Max had studied a bit about the solar system and space in general. He wasn't really the brightest student, but he always loved astrophysics. Even though he never studied it, he had seen many videos on the internet explaining the structure and rules of interstellar activity. He was always mesmerised looking at the galaxies and every single star. The stars were very pretty to him. And he also knew, that even though they were pretty, they were absolutely terrifying.
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As Max had closed his eyes, right when the Samurai was about to slash him, Max realised he didn't want to die. He had always been this way. He decides to do something, but then does the opposite thing. He had always been an irrational hypocrite. Always failing to decide something, especially when it matters the most. Always two-timing his own choices.
The last time he almost died, he thought it was for a noble cause. He thought he was letting Melissa and Lin run away. But instead, they saved him. But this time, they had abandoned him again, but not because they were evil. They probably did it because they thought that Max could fight on his own. Plus, Lin was bleeding.
Max wanted to see his family again. He wanted to help the others...he wanted to meet his sisters and brothers. He can't die here!!
With all those feelings in his mind, Max realised that the star-like things on his left arm began moving. In what felt like minutes, in a split second, the stars in his arm moved very fast, and the surface of his palm, that stretched towards the Samurai, started heating up.
In a shiny white display of light, out popped, something that resembled a fiery ball. Max had known that the Sun wasn't technically on "fire", but due to nuclear fusion, it was always hot and emitted a bright light.
Out of his palm came out a star! The almost-red fiery ball was still dim. Max had thought that a star would be really shiny that it would be impossible to see its core with the naked eye. But instead, here it was, fully ready to engage in combat.
All of these, happened in a matter of few milliseconds. The Samurai was still in front of him, absolute close quarters. His sword was to his left, almost about to pierce Max. But before he could do that, even he noticed the star in his palm.
Max, without a warning, shove that star right at the Samurai's chest, and it was achieved because the Samurai was extremely close.
The moment the star touched the Samurai, it exploded into a bright light. Max could feel the force behind it, but he didn't move. The Samurai on the other hand, experienced what real pain felt like. With the heat of a star on his chest, burning away at him, he screamed as loud as he could. For a moment he thought his heart stopped.
With blood gushing out of his mouth, the Samurai went flying away from Max. Max could see him go back, his legs and arms stretched outward, facing Max. It almost felt comical. This attack was incredibly powerful, and even the Samurai was no match for a star. As the Smaurai flew, he had no chance of even grabbing on to something as he was going towards the forest area, the opposite side of where the other two went. He crashed into the trees there, causing widespread destruction. All kinds of wood was down all around the Samurai. He could barely keep his consciousness intact. As blood gushed out of his body, due to the splinters he recieved in the trees.
Max looked at him from afar, and felt amazed at his own power. He needed to name his attack. He named this attack where he literally thrusts a star at someone as "Starman". He felt like that song was amazing. He wanted to know what else he could do. And before he could think he was all-powerful, reality came back and punched him in the face.
As soon as he wanted to celebrate, his entire left arm started hurting. As if it was pulling him away from the world, it hurt around his chest. His heart felt like it was a burning mess, and his entire left body felt the fatigue, as he kneeled down. Desperately clutching on to his left chest, which was also covered in the Universe, Max breathed hard.
Using this power takes a toll on his body, he realised. Maybe he shouldn't use it...or maybe he will get better with each try. A necessary debuff, for his obvious God-like powers.
Max got up again and in front of him, was the Samurai. Somehow he had made it back. He was bleeding everywhere, and he was limping towards him. His hat wasn't on his head anymore, as Max could see his brown hair.
Samurai: What did you just do...? How did you do it...?
Max: I'm sorry bro...you didn't give me a choice. I really didn't want to hurt you. If you try to attack me once again, I'm sorry I'll use it again.
Samurai: How are you this powerful...?
Max didn't know how to answer that, as he himself didn't know. But he looked straight at him and said the one thing he knew.
Max: Well, technically I'm some tenth incarnation of God I guess....
The Samurai immediately looked up to him in pure disbelief..
Samurai: Wait....you are not a baby..?
Max: What...no!!
Samutai: What colour are your eyes??
Max wondered if his eyes meant something.
Max: It's black and blue. Honestly I don't know why it is that way though.
The Samurai dropped his Excalibur on the ground. He immediately raised his hands up and removed his blindfolds. As the rags fell down he looked at Max.
The Samurai had normal black eyes. Max wondered why he wore a blindfold, when he could see perfectly. But what made Max question himself even more, was that the Samurai was crying. As if seeing a long lost family member.
Samurai: Ma...Ma...Master.....it is really you...
Max: Huh..??
Out of the insane words he thought, this wasn't something Max expected the Samurai to say. What did he mean by Master?? But before he could ask that, the Samurai had other ideas. He looked at the sky above the Dome and just took his leave, running with his Excalibur, into the woods on the opposite side. Max let out a sigh of relief that, that was the opposite direction from where Lin and Melissa went. Also, he was confused on why the Samurai behaved like that in the end. What did his eyes mean?
Max turned and looked at the Dome too. It was very huge in size, almost a hundred times larger than his school. It was made to look jet black, but all the metal looked incredibly old. It was rusted everywhere a bit, but also looked muddy. The area around it, was muddy, as if someone dug a hole to reveal the Dome. The dome was as tall as a five storey building.
But what caught Max's attention was that, above the Dome, there was a huge golden light, that looked like an eye. It was sparkly and looked like it was made of fireworks. And it had no intention of falling down, and it stayed up, as if pointing to something below it.
Max: Weird...
Max began moving towards the forest, as he didn't know what to do with the Dome. He didn't know if it was safe. He wanted to stay put, but he decided to follow Lin and Melissa.
He walked for about an hour, tired, with all the question running in his mind.
Why was he in the Dome? Who were Lin and Melissa? What exactly was the Dome? Why was his sister here? Where was she now? Why was the Samurai after them? Why did he breakdown after seeing his eyes? Who was that little boy and where did he go? Why were there bunch of clothes and a robot, inside the Dome? What was that sparkly thing above the Dome? What was Max's powers? Why did he become the "God"? Who was Mr. Time? And what did he mean, by stating that Max will be erased from existence in 71 days??
Max stopped in his tracks as he came out of the woods.
Max: You gotta be kidding me....seriously??
As if things weren't bad enough, from the edge of the cliff, he saw ahead of him. He could see the forest in front of him, but far ahead of the trees he could see a city line. And amongst it, was the huge tower, that looked large even from this distance. And the tower was reaching to the sky, as purple coloured lightning struck the tower every few seconds, from the dark clouds above it. It created a nauseating and terrifying look.
[Maximus Augilleris Steefan: 71 days till Erasure]
(END OF ARC 1: THE DOME ARC CONCLUDES)