I haven’t had the opportunity to see Mythos,

or any of his creations. But from what I heard,

they may hold the secret to the cultural

development of potens’ abilities.

-Richard J. Richter, from the Colorado University

Ludwig felt the cold water as he poured it on his face.

He had sweated in his sleep. Probably due to the thick blankets and the activity his body had seen the prior night.

Ludwig was able to see some of the bruises in his stomach.

He wasn’t making this easier for himself. He was going from beating to beating.

The only good thing about that night had been that Ludwig got a taste of what a street fight was. Not because it had been a pleasant experience, but because it would help him in the future. The beating he had received had been good in a weird way. There weren't going to be any rules in the fight that he was expecting. After all, he was going to commit a serious crime.

The beast inside stirred in his sleep.

The beating also meant that he wasn’t ready in the slightest. He would have to train more, as well as needing to throw himself in similar situations. Inside a safe space, of course.

Ludwig still felt the pain on his back.

He might be able to arrange something with Logan. A session of self defense against multiple opponents could convince him.

Ludwig then went downstairs to the empty first floor.

Laura had already left for work. She’d been annoyed the past week for something related to it. What did she do, again? Something in finance? He would have her remind him when she arrived. He should also ask how she was feeling. It would be nice to help her at least in something after all she had done for him. That and not being a prick.

Ludwig sighed.

He then went to the kitchen to make breakfast. He gave a sidelong glance to the clock on the oven, slash frier, slash barbecue, which marked half past nine, at the same time as he grabbed a loaf of bread and put it in the toaster, which had twelve different options for toasting. He selected the normal one.

The current companies sure liked to cramp things up. Though he had to admit that it had started well before.

The ‘future’ technology hadn’t changed a lot from his time. Sure, there were phones which could fold on themselves, phones that could attach to other phones, making them look like some kind of toy, and phones that could extend even more than before, all with even smarter AI’s, that had even more realistic voices and ways of expressing themselves. Millions of new apps. Millions of new things to do with your phone. But there wasn’t really that much innovating.

Ludwig had expected something crazy like Internet Two.

In fact, the only major change that he could appreciate was the accessibility that new technology came with. Things that had been tedious, annoying, or simply stupid… Weren’t anymore. Which somehow felt… Wrong. Shouldn’t old people struggle with new technology? Or, did that mean that Ludwig was still young at heart?

The toaster rang as it launched the bread upwards. Ludwig grabbed it and added some ham and a slice of tomato which he had just cut, before putting in his mouth. Tasty. Before he realized, he had already eaten the small meal.

A light breakfast didn’t fill a lot. But eating too much would surely guarantee that at any point in his session, Ludwig would throw up.

He then put his gloves, his training bandages, a snack, and a bottle of water inside his backpack. Ludwig grabbed his phone, wallet, and keys, which Laura gave him a couple of days ago, and left for the gym.

(Ludwig,) Wagner reverberated.

He stopped at the door, surprised by the call.

“W-What?”

Wagner had been silent since Ludwig had woken up an hour ago, which wasn’t the usual. It would normally start talking to him after he had gone to the bathroom, asking him some sort of thought he had had during the night.

Apparently, Wagner wasn’t able to sleep. Not that it needed it to, but Wagner going to bed would mean a cerebral failure that would surely kill Ludwig, due to it being literally fused with his brain. That revelation had taken sleep away from him for a couple of nights.

(Go to the forest behind the house.)

“Why?” Ludwig said with a confused tone.

(Please, head over to the forest from behind. I’ll explain eventually,) Wagner thrummed, almost as if it were whispering.

Confused, Ludwig followed the indications.

The training sessions at the gym were long enough that it didn’t matter if he arrived fifteen minutes late. Besides, he didn’t have an established entry hour.

Ludiwg surrounded the house and got to the forest behind it in a couple of minutes.

He then touched some of the numerous trees as he passed them by. The ground of the forest was uneven, and filled with tiny rocks and discontinuous patches of grass. Above him was a sea of green, brown, and orange leaves, flowing like waves due to the light breeze that pushed the air.

As he caressed them, Ludwig felt robust trunks. The trees were also tall, ascending from the ground and reaching heights of five or six meters tall.

Ludwig soon encountered a lonely tree in the midst of his walk.

There wasn’t another one close to it in a radius of six meters. It wasn’t the tallest, nor the biggest, or even the greenest of the trees. Yet it stood there, completely straight, looking like it almost had a high demeanor, even though it lacked every human feature. Like it was the king of the forest.

“What are we doing here?” Ludwig asked as he still looked at the tree.

(Research.)

“Research?” Ludwig said, disconcerted. “About what?” He then inquired as he began to walk around the forest.

(Your Gate.)

Ludwig stopped, making some of the leaves below him crackle.

“What about it?”

(...What?) Wagner thrummed confused.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“I mean… Why do you want to research it?”

(Ah. Because we have yet to understand it.)

“What else is to understand about it? It allows me to make threads that I can control. Modify some of its characteristics, including the color and transparency of the strings. And… Make them… Stronger? I think we already know quite a lot of them.”

(But there’s… Something else.)

“What?”

(I… Don’t know.)

“Then how do you know there’s something else?”

(Because I can feel it. There’s something… More. Your Gate resembled it.)

“In what way?” Ludwig said, beginning to get frustrated by the repetitive ambiguity of the subject.

(Well… Mmh… How can I express it…?)

Wagner did that usually. Trying to find words to express the thoughts or concepts it had in its mind. It seems it didn’t fully master verbal languages. But, how then…?

“Wagner, you didn’t express ideas with this language when you were first…. Borned, right?”

It reverberated, distracted by his thoughts.

(Ah. That’s correct. I used my telepathy to communicate the concepts I wanted to express. Although I’m trying to-)

“Then how did you learn it?” Ludwig asked, intrigued.

Wagner thrummed like it was a sigh.

(I first started to learn it while we were in the hospital. Or was it earlier…? Dog?… Anyways. I heard the voices that came in through the halls. It was very hard to understand it that way.)

“Why?”

(Because they used the same words with a lot of different meanings. It was confusing.)

“Oh.”

It made sense. Ludwig guessed that communicating through a verbal language was way more multifaceted than a language based on unique concepts and meanings.

(But then, you bought those books… And it was easier to learn from them.)

That last phrase had been injected with the most annoyance and anger he had ever heard from Wagner.

“You okay?”

(It’s… Nothing.)

Ludwig supposed Wagner hadn’t told many lies during his life. It was very bad at them.

“And how were the books any better?”

(Because reading made you think deeper about the concepts encapsulated by the words. It was easier to learn due to our connection.)

“Mmh…Wait, now that I think about it, you didn’t communicate with me like this the first time. Why? I’m sure you could have spoken to me when we were…”

The beast inside began to awaken.

“... Fighting her.”

(That… I… Don’t know. I wasn’t sure how to begin… I wasn’t supposed to… It was…Give me some time before I can explain it to you.)

Supposed to…? Was Wagner not supposed to… Talk to him? Why? Was it under some kind of rules or orders? But why would it follow them? He didn’t know a lot of Wagner… In fact, he knew nothing of it. What was he referring to?

Ludwig will have it continue later.

“Fine,” Ludwig said, trying to repress his curiosity. “Do you at least know how to express the thing from before? About my Gate?”

(Yes,) Wagner reverberated after a long pause. (Imagine your Gate as a door.)

“Oookay,” Ludwig said, somewhat surprised by the direction the conversation had taken.

Ludwig then closed his eyes.

“Got it.”

(A normal Gate looks like an average door. There’s a lot of variety within them. Someone may have a door made out of stone, another one made out of crystal, and a different one from the previous two made out of wood. Even though the doors are different, they follow some kind of logic with themselves. If they’re made out of wood, there’s a high chance that it leads to a forest, a garden, or something similar.)

“Seems reasonable,” Ludwig remarked.

(Now. Your door is a special case. It is still a door, and does the function of one, letting in the Void from the other side, but it's weird. It’s like it had been made from various chunks coming from different doors. Like if it had one third made out of glass, another third made out of stone, and the last third was made out of wood.)

“Hmm…”

Ludwig was imagining an average rectangular door made out of blocks of glass, stone, and wood. All connected by something he couldn’t decide on.

(Since it is made out of different chunks, it may hold a relation to different things. But due to it being such a weird amalgamation, I don’t know what any of it means.)

Ludwig opened his eyes.

“So you don’t know what my Gates offers… How did you know about the ’big’ threads, then?”

(I didn’t know about their existence. During your battle…)

Wagner stopped for a moment, still conflicted by his recent thoughts.

(Something clicked,) Wagner then finally said. (Our connection… The Void showed it to me. Although I don’t know why…)

“Let me get this straight,” Ludwig then cut in. “You gave me powers, which you do not know how’d they work. Seems pretty irresponsibly to me,” Ludwig jokingly said.

(Do humans know the reason behind every one of their actions?) Wagner annoyingly thrummed.

“Touché.”

(...What does that mean?)

”That you’re right.”

(I didn’t make a statement,) Wagner reverberated before a long silence was put between them.

Ludwig began to walk around the trees while inhaling deep breaths. He did it for five minutes. Ten. Fifteen. And soon he realized he had been walking across the forest for forty five minutes, once he saw one of the coasts of Expansion Valley.

The waves hit the rocks as they were launched forward, to then quietly retire to the deep and blue sea where they came from. He had started the day going to the gym, and now here he was, at the coast considering existential doubts.

What Wagner had just told him had been… Well, not weird since super powers were now quite common. He would have never thought that his life would turn out this way. Yet, this was now his normal.

But… It was hard to imagine. Maybe he was indeed an old man. Everything seemed… Like it was a dream. Had he left his coma? Or was he still in it?

Ludwig then remembered the beatings and broken bones.

No. This was real.

“Why did you bring me here?” He then finally said.

(Because there wouldn’t be people out here. You wouldn’t have to feel shame here.)

“Shame?” Ludwig asked, surprised. ”About what?”

(Your Gate.)

“Who says I’m ashamed of my powers?”

Wagner buzzed confused.

(Don’t people hide things when they're ashamed of them?)

“Yes. But that’s not my case.”

Wagner then thrummed in awe.

(Then why do you hide it?)

“Because the mere fact that people know that I have powers is dangerous.”

(Why?)

“Because they would know my identity,” Ludwig said, as if it was something obvious.

(And that…)

“That…Wait, I’m not a hero or a villain. Why do I hide it?”

Wagner reverberated as something crossed its mind.

(Let me get this straight,) Wagner then thought. (You kept your Gate hidden, and you don’t know why?)

Ludwig gave out a tiny chuckle followed by a sigh.

“And one last thing. Why did you want to research that ‘missing something’ of my Gate?”

(I thought that it could hold some facet that would be useful in combat, since you didn’t use it in the fight from yesterday.)

Ludwig then nodded to himself.

He had forgotten.

The day he used his threads to fight had been the first and last time. They had been helpful, yet he didn’t give him as much attention as they should get. He had focused on the physical side of things. On getting his body back in shape. Maybe deep down he still rejected the change and the new things that it brought…

Ludwig looked at his hand, a yellow string pulling out from it. He then pinched it with his index and his thumb.

Dad…

He then sighed.

“So, to research my Gate we probably need to experiment and use it, right?”

(Yes… Since I doubt we can find any information elsewhere.)

“You underestimate the Internet,” Ludwig said as he turned around and headed back to the forest.

He then clasps his hands together.

“Welp, let’s do some research.”