章節 109: Headlines
Liam continued thinking about more possibilities for some time before he started feeling his stomach ache from hunger.
'Let's eat something first.' He thought, walking to his fridge.
After eating, he checked his phone and found out that it had been three full days since he had gone to sleep.
'The exhaustion really did a number on me,' Liam thought. 'I wonder how the Ancient One dealt with the aftermath.'
Liam reached for his laptop and started Googling. Typing in "Greece," hundreds of fresh news articles, debates, and speculations showed up in an instant.
'Wasn't the Ancient One supposed to take care of the aftermath?' Liam thought, reading the titles. 'Why is all of this still here?'
"Supernatural winged creature."
"Angels are back!"
"Massive walls stop landslide from reaching city."
All articles, debates, and speculations had one thing in common: the winged person with golden light around him who had created massive walls out of nowhere to protect a few cities from a massive landslide.
'The worst part is,' Liam thought, 'there's video proof of this happening.'
A few videos, without any context, had spread like wildfire right after Liam had vanished, sending chills to people all over the world. With it came disbelief and countless questions. In response, all the major news stations rushed to Greece and started interviewing witnesses and victims from Crete.
The witness interviews revealed many different perspectives. Most people believed Liam had saved their lives and were immensely thankful for what he had done. However, there were exceptions—those who hated him, not for stopping the landslide but for failing to prevent the earthquakes.
Many of these witnesses had lost family, friends, or others to the earthquakes and found it hard to accept that someone capable of such things hadn't intervened earlier.
People around the world reacted differently to the news reports with context and witness statements.
Despite all the proof, many people still couldn't believe that something like this could happen in real life. Others outright demonized him, either for failing to save more people or simply for having supernatural powers. Naturally, the majority of people fully supported the idea of a savior.
As for whether he was an actual angel, as most people from Crete claimed, or not, the global debate wasn't even close to nearing an end.
Despite the ongoing discussions and skepticism, the number of people joining churches worldwide increased by 80% on the first day after the event.
Most joined under a simple belief: "It wouldn't hurt if we made the wrong decision and nothing happens after joining, but it could make a difference if we made the right choice and it is indeed an angel."
Right after Liam had gone back, many countries had send over rescue workers in order to save people from rubble.Even now, these rescue workers were still working tirelessly to save people from the rubble.
At the same time, scientists had begun investigating what had actually happened to the mountain. The sudden creation of a volcano was something that had never happened before, after all.
'Such a shame,' Liam thought, reading the negative comments. 'I wish I could've saved more people too, but I gave it my all. I know most people won't see it that way, but I'll just have to ignore them.'
'This was the exact reason why I had expected the Ancient One to wipe all memories related to this,' he thought, deciding to visit her soon for an explanation.
There was one last thing that genuinely surprised Liam.
'No governments have stepped forward to say anything yet,' Liam thought. 'No explanation, no gratitude. But also, no one has asked me to surrender myself, no wanted posters, nothing.'
After thinking some more about the situation, Liam could also see a positive side to this making headlines.
''Maybe this publicity can be a good thing,'' Liam muttered. ''This can save me quite a lot of time when setting up my organization.''
After some more thought, Liam closed his laptop. Without wasting any more time, he left his room and headed straight for the Ancient One's meditation chamber.
The Ancient One opened her eyes as Liam let himself into the room.
''Good morning, young Liam,'' the Ancient One greeted him. ''I see you rested well.''
''Yes, I will admit that I needed it,'' Liam mused as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.
''It seems like resting also helped your body,'' she said, looking at his smaller horns and arm.
Liam nodded.
''Let's change the topic to the aftermath now,'' the Ancient One said. ''I can see that you have many questions.''
''Why did you not completely remove their memories regarding what happened?'' Liam asked.
''I did remove some of their memories,'' the Ancient One answered, smiling. ''I removed all information about the creatures that caused this.''
''Why remove the information about them but not me?'' Liam asked.
''I removed the existence of those beasts because they would sow fear and chaos,'' the Ancient One began. ''Humanity isn't ready to know the truth yet. Instead, they need to be gradually eased into it.''
''Starting with you,'' the Ancient One said, pointing at him. ''While Tony Stark started the Hero Era, you showed them an act that's completely beyond their perception.''
''Magic,'' Liam said, linking what the Ancient One's goal was.
"That's right,'' the Ancient One said. ''Over time, they will accept the notion of danger from magical creatures since they know magic exists.''
Liam accepted the situation. What the Ancient One had said made sense, after all. 'If people aren't eased into something like this, they will turn on each other and only cause chaos and destruction.'
The Ancient One and Liam talked some more about the aftermath before she changed focus to his changes.
''Now, as for your body,'' the Ancient One said, ''I would advise against using your armor until a few days after your horns are gone.''
''Don't worry, I wasn't planning to go out for the next period of time anyway,'' Liam said, thanking the Ancient One before leaving.
'Now, let's see what's next on the checklist,' Liam thought, creating a portal back to his room.
Before he made any plans, his mind went back to Illyana. While he had spoken to his grandfather quite often, he realized he hadn't seen Illyana since leaving her with the Ancient One quite some days ago.
'That'll go on the top of the checklist,' Liam thought. 'I wonder what she will say after seeing my horns.'
'After talking to her, I will have to test my new body again, and I need to go to Incursio's dimension to get some questions answered,' he thought.
Meanwhile, in a military base in the U.S.,
A general was finishing a phone call.
''Your requests have gone through, and the board has allowed you to capture your specimen and continue the experiments,'' someone on the other end of the line said.
''Don't worry—this will be the breakthrough the military, and America, needs.'' General Ross said as he put down the phone, ending the call.
''Bunch of hypocrites,'' General Ross cursed. ''I warned them these freaks would be a danger sooner rather than later.''
''And look where we are now,'' he cursed again, standing up and walking out of his office.
''It's time to go,'' General Ross told a commanding officer. ''We have a specimen to catch.''
章節 110: Illyana
Sweat started forming above Liam's eyebrows as he walked towards Illyana's room.
'I'm in deep trouble, aren't I?' Liam thought, remembering his last conversation with Illyana as he made his way through the corridors.
He had completely forgotten to visit her with all the testing and fighting he had been doing over the past few days, maybe even weeks.
'It feels weird,' Liam thought, smiling softly. 'Time passes by like a blur now whenever I train or fight. It never used to be like that.'
''I really must have changed, huh. Maybe I adapted to the harsher world around me, like Incursio,'' he mused as he arrived in front of Illyana's room.
Liam knocked on the door and waited. Not long after, he heard a click from the door as it opened.
Liam quickly stepped to the side as he saw a batch of dimensional energy shoot toward him.
Hearing a loud clang, Liam turned to see a round hole in the wall behind him. Flying through the hole from the other side was Lockheed, who had grown to twice its size in the time Liam hadn't seen him.
'Damn,' went through Liam's mind as he leaned back to see the hole in the wall behind Lockheed before looking over at Lockheed himself.
'These walls, even if they are just corridor walls, should be protected with a low amount of energy,' he thought, letting out a low whistle. 'Looks like Lockheed is going to catch a nice beating.'
Looking back into the room, Liam found Illyana sitting on her bed with her arms and legs crossed, staring at him.
''Heya,'' Liam said, waving his hand awkwardly.
''Looks like someone finally remembered where my room is, isn't that right, Lockheed?'' Illyana said in an angry tone with a perfect Russian accent.
Lockheed looked between Illyana and Liam, not knowing what to do, before quickly nodding.
Liam couldn't help but smile awkwardly while scratching the back of his head.
As he scratched his head, Illyana's eyes followed his hand, and her gaze fell on the top of Liam's head. Seeing his new appearance, she hopped off her bed and walked towards him in a fast pace.
''What are you doing?'' Liam asked as she closed the distance between them.
Ignoring Liam, she stood right in front of him. Reaching for the top of his head, her hands fell on his hair and slowly moved towards the horns as she mumbled something.
''What did you say?'' Liam asked, not at all feeling uncomfortable with what she was doing.
''Why did this happen?'' she asked in a lower tone than usual, pulling her hand away from his head.
''Can we go inside first? It's kind of a long story,'' Liam said, smiling.
He could hear the concern in her voice, making him feel genuine relief and happiness.
After walking in, they both sat down around her table on the right side of the room. Meanwhile, Lockheed closed its eyes, resting against Liam as it fell asleep.
Illyana looked at Liam with an expectant and concerned expression, wanting to know the answer to her earlier question. She had seen the news articles and knew he had been in Greece, but with so many fake news, she couldn't tell what exactly had happened.
''It's quite simple, actually,'' Liam mused, still smiling from ear to ear. ''I thought it would be an unfair advantage in appearance if you were the only one with such beautiful horns.''
Illyana's face went through many emotions in a split second—happiness, concern, sadness, gratitude, —but then she started frowning, anger beginning to show clearly on her face.
''Alright, alright,'' Liam quickly said before Illyana could say a word. ''It's a bit of a long story, but I'll start from the beginning.''
Having seen her quick changes in emotion, Liam decided to tell the full story immediately. If there was one thing his combined life experiences had taught him, it would be that a woman shouldn't be angered unnecessarily.
Liam started from the very beginning: his journey to Greece after learning of a large tear there, the encounter with the harpies, the dead town, the stone giant. He told his story exactly as it had happened. The only thing he barely spoke about was the pain he had felt, even leaving out entirely that he had lost an arm.
After he told his entire adventure to Illyana, silence fell over the room.
Illyana looked at him with relief that he was still alive, but also with deep concern. She was still worried about the horns he had grown, knowing what pain she had gone through when she grew her own. She understood the pain he must have endured, despite him not mentioning it.
It also didn't help that she had just read the books regarding corruption, given to her as some kind of homework by the Ancient One.
''But as you can see, I'm completely fine now,'' Liam said, trying to lighten the mood.
''Why?'' Illyana asked. ''Why do you go so far for these people?''
Many of the news reports she had read, cursed Liam for his actions and questioned his motives. She truly couldn't understand why he would go through so much pain to protect the cities around the mountain.
''Well…'' Liam said, contemplating for a moment. ''I am doing whatever I can to survive, but I think it's only right to protect people where and when I can.''
Liam paused for a moment, before continuing, ''I would've liked someone else to do the same if I were an ordinary person.''
Illyana looked at him in silence. After a short moment, she nodded, falling deep into her own thoughts.
She thought back to all her years in Limbo. Those years had taught her to always rely on herself. Since her time in Limbo, she had believed in herself alone, especially with the Dark Chylde side forcing her true emotions away. Only recently had she been able to open herself up to someone else.
Eventually, Illyana sighed softly, her expression shifting back to a happy one.
''So, what are you doing now?'' Liam asked.
''Just training my control over energy with the Ancient One,'' she said. ''Thanks to her, I can finally feel my own emotions again.''
''I no longer have the dark energy disrupting every emotion and causing my mood swings. I only rarely slip up and let it influence me now,'' she continued.
Illyana shared how the past couple of weeks had been for her, while Liam chatted along. Time passed quickly as the two of them kept talking for hours. Before Liam knew it, he realized he needed to end the conversation and continue with his next goal.
''So, what are you going to do now?'' Illyana asked as they both stood up.
''I'll be experimenting with my new powers, but after that, I will start my own organization,'' Liam said.
''Organization?'' Illyana asked, curious. ''What for?''
''Many things, mainly dealing with threats to this dimension. Like the Sanctum, but more known and widespread,'' Liam answered, while walking to the door.
''I'm in,'' Illyana immediately said from behind him.
''Are you sure?'' Liam asked, turning around. ''This will be dangerous, and this isn't even your own dimension.''
''Yes, I'm sure,'' Illyana said. ''I'm so sure, I even know that you will be taking me with you the next time you go to dimensional tears.''
Liam raised an eyebrow at that statement.
''I barely have any real attachments to my own dimension anyway,'' Illyana continued. ''And that is completely different in this one.''
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