Volume-1 (Part 2)
William was suddenly hurled into a dimension filled with absolute darkness. He found himself completely unable to move. Seeing a small, white "Portel" floating nearby, he cried out in panic, "What on earth is this?! I can't move at all! What's wrong with my hands?"
The Portel approached him, touched him gently, and for a moment, they both floated together in the air. Stepping back, the Portel began to speak: "I am trapped here. Will you please help me?"
Surprised and confused, William asked, "Wait, but I... I mean, how did I get here? And why me?!"
The Portel explained: "I have been observing you since this morning, and I realized that you are a good being. Just as you call yourselves 'humans,' we call ourselves 'Portels.' The 'Overlights,' who have destroyed many planets across the universe, are our sworn enemies. We are the ones who stop them whenever they try to destroy a world. During a recent battle between us, they somehow managed to track Earth's location. I accidentally opened a portal and ended up on Earth without a specific destination in mind, but an Overlight followed me here. Now, Earth is in serious danger. You must help me."
Terrified by the explanation, William replied, "But can I really do something like that? Look at me, I can't even escape from your power right now. How can I possibly help you fight them?"
William tried to run away, but a strong energy shield immediately blocked his path. The Portel explained, "If you want to leave this place, you must first make a contract with me. You have to help me send a message. In return, I can unlock your hidden powers. Truthfully, you are far stronger than I am; I can only remove the outer layer of your locked power. You will have to strengthen it yourself through effort."
The word 'powers' instantly intrigued William. He said, "Alright, state your requirements and let's make the deal. But then, you have to let me out of here! If you take me out of this dimension right now, I promise I will help you send your message."
They quickly reached an agreement. William stipulated, "Fine! But it's on one condition: you must tell me about all my powers, train me to use them properly, and get me out of this dimension immediately."
The Portel agreed, "Deal. But in return, you must always keep me with you and protect me from the Overlights."
With that, the deal was sealed.
The Portel suddenly struck William's stomach, and a massive wave of energy surged through his entire body. His 'Muscle Shifter' power awakened. His eyes flickered rapidly through various colors.
"The contract is fulfilled. Your powers are awakened. Now, everything is in your hands," said the Portel, whose name was Rocky. Rocky then shrunk his body and tucked himself safely into William's pocket.
William asked in confusion, "What is all this? I feel a heavy weight in my pocket now!"
The Hidden Enemy
Returning to school, William saw his English teacher, but she passed by without noticing him. Later, back at his home, Rocky explained their unique abilities: "We Portels can shrink our bodies, we have unlocking powers, the ability to create portals, and we possess advanced technical knowledge. Overlights, however, are very dangerous. They can change their shape to look like anyone, but only if they drink that person's blood. So, be extremely careful!"
Meanwhile, back at the school computer lab, the English teacher opened the door. Suddenly, thunder crashed behind her, and for a split second, her form flickered—revealing a creature that closely resembled a chameleon. It was an Overlight. The Overlight was making secret moves, attaching strange chips to the school computers to communicate with its kind and transmit Earth's exact coordinates.
Unaware of this, Rocky continued his explanation to William: "Our technology is completely different from theirs. We are fewer in number, but we are much stronger when it comes to technology. On the other hand, they have incredibly powerful physical bodies, and their tongue is as sharp as a sword, dripping with deadly venom. They can also grow or shrink their bodies at will, and they possess advanced technology that allows them to travel faster than light."
Later that night, they both went to sleep.
Training and the Journey
The next day was a school holiday, so they decided it was the perfect time to start training. William asked, "So, what's the plan for today? Where do we start?"
Rocky replied with a grimace, "First of all, go brush your teeth! The smell is completely unbearable!"
After William finished brushing, Rocky said, "To send my message, I need to go to the highest point in this region... it's a mountain range that starts with 'Hima...'. We have a hidden base there. Do you happen to know the place?"
William replied, "Yes, of course! You mean the Himalayas, right?"
They prepared to head out to the Himalayas. As they stepped out of the house, Rocky said, "Before we go, let's introduce you to the powers hidden within you."
Using his special sight, Rocky looked closely at William and said, "You possess many different powers. Unlocking them won't bring them all out at once; you can only master them through continuous hard work. The easiest ones for you to learn right now are the 'Eyeose' power and 'Muscle Shifting.' Let's start with those."
Using a realistic hologram, Rocky began training William near his house. During a fierce holographic fight against a simulated Overlight, Rocky instructed, "For the Eyeose power, you must calm your mind completely, understand the flow of your Chakra, and center all that energy into your eyes."
William focused deeply and followed the instructions perfectly. His eyes suddenly turned blue and green—one eye green, the other blue—and even the shape of his eyebrows changed.
After a long and exhausting practice session, Rocky looked around the house and asked, "I saw your father's photo inside, but I haven't seen him around. Where is he? And why are you so alone at school? Don't you have any close friends?"
William sighed and explained, "My father experienced many supernatural incidents in his life, and he left four years ago to study them. My own search led me to believe that he was last seen going to Nepal. On the calendar in his room, the exact day he disappeared was marked with the letters 'M.E.' I think it might stand for Mount Everest. Then there's my friend Tom; we've been close friends since childhood. He was absent from school the other day. His father was actually studying these supernatural things along with my dad, but unfortunately, he passed away. Tom is deeply interested in all this too, so we started a club for people who share similar interests. It's been a week since we started it. Just two days ago, a girl named Ieno joined our club."
Just then, a neighbor arrived at the house. They quickly deactivated the hologram to keep it a secret. William approached her and asked, "What is it, Mrs. Clark? Is everything alright?"
She replied, "Nothing serious, I just came by to see Jasmine. Where is she?"
"Mom is inside, the front door is open," William answered.
Before leaving for his long journey, William went inside to bid farewell to his mother. She broke down in tears, hugging him and saying, "Son, please don't end up like your father. Please don't leave and never return."
Her friend, who was nearby, gently comforted her. William looked into his mother's eyes and reassured her, "I promise I will definitely come back. I will bring Dad back home to you one day. I'm going on a trip with my friends for a week and will be back after that" and he Move slightly out of their sight. And Using Rocky's portal ability, they instantly transported themselves to the cold peaks of the Himalayas. As they attempted to send the signal, Rocky suddenly sensed the presence of many powerful chakras nearby. Suddenly, they were moved into another hidden dimension, where William found himself forced to fight armored wolves and fierce bears using his newly awakened powers.
The Three Tests
After a long and brutal struggle, William finally managed to knock down the leader of the bears. To his absolute surprise, he realized the creature was actually a human in disguise. Upon questioning him, the man opened a gateway to another dimension and took them to meet their Guru.
William immediately expressed his deep desire to become the Guru's disciple. The Guru looked at him and said he would have to pass two tests first.
The first test was to swim across a raging, violent river. William struggled heavily at first against the powerful currents, but he activated his 'Eyeose' power to read the water, found a calm path through the currents, and successfully made it to the other side.
The second test was to leave a visible scratch on a massive, solid rock. William concentrated his chakra deeply into his hands, combined a bit of Muscle Shifting with his Eyeose power, and struck the rock with all his might. When he pulled his hand back, nothing appeared to happen on the surface. Seeing this, the other disciples began to mock and laugh at him.
But the Guru, sensing something unusual, stepped forward to inspect the rock closely along with his favorite disciple. The Guru gently tapped the back of the rock with his finger. Instantly, the massive rock shattered like an eggshell, crumbling entirely into fine dust from the very inside.
William smiled lightly and remarked, "It's enough if I scratch the inside of the rock, right?"
The Guru smiled back at him and said, "You have one final test."
The final test was a direct duel with the Guru himself. William immediately used his Eyeose power to read the Guru's chakra flow, but the Guru constantly and rapidly shifted his flow, leaving William absolutely no room to predict his moves or think. The battle grew incredibly intense. As the duel went on, the Guru felt it would be a total disgrace for a master to lose to a young boy, so he subconsciously began using his full, unrestricted power.
William tried to launch an attack with crackling lightning gathered in his hand, but the Guru swiftly dodged it. In the heat and chaos of the battle, the Guru completely lost control of a massive, lethal fireball. The terrifying sphere of fire headed straight toward William.
Everyone watching was absolutely horrified. While some of the disciples rushed forward in a desperate attempt to stop it, William, facing certain death, instinctively used Muscle Shifting to massively enlarge his arms. He created a giant physical shield that successfully deflected the massive fireball away.
Utterly exhausted by the sudden, massive surge of power, William collapsed to the ground. The amazed Guru stared at him in awe and exclaimed, "Our true hope... the last Muscle Shifter!"
The Four Dimensions and the Challenge
William woke up later in a room and quickly checked his phone; it was already past 11 PM. With Rocky's assistance, he opened a temporary portal back to Earth just to connect to the internet, and he sent a quick message to his mother letting her know that he was hanging out with his friend during the week off and would be back after the holidays.
The next morning, the head disciple approached William and kindly offered to show him around the temple grounds. Eventually, they reached a sacred area featuring four magnificent statues.
William looked at them curiously and asked, "Who are these people?"
The disciple, Thomas, replied, "These are the four Great Warriors. There are actually four distinct dimensions just like this one. They were originally created by these four individuals to train students. However, only our specific dimension is currently connected to the outside world. A powerful 'Evil Lord' arrived at the central gateway that connects all these dimensions and completely cut off all the connections between them. Because of that, they cannot reach Earth now. To make things worse, an evil spirit—an 'Evil Serpent'—is slowly destroying our dimension from within."
The Guru suddenly arrived, stepping into the conversation, and added, "Furthermore, no natural or magical powers work against the Evil Serpent. Only the unique combination of Eyeose and Muscle Shifting, along with raw human physical strength, can harm it. Muscle Shifting is an incredibly rare power found in only one out of every ten thousand people, and you possess it. We desperately need your help to face that serpent. You must prepare yourself."
William nodded determinedly and agreed to help.
The head disciple then turned to William and challenged him to a friendly duel for practice. They walked up to a flat hilltop to train, where William learned several new combat tactics and strategies. Completely exhausted after the session, they sat down to rest under the shade of a tree.
William decided this was a good time to ask about his father, but he wanted to know more about the disciple first. He asked how the disciple had ended up in this hidden dimension.
The head disciple shared his past: "I had a very small amount of Muscle Shifting ability myself. I arrived here four years ago. Since there was absolutely no one else capable of stopping the Evil Serpent, I decided to stay behind and help them. For a long time, I was the only one here who could use even a tiny bit of Muscle Shifting. My actual home is in Branch Village 44, Gios."
Hearing these specific details, William's eyes widened, and he became deeply suspicious. He turned to the disciple and asked, "What is your full name? I mean, including your house name?"
To be continued...