Blackened wood splintered in the face of the rising tempest of lumencloud that writhed across the stage. Starmetal weapons clashed time and time against his light enhanced lumencloud armor and weapons. Space distorted and warped as it bent under the collision of their wills. Eli stepped out of the way of the whipping flail. Radiant lumencloud gathered as he narrowed his arm into a blunt hammer spiked at the end.
He ripped through voidspace as he rammed the hammer into the Starwraith's skull. Plate snapped under impact as the Starwraith twisted space around so he hit himself. Armor flexed as the enchantments repaired the damage. Galaxies spun as the celestial bodies in the Starwraith's eyes flared with brilliance. It opened its skeletal mouth as starlight sparkled off its perfect teeth.
Eli struggled to free himself as the Starwraith grabbed and lifted him by the shoulder as the flail reshaped itself into a short dagger with a brutish tip. Voidspace battered at the Starwraith's grasp on space as Eli tried to flee while the Starwraith turned space into a prison. Starmetal shone as it punched through lumencloud plate to pierce into his ribcage.
Blood flowed in prismatic rivulets as the dagger tore deeper, closer to his radiant kidneys.
Warlock's Sanctum inflated his mind with knowledge of the metal composed from the idea starlight superimposed over metal. A copy of it was consumed by his power, as a plinth displayed a replica of the blade. Even while he bled jets of radiance, Lumencloud Revivification and Body of Light filled him with strength.
Voidspace Horizon and Warlock's Sanctum condense space along his knuckles as he slammed his armored fist into its sternum. Bone cracked with a spray of starlight and heat as rays of chaotic ultraviolet and infrared seared through his armor into his radiant body. He winced as used all his might to keep the Starwraith from using its blade to mince more of his organs. Its fingers split through the plate over his shoulder as it squeezed his shoulder with a pop of fractured, hard light.
Eli hammered his fist against it again and again while he pushed against the Starwraith's hand with the dagger. Agony boiled in his deteriorating body as Body of Light failed to absorb more than trace amounts of the infrared and ultraviolet radiation. Luminescent flesh sizzled as the visible light was overwhelmed by the sheer radiation. Starmetal sliced a few centimeters deeper while Eli's stores of light drained to heal him.
The Starwraith spoke in guttural tones of fluctuating space and searing starlight. It darted closer as it chomped on the side of his partially radiant throat. Streams of voidspace swirled out of the empty space in Eli's body as it chewed.
Eli roared with rage as struggled feebly as his control over voidspace slipped, securing him in a prison of the Starwraith's control. He tugged on Body of Light to plead it to charge with non-visible light, and it was unyielding. Warlock's Sanctum categorized and tallied the mounting buildup of lethal infrared and ultraviolet radiation as light shone into his vault, but he couldn't store enough to prevent damage.
Starlight incisors tore into the meat of his throat again as he thrashed.
He reabsorbed his lumencloud armor with a wince as the world spun on its axis. Smears of light doubled in his vision with shades of red-orange as color leeched out of the caged stage. Eli recreated another suit of armor to push back the Starwraith's assault. Its plates full of billowing clouds of light solidified vibrated with shades of warm infrared and damaging ultraviolet.
Teeth pinched against his throat, unable to penetrate as Eli guided and assimilated the light as he refined his lumencloud with more and more of the light spectrum. Warlock's Sanctum enchanted his lumencloud constructs even as it filtered into his body and adapted it. Molded and strengthened it as Body of Light and Lumencloud Revivification didn't just synergize, but harmonized.
Eli rammed his hands into the Starwraith's sternum with a blast of concentrated light, knocking it back. Radiant blood, pulped meat, and scraps of glowing skin splattered through the air and dribbled out of its skeletal mouth as it flipped to land on its feet. Lumencloud swirled from the devastated crater in his throat and the gash in his side before it reconstructed the damage and healed it without a trace of damage.
Furious howls bellowed out of the Starwraith's mouth as orbs of starlight beaded and condensed into the shape of a massive blade.
Eli weaved Warlock's Sanctum and Lumencloud Revivification together as he layered his lumencloud armor with summoned copies of the starmetal and then absorbed it repeatedly until his armor blazed a seething bloodied orange. He tilted his head while he studied the winding path of the consumed voidspace as it funneled into the expanse of the Starwraith's ribcage. Hairline fractures and chipped bone sealed with starlight.
It lunged toward him in a slow dive as its blade cleaved through the air toward his head.
He spun out of the way as he rotated his hips and charged his fist with radiance with Body of Light and Lumencloud Revivification.
Eli nailed the Starwraith right in its bloodied jaw with an explosion of light as brittle bones crunched with grating pops. Space unfolded with a snap as the Starwraith shot into the brick wall. He glanced down at his hand with mild concern from the sound and feeling of overwhelmed bone. His hand was fine.
Bones creaked as the Starwraith wobbled to its feet. Half of its skull shattered into jagged edges, its neck broken at an odd angle of bent vertebrae. Sludge dripped out of its eviscerated eye socket as the galaxy in that eye dimmed. It took a single step before Eli leaped forward faster than he could've teleported. Eli jabbed his other radiant hand in-between its ribs into the unfathomable depths in its ribcage, where its void hungered. It resisted him, but was powerless as he weaved radiance from Body of Light into Voidspace Horizon and Warlock's Sanctum, as he compressed the gaping impossibility of its chest cavity into a spatial bubble that he crushed in his fist.
Starlight faded from its incandescent bones as the Starwraith's skeleton disintegrated into dust.
Eli ignored the flood of notifications that begged to sweep across his vision as he turned to the clamorous applause of the audience as he hopped off the now barrier-free stage.
"Wasn't that a show, ladies and gentlemen? Give it up for Starbreaker's brother... Starcrusher!" Zach crowed as he lifted Eli's right hand over their heads to shake it, to the crowd's delight. Eli blinked at the teeming mass of people. Nearly every table and seat was full, with plenty of people standing at the back. Screens of inky darkness floated around the courtyard and bar, showing his blank face. He looked again with shock at the sudden changes in his appearance.
Vibrancy almost glowed from the gray depths of his eyes and he'd grown almost an inch or two. Muscles rippled from the oversaturation and integration of infrared and ultraviolet light into Lumencloud Revivification and then Body of Light. Maeve sidled up to them while Zach continued to pump Eli's hand over the crowd as he praised the way Eli turned the fight around. How he had let them and the Starwraith think it had him dead to rights before he pulverized it.
"... then Starcrusher hit it with a vicious left hook that shook the stage with explosions! You all saw it! One of the best fights ever held at Specter's Bar and Grill! Let's hear it again for the rise of our newest star, Starcrusher!"
"Actually," Eli interrupted with a sharp wave of his hands before the applause started. "I'd rather not be called Starcrusher."
"Oh? What name would you prefer?" Zach's eyes glittered while he smirked at Eli.
"I'll go by Pulsar." He smiled, then nodded at Maeve before he teleported himself out of the alleyway at the same time Maeve disappeared in a flash of black-and-white.
"Nice flair of theatrics." Maeve nodded at him from the rooftop he'd teleported to a block away. "What'd you get?"
"It was quite the haul." Eli grinned at the wall of text before he glanced at Maeve's face. Worry twisted her expression. "What's wrong?"
"I know you're not him, but... you look like him now. There are moments that you even act like Herbert. It's... really fucking with me." She shook her head. "I don't know how I feel about this. Before, I thought it'd be okay to have you live his life to prevent any damage, but I'm not sure now."
"Yeah, but I don't want to be kidnapped by your government and forced to grind my powers until I can lead your military into my dimension to plunder it." Eli crossed his arms in front of his now unarmored chest. He hadn't noticed, but the fight had shredded his clothes and nothing he had stored fit right. Lumencloud spooled around the tightness of his shirt before it solidified into cloth as he outfitted himself into a near identical outfit with guidance from Warlock's Sanctum. "Plus, he's taken over my life too. I'm doing him a favor by keeping it from falling apart."
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"Are you?" Maeve raised her eyebrow. "From what you've said, it hasn't even been a week and you don't exactly have a handle on your own life either. Yeah, no. I don't like this anymore."
"So... what does that mean?" Eli clenched his fists under his folded arms as irritation flashed in the pit of his stomach.
"I'm fine with you finishing out his school year, but... I don't think you should take his place. No matter what my parents say, don't come home. You will tell them the truth too. I won't allow you to lie to them and pretend to be Herbert."
"I wasn't planning on it." Eli frowned even as his gut twisted. He felt like he had finally started to belong somewhere. Maeve understood him more than Lana or Lyra ever had, and now she was going to cast him aside? He had loved the past week. Delving was everything he had ever dreamed of. College was hard, but he was starting to love the depth of knowledge he and Roman were discovering about this world. And Herbert's friends felt like they were becoming his friends.
They understood his melancholy and fierce determination in a way no one else had back home where everyone kept him at arm’s length.
"Are you sure? You seem pretty upset."
"I'm fine." Eli snapped as heat flushed along his skin. "You have nothing to worry about."
"I know I don't." Maeve narrowed her eyes at him. "I'll help you get home so we can get Herbert and Romulus back, but you aren't taking over. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"I'm serious, Elias. Distance yourself from Herbert's life. I'll cover for you with Mom and Dad while you focus on finishing out the freshman year strong. You won't steal his friends, won't try to date whoever you were talking to in Herbert's place, and you will not steal my brother's dream from him. I enjoyed training you over the day, but... after watching you fight almost like him, well, it was too much. I expect you to have this figured out by the Tri-Delve Cup in June. After finals, tell the truth to my parents."
Maeve disappeared as she planeshifted without him.
Eli paced on the suddenly very empty rooftop as guilt warred with the anger that threatened to blaze in his stomach. He felt so confused and out of sorts. He understood why she got upset, but didn't she understand how little choice he had? It wasn't like he had asked to be here or had come here out of spite.
"Okay, Eli, no whining." He muttered to himself while he strode across the rooftop to leap over the edge. Lumencloud stirred beneath him to soften the impact before he started walking back to the campus. He texted Roman that he was on the way back and that he'd explain when he got home. There weren't any texts from Hazel which hurt and irritated him more. It wasn't as if he had intentionally stolen Herbert's life or anything. They had just been dropped here. This world hardly had anyone with spatial powers like theirs. Didn't she understand that?
Eli squeezed his eyes shut with a wince as he took a deep breath and checked his notifications to distract himself from the chaotic whirlwind of thoughts. He needed to think about something else a bit before he had to talk to Roman and explain everything. After a second, he willed the system to condense his list of level ups down to simplify things a bit.
Spectral Starmetal Ev. 1/Lv. 6 Starwraith Spatiomancy Ev. 2/Lv. 3 Starlight Conjuration Ev. 0/Lv. 4 You may now select from one of the following options: Siphon Power Experience Gain a Power Perk Obtain Power from the Conquered > While Eli walked and occasionally used Voidspace Horizon to skip a few blocks, he checked the offered powers while he struggled to decide what he'd want to take. Spectral Starmetal wasn't even worth consideration. Warlock's Sanctum let him create, enchant, and modify it as it was. Sure, it would never fully match up, but for his purposes, it was plenty. Starlight Conjuration was the weakest, but it'd be the best if he wanted a simple star oriented power for Voidspace Horizon. Especially if he was going to recycle it. However, Starwraith Spatiomancy could be a perfect option if he wanted to work on Voidspace Horizon and that together to push to max them out. From his research both here and back home, evo-2 powers could take anywhere from a couple of months to a year to max out. It wouldn't be the best option, but technically, he could kill spawn and farm them for experience so he could grind out levels before merging them. He had a feeling that it'd work, but it could be a waste. He'd lose a lot of customization if he took that path, especially since he did want to recycle Voidspace Horizon anyway before eventually slotting it into Will. It depended on what he wanted out of his Will stat and Voidspace Horizon in general, though. If he took Starlight Conjuration, it would let him push it and whatever he merged it with, so it would fit in the best way possible. With how pushing Lumencloud Revivification to use more than visible light helped stretch Body of Light, he knew merging this with Voidspace Horizon would help him use light with all his powers. Especially if he wanted to merge Warlock's Sanctum with Voidspace Horizon at some point. Eli glanced over the offered powers one more time before accepting Starlight Conjuration and prompting Voidspace Horizon to recycle with a widening grin. Note: This option will be available if declined> Starlight Conjuration Ev. 0 Nullspace Horizon Ev. 0 Would you like to equip it? Y/N> Nullspace yawned around him differently than voidspace. His perception burrowed deeper into the gaps between each floating point in his ever larger spatial field. Seams stretched around him as he felt the areas where space naturally wanted to expand or shrink. Voidspace had been all about the absence of the void merged with the pure concept of relative space. While nullspace took that idea and seemed to expand on it greatly with the consumed Subspace perk as a bridge between them. Eli reached out to grasp the spatial bubbles in his old dimension. He felt the warren of jarring angles and vectors snake away into a vanishing point that he still couldn't penetrate through. But now he could feel it. He continued to poke and prod at the nullspace around him as he tried to figure out how its twists and turns. After about fifteen minutes of wrangling with it, he stretched out his spatial field to prepare a chain of teleports to take him back. Corridors of nullspace darted through and under regular space before Anchora University's campus beckoned on the other side of his spatial field. It was dim and hazy, but he felt it with more clarity as he let his spatial field around his immediate surroundings unfocus. Sidewalks sprawled as they led deeper past the boundary onto campus. Bushes and other shrubbery rooted on either side in a natural fence. He stepped halfway across town in a single teleport. A few minutes later, he reached his, no, Herbert's dorm. "Jesus Christ, I thought she killed you or something!" Roman shouted once Eli stepped through the door. Heaps of in progress tech were scattered around Roman who sat next to his bed. Warlock's Sanctum buzzed with offerings of knowledge as he walked deeper into the room. Roman waved his arm over a partially assembled vambrace built itself under its own accord. A fleet of enchantments sparked through it and programmed task after task into it. Hardening, self-repair, fitting, and linkage enchantments took root. "No. She trained me for a bit then set up a fight for me to get a power from a spawn, a Starwraith." Eli hopped onto his bed with a sigh. "After that she went a bit crazy about how I need to figure out how to get us home fast and that she'd watch me to make sure I didn't steal her brother's life for real." Roman frowned at him. "I mean, Eli, she does have a point. You know, you've settled in a little too well." "Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Eli laid back as he stuck his hand into nullspace right at the nexus where it intersected with Warlock's Sanctum. He swapped out Lumencloud Revivification with Starlight Conjuration and nudged it with a simple push. Motes of light sparked around his hand as it rotated in swirling bands. "I think I'm getting closer, but this world has so much knowledge and it's... it's just better than ours." "We don't belong here. We're tourists here." Roman snorted as he attached the vambrace to a mechanical gauntlet. "Do you really want to run away from everything back home, just because?" "It's not really running away." Eli glanced at him with a frown. "Our world is fine. It's boring and it's a bit precarious. Things might go scary and it might not, but it's not really home. Especially if I could take people with us to this dimension or another one. I'm sure there are countless worlds we could explore. Imagine how many powers we could get, how much we could see, how much we could learn..." "You really think people will want to leave everything behind?" Roman's words seemed to choke in his throat as he tossed the mechanical armor arm to the side. "I want to go home, Eli! It's been almost a week and I'm stuck here if you can't figure this out. I've been distracting myself with Romulus's life while I take notes for his classes, peek at his builds and learn how to improve myself and my tech, I've loved meeting Jane, Gerald, and Lacey is surprisingly okay to talk to once you past her brisk nature, but... they aren't my friends. They're his. And I hate that Theo isn't here. That I may never see my parents again. That I'm at this college and city that doesn't even exist back home and not at New Faram University." Roman stomped across the room into the bathroom, where he shut the door with a firm snap. Water gushed from the faucet, barely drowning out the sounds of Roman crying. Eli took a deep breath as he withdrew his starlit hand out of nullspace, shedding rays of red light across the room before he stored it in Warlock's Sanctum. He teleported out of bed as he stepped out into the dorm hall. Thoughts whirled around his head as he walked down the hall to climb the stairs to the next floor. He typed out a message to Hazel where he admitted every gristly detail before he deleted it all to ask if she was awake instead. His phone buzzed almost immediately with her response. He stepped out in front of her door with his hands in an improvised hoodie he made out of copied lumencloud threaded with starmetal using Warlock's Sanctum. It was surprisingly comfortable. "Hey." Hazel croaked as she stepped out from her dorm room with her roommate Cassidy standing in the hallway, where she glared at Eli over Hazel's shoulder. "Where do you want to do this?" "Rooftop?" Eli suggested while he poked his finger nervously into nullspace. "Might as well." Hazel slumped with a sigh as they walked toward the stairs in silence. After a few dozen steps, she blurted out, "Are you breaking up with me?" "Not really..." Eli winced, took a deep breath, then admitted the truth. "We never really dated because I'm not actually Herbert. My name is Elias Newton and I'm from another dimension."