The Campbell Chronicles
Chapter 1
Nicholas Campbell hovered above the city of Brigadoon. His yellow eyes narrowed as he searched for the attackers. Despite being in the air, nervous sweat ran down his lightly tanned skin, causing his pale blue tribal tattoo-like birthmarks to glisten.
Despite a brief war with the white Martians, conflict with the guardians of the galaxy, and the discovery of the birth of the Greek pantheon, Brigadoon had been a safe city until this moment, until something from their old multiverse followed them through the tunnel they left behind.
Something shifted in the smoke, growing taller as it reached its full height. Heavy stone blocks pounded into the ground as more buildings fell.
Flipping his hands palms up, tornadoes began to spiral around Nicholas's arms. With lips pressed into a thin line, he aimed them at the growing figure, his eyes widening as the wind blew the dust away to reveal its features.
It stood 40 stories tall. Slick black armor seemed to absorb the light of the sun. The domed headpiece distorted its features, giving them a blue tinge. A pair of orange eyes scanned the city, burning with an intense hunger.
It reached down, its fingers splaying wide as it prepared to grab fleeing people.
In his shock, Nicholas's wind died away, and he floated backward, instincts driving him to get away from the creature.
He threw up his hands, his fingers twisting as a dome appeared around the people.
He watched as stones turned to dust as its arm passed by.
When its hand came in contact with his barrier, his back arched as he felt the energy ripped away from his control.
The sphere of pink energy grew around the people and flung them away.
Part of the tension in Nicholas's shoulders relaxed as he saw the people he was trying to save at least escape from the creature.
"What is that thing?"
"It is called an Exterminator."
Nicholas turned to find his aunt, Jean Grey Campbell, flying toward him.
Her long red hair flowed out behind her, and her green eyes shone with determination.
"An Exterminator?"
It is a being that feeds off the life energy of universes.
Nicholas glanced at it and reached out with his mind for just a moment.
Before touching the creature, he drew his probe back, crying out with a hand clutching his head.
Thousands of screaming faces pushed against his mind, begging for release.
A slender hand fell on his shoulder, and he relaxed as he felt his aunt reinforce his mental shields.
Opening his eyes, he wiped his face and turned to his aunt, "How do you know about these creatures?"
Because they are the reason we fled my original universe.
The city of Brigadoon comprised the survivors of two different universes, Earth 31,916 and Earth 295.
Long ago, there was a battle between the two worlds after the government of Earth 31,916 opened a portal. Nicholas's many times great grandfather, Samuel Campbell Senior, led a counter-assault against the leader of Earth 295, Apocalypse, and killed him.
After his death, a peace treaty was brokered between the two earths, and the government was changed for endangering all of reality.
"Is that," Nicholas pointed toward the exterminator, "the reason we are in this prehistoric world?"
Jean inclined her head, using her powers to shield the civilians of Brigadoon from the Exterminator's attack. She winced at the force behind the blow, and a trickle of blood oozed from her nose.
Nicholas placed his hand on his aunt's face and concentrated. His hand glowed white. The blood beneath her nose vanished.
The pained grimace on Jean's face smoothed, and she sighed in relief as the pain in her head faded.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now, how do we stop it?"
"Your grandfather, Samuel Senior, is transforming into pure entropy."
"We need you to work with your parents to contain and change the energy of the resulting explosion into something that won't destroy this world."
Nicholas's mutation produced an energy that allowed him to warp reality. Since its discovery, he had been trained to enhance his body and manipulate energy. He used these powers to control the elements, but his skills had little effect on the Exterminator today.
"How exactly am I supposed to do that?"
Jean looked away, "You and your father will try to absorb the excess energy. Your mother will use her quantum string manipulation to repair the damage done to reality by the explosion."
Nicholas glanced at the Exterminator, "You said this thing eats universes. Dad and I can't contain that kind of power."
Jean floated forward and placed both hands on her nephew's shoulders, "Your father is a living power plant that can manipulate all forms of energy; you can alter reality; I believe in you, your grandfather believes in you, and the people of Brigadoon need you to do this."
A wind whipped around them, carrying with it the smoke of Brigadoon's destruction and the screens of its people.
Closing his eyes, Nicholas tried to calm his racing heart. He was only in his 20s, but he had chosen to be a guardian of Brigadoon; he had taken an oath to protect the city and its people. With a slight shudder to his breath, he opened his eyes, "I'll do it."
Jean squeezed his shoulders.
"what are you going to be doing?"
"I'm going to work with your aunt Jinks to move the refugees to Mars."
Nicholas backed away from his aunt, "Good luck, Aunt Jean; I hope to see you when this ends."
Angling toward the city, Nicholas shot down, heading to where he sensed his parents.
– XX –
Alexi Summers Campbell stretched her 5'9" frame in search of her son. Her brown eyes narrowed against the smoke-filled sky. She wore a white blouse, a beige jacket, and tight-fitting jeans. A pair of black high Hills dangled from her right hand.
Ash rained down from the sky, darkening her blonde hair and creating black streaks on her tanned skin.
The faint scent of cooked meat lingered in the air when she finally saw a spec growing closer in the distance, "I see him." To stand beside her husband, she interlaced her fingers with his.
Samuel Campbell Junior stood 6'2" tall with short dark hair and a well-kept dark beard. His narrow features drew attention to his yellow eyes. Like his son, he had blue tribal markings spreading across his skin.
He wore a black T-shirt underneath a ceramic chest plate, black jeans, and boots.
"Do you think we will survive this?" Alexi asked as the side landed a short distance away and began walking toward them.
"It all depends on how much energy The Exterminator releases."
Alexi's eyes glistened with unshed tears, "I don't want our son involved in this."
"Neither do I, but if we don't do this, the exterminator will ensure nothing is left before devouring the rest of the universe."
Knowing her husband was right, Alexi took a moment to take in her son as he was right now, knowing this may be the last time she saw him whole.
Nicholas Campbell stood 6'2" tall. His dark green hair, which he inherited from her paternal grandmother, Lorna Dane, a mistress of magnetism, was slicked back. Yellow eyes shone with determination, and sweat glistened from his dark blue tribal tattoo-like birthmarks that stood out on his tan skin.
Despite the tragedy of the situation, her lips twitched.
Nicholas had always had a particular state of dress, and today was no different.
Despite the fact he was going into battle, he wore a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a black vest, black slacks, and polished shoes.
They may have been in a prehistoric world, but their mutant gifts allowed them to re-create some modern technology. That was thanks to her maternal grandfather, Forge.
Nicholas stopped before his parents, "So, how will we do this?"
"I'm going to boost your abilities. You will then shunt the Exterminator out of reality when Samuel Senior impacts his body."
Nicholas glanced at the exterminator, watching as various energies pelted its armored body, only for the armor to ripple as it absorbed the energy.
"The amount of energy it gives off and its size, we're going to have to be outside of reality when it detonates."
"We know," Samuel said, squeezing his wife's hand.
Alexi cupped his face, "You don't have to do this."
Placing his hand over his mother's, Nicholas kept his eyes locked on the Exterminator, "If I don't help, the resulting explosion will destroy the earth and the moon and destabilize the sun." "Besides," he inclined his head, "it's already begun."
As one, the family turned and watched a star of black energy streak toward the Exterminator.
Without another word, high above the city in a loose circle.
Samuel glowed with blue-white energy before it spread to encompass his wife and son.
The trio's eyes snapped open, shining like small stars as reality flickered and took on the texture of fractured glass around them.
Sweat coated their skin as the phenomenon spread out from them.
As the area affected grew, time stopped.
Veins bulged against their skin, and their bodies shook as they touched the city. Instantly, reality around the exterminator took on the texture of fractured glass fit together like a puzzle piece.
–XX –
Samuel Campbell Senior shot toward the Exterminator, his skin shifting to Ebony with stars speckled across it as he transformed into pure entropy. His eyes shone bright yellow as he reflected on his life.
He began this journey to learn more about his father, Charles Xavier from Earth 1610. He and his mother, Penelope Campbell, used the mountain portals in Otherworld, a dimensional nexus between all realities, to travel the multiverse, and while he never made it to Earth 1610. He did begin his branch of the Campbell family, and he was happy with that.
His descendants would live on with his sacrifice and hopefully improve the universe.
He closed his eyes just before impacting the Exterminator's chest.
He felt the armor of the Exterminator crumple like tinfoil against his nature. In the blink of an eye, he was inside the Exterminator. It was unlike anything he had expected.
There were no organs or bones.
Instead, millions of nebulas made from white mist spiraling around central points scattered throughout the body. As he floated in the void of the exterminator's being, white cracks appeared thanks to his presence, and he watched a nebula flow through the crack.
The mist transformed into pure life energy and potential as it exited the Exterminator's body.
Shaking his head, Samuel Campbell senior closed his eyes and released the energy within his body.
–XX –
The Exterminator froze in its destruction, its orange eyes widening as tiny cracks appeared all over its body, leaking energy in a rainbow of colors.
It's happening, Samuel Junior said.
"Constrict reality around it," Alexi grunted, "prepared to transform the concussive force into something less harmful."
The fractured state of reality shifted, compressing around the external and bringing the trio closer to it.
"At these levels, what would that be exactly?"
Before anyone could answer, The Exterminator detonated.
The family cried out as they tried to contain the energy while unknown forces battered their bodies.
Their hair vaporized, and their skin burned, revealing the muscle beneath.
Shards of reality shattered, revealing the void between worlds.
Samuel Campbell Junior was the first to fall, his body reaching its limit on how much energy he could store. Before disappearing, he transferred everything he had to strengthen his wife and son.
His body flew away in the wind of the explosion before he even had a chance to scream.
With the death of their father and husband, the pressure on Nicholas and Alexi increased. They ground their teeth together, causing a few to pop out of their skulls under the pressure.
Even as the energies ate away at their bodies, they compressed the power released, using the shattered shards of reality to transform it into pure potential and give the people who died at the hands of the Exterminator another chance at life via reincarnation.
Bolts of energy danced over the compressed energy in a myriad of colors. Beams of energy shot from it periodically, shattering more shards of reality.
With a force of will, Nicholas gathered up the shattered shards and pressed them against the energy, creating a crystalline shell over the power.
The power pulsed, causing them to cry out as they fought to contain it.
As they fought, their bodies became emaciated, nothing more than skin stretched over bone.
Tears trailed down Alexi's emaciated cheeks as she stared at her son. "I can't go on, baby."
Fear gripped Nicholas's heart, "no, don't say that; your power is quantum energy, one of the most powerful forces in the universe," he tightened his grip on her hands; "Please," he whispered, "Don't leave me alone."
"My power may be quantum, but this is something else." Alexi leaned forward and kissed the bare bones of her son's forehead. Nicholas felt something slip into his mind as his mother released his hands.
His eyes flew open, and he watched his mother fall into the epicenter of the energy. His skeletal arm reached for her, his bony fingers splayed out, but she was already too far away.
As his mother disappeared, something slammed into his body from the side.
He felt reality skip, like a scratch on an old record, before he entered the world again. He slammed into the cold, unforgiving ground and knew no more.