147 Issue #7

Jack nodded in agreement but his heart still felt in turmoil. Even if he knew that it was an accident, all the blood from those lives was still on his hands.

Emma looked at Jack with frustration and love in her eyes.

'If only he would just let me in and calm him down. I know that he won't do it himself but I just wish he wasn't so stubborn.'

Emma knew she couldn't comfort him any more than she already had. Jack was just like her. Stubborn and prideful. About different things but both were still very stubborn and prideful.

"Get some rest, Darling. Stay in bed and don't use your powers for now. Actually, rest."

Jack nodded. He knew that the thing he needed most at the moment was rest. The question was if his mind could truly rest as it was. He had several different abilities that caused him to think so much more than anyone else.

After Emma walked out the door she turned to Krakoa.

"Watch over him for me. That man may be an idiot but he is my idiot. If you need to use force to hold him down on the bed, you have my permission."

"@#E @#E#@ $#@#E"

Emma walked back outside toward the Krakoan gate that led back to her room at the mansion. In her mind, this was a hurdle that Jack had to overcome himself. She had already done all that she could.

Back in the room, Jack sat on the bed as he felt the pain going through his body. Jack used his telekinesis to change his dirty bandages into some fresh ones.

'Even if my healing factor has been weakened, these shouldn't still be bleeding after all this time. Was Zeus' curse more than just stopping my powers from healing me but also any healing on me including my natural healing factor?'

Jack was stuck in bed for another week but his injuries showed no signs of healing. Every moment he was in constant pain. But it was through this pain that Jack had come to a realization.

It was not Zeus that had stopped his powers. Zeus' attack didn't carry a curse at all. Jack forgot one of the most important things of all. He was a mutant.

Many mutant powers were affected by their users' psychological states. Some of the best examples were Cyclops, Iceman, and Storm.

Iceman was unable to use his powers to their fullest because he couldn't imagine himself doing it. He was afraid of going beyond a certain point which caused his powers to be severely limited. This is where many mutants fell when they were unable to control their powers or use them to their fullest potential.

Then there were those like Storm. Those that had specific circumstances in which they couldn't use their power to the fullest or even at all. Storm has claustrophobia which made her powers either unstable or useless in closed spaces.

And lastly were those like Cyclops. Mutants that had a trauma in the past that kept their powers in a constantly unstable state. Cyclops experienced some trauma as a child which caused his eye beams to always be active.

And Jack figured that he had started to fit in the last category. All of his powers that had to deal with healing had been made useless by none other than himself. So there was only one way to fix it.

Jack began to mentally suppress the pain his body was going through as he entered into his mind. As he dove deeper into his own mind, Jack saw an entire world from above.

This was Jack's Inner World. And although it could be called an Inner World, Jack's psionic abilities did not limit him to a single planet. Instead, Jack could create several universes inside of his mind without strain.

Jack looked down at the planet beneath him.

'Orilan.'

Jack's Inner World was not composed of his dream world. One with his wildest fantasies. It was 8 star systems of planets that Jack had never set foot on.

Instead, the moment before Jack and Zeus had killed all life around them, Jack sent out his psionic energy to absorb all of their astral forms into his own mind.

He wanted to have all their minds with him in case he ever figured out a way to bring them back. But deep in his heart, he knew that he couldn't. All he was doing was holding onto the past and hurting himself.

So Jack could only let them go. But because he felt guilty about taking their lives away from them, he planned to ensure that they all made it to whatever version of heaven they had. As for the consequences of his actions, he wouldn't care about them.

[Salvation!]

Jack used his newest power to bless the souls of the entire planet of Orilan before sending them off to the afterlife. Billions of souls left Jack's mind as he sent them all off on their own respective journies.

And with each soul leaving him, Jack felt the burden on his body lighten. Each of his wounds got better and better. Soon, Jack could see the reflection of his physical body on his astral form. All of the injuries were fully healed.

'I see. So I was burdening my mind by doing this. I was the one who cursed myself. My own mind is so powerful that I can hurt myself with my own thoughts. I need to be more careful in the future.'

Jack was about to leave his mind when he felt something. His Inner World which should have been empty by now still had something in it. Something that felt dark and was devouring psionic energy.

Jack teleported toward the source of the feeling and saw something terrifying. A giant black being that was trying to absorb Jack and take over his mind.

"Hmm. I didn't think I would be found out so soon. Your mind is so immense that I thought it would take me years to fully devour it. But since the main body is here, I can consume you all at once!"