#Nebulous | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

paranormalsaga · 15 days

Text

Nebulous (Chapter Two)

Nagode was off to an early start in the morning, so early he turned off his alarm before it was set to ring. Cleaning up his bedroom took much longer than he’d expected, but three hours later he had things mostly in order. At least as much as they could be. Last night had left his gaming console in ruins, along with his monitor. Thankfully, his laptop survived unscathed. He cooked oatmeal for breakfast, then used his employee discount to order a new bed frame and monitor from Atlas, they would arrive in twelve hours. Though he knew Allmart had an “All Time Low” deal going on that made it cheaper to get the gaming console from them.

This is why you’re broke, he thought to himself.

Unfortunately, he needed to pick up the console in person. He took the train and basked in the warmth of a summer morning in Neptune City. With no money to pay for an autonomous taxi, he had to walk the rest of the way to the store from a train stop. The streets were filled with pedestrians. Their expressions looked more absurd, almost as if he was hallucinating. He felt an urge to get away as he walked among them. This feeling had always been bad, but it was as if last night’s events had exacerbated things today. Something was different.

He walked into the gigantic, crowded store as stoically as possible and headed straight for the electronics department. A clerk would need to unlock the console from its glass case.

“Excuse me,” Nagode said to a clerk with their back turned to him. The employee appeared to be a young, balding man in his late twenties.

“Fuck off,” a man’s voice said.

Nagode looked around, bewildered. Where had that voice come from? He’d heard it as clearly as he would have if the person who spoke were standing right beside him.

“How can I help you sir?” The clerk asked as he turned around from what he’d been doing. It was the same voice, only now it matched the man’s distance.

Nagode took a second to collect himself, too confused to speak.

“I need you to unlock an item for me,” he said after an awkward silence. He guided the clerk to the console and waited for him to unlock it. Then they walked over to the cash register. While the clerk was ringing up the item, Nagode heard the same ominous voice from a few moments earlier.

“Is this guy dumb or something? Why does he look like that?” The clerk thought, and Nagode could hear it. He heard his voice even though his lips weren’t moving.

“You can pay now,” the clerk said aloud.

He tapped his phone for the mobile payment. As the clerk handed him his bag and receipt, Nagode became curious. He wondered…

“I can hear you.”

“What the fuck?” The clerk exclaimed as he jumped back in alarm, bumping into an open drawer. “How did you just do that?”

Nagode ignored him, he was already on his way out of the store, he’d learned what he needed to know.

…

“I’m serious dude, this isn’t bullshit.”

Jonah took a hit from his bong.

“So you’re like a Jedi or something?”

Nagode put his head in his hands.

“I’m serious,” he repeated. “Ever since last night, things have been weird. Remember when you came up to check on me? You know I’m not lying.”

“I know you think you’re not lying,” Jonah said as he put down the bong. “But what I heard last night doesn’t prove anything.”

Nagode realized what he needed to do.

“If you want me to believe you, use your ‘powers’ on me,” Jonah said, making air quotes.

The truth was that Nagode had been using his powers on Josh since he arrived back at the apartment. He used them to learn that Jonah was a lot more stressed about his grad program than he let on and that he was planning to have sex with their mutual friend, Emma, later tonight. However, as soon as Nagode told Jonah about this power, the voice switched off. Nagode couldn’t hear any of Jonah’s thoughts anymore.

“You’re going to Emma’s soon.”

“It doesn’t take a mindreader to know that much,” Jonah said with a cocky grin.

Nagode rolled his eyes. He considered bringing up grad school for a second but then decided against it. He would need to communicate his thoughts to Jonah to prove it instead.

“Don’t,” a voice bellowed inside Nagode’s mind, making him jump. He recognized that it belonged to the dark figure from last night.

“Dude, are you okay?” Jonah asked.

Nagode looked around himself frantically, and a concerned expression grew on Jonah’s face.

“Look, I think it might be time to seriously consider quitting your Atlas gig,” Jonah began. “I know you need the money, and earning it that way sounds nice in theory, but your schedule with the Nullifier is insane. Why do you think they use it in prisons? Why do you think people are fighting so hard to abolish it?”

“This isn’t about that,” Nagode said.

“Isn’t it? You say you’re hearing voices. Couldn’t it be possible that the implant is having damaging effects on you? You know, psychologically. I don’t trust that shit. I think you should quit.”

“I’m telling you the truth. I’m not crazy, I’m not hearing voices… Okay, well I am hearing voices, but that doesn’t make me crazy. There’s something strange going on here.”

“Look bro, I’ll be here for you when you get a grip, but I’m not indulging this.” Jonah picked up his house keys. “I’m gonna go do some errands, try to feel better, okay?”

“Is ‘some errands’ Emma?”

“‘Some errands’ is Emma,” Jonah responded without missing a beat. They both laughed.

…

It was hardly late by the time Nagode decided to go to bed, but he was too tired to care.

Then it happened again. As soon as he fell asleep, he was staring at his body as if he were a third-party observer, but everything in his room stood still this time. Even the hands on his clock were immobile.

The dark figure from the night before had returned. They raised their hand and ripped open the fabric of space itself. Nagode had trouble comprehending what exactly he was seeing. A large hole stood in his room where nothing but emptiness had been a moment before. There was endless blackness on the other side of it. The figure pulled him into the hole without even touching him.

When he passed through the other side of the portal, he noticed a cluster of black rocks floating beneath his feet. It was the only thing in the endless vacuum of space spread out in all directions. The figure hovered several feet away from him, cross-legged.

“Who are you?” Nagode asked.

“I am Annihilation,” the figure responded. It was the longest sentence they’d spoken thus far. “But you already know who I am. You’ve felt my presence all your life.”

“What do you mean? What’s going on? Why am I hearing all of these voices in my head? Where am I right now? What am I right now? Why did you bust my monitor-”

Annihilation raised their hand with enough authority to compel him to stop talking. Now that Nagode was getting a closer look at them, he could distinguish their features much more clearly. They wore simple white robes. He still couldn’t discern whether they were a man or a woman. Their bald head, tall stature, and broad shoulders hinted at masculinity, but their voice and beauty were so ethereal that he felt both possibilities were equally plausible. Their liquid black complexion and glowing eyes were so inhuman that it was too difficult to identify them with anything he’d ever seen.

“You are in the Psychic Realm, a dimension that exists beyond the boundaries of time and space. This is your home, our home, and now you’re ready to reclaim it,” they began as Nagode drew closer, stopping a few feet in front of them.

“You’ve already projected your psychic form into this dimension a few times before while you slept, but your mind was too weak back then.

"The voices you hear are not voices at all, but the psychic expressions of others. Every individual produces psychic expressions through mental events, even lower life forms, to some extent. However, human psychic expressions are infinitely more powerful due to their unique abilities. The concept of self and abstract thought distinguish human sentience from all others. Humanity’s communication of ideas is one of the most powerful forms of psychic expression in the cosmos. You are endowed with the gift of reading those psychic expressions.

“And that is not your only gift. I did not move any objects last night. You did. You possess the power to bring true peace to the universe.”

“What do you mean?”

“You understand what must be done, that we must relieve the universe from the burden of our existence, and you have the means to do it. I know you want to die painlessly, thinking about your loved ones, memories, and dreams. I know you want to be done with all of this. I know you because I am you. We are psychically connected. We are Annihilation.”

“Why me? Why do I have these powers?”

They paused, staring at him. He suddenly realized how faint he felt.

“Your mind cannot handle much more of this, you must return to your world.”

Another portal leading back to Nagode’s bedroom appeared to their right. Before he could say anything else, his psychic form was pulled through it and back into his body. He woke up covered in sweat. When he checked the time on his phone, he did a double-take. It was the same time it had been when Annihilation arrived.

…

“Got him.” Gadget said.

Battalion perked up.

“I spotted a mild flare-up near Ujamaatown earlier in the day, nothing too unusual, but then an hour ago there was another massive spike back in the same location as last night. Only this time I pinpointed where it was specifically coming from. Lord Properties, fifth floor, room 509,” Gadget said.

They were back in the research center, looking at live footage of the apartment building projected on one of Gadget’s screens.

“I accessed their records and identified the residents. Two roommates: Jonah Igwe and Nagode Tyjani, but I’ve confirmed that the source is Nagode. My drones recorded Jonah exiting the apartment building a little after 9 p.m., but the most recent psychic spike didn’t occur until an hour later when Nagode was the only person in the room.”

Battalion grinned as he looked at Nagode’s file displayed on another one of Gadget’s monitors. They had finally located another Paranormal Entity. Battalion knew that handling this would impress the Director.

Within an hour, Battalion stood in twelve locations surrounding Lord Properties, primed for a fight. One of those locations was outside a building next to the apartment complex. He looked up at it, then turned to Masquerade standing beside him. She was dressed in a dark stealth suit and armed to the teeth. Her golden eyes looked back at him.

She cocked her head slightly to the side.

“He’s awake, but he’s not doing much,” she reported. “He doesn’t know we’re here.”

“Okay, follow me in and stay hidden in case he tries anything.”

Masquerade nodded, and then she turned invisible.

They made their way toward Nagode’s apartment.

#paranormal saga #original fiction #original story #original character #superheroes #science fiction #fantasy #Nebulous #Battalion #Gadget #Masquerade #web series

3 notes · View notes

paranormalsaga · 2 days

Text

Nebulous (Chapter Four)

“Again.”

“I already told you everything I know,” Dayo said quickly. He bowed his bruised head further, he was stripped naked and strapped to a chair in a dim, concrete cell.

Indira glared down at him.

“I’ve said it a million times. We were driving away when we hit a checkpoint. The other guys tried to fight, I—I didn’t. Now I’m here.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me.”

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and quietly laughed. Her Ujamaan was shit.

Regardless, Indira knew she was close to the truth, it wouldn’t take much longer to break him. This could turn the tide in the Ujamaan War. She motioned to the Corinthian soldiers behind her and they rushed forward.

“No, please! Wait! I’ve told you everything, I swear!”

The men blindfolded Dayo and surrounded him from all sides. He thrashed about in anticipation of their attacks, powerless to stop them. A hand slapped him hard across the face, a fist dug into his ribs, and boots stomped on his bare feet.

“Help! Please, stop—” he broke off into unintelligible noises filled with pain.

Dayo was barely conscious by the time Indira told them to stop.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

The only response was his rasping breaths. Waterboarding would be more effective, but she worried about causing too much brain damage in the process.

They undid his blindfold and shoved his wife into the cell shortly afterward. She kneeled to the ground, quietly sobbing at the sight of her husband, naked and beaten, surrounded by those responsible. She looked at the pain in his eyes, reaching out to him with her hand.

One of the soldiers aimed a pistol at her head.

Both of Dayo’s eyes were swollen shut, but they widened as much as they could.

“I don’t think I need to explain what happens next if you don’t talk,” Indira said.

“We were planning an attack on the Colossus base,” he said, his head sunk.

Indira nodded. The Corinthians’ plan had worked even better than expected. They’d disseminated the schematics for a similar sort of attack, exposing their vulnerabilities so they’d suffer enough casualties to garner global sympathy without the actual risk of defeat. Yet the Black Brigades had grown even more ambitious than the Corinthian Security Force could have imagined. Attacking their biggest military base would be suicide for the Ujamaans.

Indira would have to redirect that ambition so things still went according to plan. She needed to prolong the Corinthians’ campaign, but this would end it altogether.

“When?” She snapped.

Dayo hesitated for a moment before the soldier pressed the gun to his wife’s temple.

“June 28th,” he relented. That gave her less than seven days.

Indira focused her cold stare back on Dayo, then turned it on his wife. She said something in English to the soldier with his gun drawn so the two of them wouldn’t understand.

The soldier bashed Dayo’s wife in the face with the butt of his gun. She crumpled to the floor, wailing and cradling her nose.

“Stop!” Dayo roared. “I’ve told you everything!”

The soldiers dragged her out of the cell.

Indira walked over, placing her hands on her knees so that her face was inches apart from Dayo’s.

“I know,” she hissed. “I just need you to know how much more painful things will be for her if you don’t do exactly as I say.”

By the time Indira finished explaining the plan, a frown spread across Dayo’s swollen face.

“I don’t understand,” Dayo said. “Why do you want us to attack you?”

Indira stood up, looking down at him again.

“Success requires sacrifice.”

…

Dante dove for cover behind a heap of rubble. It wasn’t much, but it was the best way to hide from the sentry gun’s line of fire in the barren desert. He was fifty miles outside the city of Colossus. The sun scorched any exposed skin and he was drenched in sweat. He was unarmed, but not defenseless.

The firing paused and Dante dashed straight for the gun. Then it resumed before he could make it more than halfway there.

.50 caliber bullets tore through his flesh. They didn’t tickle, but they didn’t stop him either. His wounds mended themselves almost as quickly as they were made. Soon the bullets couldn’t even penetrate his replenished exterior.

Dante wanted nothing more than to destroy the thing that brought him this much pain. He grit his teeth once he finally stood over the sentry gun. His first punch put a crater in its side. The next one shut the machine down altogether. He ripped it from its base and hurled it over a hundred feet.

The tank shell hit him from behind before he even heard it. Dante was sprawled on the ground, disemboweled and missing both his legs, but his healing factor went to work almost immediately. His reduced nociceptors couldn’t protect him from this amount of physical trauma. He got up and crawled through the sand to retrieve his missing limbs. Growing new ones would take too long. As he put himself back together, he could feel his body becoming harder, stronger, faster.

He stood up and stared down the tank. The barrel fixated on his location and hit nothing but sand and rocks by the time it fired. It shot at Dante several more times, but he could see each one coming, dodging them effortlessly. He closed the gap between himself and the war machine in under a minute. When he reached it, he lifted the tank, straining slightly under its weight, and threw it back down so it landed on its head. He ripped through its underbelly, bending the fortified steel with his bare hands until he made sure the control panel was destroyed.

Indira paused the enhanced footage of Dante’s display.

“That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of a Gladiator.”

She waited for the applause to die down before she continued, swapping eye contact with different faces in the meeting room just as she’d rehearsed.

“Some of you may find Corinthia’s current resources sufficient. You may think that you have already won the war. But the fact is that you are not just fighting against Ujamma, you’re fighting the entire world.

“Even in America, there are protesters who haven’t stepped foot in Ujamaa sympathizing with the terrorists that threaten your country’s very existence.”

Indira knew this would get their attention, she wanted her words to fuel their fervor.

“The United Republic of Corinthia has every right to defend itself, but it’s clear there are many who would happily revoke it. And why shouldn’t they feel this way when our media and institutions misinform them? The news refers to your actions as ‘genocide’ and those of the Ujamaans as an ‘uprising.’ Even the United Nations employs members of the Black Brigades.

“But the Gladiator Program will allow you to take back control of the narrative and end this war. The Black Brigades use civilians as human shields, there is no disputing that. Yet every second you waste attempting to parse through that distinction without suffering casualties only leads to the slaughter of innocents on both sides. If you had your own Gladiators, there is no shield known to man that could protect these terrorists. The Gladiator Program would end your war in a matter of days.”

The room erupted into even more applause, Indira put on a modest smile as she mouthed her thanks. She opened up the floor for questions.

Dante walked alongside Indira as she headed toward her car after the meeting, towering above her at over seven feet tall. He was an imposing mass of muscle in a military uniform that only Indira could command respect from.

“It was a nice speech,” he said. “But none of it will matter if we don’t figure out how to fix the rate of decay.”

“Fixing the rate of decay isn’t your job,” she said. “It’s mine.”

“And if I decay before you do that?”

“Then you’ll die a noble death, serving your country in the most honorable way. You knew the risks when you enlisted.”

“I know,” he said, nonplussed. “I just don’t want to die for nothing. Who knows if any of these Corinthians can match my kind of dedication.”

She stopped walking and turned to look up at him. Some cars driving by slowed to gawk at Dante’s hulking figure.

“We’re going to figure it out,” she promised. “Besides, we have more immediate problems. The Black Brigades are about to make their biggest mistake, and I’m going to need your help handling the aftermath. Everyone will. I know you wouldn’t trade your power for a hundred more years. You are a god.”

Dante saluted and bid her goodnight.

As Indira continued walking to her vehicle, she marveled at Colossus’ nightlife. This truly was a beautiful city, it was a shame that so much of it would be reduced to rubble in a few days.

#paranormal saga #original fiction #original story #original character #superheroes #science fiction #fantasy #web series #nebulous #battalion #gadget #masquerade

2 notes · View notes