Heir of the Immortals Resurrection
Chapter 23
The wooden egg flaked away, revealing the new Herald within. Warm sunlight bathed his broader shoulders as his chest expanded. He flexed his fingers, grimacing as his clothes fell apart with the sound of ripping fabric.
In a flash, he caught the codex he had recovered from Hammer Industries and the seed of Yggdrasill as his clothes finished falling apart. As he caught the objects, he noticed a golden ash tree tattooed on his arms. The trees on each arm had no leaves. Tearing his gaze away from the tattoos, he looked down at himself.
Naked, he moved over to the cracked window of a nearby building, he stared at his reflection.
He had gained another 4 inches in height topping him out at 6'6". His shaggy dark hair was now cropped close to his head in a flat top style. His ears still had a slight point, and his irises were still red, but he was broader in the shoulders than he used to be. He now carried a good 50 lbs. more muscle on his frame.
Shaking his head, he moved over to the ashes that were all that remained of Thor's body. Picking up the leather pants, he shook them free of the ash before slipping them on. Pulling the leather straps out of the ashes, he wrapped them around his hand before draping what he assumed was a bear pelt across his shoulders.
Moving over to the hammer, he picked it up. Tightening his grip on the shaft, he pulled it free of the head.
Bending his legs, his bare feet dug into the shattered remains of the building as he launched himself into the air. Hovering above the city, he allowed his gaze to sweep over the city below.
Many of the square buildings had been reduced to rubble by Thor's rampage. Despite the battle being over, pale Brown smoke still wafted through the streets. Large cracks spread across the more oddly shaped buildings and cracked glass reflected the sun above them.
Shaking his head, Herald closed his eyes while turning his attention inward.
Absorbing Thor's life force had changed his body, he now had a body similar to an Asgardians. Along with the physical enhancements that came with that body, the powers he had replicated had been increased to an entirely new level.
The library that had once categorized in shielded his mind from outside intrusion had changed to a galaxy. Knowledge of each power being condensed into a star and expanded on by the magic of Asgard as it flowed through his body.
"At least this should make the next part easier." Drifting higher into the air, Herald stretched his arms out, pointing his splayed fingers towards the city below, making sure to include the shattered remains of the rainbow bridge, Asgard's transport to the nine realms in his vision.
Combining transmutation with Pyrokinesis, he created a special fire that would be used as a medium that could help transform large projects. Streamers of white fire shot from his fingers, carving runic lines in the shape of an octagon around the city.
Once the octagon was formed, he carved a pentagram in the center of the octagon making sure to line up as many of the pentagram's five points with the octagon's eight sides as possible.
In the spaces between where the points met, he carved several symbols, he carved an hourglass for Chronokinesis, a tree for Chlorokinesis. A drop of water for Hydrokinesis, a spiral for Aerokinesis, aflame for Pyrokinesis, an egg for embryo generation, and an infinity symbol for reality alteration.
After absorbing the knowledge of Asgard, Herald devised a way to condense his powers down into runes so that they could operate without him being there to manipulate them.
He just hoped that putting two of the symbols and one of the three open spaces of the transmutation circle he'd left behind didn't throw it out of balance.
Staring at the blank space, he snapped his fingers, carving a DNA strand into the space, hopefully, that would balance out.
Raising the DNA codex, he pressed the top of the sphere, and a small hole opened. Normally this hole would be used to insert new DNA, but today it had a different purpose.
Placing the seed of Yggdrasill into the codex, the crystal sphere glowed with multicolored light. Drifting downwards, Herald placed the codex into the center of the pentagram. With the codex in place, Herald's sat Thor's hammer beside it.
Keeping his eyes locked on the two objects, Herald returned to the sky as the dust from his battle with Thor finally began to disperse.
Slapping his hands together, Herald focused on the symbol. For a moment nothing happened, and then Thor's hammer liquefied. The liquid metal flowed over the codex. As it smoothed around the sphere, a copy of the alchemical circle appeared etched into its surface. The two symbols flared with white energy washing outward and over the city.
As the light passed over the city, the city was reduced to raw components.
The light shone brightly, a sea of white energy roiling blow. Slowly, the energy began to withdraw, leaving behind a crater in its wake.
A sphere of glowing white energy sat in the center of the pentagram, crackling with golden energy.
In the center of the crater, the pentagram inside the Pentagon folded upwards around the energy, etching itself in Golden lines onto the sphere in its center. As the Pentagon floated up and aligned itself with the pentagram, the symbols of fire, water, air, time, Chlorokinesis, reality, egg, and DNA moved to the center of the pentagram forming a small circle. In the center of the circle was a golden ash tree.
Sweat rolled down Herald's face as he descended towards the ground, soft earth squeezed between his toes as he touched down. Moving towards the orb, the white energy that covered it began to flake away, revealing a replica of earth.
Scattered across the continents were tiny Yggdrasill's made of pale white wood, their bare branches reached towards the sky.
A runic circle sat in the Bermuda triangle of his earth, the runes of rainbow-colored crystal reflecting the light of the sun.
Wiping his brow, Herald stared at his creation. As it was right now, it could terraform a planet, transforming it in the way Herald had designed, but to truly accomplish what he had in mind, he needed one more piece, well two more pieces.
He just hoped Tiamut's information was correct, and he could find what he needed at his next destination.
Red energy flared around his body as it spiraled around a singular point and disappears.
–XX –
Lily Potter moved through a graveyard in Britain, grass rustling with each step. Her eyes flicked from gravestone to gravestone, briefly taking in the name etched into them before moving on. She took a breath through her nose.
Even though she was walking through it, and knew what she was looking for the name of this place escapes her. There was magic here, powerful magic, but only powerful enough to direct someone away if they were looking for a specific grave. Otherwise, the families of the other inhabitants of this place would grow suspicious.
Stopping before a particular grave, she stared at the name.
James Braddock Senior, a loving father and husband, a true hero of the aisles who rose to defend it in its time of need.
Kneeling, she rested her hands on the knees of her black jeans. "Sorry to disturb your rest Mr. Braddock, but you have one final purpose to serve." Tucking a strand of red hair behind her ear, she pointed a slender finger at the grave.
The air shimmered and twisted before a coffin appeared on top of the grave, dirt falling from its weathered wood.
Approaching the coffin, Lily lifted the lid, ignoring the dust that exploded out and stuck to her white blouse. Her Emerald eyes flared with power, blowing the dust away as she looked at the body within.
A skeleton lay on the white lining, a dark blue bodysuit draped over its frame. For a moment, she stared at the white Phoenix sewn into the front of the bodysuit. Before her gaze flicked to the leather jacket covering his arms.
Reaching her hand forward, she allowed it to hover over the skeleton's chest, her gaze focused on the skull, "Even after all these years, the magic of Otherworld still flows through you."
Moving her hand away from his chest, Lily grabbed the skull. With a twisting pull, it came free of the spine with a slight crunch. Grimacing, she pulled the skull free of the coffin. For a moment, she stared at it in the light of the moon.
She had done some horrible things since arriving in this world. Her very arrival had killed her counterpart, she then helped those with despicable history hide their crimes, so they could indulge in their darker natures.
Maybe that was why her children were lost to her, her sins finally coming back to claim their do? She shook her head. No, everything she did, the people she killed, the mutants she tortured, all of it was for the betterment of the magical world, and now, she glanced at the skull, with this final piece. The Homo Magi would rise again.
She glanced up at the sky, a report came in a few hours ago of the island of Krakoa returning to earth. Did it have something to do with the attack on Hammer Industries and the loss of a codex? She shook her head. A sentient island would not need a database of mutant blood.
Someone else was behind it, the question is what does she do about it? There were those on the Council that were tired of hiding and cultivating their power in the shadows, they wanted to come out of the shadows and brag about their success to the world.
They were fools, even though they had a common enemy in the mutants, if the rest of the world found out about their manipulations of the governments, they would be destroyed.
Her free hand curled into a fist. She had not worked for 300 years to lose everything to some people's inpatients. Turning, she began making her way out of the graveyard, the skull of James Braddock Senior tucked under her arm.
Everything would be worth it in a few decades when the Homo Magi, true magic users walk the earth once again. Maybe, just maybe then the blood on her hands would disappear and she wouldn't hear the screams of those she hurt when she slept.
–XX –
Appearing in the vast void of space, Herald stared down at earth 58,162, where according to Tiamut, Nathaniel Summers lost his battle with the techno-organic virus, causing it to spread out from within his body and consume all life on earth.
The planet spinning before him was completely made of silver of varying shades. Everything from the mountains to the oceans to the clouds contained the techno-organic virus.
As the planet spun, it reflected the light of the stars, creating a glare like a disco ball in the vacuum of space.
Closing his eyes, Herald pulled on the light of the sun. Tendrils of yellow energy flowed into his body. As his body began to shine with the pale-yellow energy, he used self-molecular manipulation to change the cells of his body, so that the sunlight stored up would be released as oxygen.
He just hoped it was enough to get the job done and hoped Tiamut was right about his course of action. Opening his eyes, his red irises glowed with power as he descended towards the earth. A streak of red trailed behind him as he covered his body in a layer of psychic energy.
Heat encased his body as he hit the atmosphere. A Pressure pressed on him from all sides. Sweat popped out along his skin, tickling him as it ran down his body.
The bear pelt draped over his shoulders flapped in the momentum of his dissent. The part of him not focused on falling marveled at the fact that the fur had not disintegrated.
Breaking through the atmosphere Herald hovered in the air, taking in the silver continents and liquid metal oceans below him. His gaze flicked from side to side as he reached out with his mind.
A frown slipped onto his face as he adjusted his cells to recycle the sweat coating his body so that his body would have what it needed while here.
There was no life on this planet anywhere, even the animals seemed to be machines.
Holding up his miniature earth, Herald looked down at the world. For his plan to work, this needed to be placed into the planet's core. He grimaced as he watched the liquid metal oceans move in unnatural ways.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught a bird, a Robin if he was not mistaken hovering in the air, its silver wings beating at a rapid pace, its red eyes never leaving his form.
Seems like the virus knew he was here, he better hurry before its host decided to come out and play. Stretching forth his hand, Herald mixed his Geokinesis, with the Magnetokinesis he learned from Lorna Dane and pushed his will towards the ocean below.
The silver liquid rippled as the force slammed into it, his magnetic power amplified by his Geokinesis. Forming his will into a spike he drove it downwards, forming a tunnel into the deep.
Casting one final look at the grey particles that made up the clouds of this earth, Herald dropped towards the ocean, angling his body so that he would fall into the tunnel.