104 Retrograde (1/2)
A black void. Floating within the void was Ed's unconscious soul, which was orbiting around his 7-colored mana-core. However, there was a new addition to his mana-core. A very slight trace of purple had appeared on top of it. The other 7 colors met together atop the core, merging into the tiny purple spot.
A large mass of golden light peacefully circled around the mana-core. A single speck of the golden light struggled fiercely, attempting to leave the mass. Again, and again it failed, only to rest a bit and try again. Finally, it broke free. It shot towards Ed's soul, stopping just in front of it.
”Oy! Wake up!” The golden light yelled. Slowly, the golden light transformed into a handsome man with curly hair, a long beard, and sideburns. It was Mayor Mick! He struggled to reach his hand towards Ed, as if some invisible force was holding him back. Finally, he flicked his finger and succeeded in tapping Ed on the forehead. Ding! It sounded like a bell being rung as a ring of golden light briefly flickered into existence before disappearing. A new crack appeared on the forehead of Ed's soul, coexisting with the two previous soul cracks.
Ed's eyes shot open, briefly glancing at his mana-core and Mayor Mick. Then, he vanished.
...
”Ugh...” Ed groaned as he groggily woke up. He rubbed his eyes to try and relieve his throbbing headache. Blinking several times, he took in his surroundings. He was completely nude, and he was in a small dark cavern. There was barely enough room to stand up. The only path available to him was a winding tunnel with flickering purple light. Throwing away the question of why he was naked, he cautiously made his way towards the light.
”The fuck?!” He exclaimed in shock as he rounded the corner. In front of him was a sea of purple lightning. It was reminiscent of the Atlanta nightmare attack, except for the lightning being purple instead of silver. 'How the hell did I get here?' He wondered as a shiver travelled down his spine. That lightning would absolutely obliterate him to ash if he tried passing through it. Turning back the way he came, he examined the rest of the tunnel and cavern carefully, but there really were no other paths.
He frowned as he sat down. 'I need to calm down and think.' He sighed as he closed his eyes. 'I remember fighting Samantha... Right, I should have collapsed afterwards. After that? A vague dream about a river and a lion?' He shook his head, struggling to recall the dream. Unfortunately, it slipped away from his memories just as quickly as it came. 'What else?' His frown deepened as he struggled to remember. 'The Mayor of Orlando? Did he help me wake up? And my mana-core, why was there purple mixed into it?'
Having collected his thoughts, Ed opened his eyes and stood up. His body transformed into his crocodilian form, including the claws, tail, and fangs. He looked down at his hands. 'Seems like I've fully converted. Probably 99.7% mutant flesh by now. I can hardly be considered human anymore.' He looked at the sea of lightning in front of him. It was in plasma form with a wall of lightning perpetually covering the sky above it. Not even the cavern ceiling was visible due to the mass lightning blocking his vision. Hesitation appeared on his face as he slowly reached his left hand forward, curious to see if his body could handle even the slightest trace of the overwhelming power.
”AGH!” He jumped back, gripping his wrist in pain. His hand was nowhere to be seen, not even the ash remained. ”HOW THE FUCK DID I GET HERE?!” He couldn't help but to curse aloud, angrily slamming his foot into the nearby cavern wall. He paced back and forth while thinking, occasionally throwing a tail lash towards the cavern wall to relieve his frustrations.
'Damn! This would be so easy if I could use my powers!' Instinctively, he attempted using his powers. A tiny purple glow appeared on his fingertip, flickering like a dying candle about to be blown out by the wind. 'What?!' He stared at his finger, stupefied by the light covering it. His concentration wavered, and the light vanished.
'A purple light?' He frowned as he rubbed his chin. 'The slight trade of purple I saw on my mana-core?' Suddenly, a flash of memory streaked past, and he remembered swallowing a purple orb within his dreams. 'I ate a purple mana-core?! I'm lucky I'm not dead, but how did I absorb its power?' He had read journals before on people trying to absorb the power of mana-cores. Hell, he had experimented with it himself on test subjects. The result? Instant death unless used for extremely careful repairs on mana-cores.
Once again, he started pacing back and forth. 'Can anyone absorb purple mana-cores? Or am I unique in that regard because of my mutant flesh? Tai had mentioned the cores being extremely valuable. Is this why? I've already theorized that the purple smoke and lava are related to the strengthening of esper bodies down here. Is the purple mana-core also related to that? Where does manullium fit into the equation? The purple smoke seemed similar to manullium, but the lava directly melted manullium into nothing? The two substances are clearly different, but how?'
His questions soon turned to frustration as he had no answers. 'I need test subjects and test materials!' His eyes glowed with a mix of desire and madness as he briefly forgot about his more pressing predicament of being trapped. Quickly recovering, he glared at the wall of lightning. 'I made it here somehow, so I should be able to make it back. There are two possibilities. One, the sea of lightning is a temporary existence that comes and goes over time. Two, I unconsciously controlled the purple mana somehow to break through the sea of lighting.'
Not wanting to waste any time, he sat down and got to work training the new mana. If his regular mana was like a vast ocean, then his new purple mana was like a single drop within it. It was practically nonexistent, making it so that it took multiple tries to get the small purple glow to appear.
Days passed. His right hand healed due to his mutant flesh. The small purple glow now encompassed his entire finger. He slowly pushed his finger forward into the wall of lightning, and he remained completely unharmed. It seemed that his purple mana was fully capable of protecting him from the violent energies. However, his total amount of purple mana hadn't changed at all. He sighed while staring at the purple glow. 'I can't increase the amount of purple mana. Is it like how I can't train my normal mana down here? Or does is it just work that way in general?' The only method he had was to constantly improve his control over the insignificant amount of purple mana. He needed to make it thin enough to cover his entire body so that he could escape. Unfortunately, it grew increasingly difficult to spread the mana thinner over wider portions of his body.
The days turned into weeks, and the weeks into months. Interestingly, Ed did not grow hungry during this time. It seemed that the small trace of purple mana provided the energy his body needed, and after all this time, he had finally succeeded in covering his entire body with it. 'Time to leave.' He grinned as he confidently stepped towards the sea of lightning. His entire body submerged into the plasma, completely unharmed.