Prism Academy 5- Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35- One Last Visit

After looking over the updates we had experienced, I smiled. Most of the day had gone by and we were ready to start our assault soon. One of the nice things about teleportation was that I didn’t have to rush to get anywhere. It was as simple as a quick jump to go to most any place in the world, or at least places I know. Heck, with ANOP feeding me data, I could probably go to most of the world, even places I’d never heard of.

Still, the time had hardly been wasted. The upgrades from Sophia and Tess would go a long way, but even more important was the growth in my abilities. My enemy might not give me the time I needed to master a laundry list of new powers, but I was confident that given the chance and enough days of practice that I could do exactly that.

I just didn’t know what the enemy was doing. Well, I knew what one enemy was doing, but that shadow didn’t seem like much of a threat now. My power had grown beyond anything that humanity had ever known up to this point. Just or even possibly more importantly, the power of my team was head and shoulders ahead of other supers. After crunching some numbers with ANOP, I was now certain that even supers like Supreme couldn’t stand up to my bonds in their currently boosted state.

No, defeating the shadow was a foregone conclusion now. It was really just a mop up effort. I pondered if they would try to flee Earth like they had wherever their previous home was. A part of me wanted to say good riddance, but they were parasites and one didn’t take half measures with parasites.

That got me thinking about the light. In many ways, they were just as bad of parasites. Oh, sure the changes they made in humans seemed positive on the outside. I certainly loved the powers that they had made possible. It was just that they too tried playing god with us. They manipulated our emotions and used the bonds as a type of mind control. They leeched off of our emotions just like the shadow did. Love was certainly a more enjoyable emotion than fear, but it didn’t mean they hadn’t been using us all along.

I saw that now with absolute clarity.

“ANOP, what would happen if I destroyed the light just like the shadow?”

“It would likely be much harder since Light’s Judgment is what will make the battle with the shadow a foregone conclusion. Only their most powerful will be able to last more than a second with you now. The most powerful of mutated bodies are no match for your physical form and their raw shadow power will wither before Light’s Judgment.

Now that you are asking this question, though, it’s time that I mention again the video your mother made for you. It’s less than five minutes long and perhaps it would be good for you to see it before the offensive starts tonight. I don’t know the details, but I know it has to do with your mother’s reasons for her actions.”

I pondered that for a moment. I hadn’t forgotten about the video, but I had pushed it to the back of my mind. Now hearing ANOP describe it like that, I pondered if I actually wanted to watch it. I’d gotten some closure with my dad’s video. I had a good idea of what my mom’s motivations had been.

I was inclined to assume the best about her and to believe that she really had wanted to protect her son and not just use me as a weapon in the war against the shadow.

“Hmm…”

“I sense your hesitation, Master Aden, but I fail to understand.”

“A relationship with your mother can always be complicated. They’re a saint, the perfect ideal of what a woman is supposed to be… or they’re a nightmare and everything you want to avoid, although I’d guess that at least for most young boys it’s the former rather than the latter. The videos notwithstanding, the way I remember my mom is from my memories as a kid.

“The truth, though, is that moms especially in memories can become larger than life. It’s likely that none of them truly measure up to what we remember. A part of me is trying to hold on to that. I worry this last message will undue what faith I have left in her.”

“That does sound complicated, but what if it contains important information? Or even if it doesn’t, do you really want to close your eyes and just wish for happier days? You are always telling me that a man is more than just happy thoughts. You say you need the full range of emotions both good and bad in order to truly be human.”

I shook my head. She was right. There was nothing to be gained by putting this off. I sat back down. “Fine, show it to me.”

Then I closed my eyes and one last time, I felt like a child again. My mother appeared before me. It was different than the other videos. I had a better grasp on my emotions. I knew who I was as a man. I knew true love and the fear that can come for those you love.

She was sitting in a chair and look at me. It was more real than any video had the right to be.

“My precious baby boy. I told you this before but I’m sorry I couldn’t be there for you as you finished growing into a man, but I know your roots and I’m proud of who you’ll become, I suppose from your perspective, I’m proud of who you’ve become. Now, I have to have a difficult conversation with you. Hopefully, you’ve realized by now that there is a connection between the light and the shadow.”

Then she went on to give me a brief rundown of what she knew or suspected. She talked about how both sides used emotional energy to live in some way. That much I already knew. What was interesting though was that she talked about how she was approached by a being of light. They believed her research would be capable of creating a perfect vessel.

At least that was they way the termed it. They said that a child born without fear and hate or other dark emotions would be able to become a prism, but even more powerful than the ones in the past.

“They presented it as a way to destroy the shadow. I assume that has something to do with the war between them, but I never forgot they were both invaders. It was both their powers which destroyed the Earth. A good rule of thumb is that if beings come from another dimension, they didn’t make the journey just for a social call. They want something.

“I could see how the light wanted a world which would be free of the shadow as they intended to create more positive emotions and grow strong on those. They were, after all, losing. They were greatly weakened; I suspect almost to the point of dying out. Our world is a dark place, after all.

“What I saw in this though was a way to save my baby boy. And so I took the deal. But what you need to understand is that in doing this, I wasn’t trying to create a perfect world. I was trying to create freedom. That is going to require you to feel all of your emotions. That is where your full strength will lie. So, when you’re read, have ANOP stop suppressing your negative emotions and memories. It will hurt for a while, you may become very bitter towards me, but if it means you live, then you can hate me.

“What I hope for is your forgiveness, but I have no right to ask for it. I wanted what was best for you, but you weren’t old enough to make your own decision. Yet, if you’re receiving the video, it's only because ANOP has calculated that you now have the power to drive the shadow and light both, from the Earth.”

She said a few more things to me and I felt a tear roll down my face. I believed she had loved me. I still felt conflicted about her having made this decision for me, but in the end it was a life beyond any other I could have hoped for given the world we lived in. Now, I had a decision to make. If I tried to destroy both the light and shadow, then I’d be removing the potential for future supers from the world.

That thought triggered a response from ANOP. “Not necessarily, Master Aden. You’ve already considered it. There are no guarantees until it’s done, but there now exists the potential that you could create new supers. You aren’t there yet, but in forty-two percent of my simulations you develop an ability one way or another to create new supers in the future.”

“One way or another?”

“In a few the simulations, you become able to generate enough progenitor energy to create new supers who you can shape with your Mental Design ability. But there are other ways…”

ANOP’s were cut off as Sybil reached into my mind. “Aden, you’re needed. The shadow is up to something.”

I stood up, dried my eyes, and then reached out, looking for where my bonds were. They were now all gathered in what had become our tactical planning unit. I smiled. I guess it was starting now whether I was ready or not.

I teleported to the room. “What’s the matter?”

Up on the screen there was a live feed with General West on it and half a dozen other military officers as well as Supreme and another super named Vapor. I didn’t know him personally but remembered he had some ability which allowed him to travel, as his name implied.

General West said, “Glad you could join us.”

I let the comment go and simply stared at him. After an awkward three seconds, he continued. “The shadow is withdrawing all along the front. We haven’t dared cross the ocean yet, but indications are that shadows and shadow mutated beasts are all withdrawing.”

“Do you have an opinion about what this means?”

“Not yet, but the need to clear land between NAAG cities seems to be gone. What I was hoping was that you’d be able to confirm they were gone.”

I thought about it for a moment. “Supreme, what do you think?”

The super who had started this journey for me said, “I flew halfway across the Atlantic and I can confirm that monsters are definitely fleeing. Some of the host monsters are drowning in the sea, but that doesn’t seem to be stopping them.”

“Do we have any idea about their destination?”

Vapor was the one to answer. “No, but we know that those to the east of NAAG are fleeing eastward while those on the western front are fleeing westward. They seem to be avoiding NAAG territory at all costs.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and thought for a second. “Okay, I’ll go take a look. I’ll report back within an hour on what I find.”

Once the decision was made, we talked briefly about who would come with me. Valkyrie, in her knew mecha mode could form a jet powered, nanite built machine around herself and keep up with my flight speed. So could Precision and Eve. Seeing all of my bonds together but with the Angel of Light transformation was a bit offputting.

Demis must have noticed the way I looked at them because she said, “Don’t expect me to dye my hair or anything.”

“Never, never crossed my mind. Diversity is the spice of life after all.”

Then the four of us were off.