Heir of the Immortals Resurrection
Chapter 1
Deep in the forest of Transylvania, in a large circular room of a castle hidden in the trees, Herald exploded forward, his dark blue feet hammering the course stone floor as he closed the distance between himself and Mary Walker.
Iron chandeliers, holding oil-soaked wood ringed the walls of the room. Harsh white light shone from six intricately shaped chandeliers dangling from the arched ceiling.
Time seemed to slow down as telekinetic power rushed through his veins. Energy filled his body as muscles tightened in his steps became lighter. With a small leap, he closed the rest of the distance between the woman before him.
Mary Walker was 5'10" tall with reddish-brown hair and brown eyes. Sweat drenched her white tank top, showing the outlines of her breast. The muscles of her legs flexed beneath black spandex pants. Her bare feet scraped along the floor as she twisted her body, bringing one of her katanas down towards Herald's forehead.
In a blur of motion, Herald moved his left arm in front of the blade, a crimson flash filling the room as its edge impacted a layer of telekinetic energy over his skin. Thrusting his right hand forward, a wave of translucent red energy exploded from his hand.
Mary flew backward, blue energy mixed with strands of black curling around her body. She slowed and slowly flipped through the air, landing lightly on her feet. A grin split her face as the katana in her right hand snapped, the blade hitting the floor with a metallic ting.
The broken blade floated up from the floor and shot towards Herald.
Dropping to the ground, Herald slapped his hand on the rough stone. A ring of fire burst to life around him. With a woosh, it rose to six feet, the orange of the flames changing to a bright blue. His eyes narrowed as the blade entered the flames. The flames shifted around him as he concentrated them on the blade.
The blade poked through the flames, molten yellow metal dripping to steam on the floor.
Blinking the sweat from his eyes, Herald inhaled. Steam rushed into his body as the flames winked out and the molten metal on the floor cooled to a dark grey. Rising to his feet, he lifted off the ground, telekinetic power flowing through his body.
Translucent red energy crawled across his skin before blooming outward, forming into a sphere around his body. Crossing his legs in the center of the sphere, Herald thought back over his life, but more importantly the last year.
After resurrecting into the body of his fifteen-year-old self, he discovered he had changed. Tiamat had made enough genetic changes to his body to block his true powers and his external heritage.
As an external, he had self-resurrection, immortality, regenerative healing, and a psychic link to others of his race. Luckily for him, he would age until he reached adulthood then stop. Though he had lost all of his replicated powers when he died, he still retained the training and research he'd done throughout his life.
On the plus side, he now had finer control over his abilities as well as a replication field that eliminated his need to touch another to replicate their abilities. He could also use magic. With his grandmother's teachings, he had been able to expand his knowledge on ritual and runic magic.
Whether because of previous experience with the abilities or because he was no longer under Tiamat's influence, Herald also found that he could do more with replicated abilities.
While he could no longer transmute matter, or control every single element, he found that he could be more precise and lift heavier objects as he was now.
The hurried footsteps of his opponent drew him back to the matter at hand.
Mary Walker charged forward her muscles taught. Sweat ran down her pale skin, sticking her reddish-brown hair to her face.
Bringing her remaining sword in front of her, she gripped it with both hands. Bending her legs, she launched herself forward, her Brown eyes alight with excitement, her hair flowing behind her in a wave.
Herald watched her approach over the last year, Mary had helped him adjust to not only the loss of his original abilities but also the time difference between earth 1610 and his home universe.
While six years passed on the parallel earth, here only six months passed. While he was glad, he hadn't lost that much time with friends, the fact he was in a younger body and needed time to adjust stopped him from going to see Jacqueline Falsworth. He also needed to decide what he was going to do with his life now.
Mary's blade slammed into his sphere, sparks sliding off its edge. With a flick of her feet, fire burst from her heels, keeping her aloft.
A smile curled Herald's lip. While Mary was helping him adjust to his younger size and re-familiarizing him with hand-to-hand combat, he was helping her improve her own telepathic, telekinetic, and Pyrokinetic abilities. Seeing her shoot fire from her feet. It showed him her increase in power over the last year.
The Auburn-haired woman drew back her fist, bluish-black energy curling around it as she drove it forward. Ripples cascaded across his bubble as her fist impacted, her psychic energy fighting against his own.
Thrusting his hand forward, the energy of his bubble shifted. It shot forward, releasing an explosion just before impact that sent both flying backward.
Herald froze three feet from his original position.
Mary kept going, pausing just before she slammed into the curved brick wall of the room. The momentum of her sudden stop continuing into the bricks behind her sending spiderweb cracks across the wall and into the floor.
Wiping the sweat from his brow, Herald dropped to the ground, his hands sliding into the pockets of his loose cotton pants. He moved forward, his bare dark blue feet gliding silently across the stone as beads of sweat ran across his lean wiry chest. He stopped a foot away from her, "I think that's enough for today."
Her head snapped up; the right side of her face now covered in what looked like white makeup. A deranged smile stretched her lips impossibly wide.
Cursing, Herald stretched forth his hand.
The air rippled as telekinetic force pinned his former opponent to the wall.
Over the last year, he had been helping Mary Walker gain control over the personalities that lived within her, giving her access to her mutant abilities that were formerly cut off from her.
It was going well, but when she pushed herself too hard or came into a dangerous situation. The personalities would surface in an act of self-preservation. His crimson eyes flashed as he reached out with his mind. 'Hello, Bloody Mary.'
Mary's head thrashed back and forth as he spoke. Bloody Mary was a psychopathic personality that enjoyed hunting. Over the last year, they had talked her into hunting only those that hurt others for pleasure.
Mary's head stopped thrashing, brown eyes with a hunger stared into crimson. 'You haven't allowed us to play in a while,' her lips formed into a pout as her head tilted to one side, 'if I didn't know any better, I would say you didn't like us.'
'We agreed that it was good for Mary to learn to protect herself and not always need to depend on her sisters.'
To get the personalities to cooperate, Herald encouraged Mary to refer to her other selves as family. It seemed to work since all of them wanted to protect Mary in a certain way. So far, he had been introduced to bloody Mary, a personality who wanted revenge for the molestation Mary Walker experienced as a child from her father,
The Mary, a timid pacifist personality that wanted to live in peace. Walker is a stable but detached personality, and finally, there was typhoid Mary, a personality that is adventurous, lustful, and violent. As Mary learned her mutant abilities, she gained traits from each one of these personalities.
Herald shook his head, "I found our next target, but we're going to have to travel to London, and if I'm honest I've been putting it off."
Bloody Mary's lips turned down in a frown, "Why?"
"I grew up in Europe, I do not have fond memories of it."
"Someone hurt you," Mary's hands curled into fists, "tell me who, and I will make them bleed."
He shook his head, "it's not important," he turned away, "if you want to have some fun let Mary rest. In two hours were going to hunt a serial killer."
–XX –
Herald moved down a stone hallway, a cool wind flowing through the arched window at the end, ruffling the black tapestries with purple borders that were draped over the stone. Each one contained a depiction of a person.
He recognized a few such as Apocalypse, his grandfather Gideon, or Kenesha. Pausing at a particular swath of cloth, he stared at his mother, taking in the features he had inherited. Dark blue skin highlighted by sharp high cheekbones, and red eyes.
Long black hair flowed down past her shoulders.
He took a deep breath. "Would you be happy about the way I have lived my life?"
"She like I would want more for you."
Selene Gallio strode towards him, her 5'10" frame straight and strong. A black leather corset highlighted her curves and pushed her breasts up. Long black hair swayed with each step, and red eyes never left his face as knee-high boots clicked against the floor with each step.
She stopped before him, her paperwhite skin a contrast to his dark blue. "It is time you stopped hiding and became part of the world, you are a Gallio and we do not hide, we rule."
Herald's throat clenched at the statement. His eyes prickled with unshed tears. He had never had a last name before, he had always been Herald someone that was supposed to bring a new age to mutants but failed. He swallowed thickly. This was a family connection and he cherished it, "What would you have me do?"
Selene raised a hand, ignoring the tensing in his shoulders as she placed it against his cheek. Anger flared within her, if she ever met these Potters, they would pay. No one abused her blood and got away with it. "I would have you do more than survive. I would have you thrive." She took a deep breath, "To that end, I want you out of my home."
Herald's eyes widened ever so slightly.
"I will always be here for you, I will always love you but I refuse to allow you to hide from the world like you have been doing," she took a step back, her face becoming like granite, "so, go out into the world use what you've learned throughout both lives to make your place in it."
A smile curled her lips, "Make the name Herald Edward Gallio remembered, and show me what you are truly capable of."
–XX –
Herald and Mary stepped out of an Ebony-colored portal glowing with purple energy.
Herald tucked his leather trench coat around him, making sure his hood hid his unusual features. Adjusting the weight of the duffel bag draped over his right shoulder, he glanced at Mary.
Dressed in a black leather jacket over a red T-shirt and a pair of well-worn jeans. Her Auburn ponytail swished back and forth as she eyed their surroundings.
"Are you sure you want to come with me? It's going to be rough for a while until I get on my feet."
Brown eyes met red, "Yes, with you I have learned to work with my other personalities. We have learned that we are stronger together than apart. I cannot keep up my progress if I stay with Selene, besides", a smile stretched across her face, a manic light appearing in her eyes, "Selene works behind the scenes, I have a feeling you take the direct approach, which will be more fun," she rubbed her hands together, "Now, where is our new target."
Herald began walking, his grey tennis shoes scraping across the concrete, "You actually could, my telepathy could reach you pretty much anywhere at this point, but I won't begrudge your company." He glanced at her, "You interest me"
Mary flashed him a coy look, clapping her hands in front of her as she faked a swoon, "Such a sweet talker," her face shifted into a grimace, "I'm still jealous of what you can do with your abilities since you replicated them from me."
"My intuitive replication allows me to master any power I replicate. If we keep working together, your skill and overall power will increase."
"I'll hold you to that."
"I thought you might."
Stepping closer, Mary linked her arm through his as they made their way down the sidewalk. Street lamps elongated their shadows each time they passed under one. Figures in alleys shifted in the shadows as they passed.