A promise to keep

It's been fun, training with Carol. But as always, she received a distress signal, so, she had to leave. I returned back to Earth. I promised the alternate Gwen that I'd help her in a month, but I guess I had to take a few more weeks to master this Mystical energy. If I manage to master it to the extreme level then reality wrap might be possible. I should be able to rewrite that reality and change things back to normal.

In case I fail, then Wanda is my only hope. Or else, I have to search for the infinity stones which may or may not even exist in that reality. Sigh! Too many unknowns... Oh, then there is that Morlun, Wanda, and my evil alternate version too. I've no idea just how powerful that version of me is. I just hope he didn't awaken his celestial power. Otherwise, it would be a long fight.

As for Morlun, I'll just use my life force energy and absorb all his life force to kill him. I already mastered it while training with Carol. It isn't that different than using the regular cosmic energy's absorption skill.

After reaching Earth, I went to the mirror dimension to further test my power. My goal was to create a pocket dimension where time flows faster than the outside world, but I couldn't do it yet. It's just too hard to do it without any guidance.

After countless attempts and failures, I finally found myself sitting in the endless silence of the mirror dimension. The small bubble I had created still flickered weakly in front of me, a pale blue sphere suspended in the air, wobbling as if on the verge of collapse. Each failure grated on me, wearing down the confidence I'd built up during my training with Carol. The idea of creating a pocket dimension with faster time flow had seemed simple enough in theory—control the energy, focus it, and shape the space to my will. But no matter what I tried, I couldn't sustain the bubble for longer than a few seconds.

"Come on..." I muttered, wiping the sweat from my brow despite being in an alternate dimension. "Just hold together..."

I poured more mystical energy into the bubble, watching as it pulsed brighter, slowly stabilizing. The faint sizzle of the energy filled the air, and for a brief moment, I thought I might have cracked the code. But then, the edges began to flicker again, and with a soft pop, it vanished into thin air.

"Ugh!" I groaned, slamming my fists down on the reflective ground of the mirror dimension. The frustration was building. No matter how much I tried to channel the energy, it slipped away from me at the critical moment.

One week had passed since my return from space, and I had spent almost every waking hour here in the mirror dimension, practicing over and over. I made massive progress in the energy control department, but not so much on the space pocket thing, but I couldn't stop. I have a promise to keep. The thought of failing her, failing everyone, gnawed at me, driving me forward. She lost too much and I gave her hope. Now, if I fail, then... Sigh!

I won't give up.

"Alright, let's try something different."

I closed my eyes and focused on the energy flowing through me. This time, instead of brute-forcing it, I decided to let the energy flow naturally. I won't be restricting it to a single form of energy. I let them flow together. I visualized the pocket dimension—small, contained, and stable. I didn't want to rush. I wanted to feel every pulse of the energy, every shift in its rhythm. The goal wasn't to overpower it but to guide it, and shape it.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, and the pale blue bubble reformed in front of me. It was much smaller than before, no larger than a basketball, but this time, it felt different. It wasn't wobbling, and the energy inside was calm and balanced. I placed my hand against the bubble, feeling the resistance as it pulsed under my fingertips. I was close.

"Just a little more..."

I began to stretch the bubble, expanding its boundaries slowly. The small, stable sphere grew larger, and for the first time, it didn't flicker. The energy was flowing evenly, and I could feel the pull of the dimension forming inside. Time—inside the bubble—was beginning to move differently. I could feel the shift, the subtle warp of reality inside the sphere.

I stepped back, my heart racing. This was it! The pocket dimension was stable.

But before I could celebrate, the bubble began to vibrate violently. Cracks appeared along its surface, and the energy inside surged wildly out of control.

"No, no, no—!"

The bubble exploded in a flash of blue light, sending a shockwave through the mirror dimension. I flew backward, crashing into the ground as shards of energy scattered around me.

"Goddammit!" I shouted, lying flat on the cold reflective surface, staring at the distorted sky above. "Why is this so hard?"

After catching my breath, I sat up, rubbing my temples. "Okay, I'm close. I just need to tweak the balance. Maybe if I adjust the energy flow into smaller increments..."

I glanced at my hands, the mystical blue glow still swirling around them. This power had potential, I just needed more practice—more precision. It was a delicate process, and brute force wasn't the answer. Creating a pocket dimension wasn't about raw strength but finesse. I had to respect the laws of space and time as much as I bent them.

"Alright, just a little more. I can do it," I stood up and prepared to try again.

This time, I would get it right.

One week later...

It took countless tries, but after another grueling week of trial and error, I finally did it. I stood in front of a shimmering, perfectly stable bubble—my pocket dimension. It wasn't massive, maybe the size of a small room, but inside it, time flowed ten times faster than in the real world.

I threw a bolt of energy outside and quickly stepped inside the bubble, feeling the strange pull of time around me. The energy was smooth, flowing naturally, and the pocket dimension remained stable. It was small, but it worked. Time moved faster here, just like I needed. The bolt outside looked stuck in the air from inside the bubble.

Hehehehe... My own time chamber like DBz. 1 hour in the pocket dimension is approx. 10 years inside. If I stay 24 hours here then... Dang! I gotta get some food and daily necessities if I were to live that long in here, which I doubt I will... I quickly went out and bought a shit load of food and other things, and filled the mirror dimension. I obviously raised a barrier to protect the dimension. I can always get out and grab some food. 

Now, time to master reality manipulation. 

...

[3rd person POV]

Seventy years later...

Seventy years spent in solitude, mastering powers that had once been beyond his reach. The time within the pocket dimension passed like a river, swift and unyielding, yet outside, only seven hours had slipped by. His body, thanks to his celestial genes, had remained as youthful as the day he entered the dimension, but his mind—his mind had changed. Sharpened. Hardened.

He stood at the center of his personal realm, the shimmering boundaries of the pocket dimension stretching far beyond the size it had once been. Now, it was more than a simple room; it was an entire landscape, filled with mountains, rivers, and endless sky. The realm obeyed his will now, bending and reshaping at his command.

The energy around him hummed, pulsing in sync with his own aura. He had mastered it—finally. Mystical energy, reality manipulation, time-space control—it all flowed seamlessly through him. He had learned to manipulate the threads of reality itself, and bend them to his will, but it had taken decades of patience, failure, and frustration.

"Seventy years…" he whispered, looking down at his hands. They glowed with a faint golden light, no longer the pale blue of the mystical energy he had once struggled with. This was something far greater. Celestial power coursed through his veins, blending effortlessly with the cosmic and mystical energies he had spent a lifetime mastering. He could now feel the very fabric of the universe bending around him, and with a single thought, he could alter it.

He glanced toward the shimmering boundary of the pocket dimension. It was time to leave. He had stayed long enough, and there was a promise he still had to keep. Gwen. Wanda. The alternate version of himself. Morlun. They were all still out there, and with the newfound control he had gained, he was finally ready to face them.

But before leaving, there was one final test.

He held up his hand, and reality itself seemed to shift around him. The air rippled, and with a soft hum, the ground beneath his feet changed. The rocky landscape of the pocket dimension warped, transforming into a cityscape—a perfect replica of New York. Buildings rose from the ground, streets appeared beneath his feet, and cars lined the roads, all as if they had been there for centuries.

He walked through the streets, testing the limits of his reality manipulation. Each step he took altered the world around him. A simple thought turned night into day, the sun blazing overhead before vanishing into a stormy sky. He could feel the energy of the dimension responding to his commands, obeying his will without hesitation. It was perfect.

Then, he raised his hand once more, and with a snap of his fingers, the entire city vanished. In its place was a barren wasteland, stretching endlessly in every direction. He had rewritten reality within the pocket dimension, bending it to his will, and now he was certain—he could do the same outside.

He smiled.

"I'm ready."

With a thought, the boundaries of the pocket dimension dissolved, and he stepped back into the mirror dimension. The familiar reflective landscape greeted him, but now it felt different. He was no longer the same person who had entered this place weeks ago. He had become something far more powerful.

Stretching out his hand, he tore open a portal to the real world, stepping through it with ease. The fresh air of Earth filled his lungs as he emerged in a quiet alleyway. The sun was setting, casting a golden glow over the cityscape. He hadn't been gone for long in the outside world, but everything felt distant, like a half-forgotten memory.

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