Xinh flashed open his eyes and that was also the instant the world came alive. It twisted, expanded, and grew. The reality of the world was distorted as the world shattered and reformed in an instant.
A foreign energy burst forth from within. The new energy made Xinh know he was a hundred times stronger than just a few seconds ago.
'What a nice feeling. I could get used to this. So this type of energy was always within me…'
The city was still running somehow. Electricity and everything was still working. Xinh exited his home. He took in the view, everything looks strangely normal yet it feels completely different.
'Let's test myself out on a run'
Xinh flicked off the balls of his feet, and he skipped ten feet forward in a single action. Constantly repeating this action in such a way it looked like Xinh was gliding. The motion of his feet was like a blur and his spacing and control were spaced out evenly.
'Looks like I gotta adjust all my techniques and skills to accommodate the increase in strength and speed. I probably have the illusion of levitating and gliding off the ground from another's point of view. I'm wondering how drastic the change is for everyone else?'
Xinh started to sense and feel the energy in the air. He could tell there was a magnetic pull towards a certain direction.
'Its really quite a distance away but with my improved physicality, it should be fine.'
Scanning his surroundings, everything still looked normal to Xinh.
'I assume not everyone has noticed this new type of energy and they might not also be able to control it.'
Running at a slightly fast sprint, Xinh decided to avoid any attention. So he only ran towards the energy vector. As he entered the suburbs and into more isolated areas Xinh started accelerating. He started in the area of Philadelphia and kept running south and adjusted his speed accordingly to the surroundings. To other people he was just running fast, but when he was out of sight of everyone, at his top speed he created a sonic boom.
'Above the speed of sound, this speed… This is crazy!'
Xinh had to adjust his running style for different terrain, but his body was stronger, faster, had more stamina, and was more durable than ever before. He played around with his movement. Jumping, skipping, front flips, kicks, punches, and even dance moves, were all tested throughout the day. Hours passed and he checked his phone and realized it was afternoon and he was now in the Florida.
'I'm closer to 'that' location, I can feel it. Although it is a faint feeling. I can probably check it out tomorrow. I didn't expect to go out a couple states in not even a full day. I'll find a place to eat and then rest up in a hotel for the night.'
Xinh then found a place to eat, an Italian restaurant. Xinh was really hungry from all the running, so he ordered a lot. After finishing everything he was still hungry so he decided to get a lot of tacos. He even bought some necessities like a phone charging cable for the night. Finally, he checked into a hotel and decided to rest early.
The morning arrived and Xinh was up hours before the sun was rising. He decided to check out of the hotel early and just run to where he felt the energy was entering and exiting. He ran and by the time he got to the coast the sun was starting to peek through.
'Oh fuck, its across the ocean. Should I swim across it? Hmm…'
Xinh pulled out a dice and tossed it really high up into the air.
'Well if its even, I'll back off, if its odd, I'll go. And putting this much strength into my toss now makes it truly random.'
The die landed on three.
Xinh went for breakfast, and waited for the beaches and stores to open to buy goggles and apparel for swimming.
It was still morning when Xinh rushed into the ocean and because there were a few people on the beach, swimming with full force the minute he sensed he was out of sight and underwater. The water was refreshing and Xinh noticed how he was able to hold his breath much longer. Now he sensed a massive boundary as he seemingly passed through it in the water. Xinh noticed the position of the sun and the amount of time passed it took to get to this 'boundary' and concluded it's position.
'A massive wall of energy. Where energy exits and enters in a noticeable amounts. Located and stretched across the Equator of Earth. It has some of the energy that I used here but it also has a lot of other stuff too.'
Xinh was just floating in the boundary itself, it was about half a mile thick stretched into the skies and lined the oceans east to west around the Earth. There was a strange feeling enveloping Xinh as he relaxed. The energy was engulfing him and a falling sensation enveloped him. Xinh quickly resisted.
'Wow, I felt like I was getting sucked somewhere. Is this the change that happened? Does this lead to where the energy is coming and going?'
Xinh decided to accept that falling sensation once again and this time he didn't resist it. He embraced it fully. The ocean view and blue sky changed around Xinh. It was now pitch black darkness. Xinh realized this was a different place and he was now standing and he took a step but he wasn't sure if he moved. He still sensed the boundary, immersed himself into it and he could see and feel the instant change in environment. He was back in the middle of the ocean. Xinh flipped between the two worlds a few more times and was now familiar with the action. He even walked a a few minutes in the black world but noticed the feeling of the boundary getting fainter and he followed the energy back to where he was originally. Now, Xinh had an issue.
'Should I go back or should I continue to explore the unknown? Well theres no rush, I'll make the proper preparations.'
So Xinh decided to swim all the way back, and although he didn't land where he started he was still in the vicinity of the Florida area by the afternoon. Swimming at full speed made him really hungry now so, he decided to just pig out until he was satiated. When it was night time, Xinh decided to just run all the way back home. He went really fast in the night and was back home before midnight. Xinh browsed the Internet and looked for keywords and it looks like some people have already started discussing some of the their improved abilities. But it seems they were only minor, nothing extraordinary yet, just a couple of people who think they finally got some results after exercise and meditation. Everyone is in their own virtual worlds.
'It seems like the crazy stuff hasn't come yet. But I'm sure there are just people keeping it secret for now.This type of energy must be cultivated and it just can't be immediately used wily nilly.'
Xinh showered and meditated before bed. He also noted down some what he was planning to do to when he reached the boundary again.
Xinh decided to get a boat and load it with supplies to adventure into the pitch back world beyond the boundary.
It took a few days but Xinh arrived at the location, the boundary between the other realm or worlds. He decided in his heart to call it the 'Outreach'. Finally when he was in it, he counted the time, and counted his steps. By experimenting walking back and forth and noting the time down. He could briefly confirm the 'Outreach' had a static spatial boundary. Where you entered and left, as long as you confirmed your location, and walked a certain direction and certain amount of steps you could enter and exit in the same location. It was only within a certain range that one could freely enter the Outreach using the boundary created at the equator.
The boundary had about a 10 kilometer range before he couldn't exit and enter it. This was true in the black world of the Outreach and the boundary that encircled the Earth in the actual world. Beyond a certain distance it was like he was in a completely and utterly separate space. It was pure darkness and only the sense of touch beneath his feet confirmed that he was existing. Within such a space, the stimuli of his breath, heartbeat, temperature, thoughts, and vision were amplified. His heartbeat and pulse was like a loud bass coming from within compared to the silence of the pitch black world. Only by counting his steps, while he walked in a specific manner so every step was the same distance. Xinh measured the distance of each step with the space of the length of his feet. It was pitch black in the Outreach but because of the lack of visual stimuli that he started seeing all sorts of colors within his vision. Xinh knew he could easily get lost in this world if he didn't count accurately with his thoughts and walked accurately with every step in a straight line.
It took a few days but going 50,000 steps in one direction and reversing it allowed him to return in one piece. That trip only took a couple hours. Then Xinh decided to increase it to 100,000 steps in one direction and by reversing it also came back to the initial starting point where he took a break on the boat.
Throughout the journey, Xinh felt different concentrations of the energy in his body. And if he paused and concentrated he could absorb some of it. Different places had different concentrations and they were dynamically changing in the Outreach. After the brief scouting of the Outreach, he knew that there was a lot of the energy here. Within the Outreach he could actually just absorb the energy there to keep going. He had more energy than when he entered. He tested his strength and started pondering on a course of action. He wouldn't even need to eat or drink.
'At this rate I can get stronger and I can also explore that place indefinitely, as long as the principles that I've just concluded stay the same. The assumptions that I've made from this brief observation are: One, the space is static and I can keep myself from getting lost as long as I walk with awareness and in a direction. Two, theres always enough energy in the Outreach to sustain myself. I don't even need to breathe. But breathing does help me enter a calmer state.'
'I can absorb the Qi as long as I stay still and enter a state of 'meditation' basically. I've only briefly meditated and absorbed the Qi within the Outreach, but I already feel at least a bit stronger than before. So from my old self before the world 'changed' I'm already 150 times as strong. I can basically confirm this with a brief swim in the water, or just punching. Strength, Agility, Stamina, Endurance, Perception, and even my Energy reserves have all gone up accordingly.'
'I only entered and discovered this because, I have trained and had a lot of this energy before the world changed. I also knew when it would happen. But the change will definitely become more and more obvious as the Earth accepts more of the energy leaking from the Outreach. But even if you 'felt' it, how many would follow that 'sensation'. I'm very sensitive because of everything leading up to the change and after. But after that brief initial sensation, the novelty of it would be then be ignored and most people would just ignore it. Everyone would eventually get 'stronger' at a noticeable pace eventually, but the average of the world will just increase.'
'This new 'smell' of energy coming from this worldly boundary will seemingly disappear to the senses when they eventually have enough energy accumulated to even sense it. How many have connected their body, mind, and heart? And how many have reached my level? I know my current state is even harder to achieve than at my initial standing point, 27 years ago. There's too many distractions nowadays. I'd give it that about 1,000 people out of the whole world could sense the changes. And then to be able to willingly go all the way there? Just for a brief instant? In a world of distractions, the whole universe changed yet they can't even sense it.'
'Well I wouldn't be any better if I didn't have AtA. Right? How many would you approximate would enter the Outreach? I'm giving a pretty hefty approximation, just to be on the safe side.'
[Not more than 10,000, to even enter the "Outreach", you need to achieve a certain state of 'awareness', and a certain harmony of the body, mind, and heart. Then you'd have a brief moment in time to sense the 'direction' of the 'smell' of the boundary before the slowly seeping energy is everywhere across Earth and you become numb to the changes. Even if you're capable to enter which is probably less than 1,000, there's only a slight pull, they would have to willingly go there. They would ignore it and go back to 'meditating'. And based on what you know, the likely hood of being near the equator itself is close to zero, because the land there is quite poor to achieve the initial state in the first place.]
'How many people would have someone like you within themselves. I wonder… Then there would definitely be more than one.'
[If there is more than one, what would you do? Assume that there are.]
'Then they would have a lot of power and agency. They also could be friend or foe. They could also spread the word that this is so. They could also just focus on the 'Outreach' itself and get stronger at a really high speed. If they were 'good' then I wouldn't worry too much. If they were 'evil' or they become someone 'evil' because 'power' corrupts then I'd worry.I also don't know the limit of the individual strength one can achieve. What is the upper limit?'
In the middle of his thoughts, Xinh was already in the Outreach and 'mapping' his journey. He brought the necessary item within his backpack. There were no more any unnecessary thoughts.
Xinh decided. He has already 'died' long ago, everything else was surplus. With a new power comes greater responsibility. There is now the potential of overwhelming evil in this universe. And Xinh decided to be the equal and opposite force of that 'potential evil'. For that he had to become strong. And that strength, that 'energy' was right here, in this dark world. He didn't fear 'death', but he was also careful of the Outreach. The fear of the unknown was mankind's most primal fear. The unknown was all around him.
In the new universe, the divide of power will be ever greater than before. There were limitless futures. Futures where evil reigned was a possibility. Horrible futures flashed through Xinh's imagination. In the world of darkness that was all he could see. Closing his eyes made no difference. Opening his eyes it was all the same. Unspeakable horrors and tragedies that can never be spoken of were all he saw.
Then memories cascaded within his mind as happy visions overlapped in his mind. A smile from a girl he complimented. Or the smiles that were made from magic. The magic he performed to create connections with strangers. The sparring he did against peers. The laughs as he pierced their world with awe. The joy that he gave to others. The freedom he felt when he ran, danced, painted, and played with others. The preciousness that existed on Earth.
'Evil can come from within humanity. It can also come from all the limitless possibilities. Internal and external. Can humanity survive? If there's no answer. Then I'll be that answer.'
'If there is a future where my preparations are unnecessary then so be it. That'd be great. But because there is 'that' chance. I will deny that future. I will make it so it never comes to be.'
'Come.'
The abyss was whispering to him.
Xinh whispered back.
'Come.'
He declared to the unknown enemy, he declared to unknown future, he declared to the universe and he declared to the unknown itself.
In that pitch black world, he walked towards the unknown, the Outreach was encompassing Xinh. The maw of the 'Abyss' swallowed him whole, as Xinh encased himself with resolve.