The Wanderer - 190 (Patreon)

[A/N: Took the day off yesterday to relax a bit and fill up my reserves.

Here is today's chapter, though I suggest you listen to 'La valse d'Amelie' while you read it as I listened to it too as I wrote it. Enjoy!]

Chapter 190 – 'La valse d'Amelie'

[2009 – October]

His eyes closed, his fingers dancing.

Jean stood in the doorway next to the piano while Elijah filled their home with gentle notes, the moonlight shining through the large french window next to them and illuminating the room in addition to the candles that she had lit.

She wore just one of Elijah's shirts with nothing beneath. It was what she had put on after the shower she had just taken, dressing herself ready for bed.

It was already late but they had just gotten back from the city, having spent hours wandering the busy streets of New York together.

Her head rested on the wooden doorframe, her usually flaming hair still a bit wet as Jean had been drawn to Elijah's side before she had the time to dry her hair, his music leaving her almost enthralled.

She had no problem recognizing the melody from a composition called 'La valse d'Amelie' since it was one of her love's favourite plays. It was also her favourite melody when he played it for her.

Though to be entirely truthful, Jean thought that about every piece that Elijah played for her.

But while she listened to her love play, she could also feel it – exhaustion. The wish to just let go for a moment, to be nothing but an ordinary man for the duration of a single melody.

Wholly giving himself up to his music and opening his heart to the notes that his beautiful large hands drew from the piano, it was almost as if his very soul itself played the instrument.

It was what made his passion so unique. It was what made his music so indescribably beautiful.

His black locks caressing his cheeks, Elijah seemed somewhat vulnerable while his fingers danced over the keys of the piano. He looked gorgeous as he poured his everything into the melody.

Though there was some heartache for Jean as she watched him as it was in these moments that she could see the most clearly what kind of burdens rested upon her lover's shoulders.

She had seen how ugly this world was, and she also saw it every time she opened her mind to the world around her.

There was still light and joy to experience but unfortunately, maliciousness and greed were often both tool and driving force of those in power, and with that came the threat that they posed to their lives simply because they had been born as mutants.

Because they had been born extraordinary.

Emma's daughter, Celeste, as well as Laura, were victims of this evil as were many others.

And Elijah was walking a lightless path in an effort to protect the little spots of light that connected him with his family and with her. He did so out of necessity, but not without incurring unseen scars.

Stepping closer on light feet, Jean moved behind her love, her hands coming up to comb through his dark locks and her finger brushing over his cheeks. Her caresses caused Elijah's head to fall back and rest against her belly, his eyes still closed, his fingers still dancing.

Leaning down, her warm lips left a kiss on his temple, her hands caressing his cheeks and chin as Elijah continued to play, a faint smile drawing up the corners of his lips.

…

There was quiet in the endless void that stretched over the whole Universe, stars illuminating the dark canvas that was the cosmos.

Facing one such burning celestial giant myself, rays of condensed solar radiation flowing past my still figure, I barely felt the six thousand degrees celsius even though I registered the heat.

What I felt though was how my cells eagerly absorbed the energy contained inside the radiation as I looked at the source of light and life for all of Earth with my own eyes, doing something that no other human had ever even hoped to do in my last life.

Thinking of this caused a faint smile to settle on my lips while stood in the void, my own will enough to resist the gravitational pull of the sun with ease.

Still, my thoughts couldn't help but drift to other types of energies as I bathed in the heat of a star.

I had been living with a misconception after I had gained my Self-Creation and met Jean.

I had thought that the reason that the metaphysical reserves somewhere inside of myself could be filled by her fire because they were an expression of condensed life energy, given that the Phoenix was the living embodiment of Life, Rebirth, and Destruction, of Creation.

But my understanding of the source energy that acted as the source of the ability to bestow myself powers beyond any human measure, had been lacking.

Through my ascension as the Lord of the Darkforce Dimension, I now had a very different understanding of life energy, given that it was the primary target of the insatiable hunger that was inherent in the Darkforce.

Having devoured the vitality of hundreds of people after saving Celeste, I was now even more certain that while my own life energy was just naturally filling up the reserves of my Self-Creation, it was impossible for the life energy of others to be used for the same purpose.

The life energy of every living being was unique and even after I tried to supplement my reserves with the life energy originally belonging to hundreds of different people, it had proven to be impossible to do so.

Jean's fire though could do this, and I could only guess that the reason for this was that she was the inheritor of the Pheonix Force, and incarnation of pure creation. This allowed her fire to circumvent the restrictions of my reserves as if it was a type of higher energy from the same origin as life energy.

I couldn't help but smile as this thought crossed my mind, a hint of gentleness hidden in the way the corners of my lips curved up.

We belonged together, after all.

Even more curious though was that while the life energy that my body just naturally generated had increased greatly, the increase was disproportionate to the growth of my physique.

With Peak Human Physique, I had been able to grant myself an Epsilon-level ability every two or three days while I could do so now daily, twice even. This was a great increase but considering that I could now easily shatter a planet with pure physical strength, it seemed a bit lacking from an objective point of view.

It was as if my natural accumulation of life energy for my Self-Creation had reached a hard limit.

I wasn't too disappointed about this though, and while I was sure that there existed ways to circumvent this hard limit like I was already doing through Jean's inner fire, I had no intention of trying to find other ways to do so for the time being.

I was more focused on gaining full control over the powers that I already possessed than gaining new abilities, as being in control was more important than having more firepower.

Shaking off these thoughts and exerting my will, my form dispersed into a cloud of dark smoke as I reappeared in Boston before a large mansion that was the residence of a familiar Priestess.