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Delusions of Grandeur
I couldn't control my actions. It was like watching a movie play in my head, but I was in it. I could feel the surroundings, even Annabella's emotions. The young child, Annabella, slowly got up from the bed on the ground floor, made with thick blankets, and proceeded to open the worn-out wooden door. She could hear a commotion in the house, blending with the sound of the thundering storm.
"I can't take it anymore, Miguel! I won't go into that room again! Every time there's a little thunder, she summons a storm and shakes our house! She'll end up killing us one of these days!" The frantic, terrified voice of a woman echoed from a room not too far away.
"She's your problem, Lisa! That kid terrifies me! I'll keep saying it, that kid isn't mine. Never in my generation has something like this happened! It was because of your whoring around that God punished you!" The clinking of bottles could be heard as the man yelled, slurring his words.
"How many times do we have to go over this?! She's yours! And if God punished me in any way, it was being stuck with you! That's why I'm leaving!"
"Mom? Dad? The thunder is scaring me," young Annabella said as she entered the living room. The paint was completely peeled off, revealing the bricks underneath, and the floor was covered in dust and debris. The couch was severely damaged, and there was a tall table with mismatched chairs around it. Annabella noticed that Lisa, her mother, was packing clothes into a bag. "Are we going away?" she asked softly.
"You forgot to lock the door? Good luck trying to run away now," Miguel said, throwing the bottle in his hand into the corner of the room before heading to the kitchen to grab another one.
Lisa approached Annabella, forcing herself to be loving and patient. "Sweetie, go back to sleep. You know that the thunder gets worse when you're awake. You have to sleep."
"But you're going away without me?" Annabella asked as thunder clapped, causing the house to shake just as she jumped at the sound.
Lisa trembled, looking around at the shaking house, knowing it was her daughter causing it. "You have to go to sleep now!" she screamed at young Annabella.
Miguel had opened another beer bottle. "Come on, kid. Go back to sleep. Tomorrow everything will be back to normal, like always," he said, throwing himself onto the couch and chugging the beer.
Lisa grabbed Annabella by the hand and dragged her down the hall. "Go back to sleep!" she yelled, yanking her into the room at the end of the hall—Annabella's room.
Annabella quickly got up, but the door had already closed behind her. She heard the lock click into place. "Please, Mom! Don't leave me! What can I do to make you love me?!" Annabella yelled in desperation through the door, but all she heard back were the footsteps of her mother leaving.
"MOM!" Annabella yelled again, pounding on the wooden door, but there was no answer.
"... not going anywhere!" Annabella could hear muffled yelling from the living room as the thunder grew louder. Her anxiety and desperation escalated, making the house shake more violently.
"MOM! DAD!" Annabella kept screaming. The sound of the thunder, wind, rain, and yelling grew so loud, that even her head felt like it was about to burst. She closed her eyes and felt like she was floating in mid-air in the darkness as the world broke apart.
But I could still see it. From within her, millions or billions of invisible cells were spreading throughout the house, extending to the storm outside and manipulating it. I could see the cells inside Miguel and Lisa, making them feel the fear, anxiety, anguish, and abandonment that Annabella was experiencing. Their overwhelming fear made them stagger into the shaking house, which started to crumble. Lightning strikes fell all around, each roaring sound intensifying the quake.
They screamed, but their cries were silenced as the house collapsed around them. In the chaos, young Annabella lost within her mind, wished deeply to be loved and protected. She had always been captivated by the stories she read about Ellion and Ellara, two siblings against the world. She longed for an overprotective brother who would love her unconditionally.
And so, the invisible cells responded to her desperate wish, gathering around the remnants of Miguel and Lisa. From the flesh, blood, and shattered bones, they coalesced into one individual—the ideal big brother, born not of nature but of a child's broken heart. This creation resulted in... me.
Now, I could see from my perspective once again, reliving my oldest memories in the shattered remnants of our home. The dawn's light cast a harsh glare over the destruction. Broken furniture and scattered debris littered the ground, creating a haunting landscape of ruin. The smell of wet earth and dust filled the air, mingling with the metallic scent of blood.
I ran to where Annabella's room was supposed to be, praying she was unharmed. Behind a cracked wall, I found her cradled up on her bed on the floor, asleep with dried tears on her cheeks. She was miraculously untouched by the chaos around her. I rushed to her side and embraced her tightly, waking her suddenly.
"You're okay! I thought I lost you!" My voice broke with relief.
"Um, hey," Little Annabella responded cautiously.
"Do you know what happened? There was a freak storm last night, and it brought the house down! It's a miracle you're not hurt, Annie!" I said, wiping the dirt from her face.
"Thanks...? Who are you again, and where are my Mom and Dad?" Annabella asked as she stood up, squinting at the sunlight streaming through the broken ceiling. "Where is my roof? Or the whole house?" She looked around at the devastation.
"You must have hit your head or something, but it's me, Annie—your big brother, Ellion," I said, searching her head for any sign of injury but finding none.
"Big brother?! I have a big brother?! Yay!" Annabella's excitement burst forth as she jumped on me, hugging me tightly. Her small head pressed against my stomach, making it hard to breathe.
"Okay, Annie, I'm glad you remember me. But most of all, I'm glad you're okay." I smiled, holding her close. "Now, let's go look for Mom and Dad. If you're safe, they might have had a chance too."
Her face turned somber, and her lip pouted. "They're gone... They're not coming back," she said softly, kicking at a piece of rubble.
"Gone? What do you mean gone?" I asked, my heart sinking.
"I don't remember much of last night, but I do remember seeing Mom packing her things and wanting to run away, forcing me to go back to sleep. I must have dozed off, and they ran away while I slept. Abandoning us..."
"I don't know about that, Annie... But let's keep looking," I replied gently, offering my hand to her. She smiled widely and took it, and we began our search through the rubble for any sign of our parents.
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Annabella's horrifying scream snapped me back to the reality of the destroyed landscape, where we were held hostage by Davos disguised as Yelena in an Omni State. Annabella's eyes were wide and filled with tears as she relived her nightmare all over again. Her cries filled the air, raw and pained, tearing at my very soul.
But I was too lost in my head to react to Annabella's suffering. I was no one, I did not exist—I was merely the creation of Annabella's loss and desperate bid for comfort. My feelings, the sense of self I had clung to, all of it felt like a lie. I felt the pieces of my identity slipping away. This was it, this was my limit. I had no reason or longing to continue fighting. This life of constant battles, betrayals, and uncertainties had taken its toll on me. I did not want this life.
The world seemed to pause. Annabella, overwhelmed by the painful memories, lost consciousness, her body going limp on the ground. The sight of her falling would have once spurred me into action, but now, I felt nothing but numbing shock, a detachment from this world and the pain around me.
"What about me joining The Sunspears?" I asked Ivory, knowing I was part of some scheme of hers.
Ivory's face was still somber. "I saw what she was capable of and continued to watch her closely, but she was so happy being with you that she never again showed her powers. But I needed her to join me. I knew she would be a valuable member, so I asked to recruit you to get closer to her. I even tried giving you powers the first time we met, but nothing happened because your whole body is already made of Clemons Cells... I am sorry."
The group's initial outrage and barrage of insults directed at Ivory had dwindled to an uneasy silence. Betrayal and hurt were etched on every face, but Ivory seemed beyond responding. Her eyes were locked on Yelena, her gaze intense despite the clear danger she was in.
Yelena observed the scene with satisfaction, a sinister smile reflecting her enjoyment of our despair. "I gave you time to let out whatever you were feeling, hoping for some fiery spirit to emerge. But this?" She gestured broadly at the broken group. "This is just sad. Spirits broken, hearts torn... it's almost too easy now."
Yelena then turned her attention back to Ivory, her smile widening. "But I do love that glare of yours, Ivory. Let's see how long it lasts, shall we?" As she spoke, Ivory floated towards her, drawn by the magnetic field that Yelena controlled with a wave of her hand.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fabian walking past me, apparently having broken free from the icy prison we had thought would hold him. Without us maintaining it, it was easy for him to break out. But even this didn't stir me from my numbness. What was the point? We had lost.
Ivory's screams pierced the air as Yelena intensified the magnetism around her. She was suspended in mid-air, her body slowly compressing under the invisible force that wrapped around her like a constrictor. The sound of her agony should have spurred me to action, should have ignited the protective instinct that had always been a part of who I was—or who I thought I was.
But still, I did not move.
Yelena's laughter filled the air, devoid of any warmth. "Come on, Ivory, show me that spirit I've heard so much about," she taunted as Ivory continued to scream, her face contorted in pain. Even this horrific sight couldn't penetrate the fog in my thoughts. I felt hollow, like a ghost.
As the magnetic field tightened around her, Ivory's screams grew more desperate, more agonizing. Yelena continued to watch with an unfaltering smile.
And still, I did not move.
Fabian, who had been silent with a brooding presence, moved next to Yelena. When he turned around, his eyes were red, as if he'd been crying—a look I'd never seen before from him.
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Without warning, Fabian surged forward, his hands shooting out with ferocity. In one swift, brutal motion, he grabbed Yelena from behind, his fingers digging into her skull. Then, a sound that echoed like thunder roared through the air as he smashed Yelena's head into the ground, creating a massive crater that sent shockwaves rippling outward.
The impact was like the strike of a meteor. The ground beneath Yelena cracked and crumbled under the force. The clones of Jessie, which had been holding us in their grip, vanished instantly into tiny, sparkling white particles, dissipating into the air like mist.
The magnetic field that had imprisoned us disappeared, and we all fell to the ground. The sudden return to solid earth was disorienting, and we struggled to stand, our energy and will were nearly depleted after all the revelations.
Fabian hadn't stopped. He ran straight to me, his hand landing on my shoulder with urgency. His face was inches from mine, and in his eyes and voice, there was sincerity. "Ellion, you are real. Everything you've inspired in this team, the way you've pushed them to be better, it's all you. Your heart, your spirit, it's what changed my mind. It's what made me believe there was a different way to change things."
His words pierced the fog that had enveloped my mind. "It was stupid of you to hesitate when you had me encased. You would've noticed that I wasn't the real one and would've had time to save Jessie," Fabian continued, his tone serious now. "I know why you did it, I feel it now. When you stopped me, you didn't feel as if you stopped another one of the clones. No, you felt you stopped a friend. You recognized me as I recognized you. We've made each other real. And just like you, I am also being stupid and giving my friend one more chance to stand up and fight back."
Fabian stood, offering me his hand with a solemn nod. "Now, it's time to get up, Ellion. Your team, this island, they need you."
His words resonated within me, pulling back what I thought I lost in all the truth. The memories of the aftermath of the storm on the island flashed through my mind, the locals I had met and bonded with, and the help I had given. I thought of the smiles, the renewed hope, and the sense of community that had grown from the shared efforts to rebuild and recover.
I didn't know if all this could have happened without me, but what mattered was that I had been there and that I had made a difference when it counted. And I still needed to be there now, to ensure that the change we all fought for would come to pass. Vanity Island needed me.
I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet, feeling strength returning to my limbs and clarity to my thoughts. I met Fabian's gaze, and I felt purpose once again, just like that time on Amaracuya, where we both stood off against the USC.
No matter what truth lay in my past, the truth of who I was now was all that mattered. And this Ellion, real or not, was here to make a difference. And I would.
"You don't have much time, Ellion. You need to get moving now. There won't be a second chance," Fabian said with a firm voice.
I nodded and turned to Cristofer to ask him to get us out when I noticed he was already steps ahead of me. "I'm already on it, Ellion. I was on it while you were having your existential crisis," Cristofer said with a dead tone, his eyes and face red, not from blood but from holding back tears. I could see he was struggling not to break down and fall apart, pushing himself to get everyone out to safety, holding back his vengeful spirit. "I don't have much strength to move all at once, and they can't stay for long under the shadows or else they can suffocate, but I can do it one by one. I already sent Liam somewhere far away—he was in the worst shape. I'll do the same with the rest." The dark living tendrils extended from his body, spreading across the ground toward the rest of the team. The tendrils morphed into shadows that snaked around them—Braden, Owen, Ryan, and Daniella—wrapping around them with a gentle grip.
Another dark tendril reached out toward the debris that pinned Kyriah down, lifting the heavy pieces off her. She gasped for air, relief, and pain etched on her face as she was freed, though the metal bar still impaled her upper arm.
Cristofer's shadows began pulling each team member slowly through the darkness on the ground, transporting them beneath the ground, safely away from anything that might happen above.
Fabian watched this with a faint smile, then turned his attention back to me. "I am glad I could help you see that it doesn't matter where you came from or how you were created. If you exist in this world, then your mind and desires are as real and important as anyone else's," he said, looking down at me with a somber face.
As Braden and Owen held their breath as they were pulled into the safety of the shadows, leaving only a few of us still exposed, Fabian's expression grew more reflective. "I wish I could be there to see when you finally free the island," he murmured, his tone carrying a sense of finality.
My eyes narrowed, trying to discern his words of farewell, when suddenly the air behind Fabian began to shimmer with small white particles. The particles coalesced rapidly, forming the shape of a tall, broad-shouldered man with dark skin, bulging muscles with shimmering veins, dark-brown eyes, and long eyelashes—the real Davos. He stood there, a silent giant, even bigger than Fabian.
Before anyone could react, Davos placed his hand atop Fabian's head, and with a swift motion, he crushed it, splattering blood across my face and body. The shock of the warm blood on my skin held me in place, but even more disturbing was how quickly it evaporated, turning into the same small white particles that now filled the air.
Fabian's body began to dissipate, the particles erasing him from existence as if he were nothing more than a bad dream fading at dawn. My friend was gone. And Davos stood towering over the scene, his eyes briefly meeting mine before he spoke with chilling casualness. "I could've dissipated the Fabian clone without having to crush his head, but where would the fun in that be?" His voice was cold, and his smile broadened.
Anger flared within me at this callousness. Without thinking, I lunged at him, my emotions boiling over. But Davos remained unfazed, his smile still in place as he reached out to grab me.
Just as his hand was about to close around me, a pink blast of energy struck him squarely in the face. The energy immediately spread around his body, erasing it as it went through him, dissipating into the air like smoke in a breeze.
"Ellion, fall back!" I heard Kyriah's voice yell from behind me. She was running toward me with urgency. Her yell snapped me out of my brief, reckless charge, and I stumbled back, still reeling from Fabian's loss.
As I regained my footing, the magnetic field returned, its oppressive force spreading everywhere on us. But this time Kyriah was here to counter. With a concentrated effort, she formed a giant pink energy shield between the crater where Yelena had been and where Ivory lay, still curled in pain from the earlier magnetic assault.
The shield Kyriah created was a solid wall of erasure energy, spread around the sky and on the ground, effectively stopping the magnetic field from advancing further. "Cristofer, get this metal bar out of my arm, now!" she yelled, her voice strained with pain but fierce with determination.
Cristofer extended his shadows toward Kyriah, the dark tendrils gently but swiftly wrapping around the metal bar impaling her arm. With a precise movement, he extracted the bar, eliciting a sharp gasp of pain from Kyriah as the metal slid free from her arm.
From the crater, Yelena emerged once again, floating with an eerie grace. Her face, twisted into a sinister smile, was bloodied and covered with open wounds that began to heal almost instantaneously. Within moments, the gruesome injuries vanished, replaced by her usual menacing expression. She hovered in the air, chuckling darkly.
"Well, Ellion, I must say I'm impressed," Yelena said, her voice dripping with mock admiration. "To think you could change Fabian's mind. Meaning that by changing his mind, you basically changed mine... And you changed it so much that you convinced me to betray myself. That's quite the feat." She looked at me with intrigue. "As you saw with Fabian, my plan is not evil; it is to unite the world to be a better place with better-minded people. We're all too diverse, we all want different things, and that's fine, but straying too far from each other will inevitably end in extinction. Either in a war with ourselves due to our differences, or because we never evolve to our prime self. Either way, nature wins. But with people like you in this new world, we can change it for the better! We can talk and reach agreements, not force peace. If we all had the same common sense, I am sure we would thrive. This might not be the way Fabian wanted, but it's your same end goal to be united as one. Now, join me or die, Ellion. I'll only ask this once."
"You think yourself so superior, but you don't even know the answer to a simple question like that," I replied with a smirk on my lips, trying to mask the turmoil within. "Seems Fabian was smarter than you after all."
"So be it," Yelena said coldly as dozens of Davos' clones began to materialize out of thin air. The clones, tall, broad-shouldered, and menacing, advanced with synchronized steps, their eyes fixed on us with predatory intent. She then shifted her gaze to Kyriah, who was focusing on maintaining the erasure shield and energy around us. "I wonder, Kyriah if you're going to risk their lives over their powers? You can't beat me without erasing their powers too," she taunted.
One of the Davos clones stretched his hand toward Ryan, who was almost safely through Cristofer's shadow on the ground, but Cristofer reacted quickly, his shadows emerging to intercept the clone. They writhed and fought, pushing back against the advancing clones.
Meanwhile, Kyriah's focus split. Using her weak left arm, she maintained the shield, and with her right arm, she blasted her pink energy at the Davos clones. Her face was strained with effort, but she kept her resolve up.
As the battle raged around me, my attention was drawn to Ivory, who was still lying on the ground, now surrounded by the Davos clones. One of the clones grabbed her by the leg and began to lift her, her cries of pain cutting through the noise of the fight.
I couldn't let her be taken. Even after everything she did, I was not going to turn into a vengeful man. I rushed forward, the ice flaring to life in my hands. The absence of the magnetic field, thanks to Kyriah's erasure energy, made the clones easier to handle. They lacked the oppressive force that had held us down before.
I darted through the fray, ice forming at my fingertips and shooting out in precise blasts. Each hit slowed the clones' movements, as the cold encased them. I managed to reach Ivory. The clone holding her up had its grip tight around her leg. I directed a stream of ice toward the clone's arm, freezing it solid. Then, I struck it, cutting through the frozen limb, shattering it, and freeing Ivory from its grasp. I managed to catch her before she fell and helped her up.
"Ellion!..." Ivory said with soft surprise. It seemed she did not expect anyone to come to save her.
I carried Ivory, her arm slung over my shoulder, as we faced a horde of Davos clones standing between us and Cristofer. "Can you teleport?" I asked Ivory with a worried voice.
She shook her head weakly. "I can't do it without losing consciousness. I can barely stand."
The clones lunged at us, their hands stretching out like grasping shadows. Panic surged within me, but before I could react, a blast of pink energy shot past us, erasing the clones in one powerful burst. The energy blast was so close it nearly hit us.
I turned to look back at Kyriah, who was struggling to maintain the pink energy shield. It faltered for a second, her struggle evident, but she managed to hold it back. Her face was pale, and the small hole in her upper arm was making it harder for her to move, only able to slowly move the lower part of her arm, sending excruciating pain to her nerves each time she moved.
Just as quickly as the clones were erased, small white particles began to form in the air, coalescing into more clones. It was a never-ending cycle, a relentless resurgence.
Cristofer, still battling on the other side, was furiously fighting his way towards us. His shadows lashed out at the clones, each tendril snapping like a whip. "I have to go soon to free the others from the shadows, or else they'll suffocate!"
I looked up, assessing the situation. Jumping was out of the question; Kyriah's erasure energy, which contained the magnetic field, filled the air above us. One touch could erase our powers, leaving us vulnerable and powerless.
We were trapped, the path to safety blocked by a sea of enemies that seemed endless. With the clones closing in, I knew Ivory had to go and leave me behind; there was no other way. "Ivory, you need to teleport out of here," I said urgently. "Teleport alone. I know it drains more if you take both of us, but you just need to teleport to where Cristofer is."
Ivory's face twisted with refusal. "No, Ellion. I won't leave you behind."
"There's no time to argue," I insisted, my tone firm. "I'll give you support from here, but you have to go. We both won't make it if you don't." Ivory looked at me with pleading eyes, but mine did not waver.
The clones rushed in, and I created two ice walls to momentarily block them. "Go!" I shouted. Ivory hesitated for a split second before teleporting quickly to Cristofer.
Ivory reappeared and fell to the ground, losing consciousness not too far from where Cristofer was, but beyond the clones surrounding us. Cristofer's shadows enveloped him and Ivory, slowly sucking them into the shadows beneath the ground. "Survive!" Cristofer shouted to me before disappearing completely.
I braced myself, ready to fend off the next wave of clones when sudden blasts of pink energy erupted around me. The intensity of the erasure energy that surrounded us surged, expanding the shields that Kyriah had created. The shield grew larger and stronger, rushing forward with an unstoppable force toward Yelena, who was still floating in mid-air.
Yelena's eyes widened in panic as she saw the wave of pink energy barreling toward her. She quickly summoned dozens of clones around her, trying to use them as a buffer, their combined magnetic fields creating a protective barrier. But the pink energy wave passed through the clones like they were nothing, erasing them on contact. The clones disintegrated into hundreds of tiny particles of light, dissipating into the air.
As the last of the clones and the erasure energy vanished, she fell from the sky, plummeting to the ground with a resounding crash.
Yelena, without any magnetic field, stood up quickly. She looked at Kyriah and let out a laugh, the sound echoing across the battlefield. "It seems the real battle is about to begin!" she shouted, her tone filled with excitement.
Kyriah's response was calm, her voice steady and serious. "It won't be much of a battle now that I can get loose, I assure you that," she said, her eyes locking onto Yelena with a deadly resolve.
A massive rush of pink energy waves began to emerge, swirling around Kyriah. The energy surrounded her, creating a formidable aura that pulsed with raw power. Her expression signaled her intent to end this battle once and for all.