The Curse Of Sanity In An Insane World

(Nathan POV)

Entering the library, I see a woman at the front desk sitting and reading the newspaper. Still, as the ringing from the bell atop the door spreads through the room, she lowers her paper, and as she sees me, she tilts her in confusion as if she has never seen a guy in a nice suit at the library before.

As I walked over to the desk, I saw that the newspaper she was reading showed the nuking of Metropolis. I asked, "Excuse me. I was wondering where the science and history sections were." 

She seems almost in a trance but points in the general direction of the section, and I give her a nod of thanks. I then walk over to the section and, making sure to cut the cameras in the building for a moment, I spread my tracing through the entire section of biology as a test. 

And as the lines of my tracing magecraft spread across the bookshelves, knowledge begins to flood my mind on the information stored within each book and how they were created.

Thousands upon thousands of words were transcribed and sent into my mind, and as I took in the information, I nodded in satisfaction at the successful tracing and then got to work on the other sections. Geology, geography, geometry, occultism, etc. Anything I could trace, I did so, and mounds of knowledge were stored in my mind.

I could project copies of the book now similarly to the black keys, which I then do as a test to see if Gaia was active in this universe as she was in the nasuverse and as I summoned a copy of an algebra book, the digital effects of tracing and projection made the book appear in my hand as if from nowhere. And as I held the book, I saw it begin to glitch out and warp but then stabilize.

The sight made me blink in surprise as Gaia was unable to deteriorate the summoned materials. That or the deterioration due to my Essence will take much longer than normal, but this is definitely a promising start.

I never realized how much I was holding myself back. I could feel thousands of different martial arts in my mind, my magecraft, the force, and my virus all seeking for me to let loose. Or to find the strongest being on the planet to test myself against, but I ignore it as that would be suicide as I am now. 

Even with Archer's D rank strength, it is only twenty times the strength of a normal human, which in comparison means that I could at most lift an SUV with some effort, and while with blank, I can go further, it would take time. So, I am not gonna be slugging it out with servants or Superman anytime soon.

The blacklight virus would probably increase my strength by another 5 to 10 times if I used my hammer fist to increase the strength of the blows, but I am currently street-level to maybe a city block if I put all my power into one punch. 

My versatility is my strength, as I have 100 different ways to kill an opponent. The hardest part is simply deciding which one to use.

With each day, I can feel the small egg in my soul develop as it fills with the stuff I have traced, but I can't use it or access it yet. Any tampering may hinder its development. 

But as I placed the book in my inventory, I exited the library after tracing a history book to give me some basis for the timeline. Thankfully, any previous history seems to be the same, but I wouldn't count on these books to have any hidden information since they are just books from public libraries.

I have already decimated the Joker Gang, at least the ones that are still out and about, but the ones in Blackgate and Arkham are still alive. The Bat may expect whoever eliminated the gang to go there next, so I am going to need to wait for Supes to try and kill them all to even have a chance at them.

For now, though, I need a way to insert myself into the events of Injustice, so I need to establish myself, and the best way to do that is to get some experience. So I head over to a cafe to get something to eat, and as I order a coffee and, using their computer, look up any places where that would be possible.

And as I searched through the cities, one stood out to me, and that would be Star City messing with Brick. Working through there would help to get me started, so I looked to see where the next train would be to take me there and see that the next one would be in a few hours. I have definitely learned from my previous experiences as I need to get out of this city pronto.

At least for a little while, that is.

So as I pay for the coffee and walk towards Gotham's train station, I am then grabbed from behind as I feel a piece of metal placed against my back. As I feel the gun pressuring me, I see that the nearby cop hasn't noticed, so as I look away, I ask in a fearful voice, "What do you want?"

"What do you think, rich boy? I want your wallet. Your watch and your keys if you have them. Nice and slow, by the way." As he directs me into an alley near the cafe, I am forced against a wall as I whisper.

"Yella eht nefaed," As the silencing field appears over the alley, I am moved behind a trash can as he presses the gun to my face.

"Well, come on! I don't have all day!" I then start chuckling as he tries to hit me over the head with the pistol.

I then grip the man's hand and begin to crush it, and as he screams in pain, he looks to the exit of the alley and sees no one even acknowledging his screams. As he returned his eyes to me, I was already in my costume, and as he fearfully saw the skull mask, he asked, "Who? What are you?"

I don't even answer him as I stab him through the chest with my claws and tear out his heart as I devour him, and as I take his gun, I place it in the inventory along with some of the ammo he had on him. Since I had my scrambler on, any nearby cameras would show the guy entering the alley but no one else.

I then returned to my normal looks and exited the alley. I continued my walk as I straightened up my suit from the dirt of the alleyway. The cop nearby hadn't even looked away from his cigarette, and as I left, I tried something new. 

Using my new knowledge of biology, I formed a chemical in my fingertip using some of the drugs from the funhouse and launched a small spike from my finger and right into that cop's neck.

It quickly disintegrates as it hits his neck, to which he touches it and finds nothing. He most likely assumes it's a bug bite while it is a very heavy laxative. The effect is immediate as I see him hold his stomach in pain and run to the nearest bathroom as I chuckle to myself.

After such a showing, I vacated the area and headed towards the train station, where luckily I wasn't interrupted again, but I definitely did get some looks that showed that the people were eyeing my suit, and while I could use blacklight as a form of clothing like Alex and James do it feels like I would be naked as it is the virus being the clothes and not clothes themselves.

But that just may be a stray thought of mine. Luckily, I could purchase a ticket and enter the train without issue, and as I entered my seat, the train soon got going with a stop at Central City before the journey concluded in Star City. The trip will take around three days or at least two and a half nights.

So I close my eyes and rest my body for the trip as I focus on the force and try to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. The metaphor is rather fitting as I find myself next to a dead oak tree with a large hole in it at the base of the tree. Without hesitation, I jump in and fall and fall and fall.

I could sense the pure amount of hatred and despair emanating from the surroundings as the force itself is similar to The Warp from Warhammer as it is essentially a psychic and emotional consciousness, the connecting tissue between life and emotion. It is what allows the universe to connect one emotion to another.

Yet as I fell, I was surrounded d by endless mirrors showing fuzzy images that I could not decipher as I continued to fall, but then my descent came to a stop as I was left floating in an endless void, but from the endless darkness, I saw a yellow light approaching me and as the figure gets closer my eyes slightly widen as I see a yellow serpentine being staring right at me.

"WELL, WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? A SEEKER OF FEAR? AN EXPLORER OF THE UNKNOWN? NO, YOU ARE SOMETHING MORE. I CANNOT SENSE YOU. YOUR SOUL IS HIDDEN FROM MYS IGHT, BUT I CAN SMELL IT, THE FEAR. YOU FEAR ME DO YOU NOT?" The large booming voice, which sounds similar to Smaug from The Hobbit, asks as he edges closer to me.

"YOU PLAY A VERY DANGEROUS GAME MORTAL. THE SPECTRUM HAS EXISTED SINCE THE FIRST AND SHALL EXIST UNTIL THE END OF ALL THINGS. NOW SPEAK YOUR PURPOSE INTERLOPER." I Simply sit down and gaze into the eyes of the embodiment of fear, yet I find nothing but desire from them. It is rather ironic in a way.

"I seek knowledge and power. What more a pursuit can there be?" MY answer seems to amuse the serpent as it coils around me and takes in my form.

"YOU ARE NOT OF THE SPECTRUM YET YOU CAN SEE ME. SUCH A THING SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE. THE EMOTIONS OF MORTALS SHOULD NOT BE SO EASILY SEEN, BUT HERE YOU ARE. BY WHAT MEANS DO YOU DO THIS MORTAL?" I could sense his curiosity as his never-ending glowing eyes stared right through me.

"I reached into myself and sought answers. I will say nothing more to you, the embodiment of fear." It seems to grow in size as it stares down at me but then proceeds to laugh as its power spreads throughout the realm.

Pure fear appears to spread across the entire space we are in, but I am unmoving, and as it calms down, it gets in my face faster than I can see it move. 

"YOU HAVE POTENTIAL YOUNG ONE. SHOULD I NOT BE CHAINED BY THIS PLACE, I WOULD REND YOUR FLESH FROM YOUR SOUL FOR THIS INSOLENCE, BUT I EXPECT SUCH WILL EVEN IF I AM FEAR ITSELF. FOR IT TAKES WILL TO FEEL FEAR, AND IT TAKES FEAR TO INSPIRE WILL." It's rather odd that the embodiment of fear seems so talkative as well as philosophical when it comes to the dichotomy between fear and willpower.

"To be honest, I did not expect such a thing to be said by you. But why tell me this? In this space, neither of us can interact with the other. In fact, how did you even find me here?" The being then looks up, and I do as well and see it. Multiple lights shine in the sky, from blue to green to yellow and red; all the colors of the spectrum shine in this space.

" YOU BELIEVE THAT TO BE INSPIRING IN A WAY. I SEE IT TO BE THE OPPOSITE AS WHILE IT TAKES WILL TO INSPIRE FEAR, IT IS THE FEAR OF SEEING THOSE WITH GREAT WILL BEING BROUGHT DOWN BY THEIR OWN INSECURITIES THAT MAKES THE SIGHT ALL THE SWEETER." Okay, that makes so much more sense from this guy.

"I BELIEVE THAT HAS ANSWERED YOUR QUESTION, MORTAL, BUT FOR NOW, I SHALL WATCH FOR YOU HERE BUT DO BE WARY AS THE OTHER EMBODIMENTS ARE NOT AS ACCOMMODATING AS MYSELF." I would believe you if I could not sense your bloodlust the second you saw me.

He then begins to shine in sickening yellow light as the space begins to crack at the seams, and I fall once more into an endless void as I am robbed of my senses one by one. I remain unfazed as the dark shall only be your enemy if you fear it so. 

Soon enough, I find myself awoken by a person shaking my shoulder, and as I open my eyes, I see a man holding a ray gun to my face. He smiles at me and asks, "It seems you had a nice nap. Now, empty your wallets, please. It's time for you to pay your toll."