Post by Eclipse on Oct 16, 2021 13:52:31 GMT
The Twenty-First Century
New York City, once the city of heroes; the high rises gleamed in the afternoon's glow, bright rays of sunshine piercing the cloud cover. It was a day like any other. There had been no great instability as of late. But as light peeked through the clouds, an aura of foreboding seemed to fall across Manhattan. This was not the typical citygoer's anxiety; it was a tactile hum in the air, as if everything were being drawn towards one point. It did not command the attention of the populace, but rather seized something in their unconscious -
- a fear response, to a presence that had yet to reveal itself.
In mid-day, the air began to crackle in the Financial District. Metal hummed, an eerie chorus of low vibration bringing traffic to a halt. Lights flickered in buildings, and a single low thrum announced Eclipse's arrival in the present.
Where there was once empty air, a human man garbed in a vermillion cloak with violet trim now stood. A horned helmet adorned his head. Steam curled off of his shoulders, and the power surge where he landed knocked the entire block to its knees.
As civilians recovered themselves and fled, car alarms erupting around him, a smile merely crossed his features.
"...I've done it."
He closed his eyes, hands curling into fists with delight. His chest began to rise and fall, shoulders rocking with laughter.
"Say goodbye to the future, heroes. Tomorrow is undone. The High Guard has lost. Evil triumphs! And you! No longer! Exist!"
His self-talk rising to a crescendo, the man - Eclipse - hovered into the air, gravity itself warping around him. His flowing cape oscillated mid-air along the waves of his power, and his super-mind interfaced with his surroundings, gathering information from all available sources. He seized data from cell phones and psychically traced the words on newspapers, firing a tactile probe through the hearts of everyone around him - situating himself in this new dominion.
"Yes...yes. This will be perfect."
His fingers curled, and a technohex of the 31st Century, generations before his rise to power, distributed his manifesto globally. It was carved into rocks and inserted into dreams at random, ink rearranging itself on pages in libraries to read his words - it flooded the internet, the crude sixth sphere of interaction - proclaiming a new age of Evil, and announcing his presence as Eclipse.
Eclipse himself? He rose higher into the air, watching the small unpowereds flee like animals.
What to do? He knew not. His triumph had come to pass. His plan was a success. Thousands of years had been cancelled - undone - and he was the sole survivor, wielding immense power during the historical Inflection Point of the 21st Century. The world was his sandbox to play in, though of course, he was above simple hedonism, mindless destructiveness. He needed something ambitious -
"The moon, maybe."
He looked skyward, dispatching a row of police cars with a nonchalant flick of his finger - the squad vehicles soared the lengths of several city blocks, though he barely paid them any heed.
"The moon. Yes."
He raised a fist skyward and gestured with his fingers - moments later, a column of pure crimson light burst forth from his fingertips, cascading upwards in a single incinerating burst. The cloud cover was obliterated and replaced with a tinge of darkness, and the beam continued, piercing the atmosphere -
- and inscribing an enormous, intricate glyph on the face of the moon where it landed. It had been claimed for all to see.
More police vehicles roared around the corner.
Really?
"Something more extravagant, then."
The deployed officers raised their guns to take aim -
- they fired -
- and every last bullet stopped in mid air, before they could reach him, suspended by some unknowable force. The spent shells clattered to the ground.
He flicked his finger and the assembled resistance was felled. Lightning sprang from his fingertip, a surge of energy rolling across the ground and repelling all who it touched. The bright flash was but a fraction of what he could manage - and it came with searing pain for every last one of them. None dead - that was too vulgar for now. But utterly defeated, powerless.
The helmeted man tilted his chin back, narrowing his eyes at one of the men gasping for breath, smoke curling off his charred uniform. This would do.
He had an idea.
"Send your best. I wish to test them."
His hand curled into a fist, and the buildings around them groaned, their very structure caressed by an unseen hand that could squeeze at any instant -
"Go on. I'll be patient. I have eternity, after all," he laughed.