67 Groundhog hour (2)

"What are you?" Ben murmured, while covering his mouth.

"I didn't quite hear you, did you say something Headmaster?" I asked, surprised by his question. 'What does he mean by "what" am I?'

"Hm, oh don't mind me, just think of it as a old man's rambling don't take it seriously. You can call me Grandpa Ben if you want, I prefer it that way. Say why did you come here to see me again?" Grandpa Ben asked.

"Well it's a bit of a selfish reason actually... You see, since I was a kid I always had a knack for learning things, a natural curiosity. Alfred, our family butler who was also my caretaker thought that I was suited to learn the ways of the Sage Force until the Speed Force "choose" me as it's avatar all of a sudden when I was five years old. I learned all about the Speed Force from Alfred, my uncle isn't the best teacher around, you know? But even after all that I never actually stopped pursuing my goal to become a Sage Force user. Then one evening my uncle made a proposal, he told me that if I joined Paragon, I could have a chance to meet with you! The greatest Sage Force user in the world! The SS Rank-Planetary level metahuman! I thought maybe if I can talk with you, then I can probably have a chance to learn the ways of the Sage Force," I explained.

I knew very well that Headmaster Ben could read minds, so I had to play this carefully. I thought of the exact same things that I said just to make sure he won't catch on to my lies.

"So, basically you want me to teach you how to comprehend the Sage Force... Very well I can do that but... I will have to warn you... Comprehending the Sage Force is more difficult than comprehending the Still Force. You must already know that to comprehend an Extra-Dimensional Force you must have one of the Forces within you. The trial of the Still Force is called the Test of Patience, the trial of the Strength Force is the Test of Body, the Speed Force can't be obtained from any means other than being born with it and finally the trial of the Sage Force is the Test of Mind. To overcome the test... You will have to overcome your worst fear," Grandpa Ben explained. "I will put you in a illusion, whether you can overcome it or not, depends entirely on you."

Grandpa Ben walked up from his chair and stood behind me before placing his hand on my head.

I wonder what my worst fear is... Do I even have something that I fear?

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3 seconds later

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After a couple of seconds, I found myself inside a circus. I took some time to look around me to find something scary.

'Why am I... Oh... Shit!' That's when I saw it... The greatest evil in the entire world... A brightly patterned suit with large buttons, oversized shoes, a ruffled collar, and a tall, colorful hat adorned with pom-poms, exaggerated makeup, including a red nose, painted-on smile, and exaggerated eyebrows. CLOWNS! I HATE CLOWNS!

Heh Heh

That nasty laughter, tell me what you want but I can't change my views on those spawns of evil. At first, my thought was to kill them but soon enough I found that I couldn't harness the Speed Force or the Still Force. Bloody hell... For a second I forgot that this was a nightmare. Then I tried to run away but there it was standing in front of me menacingly...

Heh Heh

That was the last sound I heard before the clown opened it's mouth, revealing shark like tooth in his mouth and devoured my head.

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2nd attempt

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'How can I overcome a nightmare?' I thought to myself. 'Being killed by something or killing myself directly ends the nightmare rather than overcoming it. If I were to kill the clown then it might work... But how will I kill something that is a part of a nightmare. I would have to erase the fear... If only it were that easy...'

My situation once again reminded me that I wasn't the main character of my novel... I am the opposite... Why do villains always have such bad luck?

Wait a minute... Nightmares form from negative impact on one's mind which affect their brain to develop fear for the certain object or person!

Blimey! Why didn't I think of that! If I were to just imagine that clowns are not scary then it would lessen their power inside the nightmare... But how do I...

That's it! I just need to hypnotize myself that clowns are not super scary to lessen the effect while keeping that little bit of fear present to overcome it by myself, passing the Test of Mind in the process.

Let's give it a try again!

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3rd attempt

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It's not easy as I thought it was... I am gonna lose my mind...

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