//I already published my P_treon. Be sure to check it out! Link is on the synopsis.//
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A second after my discovery, the door to my room swung open, revealing two boys of my age, followed by two attractive girls—one red-haired and one blond-haired.
"Luke..." Peter spoke quietly, though I still managed to hear it. His appearance conveyed his guilt about what happened. Knowing him, I'm sure he blamed himself for my condition.
"Yow, Pete!" I greeted him with a smile, hoping to lift his spirits.
"What's got you so down, huh? Did MJ do something to you, something I should know?" I asked playfully, teasing him.
He responded with a melancholic smile.
"Yow, Flash, how's the team captain? You good, man?" I raised my hand for a high-five.
However, instead of a high-five, Flash surprised me by hugging me tightly.
"You bastard! I should be asking that, man, how dare you get yourself almost killed..." he said, his voice quivering as he embraced me.
'Wow... I really changed Flash, huh?' I thought in awe while patting his back. Behind him, MJ was crying, and Gwen was comforting her, while Peter stood at the side, head down, clenching his hands—I could hear him sobbing quietly.
Right...
I almost died. It's normal for them to feel like this. So much has happened to me—meeting the One-Above-All, discovering my powers, and testing them—that I somehow forgot to care that I almost died.
"He-hey, I'm still alive, okay? There's no need to cry, guys. Come on..."
"Shut up, man! I'm not crying, okay? I just have a very runny nose today!" Flash said, his face buried in my pillows...sobbing.
"I wish I had a camera here! Look at you crying, with snot on your face, MJ. It's like you're asking to be photographed." I tried lifting the mood with a joke, only for MJ to push Flash to the side.
"Ow~"
She hugged me tightly and carefully, making sure I wasn't hurt.
"You idiot..." she whispered as she continued crying, her head gently laid down on my shoulder, soaking my ears with her tears.
With a heavy sigh, I continued patting her back to comfort her.
'Friends, huh,' I pondered in thought as I reminisced about my past.
In my previous life, I was incredibly introverted. I didn't have what others called BFFs, homies, etc. I only had acquaintances, with no real connections. I was too busy studying and working towards my dream of providing a good future for my mom, which prevented me from truly connecting with other people. The only time I could escape and connect with myself was when I read novels, manhwa, manga, and watched anime. Other than that, my life was just a cycle of studying, eating, sleeping, and going to school.
'Doesn't sound so bad,' I thought with a carefree smile.
After some time, MJ finally calmed down, and we lightened the mood with a few jokes, mostly about Flash being a crybaby and him being a little tsundere about it.
Gwen and Peter remained a bit quiet. Gwen seemed awkward, probably due to our last conversation, which didn't go so well. Peter, on the other hand, occasionally smiled during our conversation, but there was a sadness in his eyes, and I could hear him sobbing quietly.
"It's getting late, Luke. We need to go now, but we'll visit you again tomorrow. Get well soon, okay?" MJ said, placing the flowers they brought on the side table.
She leaned closer and whispered in my ear. "You need to talk to Gwen. It seems like she have something to say to you. About Peter.. I don't thi--." But before she could continue, I stopped her.
"It's alright, I understand." She looked at me with a grateful eyes as she replied with a determined tone, "I'll talk some sense into him..."
I chuckled at her enthusiasm as I responded, "I'll leave it to you then. Thanks MJ." To which she replied with playful blink and a thumbs up.
MJ, Flash, and Peter left the room, leaving me with Gwen. I stared at her, wondering what to say. We locked eyes, and an awkward silence enveloped us.
"I-Hi, Gwen," I said with an awkward smile.
'Idiot,' I thought in frustration.
"Hi, Luke," she replied with a beautiful smile.
"I'm...I'm sorry about how I left things in our last conversation," I spoke to her, avoiding her eyes.
"I didn't think about how you felt back then, being weird to you for no reason at all," I rambled on and on like an idiotic nerd, waving my hands like I was making a speech. It's just how things came out at this point.
"I just want to say that I'm really, really sorry about how I acted. Please give me another cha—?" My speech was cut short when my hand caught something.
It was a stack of notebooks. I looked at her with a puzzled expression, hoping to find some answers.
"You've been absent for two weeks, dummy. That's my way of punishing you," she replied, arms crossed.
"Well played," I admitted, acknowledging her clever tactic.
"Now get into it, Mr. Spectre. We still have a project to complete, remember?"
"Thanks, Gwen."
"Don't mention it. Weirdo. I have to go now. See you later—"
"Alligator," we both chimed in simultaneously. We locked eyes and burst into laughter. That's how my conversation with Gwen concluded. It may not have been anything extraordinary, but it was... something.
I sighed, closed my eyes, and lay down on my bed. Too much has happened. Thirty minutes of talking with the One-Above-All has cost me two weeks in a hospital coma. Discovering my powers, Gwen Stacy, and most importantly, realizing I'm the 'Recorder'...
'Recording the beginning of everything, huh...' I opened my eyes and gazed at the ceiling.
'Physical aspect...'
I need to leave this hospital immediately to learn more about my abilities. Although Peter hid it well, I noticed a small bruise on his neck, which means he has already started his manhunt for the blonde guy I can't remember the name of.
When will the Lizard canon event start? Next week? Next month? I can't risk it happening while I'm confined to this hospital bed.
'George Stacy...'
George already knows about us because he sometimes picks up Gwen from school, so he already knows that we are friends with Gwen.
"I hope I'm not interru-" A feminine voice suddenly resounded out of nowhere.
With a wave of my arms, I detached a sharp mirror shard from the mirror dimension, mentally commanding it to levitate.
Clink*
I pointed it towards the source of the voice and quickly fired it at high speed.
Shuu*
Psshh*
A glowing construct emerged, blocking my attack and causing my mirror shard to return to its dimension as if nothing had happened.
As I saw the origin of the feminine voice, a bald woman who resembled Tilda Swinton, dressed in robes, revealed herself from the darkness. In her arms were constructs of glowing energy formed like a shield with unknown symbols.
"Taking out a mirror from the mirror dimension out
in the real world, an impossible feat, even for me," she said, eyeing the spot where the sharp mirror construct had disappeared.
"Who are you?" I asked, pretending not to know her. Of course, I did know her, but I asked to avoid unnecessary trouble. She didn't know that I knew her, and that would be my advantage in case things went terribly wrong.
"Apologies for interrupting your precious time, '̴̨͇̣̪̈̓̅R̸̢͕͗̔̾͌̐e̸̜̭̋̚c̷̡̃̓̈͝o̸̞͕͕̰̜͂̚r̸̳̲̋̉́͝d̵̻͕̼͍̏͠ĕ̴̬͒r̴̨̨̺̰̹̓͆͝, I'm Ancient One, the current Sorcerer Supreme, responsible for protecting the Earth from mystical threats...and anomalies, such as you..." She spoke with a somewhat respectful tone, as if she was being cautious.
'Why does she sound respectful? How does she even know about me? Am I not hidden, and do other beings already know about me?'
"How did you come to know about me? I wasn't supposed to be recorded in any form, so how?" I asked with curiosity on my face. She was being respectful toward me, a being like her? Either she was cautious because she didn't know anything about me, or she was afraid of me, which seemed unlikely.
"You were recorded by Cagliostro," she said, her facial expression showing that she was telling the truth but withholding some information. She seemed cautious of me, and I was recorded by Cagliostro...
The Book of Cagliostro mainly contains spells related to dark magic. Did he somehow include me in a spell, or something else? I needed more answers.
I stared at her intensely, giving her a look that demanded more answers, and somehow she understood it.
"It revealed a page that was dedicated to your being. Cagliostro claimed that he once met you, the '̴̨͇̣̪̈̓̅R̸̢͕͗̔̾͌̐e̸̜̭̋̚c̷̡̃̓̈͝o̸̞͕͕̰̜͂̚r̸̳̲̋̉́͝d̵̻͕̼͍̏͠ĕ̴̬͒r̴̨̨̺̰̹̓͆͝, a being of unimaginable power that records everything itself." She explained, giving me an idea of how I was recorded.
"How did he do it?" I asked her, while keeping a close eye on her.
"...He said that you, yourself, ordered him to do it and that it is a message to the current Sorcerer Supreme from you. Cagliostro said that you will know what to do if you see me, if you're really what you say you are."
The One-Above-All had warned me never to go to the past, so instead of going myself, I must have used a medium—Cagliostro. But Cagliostro is from the past, right? Did he time-travel to the future and meet me, or did I somehow travel to the past and meet him? More questions that need to be answered, but not right now.
"I see..." I responded, deep in thought.
There's only one reason why the future me would have contacted the Ancient One and asked her to find the current me.
Canceling my act, I looked at the Ancient One, and she saw through my pretense, realizing that I was just a kid who needed guidance and help.
"Please teach me the ways of the mystics, Ancient One," I said, bowing my head as much as possible.
If you like what you've read then be sure to leave some stones for me! I appreciate it y'all!