Prompt# 345- Avulsion – His Living Self - Tekia – Exalted/Iron Man

[tekia.livejournal.com]

Title: His Living Self
Fandom: Exalted/ Iron Man
Prompt: Avulsion
Warnings: None
Rating: PG
Summary: When Tony erases his memories to save the others, someone else comes back in his place.


Magic and technology were never meant to work together.
That wasn’t wholly true, but for the two to work compatibly together, the machines, technology itself, had to be built around the magic. Those of the First Age had created technology that, since the fall of the Solars, had never been rediscovered. The Floating Islands, machines powered by magic left behind by those that had died many generations ago, were the greatest of their creations, but not the most important.
Those of the First Age had used machines in war, pleasure, and in everyday life in ways that later societies had gawked at with awe. The technology that came about after the fall of the First Age was nowhere near as grandiose or powerful.
They had once built engines that lifted islands from the ground to fly overhead, wings that attacked to a person’s back and lifted them up, fire wands that could explode with unparalleled viciousness, taking out armies in one strike, and even a boat that sailed over the rolling waves of sand in the deep, dry, southern deserts. All of it had been powered by magic, the Essence of Creation and those that could command that Essence.
After the fall of the First Age, that knowledge had been lost to Creation. For a brief time, when those that could meld Essence to their will returned, the children of the First Age were reborn, it seemed as if that grand time of splendor could return, but it wasn’t to be. They entered a terrible war, and lost. The children of the First Age and their technology was never to return to Creation.
Not that he knew any of that.
He, The Most Gifted, had been alive during the First Age. He had been a great engineer, building his own Floating Island and a manse on top of his personal island. He had built great weapons to protect his brothers and sisters as they fought to save Creation from those that had sought to ruin or destroy it. He had built palaces for his siblings after the wars, and he had built many tools that made their lives easier. A floating platform that could take a man from one end of Creation to the other in less than a fortnight. A device that allowed them to communicate through that distance.
He had been talented. And he had been powerful.
But he had been killed by those that he had trusted the most.
His soul mate; a beautiful woman who had the eyes of a doe, large and brown, had been the one to led him to slaughter, while his clan’s shaman had held an ax to his throat.
He didn’t remember dying, and he didn’t remember being dead, but he knew both of these facts to be true. He didn’t know how long he had been dead, nor did he know why he was alive now.
But alive he was, and it hurt in ways he hadn’t hurt since he had been human.
Slowly, with effort, he blinked his eyes open and stared at the white ceiling above him. There were lines made of shadows across the ceiling where the sun spilled in through the window, and there was a slow, steady beeping that made his skin twitch with each repetition. He blinked his eyes, slowly, languidly, not sure if he wanted to wake up, or remain asleep. His body felt heavy, weighted down under the thin blanket tucked into his sides.
Dragging his eyes open, he turned his head to one side and saw boxes upon boxes with glittering lights at his bedside. There was an empty chair, closer, and a table that held a cup and pitcher. These he recognized, but his eyes were drawn back to the boxes that beeped at him.
There was something in his head telling him things he couldn’t understand, words scrolling over his eyesight, speaking in his mind in a language he couldn’t make head nor tails of. He shook his head, closed his eyes, and forced it all away.
And it went away, leaving only his own voice in his head, telling him that there was something wrong with his Essence.
He kept his eyes closed as he forced his hands into fists at his sides where they rested over the blanket. And then he went through the process of checking every body part he had, inspecting his person in a way he hadn’t bothered with since he had been a human child, falling off a tree. His body was whole, and the longer he was awake, the more like himself he felt, Blessed and powerful.
As he inspected his body, that thing in his head gave him the impression that, yes, he was well, and yes, everything was in working order. More words and thought he couldn’t translate entered his mind, with images of his own person flashing behind his closed lids.
And with those images, he finally understood.
He wasn’t alive, but he had been powerful.
He blinked his eyes open and turned to look at the opposite wall, away from the beeping boxes and toward a massive mirror. A moment later, he shoved himself upright, his body clumsily and uncoordinated as he gathered his feet under him. He reached out, and ignored the pull on his skin as needles and bandages ripped free, leaving small trails of blood that bubbled up for only a moment before his Essence healed him without a trace of the wounds.
He paused, gazing at his wrist where a cut disappeared and saw the words in his mind’s eye telling him something. He felt, in his blood, with his Essence, something else at work. His skin twitched all over at the thought that there was something inside him besides his own Essence and blood, but it must be harmless. His Essence would oust it otherwise.
Returning to the mission at hand, he threw himself into a walk, the floor cool against his bare feet. He walked slowly, allowing his weak body to relearn the motions. And then he was at the mirror.
Yes, he was still dead.
And he had been powerful.
So powerful, that his soul had come back from death to inhabit the body of the one that had lived in his place. He touched a hand to the unfamiliar face in the mirror and finally acknowledged the voice in his head. His other self.
His living self.
Once he knew what had happened, he turned his thoughts toward why he was here. He could feel his Essence pulling him toward his manse. His manse, tied to him through the hearthstone still, called to, tugging his Essence into awareness. And that was where he was going to go.
The words in his head made no sense to him, but with the words came images that he could understand. He shoved aside his natural instinct to use his Essence and instead relied upon the strange and different technology. He used his mind’s new voice to command the machines inside his blood to form the armor around his body. He left his hands bare so to open the door.
There were people in the hall, staring at him, talking at him. He ignored them all, their language was foreign and he couldn’t be bothered to learn it at the moment. This armor would get him to where he wanted to be, and that was enough.
Someone tried to stop him by pressing a hand on his shoulder, and he shrugged them off.
Another door led him outside and the armor ignited and lifted him into the air. A burst of speed had him shooting across the sky, unerringly headed for his manse.
There was suddenly an elemental flying beside him, being led by his weapon. The visor of the helmet had a display of information that he assumed was about the elemental. Words came to him that had no meaning to him, and he refused to take the time put forth the effort in understanding it.
He put forth a burst of speed that had him arching up into the sky, flying higher than he had ever done before, back when it had been his technology helping him fly. He missed the feeling of the wind rushing over his skin, through his hair, though.
And then the elemental was back, shouting at him. His words were almost recognizable, but still just that far enough off to leave him ignorant of their meaning. He ignored them, pushing more force into the armor, making it move faster.
The green lights on the display turned red with what he assumed was warnings, and he cursed softly as the elemental kept pace with him, reaching out for him. He dodged the reach of the elemental by dropping from their elevation. He free fell for several moments, hating the armor that kept the rush of wind from stealing his breath away.
The elemental quickly caught up with him, shouting at him, reaching for him. Making an irritated noise, he discarded the technology of his future self and turned back to his own magic. He forced his ruby red Essence into the metal shell and wires. He learned the armor inside and out, and his magic flowed through the metal until the metal submitted to his will. The blast of power that exploded from his gauntlets and boots turned from pure white to red. He left the elemental behind and traveled faster than anything in this mortal world.
Within moments, the land dropped away from under him, disappearing behind him as water, deep blue and stretching on forever before him, took its place. For a moment, he let himself get lost in the moment, ignoring both the thoughts in his head telling him that this couldn’t last, he was dead, and the voice inside the helmet in the steady and calm tone telling him words he didn’t understand. For the moment, he was free from everything.
There was no life and death here so far above the world. There was no beginning nor an end. He could fly on forever, he thought, letting his eyes go closed as his body unerringly steered him toward his source of power.
His eyes popped open when he felt the wave of power that was as familiar as his own. The display on the helmet zoomed in on the tiny island that still peeked out of the water. There was no life on the small island save for vegetation, and he smiled as he saw two trees twisted around each other, bent nearly in half by the force of the wind over time.
He dropped down and commanded the armor away from him so that he could touch the trunks of the trees with his bare hands. Salt encrusted grass crunched under his feet as he walked barefooted around the trees, his fingers trailing along behind him.
There were no voices in these trees. He backed away, letting his hand drop to his side as he gazed sadly up at the bright green leaves that offered a modicum of shade from the harsh blazing of the sun. He narrowed his eyes and stepped back even more to glare up at the sun a moment before the intensity made him turn away. There was no voice coming from there, anyway. Never had been.
The island was small enough that he could walk the perimeter in moments, but the bit showing up over the water was only the barest tip of the island. Long ago, this tip had been snowcapped and had been the farthest reaches of a much larger island. Avulsion had eaten away at the island’s surface area, leaving only this small outcropping.
He stood facing south and let memories come to him, unclouded by time. He had built this island in his prime. He knew this island like the back of his hand, and could easily navigate his way to the manse with his eyes closed.
A loud rush of wind drew his attention as a large mechanical beast approached from the west. He glowered at it and pulled the armor to him once more. With every muscle stiff and ready, he watched as the beast lowered itself to the island. When the sides opened and people spilled out, he recognized the ship for what it was and had to check himself before he went up to it to discover how the thing worked.
His time in this world was limited, and there were things he had to accomplish before he was torn from his living body. He could already feel his other self waking fully, his mind coming back to him. His soul finding the will to live. Tasting the Essence that now flowed in his veins and salivating for more.
With a force that was nearly laughable, he shoved the other soul away, back down into the darkness of the void and took firm hold of the body.
The people approached him cautiously and treated him like a spooked animal. They were all human, save for the elemental, and he paid them no heed. They were nothing to him.
He turned away, back to the island hidden under the waves. His manse was there, calling to him. He began walking into the water, the armor sealed tight around him, as perfect as he expected it to be.
Once under the water, the display changed, cleared enough that he could see directly before him, aided by a pair of lights on his shoulders and one on his brow. Snorting at the smidgen of light, he put forth the bit of Essence that brought out his anima, turning the water in his immediate area blood red first, and then it softened to the white gold glow of all Solars.
The fish fled in terror, but he could see everything around him, from the softened curves of the once crumbling mountainside to the towers of his manse, still standing tall, despite the encrustation of coral. With a pulse of the armor’s power, he took to the water like he had to the air, and sped along.
Once, these towers had reached up to the clouds. Once, this island had floated in the air like a cloud. It almost turned his stomach to see something that had been meant to fly like a bird down here with the fish. He circled one tower and slowly drifted down to the base, eyes drinking in the sight of the manse hidden behind the layers of coral.
He stood where the doors should have been, but they were sealed with the sponges and anemones so thick, had he not known the doors would be there, he never would have found them.
He reached out, splayed his fingers, and fired a blast. The water rippled in a strange fashion that he told himself not to explore, and the creatures crumbled from the wall. The floated to the ground around him, crunching through the water like the crackle of fire.
He walked forward and called to the Essence still abundant in the walls of the manse, ordering the doors to open.
Open they did, swinging in, sucking in great gulps of water and expelling massive bubbles of air. The water pulled at him, and he let himself drift into the manse. Once he passed the threshold, he waved behind him, and his Essence bubbled out like a shield, blocking anymore water from entering and air from escaping.
Once the air settled, he tilted his head back and sighed.
He was home.