious Valegants that just took him away, but before he could properly link his thoughts both of the Valegants sit down beside Bowie, side by side turning Bowie into a sandwich in a way.

"Oh, darling look at you all confused like a new born baby, don't worry we are here! My name is Helen and this man whose my partner is called Garrett"

Bowie sat up looking at Garrett smiling at Bowie, upon closer inspection Garrett has such a noticeable face with his a star under his left eye, while Helen on the right has a line and a circle made under her right eye, their eyes with the mark glows warmly as if they are adoring Bowie even if it puts him at ease he didn't lower his guard, sitting still and ready to take off running as soon as something is off.

"Mark of the cosmos huh? I am sure you can make some pretty cool spells... Now, I believe you haven't told us your name, how about you do so hm?"

Garret said in a comforting voice, a like an elderly man taking care of his grand children, Bowie told them his name as they nodded, they are in sync with both Helena and Garret seems to be so synchronized, nodding at the same time or moving at the same time, feels like a puppet is getting controlled by the master, but whose the master? Bowie wonders.

"Spells? I just got the mark literally 34 minutes ago... Uh.. Mr. Garrett if you don't mind, could you tell me what is going on?"

Garrett and Helen stared at each other blinking in synchronization, Helen quietly nodded with Garrett before explaining.

"Bowie... After you received your mark and met your guide, your eyes shall glow in signal of you being ready for the power you WILL make, now listen here, your imagination is your limit, the cosmos shall love you as much as you love the cosmos, as it expands the possibility of a Valegant towards you and not any other! Simply by thinking of yourself as a fighter, what power of the cosmos would you want to use? And how will you position yourself to summon it, try it, don't worry. You're safe here for now."

Though a bit confused, Bowie decided to comply with Helen as he looked out into the night sky and imaging him with small comets and meteor falling down from the sky like hails of arrows, blinking beautifully with the sky. He stood up moving positioning like an archer shooting an arrow into the sky and releasing it, the stars blinked beautifully as hails of arrow sized comets falls into the ground in front of them before fading into the ground. The couple claps their hands and cheer quietly.

"Oh darling, he is learning quickly, it seems we don't have to spend hours on this one! Now, what if one of those arrows or comets that you summoned hit a person, what damage it would do to them? Try it on m-"

Helen mouth was gently closed by Garrett as he stood up and whistle with his fingers, stomping the ground once as the blue horse runs out of thin air, appearing before them.

"We will need something to protect you, Helen, you kept forgetting."

Helen giggled before moving her arms over herself, snapping her fingers as a sound of what is like a humming generator is beside her, signaling for Bowie to go ahead and use his spell once again. He looked up into the night sky before summon the comets, the ground explodes and then disappearing like a black hole had formed then break down instantly all at the same time, devouring huge chunks of the earth, but his arms soon dropped down as pain took over his arms, screaming and trying to hold his limb arm with another arm. Helen watched closely.

"Are you alright Bowie?"

Bowie eyes beamed at Helen with a look she could not understand, Bowie looked at his arms and at the couple with his mouth widened, stuttering with no words to say.

"O-Oh yeah I am alright, yeah, YEAH! I am alright with these two limp arms that I cannot even move, while I just screamed my eyes out just a second ago, yeah Mrs. Helen, thank you for asking I am completely ALRIGHT!"

The couples could see the frustration in Bowie's voice as they leaned back down and looked at each other, and giggled lightly. Garrett give out a silent sigh before walking to his blue horse and getting on to the carrier just to pull out a basic med-kit with a note saying 'Gift from Jill to Travelers' Garrett looked at Bowie before slowly approaching him with the med-kit pulling out small book and a small syringe containing a blue glowing substance, reading it he injected the substance into Bowie's arms as his blood veins glowed light blue then dark blue, from a limp arm slowly healing it self right before his very eyes, Garrett waited for a few seconds and taking Bowie's arms inspecting it closely before giving out a satisfied chuckle letting go of his arms before walking back to his horse's carrier and taking out a radio before turning it on playing some jazz. Helen cleared her throat before continue explaining while removing her barrier.

"See, Bowie. You did surprise me with your level of imagination but you did forgot one important thing, that you were just born into this Valegant world not even a day, yet here you are casting spells this destructive, this high classed, how would you expect for it not to destroy your arms, dear? It takes a lot of will power and physical power, if you use your arms to summon the spells then your arms will take the damage, if you use your legs, then your legs will take the damage, so on. You are not a movie protagonist, darling, but you are doing well!"

Bowie sighs silently as he looks up at the starry sky above his head before returning his gaze to the ground, thinking of something and peering at the couples, who are flirting with each other but do not appear to be paying much attention to him. Finally alone, he walked down the hill and lifted his fingers to the sky, imagining a cosmic wave moving like a graceful sea, with colors filling the sky from the bright stars above. Bowie danced with the cosmic wave, as the skies glowed with thousands of colors and lights, spinning around like a light show as the wave flowed through everything around him, but instead of destruction, the waves left behind life.

Flowers slowly popped out of the dirt below, fruits growing out of trees alongside, and blades of grass growing in the night as he moved along with the song that the couple turned on their radio, turning what looked like such a lonely night into such a heartening night, though not for long, as his legs soon collapsed as he lost his energy to stand or even lift his arm once more. He looked down at his now weakened arms. He smiled, knowing he might just live another day with what he could do already. He laughed to himself, laying down on the flower bed that grew below him, as Garrett watched from the top of the hill, smiling alongside him.

"Oh good job Bowie! You are tuning yourself to the mark so quickly, the face I saw in the clouds must be your guide yes?"

Garrett and Helen walked down looking at the beauty that Bowie had created during his dance, though Bowie's face showed that he was embarrassed that anyone had seen him doing that dance, though he still thanked them for the kind words as Garrett lends Bowie a hand as he stood back up, still shaking a bit though adjusted to it very well. He started to enjoy this life, being able to release whatever he had filling up in his jar, wishing he had a dimension of his own like this... Bowie stopped thinking as he opened his eyes to see the top of the hills are filled with holes and patches of far dead grass he panicked and tried to cover his evidence up as he might have destroyed a personal property on someone's backyard.

"Oh don't worry, Bowie! This is a new dimension simply a parallel universe that was linked with yours, look Bowie, I had the mark of the Grand Traveler and while Garrett here had the mark of the Traveler! I simply took you into a new universe where it won't effect your real world, simply it is a playground!"

Helen said, as she pointed at the sky and moved upwards with her left arm pointing at the ground, the earth below rumble and shakes as a massive portal opening up revealing a massive whirlpool sinking into the ground. Leaving a stunned Bowie stared at it in, feeling like he had stared into the void and it is stared right back dragging him into the whirlpool but he shook his head gathering back his thoughts as Garrett walked up to him and holding his hand out as Helen looked and smiled as beautiful as ever, clearing her throat once again and said.

"This is a portal back to your home, or our home, I have set the destination where you were once found but for public mannerism purposes I have set your destination behind the convenience store! That way no body should see you, unless it's the druggies, if that is the case, just report them to the police or just don't look at them I guess, only use your spells when needed to protect yourself since if you killed someone who is not a Valegant by accident then their corpse will not be pretty at all.."

Helen looked down as her eyes faded into a thousand yards stare, standing silence with her emotionless smile as Garrett poked her to snap her out of her thought bubble, she shook her head as nodded, before jumping into the portal, Garrett looked at Bowie and took his arms jumping into the portal. But in just a blink he appeared back behind the convenience store, though the people beside the store are still talking, he haven't gone away for that long it seems, as he dust himself off and walked away, but he had noted seeing something walking behind him, he knows whatever it was, it had no good intention as his skin crawls not daring turning behind him, only walking faster and faster before start running for his life.

"BÒOOŒÒOÖÕWIEEÈË"

Something behind him screeched but he kept running back to his apartment, up the stairs into his room and locked the door, using his spells to create a cosmic barrier completely blocking the door leaving a minor hole for seeing as he stood there, the presence is still there as he peeked as the thing came into his sight.

"Oh Kometa what the hell is that thing...?!!"

He fall back deeper into his room, panicking, as his cat Mrs. Kometa ran wild, scared.