It was
eleven-thirty at night. His
parents were asleep. He could feel
them away in their room, sensing them through walls. They had fallen into a deep slumber, once again leaving the
television on. Their room was on the
other side of the house, far enough away for him to normally not hear the
sounds of the ABC Late Night News.
However, things had changed, things were now far from normal, about as
far from normal as they could possibly get. He concentrated just a little. The more he willed it, the more he could hear … or even
see. He stopped. He would never violate his parents’
privacy.
He paused,
stood still and looked at himself in the mirror. He very much liked what he saw. On his feet were black Timberland boots. He wore baggy black Girbaud jeans, but
not too baggy. He didn’t like the
style, and if his mother ever saw him wearing his pants off of his backside,
she would personally give him a wedgy.
He completed the outfit with a form-fitting black sweater.
He had
really given the outfit some thought.
He had cobbled together three outfits so far that he thought conveyed
the way he felt, modern superhero.
They all used the same boots and pants, but he had a white sweater, a
black sweater, and a blue sweater.
He had the same colors in a form-fitting t-shirt, for when the weather
changed. However, it didn’t really
matter, since the weather didn’t bother him anymore, unless he let it.
He had
thought about trying to sew a uniform, like Spiderman did in the movie, but
that proved to be a very difficult proposition, despite all his power. He could not sew. And his ideas for outfits were heavily
influenced by the dreams he had had, when Ean showed him a possible future in
the Sfresonal. Those outfits looked
like Superman and Spiderman outfits.
He also remembered himself looking bigger. No, what he was wearing now would definitely do and he
didn’t care to try and figure out something comic-bookish … at least not yet.
What he had suited him. There
would be time enough for spandex, or whatever his dream outfit was made
of. Time enough for DragonCon
later.
He flexed
his biceps, admiring the way he looked.
He was just a tad bit bigger, a bit of extra lean muscle over what he
had before. He had no idea how
strong he was. His frame now
housed a tremendous amount of power.
He didn’t know how much. He
didn’t like thinking about what his limitations may, or may not be. It scared him.
“Okay,
let’s do this.”
He walked
over to the window, opened it, and paused. He had been doing this for weeks, and the humor of it still
hadn’t worn off. He didn’t jump
towards the window and fly out.
That seemed corny, and risky, too TV like. He didn’t stand on the windowsill, and launch himself into
the sky. He had tried that. It worked just fine, accept for the
fact that when he had returned, he realized he had left his window open all
night. That morning his mother
awoke to a brisk chill in the hall.
She checked his room and found him in the bed asleep, but his room was
freezing. She was about to have
the house inspected for leaks in the insulation, until he told her he had left
the window open. This of course,
warranted a good round of chastisement.
Since then,
he had changed his approach. He
simply stepped out, floated, and closed the window behind him. He did this now, hovering next to the
side of the house. The usual
feeling of exhilaration came over him.
He floated away, around the tree outside his window, over to the
backyard. He sensed something, or
rather someone … someone he definitely recognized. He smiled and gently floated to the ground. Suddenly, the presence he felt
appeared. Where there was nothing,
now stood the Sfresonal, Ean.
“Greetings,
Champion.”
“Hello,
Ean. Been a while.”
“As I’ve
told you—”
“I
know. Then the question becomes,
why are you here? Is something
about to happen?”
Ean paused,
examining Champion. “You seem
calm. My presence in no way alarms
you. You’ve grown accustomed to …
the situation.”
Champion
smiled. “I guess you could say
that. The things I’ve been doing
the past few weeks … well, I’m not sure if anything will ever surprise me
again.”
Ean
laughed. “Don’t talk too soon
young Champion. Just this planet
Earth alone is incredibly fascinating.
There are things in this world, on it, off it, and in the next, that
will most assuredly astound you.”
“I can
fly.”
“Yes, and a
lot more.”
“I don’t
know how strong I am.”
“Potentially,
your strength is without limit.
However, as with all things there are limits.”
“That
doesn’t make a lot of sense.”
“Well sure
it does. It does to me. It should to you, if not now, then in
time. I do recall a Champion with
limitless strength. He had an
indomitable will, and this fueled his strength.”
“Another
Champion? You’ve said that before,
that I’m just the latest in a line, that you possessed this power before me.”
“I did, and
so did countless others before me.
Imagine if you will, a line of your mothers and fathers, progenitors
extending back to the very beginning of this Universe, and a great many
others.”
“I can’t
quite get my head around what you’ve just said. That’s an awful lot for a man to swallow.”
Ean
smiled. “Colloquialisms, how
quaint. I’ve found myself falling
into your human idiosyncrasies.
I’m going to become one of you whether I like it or not.”
“Are we
that bad?”
“Just look
around you.”
Josh
paused, considering it. “Well, I
was chosen, and I’m human.”
“Point
taken. And besides, your world
isn’t the only one that needs you.”
“You keep
saying things like that. Why can’t
you just talk to me straight?”
“And what
would be the fun in that?”
Champion
frowned. “You appear whenever, you
say whatever. Is this how it’s
going to always be?”
“Maybe,
maybe not. And oh, on that matter
of you being a man? Not quite, not
yet.”
And with
that, Ean slowly began to fade.
“I fail to
see the point,” Champion whispered to himself. “What good is he?”
He felt
there was no reason to dwell on the Sfresonal’s words. He had important work to do. Thinking of self-assigned duty made him
smile. He was feeling more and
more like a hero. This was his city
and he was tasked by fate with the job of protecting it. He looked up into the night sky, looked
at the stars, and reached for them. With only the slightest sound of wind, he
shot into the sky.
