Chapter Two: The Becoming
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The Tale of the Shadow Phoenix

Chapter Two: The Becoming

Earth, Universe K-B-5200

I was in my early twenties, at my job. I worked for my friend Kyle, at his lab. The pay was great, considering I was the test subject for most of Kyle’s experiments. It was really cool, getting to test all that stuff. Today, we were testing out some robotics.

“Okay, I’ll turn it on now,” Kyle said, holding a remote that looked a bit more Mad Scientist-y than I would’ve liked. Of course, all of his stuff looked like that. It made for an interesting atmosphere in the workplace. He turned a large red knob on the remote to the second setting.

{I wonder what those other settings do . . . Knowing Kyle, it’s something crazy.} I thought. There was a quiet electrical hum as the robot suit I was wearing powered up. I looked down at the suit as several lights came on. I tried moving my arm and discovered that it moved effortlessly, unlike when it was turned off. {This is awesome! I wonder what we’re testing-}

“We’re testing the suit’s jetpack now. Get ready,” He said, putting his finger on a button. {Did he just read my mind? Hmm . . .} I thought. I looked at him and nodded. He pressed the button, and the jetpack on the back of the suit powered up, lifting me about five feet before hovering there.

“Try moving, the suit should respond to your movements perfectly. Lean in the direction you want to go,” he said, a large smile gracing his usually stoic features. I leaned a bit to the left, and I found myself gliding smoothly in that direction. It started out slowly, but I found that I moved faster the more I leaned. Soon I was zooming around the large robotics test room, easily maneuvering around the other machinery inside.

After a few more minutes of me, having the best time of my life flying around in a robot suit, Kyle called me down. I hovered above the stand, and he turned the jetpack off. I fell, the legs of the suit completely absorbing the shock of my landing. He turned the knob back to the first setting, turning the suit off.

“It’s time to stop for today. Tomorrow, we’ll go out to the field and test out the rest of the suit’s functions. Have a safe trip home.” Kyle said, turning around and walking into his office with the remote. I unlocked the clasps of the suit, typing the password on the keypad. The clasps unlocked with a multitude of clicks. I grabbed the front part and pulled it off of me, sliding my arms out of the sleeves once it was on the ground. I shrugged the back part off, and walked out the door into the hallway.

I turned right, heading towards the lobby. While I was walking down the hall I passed Kyle’s personal student/assistant. She was locking up the door to “Project 42”, which I haven’t ever seen. Only she and Kyle have ever seen it. She finished and began walking towards the lobby next to me.

“Brady,” she stated simply, like she always does.

“Trixie,” I replied. Not that Trixie. Or maybe it was. She did sound a lot like Trixie, and looked a lot like Trixie, but I’m sure that it was just a coincidence.

“Does the suit work well?” she asked, stowing her keys in her lab coat pocket. I nodded. “Good,” she said.

We entered the lobby, which was full of employee’s leaving, and the night crew walking in. We walked out through the large doorway at the front of the building. I saw my friend, Paul, exiting the building behind us. He was one of Kyle’s engineer’s in the Robotics lab. I stopped and waited for him as Trixie walked towards her home.

Paul caught up with me, and we set off in the opposite direction. We lived close to each other, and have been friends for years. We talked about random stuff while we walked. He turned off the path about ten minutes later, walking into his front door.

The sun was going down, casting its rays across the cityscape. I turned into a familiar alleyway, almost home. Halfway through, a shadow passed overhead, too fast to discern what had cast it. I looked up, and it flew overhead again. It seemed to be a bird of some kind, but it was too fast to be a bird. I shook my head and mumbled, “Seeing things again . . .”

I started walking again, and the shadow flew by my face, only inches away. I heard the noise it made. I felt the wind off of it, and a strange heat. I stopped and attempted to follow it with my eyes. It disappeared around the corner. I tried to ignore it and get home before the sun went down. This part of town got dangerous after dark, as I had experienced on multiple occasions. I heard the same rushing noise from earlier, as the shadow passed my face again. Then, it stopped and hovered in front of me.

Definitely a bird of some kind . . . I thought as it raised its head to look at me. Shifting red eyes, like the hottest part of a fire, bore into mine. I stepped towards it equal parts curious and terrified. I stopped a few feet away from it, and extended a hand to touch it. It leapt into the air, and then dove straight at me. It hit me before I could react. As it made contact with my chest, it exploded into black smoke all around me. The smoke reached tendrils towards me, wrapping them around my limbs to prevent me from moving.

The smoke poured into my body, too fast for me to be surprised by the events. As the last bit of smoke went into me, I fell down, unconscious.

I was inside a large circular room, my memories and thoughts drifting lazily about inside bubbles. I realized that I was inside my mind. The bird sat in front of me, but it was different. I could see that it was surrounded by black fire, and it’s feathers were as black as a moonless night. It reached a wing towards me, and spoke. When it spoke, it sounded like a million whispers. One whisper’s volume went above the rest and said, “You are the chosen. You will become immeasurably powerful, with few to match you. Time will not weather your mind, body, or soul. This will come to pass if you join with me. You will have to leave your current life behind, gaining infinite lives in return. What say you?”

I looked around, examining every memory I had ever had. After a few minutes of contemplation, I nodded, and grabbed its outstretched wing. It was absorbed into me, and I woke up.

The first thing I noticed was the noise. Every sound was louder than it should be, crashing upon my ears with a fury. I opened my eyes, and noticed that I could see everything around me with perfect clarity, easily picking out details that I had been blind to before. The light around me seemed far too bright, blinding me for a short time. My sense of smell began picking up hundreds of scents around me that I was oblivious to before. I could feel every thread of my clothes against my body perfectly. My sense of taste improved, too, but I didn’t realize that until later. Millions of bits of information bombarded my brain at once, driving me to my knees with the sheer amount of sensations. I grabbed the sides of my head and sat there until I got used to it.

Then, I noticed the power. Immeasurable strength coursed through every vein in my body, like my body was filled with rivers of fire. I felt like I could easily reach out and alter reality with no more than a thought. A pain started in my back, and the feeling of something growing. Once the pain faded, I reached behind me. I felt something soft and feathery, surrounded by airy warmth. I pulled it into my vision, seeing a bird wing surrounded in black fire with feathers as dark as a moonless night.

Driven by instinct, I released the wing, and curled my hand into a claw-like shape. I made a quick slashing motion with the hand, and with a sound like tearing fabric, a hole appeared in reality, floating in front of me. Without a moment’s hesitation, I stepped through it, and it closed behind me.

I found myself floating in darkness. Lights shined in the distance. Some pulsed, some shined, and all of them were a slightly different color. Some were larger than others. The next thing I noticed about the lights was that, instead of being placed randomly, they seemed to follow some sort of system. I turned around and looked at the light that I had just left. {Are these different universes? Have I found a way into the Multiverse?}

I looked down and saw a walkway floating a few feet below me. With a thought, my wings flapped, and I landed on the walkway. The lights were all touching the walkway. {Well, I guess I’ll just check out a few of these other universes, if that’s what they are.} I thought. I walked, and my footsteps sounded odd, unlike anything I’d ever heard before.

{What material is this walkway made out of? I’ve never seen anything like it before. Hmm. Can I talk to that bird thingy inside of me? Hey, bird thingy!} I said in my mind.

(My name is Shadow. What do you require?) He replied, his whisper voice echoing through my mind.

{Where am I, and where should I go from here?} I asked.

(This is the Multiverse. You can go wherever you please, as long as you arrive when the time comes.) He replied.

{Arrive where?} I thought.

(You’ll know when the time comes.) He answered.

{You said I had power. What kind of power, and how do I use it?} I questioned.

(You have the power of the Shadow Phoenix. Most of your base powers will reveal themselves to you through your new instincts, like the one you used to enter the Multiverse. I can’t tell you any more, because my knowledge is limited by the form I assumed to get to you. If you come to my true form in the Megaverse, I can teach you everything you need to know.) He stated.

{The Megaverse? What’s that? And how do I get there?} I asked.

(The Megaverse is home. The path will be revealed when the time comes.) He answered vaguely.

{What do I do until the time comes?} I questioned.

(Do whatever you want. You have many places to see, many things to do, and infinite time to do it in. What have you always wanted to do, but couldn’t due to your weak, one-dimensional, mortal form?) He replied.

{I have an idea. I’ll call you if I need you.} I said.

(I’ll be here.) He replied, his voice fading into silence.

I looked around with new interest, picking out a random universe nearby. It was light grey, pulsing slowly. I walked up to it, and it brightened as I neared it. I walked into it, unafraid of the possible danger.