Humans. Creatures of unmatched prowess, even deeper than they themselves understand. With the power to mold the world to their perception, and hold ideals for their future, they rose to the top. However, as the world progressed into a familiar one to our own, under the surface lies those who understand the deepest of a human's capabilities, and use them to perform miraculous feats of power. Only fate will tell what these humans are truly capable of.
New York city, September 14th 2023, 6:34 AM. Morning rays cascade across the city, casting long shadows and spreading dim, orange light. The front door of a dingy apartment complex swings open, and out steps a spry young woman, Malva Flores. She walks out onto the sidewalk, on her way to school. Long black hair, tan skin, and brown eyes, she had recently turned 18 and was still in her celebratory mood. Malva passes her usual sights on her way to school, greeting familiar faces along her way. "Mornin' Mal!" waves Mr. Guspatchi, he ran the little corner store Malva lived by, she always stops for food and chat. She waved joyfully back "Good morning Mr. Guspatchi!" Malva has lived on this street most of life. Malva turns her usual corner for her "shortcut". Her mom always told her to stop going this way, but speed and fun comes first!
As she steps into this alley, she jumps onto a dumpster and knocks down a fire escape ladder. Malva makes her way all the way to the roof, and begins hopping over the small gaps between buildings. She stops and looks down at a railroad bridge, and appears to ready herself. Just then, a train comes rolling through, right on schedule. She hops onto the train as it slows to take the corner, and rides it for half a mile closer to her school. With a smooth breeze and a beautiful skyline, it's a shame it isn't a very long ride. As she hops off the train, she quickly re-enters more standard forms of transportation, or in this case, the sidewalk.
As she made her way to school, Malva spotted a small purple tent. Heavily decorated as it was, she was enticed to look inside. Clearly some form of fortune telling service, the interior was dimly lit, each flicker of the candles reflecting off a crystal ball in the center of the room. The inside was dimly lit, only by candle light. Deep purple cloth draped around the entire small establishment, decorated heavily with gold and jewels, of questionable authenticity. Sitting at a small table, a stunning woman with dark skin, luscious locks of dark brown hair tied in complex braids, adorned with a cloth headdress of similar style to the tent itself. The woman spoke with a soothing, yet powerful voice. "Ah, just the young woman I've been waiting for… " The woman dragged her speech, becoming more alluring with each passing word. Malva seemed unamused at first, yet slowly drawn in by the words of the woman, mesmerized by her silky voice. "Please, sit. Make yourself at home my dear. Tell me, what is it you wish to know?" the woman asked. Not sure what she meant, Malva takes a seat. "I mean, are you some kind of fortune teller? I don't know the first thing to ask." she says, laughing nervously. "We can start with something simple, my dear. How about how your day will go?" Malva nods along, noticing she hasn't been asked to pay for anything yet. The fortune teller begins waving her hands around her crystal ball, mumbling something under her breath. Malva looks around the tent, which is seemingly much more impressive on the inside, with decorations of all kinds, and even some scented candles.
Malva's thoughts are interrupted. "Ah, I see it… a rather uneventful day, meets with a fateful turn! You will encounter a man who is capable of fantastical things! His words will carry much weight for your future, but tread carefully, along with him comes many Dangers…" her words resonate with Malva, though confused at how vague it seemed. She hasn't introduced herself after all, and as Malva begins to wonder what it could mean, she quickly realizes that she still has to get to school. Malva begins to collect her things and hurry towards the entrance, as the woman calls out to Malva again. "Oh, and you may want to take the long way home from school, my dear Malva." Malva looks back very confused, only to be met with a cheeky smile and a light wave. "How did she know my name?" Malva thought, but hurried along regardless. In hesitation, she looks back to the tent only to see it was no longer there.
As Malva approached the front gate, she heard a familiar voice from the other side. "Hey!" It was Casey, a friend she made coming to this school. "Did you see the match last night!?" They always bonded over their fondness for professional MMA, the fights were a common topic of discussion among them. "Yea! I can't believe the slow-mo replay, they caught the moment his tooth flew out!" They continued to talk as they stepped into the building. The pair head into the cafeteria for breakfast, when they hear the squeaking of sneakers coming from the hallway the bus kids are dropped at. As usual, their resident ball of excitement was hurdling its way toward them. "Guys!" a boy excitedly shouts. It was Peter, another friend of Malva's. A rather scrawny specimen, he has a deep love of all things Sci-fi or fantasy, any fictional world of adventure really. His infatuation with popular shows and anime is worn on his sleeve, quite literally with all the merchandise he cloaks himself in. Malva's friends were lively, but their chaos brought a form of excitement and joy into her life she appreciated deeply. "They just announced Fighter Cross IX! Check it out!" He excitedly shows his phone and plays a video showing the trailer for a fighting game, with very pretty graphics and effects. "Doesn't it look fun?" Peter asked, eagerly anticipating the pair's reaction. "So you want us to kick your ass in this new one too?" Casey said with a cheeky grin. Peter points, accusingly "Those weren't fair and you know it!" she always managed to find a way to poke at peter, their back and forth is always full of energy.
"Something wrong?" Casey asked, looking at Malva with a confused look. "You have your 'thinking face' on." She jokingly teased "Oh I uh…" Malva trailed off in response "I'm just thinking about this weird fortune teller I met on the way to school…" The statement sat in the air for a moment, before being interrupted by a loud burst of laughter. "You met a fortune teller? Like, a street vendor thing?" Peter chuckled. "I mean… yea kinda." Malva agreed with the pair, it sounded absurd. "It was really weird,she had this whole tent and everything…" Malva thought more on the events and how strange they truly were, from knowing her name and the tents sudden disappearance. Just who was that woman? "She mostly just said a bunch of cryptic stuff I didn't really get," Malva chuckled awkwardly. "It was pretty weird." "Yea, I bet" Peter chimed in "did you get some weird prophecy or something? I bet you got a cryptic warning. Or MAYBE-" Casey shoves the food peters holding into his mouth. "You're just gonna compare it to your favorite anime, hush." The two sarcastically glare at each other, before bursting into laughter again. "Oh it's time, you'll have to tell us about this 'fortune teller' later Mal, see you in third." The group split up as Malva continued her school day, still puzzled by the strange encounter but pushing it back for the time being. As the final bell rings, releasing the students, Malva meets up with her friends as they exit the main entrance.
"So" Peter starts "I think if I pre-order it, I can get the first DLC pack for free, and- oh hey Mal." Casey and Peter were chatting while waiting, the three often try to see eachother off. "You figure out that whole… future seer thing?" "Yea, not really… it's still just a cryptic warning about today." Malva seemed tired at the thought by this point. It probably didn't really matter anyhow. "Well, let us know if you figure it out I guess." Casey shrugged. "I'm heading off, gotta get to practice. Later guys." Casey waved as she parted, the group generally parting ways.
The sun was getting decently low in the sky, creating a warm golden hue to sprawl across the horizon. Malva began her trek home, again remembering the strange advice. She pauses as she looks upon both paths she could take, her normal short route, or the more scenic route. She felt a strange urge to follow the fortune teller's advice, and almost without noticing had already begun down the longer route home. As she made her way past large buildings, and scenic skylines, she heard something strange. Down an alleyway she could swear she heard what sounded like fighting, or even explosions? Pushed forward by the fortune teller's words, her curiosity got the best of her as she investigated.
As she peered into the dark alley, she was shocked to find two men moving with incredible speed and ferocity. One vaults over a dumpster with a flying kick, but his foot is grabbed and thrown to the side. he jumps off the wall he was thrown at, back at the other man. He ferociously swings back and forth at the other man, to no avail. Both were decently well dressed, the aggressive one in a full brown business suit with patches on the elbows. He has tanned skin and black hair, and a shallow mustache. He had heavy bags under his eyes, strained open in anger. He yells "Quit moving, you old bastard!" As he swings an open palm at the man, and a sudden explosion erupts from the worn fireman glove on his hand. "Now that's no way to talk to your elders young man!" the older man spoke in a deep southern accent, Illuminated by the light of the dodged explosion. The man and the weapon he was wielding could be seen, black suit pants and shirt, with a maroon silk vest and tie. His hair was short and peppered white, with an accompanying full face beard. His piercing golden eyes shone through the light as he smirked. On each hand he wore an oversized leather gauntlet, detailed with iron decorations. The older man sweeps the legs of the younger, but before reaching the ground, another explosion launches him fist first towards the older man. The older man leans extremely far back, and flips himself over. The younger man uses another explosion to propel himself back for some distance in the alley. He shouts "DODGE THIS!" As he clasps both his hands together, in a cup shape. An enormous, yet thin and condensed explosion is fired from the man. As the attack almost strikes the older man, he grabs it from the side and pulls it away from himself, bending it into the distance, but not before searing through the wall just above Malva's head. The younger man, further enraged, throws a simple punch, before the older man snaps his fingers and appears behind him, before he puts the younger in an arm lock. "Now what would ol' sharpy think about the property damage, huh?" He gestures broadly to the general scorch marks left by the raging bombshell. "I think you need a time out." The older man rears back. "DON'T YOU DA-" before the poor man could finish his sentence, he was already gone. "Take care now, yah hear?" The older man waves, despite his taunts having no audience.
Or atleast, so he had thought. The man notices the would-be spectator, and is caught a bit by surprise. "And just who might you be?" says the man, approaching Malva. Is this the man she was told about? He certainly seems to be capable of fantastical things, but all Malva could think about was how insane what she had just witnessed was. "M-Malva." is all she could muster out past the sheer bewilderment. "Well young lady, yah sure looked confused" he says, smirking "Why don't yah come with me and we can chat about what happened, eh? Names Anthony, Anthony Bigsby." His smile was nearly contagious. He wore a black suit shirt and pants, with a red velvet vest. The first thing that came to Malva's mind was, "What the hell is going on?" She pondered, but remembering the fortune teller's words, she decided to follow.
"I'm gonna assume yah saw most of that 'scuffle' back there?" asked the man, very casually. Malva looked at the ground, nervous "Just… What was that? Are you some kind of wizard?" she asked, looking up at the man who seemed to be holding in a burst of laughter at the question. "No no, nothing like that. Though, I guess historically that would be accurate." he says, more thinking to himself than answering Malva's question. "What yah saw wasn't magic, but I can certainly see where yah got that from." the man says, looking up at the sky. Malva's eyes Couldn't help but peer towards the oversized Gauntlets adorning the man's hands. "To answer your question" he lifts up the hand she was looking at "These are called the Hands Of God." Malva looks at Anthony with a somewhat disapproving look, as if that answered nothing. "Simply put, they allow me to grab hold of anything." He says with a smirk. "Anything?" Malva questions. "Quite literally." as he says this, he makes a grabbing motion in the air, and a visible ripple forms around his fist. Anthony rears back a bit, before making a throwing motion. A sudden gust of wind is carried past the pair of them. A shocked look spreads across Malva's face, while a smug one crawls onto Anthony's. "How did you do that!?" Malva's expression changed from disdain to amazement instantly, astounded at the feat of power displayed.
"All I did was grab the wind, gave it a little toss." The matter-of-fact way he says this tells so little about what he's truly capable of, but the ability speaks for itself. "And this isn't magic?" she asked. "More an understandin' of the world, with assistance from a tool'' Anthony responds. "Earlier yah saw my 'buddy' over there throwin' some explosions, these are called Constructs." The word echoes in Malva's mind. Construct? What kind of item can someone make that can defy logic this way? A better question is how one would even make something like this. "I hope you realize you haven't really made sense at all." "If it's sense you're lookin' for, you're gonna be searchin' a while." He says with a laugh. "I'll give you a better explanation when we get where we're goin', jus' round the corner anyhow." Anthony turns into a backstreet, it's poorly lit with only the orange of the twilight sky casting any light down this way. Most of the buildings seem desolate, except for one solitary building. Styled like an old western saloon, the front of the building was entirely made of wooden planks. A large sign on the front in neon lighting read 'BIGSBY's'. Anthony proudly steps inside "Come along, we'll have a little chat and yah can go on about your day."
Malva cautiously steps inside the bar, unease sets in not just from the circumstances, but she's also too young to drink. "Wipe that worried look off yah face, not like Imma have yah drink." Anthony settles himself behind the bar, taking a lax stance while leaning on the bar. Malva looks around the place, still feeling uneasy, but at least a small bit better knowing she'll have a proper explanation… at least hopefully. The bar was strange, on the outside it appeared as an old-timey saloon, but on the inside it's more of a traditional bar, constructed in the same style as outside. The bar seems well used, despite the lack of patrons at the moment. Booths line the left side. Among these, one looks just like the place Malva met the fortune teller. She rushes to the back, upset, and peers into the unique booth. Malva meets face to face with the fortune teller, who seemed entirely unsurprised at Malva's presence "Ah, I knew you'd show up sooner or later" she says without looking at Malva. "I see you followed my advice." The woman seems almost coy with her words. "What the hell!? Are you two in cahoots or something!?" Malva speaks up, visibly frustrated. "In a sense, but it isn't like we have some kind of plan for you" the woman calmly interrupts the outburst "It was good fortune that brought you here today, not us." she looks Malva in the eye for the first time, sparkling purple eyes pierce through Malva. "My name is Esmerelda, and I'm certain you're acquainted with Anthony. Simply put, you were fated to meet us today." Anthony picks up where Esmerelda left off "and I'm not one to defy fate." Malva turns to look at Anthony, who seemingly just downed a shot of some kind.
"Ugh, none of this makes sense! And just what is a construct!?" Malva says, tired of the vague answers both of them have been giving. "Well, young lady" Anthony begins "It's a man-made law of the universe. Using a certain technique, a person can imbue a new law into an item, and use it to do amazin' things.'' As he says this, a bottle of booze on the other end of the bar is dragged towards him, while he makes a pinching and tugging motion with his gauntlet. "Or at least that's the short of it." Malva looks puzzled "So what, you just get to make up rules?" "Not quite so simple," Esmerelda cuts in. "There are some rules to this process in itself, it is rather complicated. But an example is the crystal ball you've seen me use'' she waves her hands around it. "It can show me anything I want it to, including the best thing to do at any given moment. This morning, I merely questioned what the best thing to happen for you would be, and it led you here. This crystal shows the most favorable fate, or so it would seem." Esmerelda's words resonate with Malva. The most favorable fate? Thoughts and ideas rush through Malva's mind, as her thoughts are cut short.
"If yah want, we could teach you how to make one." Anthony says, past another shot. "If only 'cause it's what she told me is the best option. You can decline if yah aren't interested, just don't go tellin' everybody 'bout it." Is that what this is about? Teaching her some kind of superpower? And for what reason? This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity, but it was still very sudden. "Why me? And for what reason?" she asked "To be frank, coulda' been anyone. And I don't really need a reason to share it, 'specially cause the top don't like it." He chuckles to himself ."But don't get me wrong, it won't be easy by any means. Only accept it if you think yah can handle it. Yah ain't gotta say anythin' now neither, jus' come back tomorrow if yah want to pick up a few tricks, if not you probably won't see us again." He says, taking a third shot. It seems oddly convenient, but it doesn't seem like they are lying about anything. She did come here of her own will after all. "I… think I need some time" and with a nod and a wave Malva was back on her way home.
It was a bit later than normal for her, but not so much of a detour that she couldn't get home in good time. The experience was peculiar, yet Malva couldn't shake the feeling that it was significant. How could such things be done, let alone be real? She would claim it were a dream if she hadn't already pinched herself. As she opens her front door, the smell of the freshly made dinner wafts past, and Malva finally takes a moment to relax. She didn't realize how on edge she was until just now. As if the rest of the world melts away, she turns the corner into the kitchen/dining room, meeting face to face with her mother.
"You're home later than usual," says her mother. Her tone doesn't seem concerned, so much as a mix of suspicion and encouragement. "Did you finally get a boyfriend?" Malva's relaxation quickly turned to being flustered. "No! I just… hung out with some friends before coming home." There's no way anyone, let alone her mother could understand or believe anything that she had seen that day. Best to keep it under wraps. "Well, I figured it was that or you got distracted. Again." Her mother, Alma, speaks while setting the table. Alma was a very kind mother, understanding of Malva's rambunctious habits. She reminded Alma a lot of her late husband, getting his adventurous spirit. The small family enjoys their meal, and continues their nightly routine.
As they wind down for the evening, Malva thinks back to the events of the day. Of course, that's all she could think about. She has been thinking about it ever since it happened. Constructs? Laws of the universe? Could such a thing really be doable by human hands, even her own? Her own construct. What would she make, or what would it do? The possibilities seem limitless infront of her, yet she feels unable to move. As she lulls herself to sleep in thought, she makes up her mind. As the sun rises, Malva can hardly stay in bed. She rushes out of the house before her mother even finishes her coffee. She sprints through the alleyways of her shortcut, but early enough to catch the train just before her usual. As she just barely makes it to the train, she watches closely for the spot she needs. She hops off, much earlier than she would to get to school. She runs around a corner, and straight out of an alley, to her destination.
"Are you really drinking this early?" Esmeralda looks disappointedly down at Anthony, who is currently slouching over, pouring alcoholic creamer into his morning coffee. "It's 5:00" he says loudly "AM." She retorts. Anthony lifts his double addiction special to his lips while saying "Technicalities ain't stop me before, an' they won' stop me-" as he's about to be sarcastic. Again. The door to the bar slams open, and an out of breath Malva takes both of the bickering adults by surprise. "I wanna learn!" Malva proclaims, proudly. Anthony, with a shocked expression midway through sipping his concoction, curls his face into an excited grin "That's great to hear!"
Anthony slams his fist on the wall next to him and shouts toward the ceiling "Oi, Scraphead! Yah got a fellow disciple! Take the opportunity to socialize for once!" A sluggish and heavy groaning and fumbling can be heard upstairs. It seems to drag its way from one side of the building to the other, approaching the back of the bar. Before long, a very audible crashing and falling noise can be heard, before slamming into the wooden door near Esmeralda and Anthony. Some adjustments are heard before the door opens. An entirely disheveled young man, wearing a white tank-top and sweatpants. With bags under his eyes, and an unkept mohawk that's flopped to the side. He stares at Malva with an uninterrupted silence lasting roughly five seconds. He slams the door and can be heard going back upstairs. Anthony shrugs to Malva. "He probably hasn't had his coffee either."