Chapter 143

Arc 14 - Absolute Wish - Part 24

“Waaa~”

It's the sixth of June, 1999 and to two ordinary couples, their first child was born. They welcomed the child with open arms.

They had a happy life, a great life, in fact, so the coming of this child boomed that happiness of theirs.

Everything was going perfectly.

လလလ

It's the fifth of November 2000, the happy family slowly starts to turn gloomy.

The child has trouble breathing, so they take him to a doctor.

They found out their newborn has a weak heart.

And the doctor… He bluntly said, “I am sorry, but your child… He won’t live for long.”

“!!”

“!!”

No matter how much they widened their eyes, or how much they cried, they could not change the fate of their son.

They were not rich, they did not have enough money, so they could not even attempt to perform surgery on him.

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It’s the first of August 2002, the family is slapped with more bad news.

Their cute child might never be able to walk properly.

But that was not the end for him.

The child will never be able to see properly either.

The couple looked at the child and forced a smile and promised, “You will live a full life!”

[FALSE HOPE!]

A fake promise just to calm their fast-beating heart.

A fake promise to find a sliver of hope.

But it did not last for long.

The two of them bowled crying.

And that became their life.

Force a smile, fake a promise and then when the child isn’t looking, cry your heart out.

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It's the fourth of April 2004, the child cannot speak well.

No matter how hard he tries, he cannot speak well.

He cannot form words properly and even if he manages to do so, he stutters.

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It’s the tenth of January 2006, and the child survived until this long.

No matter which doctor these two went to, it did not help.

Their child’s condition was worsening.

But these two, they did not give up. A sliver of hope was still shining deep within them.

One day, while coming back from a doctor in their car, suddenly they heard a screeching sound.

A truck flew into their car and their vision blackened, so did the child's.

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

And then… a light.

The child opened his eyes and saw fire.

“...W-w-w-w-wa iz go...”

Suddenly his eye opened wide as he felt intense pain coursing through his body.

He moved his head slowly and glanced at his body.

“!!”

His mouth twisted and so did his lips.

“Waaaa,” and so, the child started crying in pain and agony.

A piece of a car had cut his right leg off.

He could not feel his leg.

“M-m-m--!!”

He raised a hand to his eye.

But he felt something.

Something was in his eye.

A blunt object had stabbed into his eye.

He swallowed his saliva immediately.

And then… until the ambulance came, he bowled his heart out.

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It’s the third of July 2006, the child is legally adopted by his uncle.

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It’s the 25th of December 2006, a beautiful time. A time of celebration.

But it marked a new dark beginning for the child.

On that night, his cousin beat him up until he was unconscious.

He was angry because his girlfriend had broken up with him, so he took it out on this poor child.

[PATHETIC!]

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It’s the sixth of March 2007, an older child in school also started to beat him up and stole the few dollars he had with him. And it started a cycle of non-stop violence against him.

Those who were supposed to protect him merely glanced away and let it continue.

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It’s the ninth of March 2009, and the darkness around him worsened.

But while walking home, wiping his tears, he found something near a trash can.

A pictures book.

A comic about a superhero standing tall and mighty.

The child’s lips twisted and he spat on it.

[DISGUSTING!]

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It’s the tenth of March 2009, and the child took the same path.

There, he saw the same picture book.

But this time, he picked it up.

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It’s the eleventh of March 2009, a sliver of light shone in his dark world.

Hope had found its way into his weak heart.

[HEROES!]

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Everything was dark, but this sliver of light gave him…

[HOPE!]

No matter what, this will end.

A long future awaits, and no matter how hard it gets, he will clench his fist and stand proud.

After all, that was what his parents wanted.

လလလ

It’s the thirtieth of March 2009, in the stuff left from his parents, he found more of these picture books. He found four more of these.

He now had five.

And all five of them featured a character who also had a troubled life, but one day granted power by a wizard. With a magic word, he turns into an adult.

[BEAUTIFUL!]

The light grew bigger.

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It is the fifth of October 2009, he finds a small heaven.

A shop that sells these picture books.

He entered it with a happy smile.

He had those few books for months now and he read that over and over and over again. He thought that was the only one ever.

But it seems he was wrong.

There was more.

Heroes, heroes, heroes. At every glance, he saw colourful heroes.

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The shopkeeper saw him picking up a book and glancing through it. He knew that this child wanted to read it badly, but he noticed that he did not want to read it without paying.

The child looked into his battered up wallet and found a few cents.

A sad look overtook him once more.

The shopkeeper smiled softly and told the child, “Open it, and read it.”

“B-but...”

The child could not comprehend it.

Would someone really let him read this for free?

“It’s okay, as long as you don’t rip it apart or take it home, you can read anything you want here.”

The man smiled widely at him.

“Come by often.”

The child’s weak chest welled up in excitement and happiness.

His eyes welled up.

“Thank you!”

လလလ

As he grew older, the darkness around him widened.

But he always found his light.

He always found hope.

And he always smiled.

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It’s the sixth of June 2017, no day has gone without this young person being hurt physically.

But he turned adult now.

That was about to end.

And it did end.

He left this dark world and went to a different city.

A new life was waiting for him.

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He had no money, so he had to get a job. And despite his physical shortcomings, he found a welcoming place. A place where the light grew greater.

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But no matter how bright a light is, there is always darkness.

He had grown accustomed to this light.

However, one day he was reminded of it again.

He was walking from work to home, but a child stole his crutch.

The child was having fun, he found this funny.

Eddie was reminded of how weak he is.

[PAT--]

But this world is not all dark.

Someone returned after a short with his crutch and helped him get up.

The man smiled at the other person and said, “Thank you.”

He took his crutch and walked away into his home.

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A small home with nothing to offer but a place to stay.

Under the broken bed, he had a few bags which contained picture books.

A warm feel overwhelmed him.

He smiled warmly and breathed out.

In this long-- short life, the same light always welcomed him in the darkness.

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The next day he woke up and went to work.

There, his eyes met with a girl who had beautiful red hair, which flapped in the air, and blue eyes. She had a slender build with an average chest. She was not very tall, but not very short either.

There, she stood in the light, brightening this dark world.

The man froze for a split second once he saw her.

But then he remembered what kind of person he was. He was not good looking and he thought himself inferior because of his disabilities.

So, he sighed before smiling widely at the woman.

“Th-th-ank y-you for yez...day.”

“Ah, don’t mention it, happy to help,” she smiled back. “Ah, speaking of, I will be your co-worker here from now on. I look forward to working with you.”

“Oh, iz dat so?” he was surprised for a brief moment. Then he forced everything within him to correctly state his name. “I am Edd-Edward ‘E-E-Eddie’ Hunt.”

“Hi, I am Jessica. Jessica Lee.”

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It's the fifteenth of September 2018, the same days continued.

Here and there, he got a glimpse of that beautiful woman.

And for some reasons, it made him a little happy.

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It's the twenty-fifth of May 2019 and his somewhat empty and dry days ended.

But! But! But!

The good things - even if dry with nothing changing - ended.

Someone broke into his house and stole everything.

It should have ended there.

But it didn’t.

It didn’t end there.

The robber then slammed Eddie into the ground before punching him, kicking him, beating him with a baseball bat, and more. Just enough so he won’t die.

[WHY BREAK INTO THIS HOUSE? WHY LEAVE IT HALFWAY THROUGH? WHY NOT FINISH THIS?!]

He always smiled.

He always had hope.

But was it real?

At this moment, everything flew into him.

He wanted this pathetic life to end all this time.

He wanted to die with his parents. He should have died then.

But he survived.

[CURSES!]

He wanted to one day finally die by the hands of his bullies. If he dies, there will be finally justice for him.

But it didn’t happen.

[GOD DAMN IT!]

Did he really feel like this? Did he want to die? Were these ugly emotions always within him? Or was it because of the spur of the moment?

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The robber, as if he had come to his senses called the hospital.

An ambulance whirred him to the hospital.

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It is the first of July 2019 and Eddie finally opens his eyes.

လလလ

It is the second of July 2019, he finds out his condition has worsened. He could die any moment and it’s a miracle he survived this far.

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It is the third of July 2019, the woman from his work visits him.

She is as sweet as ever.

Eddie bit his lips.

He sucked in a breath.

He is going to die soon, so he wanted to say something before it was too late.

He forced all of his energy to mutter out these words in confidence.

“I… I love you, Jessica.”

He smiled widely.

However…

His words never reached her.

No matter how much energy he had mustered up, it just wasn't enough.

It was useless.

His last words to her were useless.

She did not hear his words, so she tilted her head in a confused manner.

He understood.

His face twisted, as if he would cry again.

But he stopped.

It wasn't right.

[FAULTY!]

It wasn't right to be disappointed in her when he failed to deliver the words.

She was just helping a co-worker after all.

လလလ

The same night, everyone had left.

Eddie forcefully moved his still-battered body and left the room.

လလလ

He walked and walked and walked, it took him an hour to reach the floor of the small hospital.

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At the top, he spread his arms wide.

He let go of his crutch.

He is going to die soon.

There was nothing there he could do to change it.

And there is nothing else for him to do in this world anymore.

His leg gave out.

His head felt very light.

His view distorted.

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“Stop!”

A woman called out to him.

His body froze.

He should have fallen, but he wasn’t falling.

As if gravity no longer existed.

“I know what you have been through, but I can help you.”

He turned his head backwards.

He saw a woman with long black hair, but she had no face. Or was it because he couldn’t see it?

“I can give you power. Real power to topple those who have stepped on you.”

[FANTASY!]

“As you want to kill yourself, why not give your body to me?” She paused. “I can make good use of it.”

He thought about it for a minute, but he agreed anyway. He did not have anything to lose.

It was a big joke after all, right?

လလလ

A split second later, they were in another dimension.

“What powers would you like to have?”

He thought.

And thought.

And thought.

Then an image flashed in his mind.

It was of a character in a red costume with a wide smile.

Always smiling and hopeful and being heroic.

The first hero he saw.

“I am a big fan of Captain Marvel, so can I get similar powers but based on Norse Gods instead?” At that moment, he did not realise that for the first time in his life, he was speaking as well as anyone else. “Wisdom of Mimir, Power of Odin, Thunder of Thor, Life of Yggdrasil, Precognition of Heimdall, and Speed of Hermod”

The woman nodded.

And his eyes closed.

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He woke up in his own place, a small house.

He was lying on the broken bed.

He got up.

He got up?

“!!”

His eyes and legs were restored to perfection.

He could not just see what normal humans did, but also could see energies, particles, and more. Something beyond the view of normal humans.

But that was not all.

Gravity beneath him was defied as he floated above the ground.

His muscles flexed as he picked up something heavy.

And his vision blurred for a split second as he ran very fast.

That woman had not lied to him.

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He was happy.

He couldn’t be happier.

This was the best.

The greatest feeling ever.

He could do anything.

He could be a hero like the one in the picture books.

He could save the world.

And he could finally put a stop to the villain wreaking havoc across the world - Nazar.

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But before he became a hero, his mind fell into darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

Darkness.

There was no light.

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The person who gave him his power turned out to be a demon. The demon known as Bur’Goth.

He was controlling him to battle against the other human, Nazar.

However, he lost very quickly.

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His mind was dark.

But someone ripped through it like a paper and held out a hand.

It was the villain whom he was supposed to save the world from.

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He took the hand of this villain and left the darkness.

He was truly saved.

His final villain - the demon - was dead.

The villain was killed by an alien.

[DREAM?]

လလလ

Then it happened again.

He fell into the darkness.

And he was saved by the same person.

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Out of the darkness and in the light, he lived. He found love. And he became a hero.

A hero who saved the world from humans, monsters and aliens alike.

He had his adventures, some solo, some with a conflicted hero known as 001 - aka Jake Jones, and some with Nazar.

But nothing good stays forever.

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One day, he was sleeping.

It was a night no different than usual.

But suddenly, he screamed as he sat up.

He can see the future and that’s what he saw.

But the future he saw was painful.

A bright white light.

And then…

And then…

And then…

The first world was washed white by an ancient God of Destruction and it ended.

His life was over.

❢◥ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◆ ▬▬▬▬▬▬ ◤❢

“Eddie!”

Above the clouds, Eddie flew very fast and Nazar followed him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just remembered something I had to do.”

He was lying and Nazar knew that very well.

“Is...”

Nazar wanted to say that’s wrong but kept quiet.

At times like this, it is better to leave them alone.

But…

“Hm?”

Eddie suddenly stopped moving and looked back at Nazar.

“Say… I want to do something bad. Something un-heroic.”

Nazar smiled softly as he shut his eyes for a moment. He understood what Eddie was asking him.

He understood what Eddie was going to do.

Should he stop him?

“Of course.”

Nazar opened his eyes again, glowing crimson red.

“I will turn the hells and heavens upside down for you.”