《An Aggressively average Immortal》
0 - Prologue A world in balance
The strange man sat a table in a diner sipping a coffee. He didn''t look to be in a hurry, but the time he had walked into this diner caused the staff to hate him. Forcing them to stay open as he languidly sipped his coffee while reading the paper.
The girl behind the counter rolled her eyes resigning herself to this guy sticking around. No one even reads the actual paper anymore, it''s mainly read online using phones now days.
The man was plain looking. He didn''t stand out at all, he was only even noticed because he was alone. Even still she found her eyes passing over him mistaking him for being part of the diner.
Narrowing her eyes at him she thought: ''Is he one of those new awakeners that have come about recently?'' There had been reports of various incidents and through those the reveal of these ''awakeners'' that caused them.
She started getting nervous then. Especially as she saw a new guy enter the store. Even if the guy wasn''t an awakener this one definitely is and looked like he was looking for trouble.
She hid below the counter hiding herself sight as he pulled back his arm to swing his flaming bat against the store.
''Nope nope nope! I am not paid for this.'' With that thought she crawled out the backdoor wanting to avoid the guy.
The man drinking a coffee however had his booth engulfed in flames from the thug with a flaming baseball bat.
He sighed watching the cheap plastic cup melt under the flames. ''Great thing I noticed early else I would be naked in the diner, shame about the drink though.'' He looked up through the smoke outside, his gaze seemingly not hindered at all by the visual obstruction.
Outside he saw it wasn''t just the thug, there were countless people running rampant. He shook his head realizing this part of town was now effectively a warzone. ''So it has begun.''
He was an old soul, an ancient. But not just a normal one, he had once been called Prometheus. That experience taught him though that his actions disrupted the balance, and he suffered for it. Humans would have discovered fire eventually, his actions just stirred up plenty of conflicts where none need be. Thus he embarked on the journey for balance, this man sought to tread lightly observe and provide advice.
But this conflict, it wasn''t from him. This was the response of the world. He had woken up from his thousand year nap by the strange energies from the world. He had spent the last ten years traveling and discovering all the world had. Now he was just relaxing where he felt big events would be happening. He could feel the balance tipping over at this exact spot. Meanwhile elsewhere the scale was tipping the other direction.
And so he stood before the bench he sat on crumbled completely to ash. The balance had finally shifted, he doesn''t know what caused the imbalance but this was the world''s response. To give these energies to the humans, he saw the correlations to his own energies.
Though not the same type as his own, his was made of the natural elements and this thugs was all from the earth and the strange energy it had been letting out. But from what the news had stated he had a hunch that this imbalance didn''t originate from within the world but rather outside it.
After all the world had been relatively balanced when he had slept. Sure it was a bit on edge, but that was balance. No wars because of the threats of destruction via giant bombs, food was growing and relatively cheep. He was even enjoying a little drop of that balance when it was tipped over.
He shook his head at the imbalanced thug. So much fire in this man, sure he could launch fireballs and throw waves of fire. But he was susceptible to having that flame smothered.
He wouldn''t be able to show the extreme like that as he was in balance. But that let him see clearly, dodging a stray rock thrown by another thug even through the thick smoke of the fire that had started consuming the diner.
When he walked away no one noticed more than a slight confusion at remembering there being a man there a moment before. But he walked at a pace that was literally a calm stroll debris and attacks missing him.
He couldn''t have actually stopped them even if he wanted. Not all of them at least, taking down one would just let another take initiative. He was walking towards the other in balance he sensed. It was one of a whole lot less chaos, rather it was regimented order and discipline.
He smiled to himself spotting what looked like some military unit rolling out of unmarked vans. Then spotting the imbalance he observed. An officer who had the twenty man team spreading out silently not drawing attention to themselves.... up until with a single loud shout from him and the guns fired mowing down the mob of empowered people.
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This was civilizations balance. To push the chaotic back with such strict timing and discipline. He marveled at the way the ''normal'' humans dealt with the new awakened threat. It''s only been a few days and there is already a counter to them.
Though to him no human was ''normal'' Everyone existed somewhere in the balance. This has held true for eons he has seen it. A child losing his parents, would have a greater chance at a nice person picking them up if only to prevent the child from growing into an incredibly hateful person. In the cases it doesn''t happen it would mean they were a center for balance to make moves.
After all setting up an effective childcare system becomes very important when you are shown the consequences of that not happening.
Now here we were staring at two massive imbalanced powers. One a result of the world, and the other a result of civilization in response to that.
This was the chaotic order of the world. He watched as the flaming baseball bat clattered down to the floor and the flames sputter out as the small military unit swept through checking the people who had been put to sleep with high powered sleep darts.
He stared at them as they took them away. The imbalance deepened causing him to frown as he watched the vans leave. It would seem that the turbulence had shifted away from this area. One of those people in the van was a center of balance, destined for great good or great evil. Only time will tell the truth, and his actions would result in changes in the world
The man turned away. As much as he would love to see what happening he didn''t want to have to punch his way in just to watch them sleeping. He settled for heading home.
An old Television crackled "In other news there was skirmish last night with some awakened in the restraunt district. Damages-"
The news covered the incidents on that part of town lightly claiming it as just another awakened event. The house he was in was obviously new but the stuff in it was old. He let out a yawn as his phone rang.
The old buzzing ring seemingly strange coming from the brand new smart phone. "Hey, George. You said you were going to come in today."
The man, now named George slapped his face. "Oh right. I did say that. I''m going to be late, I''ll be there in a moment hold on."
George quickly left his house darting into his car. It didn''t match the pristine house it was parked in front of. He smiled to himself enjoying the thought of his neighbors frustrations at his dingy and rusty car dropping the market value of their houses. He knew it was petty of him but in terms of balance it had them angry at his car rather than the other little things in their lives.
So thus he lives in balance within his neighborhood.
Moments later he was smiling as he walked into a game store. He had chosen this store as video games didn''t really exist before he went to sleep. But they were fascinating, they stirred up imbalance within the balance preventing it from stagnating.
Not to mention that the right game could balance out an unbalanced person.
It was a convoluted cycle of imbalance being fixed by imbalance so the balanced could help fix the imbalanced.
"Hey I''m here. Don''t worry, I said I would cover for you. Just go." But in reality George was here to watch this guy. He was a center for a balance. Just what this game store clerk was going to do that had him being the crux of world wide changes?
George had no idea.
He waved to his friend noting the deepening of the imbalance in him indicating whatever was happening it would happen soon. He felt bad for the guy and before he left spoke up grabbing his attention.
"Hey, Lex. I know you feel bad about what happened, but keep in mind that people are not always bad." George failed yet again at trying to express the balance of the world. However the chaotic imbalance seemed to straighten out calming down some.
His parents were killed a few years ago. He spotted the imbalance while traveling learning about the world he woke up in. Piecing together what he knew he was most likely about to awaken like the incident last night.
The imbalance didn''t lessen indicating that whatever was going to happen was inevitable. Some call these moment''s a nexus in fate. A point in the world in which every timeline must pass through. He wonder in how many of those timelines he spoke this line to him?
Then his eyes widened as he realized. He had altered the balance through that action. If he spoke those words in every timeline... He had altered the balance a lot.
However looking around he saw no indications of this imbalance he created and that was making him worry. Because if there was no imbalance because of his action that meant this was his second Prometheus moment. Where he should have just done nothing.
Sure he knew now that he was the destined one to ''discover'' fire, but he was just the center of balance then. Bring fire to humans for cooking and warmth? Humans use it to burn down the tents and fill the caves with smoke. A great good spawns a great bad.
But it was done. He had spoke the words. The world reacted already and the only sign was a shift in the balance from one of extreme chaos to one slightly less chaos.
But he felt nervous, the world had set Lex on the scales far on the side of chaos. That meant there was something extremely ordered threatening the world. Which was a strange moment for George, as most threats were of extreme chaos. This is a first for the world. That is probably why it is spewing out a new energy into the world and letting the chaotic take control of it. It was preparing for a fight.
''I should probably go visit my home and figure out what is happening'' This was much too big for even an alien invasion. Smirking to himself he wondered if he should pay his old friend a visit in Area 51. It''s no longer guarded as strictly as it was back in the day, so it''s possible. He should still be alive right?
He was shouting about how he was older than any human and would be living for longer than our civilization would stand before the world shat balance all over his imbalanced face in the form of the ''trinity test'' as it is called now.
1 - Railroad
George stretched before frowning at his phone. He had been trying to call Lex the last few days. Unable to raise him he supposed he could no longer hide it from his boss. Lex was missing.
Not having the massive imbalance around was boring in a way. But the games were the same as always. That was until one day the boss brought in a box of new stuff.
"Hey, George. Get these games on the shelves yeah?"
He frowned down into the open box. It was an unknown game... He hadn''t heard any news about a game like this being released... And the balance was all out of whack. Even more so than Lex was. So far away from Chaotic energies that they shone like white lights. This was the extreme order that was threatening the world? A game?
"Just put them into the back. It''s not one of the big sellers so just find a place for them." His boss left him alone with the games only now noticing that the games didn''t say what they ran on.
He was willing to bet that with the extreme order energies the game could be played on anything.
Curiosity got the better of him though and he popped a game out and slotted it into his PC.
Only to blink at the simple interface. It started out with a loading screen. The loading was also taking a long time to process the sign of a poorly optimized game. Only to be distracted by the order energy that was scanning him. This loading screen was trying to scan him.
He looked away from the computer. If he tried to stop this imbalance that would definitely have repercussions- He blinked again, this time rapidly. The loading screen was firmly rooted in the center of his vision. It had tacked itself onto him. He turned to the computer only seeing the desktop. Even trying to pop the disk revealed that there was none.
Just as the loading was finishing up an error popped up.
Error: Multiple Lives Detected
Just as soon at the box appeared it vanished and another box appeared. This time a prompt.
Please select your desired name:
Prometheus
George
Enlil
...
The list went on in no particular order. Though through all his lives he''s always been Prometheus so he chose that, he always abandoned his old lives when the time came.
With that the screens vanished and a new loading bar appeared. This time much slower and shoved away into a corner of his vision.
But he frowned as he felt the order energy trying to find purchase in his perfectly balanced energies. The smooth lines that were trying to grow inwards to accommodate all that was him being shocked by the thunder trapped in his body and eroded by the sandstorm that came just after. It was an attack on his actual self that would never work, especially as he was feeling angry.
All it took was a grunt and there was him shaped hole in this order. Now being able to see it... It was already over the entire world, meaning that it was already here and had been going on for a while and the earth was rebelling. Or trying to.
Suddenly loading was finished and the screens were gone. No more attempts to dig in an incorporate him into this... System. That is the best description for what this was.
That didn''t mean the system couldn''t point at the Prometheus shaped hole and tell everyone what lie within.
He smirked watching as the system set up a careful line that would tell people with the system. ''Unknown Entity - Prometheus'' and that was it. He huffed again. ''It seemed I really should have gone home to figured out what was going on.'' Prometheus thought.
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He shouted to his boss. "Hey boss. Something came up with my folks back home I''m going to have to take time off."
Stumbling back into the room angry. "What are you talking about?! With Lex missing who''s going to take care of this place?!"
All he got back was a shrug, George or Prometheus didn''t have a need to remain here anymore with Lex gone anyways. "Ah right. I suppose I should have said. My parents died and I''m being called back to deal with the paperwork it will take months if not years to work it out. So I quit."
He didn''t even wait for the manager to respond letting door bell be his resignation letter.
Prometheus frowned at the lack of a large tree that he planted ages ago. Maybe leaving this part of the world for a thousand years was a bad idea. The location he was at was a small island, previously it was only him here. Now there was a large complex set up here. He spotted the balance energies of the world being tapped into by the humans here. This place was where he set out on his journey to discover balance and ended it at the same spot sitting down as the knowledge solidified.
Now though there was a government building here. Many of the people inside were a center of balance. And because of their closeness to the spot where he had gained immortality that meant he wasn''t just the background so they saw him.
The closer one was to balance the more they saw the world for what it was. But while being close to balance being at the center of a balance brought it''s own sight.
To those that were soldiers and guards he probably looked like a demon standing on the turbulent waves. But to those that were at a center of their balance, they were in the position to see both good and bad. So they just saw him. An obviously enigmatic man with no idea what his abilities are.
But they were still human and the stormy weather hid the person who walked on the waves like he was walking down the sidewalk.
His destination was hidden in the facility. The balance of the world brought him to a child hanging around staring at the clouds from an open window.
He smiled. The island might have changed hands to someone else on a journey of their own, but the world knew he needed to be here and gave him an ''in'' in the form of this girl.
With a smile he leaned unnoticed against the wall next to the window and looked up at the clouds noticing the roiling energies in the air above the island. The order energy that was encompassing the world battling over this spot trying to get a hold into it like it had tried with himself.
"It''s a terrifying beauty isn''t it?" He spoke simply making himself known to the girl.
She turned to him the center of balance around her swirling as it was now time for her world effecting choice. Would she run to the guards? Or give in to the child like curiosity and respond to the strange man who had arrived at her window three floors off the ground as he stood on air.
The answer was stacked in his favor. No child could resist. "Woah! You''re like... flying!" He shrugged at the fascinated girl.
"Something like that, it''s more complicated than that. I''m actually just lighter than air so I can step on it." A lie to many, but a being existing in balance is an anomaly itself so it was true for him at least as so long as he wanted to. "Do you think you could let me in? It''s kind of cold out here in the rain."
That was how he ended up having a tea party with a little girl while outside the monitored room people were frantically trying to figure out how someone got into the room when it was just impossible.
They didn''t move fearing what would happen to the girl if they acted too soon. The girl they were keeping an eye on was a minor subject of their study. They were researching into these awakenings and this island was the best place for it being isolated and the perpetual storm that had formed around it kept most people out. Except this guy who just walked stepping through the window casually like he wasn''t three stories in the air.
Now he was just having ''tea'' with the girl who had shown minor prophetic powers. Of course microphones caught every word... Including everything about Mr. Snuggles (Her stuffed bear) missing his wife back home. It was so mind numbingly childish it blew the mind of every scientist and guard present.
Once the girl was tucked into bed by Prometheus he exited her room and was met by a line of guns pointed at him. He smiled with his hands raised. "Careful now. She just went to bed. Wouldn''t want to wake her up." With that the soldiers felt stupid, they had just heard this man play with a little girl for hours and they were pointing guns at him.
That was how he ended up rounding the corner at the end of the hall without them even noticing only for someone on the radio to snap them out of their thoughts. "Get a move on! He''s moving towards the central area, cut him off using the lift."
But when they got to the lift they saw the man causally stroll into the lift holding a mug of steaming coffee from the break room as he smiled like he worked there. "Hey." Then the doors shut in their faces.
The world wanted him to reach his destination. Thus it would help him out. It had been a long time since he had been a part of one of the world''s games. The excitement of it was fresh in his mind as he stepped out on the ground floor. Red lights and a screeching alarm greeted him.
He didn''t mind the way this meant he had no choice in his actions. The world sought balance so that meant he would be the most willing person to help the world.
However when he stopped it was in front of a heavy door labeled ''no entry'' with a sticker tacked on top of that saying ''EVER''
Miraculously the fact it was never opened once it was put up. let the rusted hinges break off and the door fell inwards. "That was already like that. I just touched it I swear." He looked around speaking to no one as he pointed into the open doorway.
no replay came and shrugging just stepped in.
2 - Chaos, Chaos Everywhere.
Inside the room was the strange sight of bare ground, grass growing next to a tree stump. He shed a tear seeing the spot. This tree was planted just before he set out on his journey and when he came back it was fully grown. It was that such tree that fed him while he contemplated.
Even though he knew that was the way of the world it still hurt seeing the passage of time. Even if the grass was exactly as he remembered.
Seating himself on the spot he sat so long ago he meditated. But in doing so the System was ejected from the location instantly clearing the storm outside. The system was frustrated with this Unknown Entity as it reached out and labeled the entire island as ''Nexus of Balance'' Strangely it found that Nexus was a designation it had, it was just rarely used. Never before had it been used on a world without magic.
But they were places that the energies of the world came together and back out again. The regulation for handling a nexus was to work around it, so finding nothing else to add to this Unknown Entities addition turns it''s attention into the next stage.
Prometheus wasn''t having an easy time of it. After promptly kicking out the system and looking out he found that this system was bigger than the world. It had the entire universe. This wasn''t just an otherworldly invasion, but rather another universe intruding. "No wonder my words to Lex didn''t have any repercussions. I was actually helping the world correct the balance and should have said more..."
He sighed at the way things turned out. There was nothing to be done, but ride out the storm. Both literal and figurative.
The System had started making moves now the last area of earth had been designated. He sighed as he realized the world had given up resisting and so sent him here while creating as much chaos for this new system as possible. A Nexus of balance couldn''t be destroyed by such a pure imbalance. It was one of the enigmatic mysteries balance can''t exist by itself it needs a little stir every once in a while. So the imbalance just helped it correcting the flood of chaotic energy the world was now letting out.
Breaking out of his meditation he saw the room had changed. Where as before it was just an unlit room now it was a much larger one and the old room walls were now glass or some other transparent material.
He looked through the glass. What he saw confused him. The massive imbalance of energies kept in order by the system letting them harness these energies without worry of suddenly combusting themselves or freezing their feet to the ground.
To him it just looked wrong. Like as if all his work at maintaining the balance of his life was just a joke.
The anomaly of him being awake must have been noticed. As soldiers strolled in. Different from last time. His mind stuttered a bit when he saw ten years had passed. The world kept him here for some reason. One or two years would have been enough but ten years? Something was strange about it.
But there was nothing to be done. It had happened. He stretched feeling hungry. "Hey, does this dome have any way to get food in? I''m hungry."
Then the man stood.
To the scientists it was like watching horror as the unchanging man who radiated no energy stood and spoke through a soundproof barrier the system labeled as a world barrier. And as the man''s hand stretched out and tapped the glass the world gave it''s last ''fuck you'' to the system by unleashing the ''Unknown Entity - Prometheus'' from the ''unbreakable'' prison it crafted around him.
There wasn''t an explosion that one could see but the world took on a fundamental more chaotic change when the Nexus of Balance was destroyed by the world itself.
And consequently that resulted in the unbreakable world barrier around Prometheus to shatter into dust and vanish. "Uhh- I swear that wasn''t me... I just touched it."
The precarious balance that the world had been spinning on top of for the past... ten thousand or so years had just been removed. And now we were a spinning ball that just fell off the metaphorical table.
Despite his words he was actually incredibly shocked. He didn''t know how the world did it, but the nexus of balance of the world was destroyed. A massive middle finger to the order brought by the system.
He let the swarm of magical soldier carry him away. Straight into an interrogation chamber. He sighed at the strange sensation of being the center of attention. In such a world of balanced extremes his own balanced calm was like a beacon.
Eventually they sent in the interrogator. Prometheus frowned at the mix of energies in this man. The order of the system evident but ontop of that even more order of his personality.
This was going to be a while...
"So... Prometheus." He waited, it was strange to hear someone address him by that name again after so long.
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"Everyone who called me that is long dead now, please just call me George."
The man apparently, trusted the system though and refused. "So, Prometheus. How exactly did you get out of your prison?"
"Well. I was dragged out."
The man frowned back at Prometheus. Apparently whatever he was fishing for it wasn''t that. "Just tell me how you destroyed the barrier that was set up by the system itself."
"I didn''t." Prometheus laughed inside. People like him were great to mess with.
Slapping the table he stood shouting at the unphased man. "Don''t give me that! That barrier was UNBREAKABLE! Nothing could have broken that."
Smiling the reply he got only infuriated him more. "And yet it broke still. Not very unbreakable..."
With that soldiers rushed in replacing the angry man with another less angry one.
This one seemed more flexible. He even brought doughnuts.
They smiled at each other for a long time no one saying anything. Until Prometheus looked around exaggeratingly and asked "Aren''t you supposed to have coffee for this?"
That one line was enough to let this man know he had no way to get anything out of him. So he just asked the questions.
"Alright. How did you get in here? Walked... Ok..." He wrote down every reply knowing that were all useless answers.
Many questioned passed until eventually they got to
"Did you speak to anyone?" Prometheus frowned. He had in fact talked to at least one person, a few if you count the simple greeting at the elevator.
But this let him know that these people. They weren''t the same guys that ran the facility when he started the meditation. Frowning at the man who looked up confused why the answers stopped coming.
With a serious look he spoke. "I did speak to someone. I wish to see her again. What was her name... Lucy? I think. She was Seven when I got here. We had an awesome tea party in her room with her stuffed animals for a few hours before I tucked her into bed."
This was useful to the interrogator. He was furiously writing this down. But stopped at the man''s next words. "No more questions will be answered until I speak to Lucy."
To his credit he tried to get him talk. But he wasn''t even getting his useless answers.
Frowning back at the serious Prometheus he shook his head.
Hours passed and no one else entered the room. The silence was broken by Prometheus speaking up. "I''ll tell you how the barrier broke if you bring Lucy here."
He smiled to himself watching them through the walls. But inside he was angry, he had a hunch and it wasn''t a pretty one.
These human''s weren''t from earth. That would explain the ones guy''s extreme trust in the system, he probably grew up with it.
It was confirmed when Lucy was brought in. She looked confused at being brought here but instantly recognized the man. "Ah! it''s you! George!"
She smiled at him but halted her smile as the system informed her of his identity. ''Unknown Entity - Prometheus''
He was looking at her energies. It was true. Those men, most of the soldiers were all not of this world. It was all there in her, that touch of the chaotic balance that had made up the world previously before the world was locked up.
Prometheus was contemplating, with the nexus of balance gone there was no place on earth that was free from the system now. The world was entirely gone in all it''s chaotic balance. Now it was replaced by the system. That got him thinking... He was free now to do whatever he wanted... No counter balance to his actions. That was why the world set him free now.
A little reminder to the world about being human. The last Center of balance that could never be turned over because there was no more balance to be had.
The shaky voice of Lucy sounded drawing Prometheus out of his thoughts. "You- You are. Him? The Prometheus?"
He smiled at her, mainly because of the frantic confusion of those behind the glass.
"That was a long time ago. Just call me George.... Coffee?" He was suddenly holding the glass out to her.
As a test to his theory he made a cup of Coffee. Generally if he had done this before it would resulted in a coffee that was literal poison to those who drank it. Not just Coffee, but anything he made.
He tried not to think about the time he gave someone and apple only for them to die in one bite. Or the stories that spawned from it saying that one apple killed so many.
But now it was coffee. Good old normal coffee.
To make it even funnier the System couldn''t even designate it as it was filled with his energy.
Lucy blankly took the cup and sat in the chair shaky. "But- You- How-"
"How old am I? Very. Now drink."
He watch the swirling balanced energies merge with her own. Strengthening both the System order energies and the chaotic power the world left everyone before it passed.
Her eyes widened as the system was telling her of the benefits of the drink.
Smiling at her Prometheus spoke. "Yes, it''s good no?"
However his smile dropped and he spoke quietly. "If I were you I would get off this island as quickly as possible. These guys are definitely up to no good." He saw the unconscious flex of her power, no doubt her power to see glimpses of the future gave her some vision at my words.
Taking that as a que she went to put the glass down but found that the cup never existed. So she just stood up and left accepting his warning.
"Alright, now your one piece of truthful information from me. I did not break the barrier. The world did."
The door burst open after his words the inflexible man was back. "That''s not possible the world can''t-"
A glare sent his way shut him up. "Of course the world can''t when it''s killed by your system. In it''s last act it destroyed the prison the system set up around me while I was meditating."
Prometheus stood. He was angry at everything, it felt like his closest friend had just died again. To that end for the first time in... how long? He used the powers to take that step outside.
It was a literal single step. As if the ground was already under his feet when he moved forward. He glanced back spotting Lucy making her own escape, the system giving order to the small flashes of futures she saw. To help her out with the escape he poked a finger in the air. From his gesture a camera that would be pointed in her path was now subtly facing a different direction letting her pass undetected.
With that Prometheus stopped flexing his powers and turned towards the sea, now calm with gentle waves beating on the shore.
The alarm in the compound sounded again but he was already walking the waves, he didn''t have the world''s balancing guidance to lead him. But he did have his own instinct for finding trouble right now that place was back at his house. He wondered if it would still be his? Or if someone had taken it and sold it in the last ten years he was gone.