Electrify - Volume 1 Chapter 10

“Hey, Bub.” Logan said as he jumped down.

“Hello there. I expected you to get here earlier.” I said and stood back up.

“We were a bit busy.” He said with a sigh and looked at the girl.

“Magneto?” I asked and he growled and nodded.

“Armel, we would like you to come, visit us before you decide anything.” Logan said.

“Okay.” She said and stood up.

“Kurt, take us to the plane.” Logan said.

There was a sudden purple mist in the air before the blue dude, grabbed them and blinked out of existence. A teleporter. F.u.c.k, Fury is not gonna like that one. I looked at the phone and headed back to the base. While entering the building, I met a strange red head. She looked at me and then sped up slightly while turning her head again and again. I felt as if I knew her and There it was again, the feeling of similarity followed by a dull sensation. How is this possible? Especially now. I can recall every f.u.c.k.i.n.g waking moment but nothing from my previous life. ‘If you truly want to learn.’ A voice said in my head. F.u.c.k. I had made my mind then and there, I will head to that mansion and put this matter to rest.

“Peter, you there?” I asked and immediately heard an explosion.

“Yeah, kind of fighting an 8 foot tall lizard here. You know the usual.” He said with a grunt.

“Want me to come over? You know what? I want to talk so I will be there.” I said and pulled up his last location.

He was on top of the Oscorp tower. I flew there and saw Peter punch the lizard onto another building. Then he proceeded to choke it unconscious. I observed the lizard, and it was cover with brushes and open wounded all over the place. All of which would be great to keep the lizard down but the wounds were regenerating at a visible pace. He looked over at me and waited till the lizard was completely still.

“Mutant?” I asked and Peter shook his head.

“No. This is the doctor. He went all bananas and tried to transform the entire city.” He said as he webbed up the downed Doctor.

“Sure. I will be taking a confidential mission, so take care okay.” I said and finally landed in front of him.

“How long?” He said as he pulled up his phone.

“Not sure.” I replied.

“No, I will not deal with your mom.” He yelled as looked at, I could almost feel his glare through the mask.

“Sure, Gtg.” I yelled with a laugh and flew away.

I was sure Peter used some colorful language but I wasn’t there to hear it. I finally called home and told mom about the trip to “Canada”. At first she denied me completely but I went home and convinced her in person. With that wreck of a conversation over, I finally headed to the mansion. I stood in front of it and knocked, but just as I was about to make contact. I felt an energy surround me and I was pulled into the mansion through the door. I mean, I sort of phased past the door. The shift was so sudden that if I was not as fast as I was, I would believe that I was teleported.

The mansion was clean and spotless, a few people walked around with their head in the books. Some of them were even floating to their destination. I took a single step but was stopped by a tall black man with a long staff.

“Electro, the Ancient One has been expecting you.” He said from behind me.

“You are lucky, if I had not been as concentrated as I was, you would have been zapped dead.” I said and removed his hand from my shoulder.

“Fine, follow me.” He said and turned back to the door.

He then raised his hand up and formed a circle in front of him and as his finger followed the notion, a circle of sparks formed in front of him. The insides of the circle then collapsed in on itself and another place appeared inside it. He walked over through the portal and smiled at me from the other side. I shook my self and walk through it.

“Don’t worry. This will all get old. One day, at least.” He said and took me to a place.

I was a wide hall of sorts with many people to the side and they were being served by the woman I met. She continued to serve tea and finally handed me a cup of it. I held the tea and looked at and waited for her to say something. Finally, the tea was over and the people on the sides were getting up. A really old man walked past us while looking at me.

“Thank you, Master Drumm. That will be all.” She said and the ma who brought me here bowed and left me her and another man. “Maxwell, ask what you want to.”

“What did you mean when you spoke to me earlier.” I said skimming over her knowledge of my identity.

“You are not of this world Maxwell. That much I could see, but there is another power on you that is keeping something from you.” She said and poured herself some more tea.

“What power? Tell me.” I said impatiently.

“Are you forgetting something?” She asked with another smile.

“Yes. A lot actually and because of it, many people have died. Can you help me?” I asked eagerly.

“No. But I can teach you.” She said and kept her tea back on the table. “But you must be ready to learn.”

“I am ready. That why I came here.” I said.

“Okay, stand still.” She said and quickly palmed me in the chest.

The hit clean and didn’t hurt a lot but I felt as if some had put me inside a football and played an entire match with it. I coughed and felt to a knee. I looked at her and she had a brow raised at me. She did another gesture and many glowing circles formed around me.

“Very interesting.” She said with a Hum.

“Was that supposed to feel like an earth quake.” I asked getting up.

“No, I was trying to push you into your Astral form but that didn’t work. Wear those clothes and this will be your room for the next few months or faster depending on you.” She said and disappeared.

“What clothes?” Said and felt some weight in my hands.

I jumped back and dropped the thing in my hands. Apparently, I was already in the room and was already holding the clothes. I sighed and put those on, the robes were grey in color and had a few marking on it. I headed back to the courtyard and saw many people with the same clothes practicing a few gestures and movements.

“Mr. Maxwell. Glad to see you. Now, if you would follow me.” A rather young girl said and lead me to the library. “You need to be aware that knowledge is at the core of what we do. So, you need to learn the languages first. Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew, Sanskrit, and Latin. You also need to be thorough with the history and cultures of these languages, every myth and legend. Get to it.” She said and skipped away.

I sighed and downloaded all the languages from TACTs servers along with a few other languages that seemed close to the ones mentioned. My powers helped a lot as I speed up and absorbed the information at supersonic pace. Then came the cultures, the mannerisms, and the myths. This part was actually very interesting, even gave me a few idea about my own powers. Especially, about moving along the lighting, almost riding it. I felt that is was a bit unconventional but if I could pull this off, I could travel around the globe in mere moments.

This part was easy and took me only 2 days to burn through everything. I spent another day practicing the languages, both orally and literally. The Ancient One did not actually talk to during this time, but the young lady was very helpful. She called herself Alice but I knew that was not her true name. I went back to the courtyard and approached Alice again.

“Mr. Maxwell. How are the studies coming along.” She asked.

“I am done. We can move along with the next thing.” I said.

She raised her eye brows and began to question me in the languages, her shock grew when I answered everything correctly.

“I did not expect such results.” She said and looked at her hands.

“Miss Alice. Perhaps, you should stop judging till after the results.” Ancient One said from behind me.

“Sorry, I will try.” She said and left with a bow.

“Mr. Maxwell, walk with me.” She said and began to walk towards the library. “We sorcerers use our mind to bend reality. To what extent depends on the energy we are able to channel and control. The energy can be our own or from somewhere else, either way every spell comes at a cost. To focus these energies we use a focus point or an object. This focus allows you to control far greater energy than humanly possible. You need to find your own focus.”

She said and turned around. She waved the hands in the air and lines and circles began to formed out of energy, writings in many different language on the five different constructs floated in front of her. She made a final gesture and the constructs thrummed with power before dissipating.

“How do I do this?” I asked.

“Firstly, you need to use a basic magical item to used to feeling and directing the intent and the energies. A sling ring is the usual object of training.” She said and pulled a two finger ring out of nowhere and handed it to me. “The library is yours for use but there is something you need to know. Knowledge is never forbidden but certain practices are.” She said and vanished from site.

I put the ring on my dominant hand and tried to do the same thing I saw Drumm doing. There was not reaction and I sighed. I headed inside and saw many people with books and scrolls. I walked around till I found a desk. There was the same fat Asian man who I had seen few weeks ago. He looked at me and frowned. He then point at a shelf at the far end and got back to reading his book.

I went there and picked up a few basic books on control and intent, along with a few other books. The topics also included meditation and mind management. The texts were never too clear on any topic, almost always leaving the reader to interpret the message on their own. I was never too good at this part of learning, creativity was not one of my strong suits. The only way I could do this was make assumptions and brute force my way through trial and error, but the thing was that I did not know what was correct or otherwise. I sighed and read all the books regarding the beginner concept and even a few of the advanced ones but the most progress I made was a tiny spark in air that last not more than a breath.

“Ancient One, I am having trouble controlling the energies.” I said as I sat in front of her.

“Why is that? I have seen you go through thousands of books in the past week.” She said and her eyes glowed for a bit before she smiled. “Perhaps, your control of your other power is getting in the way. Tell me Maxwell, how do you control your abilities.”

“I have to be focused on them always, suppressing them. Even when I do use them, I need to control every part of the lightning.” I said.

“Is it because you need to ration the amount?” She asked.

“No, it is because if I ever loose control, I could destroy everything around me. My power demands to be used, it is always in motion.” I said and called a bit lighting between my fingers.

“Come with me.” She said and stood up.

She turned around and gently opened her palm and pushed it forward. With a sound like glass shattering, I saw a crack from in the air. The cracks expanded till her arm slipped right through. She turn around and beckoned me to follow her and we walked past the shattered reality into a new one. In here everything was the same but I could see large polygonal shaped ridges and cracks on everything.

“This is the mirror dimension, a reflection of what exists in our world but doesn’t affect it in any way. We use to train our dangerous abilities without the fear of harming anything. The only danger in here is if you not know how to leave. One of the ways to leave it is a sling ring, and it the only one you know. Good luck Maxwell.” She said and swiftly left.

Though, I had a few questions, I knew why she choose to leave me stranded in this place. Desperation, is a good substitute for creativity. I closed my eyes and let go of the control in had fought tooth and nail for. I felt my electric sense expand from a few dozen meters to around 2 kilometers. I felt my body begin to heat up. There were arcs of electricity everywhere, burning everything around me. I always felt that if I accidentally let loose all the power, I would be instantly exhausted but the electricity didn’t just vanish or got conducted elsewhere, I simply returned of its own volition.

While, outside was a scene of complete electric disaster, my mind on the other hand was feeling free, as if a mountain of weights were removed. I looked inwards just like the books and the scroll said but instead of finding my focus, I found a hole. The hole bled current for a few moment and absorbed a few sparks the next. I felt a sort of familiarity from it and it seemed as if it was calling to me. Just beckoning me closer. I would usually do the opposite if I was not at Kamar Taj, so I decided the it was time to explore the avenues that lay within myself. I got closer and closer until I was just touching the hole, and with a simple thought I was transported into it.

“So, you finally come here.” A voice boomed throughout the space.

“Where is this?” I asked back.

“You know where this is.” He said in a voice quite familiar.

I looked around and it soon came to focus, I had been here before. Almost every night, the realm of electricity. While I was looking around, a figure showed up. He had a familiar face, and a familiar way of dressing. He face a grin on his face as he looked me up and down.

“What happened to you? Did you finally learn to ride lightning or even shifting?” He asked quite excitedly.

“No, I haven’t. I didn’t really have the time to fully dedicate to my powers.” I said and he frowned.

“What the hell man? You had all the time in the world.” He said.

“I was working for shield, and the new assignments kept me busy.” I explained.

“Well, at least did you find the truth about it?” He asked looking worried.

“About shield?” I asked back, and saw his eyes widen for a bit before he rubbed his forehead. “Why am I connected to this realm? And who are you? Why do I feel like I know you?” I asked.

“You are me and I am you, or at least the part that crossed over here. This realm sort of ripped me out and put me here to interact with you. The knowledge, I have or we had was far to much of a threat I suppose or it did it for shits and giggles. Anyway you made if far worse by trying to suppress you powers.” He said or I said.

“So, how do I get my memory back?” I asked again.

“I don’t know, man. I am trapped here with nothing to do. I guess, try using the power here. That should do something.” He said with a nonchalant shrug.

“You guess? If I mess up and release an endless pool of power to the world, I could literally destroy it.” I yelled out.

“Don’t be a wuss, we always believed more in action than inaction.” He said and looked at me.

“Fine, we are in a mirror dimension anyway.” I said and turned back around.

“Mirror dimension?, did I f.u.c.k.i.n.g go to the Kamar Taj, hey did you meet the Ancient One, is it a she or a he?” He said excitedly and appeared in front of me.

“Yes. Yes and she is sort of complicated.” I said and closed my eyes and heard him say ‘lucky bastard’.

I felt myself out side and opened my eyes. The world was dark with lines of electric flowing with in the wall. I remembered this, I was seeing like this when I first woke up here. With a smile, I looked at my hands and saw the nerves and the arcs of electricity flowing all around me in much more detail. I pictured the realm again and felt it calling to me. This time instead of going to it, I called it towards me. I felt a thrum of power and a surge of electricity the likes of which I never felt before. I looked at my hand and it glowed like I was filled with electricity. I blinked a few time to get used to the new powers and to see better. Seeing only electricity was cool and all, but seeing solid structures was even better. While, I was trying to tweak my power I heard something in the back of my head.

“Shit head, try to see better, not in color. I am sure everything has electricity.” I heard his voice.

“I thought you were trapped.” I said.

“Yes, I still am but you opened a hole for me to peek through.” He said and turned silent.

I thought for a while and realized that he was actually correct, everything has a charge no matter how minuscule it may be. I concentrated on the floor beneath me and tried to see it. At first it was barely visible but as time passed, it became more and more clear. I looked around to see the structures, and the other stuff that adorned the walls. I smiled and turned my hand around to see the ring. I raised it and visualized the real world. I raised my other hand in the required position and began to trace a circle in the air. The energy flowed out and formed the circle which collapsed in on itself and revealed a smiling Ancient One.

“Congratulations Master Maxwell.”