[Updated Chapter - 8/Jan/2022]
The explanation to Taylor's father had gone... not as badly as the newest Eternal had thought it might. Truthfully, it was still hot garbage in verbal form, but at least Valka had been there to explain everything to Taylor's father that she had told the girl earlier. Danny Hebert had cycled through many emotions during the conversation, confusion, disbelief, realization, shock, anger, sadness, more confusion, more anger, and then finally settled on happy if only to have his daughter here with him now. In the end, he was relieved daughter would be 'safe', even if using the loosest possible application of the word possible. The thing Taylor was most glad about was that during the conversation she was able to see a bit of her old father back, the one before her mother died and the one that cared for her.
Taylor had to, after she was questioned on why Valka found her in a septic locker, tell her father about the bullying. He was, of course, angry that it had happened, and practically vowed a blood oath of vengeance upon those who had wronged her, but she was glad she told him. It was a massive weight that just vanished from her shoulders. What she did regret was how she told Danny about it whilst Valka was still in the room. The waves of murderous intent rolled off her like a tsunami, and even that was undercutting it. It was like the entire universe began to compact at the pinpoint location of where Valka was, exuding unimaginable pressure from her being. The raven-haired woman only stopped when she noticed that Danny was looking very pale about to pass out.
Speaking of Valka, she and her father had gotten on quite well. Now that Taylor was an Eternal, which Valka had made sure to Valka saw it as her duty to tutor and protect Taylor seeing as the young girl was of her kin now, a part of her family. Danny seemed pleased with his result, happy that his daughter had a new positive presence in her life.
Finally, after the emotionally exhausting experience of explaining to one's father they become an immortal superbeing, Taylor was allowed to trudge up the stairs and flop down into her bead, allowing herself to merge with the bed. The rest of the night shot by as Taylor drifted off to the land of dreams…
She could feel it
She could feel them
They were there
They were everywhere
Fourteen of them
Quadrillions of them
They would empower her
They would curse her
She would live forever
She was not allowed the mercy of death
She was the strongest
She was the most powerless
She was…
She is…
ETERNAL
As Taylor slept, the inevitable turning of the Earth shifted the Sun back onto her side of the planet, bathing it in light and annoyingly hitting Taylor's face and forced her to begrudgingly wake up and start the next day. Stretching her arms as she yawned, Taylor moved to the bathroom to have a shower whilst feeling like she was forgetting something. Body washed and hair done, Taylor went down the stairs for breakfast as the feeling continued to nag at her.
What Taylor didn't expect, was to find Valka already in her kitchen cooking and making conversation with her father. Noticing her, her father turned to greet her.
"Taylor, how are you feeling?" He asked, in a way that partially unnerved Taylor like she was some fine porcelain doll and not an immortal being that would outlive the sun.
"Uhhh... fine?" Taylor replied in a way that sounded more as a question than answer. "What are you doing here Valka?"
"Well, I did say that I'd be training you. So better not to waste time, hey?" Valka answered as she put a plate of scrambled eggs and sourdough toast in front of Taylor. Where the woman had gotten that particular type of bread Taylor had no idea.
"But… I..." Taylor trailed off, realizing what she was about to say. She really didn't want to say it, that way it may not be true. Because she had no reason not to go since she was uninjured and had no presentable excuse to not attend.
"Need to go to school?" Her father finished, knocking Taylor off her train of thought and causing a bad feeling to form in her gut. But that feeling was replaced with shock from what Danny said next. "No. Never again, or, at least, not at Winslow." He sighed. "Taylor, I'm still sorry about neglecting you, and how you've been handling this..."
"I know, you said this a lot last night," Taylor interrupted.
"...But I think I should have seen this happening. I've been a horrible father, there's no disputing that. But I want to begin to make it up to you, and the best first step is to get you out of that eighth circle of hell they call a school."
"But where am I going to go? Acadia?" Taylor asked with a dry chuckle, looking to her father for his reaction. She balked when her father gave a completely straight face. "Dad! We can't afford Acadia!"
"Actually, you don't have to." Valka cut in. Taylor turned her head to face her. "I have accumulated copious amounts of money and have really had no better place to spend it. I'd be more than happy to fund your proper education." Valka nodded. "I've always believed learning is important. Whether that be practically or academically."
Taylor just sat there with her mouth hanging open. With all the concentration she could muster, she turned to look at her father, who nodded his head in agreement with Valka.
"It's what Valka and I have been talking about all morning." Her father said. "You should be able to attend there in a couple of months or so."
"It'll take me time to set everything up… semi-legally. I also want to have a good deal of time to train you up and teach you everything a fresh Eternal needs to know." Valka stepped around the bench and sat next to Taylor. "Taylor, I may have not known you for more than a day, but I can tell you're a good person. And a strong one too, I mean, look how well you're taking this whole 'you're immortal' thing. What I'm trying to say here is I felt for you last night when you spoke about those girls. Nobody deserves such treatment. And you," Valka put a hand on Taylor's shoulder, "You deserve far better. So please, just stop worrying and accept this. It's the very least that you're owed."
Taylor swallowed the large lump that formed in her mouth and gave a weak nod. Valka gave a sad smile back before going back to standing. Being too shock earlier, Taylor finally took in Valka's stature.
Being previously obscured by her long parker the night before, the new absence of it allowed for a full view of the woman's muscles. Well-built arms sprouted out of her torso like tree trunks, and for the rest of her body, the parker hadn't been hiding much. She was slim, and in Taylor's opinion, very well built, so much so the teen began to drool a little.
Taylor caught herself and slapped her cheeks as to snap herself back into reality.
"Now," Valka's voice drifted to her ears, "Eat up, we're going to be training all day and whilst you don't technically need food anymore, your body won't be able to responsibly handle the sudden change."
Taylor obeyed, beginning to shovel the eggs into her hungry mouth.
- - - - - Lazarus - - - - -
Back on the seat of Valka's cruiser motorcycle, this time properly seated and equipped as to not have a repeat of the previous night's 'incident'. Taylor held onto Valka's shoulders as they sped down the streets to the docks, more specifically the ship graveyard. Being a pretty barren location that nobody really cared if some new cape would go around destroying things testing their powers, many a new budding super-hero/villain came to see their limits. But Taylor wasn't here to test her limits, but instead, expand them.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?!" Taylor shouted over the wind that freely collided with them. "Since all the new capes use this place, the gangs and PRT be watching it, right?"
Taylor could hear Valka's laughter in reply. "Already got that covered!" She one-handed the motorcycle whilst she reached into her coat and handed Taylor a small object. "That, Kid, is a Glamour Trinket. We put that bad boy down and nobody's going to take heed of us for as long as we're there. Think of it as a cloaking device, where instead of making you invisible, people just don't notice you."
Not long later Valka pulled up at the outskirts of the graveyard, where they both dismounted from the boke, and then lead the way through the broken gate that was left to hang open and invite just about anybody inside. And inside, it was a dump in all senses of the word. Rusty metal scraps, decaying boats, broken concrete, even things people had decided just to dump there like busted TVs and old boots.
Valka kept leading Taylor deeper into the yard, eventually hopping on top of a beached ship whose main deck was reachable by a small hill.
"Okay," Valka finally said, stopping and facing Taylor, "First thing you need to know about being an Eternal, immortality is only the tip of the iceberg for us lot." Valka, from the bag she had brought with them, drew a sword, causing Taylor to take a step back when images from the night before flashed through her head. Valka noticed, and decided to lay the sword down for now before continuing. "Right now, your body is in overdrive, trying to get all your new bits in the right places. While that will slow down as you go longer without dying, it won't ever stop and will even speed up again through death. This is a good thing for us since it makes our bodies the perfect breeding grounds for mutations."
"Mutations?" Taylor questioned.
"Yep. The malaise in your body (mainly through death…) will mutate and adapt its home to certain situations, which means you are adapted. The malaise wants to keep you in the best shape it can, so it can live throughout your body longer. Whilst you don't get any direct say in how you mutate; you can influence it through either how you die or rigorous training." Valka continued to explain. "A good way to generally increase this process is to 'flare' your malaise, like so:"
As she finished her sentence, Valka's hair began to glow brighter and brighter until it began turning into wisps of flames. The colour shifted to a sickly green as the fire began to consume more of Valka's head, the licks of fire becoming a torrent. When it finally and completely encompassed her head, it began burning away the skin on her face, peeling it away until only an ashen black skull remained.
"This," The skull's jaw moved to produce Valka's voice, "Is what flaring one's malaise looks like, a 'Lazarus Form' so to speak. The fire is actually what we perceive the malaise to look like in corporeal form, and the skull is visible because the malaise is rapidly tearing away and replacing one's skin in that area. Horrifying, I know." Valka nodded at Taylor's alarmed expression. "While you'll be always able to use new powers that the malaise gives you, flaring them is essentially saying to it 'Ah, Help! I'm in danger!' which will cause you to become more susceptible to mutation and enhance the abilities of your existing ones." Valka then motioned to Taylor. "Well, have at it. This is the first thing we want you to learn so we aren't moving on until you do.
Taylor gaped. "B-b-but how?! I don't know how you can do... THAT!" She pointed at Valka's head that was now a disconnected skull surrounded by green fire.
"Well, it's like I said, this is just purposely flaring your malaise. You just need to find the feeling of what your malaise is and bring that forward." Valka answered, cupping her skull's chin as the fire refused to burn her skin or clothes. "So, I guess just try to remember what it felt like dying."
"But I was unconscious the first time," Taylor reminded. "And I was kinda freaking out the second time."
"Well, I guess we'll just have to give you a refresher then." Valka picked up the sword again.
Taylor's eyes widened. "Wait, wait, wait! No!"
"Oh, don't be such a baby. You're not going to stay dead." Valka sighed, drawing the sword back. Without a second thought or a second for Taylor to think Valka had thrust the blade through her chest, right where Taylor knew her heart was.
Taylor gasped for air at the same time she spat up blood, coughing violently as viscous red liquid clogged her airways. A mere few seconds later, she was dead.
Darkness
Light
Movement
Darkness
Heat
Movement
Light
Warmth
Fire
FIRE
FIRE
F̴̞̪̉͋Ȉ̶̡̮R̸͚͂ͅE̵͖̅̉
Taylor sprang up and gasped, a sensation lingering within her, unique and distinguishable yet foreign and unplaceable. It was like something was swimming beneath a dark lake's surface, only just refusing to break the water tension and reveal its form.
"So, how'd ya feel?" Valka drawled. Taylor pushed herself to her feet and glared at Valka sitting on the edge of the boat. Taylor discarded her annoyance and tried to answer her mentor's question.
"It was like… I was moving. Faster than I had ever before, but also not moving at all?" Taylor said, grasping at what few memories of the experience she had. "Also, like what it would feel like if you'd be electrocuted, but not hurting at all."
"Good, Good. Hold on to those feelings, try bringing them forth. And don't sound like you're second-guessing yourself so much, hey? Have confidence in yourself." Valka encouraged.
Taylor nodded and closed her eyes. The feeling of moving without moving. The feeling of energy without connection. Vague sensations came to her, but Taylor knew that there was more than that to garb a hold of. Pushing further, Taylor began to feel something inexplicably push back. And also… the smell of something burning?
Opening her eyes Taylor could see a slight glow coming from behind her. When she turned, the glow moved so that it remained behind her.
Valka chuckled. "Well, that's a good try. Here." She handed Taylor a mirror that she got from… somewhere.
Taylor took the mirror and stared into it. And was slightly shocked. Her hair was now mimicking Valka's when she was transforming, wispy licks of a pale orange fire danced around in place of her hair.
"It's a nice start, but we still want you to transform your complete head. Want to try again before we resort to killing you again?" Valka offered. Taylor nodded, the feeling having currently left her, and hair having returned to normal.
- - - - - Lazarus - - - - -
Hours ticked by, all consumed by Taylor trying to achieve a combat form from attempts of flaring her malaise. She was killed multiple times to attempt to regain some sense of what it felt like when the malaise surged through her body. And in the end, her efforts bore fruit.
Her own Lazarus Form was remarkably similar to Valka's, the only difference being that her fire was a deep orange, and her skull had no jaw.
"Hey there." Valka put a hand on Taylor's shoulder, once the latter had finally flared her malaise. "This is okay, this is you now."
Taylor calmed her breathing, she thought? She wasn't really breathing at all... regardless Taylor began to calm down and accept things.
"This... is not how I'd think things would go..." Taylor smiled melancholily, "I'd thought if I ever go powers, I'd make a costume and start cleaning up the city. One bad guy at a time." She chuckled.
Valka chuckled as well, with more amusement than irony. "At least you have ambition, and spirit. I've known lesser willed people than you before. You're doing great." Valka then clapped her hands together. "Now! We can finally move on with your training!"
Valka moved to the centre of the ship and motioned for Taylor to do the same.
"To start off, I'll be giving you lessons in both hand-to-hand combat and swordplay. You'll be able to build up some enhanced reflexes due to my own ones, and once you have a nice understanding of these, we'll move on to superhuman abilities."
Taylor nodded and approached Valka.
"Okay, the first thing we'll work on is your stance..."
- - - - - Lazarus - - - - -
"Console to Assault, come in Assault."
"This place is a piece of shit, Console."
"Thank you, Assault. Report?"
"This place is a piece of shit," Assault repeated as he looked around the currently closed Winslow Highschool.
"Assault."
"Okay, okay. Yeah, Shadow's Stalker was on the money. Locker door pierced and pulled off its hinges. Side note: it smells like Satan's asscrack for some reason." Assault spoke as he knelt down and inspected the locker-less door and doorless locker.
"Noted, Assault. Any luck in identifying who might have been locked inside and triggered?" the woman on the other end of the line inquired.
"Well, here's the thing, the door was pierced from the outside." Assault clarified, "So either our trigger has some kind of power that lets them do that, or they have a friend…"
"…which makes our investigation that much more difficult." The other concluded with a sigh. "Okay. We'll continue to follow the lead that this is a new parahuman that can pierce metal from the opposite side of it and look into the possibility of an accomplice if that reaches a dead end."
"Sounds good to me. So, can I leave now? Mouse and I had a poker game tonight." Assault asked.
The woman sighed. "Yes, Assault. I'll see you when you get back then, tell Mouse her paperwork is overdue for me."
"You gotcha Teddy Bear. Assault out."
"Console out."