"Just for the record, the weather today is calm and sunny, but the air is full of bullshit."
― Chuck Palahniuk, Diary
"How deep are these clouds…"
Ven drifted, faster and faster as he built momentum. The green-brown mist stayed out of reach, the opening above lost to sight as he searched for the surface of this mammoth world. Time had become slippery, days or weeks, he wasn't sure. His years of imprisonment had skewed his thoughts on such things.
"No word from Mara, so It can't have been that long," Ven shrugged as he pressed on. He pushed his cores, a burst of speed that blurred the world to coloured lines. "Let's pick things up, I don't want to spend forever in these mists…"
***********************************************************
"This is insane!"
Ven paid more attention as he traveled. He couldn't be certain, but he suspected he'd been at this for months. The world had devolved into a streak of light. He'd pushed his speed to an unheard of degree, a slow accumulation that tested the limits of his body.
"Maybe I should…"
A flutter of violet, thin at first, but stronger by the moment, blossomed below him. A change! The timing was suspicious, but Ven didn't care. He'd survived on his systems energy this entire time, anything new was welcome.
He dove forward, aura extended in a vast net. The discoloration showed no fear. It swelled in size, a thread that became a river. The serpent of light touched his shadowed trap. An explosion of light.
A thousand Ven's stared back at him, some masked, others blinded and decayed. They scattered to ash, a dust storm of possibilities that swept him into a shadowed pit. Stars. The soft backdrop of space, touched by a yellow sun.
"Is that…"
Ven drifted closer to a blue-green pearl, hung against the night sky. A primitive space station hung in orbit, a species' first step into the greater universe. The continents below glowed, dotted with the lights of intelligent life.
"It really looks like Earth, but…" He shook his head and descended toward the familiar orb. "I doubt it's mine."
His Earth had turned to dust long ago. The system had stored him for the lifetime of a thousand stars. This place was another version, a part of the endless variations the cultivators droned on about.
Countries he remembered, fast food restaurants, oversized vehicles that vomited toxic gas. Nostalgia was a powerful thing. Ven drifted through the clouds, the skyline of a huge city laid out before him.
"The city of dreams…" Ven had never visited, when he called Earth his home. The air was foul and acrid, thick with smoke. "I wonder if another me is out there, living my bitter old life."
He shifted away from the ocean of buildings, pointed toward the west.
************************************************************
"This is better!"
Ven settled into a meditative posture, seated atop a snow capped mountain. Clear air, free from the touch of modern man. He needed to settle his heart before he searched for his alternate self. What would he say? Could he offer his human version anything?
"Who are you, stranger?" A gruff, but friendly voice interrupted his thoughts. "You're definitely not from around here!"
Ven opened his eyes to find a green-bearded, middle-aged man, seated before him. Dressed in a simple, faded tunic, he could have stepped from a mediaeval reenactment. His look was finished with a huge, metal-shafted axe, hung over his shoulder.
"I'm just a tourist," Ven smiled, eyes squinted at the unusual fellow. "This planet is very much like my lost home, so I decided to spend a bit of time here and relax."
"Bwhahaha!" The man unsheathed his axe and set it on the ground. He leaned forward, hands on his knees. "That's as good a reason as any!" He reached forward to shake. "The name is Christopher, but most just know me as the Green Man."
"Green Man?" Ven raised an eyebrow as he gripped Christopher's hand. "I don't think I've ever heard of someone like that?"
"I'm pretty exclusive to Earth," Christopher laughed. "I might have lied when I said people remembered the Green Man… most just worship the corporate idol of Saint Nick these days."
"Santa Clause…" Ven blinked. "You're telling me that you're THE Santa Clause?"
He'd come from a world where legends had walked the earth, but Santa… it tested his belief in the sanity of the multiverse. Ven rubbed his temples as the well built man laughed again.
"The one and only, but I've never delivered any presents," Christopher gave a sheepish shrug. "I was just an unlucky warrior that got suckered into a one sided contract."
"A contract?" Ven tilted his head. "With who?"
"With the Earth," Christopher waved to the land, a smile on his face as his eyes glowed a forest green. "I am her chosen guardian, responsible for protecting her and her children."
"So the Earth has consciousness in this universe…" Ven mumbled as his hands trailed through the ground at his sides. "I wonder if my home was the same?"
"Sorry to interrupt your thoughts," The Green Man stood, axe in hand. "But the Earth believes you to be a threat, a predator from beyond the worlds."
"Why can't people just chill out?" Ven sighed, bitter at the thought of a battle with Santa. "I'm literally just sitting here, living my life." His aura spilled from his eyes, a storm to cover the world. "PEOPLE SHOULD JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!"
Christopher spun his axe in easy arcs, a wall of steel to keep Ven's shadows away. His green eyes brightened, a rush of power from the Earth, into the Green Man's body. He stomped his foot and appeared in front of Ven's face.
"If everyone is constantly attacking you, maybe it's time you looked inwards," Christopher scoffed, axe raised high. "This world isn't yours to play around on as you will!"
A mighty swing cleaved a path through Ven's aura, a blow with the taste of laws. Cleave, Be Riven, Suppression, Restriction. More. Ven grit his teeth and sent his hands into a complex dance.
A river of runes spiralled out. Protection, Empowerment, Reflection, Magnification, and a Suppression of his own. Five masterful runic formations, ready to be infused with power. Ven sighed as he offered up system energy. One day he would fuel his creations with his own power.
"Let's see what's stronger," Ven laughed as his spells completed with a resonant hum. "You and your planet, or my countless years of forced study!"