Chapter Thirteen

Travis took Oblivion's advice and binge-watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, taking notes. It helped keep his mind off his impending trial, but between that and everything else, it was like he was drowning. And the only thing that made him feel right was cutting himself. He knew it was wrong, but at the moment, it felt right. 

And he would have gone on mutilating himself like that had Jenny not spotted the dried blood on his basketball shorts one weekend at Dr. Hu's cabin. He was beyond ashamed when she asked him if she needed to have a talk with his parents about it.

"No, don't. Please?" he begged her.

"On three conditions. You stop self-harming, give me your cutting tools, and start therapy."

"Deal, but no therapy."

"Travis, you need help. Otherwise, you wouldn't be doing this."

"No. Rule One: Dependency on anyone for anything is a weakness I will not abide."

She groaned. "I thought you were over those stupid rules of yours?"

"One, they aren't stupid. Two, I'm not going to waste what time I have left sitting in front of some quack talking about my feelings like this is the Dr. Phil Show."

He dug in his pocket and handed her his Swiss Army knife. "If you'll excuse me, I have work to do." He stomped away to the lake, where he toed off his shoes and removed his socks and shorts. He wadded in up to his knees, shivering as the water soaked through his boxer-briefs, but he had a purpose. 

He squatted, lowering his hands, and then brought them up slowly, picturing the water rising up. Tendrils of water followed his hands. Smiling, he repeated the motion, this time causing water to raise up to his chest. Teeth chattering, he commanded it to lower, but instead, it rose, covering his mouth and nose.

I can't breathe!

As water poured down his throat, he beseeched it to lower.

 Please, stop. I don't wanna drown.

Clawing at the water, he screamed for help, but the water muffled his voice. Please, please, stop. This isn't fun anymore.

The edges of his vision darkened as he fought to get air, but the water remained in place. Fear coursing through every atom of his body, Travis ran from the lake, but the water followed him. Over a minute since his last breath, his eyelids became heavy; he struggled to stay conscious. One eye shut, and the other was on its way.

He'd all but given up when the image of a multicolored bird appeared before him. At once, he felt at home. Blue flames poured from him, evaporating the water, and he took great gulps of air. The fire died down, leaving his clothes dried but singed.

Note to self: next time, try that with less water.

Thankful to be alive, the shock of what happened didn't hit him until he was curled in bed trying to fall asleep.

These powers aren't toys. I could have hurt myself or Jenny. I could have died today. And for these reasons, I must master them.

He drifted off to sleep, but his day was far from done.

***

Once more, Travis found himself in the hellscape where Oblivion luxuriated on his throne, in the bleached guise of Travis. "Nice of you to join me again."

"What do you want?"

Oblivion wagged his finger. "Is that any way to talk to your elders?"

"Can we skip to the part where we fight?"

"Actually, I wanted to commend you on your training today."

"The part where I almost drowned? Or when I scorched my clothes?"

"We can't all be wunderkinder, but you did well for your first attempt." 

"Something tells me you know more than you're letting on. Where do these powers come from?"

"From me, silly."

Travis frowned, his face scrunched up in thought. "How so?"

  "Our first encounter changed you; you now contain a portion of my Essence."

"Your what?"

"Think of it as my soul. And along with it comes certain . . . abilities."

Travis looked around, his stomach turning at the sight. "You're saying my powers are because of you?"

"Correct."

"I want nothing to do with you!"

"If that's the case, then why did you take my advice?"

He didn't answer.

"Could it be part of you enjoys your newfound strength and wants more?" Oblivion smirked. "Perhaps we are more alike than you think."

"I'm nothing like you!"

Oblivion laughed. "Calm yourself. We wouldn't want you setting fire to Dr. Hu's cabin in your sleep?"

  "I . . . can do that?"

"That and more, but we can talk about that another time. Do you know who I am?"

"The devil?"

"Yes and no. I am the primordial force of destruction in the multiverse. Your kind calls me evil, yet I serve a function: balance."

"But why do you want me to be your vessel or whatever?"

"As I've said before, you are special. After the fire that scarred you, you died and spent an eternity in the Abyss."

"The what?"

"The void from whence all life springs and returns to."

"This is madness. Heaven, hell, they don't exist."

"Not as you understand them. The nature of reality is far too complex for you to comprehend. What I am, what we are, is too strong to be contained in one dimension."

"That makes no sense. There's only this universe."

"Sit a spell and listen." 

A chair appeared next to Travis, and he sat as Oblivion told him his tale. 

***

Eons ago, before the multiverse existed, there was only Oblivion and the Void. For countless millennia, Oblivion floated in the sea of nothingness, content to drift along. Then came the great schism. In a whirlwind of fire and light, an entity called Pantheos expelled him from his paradise, telling him he must uphold the cosmic balance by destroying that which He created.

And so, he took the name Oblivion in remembrance of the Void from whence he came and longed to return. As time passed, his duties expanded from causing star systems to implode and creating blackholes to running Pandemonium, the realm of darkness set aside to punish those who disobeyed Pantheos. 

At first, he didn't want to punish anyone, but epoch after epoch of hearing the crimes of his prisoners hardened his heart.

Overseeing Pandemonium was a brutal and lonely job, so he decided to create children in his own image like Pantheos did. From fire and ash, he molded them, breathing life into them with his Essence.

His first children, the Prima, were deformed but loyal to him. However, their children, the Supremes, weren't content to follow his orders and rebelled. In a cataclysmic war, the Supremes and the prisoners of Pandemonium pushed back against Oblivion and the Prima. Weakened from prolonged battle, Oblivion and the Prima fell to the forces of the Supremes.

As punishment, the Supremes killed the Prima and absorbed their Essence. Using their new power, they bound Oblivion's powers and exiled him to the Nullverse, a hell worse than Pandemonium.  

But Oblivion vowed he'd return one day to exact his revenge. He prophesied the coming of his vessel: a being of immense power who would free him and bring on the End of Everything. And he waited, ever-patient, until the day he sensed Travis.

***

"You know the rest."

Travis scratched his head. "But why me, and why did The Supremes rebel?"

"Why did Cronos castrate Uranus only to be usurped himself by his sons?"

Thinking for a moment, he replied, "Because it is the nature of the young to supplant the old?"

"Correct. But my children and their children's children have thrown off the balance. And the only way to correct this is..."

"By my releasing you and bringing on the apocalypse?"

"Bingo."

The thought of it reviled Travis. There was no way he'd ever release Oblivion. Prophecy smoffecy.

"Then you'll be waiting another lifetime."

Oblivion pursed his lips. "I respect your choice, but in time, you'll see I'm right and accept your destiny. Until then . . . pleasant dreams, my child."

Oblivion disappeared, and Travis drifted off. 

That night, his dreams were a jumble of faces that seemed familiar, but he couldn't place them. Some of them were men in lab coats that took his blood and made him melt metal slabs. 

Only later did he realize these weren't dreams. 

 

Author's Note: Gradually, Travis is regaining the memories Pro had sought to hide from him and a reckoning is coming. Next time, Travis gets some good-ish news about his condition and trains some more...or tries to, anyway.

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