Location: New York City
Date: December 17, 1988
---
Mark P.O.V.
'Just 5 days until the shop restocks, and I only have 5 points.' he thought.
The last month had seen good progress in most of his training and his physical abilities were really starting to show now. So much so that he had to start holding back in P.E. at school were Mark was already outperforming almost everyone.
He had been trying to gauge his current strength to what it should be when Grace of the Valar reaches 100%. His best estimation was that the full blessing should be around a peak or enhanced human level, somewhere near Batman's or Captain America's physical abilities. Though his stamina was absolutely going to reach superhuman levels.
Mark had never really thought deeply about the scene at the beginning of the Two Towers before, but when Gimli said, three days and nights pursuit with no food or rest, that was not an exaggeration.
Over the last week he had tested himself. Mark had gone to school, trained when he got home, but instead of stopping to sleep he simply kept training off and on all night. By the time he went to sleep the next day, after school and more training, he was only moderately tired.
He had concluded that everything shown by Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings movies would be within his actual abilities at full strength. In reality most action movie heroes would not survive the events they are shown doing on screen. But he thought he should be somewhere around action movie hero level, more or less.
After the stealth guidance from his template in the warehouse, he had also considered the skills and powers that had gone ignored before. The stealth knowledge had come from his Wilderness Survival skill, which made sense. Though there was little wilderness to train it very much.
As for Aura of Majesty, he still had not done anything that had activated it. Considering what an aura might actually do, and that he was actively keeping his head down, had given him an idea of what it was all about. Mark's guess was a social effect or it would activate in social settings, Aragorn was a great king and leader of men after all.
The big surprise however was the Elvish language.
He had felt dumb standing in front of his bathroom mirror weeks ago with the idea in his head.
To practice Elvish the first time, he had focused on a word or phrase to try and say in Elvish. Then he mumbled nonsense noise, and the template actually guided him toward correct pronunciation.
It was a slow and boring process. But he could practice all day everyday under his breath.
The language was not inherently magical in any way he could tell. But even the mostly random words he spoke felt more than mundane, almost special somehow, but he could not explain why.
The language was simply beautiful and almost comforting to speak.
On the other hand, he was coming up against a problem with Weapon Mastery.
He had hit a plateau in his training. Weapon Mastery would not increase anymore, and he could not push himself hard enough to change that, not alone.
With a sigh he checked his status screen again.
Name: Mark Smith
Race: Human(Numenorean)
Age: 17
Equipped Template:
-Aragorn
Traits:
-Keen Mind
-Fair of Face
Powers:
-Grace of the Valar: 18%
-Aura of Majesty: 0%
Disciplines:
-None
Skills:
-Weapon Mastery: 15%
-Wilderness Survival: 1%
-Elvish Language: 17%
Items:
-None
Nearly three months. But he was not sure if his progress was fast or slow.
Switching to the store, he knew how he felt about the rate of points gain.
Current Points: 5 ____________ Time Until Restock: 4 Days+
1. Character: Morrigan Aensland(1/3 Power)(Darkstalkers) - 32 points
2. Discipline: Psyker(Warhammer 40K) - 8 points
3. Power: X-Gene(Marvel) - 8 points
4. Template: Mr. Hercule Satan(Real Name: Mark)(DBZ) - 2 points
5. Template: UNSC Marine(Halo) - 2 points
6. Item: Spell Scroll: Hypnotic Pattern(D&D) - 2 points
7. Item: Potion of Healing(D&D) - 2 points
8. Item: Beretta 92FS Pistol x2(Silvered Bullets) - 2 points
9. Mundane Object: Long Sword - 1 point
10. (Empty)
Almost all his points had come in this last month, and he still only had five.
Mark had been putting off what to buy or not as much as possible until he had an idea of his rate of points gain.
'I need to save my points.' he thought. 'But should I reserve anything here? Or should I get 10 all new items?'
The store only sold things that he would survive the equipping process, and he was a normal human that first day. The next restock should be better.
He carefully looked over everything in the store. There were many things he could say, but his 5 points spoke the loudest. He decided that he was not going to hold any store items, again.
But the same thought always came in reply, 'But Morrigan...' He did not know how buying characters worked and did not want to make a mistake now and let her go, then realize it was a mistake later.
She costs 32 points, way more than he could every get in just 3 months. So he was always going to have to mark her to be held in the store. Otherwise he would likely never see her come back into the store again. He did not even know if things could come back again or if they would be gone forever.
The other items all had value but he could see them go. They just did not feel right for him or were not worth the points.
'Hmm, well the difference between 9 and 10 new options is rather minimal. If keeping her saved in the store feels like a mistake I can just stop the hold next time.'
With the decision made and a little star appearing next to Morrigan's name, Mark was ready for the store to restock.
He needed something more than just a physical boost to his strength. Even Captain America had his shield, Batman his gadgets and the Batmobile.
'Please give me something good.' he thought, though reliance on RNG did not exactly fill him with great confidence.
---
Mark could not fall asleep, and just stared at the stained, paint peeled ceiling all night from his couch. It had been too dark at night to see the patterns before, but his growing blessing's strength was improving him across the board. That seemed to include vision, even in darkness.
The light from the rising sun had only just started to light the sky outside.
December 22nd, a Thursday, and there was less than 30 minutes until the store was restocked.
It was finally time, he could feel it.
His adventure was going to truly start now.
He had a good foundation, but whatever the store had to offer in the next few minutes was going to be significant for his future path. He did not know how he knew, but he was absolutely sure of it.
He was watching the minutes count down on the store page until finally...3...2...1...
The old items vanished and the store filled in with new options.
Current Points: 5 ____________ Time Until Restock: 3 Months
1. Discipline: Spiral Energy(Gurren Lagann) - 256 points
2. Character: ★ Morrigan Aensland(1/3 Power)(Darkstalkers) - 32 points
3. Character: Cortana(Halo) - 8 points
4. Item: Saiyan Space Pod(Dragon Ball Z) - 16 pts
5. Item: Bludgers x2(Harry Potter) - 4 points
6. Item: Athelas Plant(Kingsfoil)(Lord of the Rings) - 2 points
7. Template: Shino Aburame(Naruto) - 8 points
8. Template: Jedi Padawan(Star Wars) - 4 points
9. Power: Quirk(Earphone Jack)(My Hero Academia) - 2 points
10. Mundane Object: Spider-Man Suit(Marvel) - 1 point
Mark was taken aback by the first option before he could even look at the rest.
'256 points! For a power that was used to literally throw galaxies around...'
He could honestly say he was not expecting that. But its cost was over 50x his current points anyway, so he moved on.
He did not get very far.
"Cortana!" he exclaimed, his spirit soring.
She was possibly the best AI in any fictional world he knew of. Smart, not murderous, loyal to mankind...
'Hmm. I considered everything after 343 took over the Halo franchise to be non-cannon. But that does not make it so, and the store does not say what version of her I would get.'
With a sigh he continued.
'Saiyan Space Pod, those were the small round ships that Vegeta and the other saiyans arrived in when they came to Earth, right? Hmm, Cortana could probably reverse engineer it, and not just the ship now that I think about it.'
'Marvel has all kinds of technology that she could learn to recreate for my own use. I just need to stay away from the major players for now, like Doctor Doom.'
Mark definitely needed her, Cortana was just too useful to ignore.
Bludgers, not so much.
Kingsfoil though? That was tempting, and unlike the potion of healing he passed up, this says plant. That implies he would get continuous use of it and he could even cultivate it in a garden somewhere. After all, leaving it in a pot and losing his possibly magical plant in a house fire, villain attack, or alien invasion would be very wasteful.
Next was, Shino...the guy with the bugs that everyone always forgot existed.
'No.' Mark would love to get chakra, but Shino...well lets just say the Aburame clan members were not born with the bug colony inside them.
'No thank you. Not now and not ever.' he thought with a shudder.
It was item 8 that made him stop and think.
It was a generic template, so probably nothing more than the basic skills, but it was a Jedi Padawan. That meant the Force. He could get the Force!
Mark purchased it immediately and equipped the template.
It had an equip time of 1 day, and he could feel the old agitated buzzing in his body again. He almost forgotten about that, but it was mild. Not that he cared one way or the other. He was ecstatic.
'The Force, this is perfect!' and his smile was the brightest he had made by far since his death.
He started going over everything he could remember regarding the powers granted by the Force. In the movies, the powers it could grant were rather subtle or absent, but in the games and animated shows it was vast.
Even at a Padawan level they could use telekinesis, telepathy/empathy, physical enhancement, and extrasensory perception that included precognition. He wondered how that last one would compare to Peter's Spider-Sense. Actually, most of the details about the Force and how it really worked had always been left vague.
'Oh well. That just means I get to find out firsthand.'
The rest of the day crawled by, painfully slow as the equip time counted down.
School did little to distract him. Worse, practicing Elvish was impossible now that he was equipping a different template. He could only be guided by one at a time.
So he was stuck waiting, which always made days feel much longer.
Instead of just watching the clock, Mark considered what his first step would be. After all, even Luke Skywalker seemed to be a normal person without Force training.
From what he could remember, Jedi spent time everyday meditating on the Force to strengthen their connection, or something. That was as good a place to start as any.
'Wait. Jedi... they are always harping on about the "light side" of the Force.' That had reminded Mark, 'I forgot about the "dark side" of the Force.'
He never really thought deeply about it before, but people saying there was no light or dark side, just the Force always made more sense to him. On the other hand, doing evil things with the Force had very real and negative effects for the user.
'I will need to explore all of that very carefully. The last thing I need is to fall to the dark side. I would just get turned into a red smear on the sidewalk by the Avengers or something. Not that a Jedi Padawan would be able to do anything dark enough to lead me astray anyway.' Mark thought.
'Actually, would the Grace of the Valar provide some protection from temptation or dark side corruption?' He was not sure, but it might. It was a divine blessing and was even strong enough to help Aragorn and Faramir resist the One Ring itself, while few others could. Though Sauron was still able to corrupt the men of Numenor before the island was destroyed, so it did not provide full immunity to such things.
'Interesting.' he thought, 'The positive and negative synergies from the combination of abilities is something I will need to keep in mind.'
With a sigh he looked at the count down time again. The wait was painful, but he was also smiling with calm excitement.
Everything was going to start changing very soon.
-----
Location: Crescent Island Fire Temple
Date: The Winter Solstice
---
Avatar Aang P.O.V.
"Why isn't anything happening? I don't know what I'm doing. All I know is airbending. Please, Avatar Roku, talk to me."
"It's good to see you, Aang. What took you so long?"
Aang's relief was palpable, but before he could speak Roku continued.
"I have something very important to tell you, Aang. That is why, when you were in the spirit world, I sent my dragon to find you."
"Is it about that vision, the one of the comet?"
"Yes."
"What does it mean?"
"100 years ago, Fire Lord Sozin used that comet to begin the war. He and his firebending army harnessed its incredible power and dealt a deadly first strike against the other nations."
"So the comet made them stronger?"
"Yes, stronger than you could even imagine."
"But that happened a hundred years ago. What does the comet have to do with the war now?"
"Listen carefully, Aang. Sozin's Comet will return by the end of this summer, and Fire Lord Ozai will use its power to finish the war once and for all. If he succeeds, even the Avatar won't be able to restore balance to the world. Aang, you must defeat the Fire Lord before the comet arrives."
Aang was shocked, "But I haven't even started learning waterbending, not to mention earth and fire."
"You can do it Aang, and if the world is to survive, you must do it by summer's end. We have little time left, and there is something else I must tell you."
"Two months before you were released from the iceberg, many powerful spirits felt a disturbance ripple through the spirit world. They believe a great threat has appeared, which has come into the world from elsewhere. A threat that will destroy the balance of the world as surely as the Fire Lord, if left unchecked."
Aang was starting to feel completely overwhelmed, "What threat, and what if I can't do all of this? What if I fail?"
"The threat will reveal itself soon, but I do not know anything more. However, I do know you can do this Aang, for you have done it before. The solstice is ending. We must go our separate ways for now."
"But I won't be able to come back to the temple. What if I have questions? How will I talk to you?"
"I am a part of you. When you need to talk to me again, you will find a way. A great danger awaits you at the temple. I can help you face the threat, but only if you are ready."
Speaking with the voices of his past lives, his eyes and tattoos blazing with light, Aang replied, "I'm ready."
-----
Location: Hogwarts, Scotland
Date: December, Winter Break(19th-6th), 1988
---
Albus Dumbledore P.O.V.
He read the ministry report just delivered by owl to his office. But as expected, nothing new had been learned.
The ministry was simply classifying this as an unknown magical phenomenon and was going to close the case, before soon forgetting it happened at all.
Leaning back in the chair behind his desk, he considered what he knew.
On the 22nd of September a great many of the prophesy orbs in the Hall of Prophesy suddenly reacted to something as yet unknown. Some dormant prophesies activated, while other active prophesies deactivated.
Such an event had never happened before to his knowledge, nor had such a thing ever been recorded to have happened as far as the ministry could find.
'Perhaps some important person made a major unseen choice.' he considered.
But however it came about, many possibilities that would have been are now lost, and many things that could not come to pass, are possible once more.
As soon as he had learned of the event, Albus had immediately gone to check the prophesy regarding Harry Potter and Tom Riddle, which he had found was unaffected. He had been left feeling both relieved and disappointed by that.
Now, after three months of quiet investigation looking for the cause, the ministry had found nothing. No one, not even Albus was able to learn more. There had been no other changes, dramatic or subtle that the ministry, he, or anyone else could detect.
Fortunately, this event had not effected any of his plans yet. But he knew better then to simply forget about this. Destiny had changed and the wizarding world was on a new path now.
For some reason that made him a little uneasy.
However, as long as young Harry's fate remains unchanged, everything would play out as he had designed, he would make sure of it.