//------------------------------// // New beginnings // Story: The traveler // by king of the abyss //------------------------------// I was being held in Spike claw as we flew to the purple planet in the sky. As we draw closer to the planet, I start to feel a wave of pain wash over and grab my side in agony. Spike looks at me with sympathy and says in a lone tone. " It seems your body adapting at a much slower rate than I thought. Don't worry it is only temporary your mind will learn to adapt to your new nervous system. Twilight will explain better once we get to the tree house." said Spike as we touched down on the planet with the hydra landing next to Spike. Annza glared at me but I was in too much pain to notice him. " Hmm, I bet he dies in the first reality that we go too. This worm is not worth our time, you should have let me kill him Spike," Said Anza with disgust in his tone. " Annza let's not sell him short just yet, if Twilight deems him weak I let you have him," said Spike with a sarcastic tone as he glanced sideways toward Annza. Annza let a snarl but let a puff of smoke from each of his heads. " Fine he gets one chance, but if he fails don’t expect me to stop if you ask next time Spike. Do I make myself clear dragon lord," said Annza in a threatening tone as all his eyes turned red. " I understand King of the Hydra, Let go to the tree house before twilight enters her sleep," said Spike starting to walk to a nearby mountain. Annza rolled his eyes as he followed behind Spike Looking around, I could see that there didn’t appear to be neighbors the nearest house was a good hundred yards away. The house appears to be a stocky hollowed-out tree with a beehive hanging from a branch, and a candlestick sign on the front door. A sign of an open book outside the door, and two balconies, one of which has a telescope. There appears to be some type of firebird perch on the rail of one of the balconies looking out at the horizon. It turned its head toward us spread its wings and flew into an open window. I paid it no mind, on the other hand, I groaned slightly when the pain returned to my sides. Spike look at me with worry." It seems your body is more out of sorts then I thought, we need Twilight to perform the rite now." Spike put me down on the ground before shifting his size too being about my size. Annz groaned as he also began to shrink down to my size. Picking me up bridal style Spike carried me to the door. Before he had a chance to knock the door was swung open. The figure standing in the doorframe is a lavender pony with light purple fur and a navy blue-colored mane and tail, stylized with rim cuts, and also has two lighter-purple and pink stripes running down both. She also has purple irises prominent eyelashes a moderately sized horn. It appears she has wings on her back. She wearing a black bodysuit with puffy sleeves and a braided skirt decorated with medallions and a large braided bow on the back the sides of her legs feature slits with floral designs. She also wearing light purple gloves decorated with golden roots, flowers, and a crescent moon on the front of the gloves. Finally, she wearing a witch-style hat with a purple five-point star on it. " So it is finally time for ritual, It is ready for him." Said the pony in a monotone voice " Twilight has an open mind this is what he wants." Said Spike in a worried tone " I don't I think will let just get this over with. I need to go to sleep soon," said Twilight in a cold tone Spike signed as he took me inside the tree and Annaz followed behind him. The inside of the tree looks like a library with shelves of books all along the wall and two doors one appears to lead to a kitchen the other leading to the upstairs. In the center of the room was a spell seal in the shape of a star. Spike placed me in the center of its spell seal. Just as put down my body began to contract my limbs began to twist and my eyes moved in a different direction, I felt a pounding in my head. I grit the pain through my teeth but it just got. Twilight looked at me with a blank stare. The bird from earlier flew down with a book in its peak it landed on Twilight and handed her the book. The book was enveloped in a purple aura as the book opened it began to rapidly turn to pages until landing one. "Stand at your positions," said Twilight All three of them formed a triangle outside the circle and sat down putting their claws and hooves together in a prayer gesture. " Now let's begin and see if his mind can handle it," said Twilight as she closed her eyes as she chanted words in a language I didn’t. She then plants her hoofs on the seal and the others follow suit by performing similar actions. The seal began to glow as I felt my body being lifted into the air. " I feel something it's like power flowing into me, I feel like I am getting stronger, what are doing to me," I said in a happy tone " Be quiet if we lose focus your body will be torn to pieces" Twilight said in an annoyed tone. The spell continued as a portal began to form above me. I feel myself being pulled into it, on the other side I see nothing but black minus a blue star in the middle. I hear a voice whisper in my head " Come to me and see it all", the voice said My body moves by itself toward the blue star. I feel a sense of relief wash over me as I touch the blue star, it is like a mother holding her children in her arms. Something fell was of my body it began to crumble I started to freak out. " What is happening to me, no one told me this," I say in a panic tone My body is blown into space. I shatter and my body mobility as it sucks into a pulsing wormhole. I am blinded by a spiral of colors as I approach a fire. " You think you know reality CJ, but you could not be more wrong. Your reality is one of an infinite number in the vast thing you know as life. At the root of all is the prime root where chaos and order meet, in this realm thought shapes reality. " I hear the voice from before in my head. In a spiral tunnel, thousands of hands reach out. I find my hands sprouting from my fingertips and then my hands sprout from those fingertips. I am enveloped by grasping hands, I then plunged into my eyeball and fall toward dazzling lights. I float amongst abstract crystals as see worlds in the reflection. " There are worlds upon worlds in these branches you see as reality. Some are benevolent and life-giving. Others are filled with death and hunger." I crash one of the reflections into a colorful Jemison. Serval plants hung by hooks in the distance. " Dark realm where powers and beings older than time call home. These beings are evil incarcerations, natural disasters that hate all life and will stop at nothing to destroy it all." I fly through a mouth of shadowy gaint. I float through space my body lump before galaxies that are color green, lavender, and orange. " Who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr. McMahon?" the voice echoes all around me The space around me seems to bend then spinning wildly as it bends me into a dizzy spell. I am thrown back into a spiraling portal as I fall back onto the treehouse floors landing in the hump. " Hmm, it seems you survived the trip how great", Twilight said in a sarcastic tone. I slowly rise to my knee looking at my quivering hand. I look up Twilight as she stands right in front of me. " What just happened" I said with a trembling voice to twilight "You just how small and young your race truly is in the vastness of space and time," said Twilight "It's a lot to take I know, it took me a while to make sense of it the first time I saw it," said Spike " No matter Spike show him to the bedroom, I going to sleep," said Twilight as she walks up stair. " Alright sleep well Twilight, I am going back to cloud. Spike you heard her you are on duty tonight so show this ant his bedroom." Annzu says then he turns his head to me. "You lucky this time mortal, but make no mistake I will kill you the moment you show weakness remember that," Annuz says as he snaps his talons together and disappears in a flash. I look back at my still trembling hands and I feel shock going through my whole body. I look at Spike with fear in my eyes as my mask opens to show my face. " I don't understand why did that feel like my mind was exploding. I felt like dying and reforming over and over again." I said to Spike Spike gets down on one knee and puts his hand on my shoulder. " I know it can be rough but, I can’t tell you what that was. Though I can tell you this, that is what you must protect as a starlord. You protect the life and make sure the balance is maintained. "You expect to protect all life how?" " Don't know, he never talks about the how, all we know is every star lord must protect life no matter the cost. You will know when the time is right." " That seems very shady and vague like something you see on Reddit." " I don't what this Reddit is but, you have already taken the oath so you don't have a choice." " Okay I will drop it for now, so where do I sleep." " Oh you sleep downstair follow me, I will show you to the room." I get onto my feet and my mask close as I stand up. I follow behind Spike as we head downstair. I look around and see four doors in this room along with what appears to be a trophy case. Spike shakes his head at the case and walks beside me. "To the left is the treasury where are lord kept his prizes and honors from the many worlds he visited. The second door leads to a bedchamber, the third door leads to his kitchen and the last door is where he keeps his... books," Spike tells me and gazes at the fourth door. I walk over to it and open the door to see what looks like a personal study of many books and scrolls of different kinds. I see a desk with a journal and pen next to it. A sword was hung on the wall next to the desk. The sword is a golden medium-length Greek one-handed double-edged sword. I gazed at it as a thought came into mine. " Why do feel like I have used this blade before." I tell Spike getting a wide-eyed shocked expression. He pushed me out of the room and closed the door behind me. "CJ under no circumstances are you to ever touch or mention that blade around Twilight or Annuz! That blade has a history behind it that would make them want to not just kill but erase you," said Spike with a low growl "Ok ok, I will forget about it for now, Spike. Anything else?" I ask. " Now we start your training if I want to leave this place and not get killed we need to get you to champion level. For that, I'll start your build so you go to the first world. So I think we'll be here for days as we get strong enough to face our enemy and forces," Spike replied as he stared at the trophy case. " Our enemy and what forces?" I ask confused. "Yes ours, I don't know if you are ready to hear the answer but you must learn different world politics, traditions, or anything for that matter. I will you to help me understand everything I can about your future," He replied picking up a crude-looking coin that appeared to be just a piece of blank dark purple metal that I had no idea what it was. "Looks rather plain for a coin..." I comment getting Spike to look at me. " This coin is made from stardust, a metal only found in the here in this tree house where it grows on the branch and each coin weighs exactly ten grams," he replies as he puts on a ring with a small red gem on it. "Metal... that grows?" I ask him with an unbelieving look. "Of course, stardust grows due to the high concentration of star matter on this planet. Twilight figured out a way to gather into clusters and solidify into this metal," he explains. "Right, well then. I don't get starting notes taken so I can better understand this place," I say and to the kitchen. Me and Spike sit down at a table in the kitchen. "So I am getting the vibe that your friends hate me. The hydra wants to kill me and the unicorn loath me judging by the look in her eyes." " Annuz I was expecting he is a proud warrior and hates mortals. Twilight on the other hand is a different story. In all honesty, I don't if she will ever like you, I was hoping she wanted to make friends with you. But it seemed she taking lord cut all death much harder than I thought, those two were close but I didn’t think she was shut down like that." Spike let a sign as he gazed back at the ring on his finger. " This ring was his gift to me, he made it for me after I lost someone very dear to me. He said if you keep this close you will always remember her. It must be the same for Twilight she wearing the hat that our lord made for her. She hates it you know, it makes her horn itch she says that seeing her wear it must mean she still holding in her anger. I hope you can understand her anger is not toward you, she must still grieving over his loss" said Spike with a dry chuckle I look down at my hands and think to myself where of seen that look in twilight eyes before? That cold dead eye filled with nothing but hate and sorrow. My mind flashes to the hospital room with a man hooked up to pumps and tubes as surgery is done on him. " I understand better than you because I have the same thing she feels felt more time than I could count," I said with a hollow tone Spike toward me staring into my eyes, with narrow eyes focusing in on me. He gazed at me for a long time before signing and pushing back into his chair. "I see it in your soul those scars you experienced a great loss haven’t. I misspoke early, I see you are not as green as thought. I have to meditate on this well talk more in the morning for now you must rest. Spike says as he stands up and starts walking toward the stairs and closes the door behind him. I sit for a moment thinking about what Spike said but I start to feel tired. I make my way toward the bedroom fall onto the bed and drift off to sleep. Darkness obscures a man's face but I can tell he wearing a blue suit with a ring on his finger in the shape of a skull. "You have proven to me that you may be useful, skull archfiend but you failed to end the line. That old relic managed to find an heir before you killed him. Now there is another wrench that will annoy me and my armies." The man behind the desk says in a venomous tone. The shadow figure sits behind a desk before sitting forward as its eye glows. " Fail me again fiend and your place will be the least of your worries. Because you can easily replace my friend and believe me you don't want to know what happens to those I deem unworthy. Now then I can tell you the new lord will appear in your world very soon so this time don't play around." A shadowy figure stood from behind him and walked toward the window. " Don't make me regret this, because I rarely give a second chance, unlike this star lord." I watch through a doorway as the man turns to face me. " Isn’t that right, little hero? Not time for us to meet quite yet. Run along now and show me if you are worth of my time." The door slammed shut. A wash of light hits my eyes as I flutter them. I open my mask and put my hand on my forehead. I feel cold sweat falling down my face. " Who or what was that?