In Ancient times, parahumans were not ENTIRELY unknown. Time hijinks, the visits of other entities, and other such things, saw to it that powers were around… far long than they should have been. Interestingly enough, though, no Entity has every really 'made it' on earth.
Taylor Hebert was dying. Right before she shoved her in the tiny metal box that was Taylor's locker, Sophia Hess had stabbed her in the kidney. The tightness of the box saw to it that the wound was pressured in such a way that she didn't bleed out quickly, but she was dying, and in agony and humiliation. The school day had ended long ago, leaving just Taylor, her wound, the locker, a billion bugs, and a nasty, reeking mess made out of used tampons and other bathroom waste that had been left to rot for far too long. So, her she stood, dying.
As she felt her consciousness starting to slip, she muttered her last thoughts out loud. After all, why not? It wasn't like there was anyone to complain, now was there?
"I'm sorry dad… I hope you will be better with me gone. Live a good life. I hope to see you soon mother."
As for why earth is such a bad place for the Entities, well, that is easy. All sentient life comes from Earth. The Entities are entering the big leagues when they approach good old Terra, as being far older, and FAR more dangerous, have been playing for ownership of this little jewel in the night sky for MANY eons. Their touch is felt as often as not, but HOW it manifests depends on which Earth is being affected and which One, or Many, is guarding it. Of course, many Earths mean many worlds where the touch is far too faint, but even then, such a One can be called with enough will, the right words, or, every so often, a special person calling.
"Please, someone help me. I don't want to die here. Living… hurts so much… but for others… for my dad… I want to live. THE EFFORT IS WORTH THE REWARD, and I want the reward of my dad having a good life."
One of the more interesting artifact sets of the parahuman… issue, are the various prophecies that exist. These are only sometimes the work of a mystic. More generally, a parahuman who has seen the future, a future, or an alternate world, are capable of making very pithy predictions. One excellent example is the Agony Texts a collection of prophecies that foretell the coming of the Strongest, a hero that will save the world and guard it, forever. A sample of these texts are included here.
Suddenly, there was a man there, looking at her. How did she know? She had no clue. It made no sense, after all. He was… Outside, and she was In. He walked behind her, and yet she could still see him. Almost like… oh, like his presence mattered so much, she couldn't miss him. Or something like that anyway. As it was, she only really started paying attention when he started talking. Blood loss can be a real bitch like that.
"Well, aren't you an interesting one?"
When the last hope flees, the words will be spoken; calling to the One of Pain.
He shall come to the one in need…
"Please, sir, save me. I will die without help."
"Then, you will die. I don't do saving. It's not my thing. Sorry!"
… and deny her. Her plea shall be heard, and he shall answer.
Then shall the last hope renew. An Age of pain, two of agony, and a River of blood,
These shall the toll be. Many an age shall she suffer, and many an age will she strive.
In the end, in the blink of an eye, bones shall be strengthened, hope reforged.
"Please, I a-am willing t, t, to pay… I must… keep going… Worth the cost, the pain."
He looked at her sharply. "Oh? Really now? Are you sure? Well, I don't do saving; I CAN do that, though. Worth the cost, eh? Is it worth a thousand bridges built by hand?"
"Yes."
"Ten thousand missed meals?"
"Yes."
"Eight mountains of corpses, the guilty reaching to the sky?"
"If they deserve it, yes."
An age of suffering, a world of pain. The loved ones lost again and again.
Yet, in the end, Reforged was the Blade. Rebuilt the House. Remade the Law.
This then shall be her gift, the gift of agony, of pain, of lasting scars.
"Are you willing to build a thousand times what is knocked down? Straighten a million roads that are bent? Slave for years, just to repeat, again and again? Perfection to be achieved, lost, the achieved again?"
"For my father, YES."
"Are you willing to bear the cross, drag the anchor, heft the load of Atlas?"
"YES!"
"Will you bend, and break under it?"
"Yes… yes I will. I am willing, but weak."
And thus shall the mountains stretch to the sky, and her ability to its peak.
Who are you, o Atlas? Stand aside, oh novice Heracles. Make way for me, Merlin, for you master is arrived.
"Will you reforge yourself after every break?"
"Yes."
"Through fire?"
"Yes."
"And return to the beginning each time, not until you get it right, but until you never get it wrong?"
"If I must… for him… yes…"
For who shall hold the mountains above them? Who will break the Entities into dust?
Truly, she has come. Truly, the master has arisen. Harden, trained, and now, the Queen.
Stand in fear. For the mightiest of Man has the Blessing of an Other, and the power of an Entity.
The Queen of Blood and Fire has come.
Long may she reign.
High may her works reach.
And all who stand against her… run.
Her breath was fading. She was dying, and still he was talking. Maybe… it was a hallucination? A… dying thing?
"Okay. You have agreed. Now I will bless you. I will bless you thrice. Once, for the will of your word, and who you are: you have spoken strongly. For your strength and determination, GROW IN STRENGTH FOREVERMORE. As long as you have the will to go on, you will draw breath. As long as you have the will to go on, you will never grow weaker, only stronger. As long as you have the will to go on, you will never be removed from your goals by another. Next, for me, and you who have answered me: you have committed to growing. for the strength of my name and who I am, ACHIEVE NEW HEIGHTS TO THE END. As long as you can learn, you will learn. As long as you can learn, you will not forget. As long as you can learn, you will refine your skill until perfection. Finally, for what you must do, and who you must do it for: you have focused nobly. For your nobility and desire, PROTECT THE THREATENED UNTIL DEATH. As long as you desire to protect another, they may learn from your skill. As long as you desire to protect another, you will know of those in need. As long as you desire to protect another, you will never fail in your goal. These three of three, with these I bless thee, and thou wilt bless me, thus shall all be free. The deal is done. Go now, to the first challenge!"
A.N. Okeydokey, people. Brief rundown of what this one is. Hess, bitch that she is, shanked Taylor while stuffing her in the locker. As a result, Taylor was bleeding to death, in agony, and desperate. The result was that, while begging for help after being left in the locker at the end of the day, she managed to get the attention of an Other, kinda like a legendary god/demon/titan/something else. When it came, it was just curious, and had no real intention of helping, but her words were enough to spark a Pact with it.
So, she swore that the agony was worth it. He promised her agony, in order to make her grow. Results? She gets sent on a path skipping across history and various media types. Each time, she gets given a part of a goal (build a thousand perfect bridges, etc.) each one taking her across numerous places (Naruto for the Gato arc, Prince Caspian working under Lord Miras' orders, etc.). Each failure sends her back to the beginning of the challenge, to try again. Each death, sends her ALL THE WAY BACK, with one exception. Each challenge, her age gets reset. If it takes more than her normal lifetime to due task one, she does task one again, but if it take more than her lifetime to do task two, she still gets set back to one; but, at the start of two, she gets de-aged.
Now, the powers: The first set is a Brute package: Strength of arm is always there, no matter what condition her body is in, revenant powers preventing her from actually dying unless she gives up, the ability to never stop getting stronger, and she never really gets any weaker, no matter what happens to her nutrition-wise, exercise-wise, or anything. Even if she spent a million years in a coma aging, she would still be as strong and as ready to go at the end as she was at the beginning.
The second set is the Thinker package. Eternal refinement of skills, never losing anything as far as her skills are concerned, and no degradation of learning ability as time goes by. She will be as quick to learn at ninety as she is when the story starts.
Finally, a Trump package. As long as her desire is to protect someone, she will be able to predict incoming damage to them, will be able to share her ability with them (over time) and will be able to know how to achieve whatever it is she needs to achieve to keep them safe.
What does this mean? Immortal, ever growing, near-perfect, unkillable person dedicated to helping others and capable of doing so perfectly and without fail.
As for who the other is, it doesn't really matter, as he won't be showing up again. He is basically a McGuffin to get the story going. The name of this one, however, is Belgerond, lesser god of Hero's Torments. His job is to make sure that each hero is as ready as they need to be. The only reason he could work out a pact like this was because he, and every other Other, isn't on this earth, preventing future interaction on their part.
As for the next section, I am not going to write it. In the story, the next bit would be the bit where we follow Taylor on a fantastic trip through time, space and fiction, watching as she grows stronger. This bit would vary based on who is writing the story at the time, but things like learning assassin-craft under Altair, magic under the four founders of Hogwarts, swordplay under the Dread Pirate Wesley, anything, really. The results, the trainers, the skills/ powers she learns, these are all up to the author. In my case, she would learn everything but magic, and be perfect enough at all of it to convince others of magic. A major inspiration of this is the Master Craftsman Perk from the Celestial Forge jumpchain used in Brockton's Celestial Forge.
As such, when she comes back, she would be the veteran of a hundred wars, ranging from the 300, to the sacking of Constantinople and other Crusades, to learning under and helping Robin of Locksley force Prince John into signing the Magna Charta, to serving under Genghis and Kublai Khan, to helping unify Japan as a samurai and/or ninja, to WW2, to Vietnam, and she would have been trained in the soldier type of each one, making her a better fighter than a hundred Victors. She would have also been involved in political intrigue in the Japanese court during the height of their Empire, and the Chinese court at the height of theirs, and would have survived Rome under Caligula while serving as a pontiff, and under the Herods, and working to cleanse the Catholic Church as a reformer withing the clergy during the Holy Roman Empire, etc. In other words, at every major moment in history since the Sumerians, she would have been, been trained, and performed feats worthy of legend. She also would have trained at the same dojo as Kenchi, the mightiest disciple, and traveled with the Straw Hats, learning under all of them, and been a part of the Assassination Classroom, and learned Ki alongside Asta (No grimoire for her, but she still made it into the Black Bulls on physical skill alone. She trained Asta, BTW, so it wasn't until the fight againt Despair that he triggered his Grimoire), and sailed with Jack Sparrow, and learned beside the Cape (great TV show. Pity it was just one season. And, yes, She WILL be making her own Cape. After all, the main ingredient is spider silk.), and, and, and. End result would be a superhuman, who is not a parahuman. That being said, returning to her body caused all of the stress that she had been under during her three-hundred-plus-thousand-year tour hitting her mortal form all at once. Massive physical improvements (mostly just definition, muscle memory, and knowledge, but some growth as well.), some scars, and a WHOLE lot of pain. The result will be a trigger, and the trigger will be the QA (because in Taylor's home continuity, none of the changes that happened to her, happened; they all occurred in separate time-streams, outside the realm of the Entities.), but… something else is included. What? Wait and see. I will be writing that part.
Anyway, that should give you an idea of what to expect. Just look for a mix of Da Vinchi (The real one, not the weak-ass from Da Vinchi's Demons. Goddamn show, what a disappointment.), Tony Stark, Altair, Kenchi at his peak, all the Straw-Hats plus Garp (sans devil fruits), and the Cape, with every bit of mundane knowledge and skill ever developed, all refined to such an extent that their quality reaches divine levels. All this, and more coming up next.
And that is all for this! Peace, ya'll and have a good night! See ya next time!