PART 5
Mystic Man is Isaac Eckspo. He has a plethora of powers including superhuman strength, durability, flight, energy projection, and teleportation. He can teleport to any place in our known universe. Everywhere except one.
The Crab Nebula is known amongst humanity. Long thought to be the remnants of a supernova, no one, not even Mystic Man, know what truly lies inside this beautiful space cloud.
Today, you will learn of a secret, powerful society within the Milky Way galaxy. One that has watched, grown, and flourished in the past thousand years. But as with all societies, they’ve reached a crossroads. A moment in time is upon them, and for the first time ever, witness the epic tale of a family divided. An empire in turmoil. And it all started with Mystic Man.
LAST TIME
Now that we know a little bit more about Simon, it’s time to learn a bit about another Seleste royal family member. Sarah has been the quietest in the story so far. Her siblings don’t know much about her new life, nor does she care to tell them. They wouldn’t understand anyway. Sarah’s always been a bit different. Today, we go to a special part in her past, that made her who she was.
THEN:
The beautiful planet Magnuss. So pristine. So cultured. So—blue. Sarah Seleste had been almost everywhere in the galaxy, even visited Earth a few times. But this place. Magnuss was special. Yes, the city’s architecture was second to none, and the main library had to be the best in the galaxy, but Sam just enjoyed the scenery. It made her laugh that their grass was the same color she was.
There was work to be done today. She didn’t have long, so she gathered herself, stood up on the blue grass, and began walking down the crowded streets of the city. As she did, she could hear the whispers.
Ever since Sarah was young, she could always sense things in people. Sense their emotions, who they were, just from the smallest details. Royal life must have helped her get good at that. Someone in Seleste would tell you to have a good day the same way they’d tell you they were going to kill you. Maybe she had her mother to thank for—this gift. But her mother didn’t actually do anything. Sarah understood why she had this unusual, almost superhuman-like ability. It’s because the universe wanted her to. It wanted her to be its servant, helping people free from the shackles of their minds. It was her purpose.
Still, she heard the whispers. It was funny to Sarah. Almost every person on this planet was blue, like she was, but there was something about her blue that stood out, made them nervous. Was her blue tainted? Could they see the blood of the entire Empire on her robes? That’d be silly of course. Sam would tell them it’s not only illogical but ethically wrong to judge one person for the crimes of their people. Nevertheless, some people looked at her as if she were the harbinger of death. Come to take Magnuss’ resources and end their lives with swift violence.
But some—some looked at her with admiration. Looked as if they knew of her good deeds across the galaxy. Helping people. Feeding people. Spreading the word of the universe and its connectedness. Her message wasn’t one of subjective values and rewards for holding those values. No, Sarah only saw the universe. Saw how clear our lives should be led, through objectivity. And the only way in her mind to reach that was through conversation. Violence did nothing but slow time down. It started the cycle all over before it was finished. She had no need for it.
One young child must have noticed Sarah’s intentions. She stepped in front of Sarah. The child had multiple eyes on her face, was short and just a bit lighter in complexion than Sarah. She also had four arms, which was the norm on this planet. The child just stood there examining her. Sarah could practically here some of the people watching, holding their breath.
“I’m Loopy,” the child said. “It’s nice to meet you.” She extended one of her four arms.
“Sarah. And it’s nice to meet you too.”
“Everyone thinks you’re going to kill us. Even if you’re the nice one.”
“Nice one?” Sarah asked.
“The nice sibling. Your brother and sister are vicious. Or so I heard.”
There was an uneasy joyfulness in Loopy’s words as she said them. Sarah just stood there and watched as the young child skipped around, humming something. Everyone else was still watching.
“I’ve come here because I was called,” Sarah said. “Someone here wants me to read at a funeral.”
Loopy didn’t say anything. She just continued skipping.
Sarah was tired of this. She took a step back and breathed in deep. Then, she looked up at the two moons of Magnuss. The light, friendly green one had lights all over it. Sarah knew that the wealthy lived there. It’s what Magnuss was famous for. The dark, mysterious purple moon drew her in though. It didn’t appear to have anyone living on it. It looked—peaceful. Sarah imagined how quiet it was there. How much she could get done. Loopy killed that dream.
“That place up there, that’s where Mystic Man likes to go when he comes here,” Loopy said.
“He’s why I’m not scared of you. Or any of Seleste actually. He’ll protect us.”
“Mystic Man?”
Loopy finally stopped skipping around. A frustrated look came across her face.
“You don’t know who Mystic Man is?” Loopy asked.
Sarah shook her head no.
“You Seleste people really do live in a bubble. Mystic Man is only the strongest person in the universe. His powers come from the universe. Everybody knows this.”
“How do you know him?”
“We’re friends! I met him a not too long ago. Just saw him a couple of days ago.”
“Do you think he’d come back? Can you talk to him somehow?”
“If I think hard enough, he might hear me. Sure, I’ll try!”
Sarah was intrigued by this. She had never heard of Mystic Man and she didn’t like him already. The strongest person in the universe? Either he claimed that title or others, like Loopy, gave it to him. And in Sarah’s eyes, no one was better than everyone. No one deserved to have that much power, that much acclaim, even if they did have abilities. She wanted to see this hero and assess his greatness. Even though she was sure he was a fraud.
Or was she jealous? The thought of jealousy being the dominant emotion in her soul made her feel small. Smaller than she already was. What if this strange child was right? What if this being, this Mystic Man did get his powers from the universe? What if he had some way to commune with the powers that be? Yes, that did make Sarah jealous. All her life, she wanted to know things. Not like her brother Simon though. All he was worried about was learning the ins and outs of the physical life. Sarah was concerned about what we couldn’t see. Energy, the universe, the meanings behind things. And she knew she could never truly understand them, but the thought that Mystic Man had access to it made her stomach hurt. She hoped that Loopy would be able to reach him.
“He said he’s not busy and will be here shortly. I can’t wait!” Loopy said excitedly.
What is this nonsense?
Sarah decided to ignore the girl for the moment and examine the city. Everyone had resumed their normal activity, and the city was bustling once again. Sarah still had no idea where she was going or who she was supposed to meet. Or why, on a planet like this, someone wanted her to speak. She didn’t have a text or some creed. She just spoke from the heart. But intellectual minds like the ones on Magnuss usually didn’t take kindly to that sort of logic. Sarah was staring at Loopy, when her eyes began to play tricks on her. Standing right there, was Loopy. Nothing or no one was close to her. Then, suddenly, a man was there.
He was tall. Taller than basically everyone on this planet. And he was wearing a suit of armor of some kind. It was various shades of purple, as was his cape. And he was wearing a mask too, but the bottom part of his face showed. Sarah could see the dark complexion of his skin.
“You must be Mystic Man,” Sarah said confidently.
The man smiled. He bent down to give Loopy a hug. She rushed into his arms and yelped, like the child she was.
“So I’ve been told,” the man said. His voice was deep but calming.
“Loopy here tells me you doubt my powers. I can tell you exactly how I got them. The nature of them—is something I’m still working out myself.”
Mystic Man held out his hand and a purple ball of energy sat in his hand. It started to flare and dance, as if it were alive. Sarah then felt something she never thought possible. As Mystic Man stood there, with his bright purple suit and cape on, Sarah knew who he was. She felt the universe flowing through her, speaking to her. Telling her that Mystic Man was in fact, connected to the universe. Connected to the very thing she had devoted her life to understanding. And here it was, in the palm of his hand. The weight of it all caused her to fall to her feet.
Mystic Man caught her though, and in no time at all. It was like she didn’t even fall down.
“Loopy told me you have a funeral to speak at. Let’s find who you need to talk to.”
Sarah slowly nodded yes.
“Thank you, Mystic Man.”
He smiled.
“We can talk on the way.”
But Sarah didn’t have any more questions. Maybe he had performed some sort of trick on her, some type of weird science. Whatever it was, Sarah now knew the truth. She knew that whoever this Mystic Man was, he was the reason she decided to leave Seleste. He was the reason she became “religious” as they liked to say. Every step he took, she could hear, better yet feel, the universe flowing through him. And in some strange way, flow through her.
“How did you get your powers?” Sarah asked.
She stepped closer to Mystic Man and conjured up a smile of her own.
Mystic Man held his arm out in a circular position. It was something that the royals used to do back on Seleste. But she trusted this man. She grabbed his arm and they walked down the street.
“I’ll tell you. But then you’ve got to tell me where you come from,” he said.
“It’s nowhere important,” Sarah said.
“Not what I hear. But first, I’ll tell you about me. You ever heard of San Francisco?”
Their talk didn’t last too long, and Sarah could barely contain herself throughout it. Mystic Man was the manifestation of her life’s work. Something she had been searching for since she could think. He was truth in this universe. He was objectivity of spirit, of mind, and soul. He had to leave a few times during their conversation. Said something about being a superhero. Sarah didn’t know what any of that meant. But he came back and continued to talk, as promised. At the end of their conversation he said he hoped he would see Sarah again one day. As he flew away, and waved to the people of Magnuss, Sarah felt a piece of her go too. She could have talked to him all day. Loopy came behind her and tugged on her robe.
“Told you. He’s pretty awesome, huh?”
“He certainly is,” Sarah said. “He certainly is.”
Only one part left! If you’re still reading this story, let me just say that I appreciate it. These short stories have been a lot of fun for me and it’s helping me expand the Mystic Man Universe. You can still purchase the book on Amazon, if you haven’t already. Next, the crazy conclusion to Simon’s War and a big announcement from myself regarding the site. Until next time!
Peace, Love, and Comics 