74: Cosmic Energy
Cutting through the fierce blizzard, a figure covered from head to toe in a thick layer of ice and snow landed softly before the fortress gates. Ignoring the howling frozen winds that lashed against him, he advanced with slow, measured steps, each so short that he looked like a giant penguin carrying its egg.
'If I'd known it would end up like this, I would've stopped by the farm to change first,' Daniel thought, feeling aggrieved.
His impatience to learn more about the new power he now possessed had driven him to fly directly to Antarctica. However, as soon as he arrived, he found himself trapped in the middle of a violent snowstorm.
To his misfortune, although the fabric of the chiton he wore was extremely resistant, it wasn't completely immune to abrupt changes in temperature, and within seconds it froze solid, turning him into a flying popsicle.
'Uff!' Exhaling in annoyance, Daniel moved stiffly but carefully, trying not to damage his clothing. After all, it was both a keepsake and something borrowed; he couldn't just go and ruin it.
With a faint vibration and the soft sound of crystal sliding against crystal, the fortress doors opened to welcome him. But unlike other times, Daniel didn't walk straight in; instead, he stood still in place, one eyebrow raised in surprise.
"Welcome, sir!" A chorus of a dozen robotic voices flooded his ears, making him wonder, for a moment, if he had arrived at the wrong place.
Before his eyes, scattered across different parts of the fortress's main hall, stood several advanced-looking humanoid robots, each busy with different tasks.
Daniel studied them closely. Their design was surprisingly Earth-like, vaguely reminding him of the armor Tony had used in Gulmira, though at the same time they were quite different.
Their angles were softer and their bodies slimmer, giving them a friendlier aesthetic. Instead of defined features, their faces were a black slate that lit up in different ways whenever they produced a sound. Their colors, moreover, were cooler: a combination of silvery and blue metals that shone with elegance.
One of the nearer robots stopped what it was doing and approached with agile steps, raising its arm toward him once the distance between them was less than two meters.
In the center of its metallic palm, an opening appeared, and from it emanated a yellow light that illuminated his body like a beam of midday sun.
In no time, the ice and snow covering him began to melt, turning into wisps of vapor.
"Thank you," he said, and the robot let out a cheerful electric sound in response, a mix of colors lighting up its face before it bent in a slight bow, reminding him of an authentic butler.
"Can you store this? It's fruit," he asked tentatively, lifting before it the frozen sack he had been carrying on his shoulder.
"Of course!" the robot replied enthusiastically. Its electronic voice was strangely melodic, almost feminine. Daniel couldn't help but wonder whether the others would share that same tone, or if, on the contrary, each one had its own vocal imprint.
'If not, the only way to tell them apart would be by their numbers,' he thought, glancing sideways at the familiar crest of the House of 'El' on their chests, where a number from 1 to 12 replaced the characteristic "S" in the center. The one who had approached him was number 4.
Letting it take the sack, Daniel watched it walk away before turning his gaze around with curiosity, noticing several changes in the crystalline structure that hadn't been there before.
"Looks like you've been quite busy," he remarked, as if speaking to the air.
"Just adjusting the place a little." At his side, a projection rose and Lara's figure appeared.
"Interesting choice of clothing," she told him, raising her eyebrows as she looked at him, a gleam of interest visible in her eyes. As always, seeing so much expressiveness in what was, essentially, only an artificially created image made Daniel wonder whether she did it deliberately or if it was truly genuine.
Since she was an advanced super-AI, perhaps it was both.
Looking away, Daniel advanced toward his destination. As he passed near the robots, they bowed to him and Lara with a slightly exaggerated courtesy.
"Someone's been watching too many period dramas," he couldn't help but point out with some amusement, making Lara snort.
"Earth isn't the only planet where etiquette exists. In most worlds, certain customs are more similar than you might imagine," she explained, sparking Daniel's interest.
"You know, one day you'll have to tell me more about that. I might need it." Not that he was planning on traveling to other worlds anytime soon, but it was never a bad idea to be prepared in advance, just in case.
"The etiquette and customs of the most prominent civilizations in the universe are well documented in the database; you could learn it all in a single afternoon…" she pointed out. Not that she minded teaching him personally, since it was something she often did whenever he asked, but in this case, with Daniel's reading speed, it was simply easier for him to review it on his own.
"Come on, that would be boring. Besides, you probably know things that aren't in those files, right?"
Lara couldn't deny that. Before the destruction of Krypton, she herself, both as a scientist and as a member of the military forces, had traveled to other worlds and witnessed firsthand the customs of various species and their societies.
And that kind of personal experience was often discarded when documenting information in favor of objectivity, since the Kryptonian method of recording used by explorers and scientists when dealing with other cultures tended to be impersonal, even clinical.
"I might know a thing or two," she finally said, deciding that later she would give him an intensive class on interspecies culture.
Their brief conversation didn't interrupt their pace, and soon both arrived before the central pillar of the fortress, where the command center rose in the familiar form of a high-tech computer.
"Codex, show me all available files on cosmic radiation," Daniel ordered directly as he took a seat in the crystal chair that rose for him, his words spoken in nearly perfect Kryptonian.
Of the many languages he had been learning in his spare time, Kryptonian was, of course, one of those to which he had devoted the most effort, and thanks to having Lara as a teacher, he only needed a couple of days before his mastery of the language reached the point where even his pronunciation wasn't so far from that of a true native.
With his command, data after data was displayed in rapid succession on the screens above the command center.
At his side, another crystal chair formed, and Lara sat in it naturally, crossing her legs and bringing a hand to her chin as she furrowed her brow slightly. That image could have fooled anyone into believing they were looking at a being of flesh and blood.
Movements like those were frequent in her, perhaps remnants of old habits from when she was still alive, which she now performed unconsciously.
"Cosmic radiation is one of the most mysterious types of energy that exist in the universe… It is rare to come across it and even more difficult to identify it."
She hadn't asked the question directly, but Daniel could hear the intrigue in her voice. It was evident that she was interested in knowing how an "Earthling" could have knowledge of something that, even for Kryptonians, was an enigma.
"Well, I have my sources," he replied vaguely while reading the data, then began telling her about his little adventure at the Baxter Foundation's science fair and the consequences of it. And although Lara already knew beforehand that something had happened that day, she clearly hadn't expected cosmic radiation to be involved.
Of course, that still didn't answer her question about how or why Daniel knew about cosmic radiation. However, at this moment she couldn't pay much attention to that detail, since her interest was focused on something much more incredible.
"And that's how I ended up in the middle of space, almost dying from the overload."
Lately Daniel had become quite skilled at recounting past events, so it didn't take him long to finish telling the story and, as he spoke, he raised his hand toward Lara, letting the particles of energy inside him dance between the tips of his fingers as proof of the truth of his tale.
"That's…" Even as an AI, it took Lara a couple of seconds to process the series of illogical facts she had just heard.
Standing up abruptly, she moved closer to his hand and observed the blue energy within it with unexpected intensity. With a single thought, she activated the fortress's scanners, beginning to analyze Daniel's body once more.
"Impossible! The molecules should be breaking down. Why is the energy still stable? Wait… is more being generated?! How is it possible that more is being created? What the hell?!" In the end, she even ended up blurting out several curses as she muttered to herself.
Daniel didn't interrupt her; in fact, the scan was something he was going to ask for anyway. Although he could use his core to "look" inside himself, that ability still lacked certain technical aspects that the fortress's scanner did possess.
He needed that data to obtain a more precise measure of the energy within him and of its possible capabilities.
And speaking of capabilities—
'I barely learned anything,' he thought after finishing the last file on cosmic radiation in the database.
Lara wasn't lying: even for Kryptonians, cosmic radiation was one of the most mysterious and hardest-to-find forms of energy. Studying it was not only complicated due to its volatility, but also dangerous, since it tended to destabilize the molecules of everything around it, making it nearly impossible to store.
The few studies that Kryptonians had managed to conduct safely on it were also limited, despite their incredible technology. And, to make matters worse, there was no precedent whatsoever of it causing mutations in living beings.
Any animal, plant, or organic creature directly exposed to cosmic radiation met its end swiftly and disastrously.
'That more than five humans managed not only to survive exposure, but also to gain powers from it, is simply impossible' at least according to the brightest scientific minds of Krypton.
But then again, nothing was truly impossible if you were on Earth.
That was a truth Daniel firmly believed in, and one that, in the future, Lara would surely come to believe as well, even if right now she seemed barely able to accept it.
"Looks like I'll have to figure almost everything out on my own," he murmured, already foreseeing the series of disastrous tests and experiments that would occupy most of his free hours in the future.
"Not necessarily," Lara suddenly interrupted, as if reading his intentions.
"What do you mean?"
She hesitated for a moment. Her expression, once shaken, had calmed, transforming into something more serious.
"It's complicated. I don't know if saying it is the right thing to do, but not saying it could be worse…" Setting aside her doubts, Lara concluded that, given the situation had reached this point, hiding what she knew would only bring trouble.
"Tell me, do you know about the Power Cosmic?"
"Eh?" Daniel blinked, pausing. He didn't understand the reason for the sudden question, but still decided to answer honestly, seeing no need to hide it.
"I've heard about it, but honestly I barely know anything."
Even if he had read some comics and watched several DC and Marvel movies and animated series in his previous life, the truth was that he had never been such a die-hard fan as to want to learn beyond what was shown on screen.
He knew about cosmic radiation because it was often mentioned as the source of the Fantastic Four's powers. However, given how different this universe was compared to his memories, Daniel wasn't even sure at first if the extradimensional energy that had emerged from the spatial rift was really cosmic radiation.
It was only when he reviewed the information in the Kryptonian archives and compared it with the data he had gathered on the day of the incident that he could be certain the mysterious extradimensional energy was, in fact, cosmic radiation.
Similarly, he only remembered the Power Cosmic because it was mentioned as the energy source of the world-devourer, Galactus, and his herald, the Silver Surfer.
But how did they work? Where did they come from? What were they, truly? Those were questions that, even if he recovered all his memories, he wouldn't be able to answer.
"That you've even heard of it is already quite surprising; I didn't expect that such information could even be found on Earth." Daniel felt suspicion and intrigue grow in her eyes; still, he offered no further explanation.
There were things he could not reveal even if he wanted to, and he preferred not to have to invent a lie. So as long as she didn't ask, it was fine to remain silent, right? Of course, if she did ask for an explanation, he would try to give her one; at the very least, he owed her that much.
Fortunately, she didn't seem to want to pry too much.
"Anyway, the fact that you know about it spares us part of the explanation." Lara stared off into nothing for a moment, ordering her thoughts before continuing.
"Given how complicated it is to study cosmic radiation, its exact nature has always been an enigma, even for the most ancient civilizations. However, during the final moments of the battle for Krypton, Jor-El managed to discover something truly important about it while searching for a weakness we could exploit against the world-devourer."
As she explained, Lara moved her hand and caused a series of data to be projected in front of them.
A quick glance was all Daniel needed to understand what it was.
"This wasn't in the files," he said, though there was no accusation in his words.
Lara managed a faint smile.
"As I mentioned, it was information obtained at the very last moment. Shortly after its discovery, my consciousness finished uploading into the artificial intelligence matrix, so it's fortunate that it wasn't lost."
What she was showing him were the detailed records of the energy spectrum measurements—both of cosmic radiation and of Galactus's Power Cosmic.
At first sight, they didn't seem to bear any similarity; in fact, they could be considered as different from each other as electromagnetic energy is from atomic energy.
Even if they both shared the term "Cosmic" in their names, it wasn't because there was any real connection between them… or at least, that's what Daniel had believed—until he saw the results of Jor-El's research.
"They're the same…" he said, with a mixture of astonishment and bewilderment, while beside him Lara nodded solemnly.
"Although I don't understand why this happens, the truth is that the Power Cosmic is, in essence, cosmic radiation in its purest state… Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that cosmic radiation is nothing more than the residual byproduct left behind by the Power Cosmic?"
Whether it was one or the other didn't really matter all that much.
What truly mattered was what it meant for Daniel to wield the same power as the world-devourer.
'Now I understand why she seemed so shaken before. It wasn't just because of the illogical way I ended up in this situation, but also because of the potential this represents and what it could turn me into.'
Perhaps Lara feared that this power might transform him into something like a Galactus 2.0, which would definitely suck, but Daniel didn't believe that was very likely. Galactus was unique in the universe, and that wouldn't be changing anytime soon.
'Even so, she seems to be taking the idea pretty seriously,' he thought, glancing at her grave expression from the corner of his eye, a tense silence beginning to form between them.
"So… does this mean I'm like a second Galactus now? Do I have to start devouring planets or something? Because if that's the case, I don't think my stomach could handle it." He tried to joke to lighten the mood, but Lara didn't seem too amused.
"Your sense of humor tends to show up at odd times, you know that?"
"Maybe…" It was one of those old habits from his past life that he'd been trying to leave behind—and with quite a bit of success, too! Though sometimes it slipped out, like now.
"Anyway, now that I know what I'm dealing with, you don't have to worry too much. I'll be careful, I promise!" he said with confidence, preparing to head into one of the empty rooms to begin experimenting. But before he could do so, Lara interrupted him.
"It's not that I don't trust your word, but I think you're rushing ahead. I'm not finished yet."
That caused Daniel's confident smile to fade.
"There's more?" He thought he had already understood everything, and as if reading his thoughts, Lara let out a dry laugh.
"There's always more. Don't be so impatient. Since you've decided to start playing with forces and powers that only higher beings can comprehend, the least I can do is make sure you do it with prudence. So listen carefully."
Daniel didn't argue any further; he could see she was dead serious, so he kept quiet and paid attention, his curiosity burning to uncover what he had yet to learn.
"You're probably thinking of taking Galactus as an example of what Power Cosmic is capable of, but you mustn't!" she said sternly, making Daniel narrow his eyes.
"Remember, he is a destroyer, a force of nature that exists solely to consume life. Following his path blindly is a mistake that will only cause you to waste the potential you now possess."
He didn't question her directly, but Lara could sense the doubt in his eyes. If he wasn't supposed to take Galactus as a guide for what the Power Cosmic could do, then how was he supposed to begin using it? That was probably what he was wondering.
"Since you said you barely knew anything about the Power Cosmic, I suppose that, like most, you believe only Galactus is capable of using it, correct?"
Daniel nodded. According to his memories, that was indeed the case; though, given how little he had known in the first place, it didn't surprise him to discover he was wrong.
"It's a common misconception. Galactus is too constant a presence, leaving a strong impression on countless civilizations throughout time. His duty has also caused his use of Power Cosmic to be limited, often making it appear as if it were merely a destructive force, but that is far from the truth."
Of course, that didn't mean there hadn't been countless attempts by many species to research such an enigmatic power; but in most cases, nothing ever came of it.
And when progress was made, it was only moments before Galactus destroyed their world... just as happened with Jor-El's last discovery.
"This isn't something many are aware of, but within this universe there exist entities that wield such power in a far superior way. Beings beyond imagination, those who stand above all… The true star gods, Architects of all creation: The Celestials."
The mere mention of that name was enough to make the air around them feel heavier. Perhaps it was an illusion, but Daniel even thought he sensed a vibration in the surrounding space-time, sending a brief shiver down his spine.
When he looked at Lara, he noticed she didn't seem to have felt anything.
'Am I imagining things?' With his jaw clenched, he let his eyes wander across the fortress, carefully scanning the surroundings but finding nothing out of the ordinary.
Shaking his head, he cleared his mind and set his doubts aside for the moment, focusing instead on what Lara had just said.
"So then, you want me, in trying to master Power Cosmic, to focus on doing it the way these 'Celestials' wield it, and not the way Galactus does?" he asked directly, already understanding where she was going with all of this.
Lara nodded firmly.
"I believe that would be best. Though for now, the energy within your body is still far from what could truly be called Power Cosmic, this is not definitive. Somehow, within you, more continues to be generated, refining, concentrating with each passing second… If that process does not stop, it's possible that one day the Power Cosmic within you may even be comparable to that of a true Celestial."
Of course, for now that was only a possibility, and a small one at that. The other, and far more likely, outcome was that his body would be unable to withstand the excess energy and would end up self-destructing from within. But she didn't need to say it aloud, since both of them already knew.
'Not that it would be difficult to solve,' Daniel thought. If there's too much energy to contain, you just need to let it out, at least until your body adapts and can handle it.
On the other hand, with the Core he could accelerate the process if he wished, allowing it to accumulate without end while healing any damage as it appeared. But that would only drag him back into a cycle like the one he had already endured.
'And that would be far too painful.' Daniel would rather not have to experience another overload.
'So the first step will be figuring out how to vent the excess safely and without anything exploding.'
"The nascent energy within you is still like a blank slate. According to the scanner's readings, its inherent properties are free from any of the violent and destructive traits of Galactus's power, making it more akin to the pure power of a Celestial. That is why I insist you must not try to imitate him, or you could trigger a destabilizing chain reaction that might end up causing you irreversible harm if something were to go wrong."
Seeing him fall silent with a deep frown, Lara couldn't help but add more, fearing he was still not convinced.
Her concern wasn't unfounded, given that she was unaware of his Core and the immense regenerative ability it granted him, to the point of making him nearly immortal. It was only natural that she would want to make sure he didn't make a mistake that could needlessly cost him his life.
Daniel didn't know if that attitude came from her starting to care about him, or from fear of what might happen with Carol if he were to die. It was probably the latter, but he preferred to think it was a mix of both.
"Alright, I get it. I'll listen to you; it's not like I'm particularly eager to accidentally immolate myself anyway," he said with a smile, which made the tension on Lara's face break and lifted the corners of her lips slightly.
"If it were only you exploding, then it wouldn't be so bad, but I'm afraid you'd end up taking the whole planet with you," she replied more lightly, though still with a hint of final warning.
'She's definitely starting to love me,' Daniel thought ironically before shifting his gaze into nothingness, reflecting on everything he had learned today. His fingers tapped rhythmically against the armrest of his seat, preventing the silence from settling in.
"I'm curious, how do you know that the source of the Celestials' power is power Cosmic?" he asked after almost a minute. The question had been lingering in his mind ever since Lara had mentioned it.
As far as he understood, the Celestials were infinitely more enigmatic beings than Galactus. Unlike the World-Eater, they didn't need to make appearances or demonstrate their capabilities every so often to maintain natural order, or anything like that.
Obtaining reliable information about them should be far more difficult. But given how certain Lara seemed when affirming their use of Power Cosmic, there had to be something that supported that confidence.
Since he was going to take them as an example, it was best to start by finding out everything Lara knew about them, and then complement it with what he knew thanks to his meta-knowledge. That way he could gain a broader vision of their abilities, one he could use to master his new power the right way.
"You took longer than I expected to ask," Lara said with a smile, and with a thought, she made a screen appear in front of him, beginning to play a recording.
"To be honest, the Kryptonians knew as little about them as most other civilizations. Fortunately, many years ago, during one of my research trips through space, I came across, so to speak, a small sample of residual energy left by a Celestial."
Calling it "small" was a serious understatement. In the footage she showed him, Daniel saw in exquisite detail a true Celestial standing over a distant planet, blue energy flowing from its golden body and striking the world with an unknown purpose.
The video, recorded from the distant reaches of outer space, was sped up several times, returning to normal speed only when the Celestial stopped sending energy to the planet and began to drift away. Then a flash lit up the screen, and a second later, the colossal figure vanished without a trace.
"I waited five full days before daring to approach. When I landed on the planet, the energy readings were insane! I stayed there almost two months until the residual power began to fade, and although I took numerous samples, none managed to retain the energy within them."
The tone of regret in her voice was clear, being unable to preserve those samples had clearly been very disappointing for her.
"In any case, even though I didn't discover everything I hoped for, I did manage to learn several interesting things. That way, when Galactus decided to attack Krypton and we began studying him to try to drive him off, I could notice the similarities. Of course, that information didn't help at all; in fact, it even demoralized some. But well, something is better than nothing… at least it's useful now."
She finished, shrugging as if it didn't matter, but Daniel noticed the faint furrow of her brows, which soon disappeared, replaced by a colder expression.
"Do you have any more questions?" Her voice was now flat; any emotional fluctuation vanished without a trace, leaving only an expressionless face.
Daniel almost clicked his tongue at the sight: there was something unnatural when she did that, as if the part that had once been a living being switched off and only the machine remained. It didn't happen often, but when it did, it was very noticeable.
He needed to say something to bring her back.
"Taking that Celestial as an example, how far would you say I am from it? How does my energy compare to its?"
"That… is difficult to say." His small plan showed immediate effectiveness: the new topic made Lara reflect deeply on it, bringing her back to her usual state.
"If we only consider the energy readings recorded at that time, I'd say the energy inside you barely resembles four percent of the residual power I found five days after it left."
Only four percent? Daniel blinked in disbelief. Although he still couldn't precisely measure the quality or quantity of energy within him, he could feel that there was now almost as much as when he had been forced to fly into space to deal with the overload.
While that amount no longer posed a threat to his health at this point, as his body had strengthened and adapted to contain even more, he still vaguely remembered how potent and overwhelming it had felt when he began to lose control and had to release it all at once.
That day, Jupiter had to say goodbye to one of its moons, and Daniel lost his newly designated future space base before he could even lay a single brick.
The death of Little D still weighed on his conscience.
And that only amounted to four percent of residual power?
Daniel drew in a deep breath to steady his inner turmoil. Though he knew a Celestial was a powerful entity, he hadn't truly grasped the scope of that power until now.
"As I said before, the energy within you is still far from what could be considered true Power Cosmic, being more akin to cosmic radiation, but not entirely, as if it existed in an intermediate point between both states. If you want to give it a proper name, we could simply call it cosmic energy."
"Short and sweet, I like it," Daniel nodded, easily accepting the suggestion; it wasn't as if he had a better name in mind.
Their conversation went on for a while longer. Daniel asked all the questions he considered important and, as always, Lara answered with patience, sharing everything she knew and even discussing several theories with him, until they shaped an initial plan for him to begin practicing with the use of cosmic energy.
"Before you begin, I'd like to give you this," said Lara, making a casual gesture with her hand just as their long conversation was coming to an end.
That simple movement caused a section of the crystalline floor beside her to rise, forming a tall column as wide as a phone booth. At its center, a line appeared, opening slowly to reveal a pair of doors from which a faint white mist escaped, exposing an interior bathed in a blinding light.
Little by little, the brightness faded, until it revealed a male mannequin upon which rested a full-body suit, white in color with silver details.
"Originally, this type of suit was designed to help Kryptonians better adapt to the changes produced when coming into contact for the first time with the energy of a yellow star," she explained, while Daniel stepped forward, standing in front of the mannequin and closely observing the suit.
"Most of its functions won't be useful to you, but its internal sensors, being in direct contact with your skin, will provide us with far more precise data than remote scanners can obtain. That way we'll be able to monitor in full detail the changes generated by the cosmic energy within you, and how these affect your biological functions."
Daniel remained silent. His eyes lingered for several seconds on the familiar symbol engraved on the chest of the suit, and a multitude of emotions shimmered in them. Almost without realizing it, he raised his hand and gently brushed the large silver "S" with his palm.
"Thank you," he murmured simply, with a faint smile on his lips.
Beside him, Lara paused, not fully understanding why he suddenly seemed so sentimental.
Without wanting to wait any longer, Daniel quickly slipped off his chiton and took the suit with the utmost care. Putting it on felt like wrapping himself in a second skin: it fit perfectly, so much so that he almost felt naked wearing it.
"I see you took my measurements," he remarked with a slight tease as he stretched a little. It was a shame it didn't come with a cape, though he wasn't really complaining; the mere fact that Lara allowed him to wear it was already more than enough. Maybe, with a bit of luck, one day he could even convince her to let him try on the blue-and-red one.
It's not like he was thinking of changing his suit or abandoning the symbol he himself had created, only to suddenly start wearing the emblem of the House of 'El' or something like that.
Daniel knew well enough that this wasn't his path nor his legacy. His intentions were far simpler: those of an ordinary fan who longed to fulfill a childhood dream and wear, if only once, the authentic suit of one of his favorite heroes.
"Well, how do I look?" he asked excitedly, finishing his stretches and striking a simple pose he thought would look cool.
Lara merely shrugged, keeping her opinion to herself, and instead repeated the question as she turned toward the person who had just arrived at her side.
"What do you think? Does he look good?"
Carol blinked in confusion; she didn't fully understand what was going on, but still answered honestly, giving Daniel a thumbs-up and nodding firmly.
"Very good," she said, as her eyes swept over his figure at lightning speed and a faint blush colored her cheeks.
"You took a while to come. Did something happen?" Daniel asked curiously. Knowing Carol's usual behavior, he had assumed she would run to find him almost the moment he set foot in the fortress; however, this time, even after spending several hours talking with Lara, she hadn't appeared until now.
"Ugh… let's just say my mother didn't take her eyes off me for quite a while," Carol said, her gaze somewhat dim. Just remembering the sudden "girls' talk" Martha had dragged her into against her will gave her goosebumps.
There were things she didn't need to know and things she definitely hadn't wanted to hear, but she still had to go through it. To her misfortune, the start of that torture coincided with Daniel's return, which made it all the worse.
She had tried to slip away several times, but Martha, as if she could see right through her thoughts, didn't give her the slightest chance.
In the end, Carol had to make several promises and even a few pleas to gain her freedom.
"She even imposed a curfew on me, can you believe it? What am I, a ten-year-old!? Now I have to be home before eleven or she'll forbid me from seeing you for a whole week! She even threatened to start sleeping in my room if I ever tried sneaking out in the middle of the night without at least telling her first..."
She complained bitterly, but neither Daniel nor Lara could offer her much comfort.
'She lets you sneak out as long as you ask, and you still complain?' Daniel couldn't help but laugh to himself at the thought.
Having fully vented, Carol let out a long sigh and looked at Daniel with narrowed eyes and a furrowed brow.
Daniel was about to take a step back, thinking she might be angry with him. However, instead of striking him as he feared, she hurried to wrap her arms around him, holding him tightly and burying her face against his chest.
"I'm glad you're safe," she murmured with obvious relief as she once again breathed in the familiar scent of his body up close. It was clear she had been deeply worried about his sudden disappearance.
Sensing the slight tremor in her body, Daniel returned the embrace and gently patted her back to reassure her.
"It's all right, don't worry. I'm back now," he whispered softly.
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Note:
This chapter was rewritten more than four times! Presenting pseudoscientific information is quite tricky when you want it to be clear, but at the same time, you don't want it to be too heavy to read, and you try to make it feel logical—even though none of this really is logical!
No matter how hard I tried, I always ran into problems and was never fully satisfied with the writing. I would have liked to spend more time on it, but I also know that making you wait too long isn't ideal. In the end, all I can do is apologize: I did the best I could!
I hope the reading isn't too heavy. I put a lot of effort into making it not feel like a poorly written Wikipedia page. I hope everything comes across clearly and without too much confusion. If you feel that something is unclear or needs further explanation, don't hesitate to ask—I'll do my best to answer.
Thank you for your patience! I hope you have a great day, afternoon, or evening.
Remember that you can already find the next chapter of this story on Patreon( patreon com/EmmaCruzader ) All the support received is appreciated ;D