Sigma/Star

Chapter 93: Hikari

Everything was darkness. It enveloped everything, surrounded everything, consumed everything. And Porter was in the centre of it all, his body numb but his mind sharp. He took in a deep breath, feeling the exhalation through his chest, the air coursing up through his throat. He was nothing. There was nothing. It was nothing but him and he was nothing.

Then there was light, warm light all around him, swirling around, banishing the darkness to an unknown realm, to wherever it was darkness went when light was present. Porter's body sucked it in, absorbing the light through his skin, his eyes, his cheeks, through every pore on his skin. He tingled and ached, stretching out his fingers then curling them back into a fist, feeling every muscle's vibration as he moved. He tried to wiggle each finger one by one, sensing their slow motions through the air and then he spread them out all at once, as fast as he could, noting each sensation it produced.

This was not Earth anymore. This was not his realm or any realm he knew of. Where was he? He was hyper aware of only himself, able to feel each of his individual cells and the little molecules that made them up. He knew about every part of himself but nothing of what surrounded him. Where had the darkness come from? Where had it gone? Why light now? And why did he enjoy it so much?

A gentle wind brushed up behind Porter, diverting around him and breezing past. It nudged him forward a bit, and only then did he realize he had been floating in the air. There was a momentary fear in Porter's mind, a tightening in his chest, before he released his stress, returning his mind to emptiness. Then the questions began to leak in once more, piling up in his brain as he lacked answers. Where? What? Why?

There was a flicker in the corner of the youth's eye, flashing by and disappearing. He snapped his head to try and glimpse it but it moved with him, zipping by in his peripheral vision. He spun around but still could not fully capture it in his sight. He sighed and centred his vision again, his eyes starting to hurt from straining them to the right so much. Now that he was facing backwards from his original position, he noticed the little black dot in the middle of the light, the last little bastion for the shadows.

Perhaps that was where Porter had come from at first and he had been propelled out of it by that light breeze. But he barely felt it now and it certainly wouldn't had moved him so quickly before without him noticing. Then was the light around him what was moving past him? Was the tiny circle of darkness shrinking as he moved forward or was it because the light was moving past him?

The flicker went past again, this time flirting across Porter's vision, darting right around the circle of darkness before disappearing at the edge of his view. He spun around once more, trying to capture it. As he moved he saw it beside him but never in front of him again. Was it moving in a circle around him?

Then it stopped. Everything stopped. Porter thought his body had frozen as well, going numb once more, but he moved his hand on command, holding it up in front of his face. The little flicker was nothing more than a small bolt of lightning, stuck in amongst the light. It had a slightly blue tinge and glowed exceptionally bright, and Porter struggled to stare directly at it for any extended period of time.

The teen reached out to the bolt, feeling the static electricity between his fingers and the lightning growing as he drew closer. Finally, his hand wrapped around the lightning and only then did he realize the stupidity of what he was doing and the unknown dangers there could be. But he couldn't stop. He needed to touch it and feel it and understand it. He felt a familiar electric shock course through his body, travelling up the skin along his arm and down his spine. He knew this feeling all too well; this was his chi.

* * * * *

Porter's eye snapped open and the White Storm surged with power, quickly booting up with an overflow of energy before disappearing. The Bahari ceased firing, having watched the Goliath pause for just a split second before vanishing. One of the Bahari suddenly bent over at the waist before a hole appeared straight through its chest, the red fluids within its heart spraying out onto the ground.