Superluminal - The Dream - Vol 1 - Cover [https://www.rellawings.com/superluminal/New_Cover_2.2.1.jpg]
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For Sureia, my deceased love, as ever.
You will remain in my heart my whole life. May this story we’ve written together,
begun by you, live on in its reader’s hearts.
Let this be your greatest legacy.
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Born to a broken home, Leo Walker, a fan of his world's superheroes, tragically
loses his parents. If you mix in an S-ranked supervillain's superpowers into this
already volatile mix, is it inevitable that Leo becomes another villain?
A villainess seeks her rebirth. Will she tempt Leo to embrace the void?
Adding to this tangle, Leo suspects that he's actually a girl on the inside.
Thankfully, to balance things out, she has her loving Auntie Goonie and cousin
Quinn to guide her, albeit her new sister isn't exactly a role model.
She grows with their help to become who she was meant to become,
Leona Ramses, an active and courageous young woman.
While finding herself, she discovers love with a girl named Sarah Namias,
an irresistible catgirl. While she fills Leona's heart with love, Sarah's words
and actions mercilessly tie Leona's brain and guts into knots!
Meanwhile, far away from Earth, the entire universe is under siege by shadowy
other dimensional beings bent on changing it for the worse. There are many dots
to connect before this tale is over.
What form will they take?
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This story was conceived by my late fiancee, Sureia. She always wanted to be a published author, but more than anything else, a writer for comic companies like DC and Marvel. She loved superheroes more than anyone else.
The characters in this series are a mix of what she made and what I created. I believe we created an amazing story here that people might cherish as much as I do, so I've put a great deal of effort into polishing this over many years into what I'm posting on Royal Road today.
This is an edition of book one that was supposed to be published, but because of a series of rejections, I haven't had the motivation to post this. When I first posted it, the Royal Road staff (one person maybe) rejected it, thinking it would be a 'stub' when I intend to post the whole polished volume 1, the current best version of this first book in my series (I haven't completed such intense editing on any other of the following books yet).
When I submitted it last time earlier this year, they approved it while my attention was elsewhere and I lost a good opportunity to gain early traction and attention for this volume, having given up after a back-and-forth interaction that seemed to lead to nothing. My goal now is to get to trending on Royal Road if I'm able, but I know how difficult that can be. Even so, I want to try. Hence, I deleted that version and uploaded the new cover on this release that was completed since. Those who noticed and followed the previous version will have noticed this change.
I will monitor this story's status on Royal Road (to make sure of when it's approved) and following the successful reposting of chapter one, I'll release chapters two and three that day and resume posting the next few days and eventually settle into a weekly release schedule when it feels appropriate to do so.
Please share what you think of this story, and if you've read the original Scribblehub version (https://www.scribblehub.com/series/119592/superluminal/) I'd love to know if you feel this version shows improvement or not.
Thanks for reading!
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Prologue Arc [https://www.rellawings.com/superluminal/arcs/prologue.jpg]
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What is Love?
Chapter 01 [https://www.rellawings.com/superluminal/chapternum/chaphead_1.jpg]
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
“—Leo? ... Leo! Where are you?! ——Come out! It’s okay!”
A feminine voice echoed through a trash-strewn and abandoned home. She sounded gentle, but there was enough huskiness and an edge to her voice that, upon hearing it, one could easily imagine how tough she could be. When no answer came, the woman searched through the cluttered scene before her with a concerned and sorrow-filled expression. She rooted through the trash-filled living room with purposeful intent. But, after not finding what she’d hoped for, her lips curled downward and her anger flared. Avoiding the worst patches of filth, she lifted her dress’ skirt to look behind the rundown-looking furniture.
Still not finding anything, her shoes thumped against the hardwood floor as she moved on. One step resulted in a crunching sound as she tread on discards, the next brought forth a crinkling and the following, a wet squishing sound. The concerned aunt didn’t want to think about what might have produced such wet noises.
Desperation tightened its hold on her as she fled the living room, concluding that Leo wasn’t hiding in the refuse downstairs. With her heart hammering as she dashed through the hallway to the house’s stairway to call out again, “Leo! Please! Please answer me! I’m here for you!”
From the front door entrance, a young eight-year-old girl hesitantly stepped into the filthy home, tears filling her eyes. Chewing her lip as determination replaced the water in her eyes, the girl quiveringly said, “M-mom—I’ll help—”
The girl’s mother turned and sighed. “I know you didn’t want to come inside, but please check the rest of the downstairs for me. I’ll search above.” Her eyes fixed on her daughter.
“—leave it to me.” The sandy-blonde-haired girl nodded, gathering herself. She tiptoed into the living room to look around, her nose wrinkling as the fetid odors filling the home assailed her eyes and nostrils.
“Not there—I don’t think your cousin is there. Look in the other rooms,” the woman said as she started up the stairs that were, by some miracle, clear. She climbed up to the next floor where more detritus resumed and had to catch her breath. The miasma of the environment and the stress of the situation had far more to do with her erratic breathing than the exertion of the simple ascent.
Sighing again, she wiped her forehead. “Leo! Please! Auntie Goonie is here!”
This time, a small noise echoed from down the hallway, or at least so she thought.
Anxiously swallowing saliva, she kicked paper and bottles aside to wade through ankle-deep discards towards where she thought she had heard the noise. Her destination turned out to be the house’s master bedroom. More of that same unpleasant squishing sort of noise arose from her feet as she neared the door. With every step, her tension rose to new heights until she finally stood before it.
When she attempted to turn its knob, the blasted door wouldn’t budge. “Damn it!” she whispered, before raising her voice to deliver yet another desperate call, “LEO!”
Grunting, she set herself against the door more firmly now to force it open, but still it wouldn’t cooperate.
“Auntie—" a weak voice came from the other side.
Goonie gasped, now certain that she’d heard the goal of her search calling back to her. She grit her teeth and slammed her shoulder against the one thing that now stood between her and Leo. The backlash was going to leave a horrible bruise, but Goonie would not admit defeat.
Her shoulder slammed repeatedly against the door and as she struck it over and over, it creaked and screeched under her onslaught, but still held firm.
“Uw—aaaaaaaa!” Leo cried, his voice weak.
Goonie cursed loudly, “DAMN YOU, ALBERT! Quinn! Come upstairs! Be careful. I might have knocked some things down onto the stairs.”
“Coming!!!” With a clatter, she could hear the girl running through the trash below toward where the stairs led upward.
Goonie continued to ram her body against the door, but after only making some token progress, she knew it would be better to take a quick break.
Frustrated and sore, Goonie muttered, “We might have to call the police at this rate… I thought this would be simpler.”
“Shouldn’t we?” Quinn heaved a heavy breath as she hastily crested the stairs.
“We may have to, but not yet—” her mother responded.
“I’ll help then!” Quinn nodded and took a turn at throwing herself against the obstinate door.
Goonie smiled warmly at her daughter as a reward for her efforts. Despite the pain in her aged and aching shoulder, she wouldn’t allow herself to quit. Rubbing the sore spot and circling her arm to shirk off the pain long enough for another crack, she stepped forward to aid her little girl, “Let’s hit the door together on three.”
Quinn examined the door and tilted her head. “Is he really on the other side?”
Goonie replied, “Definitely. Now, let’s hurry!” Quinn squinted and nodded, steadying her breathing as she set herself.
“One, two——THREE!” The mother-daughter duo threw themselves at the door with renewed conviction. Goonie was a highly determined woman who led a healthy lifestyle and Quinn, while only eight years old, followed in her mother’s footsteps on top of being more fit, enjoying athletics at school. And although their initial charge hadn’t fully wrested the door open, the two were happy to hear their inanimate foe screech sharply in near-capitulation. “Again!”
During their next battering attempt, Quinn finally heard the frail voice of her cousin on the opposite side. Having received confirmation of his presence, Quinn doubled her efforts, filled with fresh determination.
The moment they collided with the solid door on their fifth attempt, it finally relented, the frame splintering from the force of their last charge. With a slam, the door opened so hard and fast that the knob embedded into the nearby drywall. The mother and daughter also helplessly tumbled into the rubbish laying beyond.
The two took a moment to gather themselves and witnessed countless cockroaches skittering away, their distinctive glistening black forms crawling through the mess towards new shelter.
When they crashed through, Goonie stumbled and collapsed into the semi-rotten mess, mostly empty liquor bottles and eaten microwavable dinner trays, while Quinn landed in the zone cleared by the door’s swing on her hands and knees. Tears poured from both of their eyes now that their goal was so near.
But Leo still wasn’t in sight. They’d both definitely heard him call out to them. Quinn, being the first to recover, scanned around and spotted a large chest in the center of the room. There was a padlock through the clasp, but she noticed that thankfully her uncle hadn’t the resolve to clasp it.
“H-help—please —"
Leo’s voice and sobbing reverberated from within the chest.
Goonie snarled and pushed herself to her feet. Quinn tossed a quick glance to her mother to check if she was okay before rushing ahead to the chest, kicking aside bottles and cockroaches alike. They cried out as Quinn wrenched the lock from its clasp and threw the lid open.
Shock filled Quinn’s expression as she laid eyes on her cousin, her heart trembling with a mixture of joy, guilt, relief, anger and pity. Goonie fought through the unique foul odor wafting out to reach into the chest and, with seeming supernatural gentleness and strength, lifted out the child from within. Wrapping her arms around him tightly, she started sobbing all over again with Leo.
“You’ll be okay now, Leo! Are you hurt?” Goonie embraced the boy tightly, but with great care.
Quinn looked up, her tears running across the cluttered and filthy carpet. “Cousin!” Reaching up to him, she patted his back while Leo sobbed and clung to his Auntie Goonie. The child’s stomach was growling so loudly the two could hear almost nothing else.
“Let’s get some food in you right away. After all, someone sounds very hungry.” Goonie held a still-crying Leo who was listlessly snuggling back.
“Can I stay with you tonight, Auntie?” Leo sniffled.
“No, Leo. If I have my way, you’ll be staying with us forever now.” The woman glared into the distance. “You’ll never have to face that kind of darkness again, Leo.” Goonie stroked the boy’s hair, swearing in her heart that he would never go hungry again.
Goonie started downstairs with the boy in her arms while Quinn angrily kicked an empty whiskey bottle away before running after.
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