Spectacular World

The New Paragon

Everything was dark...

Kyle felt his mind gradually click back into place as his thoughts began to restart. His head ached, but he supposed that was a good thing. After all, he was still alive... His body was screaming at him, but he fought through it. His eyes slowly began to open as he stared up at the stone roof above him.

He groaned and tried to sit up. His stomach hurt, but the pain wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. His ears rang a bit, and he heard the sound of people talking all around him. It was as if he was in a crowd or something.

"Oh! Are you awake?" Kyle jumped a bit when he heard the voice. "Hey, try not to move around so much. She wasn't able to fully heal your stomach, so you need to take it easy, got that kid?"

Kyle winced and clutched at his gut. His eyes finally settled, and he was able to look down at his body. His jacket had been cut open; the same for his shirt, showing off his stomach. He didn't know how long he had been knocked out, but small, tiny scars littered his flesh. He had been healed despite how close to death he was. There was only one Super he knew of who had healing this good. "Paragon saved me?"

"Yep."

He looked around, taking everything in. The floor was cold stone, and he had been placed down on it in a sleeping bag. Above him was a stone roof as well. There was a series of curtains set up around them, forming a makeshift tent, and lights hung above them. It sort of reminded him of the medical tents people would set up during a war. Outside of the tent, he could hear dozens of people talking as well as the sounds of children laughing and playing. It all felt so weird.

A man was in the tent with him and had been the one speaking to him. It was an older guy in his early to late forties. He was dressed in a thrown-together outfit, a long-sleeved shirt, and baggy pants. The man was bald and very skinny but had large laugh lines on his face and a few flakes of red that were growing in forming a small beard. The man gently pushed up his glasses and placed his book down when he saw Kyle was trying to stand up.

"What did I say?" The man argued, softly pushing Kyle back down. "Your stomach hasn't fully healed on the inside yet. You'll cause something to pop if you keep moving around."

"I need to get up-"

"No. You need to rest." The man said, shaking his head. He grabbed a cup of water that had been resting on a nearby table and brought it up to Kyle's lips. Kyle silently drank it, feeling the burning sensation in his throat fade away. "Trust me, I was once in a similar position as you." The man said, giving a sad smile. "I know how frustrating it can be to have to rest when you just want to do something. You were trying to save some people, right? Went and got yourself injured, and now you want to go back out there and do it all over again."

"No," Kyle said, shaking his head. "It isn't about that." He needed to get back to the base. He was sure of what he saw. Hope Lauren. He didn't know what was going on exactly, but it was her. Or at least it looked and sounded like her, but something was wrong. He needed to tell Myth or Battery or someone.

The man placed the cup down and stood up. "Well, until Paragon can fix your stomach, you're in no condition to move around. She got a bit distracted with something, so it could be a bit until she comes to get you-"

"Mr. Lauren!" A voice cried out. The curtain to the area they were in opened up slightly, and a young boy ran in, clinging to the man's leg. "My brother took my toy again!"

"Oh, did he now?" The man asked, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, I'll go and talk to him then!"

"Wait? Lauren?" Kyle asked, easing himself up to a sitting position.