The clouds didn't dare stand in his way. They paved the moment they felt him descend on them. His speed was impeccable, matching none other. His face squeezed into a frown as he caught sight of the projectile.
With a loud grunt, his palm shattered it on impact causing a great explosion. He stared once more at the earth.
"Even after leaving your planet, you still seek to destroy us..." He muttered. "I will not have mercy on any of you. Not a single one—"
He stopped. His eyes pierced through the atmosphere. He could see her. He watched her keenly. Something about her was new. Something he wasn't sure he's seen before. Her soul was void, but clean. She was hollow and still seeked to fill others.
He clenched his fists and closes his eyes. He became aware of something even someone like him was blinded of. He judged an entire race based on the actions of the ones who represented them. Just like they did.
If he carried out his plan, he'd only prove it right that they all were the same, but different. He wanted to prove otherwise.
He waved his arm horizontally, as if cutting through the air and the time halted. He pulses through the air once more, this time a lot faster than he should've. Shattering the ground he continued his descent until he broke into the earth's core. He watched it shatter.
He formed an orb in his palm—a blue orb radiating of immense light and power. He flew in through the hole he made in the core and gentle replaced it. Cracks began to appear on his skin and he found it hard to be stable in the air.
"As long as this code remains here, I can contain the extent of this planetary bomb," he said to himself. He watched at the wave of energy ascended above him in all directions. It moved through the earth itself with out destroying the rock.
"Now, it is time for you to choose," he closed his eyes.
________________________________________
Eleanor kept looking for a tent with some room for her to stay. The wind was angry and the rainy wouldn't stop wailing. The ground trembled occasionally and sometimes even cracked mildly. But for some reason, she wasn't scared. Perhaps she was too distracted by the sight of injured children and women.
She was walking through the camp when a little girl screamed. She turned her head to see a man pointing a shotgun at her head.
"Tell it to me child! Are you sick?!" He ordered.
Eleanor was about to move when an older woman tugged her shirt.
"It's not worth it," she said.
Eleanor stared blankly at her.
"That's the way it's done around here," she continued. "If you're sick, you die. There's not a enough space for us all. Sick people are deadweight."
Eleanor pulled her shirt off the woman's grip. "She's just a child," Eleanor said.
"I've warned you," the old woman replied.
"Let the child go!" Eleanor walked over to the man.
He turned and smacked the stock of the gun on her face. She flew to the ground bleeding from her nose. The people surrounded them.
"You may not know this woman, but I'm in charge of this entire shelter. So if I were you I'd sit back and—"
Eleanor sprung up and dashed towards the child. She gripped the girl in a warm embrace, her back facing the angry man.
The child threw her limbs around kicking and punching Eleanor. But she didn't let go.
"What're you doing?" The man asked her. He stared confused at Eleanor. "The child is sick, she's been coughing blood for several days. Get away from her and let me shoot her."
"She is but a child," Eleanor refuted. She whispered to the child. "What is your name?"
The girl stopped fighting her and dropped her hands. "Kimora..."
"That's a beautiful name."
"Why are you holding on to me?"
"I won't let him kill you."
"Then he'd kill us."
"Would you want to die alone, Kimora?"
Kimora raised her arms and hugged Eleanor tightly. "I don't know you...but thank you."
The man sighed. "Enough of this," he cocked the gun. Everyone just stared and did nothing. They just stared in pity. They were too scared to do anything.
Eleanor buried Kimora's head in her bosom.
The gun fired.
A few seconds passed, but she didn't feel the cold blood running down her body.
"RAISE YOUR HEAD, HUMAN."
"What?" Eleanor slowly raises her head. She jumped back as her eyes caught sight of a tall blue being with glowing bright blue tattoos all over its body. It was emanating a bright light with celestial sparkles across it's skin. It was frightening but beautiful.
"STAND. DO NOT BE AFRAID."
"What are you...? Are you Xanian?" She asked, still visibly shaking.
"CORRECT. INDEED I AM."
She looked around her and noticed that only her and this being was moving, everything else, inanimate.
"Why aren't they moving?" She asked. "What did you do?"
"RELAX. I SIMPLE FROZE THEM IN A FRAGMENT OF TIME. I ALLOWED THAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF YOU." He moved passed her. "WE DO NOT HAVE MUCH TIME. THERE IS A REASON I AM HERE WITH YOU."
"What would you possible want from me? Have I not suffered enough?"
"INDEED YOU HAVE, THAT IS WHY I CHOOSE YOU." He paused. "I INITIALLY WANTED TO WIPE YOIR PLANET OUT WITH A SINGLE BLOW. IT WOULD KILL ME BUT SAVE MY PEOPLE. YOU HUMANS ARE TOO VILE. BUT THEN, I SAW YOU. YOU WERE READY TO DIE FOR A CHILD THAT WAS NOT YOURS. SACRIFICE. WHY?"
Eleanor stared blankly.
"My 'people', killed my only son because he was half-Xanian," she replied.
He tilted his head to the side a bit. "A HALF-WIT?"
"When I saw this child, I felt responsible once more. If I couldn't protect mine, at least let me defend others."
Cosmic walked round and stopped in front of Kimora. He looked at the tears that were once in motion. He glanced at Eleanor.
"YOUR SON... YOU SAY HE'S HALF XANIAN?"
"Yes."
"THAT I HAVEN'T HEARD ABOUT. I NEVER IMAGINED IT WOULD COME ABOUT AS SUCCESSFUL. I'VE BELIEVED THE CHILD WOULD DIE DUE TO THE INCOMPATIBILITY OF THE HUMAN AND XANIAN BLOOD."
"He's no more. I have not a reason to live."
Eleanor sat down on the muddy ground. She stared blankly into the air. "So...what's stopping you from destroying us all? It's easier that way?" She asked, giving a weird smile.
Cosmic sat down beside her. "IN ALL OF MY DIVINE YEARS, I HAVE SEEN ONLY A FEW HUMANS CAPABLE OF DOING WHAT YOU JUST SHOWED ME."
She brushed his cheek with her finger. "You're not here, but I can feel you. How?"
"ONLY IN THIS FRACTION OF TIME. IF THE TIME WAS TO MOVE ONE MORE SECOND, I WOULD SEIZE TO EXIST."
"You must hurry then. But what is it you wish to ask me?"
Cosmic got up and stretched his hands towards her. She stared at his hand for a bit before grabbing it. She immediately started floating above the ground. She gasped a little.
"COME," he said.
They gently flew across the shelter and in hand.
"LOOK AT EVERYONE HERE," he begun, "I NEED YOU TO CHOOSE FIVE PEOPLE FROM THIS SHELTER."
"Why?"
He looked at her with a little frown on his face.
"You're going to exempt them?" She guessed. "You said you changed your mind from destroying the earth and my race...and now you're asking me to choose five people..."
She paused. Her grip on his large hand tightened.
"You're asking me to choose who lives."
He nodded.
She looked away and let go of his hands. But she remained afloat.
Realising her reaction, Cosmic spoke up. "I UNDERSTAND HOW YOU MUST FEEL. BUT THIS IS THE ONLY WAY. I CANNOT SAVE EVERYONE." He flew closer to her. "YOU SAID YOU HAVE NOT A SINGLE REASON TO LIVE ANYMORE. I AM GIVING YOU ONE NOW."
She stared at him with tears falling out of her eyes. "This is not fair. I have suffered too much to have this responsibility dumped on me."
"I WILL AID YOU."
She looked at him dumbfounded. He placed his hand on her head. She suddenly started to feel hot. She tried to push him off but he was to strong to move. She was much too frail. Her limbs stretched out at the pressure welled up in her head. She momentary lost her vision.
All she could see were fragments of what felt like memories. But they weren't hers. Was it his? She wondered. She had thought he was trying to kill her. She stopped resisting. Mainly because she was not strong enough to. Sparkles of bright blue circled the two as her eyes went white.
Flashes of white were the next thing she saw. But then, it stopped. She saw a boy run into her arms. She could feel his long hair brush against her arm as the wind flung it around.
She was in a white field. All the grasses and plants around her were white. The sky, dark blue in colour, stood out prominently. She stared.
"Eleanor."
She turned around. It was Cosmic.
"Cosmic?" She gasped.
"What're you doing out here?" He asked. He looked at the boy who was once in her arms, now in his. "Hey you," he said to the young boy.
"Father! Mother was about to show it to me," the boy excitedly said.
"Mother?" She looked at the boy keenly. He has no ears or a tail like her son. So what was he talking about?
"Egraiva? Are you okay?" Cosmic asked. [Pronounced i-grai-va].
"Egraiva?" Eleanor got more confused with every word they said.
The two stared at her.
Suddenly, she didn't need to ask anymore questions. She just knew. She just understood. She could comprehend what was happening.
It was simple: Cosmic had told her he was going to aid her. This was what he meant. He was either giving her one of his abilities, or blessing her with some kind of power. Whatever she was seeing now, was a fraction of a possible outcome. An outcome that could've only taken place in a different timeline. A timeline where she was married to Cosmic and they had a child. She was confused as to why this was even a timeline.
Perhaps her and Cosmic meeting was fate. Maybe it happened in every timeline. Only that in this one that was hers, she wasn't married to him.
"HUMAN," Cosmic called out.
She opened her eyes slowly. Her eyes met his.
"Cosmic..." She muttered.
She had realised that he never told her his name. But she knew it even in the little vision she just had. Her eyes roamed her body. There were strange markings covering her arms and wrists. Her skin had a white glow beneath it. She suddenly didn't feel so small and fragile. She felt above and superior to what she was before.
"I HAVE GIVEN YOU ONE OF MY MANY ABILITIES. THIS ONE I HAVE BLESSED YOU WITH IS ONE OF THE MOST USEFUL ONE."
"Omni," she said.
"ALL SEEING EYE, OR MINDS EYE."
She looked at him. "I make out different possible outcomes and with the passage of time, I would be eventually be able to see the last one. I can move through timelines too, can't I?" She looked at him closer, her eyes piercing into his. "We are destined to be together in each timeline."
Cosmic had only seen it before. Shortly after meeting her. There was something about meeting her. But he could no longer see it. He had given her one of his strongest powers.
"Time has run out, Gnaldesh of the Garden of Stars." [Pronounced nal-desh].
Cosmic smiled. "GOOD."
She flew towards Kimora and touched her. Kimora's skin shined with a bright light.
"HURRY," Cosmic urged her.
She moved further into the crowd and held the hands of a young boy. He lit up just like Kimora. She turned her head to a wounded woman. She felt her wound with her finger. She lit up right after.
She noticed another man behind the man firing the shotgun. He was frozen in the fraction of time her and Cosmic had been in for all this time. He was about running towards the man with the shotgun. Like he was going to attack him.
"Care," she muttered.
She stroked his cheek and just like the rest, he lit up.
Her eyes widened as she saw another man in a dark cloak. She could feel something from him. She flew to his face and tilted her head. She could see his bright red skin.
"Xanian?" She chuckled. "No. You're both aren't you? Just like my son..."
She removed his hood. "We all would reshape this earth."
He lit up right after.
Five people.
She looked back at Cosmic waiting for her.
"What am I?" She asked him.
"A BRIDGE. JUST LIKE THE ONE THAT YOU JUST TOUCHED," he answered.
"Like my son...?"
"YES."
"I am..." She flew higher, just a little more above the ground, "...neither a human, nor Xanian. I am...." She paused. She closed her eyes. She could see her son's blood on her hands in the rain.
"...a Nexus."
"YOU'RE GROWING FAST," Cosmic said. "THE TIME HAS COME."
She flew to him and wrapped her hands around his neck. She stared into his eyes. Her forehead gently rested on his.
"I will take this reason to live. This responsibility, I will carry it on my shoulders," she assured him. "Your sacrifice will not be in vain. Thank you...my love."
He slowly disintegrated into tiny particles. The cracks on his skin spread throughout his body.
The sound of glass shattering was heard next, as she watching his fly into the air.
A huge wave of radiation ran throughout the earth. Everything that was humane was extinguished. Everything but Eleanor and the five.
Kimora slowly opened her eyes. She stared as everyone had seemed to have vanished into thin air.
She looked at the other four people. They were as confused as the rest.
"What...?" The injured woman muttered. "What happened? Where's everyone?"
Kimora's eyes easily met the flying white bright object floating above them. "Eleanor...?" She gasped.
Eleanor gave her a hearty smile. She looked at the others. "Do not be afraid. You have been chosen out of billions, out of the entire earth. Raise your heads up high with pride. You've been chosen."
"What are you?" Kimora asked.
Eleanor chuckled. "I?" She flew to the ground. "I am a Nexus. Eleanor, the mother of all Nexuses, the mother of earth, the one awakened from the suffering of this soil. Earth's second chance."
"YOUR PLANET HAS BEEN SAVED. NOW, RIGHT THE WRONGS OF YOUR WORLD, CHOSEN ONE.
"I KNOW YOU CAN SEE IT. THAT BIG RED STAR, THAT WOULD BE THE ONE TO SURPASS YOU. TILL THAT ONE COMES TO DELIVER YOU, HOLD THIS WORLD TOGETHER."