Lena had been restless the night following her first dimensional trip to what she could only conclude what a significantly smaller version of her own world. She turned around in her bed again and again, her heart beating too fast for her to find sleep. The few minutes she had spent towering above Tokyo playing in her head on repeat, each sensation she felt making her skin shiver.
First, there was the vertigo. Lena was sure she would fall to her death right after hopping. Her sight focused as adrenaline suddenly discharged through her body. Laser-focused, she could see the populated streets so far below - a complex network that looked like an anthill from her vantage point. Then, against her every expectations, calm reigned. The fall never came. The silence was deafening as she expected the air and wind around her to grow overwhelmingly loud as she'd pick up speed towards the ground. Instead, nothing. She was so far up than even the noise from the busy metropolis below couldn't reach her ears. It's only then that the British hero felt it - the faint popping sensation on the rubber of her duty shoes. She was standing, her feet sinking into the earth, each pop a building filled with people.
Lena turned again under her bedsheets, growing ever warmer.
That was the moment where everything had changed. She was still confused by what she had felt then. The minuscule dots down on the ground... People. So many of them fitting ever so simply beneath her feet, pulverized in a fraction of a second. Entire skyscrapers crumbling with the slightest touch of her shoes. She knew how morally wrong her next action would be. She, however, didn't care at this point. She took a step, condemning thousands of others to suffer a bug's death.
Her sheets went flying, the sudden colder air running along her warm and sweaty skin, making her shiver. The young hero was trapped in her own head, her thoughts inescapable.
"I'd never have done this if it wasn't for Angela and her stupid bugs. She's been toying with these things since the attacks began. She should just get rid of them. What the fuck have I done? Why don't I feel worse for it? I've used those small things till they died before but this was just something else. I was there for barely 5 minutes. Hundreds of thousands died under..."
She looked across the room. She could see her uniform hanging in the open closet. Underneath, on the floor, the shoes she wore that day.
It had been 6 months since Lena crossed path with the smaller dimension. Even though she promised herself that night she would resist the temptation of hopping again, it was far too hard for her to do so. She needed to feel it again.
So, Lena went back, popping in different places across this tiny world each time, towering above could have been her own reality. After a while, the death and destruction she caused didn't bother her as much. The high she'd get at first, started to fade. Through her experiments, she realized that going to her "tiny world" allowed her to travel through her own at record speed - so she used it as her own wormhole. The British hero traveled through her dimension to reach situations needing her help in a few seconds, each time killing and destroying the lives of millions as she'd casually step on the world below without even looking down anymore.
This too, became normal, and Lena began to use it for her personal benefits. Being the fastest woman on Earth through her chrono-accelerator was enough anymore...
Tonight, Lena would join Emily and some friends for a fun evening in Covent Garden. Ready to get out, she simply stood in her room, focused and there she was once again - towering over her own little world. A place only she knew about. A place filled with people that could only look up to her and see a God. A place that could never snitch on all the atrocities she'd committed here.
"I'm only passing by today you lucky little things. Emily invited some of her friends for a few rounds. I really need this after this whole ordeal in Cairo. Oh, I see you guys already rebuilt where I stepped on the other day, you're really getting good at this stuff! I'm glad you adapted this fast to this whole thing. Oh by the way, while I'm here, I wanted to let you know something I thought about the other day. Lena, if you ever think of going to my dimension to snitch on me, I'll make sure to find you puny little thing and make sure the only dimension you ever see again is the sweaty inside of my shoe. Are we clear? Just in case you exist in this world and you can do the same stuff I do. Consider yourself warned my little self..."
And with that, she took two more steps onto the busy metropolis below and disappeared.
Lena looked at Emily and cried. The fear of not being able to save the ones she loved overwhelming her. Helplessness, her new normal.
Lena looked at Emily and smiled. A loud and uniform "Cheers!" resonating as the glass of their pints collided. Life was good.
Slowly getting back into it! This began as a little training to get back to the level I was at a month ago. Also, allowed me to get this city into Daz which I'll need for some of the commission I have in stock.
Make sure to let me know what you think. Your support has always been my biggest drive and I need it more than ever. Also, would love to know your thoughts on this little series and its direction... :)
Thank you for your continued support!