A Mutant Collector Quest

"It seems this wasn't a peaceful trip," the Ancient One's calming voice echoes in my mind, momentarily easing the ache.

"Yes, Teacher… I visited the strange and mysterious Microverse," I report, narrating the experience concisely.

"The world of small is, ironically, not small at all," she remarks with a chuckle. "What will you do about your friend's mother, Luke?" she asks curiously.

"I have a feeling Janet won't be able to say no if Hope herself shows up to convince her," I reply with a confident smirk. I do know, however, that the road ahead will not be easy. The next time I step into the Microverse, it will almost certainly end in a showdown with the Conqueror... whoever that clown really is.

"Very well, I trust you will choose wisely. And if you are exhausted and need rest, I can bring you back," the Ancient One suggests calmly.

"No, teacher. I am ready for even more adventures!" I reply with a wide grin, excitement bubbling within me at the prospect of exploring even more of the vast Marvel Cosmos.

"Alright, then choose another path," she says serenely.

As I scan the myriad paths, my eyes are drawn to some that emit a darker, more sinister aura. I had avoided them before, heeding the Ancient One's warnings about the dangers lurking within.

However, my journey to the Sub-Atomica had taught me a valuable lesson: venturing into perilous territories often yields the greatest rewards. With my Astral Body providing a safeguard and an emergency exit already secured, this seemed like the perfect opportunity to brave those dangerous paths.

"I choose this one, teacher," I say, stepping towards a path cloaked in pitch-black colour and a dark aura. The Ancient One remains silent, offering no comment on my choice. Her quiet demeanour leaves me uncertain if my decision is wise or reckless.

As I begin floating along the path, I notice faint hints of green and purple swirling within the impenetrable darkness. The subtle colours seem to pulse, almost alive within the void.

[Path: 2 (Roll: 71/100) Pitch Black: An almost impenetrable darkness, with faint hints of green and purple swirling within.]

As I was observing the hidden colours, I soon arrive at the fracture in the void. Steeling myself with a deep breath, I step through the crack.

Unlike the last time, I don't feel any pain as I pass through. However, a chilling cold envelops me almost immediately, and I become acutely aware that there is no ground beneath my feet.

I relied on my other senses since my sight was proving useless. My eyes registered nothing—only an impenetrable pitch-black darkness surrounding me, leaving it with zero visibility. The blackness was so absolute that I couldn't even see my own hands.

And there was this other thing, despite the lack of ground beneath my feet, I wasn't being pulled down. Instead, I remained suspended, floating effortlessly in place without any visible effort from myself.

The cold and weightlessness suggest, that I might be in the depths of space again. If not for the protection of my Astral Body, my physical form would undoubtedly have frozen solid by now. Miraculously, my current form seems to adapt to the temperature, dulling the biting cold gradually.

But something is amiss. Deep space should have some light—starlight, at the very least. Here, there is none. Perhaps this is just another dimension or some kind of unique location. Then again, all my conjectures might just be wrong—I could simply be in a dark, enclosed space that inexplicably lacked gravity.

"Let there be light," I murmur, conjuring a ball of pure white light in my hand using my affinity with the Light Element.

"Huh?" I exclaim in surprise as nothing changes. I know I have created a ball of light—I can feel its presence and even move it—but the pitch-black darkness around me remains unbroken.

Darkness is merely the absence of light, at least for humans who rely on visible wavelengths to perceive it. Perhaps light within that spectrum simply isn't allowed here. It is the only explanation that makes sense; otherwise, the light from my orb should at least illuminate my own body. Instead, it seems as if the light itself is being swallowed or simply cannot propagate, rendering everything invisible and devoid of illumination.

I experiment further, trying different forms of my flames, but none of them pierce the darkness. A creeping unease settles over me. I have never experienced darkness this absolute before. It reminds me of Cass and Alicia, who spent most of their lives trapped in such impenetrable darkness. I am grateful that I was able to restore their vision through my powers; enduring this much isolation from light for so long must have been unimaginable.

Although it is not just the oppressive darkness making my skin crawl—it is the atmosphere itself, heavy and stifling, combined with the deathly silence that seems to press in on me from every direction. I am certain that any sane person left in a place like this for too long would eventually lose their mind.

I though don't get discouraged as I switch to another strategy. Activating my Black Cat mode, my eyes gleam with a feline shine, and a tail and ears sprout. The transformation is seamless, but I once again can't help cringing at the absurdity of my own appearance. I silently pray no one else is here to witness this. And if someone is, I desperately hope they are just as blind in this impenetrable darkness as I am.

Or maybe this is the dimension of cat people, and I will be mistaken for just one of them. I can't rule anything out when we are talking about aliens, especially in the Marvel cosmos.

I chuckle at my own thoughts, which were also trying to dispel the heavy weight of darkness surrounding me and that's when I start to see—barely—some light in the distance.

This confirms that some light propagates here, just not in the visible spectrum, as there is some infrared light present, able to travel in this space. I infer this from my cat form's night vision, which is simply a cat's ability to detect and catch certain forms of infrared light.

But I am not done experimenting. With a final attempt, I activate my Mana Sight.

"What the fuck!" I exclaim, the words slipping out as the entire world suddenly lights up, like someone just flipped a switch.

The void around me bursts into a dizzying kaleidoscope of colours. Massive structures surround me, their size so overwhelming it is almost impossible to grasp—planet-sized rocks, strange crystalline formations, glowing liquids, and shapes that defy description. It feels like I have stumbled into a cosmic scrapyard, a chaotic realm full of things that shouldn't exist.

Everything is so huge it makes me feel like an ant in a football field—no, even smaller. I can hardly take it all in, as my limited vision struggles to process the enormity of what's before you.

"Why isn't anything moving?" I wonder aloud. Even though my Mana Sight has illuminated everything in its own magical colours, the world remains completely still. It's a sharp contrast to the Sub-Atomica I visited, where everything was in constant, rapid motion.

At least I am not in an empty void. If the Cat Form and Mana Sight hadn't worked, I would have had to call on teacher to bring me back after experimenting with a few more things, and then my trip would have been a wasted effort.

Now that I can see, I pick a random direction and start flying using my Astral Form. There are many objects very close to me, but their sheer planetary size prevents me from properly seeing them—only their surface is visible. So, I focus on the things farther away, trying to make sense of this vast space.

Despite my extensive knowledge of languages from my home planet, all I can think to call this place is a nightmarish cosmos. The colours are chaotic—void black, deep crimson, sickly green, and hints of purple—filling every object, all of which seem fractured or broken in some way, as though reality itself has been patched together haphazardly.

One thing becomes clear: gravity here is almost negligible. I feel no pull from even the massive planetary bodies as I near them. Maybe that's why light itself is absent in this place?

"Is this some kind of inter-dimensional rift?" I ponder aloud, my mind racing with scientific theories. "Even localized entropy doesn't seem to apply here…" I muse, deep in thought.

This space, wherever it is, serves as another reminder of how terrifying the different realms in the Marvel Universe can be. In fact, this is the third dimension in which I would have died if I hadn't had an astral body.

The first was Asgard, where the Bifrost's energy would have disintegrated me from afar. The second was the Sub-Atomica, which could have crushed my body before I even entered. And now, this void, where the vacuum and it's extreme cold could have easily killed my human form instantly.

Hours seem to pass as I drift aimlessly, the eerie silence broken only by my own thoughts. The more I observe, the more alien this place feels. The space and objects here simply aren't normal. The only constant is the dark, almost pitch-black-purple mana flowing everywhere.

In fact, if I am not mistaken, the very fabric of reality—the space-time net that holds our universe together—might be torn and reattached here, like different patches sewn into the already ripped cloth of space and time, creating this strange, unnatural mess.

But I haven't lost hope. I remind myself not to cling to Earth's preconceived notions of life—carbon and water-based organisms. Out here, it's possible that life exists, especially with so much mana flowing around. If it does, it would likely be very different from anything I have seen back on Earth. And so, I continue my search, determined to uncover this place's secrets.

After what feels like even more hours, I eventually land on a massive, mana-infused, purple spherical asteroid. Standing there, I sigh, the desolate expanse pressing down on me.

"As they say, the Universe is mostly cold, dark, and lifeless. Maybe that's even truer for this alien dimension," I mutter with a deeper sigh, ready to call teacher and have her bring me back instead of wasting more time in this empty, broken space.

THRUM!

A sudden sound pulls me from my thoughts. A swirling purple portal appears before me, its mana radiating with such intensity that I instinctively raise a psionic shield around myself. Combat readiness overtakes my surprise.

***

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