Chereads / Conquest: Origins / Chapter 4 - Balanced

Chapter 4 - Balanced

Death has always been a part of Life. No matter how far human civilization advances. They could never overcome the inevitable. Even with the complex prospect of extending life, or the study of newly discovered necromantic abilities, they could not overcome this fact.

Of course, there are some who speculate that the government has discovered some ways of bringing back the dead. But due to the years and years upon those space cruisers, humans have been thoroughly indoctrinated to blindly follow their government.

However humans will be human so there will always be those who become the black sheep.

Despite all the known rules of life, there was a man sitting on the bed staring right at the doctor, who was defying those very principles.

"Ego Sting?" A woman's voice was soon heard over the ringing in his ears.

"Hello.. Mr. Sting?" The voice became more clear as the ringing completely faded. Upon opening his eyes, he was greeted with blurry vision.

"Ego Sting? You're really alive!" The pink eyed doctor held her notepad with a wide smile. She looked as if she were a kid in a candy store.

"Ughh. Where am I?" Coming back to life definitely caused him to be a little groggy. This strange gray doctor bombarding him with questions didn't help either.

"Oh. Right. My name is Susan, I am the lead doctor in charge of this Abnormal Affairs department!" Susan began.

Memories flashed in his mind as Ego slowly began to vaguely remember what happened. Had he truly died or was it all some lucid dream? "Abnormal Affairs…like for 'Nova', the government??" He looked around the room he was in, finally realizing he was hooked up to machines.

Upon human civilization moving to the stars, they lived on very sturdy luxurious ships. A lot of things happened on those ships though. One of which was several power outages and food shortages.

But, the most significant event that occurred, was the formation of a new government. This new structure would be one run by one head and several branches. This meant humanity was run by a single entity instead of their own differing unique forms of government!

Of course at first, no one expected this kind of structure would last. However over time, as better decisions and advances were made, humanity slowly grew accustomed to the idea.

Once they landed they began terraforming Nexus into a more hospitable planet for human-life. The new world government known as Nova, repurposed their ships, recycling the materials and building Nova City!

Although Violet Bay is on the edge of Bonnet City, Ego dreamed of the day he could take a trip to Nova City.

"Well Mr. Sting, it might be hard to believe but you.." Doctor Susan started, not knowing how the boy would take the news.

"-were dead." A man with the big scar on his forehead walked in and cut off the doctor.

"My name is Mark, I am in charge of this little project. Your head exploded once you entered a super store in Bonnet City." The man responded. "Three months." Mark started while taking a seat.

"Three months is how long we've been trying to study the cause of your death but found no answer. Yet, here you are now. Head rebuilt and firmly attached to your body as if nothing happened."

Mark examined Ego and the data given to him. "The real question is 'how.' How were you able to come back without becoming some sort of ghost or ghoul?"

"Well.." He began, unsure if he should share his experience. However, Ego thought maybe he could leverage some intel for favors! With that in mind, all of his reluctance quickly faded.

Ego began thinking of ways to leverage his intel advantage. Its clear he doesn't know how to barter.

"You say I've been dead for three months. To me it only felt like maybe a day at most. But, when I 'woke up' there was this white void. Then some guy appeared." Ego went into the details of his strange experience.

Although there were some parts that threw the two of them for a loop, one being his talk about killing off the 'fantasy' beings. The main thing Mark and Susan took extreme note of was a deal with this 'God of Chaos.'

"Do you know what kind of power he gave you?" Dr. Susan asked as her and Mark led Ego to a room with scanning equipment.

Ego shook his head. "No, I don't know but I hope it was worth it." His imagination led him to believe it could be some really cool overpowered ability. "What if I could manipulate time or teleport people into the sun??" His anticipation skyrocketed!

They quietly walked down a long dim corridor. Before the walls looked fresh and new. Now, they have lost their shine, instead possess patches of dirt and grime.

Eventually they walked into a small room. There were three devices. The one on the far left a metal chair with a helmet.

The device in the middle was some sort of table made of flesh on sharp legs. Bubbles of unknown liquid danced across the surface. In the middle sat a large ball of crystalline material.

The third device was a statue of what looked like a suit of armor. Each of these things were connected to monitors. "Okay Ego, step up to the chair and place the helmet on your head. I'm sure you recognize them, these are to determine what special ability you have." The doctor spoke to Ego.

He didn't listen. His body felt compelled to touch the crystal ball on the flesh table. Ego walked forward in a drunken stupor until he placed both hands on the ball.

While it looked like a crystal on the outside, its actual texture was quite different. It felt like a meatloaf filled with stone lumps.

A couple seconds passed as the room began shaking. Bright red and white light shone from the crystal ball followed by an immense wave of pressure and a loud bodiless maniacal laugh.

Mark and Susan immediately put their guard up. Even though there's no window, Mark's clothes started ruffling as if he were standing in a storm! However, none of this seemed to affect anything else!

Susan took three steps back and hunched over as her eyes glowed pink.

As the laughter grew louder, the light slowly shifted from red and white to a light-brown and gold. The pressure began to subside. In its place what looked like a projection of a tiny woman.

She had a brown afro with light brown highlights. The woman wore golden jewelry around her neck, in her ears and one on her forehead. Her tan colored dress flowed beautifully as an aura of peace surrounded Mark and Susan causing them to lower their guard.

It felt as if the entire room was engulfed in the presence of a sunflower field gently in the wind. She looked around and eventually focused on the man with his hands on the flesh table ball and let out a deep sigh. "What has my brother done now?"

The disappointment in her voice was clear as day. "Your brother…are you talking about this so-called 'god of Chaos'?" Mark said, trying to get a grip on his senses.

The woman looked and gave him a pleasant smile. "Yes, Mark Long of Nexus. Konglu, the god of Chaos, is my brother. I am Panmon, the twin goddess of Order."

"Why are you here?" Mark asked the goddess.

"My brother has once again disturbed the balance of life. This time in a way that disrupts many events. My job is to clean up his mistakes, one of which is standing right here." She looked down at Ego again this time with disgust plastered clearly on her face.

"How many of you are out there?" Susan asked, astonished. Two back to back encounters with 'gods!' Her brain was practically oozing with excitement of the implications of these encounters!

Panmon looked at the researcher with a loving yet slightly sly smile. "There are more than you could ever imagine Susan Steel."

Susan's eyes lit up with excitement. "Does this mean there's a chance I can speak with the dead?"

Panmon simply nodded. "Yes, you can find the answers you're looking for."

Susan's heart skipped a beat. For the past ten years she's been looking for a way to speak to her deceased companion. Now she has renewed hope!

Panmon placed her hand in a diamond shape on Ego's forehead. She spoke words of power that were not recognizable in any language known to humans. Ego's eyes rolled back, releasing calming brown energy.

"Mr. Ego Sting, you have been brought back to life. Not only that, Konglu gave you a gift that you were not destined to have. In order to balance this, I'll give you one more thing." His body began to glow and as steam escaped Ego's ears. In time you'll learn to control your power. Until then, take what I've given you." Her disdainful tone echoed the chamber before Panmon's body flickered then disappeared. The peaceful aura that covered their bodies slowly faded.

The monitors on the wall displayed Ego's bodily scans as well as new data that should have never been possible. "Mark, look! He has an affinity with mana!"

This meant Ego had the ability to use magic! Previously when they brought his body to this location, his scans showed zero percent on any of the three sub-human types. Now, that was a completely different story.

The average age for a kid to develop a gift is ten. The change usually happens in their sleep where they enter a suspended state of rest. Only when taken to the doctor to be examined will they wake.

At first the sight of children sleeping for days on end seeming to never wake again scared parents out of their wits! It wasn't until the Government released new technologies that allowed children to awaken from their mysterious slumber after they've made contact with these devices.

Normally no one could tell the specific magical ability or mutation, the individual would have to just experiment on their own time to find out. But, there were times when finding those things wasn't too hard.

After checking all the monitors they turned to Ego only to see his body floating in the air. His clothes began ruffling violently in the wind. This time everyone could feel the rise in pressure!

Mark and Susan were pushed across the room and into the wall. The wind was so strong that they couldn't move a muscle! They were stuck like flies!

The room's temperature began to rise as sparks flickered off Ego's clothes. The sparking picked up until a cobalt blue flame trail blazed from his long trench coat to the two government officials just barely missing them.

The room went on lockdown and alarms started blaring.

What happened next stupefied the helpless spectators. As the wind pressure and flames began to subside, a menacing dark purple aura soon engulfed Ego. From said aura came energy projections in the form of lightning bolts!

Every time they made contact with a monitor, it object would transform into something completely different!

The crackling of thunder boomed in the room then a bolt of dark purple energy struck a wall, replacing it with several cats stacked on top of each other.

Another bolt struck a monitor which turned Into a small Canoe boat. This alarmed Mark and Susan as they wouldn't know what would happen if they got stuck.

Mark quickly washed away his shock and replaced it with determination. His clothes started flowing violently as he managed to summon enough strength to defy the overbearing winds then began dodging back and forth. It was taking every ounce of concentration to not be struck by these strange bolts of energy!

Susan quickly followed suit with her eyes glowing pink she unleashed a pink barrier around her body then showcased her immaculate agility and reflexes as she ran around the room on all fours. She had a lot more luck staying ahead of these bolts than Mark because of her superior speed.

As Susan jumped around she studied Ego in the back of the room. This display of strength is unreal! Ego didn't even have his first star, how is he putting out this much energy as a no-star?!

Both her and Mark realized that whatever the self proclaimed 'goddess of order' did to him caused Ego no longer have conscious control of his body. They needed to snap him out of this quickly!

After five minutes of this song and dance, all activity from Ego suddenly stopped. There were no more heavy winds, intense flames or weird bolts of energy. Ego's body just stayed there suspended in air with his eyes closed.

Silence. Unbearable silence.

The atmosphere felt..lifeless. Everything seemed to freeze in place, not even the monitors in the room beeped! "Sha.." Ego's body began to whisper immediately grabbing Mark and Susan's attention.

"..Daz.." As Ego continued to whisper, light seemed to bend around his body. Not only light but also darkness. "..Penu.." Ego's arms stretched out to his side.

"That sounds like…" Susan's eyed widened before turning to Mark in alarm. "Sir we need to stop him! He seems to be casting some kind of spell. I don't recognize the last two words though."

She thought for a moment before continuing. "If I remember correctly 'Sha' is one of Solaris' words for shape..Maybe it has something to do with that strange distortion around his body?" Although she she spoke quietly, her voice seemed to echo in the deathly silent room.

"..Hoa.." The situation looked bleak for the two. Mark had to figure out what they should do and quickly. The more time passed, the more energy grew in Ego's hands.

"Shape and Hoard? What's with that energy in his palms? Two different Orbs. One gold and one silver…"

Mark snapped his fingers three times creating fifteen white arrows in the space around him. "Gale Arrow!" The arrows took off towards Ego. Susan understood what she needed to do.

"Strong Arm Blitz!" She reached out her fingers towards the arrows Mark shot at Ego. From each finger extended beam of pink energy that made contact with his arrows making them grow in size and speed.

Susan followed her first shout with another one, "Sonic Puppetry!" She swiftly moved her hands through the air in a triangle motion with a final line going down the middle causing the arrows to zigzag in unexpected angles!

"..Sha-Daz.." Ego began chanting louder and more coherent by the second. His eyes opened revealing his golden Iris' glowing brightly.

Although the arrows were moving extremely fast, Ego managed to follow them with ease! He slowly closed his eyes, briefly stopping the spell he was casting.

"Hoa-Zeph…Hoa-Zeph.." As he chanted a new set of words the wind began to pick up again, this time instead of flattening Susan and Mark to the walls it gathered around Ego.

Within seconds a thin seafoam green colored barrier formed around him. "Take this!" Susan yelled.

She controlled the arrows, throwing them in Ego's direction again. Mere seconds before impact Ego spoke again. "..Eru!"

The magical wind energy gathered around him grew highly active and started expanding like a balloon. After reaching a certain point his green barrier exploded sending forth a violent current of wind knocking back the two officials and destroying the arrows along with every other device in the room.

The force was so strong that it sent Mark and Susan flying through the wall. "Sha-Daz-Penu-Hoa!" One golden and one silver orb of energy finally formed in his palms.

From those two smaller balls, a beam stretched from each before meeting in the center of Ego's chest. They started to form a golden ball with silver waves of energy coursing through it.