Darkness. This was all Micheal could see as his memories came rushing back to him, without realizing, he fell to his knees, pain coursing through his heart. Grief overwhelmed him as tears flowed down his cheeks, all the pain he had been holding back came flowing out like a typhoon, the pain of losing so many people, his mother, his teammates in war, Anna, Greg and now his brother had shot him in the head, he tried his best to convince himself that this wasn't his brother but deep down he knew that wasn't the truth, and this killed him. It hurt him so much that he wished to die.
Why
Why me?
Micheal pondered as he sat clutched his grieved heart, the pain which he tried to suppress this whole time was exploding like a tsunami, he could also feel his insides imploding, what Dr Grey had said was true, whenever he used his abilities, the pain he felt was so extreme that it sometimes dulled his senses, he had thought that he had gotten to the point where he could endure it but faced with so much new information, it had triggered the pain once again.
"Maybe it's better that I just died, that way this will all end" Micheal muttered, feeling a new wave of tears gush out. He lowered his head and sobbed continuously, he was tired, tired of suppressing the pain, tired of suppressing the guilt, the guilt of his friend's death, he couldn't take it anymore.
"That's not the Micheal that I know, giving up on everything" A calm voice sounded from behind, startling Micheal who quickly rose up to his feet in alarm. As if on cue, the darkness suddenly lighted up, illuminating the surrounding and giving Micheal a new view, he realized that he was in some kind of void, he could see specks of lights all around, he glanced down and realized that he seemed to be floating but he could feel a sort of support underneath him like a ground.
"Who're you?" Micheal growled, taking a defensive stance after focusing on the individual who had spoken, it was a handsome young man, a little older than him, he had long wavy hair, green eyes and a perfectly symmetrical face, he had body mass similar to Micheal's and was dressed in a blue T-Shirt with black sweatpants.
"It's nice to see you again, Micheal" The man spoke, causing Micheal to frown, his manner of speech showed that he had a certain level of familiarity with Micheal who didn't recognize him at all.
'He has a relaxed stance which shows that he doesn't have any intention of going into combat' Micheal analyzed taking a step backward cautiously.
"You see what I'm saying, even in this state, your reflexes still kick in, have a seat Micheal, I mean you no harm, your gut is probably telling you the same thing" The individual remarked with a sigh, as a chair appeared upon which he sat, turning back, Micheal noticed that a chair had also appeared there.
When did he..
"Who are you and how do you know me? Is this heaven?" Micheal asked after taking a seat, he realized that if this person before him could make a chair appear out of nowhere, then if killing him was his intention, he could probably do it as easily as this.
"For your second question, no, this isn't heaven, although you died again, your bloodline activated automatically bringing you here. For your first question, I'm James, you wouldn't remember but we've met several times, 8 times now to be specific, this is the realm of the Lightning cat, and I'm your guardian" The individual who referred to himself as James, replied as he took a sip of a cup of coffee, which appeared out of the blue similar
to the chair.
"The realm of the Lightning cat? I've heard that before. So it means that Dr Grey was right. You said I've been here 8 times right? Why can't I remember?" Micheal recalled the recording that he had listened to back in the lab, Dr Grey had made mention of it.
"You can't remember because once you leave this place, it's sealed in your memory, let me help with that" James replied, instantly appearing before Micheal who couldn't even react, before he could understand what was happening, James flicked his forehead with his finger and a little bolt of lightning shot through his finger into Micheal's head causing him to fall to the ground in pain.
Memories flooded into Micheal's mind, dealing him with a splitting headache that made his brain feel like it was about to explode, he screamed out grabbing his head in pain. Now noticing his predicament, James realized that he had made a mistake, he should have unlocked the memories slowly, but he had unlocked everything at once.
"He'll manage it" Shrugging it off, James walked over to his chair where he munched on some popcorn which had somehow appeared in his hand, while watching Micheal suffer.
"You crazy.....screw you...James" Micheal groaned, struggling to sit up, his head felt like it had been jolted by high volts of electricity, he took in deep breaths to stabilize his ragged breathing. He remembered everything, all the times he had been here and spoken to James, a whole lot of information had suddenly appeared in his mind and it took him a while to adjust.
"You'll be back in about 10 minutes, so I'll try to make this quick, when you get back, you must try your possible best to stop Grey from finishing the process, if not the world will be in immense danger" Placing the coffee cup on a table that had also manifested, James got up from his seat and walked over to Micheal and helped him up with a serious look on his face.
"I'm not going back," Michael replied after he had been helped to his feet. The memory of his brother's shooting lingered vividly in his mind, and the grief that enveloped his heart was beyond description. He felt shattered, as if he had lost all sense of purpose. The thought of confronting his brother was unbearable; he understood that facing him would only deepen his pain.
"Tsk, when did you become so weak?" James scoffed, gazing at Micheal's downcast expression with a sigh.
"You don't understand, and I don't expect you to understand. I can't do it anymore. I thought I could endure whatever psychological attack Dr. Grey threw my way, but seeing my brother shoot me without flinching... I can't, I just can't," Michael replied, his expression heavy with sadness.
"I see that you are facing a lot at the moment, and I cannot compel you to act in any way. However, I must say that Liam would never behave like this under normal circumstances," James remarked with a sympathetic sigh, directing his words toward Michael, who looked back at him.
"Are you suggesting that this isn't Liam?" Micheal inquired, clearly perplexed.
"No, that's definitely Liam, but I think he's being manipulated or forced to do this. Just think about it: if Liam could take the fall for someone insulting you and go to prison for it, do you really think that guy could shoot you without any remorse? There's obviously something behind it. Grey himself is acting strange; the Grey that I know would never do this stuff. It's clear that there's something wrong with him too. There isn't much time to explain, so you have to pull yourself together and do what needs to be done," James replied, his words resounding in Michael's mind. Hearing these words brought Micheal a sense of relief, as he struggled to accept the idea that his brother had turned into such a monster; it also provided a clearer understanding of the situation.
"You're right, Liam would never do this willingly; he must be under some sort of control," Michael's eyes lit up with hope, a smile finally breaking through his sad expression.
"That's the Michael I know, always looking on the bright side. You must now take on the responsibility of helping your brother; you owe him that much. Don't forget the promise you made to your friends to ensure their safe return. If you fail to go back and rescue them, just imagine what Grey might do to them." James smiled
at the sight of the vibrant Michael coming back.
"Indeed, I'm smarter than this; I cannot disappoint my brother or my friends. I must take this step for their sake." Micheal inhaled deeply and exhaled with a resolute expression, his fist clenched tightly with resolve.
"So, what were you saying about Grey earlier? I think he wants to take over our minds or something" Micheal replied with a groan, his head now aching from the influx of memories.
"No, you don't understand what I'm talking about, Grey is a child compared to what I'm referring to" James replied in a grave tone, his expression highlighting the significance and gravity of his words, it seems like he wasn't joking.
"Huh? Are you saying Grey isn't the main danger?" Micheal asked in confusion, his eyebrows furrowing as he struggled to understand what James meant.
"Grey doesn't know what he is doing, his actions are going to end up doing the opposite of what he intends to do" James explained to Micheal who listened with rapt attention, trying to piece two and two.
"Slow down, could you break that down exactly, what's happening, what are you so afraid of?" Micheal asked curiously, he could feel the literal panic in James' voice which he had never heard before.
"Sigh, listen closely, I'll try to explain this as fast and simply as I can. On every planet, there's something called a chaos index, this chaos index measures the amount of chaos energy found on a particular planet. Chaos energy is accumulated through war, slavery, conflicts, unfair deaths, genocides, ethnic cleansing, because this generates hate, enough hate leads to the manifestation of chaos energy" James explained causing Micheal to frown. His eyes lit up in realization as he realized what Dr Grey was trying to do.
"So, Dr Grey was only trying to stop the chaos index from increasing, that's why he was so engrossed in this task, he kept stressing that we didn't understand, this is what he meant, let me guess, this is what led to the annihilation of his planet?" Micheal sighed and asked, but he already knew the answer.
"Yes, the chaos index of their planet got to the peak, and that was why his planet was destroyed, but in this case, Grey thinks he's making things better but he's actually making things worse" James continued, turning around nervously, it was clear that he was panicked.
"What do you mean by he's making things worse?" Micheal stepped forward and asked, curious to know more.
"There's one thing that creates chaos more than anything else"
"What's that?"
"Messing with nature, interfering with the natural order of things leads to chaos, that's exactly what he's doing, if he manages to replicate the abilities of the Lightning Cat from your bloodline into his body, that'll be the end, the chaos Index will reach it's peak" James said, ending with a sigh. His words sent a shiver through Micheal's spine.
"What happens when it reaches it's peak?" Micheal asked, his expression more serious than ever.
"When that happens, it's the end of the world as we know it, in this universe there is a group of people that calls themselves the Guardians Of Order, powerful people Micheal, a very dangerous group, these are the people that destroy planets, when the chaos index of a planet reaches the peak, these Guardians are alerted and in their self-proclaimed will to restore order to the universe, they send a regulator" Running his hand through his hair, James turned around replied, his eyes staring into the void.
"A regulator? I'm guessing that's someone who 'restores' order" Micheal grabbed his head, the new information swimming around in his mind.
"This regulator isn't just a normal Dick and Harry. They send beings called Hunters, Hunters are a group of species that, as their names indicate, are made for murder, killing and hunting. Due to that, most of them were killed off mainly because of their violent and dangerous nature, obviously a few survived and were recruited by the guardians, and now they carry out their acts of purging" James shook his head, seemingly recalling some memories that weren't pleasant.
"So, how powerful and dangerous are we really talking about here?" Micheal gulped, picturing images of
blood painted streets and headless people.
"Whatever destruction Grey has caused, multiply that by a million, that's how dangerous a Hunter is. And as for how powerful, well, a single Hunter was responsible for wiping out the Valerians, just one" James turned around and said to Micheal, with a sigh, his words sending a jolt through Micheal's mind.