The next morning Henry woke up early without his usual alarm, which was an english feminine voice that always ringed in his head. He didn't take his bathe or eat as he only put on a tracksuit and left the hotel.
He was jogging all the way to the field Alicia had told him to meet up, the place was only four miles away so he decided to leave on foot
As he jogged, a small headphone device placed in his ear, playing his favorite kind of music. Classical.
He sprinted slowly, taking in the view of the morning beauty, recollecting his last night encounter.
****
"You're me. But How?" Henry asked
Scar sighed "Simple, I'm your alter ego." he said casually
Henry was even more stunned now, he didn't know he had an alter ego, one that even existed in this new world
"I never knew I had an alter ego... i never knew you existed,"
"Well you didn't have to, but I knew you... I helped you cope with..." scar paused and gritted his teeth
He took in a deep shaking breath, he was clearly filled with anger, while Henry just stood there still surprised by everything
"You made me to help you survive the harshness of this world, and I did my job well. All the anger, and grief and bloodlust were what created me."
Henry had a genuinely stunned look "What are you talking about? What anger? I grieved my mother and father, then I moved on," he retorted
Scar laughed slightly "Hahaha, moved on? You have no idea, do you? Well i don't need to tell you anything,"
"This place will do all the talking for me, you see all these darkness are the memories... horrible memories that i sealed away along with the bad things you did... which included me." he said, looking at Henry with hatred
"What horrible memories? I didn't do anything horrible in my past! Maybe a few burgling when I was on the streets, but that's it!" Henry yelled in denial
"Hm, oh you did more than just breaking into houses, you broke heads as well. All the memories you've had since mother died are all fake, this place will reveal it to you," Scar chuckled
"But the first horrible thing you ever did was creating me. You gave yourself a scar when mother died, slashed that knife across your face like it was nothing. You healed, but I didn't." he added coldly
"If you say i created you, they why am I trapped here? Why are you keeping me here?" Henry voiced out loudly
"Scar smiled "I'm keeping you here so you can experience the same sorrow and... pain i had to go through for years while you remained dormant, and when I finally let you out, you go ahead and get us killed!"
"One year! And you ruined everything that i worked for, with your stupidity and useless happiness. I... woke up just to see that I'm dead, and I don't know how long it was for you, but for me it felt like a hundred years of darkness and solitude,,"
"Then I woke up again, in a new world of extraordinary elements, only to discover that you've once again tried to kill us multiple times with your foolish antics, even signing a fucking agreement with someone you didn't know! How stupid can you be?"
"And then i realized that there was no way you'd survive in this world, you'll just get us killed as stupidly as the last time. So I brought you here to stay put and don't fuck things up like the last time," Scar stated with a frown
Henry was just to shocked at this point, he couldn't understand what Scar was even talking about, he just kept staring at him
"Don't worry, you'll understand soon enough, but just know that i won't let you out of here. Never!" Scar declared
"I won't just be held prisoner in my own mind! I will find a way out of here and i will destroy you!" Henry retorted
Scar laughed meniacly "See, you're already becoming me. Hahaha you're already feeling the rage and darkness, but you will never escape because your will is weak! This is my territory." he said as spread his hands across the vast darkness
"And you will remain here as long as i will it, and i will stay in control for as long as it takes, and make sure i never experienced that... cold feeling of death ever again,"
"While you stay here and get enlightened on the horrors you really faced in your past life, you don't deserve to be in control again. Never," he said as he began walking back, back into the darkness
Henry gritted his teeth, he couldn't take much more of the endless torment. This was his mind and he couldn't even control it
"Hey! Get back here! I won't be held for long, you have no power! I'm the original which means you're only a fake!" he yelled out
Scar paused in his steps and turned back to face Henry "Weren't you listening, this is my domain, i created that prison. You're the one who has no power and you will never be saved. Not even your Ai friend can save you, don't you get it? I've won, and you... you're history." he said before snapping his fingers,
And instantly the only light source in the prison faded away like it was never there, now leaving the entire place in complete darkness.
"You will have no light until you've learnt your place." he muttered coldly before turning away and vanishing from the area, leaving Henry to his misery.
****
Henry had now reached his destination, it was a large open space that spread almost 1000 meters in diameter. He glanced around and saw no one and was about to tap his bracelet when he heard a voice from behind him
"You're late, this is 8:02," Alicia said with a frown, she was wearing her usual glasses along with black gym pants and a red hoodie, with a small communication device on her ear. She had this typical hacker vibe.
Henry just stared at her like she was a lunatic "Has this girl been taking drugs or something?" he thought
"It's looks like i got here first, little red. And is sneaking up behind people like a fetish... or some kind of signature entrance?" he replied with a smug smile
Alicia giggled "It's... more of a habit, and i got here first. Infact i watched you as you arrived, and I must say you're quite the thinker." she stated
Henry had a pitiful expression as if shaking his head for the girl "Yep, she's definitely on drugs," he said inwardly
"And what's this you're calling me heh? I think I like it. Should I call you big black as well or maybe you prefer da..."
"Alright that's enough, let's just get this over with, my time is very precious this days," Henry cut her off, he couldn't have any more of her teasing
"Oh yes, you're one month grace is almost complete. I hope you've done everything you want to cause aunt Jade can be very overprotective," Alicia said
"Yeah I think I got that part already," Henry replied with a sigh, Felicity had been checking up on him for days now and it was becoming very constant and annoying.
"Alright, let get on with it shall we?" she said, as they headed towards a small shed at the right corner of the field
They got under the shed and Alicia pulled out a small blue device from her ring, one that looked like a visor spectacle, but was more advanced looking. It's lenses were black and the framed seemed to be pulsating.
"What's that?" Henry immediately asked
Alicia smiled "This, my dear big black, is a one of a kind visor, designed mainly for actual speedsters or people faster than the speed of sound."
"I use when I have to run really fast over long distances, it improves eyesight and reaction time, also helping you navigate corners, so when running, you don't crash into stuffs." she explained
Henry had a look of understanding "It's similar to my perception skill, but focuses on eyesight. But I've got the speed mastery skill from Talaria already," he stated inwardly and activated his inspect skill
*Name: V-visor
*Grade: Rare
*Stats: +20 perception
*Skill: Available
Henry was surprised with the glasses info, it was only a rare grade item but yet it possessed a skill
"Wait, does it have any skills?" he voiced out
"Hm, good guess. Infact it does, it's a one of a kind created by my aunt. It allows you to see things moving very fast, letting you monitor their movements," Alicia stated
"Oh, that's helpful i guess," Henry replied, his energy detection could do the same but not as precise as the visor
Alicia handed it to Henry and he put it on. As he did, his entire view became slightly yellow, with certain statistical descriptions appearing on the screen. It displayed trajectory plans, distance calculation of paths and representational technology. It was definitely futuristic, but it was the system's message that excited Henry even more
[V-visor equipped]
[+20 perception]
[Skill: Sight Velocity(passive): See things moving at super speed, and sense them visually in a normal or slower state]
"This could improve my time perception skill." he gleamed inwardly
"Wow, this is really cool, but are you sure you want to give me this? I know I'll never give this to anyone," Henry said, taking a glance of everything in sight with the visor
"Yeah I never thought I'd give this to anyone either, but you need it more than me. Besides I'm not a speedster but you, according to what I analyzed have the potential to reach photon level speed," She replied
"Hmm, light speed huh? I hope so. But i have to ask, you say you're not a speedster but your speed is upto mach 3." Henry questioned
Alicia raised an eyebrow and was about to speak when Henry quickly said something
"I found out on the internet of course," he added with a cheeky smile
"I was going to say that we humans who possess the mana cells are exceptionally fast, but we don't have the required kind of stamina that people with actual speed abilities have. So we can't just begin to run around the world just because we attained sonic speed, we'd lose all our stamina before we can even reach the next city," she explained
"But I'm glad to know someone's researching me." Alicia added with a wink
Henry just waved her off "That's explains a lot, if not there won't be any need for vehicles, everyone can just run over to wherever they want to go," he muttered
"Indeed, which is why you would have lots of energy right now for what we want to do today," Alicia stated
Henry's interest piqued "Yeah about that, why do you want to test my limit? I thought you could just... analyze it,"
"Yes I can, just like i can tell that your speed rate has increased since the time we first met. You've gotten faster, i knew i could count on you." she smiled
"But I also want to see your limit if you were to add a little boost,"
Henry raised an eyebrow, he watched as Alicia took another thing from her storage ring, it was a small bottle containing a blue liquid
He chuckled "Hm, what's that? Velocity nine?"
"Haha, very funny. No one can survive that thing. But this is actually something like that, it's a reprocessed agility serum, but contains a bit of velocity enhancement that boosts a person's speed temporarily. Aunt says only speedsters can use it for now," She replied
Henry was surprised, he hadn't expected there to be an actual velocity nine, he had just remembered a particular series he used to like in his old world
"You know come to think of it, I'm kinda like that guy, just that i wasn't struck by lightning," he muttered to himself with a chuckle
"Oh i see, so it's just a fancy way of saying velocity serum?"
Alicia put her hand on her chin "Huh, you know we could call it that,"
"Alright, here, it's safe to drink. But I'm not sure how much speed boost you'd gain, we haven't really tested it yet," she said as she gave the serum to Henry
Henry took it and opened the lid before suddenly pausing
"Wait, what do you mean you haven't tested it yet? Then how do you know it's safe?" Henry asked with suspicion
"Look, I'm not going to try and poison you. You're too useful to my plan, it's safe and it should grant you a decent amount of speed as you keep accelerating, i just don't know what would be it's limit. I promise it's totally safe,"
Henry looked at her with a look that stated 'If something happens to me, little red, I'm a rip your throat out'
He scrutinized the serum deeply, as if trying to guess it's ingredients, he glanced at Alicia on more time before pouring the fluid in his mouth
Alicia clapped happily "See, that wasn't so bad. Now tell me, how do you feel?"
Henry didn't feel any changes at all, his body felt the same and he didn't feel faster, he was about to make sneered at Alicia for bringing fake drugs to him, when the system popped up with a message
[Intake of foreign substance]
[Foreign substance has spread in host's body]
[Defense not strong enough to counter substance effects].