Sup guys! I'm back with a new chapter. The end of the story is near, and the adrenaline and excitement are rising. I've been meaning to get to this point for a while, so I hope you enjoy what I bring you.
By the way, for those who like Lynncoln, the third volume of my comic "Rewrite the Stars" is already uploaded completely for free on both my Tw*tter and my P*treon. Between the three installments, there are 66 pages (so far!) that tell the story of the two learning to deal with their feelings over the years. This last installment in particular was pretty fucking good if you ask me lmao. For those who are interested, you know where to find it.
I don't have many more comments to make, to tell you the truth, so I'll skip ahead to the responses to the reviews.
TheBlazzore: We'll see how Leni reacts to at least part of the truth soon… And the climax battle is approaching, indeed!
STR2D3PO: Oh, no, Tetherby isn't the Royal Woods Curse at all. I believe he might even mention the curse as an offhand comment when Lincoln is spying on his hangar, but maybe I deleted that scene. For now, the curse is more of an urban legend regarding the disappearance/death of so many metas.
Guest: Glad to hear you do!
Guest 2: Happy to hear that!
UnderDog: I don't know if I'll ever write that chapter of Requiem. It was supposed to be an "au", but a lot of people interpreted it as the real ending, and that kinda disappointed me quite a bit. Even my friends make fun of it and it pisses me off tbh. Maybe one day I'll get over it and write that aftermath chapter.
Kokomo: The Triumvirate is definitely sus. Like, openly so. And yeah, the family's almost complete, which is kinda nuts. We're getting closer and closer to the team-up crossover. Regarding the prophecy, you're not entirely off base, and that's all I can say.
FishingCrossing: That's exactly the reasoning I used to write all these stories in the first person!
The Omen.
"This is all your fault!"
The usually chaotic hospital waiting room now found itself much more dangerous than usual as black clouds let out arcs of electricity, like miniature lightning bolts. The hurricane winds dragged all kinds of papers, twirling them around the wrathful figure of La Tormenta.
"Hey, you gotta calm down, you're going to hurt someone," Insight pleaded, placing herself between La Tormenta and me, stopping the little girl before she pulverized me. Which, judging by the crackling sound of thunder and the fury behind the tears in her eyes, seemed to be her intention.
And in my sorry state, sitting on a table and leaning against the wall while a doctor from Insight's insurance checked me out, it wouldn't have been difficult at all.
"You made him fight La Tortuga!" La Tormenta yelled at me, creating hail around her "We warned you not to mess with the Triumvirate! And now—! And now my brother—!"
The wind stopped, and the sheets of paper slid through the air to the ground, where they fell apart as soon as the downpour began. The sound of thunder hid her sobs, and the rain disguised her tears. Making sure no one had been hurt, and after organizing the janitors for a quick cleanup, Insight approached La Tormenta, walking into the rain without a second thought, hugging the girl, and saying things I didn't get to hear.
I remained there, unable to get up, to get closer, to talk to her. What would be the point of explaining that I'd only wanted to save an innocent family? Even I didn't feel like defending my actions a couple of hours ago. I began to believe that that damned trip to the city had been nothing more than a monumental waste of time and money.
If only I'd been the only victim of my bad decisions...
The clouds above La Tormenta dissipated into water vapor, mixing themselves with the rest of the air in the metahuman wing of the hospital. Insight took her hand and led her back to the stairway she had come from. She met El Lastico, that pink spandex hero capable of stretching and modifying his body at will, and said something to him while pointing at me without any discretion. El Lastico nodded and walked over to me.
"How's she doin', doc?" He asked the doctor treating me.
"We're waiting for the results of the X-rays to confirm, but she doesn't appear to have any broken bones or compromised organs. Maybe a small tear in the right biceps brachii. Her metahuman ability works based on the absorption and accumulation of solar radiation. The lack of it seems to be her biggest problem currently, but she'll regenerate it with rest and prolonged exposure to the Sun."
"I see. Well, we'll have to wait for the clouds to pass," he said, trying to sound funny.
If he tried to improve my mood, it didn't work.
He cleared his throat, and without a word or saying goodbye to me, the doctor walked away to leave us alone. It seemed to be some kind of code of conduct between heroes and doctors. Was I about to be lectured?
"Kiddo, let me give you some advice."
Yep. Let the lecture begin.
"What you did was completely impulsive. Risky. Irresponsible. You disobeyed the orders of professional heroes. You risked your own life, and that of another rookie. You faced off against a supervillain who outclassed you in every aspect of combat. Strength, endurance, experience. You didn't measure the consequences, you went straight into the fight without thinking."
"Okay, I think I got the whole description of what I did," I cut him off, closing my eyes. "Can we get to the advice part?"
"Never lose that impulse to do the right thing."
I raised my face to look at him, surprised.
"I'm sorry?"
"My agent told me about you. I know you're from Royal Woods, and that you've come looking for patrons and agencies. The press is echoing the news. They say you risked your skin to get on the front pages by fighting off La Tortuga. That the first time you met La Cobra you did it for the same reason."
"That's not true," I defended myself, "I never wanted to—"
"I know, I know," he clarified, holding up his hands apologetically to calm me down. "In fact, I know exactly why you did it. Because you couldn't just sit idly by while someone needed you. You couldn't let someone get hurt if you could help it. You couldn't let someone else go through what you went through."
I gasped, and a chill ran down my spine. "How…?"
"We may have different powers, but all heroes are a little the same deep down," he admitted, and I saw in his eyes the distinctive glow of a wound that would never heal. "Your body moved by itself, the only thing that mattered was saving whoever needed you. And that's important. When you become a professional hero, this turns into a job, and there are too many factors in play. Suddenly, saving people can get lost in the dozens of things one has to do. So don't let the press or agencies convince you otherwise: you were right to get involved."
He looked around uncomfortably, as if afraid someone had heard him.
"Although it was indeed extremely dangerous. No one had ever managed to stand up to La Tortuga. He and El Dragón recently took down one of the most powerful heroes in the city. No one dares to face him."
"I just wanted to save that family. I didn't want to get involved in a death battle, and I didn't mean for…"
My senses recalled every gruesome moment. The appalling visual of La Tortuga hitting Bobby. The traumatic thud of impact. The hideous warmth of his blood on my hands as I ran toward him and picked him up. The salty taste of my tears as the heroes pulled me apart for the paramedics to attend to.
"I understand. But as much as I applaud your vocation to save others, this is also an opportunity to learn that… Well, everything has its consequences. Even acts that are born out of good intentions can have tragic outcomes. Not just for that newbie. Also for you."
I looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath and shifted his weight to his other leg.
"Stanley Chang spoke with Gaia and Polaris shortly after the incident. He asked us to inform you that they want you away from his natural reserve and his family."
A blow from La Tortuga would have hurt less in those circumstances.
"What? Why? It doesn't make sense, we were talking about me becoming their ambassador at Royal Woods."
El Lastico placed a hand on my shoulder.
"What you did was the right thing," he repeated, "but no one wants to be associated with someone the Reptile Triumvirate must loathe right now. This is the second time you've faced them, and the second time you've survived. Why do you think the media is so angry with you right now? Nobody wants to support you publicly for fear of retaliation. If the Changs sponsored you, the Triumvirate could burn down their ecological reserve and kill their family, just to send a message."
He opened his mouth to say something but seemed to think twice. He waited a few seconds and finally spoke.
"I shouldn't give advice without being asked, but I guess I can't stop myself from trying to help either," he teased, before assuming a serious face. "You're in danger here. La Tortuga had his eyes on you for beating La Cobra. And now you hurt him. The longer you stay around, the more danger you'll be in."
He pointed to the ends of the corridors, where different heroes were patrolling.
"A whole squad of professional heroes was summoned to protect the hospital in case they attack. Not you, specifically. You get what I'm saying?"
I nodded.
"It means I should go," I said, trying to get to my feet, but reeling from the pain in my arm and legs.
"Not right away. You have to recover. And there's no safer place for you than this hospital right now. So rest. And I'm sorry. I wish we could do more to help you."
I didn't answer, and he didn't seem to expect me to. He nodded in my direction and walked away, leaving me alone with my problems and my insecurities.
Time became endless and incalculable. How long had it been? Three hours? An hour and a half? Twenty minutes? Impossible to say. Too exhausted to think, I didn't even worry about what my meeting with Leni would be like after my failed trip to the big city. There would be no way to hide my despair, my sadness, my frustration, my feeling of absolute and complete failure.
What would Spade think if he could see me right then? Most likely he would have tried to help me, but I couldn't stop the pain in my heart from imagining him disappointed. So many months of training only to forget everything and almost get myself killed.
I barely paid attention when the doctor came back, confirming that I didn't have any serious injuries. Her bandages and the healing she had given my wounds were enough. I would only need a few days of rest and recharge my energy reserves.
I thought about the warning from El Lastico. My mere presence endangered the entire hospital. There was no reason why I should stay there. The best thing I could do was return to look for my backpack, change into casual clothes, and return to Royal Woods as soon as possible. Without saying a word to anyone, and doing my best to sneak past the heroes, policemen, doctors, and patients, I began to walk the endless corridors at a slow pace. Each move hurt a little less than the last, but still, I felt like I needed to sleep for three days to recover. Seeing the cloudy sky through the windows didn't help my mood at all. The recovery would be even longer.
I didn't even know if I could fly out of the hospital. I probably could, but it wouldn't be nice at all. It didn't matter. I would have to endure the pain and exhaustion and focus on leaving that damned hospital and that damned metropolis to return to my cursed city.
"Nova."
I was near the lobby when someone called my name.
I turned around, and I met the serious, sad, and unmistakably angry look of Arturo Santiago.
In my short but intense career as a hero, I faced powerful enemies. A crocodile man in my first public appearance. La Cobra and La Tortuga. Even that giant robot from Tetherby Industries caused us so much trouble. I never hesitated to jump right into the action, to welcome confrontations with open arms. Still with fear oozing from every pore, I always faced whatever lay ahead.
This is why I surprised myself when my legs refused to respond to my mind's instructions. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't take those necessary steps forward to face the situation presented to me. Partly because I was afraid of what I was going to see, and partly because I didn't know how I should react.
Partly because my guilt didn't allow me to accept what I'd heard.
A hand was placed on my shoulder, and I turned to see Maria. She nodded serenely.
"He's waiting for you," she said in a whisper.
She applied gentle pressure, and that push was enough for my legs to move and finally lead me into the room.
It was perfectly lit, with warm tones that tried their best to give life to what could very well be a deathbed in many cases. The TV showed a baseball game, but with the volume turned down it couldn't hide the regular beeping of the heart monitor.
An empty chair waited for me, the place Maria Casagrande had occupied until a few moments ago, right next to the bed where Bobby rested.
Just seeing him crushed my heart. Half of his head was bandaged, and one of his eyes remained closed due to inflammation. A cast wrapped his left arm and part of his torso, and his right leg had a different, bigger cast. I couldn't see much else, with his body hidden under a patient's gown and the neat hospital sheet, but I remembered seeing him laying on the street after La Tortuga's attack, and the memories weren't pleasant.
He weakly turned his head to see me. At that moment I allowed myself a moment to be ashamed of my state. My suit was dirty, with multiple cuts, and the right sleeve totally torn to shreds. My disheveled hair and tired face wouldn't have been a pretty sight to look at, and yet Bobby smiled.
"Hey, don't look at me like that," he said, his voice a coarse whisper. "I'm not dead yet."
I sat next to him.
"Falcon, I'm so sorry," I said. "This is all my fault. I shouldn't have let you fight La Tortuga on your own. I was the one who put you in that situation, I should have stayed and dealt with it on my own."
"Hey, you saved the family," he shot back with a smile. "That's all that counts."
"No. Of course not. If only I'd been quicker, or if I'd reacted sooner, maybe… Maybe I could've—"
"There's no point thinking about what might have happened. What happened, happened. I got hurt, but I'll be okay."
I didn't accept his kindness. I couldn't. I couldn't just let him forgive me. I didn't deserve his forgiveness. I deserved him to hate me, just like his sister did. I found it hard to believe that the rest of his family didn't want to kill me, and I didn't understand how they could allow me to be there with their son, grandson, or nephew. The only person who seemed to be thinking clearly was La Tormenta. I could understand her reaction, at least.
Bobby had been nothing but nice to me from the start. Saving my life against La Cobra, risking his life so La Tormenta and I could escape, inviting me to his agency, recommending me to the Changs, and even revealing his secret identity to me. And what had I done in return? Just bring him trouble, and leave him in an intensive care unit.
I kept watching his face. Without the mask, he looked like a normal, run-of-the-mill guy. He didn't deserve to be in those conditions, much less because of me.
Without stopping to think too much about it, I brought my hands to the back of my head, undid the mask, and removed it from my face.
Bobby opened his good eye, and I felt his breath catch. I smiled at him, for the first time looking at him with my face uncovered.
"It's only fair, isn't it?" I mentioned. "My name's Lori."
"Lori…"
I noticed the way his eyes seemed to not want to miss any detail of my face. I felt exposed, vulnerable. I had revealed my greatest weakness, my secret identity. Until a few moments ago, my sister was the only person alive who knew that secret. Now Bobby was also part of that select group.
"Lori," he repeated, "it's pretty." I blushed. His smile grew bigger. "But why did you do it? You didn't have to."
"I wanted to. I feel… that I can trust you. After all the trouble I've brought you and all the help you've given me, it's the least I could do. Besides…"
I took a deep breath. Maybe it would be better not to delay what would undoubtedly be a painful farewell.
"Besides, you deserved to know before I leave."
His smile faded.
"Leave? What do you mean?"
I explained my situation. The threat of a revenge-seeking Triumvirate. The defamation from the press. The refusal of the agencies. There was no way I could stay there in Great Lakes City. My trip had been a failure.
"I'll go back to Royal Woods as soon as possible. I think I've spent enough days away from my sister. If I stay here, I'll just be putting everyone else in danger. The best I can do is to leave."
"But… You came all this way to get a sponsor. And your insurance, and a healthcare plan…"
"I've lived without them until now. It'll stay that way."
"Lori, you can't let all of this go to waste."
"I really appreciate your concern," I interrupted wistfully. "But there's nothing we can do. Besides, something good came out of it. I met you."
His gaze softened, and it was at that moment that I knew I had to leave as soon as possible. The more time I spent in front of that gaze, the harder it would be for me to leave.
"Goodbye, Bobby."
I put my mask back on and got up. An impulse was born in a corner of my mind to lean back and give him a soft kiss goodbye on the cheek, but reason prevailed, and I started walking to the door.
"Lori, wait."
I stopped and turned to look at him. His concentrated face seemed to process information and ideas at the speed of a computer. When his eyes met mine, there was no trace of doubt in them. He'd made a decision.
"Stay," he asked me.
"Bobby…"
"Stay with m— With us," he corrected himself. "You can join our agency, be a part of the Guardians of the Firmament, here in Great Lakes City."
"What? But— But Bobby, that's…"
I couldn't find the words. My stupor petrified me. How to respond to such an offer? I wanted to tell him that it was a rushed proposal, that I wasn't ready, and that it wasn't fair, but I couldn't find a way to bring it up.
"...it's your family's agency. I can't…I don't want to cause trouble," I finally said.
"The Triumvirate already has my name on a list, anyway," he replied, perhaps thinking I was referring to the danger my presence could bring them. "I also stood up against them. But we all knew what we were up against when we decided to take this job."
"But—"
"Don't worry about the money. Tormenta and I have been managing so far. Think about it, you'd have a hero insurance policy, a healthcare plan. My uncle Carlos was a professor at the university, he could help you with your studies if you wanted to pursue that."
"You're offering too much," I said, finding no reason or meaning in that situation, and without understanding the happiness I felt inside, "I can't accept it. We don't… We couldn't impose ourselves like that."
"If it makes you feel better, you'd help us too," he replied. "Two heroes is too short for an agency. If you and your sister team up with us, we could do a lot more jobs. It would be good for everyone. And besides, you and I have a common goal."
"Fight against evil."
He shook his head with a smile.
"No. Even more important. To protect our little sisters. I never wanted Tormenta to become a hero. Surely you didn't want the same for your sister either. It's dangerous work, and we accept that responsibility, but we're not gonna let our families pay the price. If the four of us worked together, I could help you take care of your sister, and I know you would help me take care of Tormenta."
He closed his eyes and rested his head against the pillow.
"I feel like we're not all that different in that sense. In the end, all we want is to protect our families."
"Are you suggesting… that I leave my city, leave everything behind, and move here?"
"From what you've told me, you only have your sister there. You can both move here, we have space at the agency. The city's ready to house superheroes. What do you have to lose?"
Suddenly, the idea of leaving Royal Woods created an emptiness in my soul that I couldn't explain. Bobby wasn't wrong in what he was saying, but it was too much to process.
He seemed to read the conflict and indecision on my face.
"You don't have to decide now, of course. Take your time, talk it over with your sister. But… the invitation is on the table."
I made my exit through the emergency stairs, but I focused on dragging my tired legs up instead of down. Arriving at the last door, I feared for a moment that it was closed. Luckily, one can always rely on the lazy work of the janitors, so all it took was turning the latch to open the entrance (or exit?) to the hospital's helipad.
The sky had always been my happy place, my sanctuary where I could take refuge from the world, moving away from everything around me. This time, however, the icy wind announced how impossible it would be for me to avoid the situation in which I found myself. My powers were far from recharged, so there was no chance of me rising to the top of the troposphere and screaming where no one could hear me.
And judging by the dark clouds hanging over the city, it would take forever to regain my energy with what little sunlight got through.
Without further ado, I approached the ledge of the roof, resting my arms on the parapet, and let out the biggest sigh ever.
I looked at the city that spread around me. The noise of the traffic, the constant movement, the heroes that could be seen in the distance, patrolling or perhaps searching for La Tortuga. The immense skyscrapers rose above the landscape, vying to rise higher, caressing the clouds with their antennae and reflecting the gray atmosphere in their endless glass planes.
Could this be a city for Leni and me?
For some reason, the possibility of moving to another city had never occurred to me. Our foster parents were happy in Royal Woods, and Spade was the protector of the city, the hero of our town. He couldn't abandon them, and with him taking care of us, we never considered leaving either.
Well, all three of them were dead. Just Leni and I remained in Royal Woods, and to be honest, the city didn't try too hard to keep us there. On the contrary, it seemed to be actively trying to drive us out. No opportunities, no helping hand, not even the benefit of the doubt. Our domestic economy was hanging by a thread. How many times had we been saved by some surprise gift from our neighbors? If not for those random acts of kindness, Leni and I would have gone to bed with empty stomachs more times than I could allow.
Great Lakes offered an infrastructure prepared to receive and maintain its heroes. There was a system in place, a safety net for someone like Leni or me. Bobby's offer was, to say the least, attractive and worth considering. His agency, although far from being among the most important, was perfectly organized. His entire family worked there, allowing him and La Tormenta to safely use their powers for good.
What would it be like to join them? Nova and Eclipse were names related to the sky, so they could keep the name Guardians of the Firmament without it sounding weird to us. The main obstacle was that I had never liked the idea of working in a team. I took Leni with me because there was no way to stop her from following me, and I preferred to have her by my side to protect her if necessary, but even then, I wasn't entirely comfortable. If it were up to me, I would do all my work as a hero on my own, without endangering my sister. Maybe Spade had influenced me with his ideals of Ace Savvy, the lone hero who carried the weight of the city on his shoulders.
Teamwork wasn't exactly a skill I'd put on my resume when looking for a job, but I could do it. Leni and I were a duo, after all. And Bobby's words had sunk deep: he and I could help each other keep our sisters safe.
Even if La Tormenta hated me, I would take it upon myself to keep her safe, and I was confident that El Falcon would do the same for Leni if I ever wasn't enough to protect her. No matter how much Bobby tried to downplay his involvement in the battle against La Tortuga, he had been instrumental in letting me do my job. Thanks to him I was able to save the family trapped in the vehicle. He'd been brave and effective. He was a good guy. A good hero. The only boy my age I had ever felt a true connection with.
I shook my head and covered my eyes with the palms of my hands. I couldn't allow my emotions to affect such an important decision. El Falcon's offer had to be considered based on a rational analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of joining a superhero family agency in another city. Not in the budding feelings that grew in my heart.
I knew that this was ultimately not a decision I was going to make on my own. It required Leni's absolute and authentic approval. I wouldn't do anything without her on board, but before bringing her the news and the proposal, I needed to be clear about my position. It's the least I could do before bringing up such a drastic option to her. I needed my mind to be made up before talking to her.
I removed my hands from my face and looked up once more into the city. Everything was so alien, so strange, so far from the reality that I knew. Was this what caused a cold stabbing sensation in my chest at the thought of leaving Royal Woods? Fear of the unknown? What other explanation could I find for the emptiness in my stomach? I clearly had nothing to miss about Royal Woods.
The only thing that really held me there was Leni, right?
A fresh current of cold air behind me made the hairs on my arms stand on end, and I felt a chill run down my back. I rubbed my arms, trying to warm myself, but stopped when I felt the rush of air… this time from the front.
And yet, the feeling of cold behind me continued to grow, as did a distant but obvious feeling of fear in the depths of my heart.
I turned to see what could produce such a cold sensation.
The short answer was that the cold came from the shadow that prevented the sunlight not trapped by the clouds from ever reaching me. The shadow also caused that sense of primordial fear deep within me.
Detailing a little more what I saw, "the shadow" was, literally, a gathering of all the shadows on the roof, separating from the objects to which they belonged, defying the direction of light sources, and materializing in a cocoon of the purest darkness ever seen on the planet.
I immediately got into a battle pose. I reached out with both arms, but as I tried to gather energy into the palms of my hands, I was made aware of how battered and weak my body truly was. I gritted my teeth, held back the pain, and surrounded my fists with a halo of bluish energy.
The cocoon continued to absorb the shadows on the roof and suddenly pulsed with an audible hum. A sliver of grayish light materialized to one side, and to my utter horror, a pale hand reached out.
"Stop right there!" I yelled, praying that my strength wouldn't abandon me.
That hand stretched out its fingers and then closed them. Immediately the whole cocoon imploded, with dozens of shadows turning on their axis and transforming into something more concrete. A silhouette. A cloak. The strips of darkness vanished, and where seconds ago there had been a cocoon, now a person stood. Tall and slender, completely hidden underneath a cloak as dark blue as twilight. It wore a pointed hood, almost like a poker spade. The inside of the hood was still as dark as the very shadows it had absorbed, leaving the roof like a poorly rendered video game.
"Who are you?" I asked, trying not to let my voice reflect the irrational fear that presence generated in me, almost as if my deepest nightmares were being pushed to the surface.
"I am an omen, a herald of darkness bringing tidings from the shadows," it said, and its voice sounded like several monotonous whispers at the same time.
Still, it seemed to be a female voice overall.
"An omen, huh? Nice word. A bit pretentious, don't you think?"
The person, completely covered by her cloak and hood, didn't answer. She moved towards me, floating as if the simple act of walking was beneath her.
"Don't get any closer, I'm warning you." I let the energy in my fists pulse harder.
It stopped, but the cloak fell open, and something black shot across the floor in my direction. Without thinking, I released a bolt of energy.
It was as if part of me was ripped out, leaving me gasping for air and pushing the endurance of my knees to the limit, which narrowly prevented me from collapsing to the ground. Still, ever alert, I watched as my energy beam tore through the air toward the attacker, but just as it should have hit her, she vanished, reappearing a few feet to the right.
"Sigh," she said aloud. "This doesn't—"
I went back to launch a new attack. This time, a glow of the coldest and most desaturated blue I've ever seen preceded the appearance of a body made up of wild shadows that seemed to be born from inside the cape. The new shadows formed a barrier that tanked my attack squarely.
Its outline began to define itself, and I understood that it was a body almost as big as La Tortuga, made entirely out of darkness, with a humanoid shape but of aberrant proportions. Extremely muscular legs in the quadriceps that got thinner after the calves, ending in rather birdlike legs, like a crow. The torso widened out at the chest, like a bodybuilder, and the strong arms ended in clawed hands. Dark membranous wings protruded from its back, and its head resembled that of a bat. Two blue-gray orbs gave the terrifying creature the appearance of eyes, and the light that emanated from them left a trail behind it, like a high-exposure photograph.
In the center and interior of that monstrous shape, I could see the outline of the "omen", standing in the same pose as the shadowy figure. I tried to prepare a new attack, but the dark mass rushed towards me with surprising speed. I fired once more, but my energy hit the shadows' chests with no apparent effect. One of its oversized hands closed around my entire torso and slammed me to the ground. I tried to break free, but that ethereal body, so cold to the touch, seemed to be almost as strong as La Tortuga. Not even with my energies replenished could I have freed myself.
"Nova," said that voice, distorted into a much deeper and more threatening sound and tone, "I come not to fight, but to warn you of great danger. Royal Woods will be destroyed if you don't listen to what I have to say, and everything you hold dear will be lost."
At those words, I froze in place. I stopped resisting, partly because I had no strength left, partly to show that I wouldn't attack her. After a few moments, the shadows dissolved, returning to the figure that floated in the center of the body of darkness. With that movement, the cloak parted, finally revealing the metahuman's appearance.
She wasn't as tall as I thought. The effect was given by the cloak reaching almost to the ground while the rest of her body levitated in the air. It was a girl with skin pale as snow. She was wearing black boots that reached almost to her knees and a simple black cloth dress. The sleeves, separated from the rest of the dress, started at her elbow down to her wrists, in a pattern of black and white straps. Her blue cloak fluttered behind her, held together at the chest by a bat-shaped clip.
What was most striking was her hair, black as the vacuum of space, with bluish reflections, completely covering her eyes.
And, of course, the fact that this girl couldn't have been more than eight or nine years old.
"Who are you?" I asked again.
"Sigh," she said, once more, this time in a normal voice. "I'm but an omen."
"Yeah, all right, Omen. What are you doing here? What kind of powers do you have? And what is this thing about Royal Woods being destroyed?"
Gently, she lowered herself until she touched the ground. She opened her mouth to speak, but once again, a shadow escaped from her feet, sliding across the roof.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"You have many questions, but there is no time to give you all the answers," she said with an almost robotic monotone. "The shadows that have brought me here have to return to their physical prison. When they all return to their resting place, I will be sent back to my Sanctum Sanctorum."
I noticed that some objects on the roof had restored their shadows.
"How much time do you have?"
"Not enough, so heed my warning, hero of Royal Woods. The shadows have foretold a future of death and desolation. As we speak, the Reptile Triumvirate is preparing to march on a crusade to Royal Woods. The darkness has shown me visions of their upcoming rampage, taking down the heroes of the city and razing it utterly."
"What?!" I said, getting to my feet with great difficulty. "La Cobra and La Tortuga are heading towards Royal Woods right now?"
"Not yet, but soon, before the end of the day," she announced emotionlessly, as more shadows fled her cloak and returned to their original objects.
A feeling of terror filled my heart. I thought of Leni, facing off on her own against those villains who had nearly finished me off twice. I had to go help her as soon as possible.
"If they manage to take everyone by surprise, they will kill Eclipse, Ace Savvy, and anyone who opposes them. They will destroy everything in their path, sowing terror and destruction. The three archangels of death, whose assault will awaken the shadow that will envelop the world."
Something in her tone gave me the slight impression that she wasn't speaking metaphorically. Still, all I could focus on was they will kill Eclipse.
"Are you a hero?" I asked the Omen, "Can you fight?"
"Sigh. I am no hero. I'm an acolyte, a student of the dark, mystic arts. I am not allowed to intervene in the mortal world."
"But you're here, warning me of the upcoming danger," I said, trying to reason with her. "I saw that… that shape you created. It resisted my attack, and I felt the power you carry. You could fight with us."
"The Avatar of Shadows and Wails is dangerous," she said slowly, measuring her words. "His bloodlust can easily escape my control. That is why I have to stay in the shadows, away from where I can harm others. I am not allowed to fight. I shouldn't fight. I will not fight."
"You're saying that an entire city will be destroyed! Families, innocent people! How can you stand aside doing nothing?"
"I'm doing something," she replied without any change in her neutral tone. "I am warning you of what will happen. It is in your hands now to stop it."
I clenched my fists. I couldn't be mad at her. She was a kid. As powerful as she seemed to me, if she wasn't a warrior, I couldn't ask her to join me.
Once again, all the responsibility rested on my shoulders. I had to get my phone back to talk to Leni as soon as possible. Was my bag still with the Changs? Where was it? But even if I did talk to my sister, how could I get to her in time?
"You're from Royal Woods, right?" I asked the Omen.
She nodded.
"How did you get here? Can you teleport?"
"The study of the Dark Arts is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural," she replied cryptically.
I stared at her and raised an eyebrow. She dropped her shoulders and looked at the ground, kicking a rock lazily.
"Sigh… The shadows are connected by the Dark World, a dimension without light or matter. By gathering my powers, the shadows allow me to move between them, even over great distances."
"Then you have to take me to the Royal Woods right now. I have to warn the heroes and prepare the defenses."
"It can't be done. The distance is too great. The shadows can't take us both. I can't even stay here for long."
I clenched my fists.
"And how do you expect me to get there in time?!"
She tilted her head with some confusion.
"Your powers should allow you to fly at great speed. You have several hours to get there before they do."
"I can't!" I said, exploding in anger and frustration.
She took a step back, and her figure pulsed, momentarily surrounded by a growing Avatar of Shadows that she managed to trap inside her hood. I tried to relax, but it seemed impossible to find peace of mind at that moment.
"I spent all my energy in the battle this morning. I need time to recharge my power."
"Time is the most valuable resource you have," she warned me. "The villains will arrive when the sun goes down."
"I can't do it by then!" I yelled, desperate. "Not with these clouds hiding the sun! I need direct cosmic radiation to recover! If I wanted to fly to the Royal Woods and fight I would have to stay here for hours under the Sun."
Suddenly the clouds that loomed over the city began to revolve around an invisible axis. Like a hurricane, they spun faster and faster, until a hole opened up in the center, just above us. The sun's rays hit my body, and I immediately felt an internal tingling as slowly, very slowly, my energies began to recharge.
"Convenient," said the Prophecy, turning her gaze to the side. "I thought we would be uninterrupted here. Show yourself, stranger."
I didn't understand who she was talking to, but moments later, I saw how La Tormenta rose from one of the sides of the building, standing over one of her clouds and apparently having heard part of our conversation. She had her arms crossed over her chest, an angry expression, and a trail of dried tears on her face.
La Tormenta and the Omen exchanged a long silent look, interrupted only when a large number of shadows separated from the latter.
"Time to go back to my sanctuary," she said, turning once more to me. "I have broken my oath not to interfere. The prophecy has been shared. The fate of Royal Woods is now in your hands, Nova."
Without further ado, she took the edge of her cloak with one of her hands. She drew an arc with it as she turned her body, hiding behind the cloak, and in a single graceful movement, the cloak that concealed her seemed to fold in on itself. From one second to the next, the Omen had vanished, leaving me alone with La Tormenta.
She didn't seem very happy to see me.
"Tormenta, I..."
"The Changs send you this," she said, waving her hand so that a strong current of air would take my pack from her cloud and drop it at my feet. "I'll keep the sky clear so you can recharge your power. You better make the most out of it. And don't even think about telling my brother, or he'll want to come with you."
I would have loved to thank her, but she didn't give me a chance. She turned her back on me and glided away on her cloud, leaving me alone on the terrace.
I knew that I couldn't afford to waste time or the opportunity the young heroine had given me. I rushed to grab my backpack and picked up my phone.
I noticed I had a dozen missed calls from Leni. My heart skipped a beat, thinking that perhaps the Omen had got the timing wrong, and the villains had already arrived. I called my sister right away.
"Lori!" She yelled as soon as she answered the phone.
"Leni, listen to me, where—?!"
"How could you fight without me?!" She interrupted me. "You're, like, all over the news! They saw you fighting a giant bug! People here think you abandoned Royal Woods!"
I bit my lip. I had been lucky enough that Royal Woods' media didn't cover my battle with La Cobra, but apparently, they had found out immediately about my confrontation with La Tortuga.
"Leni, listen, I'm so sorry, but—"
"Are you okay? Are you hurt? You shouldn't have gone without me! We're a team! We should be together!"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry, okay?! I literally had no choice! A group of powerful villains attacked and I was close! But don't worry about me, you gotta listen to me! These villains are going to Royal Woods in a few hours and they're going to destroy everything. They're very dangerous, don't even think about fighting them on your own!"
"The villain you fought today? That bug?
"It's a turtle, and yes. Him and two more. They'll get there around nightfall, but don't fight them on your own! If you do… If you do, they will kill you."
"Lori, how do you know that? Is this… Is this what you were hiding?" She asked, delicately.
"What?"
"Before you left… You were trying really hard to hide something."
I clenched my fists and sighed. "You sensed it, then? I'm sorry. I thought I could keep you from noticing."
"You're my sister. I don't need powers to know when there's something wrong with you. I trust you, and if you didn't want to tell me what was wrong, I figured you had your reasons. Was this it? Did you want to stop some villains in another city?"
I walked to the heliport platform and sat there, trying to collect my thoughts and sort out my priorities. Apparently, the eventual talk with Leni would turn out to be more complicated than I expected. Still, it wasn't something we could afford to worry about right now. There were issues of life and death, literally, that we had to solve first.
"Leni... I'm sorry. You're right. I've been keeping things from you. I was trying to protect you, to keep you from worrying, but I shouldn't have. When this is all over, I promise I'll tell you everything. But there are more important things to attend to first."
I summarized the situation. What the Omen had told me, and everything I knew about La Cobra and La Tortuga from my encounters with them. Leni didn't sound happy at all to hear about the villains I'd faced on my own, but she at least understood the severity of the circumstances we found ourselves in.
"And who's the third villain?"
"I don't know much about him, only that his name is El Dragón, and he's the leader of the trio. It's the most mysterious of the three. I'll look for info on him while I recharge my powers."
"We should let Ace know.
"Just to warn him to stay out of the fight."
"What? I mean, to help us."
"No," I said immediately. "It's too dangerous."
"That's why I'm saying it!"
"Ace Savvy is just a kid, Leni. We can't ask him to fight three supervillains. Also, he doesn't have any superpowers, he couldn't do anything against someone like La Tortuga."
"Do you really think we'll be better off without his help than with him?"
"I think we'd be better off not endangering a child's life," I replied. "I'm warning you of what will happen tonight so you don't face them on your own. I'll go as fast as I can, but don't even think about engaging them before I get there. And come up with an excuse to keep Ace Savvy busy and out of the fight. Tell him that… I don't know, that our radar picked up a distress signal from the industrial park or something."
"We don't have radar."
"He doesn't know that."
She stayed silent, but even so, I could just feel her disapproving look and conflicted expression.
"Leni, please. Trust me, okay? I just want to protect everyone. The city. Ace Savvy. You."
Her response took several seconds to arrive. "I trust you. If that's what you want, okay."
"Thank you."
"But remember that you're not the only hero. And someone has to protect you too."
We continued talking for a while, but that was the end of the conversation.