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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 82 [November 2010]
Manhattan
–Axle Riddle–
Ah, that was the stuff, he thought to himself as he had a 5 star in house spa treatment at the hotel he was staying. It was really nice to be able to use his functionally unlimited cash reserves to finally do something nice to his body.
Now, he was sure that he was not getting the full treatment because his body was simply not built the normal way, which would be evident if one took a look at the effort the masseuse was having to expend just so that he could feel something.
Also, his control over his body meant that he could soften the tissue or muscle at the point where she was working, and even then, it must be an uphill battle for her.
How did he end up in a spa instead of his hotel room, where he should be cooped up, working to remove the blockage on his powers?
Ah, yes.
Boredom.
Yes, Boredom was the simple one word answer to the question as to why he was not prioritising the work that could end up restoring order to a city housing millions. Yeah, he felt guilty and terrible but the thing was, he was only human, even if a vastly overpowered one.
That meant that his mind was human as well, at least he liked to think so. So, it wandered off, unheeding of its own priorities. It led to stagnation, where he couldn't think of the book and its solutions and how to better use the psionic energy within oneself, resonate it with the Astral Realm, and then use that amalgamation to soothe one's spirit. In his case, heal his soul from the backlash of his bonded weapon being destroyed.
Good lord, how stupid was he to just think that he could tangle with the One Below All *chills* There it was, once again, even thinking that name would bring him chills.
There was probably a reason why he was so strong and he had an active interest in Bruce and his child. For now, he was assured that the Ancient One was protecting the city from undue interferences like that and Tony was having a field day in the city, already having deployed at least 7 Iron Men suits to help fend off the growing wave of crime.
Yeah, he had noticed the crime.
From the day that Randall and Co had to stop that car chase to today, it had been 4 days. There was only a single day left until the deadline given to the city by the Ancient One ends.
And even now, he was not sure if his solution would work or not. See, the Astral Realm was not like a tangible place that one could mark and then go to the same address.
It doesn't work like tha…. "Ah, yes, that's the spot," He almost moaned as the masseuse finally started working on his neck muscles, which he had to consciously soften to make it possible for her to work on.
So, where was he?
Ah, yes. The Bullshit that was the Astral Realm.
Everyone had an imprint in the Astral Realm. Even non sentient animals, they too had much smaller imprints in the Astral Realm. The way to heal the spirit was to look for that imprint, which was very hard, considering that the Astral Realm was shared by the entire universe, and as he said earlier, there was no definitive address to the Astral Realm.
Then use the psionic energy that every being had in minute quantities, resonate with your own imprint which was now filled with energy from the Astral Realm, and then use the mixture of energies from both sides to bring both the imprints to equilibrium, i.e., a healed state.
To do that, however, he had to locate his imprint, which he did. Quite easily, in fact, because his imprint was just that much brighter than the rest of them. He also found out that there were other Astral Dragons in the Astral Realm, just like Master Jin'Ya but far more bloodthirsty or rather, soulthirsty, because he had to fend off three dragons like that.
And it was not fun, because while he could use his psionic powers in the Astral Realm, and even manipulate the surrounding energies to augment his soul, the dragons were that much more used to the energy, trying to eat him up.
He won, obviously but that whole encounter left him more exhausted than he would care to admit.
Now, he had found his imprint in the Astral Realm, learned all there was to learn about this healing method, had gotten into a fight with Astral Dragons, and more importantly, won.
Now, all there was left to do was complete the resonation process, and then the Astral Realm would do the needful. There was no complicated soul surgery procedure or anything. The Astral Realm will precisely heal as much as can be healed.
The process was almost done, ahead of schedule. He was overjoyed and was about to dive into it when he realised that he had done nothing but read, work, and eat all the past 5 days, and he was exhausted a bit, mentally speaking.
Being of the opinion that anything related to the soul should be handled with extreme caution, he decided to unwind for the rest of the day, and then work on the resonation in the morning, after a good night's sleep.
Ofcourse, for him, a good night's sleep is barely more than two hours so he will be up in the very early morning and hopefully, healed up by noon, so he could make his huge debut.
"Alright, Trisha. Thanks, but I think, for now, this is enough," He said out loud and Trisha let out a quiet sigh of relief that she didn't think he could hear.
"Okay, Axle,"
The sound of the door closing had him hopping into the shower and changing into a fresh pair of clothing, delivered by the hotel itself. Seriously, five star hotel concierge, combined with an Amex Card, meant that he could have anything he wanted, hand delivered to him at his room.
That was how he got any clothing for the past week. Everything he had, was burned down in the fire.
Thank goodness that he kept all his LEGO collectibles in a fire resistant, flood resistant storage container in the center of the city. It cost a pretty penny but hey, NOTHING is too expensive to safeguard his Death Star.
"Your finest wine and anything the chef recommends for the day. Surprise me," He said to the waiter when he was about to give him the menu. The waiter nodded mutely and left the table.
He looked around and really looked, not just use his eyes to fill in the colour with the data he was getting from his powers. He saw various people, mostly very rich ones with their families, girlfriends, and second girlfriends, having fun in the hotel.
Well, he knew this was coming when he created a safe haven for everyone. Rich people, indulging in their vices, with girls half their age, well, that was to be expected.
He couldn't really stop them from making bad choices. The girls were adults, that much he could confirm and that was that.
Also, he had a standing no crime policy anywhere in the city, it didn't matter if you were a billionaire or a hundred billionaire, or a humble taxi driver.
So, that probably helps the girl in making sure that least they won't be killed and the matter hushed by the obviously rich and powerful.
Shaking his head to get rid of what old unethical men do with their money and power, he instead focused on the steak that had arrived in front of him.
It looked delicious.
"Thank you,"
"Enjoy your meal,"
Pleasant interaction aside, the wine was great. And the steak was immaculate.
Unfortunately, even after drinking an entire bottle, something that drew strange gazes from the waiter assigned to him, he could feel no buzz.
So, that was 10k down the drain.
He came back to his room and sighed as he saw the book, exactly where he kept it, its deceptively small size hiding the gargantuan number of pages inside the book and the even more exhaustive amount of information inside.
Well, he couldn't exactly fault Master Jin'Ya for being thorough with his information. This was a book about the soul and anything missing can, and will, result in shredded souls.
"Ah, this sucks!" He grumbled as he changed into his pyjamas, manually, and entered the sheets, the heavy comfy sheets.
"Nighty night!" he mumbled to himself as sleep finally claimed him.
_____xx_____
His eyes snapped open as he looked out of the window. It was still dark. His eyes went to the bedside clock.
4:00 AM. Good.
He got up and got ready which took a lot more time than it would have taken if he still had his powers.
"Yeah, I need a cab. Yeah? To 177A Bleecker Street. Great." He called the room service and booked himself a premium cab.
Grabbed everything that he felt he needed, and went down to the receptionist.
"Mr.Riddle, thank you for staying with us. We hope to host you soon in the future."
"Yeah, me too." The pretty receptionist smiled at him as she gestured him towards a person waiting at the entrance.
The person was the driver who drove a black limousine, probably from the hotel itself. He saw a nice charge being added to the bill for chaperone services, but that was fine.
He was loaded anyway.
"Mr.Riddle, I have been instructed by the Ancient One to provide you access to the ritual room. Please, this way." Master Drumm said as he was ushered to the ritual room, a room strengthened by the best wards so that any outside influence doesn't exceed the ritual room's premises.
Perfect for his purpose today.
"Alright, let's begin," He muttered as he began the ritual that would change everything he knew about the limitations imposed on him.
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