After defeating the demons, I turned to Garak for answers. Answers that he obviously knew. He had told me that there was a shrine that held a large green crystal. And that it held the world together, and kept the other demensions separate. He then said that it had been broken into 7 pieces and scattered around the planet. This all seemed far fetched, but then again he WAS a conduit, and I WAS alive. So I cut him some slack...

Chapter 2: The Beast

Cole and Zeke sat silently on the couch while Garak waited for them to be ready. Zeke picked up the paper, then smirked,

"Hey Cole, 'The Hero Returns' says the headline of todays paper. 'Just discovered yesterday, The Amp had gone missing, thought stolen, it was later revealed that Cole Macgrath has somehow returned and is watching over us once more.' " Zeke finished reading the front page headline on the daily newspaper. Cole smirked and shook his head, he then leaned forward,

"Zeke, you ready for this?" he asked in a serious tone.

"Hey brother, in only the last 2 months, you went from ordinary to super powered hero. Defeated monsters, beat your future self, saved Empire city, battled an unstoppable monster known as The Beast, and came back from the dead. I think I'm ready for anything," Zeke replied, sitting up. Garak walked out from the shadows,

"Are you ready to leave?" he asked. Cole and Zeke stood up.

"What's your plan? How are we supposed to get to, or find, these crystals?" Cole asked. Garak extended his arm to them, opening his hand to reveal a large crystal shard.

"We'll find them with this. It glows brighter when we get closer to another crystal," Garak explained. Cole and Zeke glanced at each other and sighed, this was going to be a long journey...

...

In the alternate timeline

...

Cole Macgrath had been granted the power of The Beast, and was traveling the country with Kuo to increase the jump from humanity, to conduit.

Cole was confronted by another attack by military fighter jets. They launched missiles at Cole, and they hit their mark, exploding on contact. But Cole was revealed to be unharmed. He smirked, and threw out his arms. Massive balls of napalm and flame flew out, striking the jets and blowing them out of the sky. Along with gaining new powers from The Beast, Cole's original powers had been amped up to the limit, making him an unstoppable force.

As Cole approached the next city, he charged his Ray Field Blast. But before he could release it, he was stopped by somebody. A person wearing a long coat with a hood just blocking view of their face. But Cole could see the person's smile.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Cole demanded, facing the person.

"A man of... great importance to you," the cloaked man replied. Cole didn't want to bother with the "insect" so he blasted at him with a barrage of hell fire rockets. The cloaked man raised one of his arms and created a wall of mist. The fire balls vanished as they passed through the mist. Cole was shocked for a moment, then attacked with a huge wave of twisting fire. The fire passed right through the man, hitting the building behind him.

"Fine, I'll hear you out," Cole decided, not wanting to waste more energy. The cloaked man grinned, walked over to Cole and began to speak,

"I am not from this dimension, you see. But where I'm from is not important. You see, there is a way to travel to different realities. And, in each reality, there resides a crystal that can grant you even more power than you already have."

Cole raised a brow. Even more power than he already had? That had to be a joke. He was already unstoppable. But... he wasn't able to kill the man before him. Although he never even close to tried, he was still pissed that the man before him thought they were equals. Cole then transformed. The visable veins on him changed into lava marks, and his skin mimicked rock. He transformed into his "Beast Form". Cole then threw his arms out wide, sending a powerful shockwave that leveled the city and killed everyone that wasn't a conduit. Instead, unlocking the conduit's powers and having them join Cole's army. The city was rubble, and as the smoke cleared, Cole and the cloaked man were still standing face to face. Cole knew for sure that this man wasn't normal. Did he use this, "crystal"? And if he did, Cole definitely wanted a piece of the action. No, he wanted the whole thing. Cole smirked,

"Kuo, tend to what these people need so they join us. As for you, I think you can show me where this crystal is," Cole ordered. The man extended his hand, and Cole took it.

The two arrived just a few short hours later, on top of a high mountain. And sitting on a large shrine was a massive green crystal. Glowing with power. Cole walked up to it, stunned slightly by an overwhelming feeling. Cole then placed his hand against it and began to draw every drop of it's power. The shrine shook violently as pieces of the roof fell down. Green mist began to seep from the crystal, twisting and slithering around Cole like a vortex. Then it all vanished and Cole dropped to the ground. Cole stood up, still shaking slightly from the overwhelming strength he had just received. Cole smiled, his eyes began to let out a black light, he then threw out his arms and let out an explosion 5x larger than a nuclear bomb. It incinerated the mountain, turning it to dust and leaving a huge crater in the ground. Like a scar in the earth itself that wouldn't heal. Once again, Cole and the Cloaked man were all that was left. Cole turned and faced the man,

"Is there any more of these?" he asked eagerly. The man nodded, then said,

"Yes, but not in this dimension. We must travel to another."

Cole agreed, and the two set off. Cole left Kuo in charge until he returned, and then he vanished in a cloud of mist, along with the cloaked man...

...

End of chapter two.