Chapter 1

The moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow over the towering skyscrapers of Gotham City. Down below, in the heart of the metropolis, a young boy named Liam sat huddled in the corner of his dimly lit room. His slender frame trembled as he listened to the angry voice echoing through the room, like thunder rumbling behind him.

"Useless!" his father's voice boomed, punctuated by the sharp crack of a belt. "Can't you do anything right, boy?"

Liam flinched, his heart pounding in his chest as the leather struck his bare back. He knew better than to make a sound, to draw any further attention to himself. Instead, he focused on the voices and images in his head, the constant stream of whispers that filled his mind like a never-ending storm.

'What are you doing?' they hissed, their words cutting through the darkness like a knife. 'Fight back…'

Tears welled up in Liam's eyes as he pressed his hands over his ears, trying to drown out the cacophony of noise. But the whispers only grew louder, more insistent, until they seemed to consume him entirely.

In moments like these, he found himself longing for escape, for a way out of the suffocating prison of his own mind. He yearned to run far away, to leave behind the pain and the fear that plagued him day and night.

But Gotham was unforgiving, its streets teeming with danger at every turn. And for someone like him, with no one to turn to and nowhere to go, escape seemed like nothing more than a distant dream.

As the night wore on, Liam curled up on the threadbare rug beneath his feet, his body racked with silent sobs as his back cried in pain. His father had finally grown tired of the repetitive strikes and retired to his room.

Moments later, the door to his room swung open behind him as tiny footsteps made their way closer to him with barely audible sobs.

With what strength was left in him, he rolled over, suppressing his hiss of pain as his abused back touched the cold floor. His eyes landed on the dark haired girl who stared at him with watery eyes, her body trembling.

Liam quickly looked over her body, managing a sigh of relief as he didn't see any bruises on her.

"B-brother…" she called out, barely audible.

His shaky hand reached out to caress her cheek with a small smile. "It's okay, Emily. Big brother is right here."

He'd discovered long ago that as long as he held out in silence as their father 'disciplined' him, the man would be too tired to lay a hand on her.

The twelve year old girl cried into the arm of her older brother, joining him on the floor as she sobbed quietly into his chest.

And in the stillness of the night, as Gotham slept soundly in its bed of shadows, Liam wished for the pain to end and the voice to stop once and for all.

They didn't.

He was forced to listen to the voices in his head all night, the pain in his back aiding in keeping him awake while his little sister cried herself to sleep.

Xx-Xx-Xx

Morning couldn't come soon enough for him, bags forming under his eyes from the lack of sleep.

With a heavy heart, he rose from the floor of the room, carrying Emily to her room in silence born from experience before returning to his room. He picked up a rag which lay under his bed, wiping the stains of his bloody back off the floor.

Carrying himself to the sink in his bathroom, he tilted to the side, barely flinching at the red and split skin that practically screamed for attention. A few minutes and some ointment and he was wincing as he threw on a shirt, making his way downstairs.

The smell of stale cigarette smoke and cheap cologne assaulted his senses, mingling with the faint aroma of burnt toast. His father sat at the kitchen table, nursing a cup of black coffee, his eyes dark with anger.

"About time you showed your face," he growled, his voice rough with contempt. "Get yourself something to eat and then get out of my sight. I've got business to attend to."

Mumbling a 'Yes sir', Liam moved around the small kitchen to make himself something to eat, his skinny frame not offering him much speed.

As he made his way out of the kitchen, his eyes found his mother seated opposite his father, a distant gaze in her eyes as well as some bruising around them.

"Morning, dear," she murmured, her voice barely audible above the clatter of dishes. "I hope you slept well."

It was a moment before he answered, forcing a weak smile as he nodded. She had once been his rock, now she was just as much of a victim as he was.

Ignoring the dull ache in his chest, he quickly left the kitchen so as not to risk drawing his father's wrath.

Xx-Xx-Xx

Breakfast for him was a very short affair, practically inhaling his food with how fast he was eating.

By the time he went back into the kitchen, his father was thankfully nowhere to be seen. It only took a few minutes to wash off the plates and prepare breakfast for Emily.

His father, David Ross, was a desk worker in the Gotham City Police Department. The pay was barely enough for him to afford the basic necessities and that was without his vices.

Another frustration which was vented against Liam's abused back. His mother, Evelyn Ross, worked as a waitress. As usual, the pay was terrible, a very common situation in Gotham city.

'It doesn't have to be this way for us…' the voice had returned.

Small footsteps dragged him out of his head as Emily came into view, sleepy as though she just woke up, which was probably quite accurate.

"Good mornin…" she mumbled, rubbing her eyes drowsily.

He cracked a small smile at that, grabbing a plate piled with some toast he made for her. Placing it on the table in front of her, he ruffled her hair as she let out a sleepy complaint.

"Try not to drool on your breakfast. I have to get ready for school and so do you." He said, walking off to prepare as the girl began her meal.

It didn't take long for him to get showered and dressed in his school uniform, bag hanging off one shoulder. It took even longer for Emily to get dressed and ready.

Neither of their parents saw them off as Liam walked his sister to her school, Gotham Elementary. It wasn't too far from their house so it made it easy for him to drop her off before heading to his own school, Gotham North High School.

"I'll come and pick you up after school. Don't talk to any strangers and be on your best behavior." He said, like he did every morning when he dropped her off.

The girl nodded, skipping off into the school building. He waited until she was past the door before he began his own journey.

While he believed he was quite intelligent, he didn't have the background or financial capacity to attend a more prestigious school like Gotham Academy, not that it was too bad.

The sun glared at him, causing him to frown under his thin framed glasses. A headache of unknown origin began to brew in his head and with each step he took, it grew in severity.

'What's happening?' He thought, massaging his temple as a sudden dizziness hit him.

Passerbys gave him funny looks as he nearly stumbled while walking. He could feel nothing but the growing pain in his head.

He managed to take a detour into a porta potty. As soon as he stepped in, it hit him all at once.

The nausea, the vertigo…and the pain.

His mind was suddenly assaulted by images he was unfamiliar with yet, they seemed so familiar at the same time. His entire being shook as he hunched over the sink, throwing up the meager contents of his stomach.

It took a few minutes until it all stopped, leaving him feeling numb, the headache gone and his mind getting clearer with each passing second.

'What is this?' He almost mumbled. 'Those images…'

They were memories of someone who was him yet not him. A decent childhood, attending highschool, playing with friends and dying in a car accident.

The last set of 'memories' were even stranger, appearing in front of a shrouded figure, a table between them with vials…potions of different colors numbering more than should be possible.

Then he, the other Liam Ross, chose one and drank it before it all went black. His mind filled him in on the answer faster than he was comfortable with.

"Meta Essence." He mumbled before another wave of dizziness and nausea hit him as an impossible amount of knowledge slammed into his brain with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop.

It took a while for it to stop but by the time he was done, he stood leaning on the wall with a dull look in his eyes which had a tear falling from it. Light slowly returned to his eyes as he slowly pushed himself to stand properly.

His mind was already working to think of an explanation, the answers coming almost immediately.

"Doppelgangers exist across multiple earths and realities. My doppleganger died, after which his soul was merged with mine, granting me his memories and gifts." He theorized, though he was more than sure.

He said merged rather than reincarnation or transmigration because he was still himself. He didn't feel the other Liam's will, emotions or mind influencing him. He was still the same person with some additions.

'Essence of the Scholar.' He recalled the name of the potion he chose along with its effects.

'It doesn't need to be like this.'

He recalled what the voice had whispered in his mind before the merge, an echo of his other self which had poked through the now broken barrier.

'With this, maybe I can change things.' He thought, Emily and his mother coming to the front of his mind.

'Yes.' He pushed himself to stand upright, cleaning up the mess he made after making sure that he didn't get any vomit on his clothes.

'With this, there will be a difference!' He thought confidently, as he exited the porta potty, a fire burning in his eyes.

Xx-Xx-Xx-Xx

Essence of the Scholar

By consuming the essence of the Scholar you gain several boons:

* Perfect memory with infinite storage

* Beyond genius level intellect, do calculations and process things faster than super computers.

* Immunity to insanity and memetic hazards. "Things Man Was Not Meant To Know" becomes more of a guideline than a rule

* Mastery of many sciences, even ones man has not discovered yet

* Can reverse engineer anything with enough time.

* Gain practically infinite trains of thought and ability to multitask.

* Gain knowledge of any data storage device or book just by touching it no reading necessary, this effect can be turned on and off.