Chapter 171 – Energy Manipulation, Harmony

[2009 – October]

Sighing quietly as I walked through the corridors of the Hellion Mansion, I was sure that Celeste had understood the meaning behind my words.

I didn't want to intimidate her or pressure her after what she had gone through while being a captive of the Facility, but while I did not have much knowledge of the Stepford Cuckoos, I clearly remembered that one of the sisters had betrayed and plotted against the others, going so far as to push one of them to her death.

I knew that Celeste was not the name of the girl that had done those things, as I distantly recalled her name to be Esme.

I also didn't plan to pry into Celeste's secrets but keeping an eye on her was the least that I could do, especially since there was no way that Emma could stay objective when it came to assessing the threat that her daughter posed to her and the others living in the mansion.

And since I suspected that Celeste had somehow preserved and gathered the strength of her sisters after their passing, I preferred to be cautious even though my instincts were telling me that she was not a threat, nor malicious of nature.

My Extrasensory Perception also told me that Celeste's mind was stable even if her mental aura was somewhat 'impure', so my concerns were limited.

The mind was still a fragile thing though, and there were quite a few examples in the comics of people with multiple personalities doing untold destruction.

That didn't mean that I didn't look forward to getting to know the petite blonde girl, or that I wouldn't help her where she needed my help.

As I said to her, she was now part of this family and I would treat her as such until she gave me a reason not to.

…

Lying on the soft grass in a small clearing near the mansion, her head resting on Elijah's abdomen, Laura listened to him tell her about the destruction of the Facility, her finger absentmindedly pinching a few blades of grass.

"I always thought that I would be the one to kill her and get my revenge … ", she whispered quietly after Elijah had finished talking, a few moments of silence spreading between the two of them.

Feeling the gentle heaving of his upper body as Elijah drew his breath, Laura heard his reply as he asked lightly: "Are you angry with me for denying you this opportunity?"

Shaking her head, she grabbed his hand and placed it on her belly, the warmth of his palm seeping into her form and causing her to sigh in comfort.

She really wasn't angry at him as she could not blame anyone but herself for lacking the power to enact her revenge on Kimura.

Not to mention that Laura wasn't ungrateful or delusional enough to think that Elijah owed her anything after having done so much for her by simply accepting her for who she was.

"She didn't die in peace, did she?", she inquired, thinking of her hateful handler as a merciless glint lit up her eyes.

"No, she did not.", Elijah answered succinctly, and she believed him as she had no doubt about him being at least as ruthless as she was.

"That's enough for me.", Laura ended, trying to push aside the memories of her painful childhood.

Pausing for a moment, she bit her lower lip and hesitated for a moment before asking: "The girl, will she be okay?"

There were only a few people that Laura trusted and even fewer that she cared about wholeheartedly. Elijah and Jean were two of the handful of people that belonged to the latter group, as did her father.

And while she did not know Emma's daughter, nor did she have any recollection of her from her time in the Facility, Laura still hoped that she would be alright as she understood the horrors that the girl had had to endure while in captivity.

"Physically? Yes.", he answered with a sigh, "Mentally and spiritually? She has lost more than most people could ever hope to survive with their sanity intact. Only time will tell if those wounds can be healed."

Sensing that Elijah's words were no longer just about the young girl that he had saved, Laura didn't reply as she turned to her side and looked up at him.

His free hand was hovering above his head, in his palm, a flower made out of fiery strands was blooming and wilting before turning into a small swallow that circled around his hand.

It was an incredibly beautiful thing to watch, and Laura felt as if she could almost hear the immaterial avian chirp and sing.

She didn't even realize it when she fell asleep, Elijah's presence allowing her to just let go of her vigilance and rest, her inner beast at peace for the moment.

…

Controlling the pure solar radiation that the bio-electrical matrix in my cells had absorbed through my Energy Vessel was a seemingly easy task, but that was only if one looked at it from an outside perspective.

My Energy Vessel was capable of absorbing all kinds of energy to strengthen my physique to unknown limits but it was important to remember that this Omega-level power didn't grant me the ability to control or manipulate the absorbed energy in any kind or form.

I could release the energy in bursts of pure destruction but I had no true control over it.

Fortunately, Energy Vessel was not my only Omega-level ability.

Through an ethereal shield, I could enact my will on the energy that I released from my Energy Vessel, granting me the ability to manipulate and shape it into different forms.

The strength of my mind also allowed me to quickly become proficient in this kind of energy manipulation and so I was often playing around with it in my free time, getting more familiar with combing my different abilities to explore the limits of what I was capable of.

It wasn't an easy task though, considering how much had changed with my ascension as a Realm Lord. I was rather sure that it would take me years to fully discover the intricacies and limits of my current power.

I hadn't even had the time yet to truly explore the Darkforce Dimension on a deeper level, even though my awareness was spread over every inch of this secondary dimension ever since I had become its incarnation.

But since I did not want to put my life with Jean on hold, I had decided to slowly figure out the limits of my newly gained powers, instead of withdrawing myself from this world for a few months to focus solely on doing that.

It was a test of patience as much as it was an exercise in living my life to the fullest.

I enjoyed getting stronger and my thirst for power was not the least bit quenched since I was well aware of the fact that even as a Realm Lord, I was still vulnerable.

But being around Jean, Laura, Emma, and other people that I cared about, made me understand that I shouldn't just chase after power single-mindedly as if I was afflicted with some kind of tunnel vision.

I would be at risk of losing sight of what was important to me if I did that. Naturally, the opposite was also true as devoting my life solely to those I cared about could also lead me to lose my path.

In a sense, life was like walking on a tightrope as it required one to have an extraordinary sense of balance – for harmony.

I wasn't sure if I was any good at that but that didn't stop me from trying.

Grasping the little swallow that I had created through my manipulation of solar radiation, I clenched my fist which caused the fiery construct to burst apart before I reabsorbed the incredibly concentrated and destructive energy.

Seeing as Laura had fallen asleep and I didn't want to wake her, I drew out 'lines' of electrical energy that I had absorbed through a wall socket as a test.

I formed a few 'lightning butterflies' that chased after each other to pass the time until she would woke up again.

And while some part of my focus rested on this, my eyes turned into pools of pure darkness as another part of my attention shifted to a hidden space inside the Darkforce Dimension where a few dozen men and women were hovering in a kind of stasis brought about by my ability to 'shield' them from regaining consciousness.

Sensing that their life force was stable and undisturbed, I drew back my focus from my 'prisoners', knowing that it wasn't yet time for me to introduce myself.