I blinked the sleep out of my eyes as I sat up, finding myself on a white plane of existence, not even remembering how I got there. I looked around and found nothing save for a small end table with a leather satchel and book on it, along with a mirror. There was a sticky note on the book that had the words 'read me first' written on it in big, blocky, letters. Along with that, there was a mirror, a wardrobe, and the bed I'd awoken on, but nothing else. I looked around to see if there was anything, but there was nothing. Checking the wardrobe first as I was apparently naked, I saw that there were a number of items inside, ranging from clothing to weapons to other objects.
The first that caught my eye was a gray and green robe and tunic combination with matching boots and gloves, though the robe trailed off into little wispy tatters toward the ground. It reminded me sort of like a cross between a Matukai Adept Robe from Star Wars and a Mistcloak from Mistborn. Checking the outfit revealed it was sturdier than any mundane material I was aware of, while still being as light as a cotton or silk robe and tunic. It was also perfectly fitted to me, though I got the odd sense that it would resize to fit me if that changed. It was only the most striking of the objects in the Armoire, however, and mostly for the fact that it took up the most space.
Adding to the effect of the Mistborn-Matukai combination was the series of Hemalurgic metal spikes, Feruchemic metalminds, and ingots of Allomantic metals, along with a Guandao-like, Wan-Shen Polearm made of a smoky, rippled, black, metal and embedded with a glowing, red, stone in the ricasso that held the blade to the metal shaft. There were also three vials with metallic shavings inside, one with the Platinum-colored shavings of Atium, one with the Golden-colored shavings of Harmonium, and one with the Green-colored shavings of Lerasium, three vials of God Metals for my own use.
The rest didn't exactly share that theming, however. There was a large, curling, ram's horn that was stuffed with various snacks, from dried meats and cheeses to waybread, and as I held it up, could even produce drinks. A literal cornucopia. There was also a Tibetan-style ritual Phurba Dagger of Meteoric Iron, a set of alchemical glassware and ingredients, a Grimoire bound in leather and covered in mystic sigils, and a large gourd of white, mystically charged, sand, alongside more mundane items like changes of clothes, a well-made, but mundane, dao sword, a revolver plus ammunition, plus a series of identification documents, debit cards linked to a bank that I was positive didn't exist, since it was apparently linked to an account from the International Bank of Transia, and various other mundane items.
"Huh, this is interesting, but not exactly what I was looking for." I muttered before moving over to the nightstand and picking up the book I was told to read. Who knows, maybe it would have information for me? It was worth a shot at any rate. Besides, why would I be told to read the book first if it didn't have any information on what was going on with all this?
I sat down on the bed to read it and was immediately struck by a wealth of knowledge, gaining insight into what was happening and what was about to happen to me. I'd been invested with all sorts of mystical power by a Certain Jheri-Curled, Omnipotent asshole for shits and giggles. The Beyonder apparently thought it would be hilarious to pluck a mortal from a boring earth and send him to Earth Six-One-Six in the Marvel Multiverse, though with a few catches, namely, he'd given me a bunch of powers from various fictional settings on my earth and had done the same to another version of me from a separate timeline to be my rival as a way to motivate me.
He picked a few more well-known abilities, like the Force and turning me into a Homo Magi from the DCU, or an Egocentric Sorcerer from Marvel Six-One-Six, but also added in things like making me a Trueborn with the ability to use all three Metallic Arts of the Mistborn Series, gave me certain powers from A Song of Ice and Fire and Fullmetal Alchemist, giving me the capabilities of a Dresden Files Wizard, Sand Mastery from Brandon Sanderson's White Sand Graphic Novel, and most interestingly, awakened the spark of a Planeswalker within me. It was a potent set of systems and abilities to pull powers from.
I had sort of a grab bag of powers, while my force abilities were currently useful for bodily enhancement, as I'd been started with the Matukai Adept package, I also had powers related to Alchemy, of the Standard, Planetosi, and Amestrian Varieties, Item Creation and Enchantment, Glamours and Illusions, Chi Abilities, various elemental attack and defense spells, various thaumaturgical rituals, the ability to manipulate objects with Alchemy, Dresden Files Magic, Telekinesis, and White Sand, as well as the power to travel between multiverses and universes. I was also given immense natural talent with magic, the ability to transcend limitations on various magical systems I had, along with adapting to new systems and abilities, and a few odds and ends such as Prestidigitation and Stage Magic, the ability to scribe scrolls, and the ability to identify magical objects on sight, among other things. I was even given the ability to reshape my body as I saw fit exactly once, likely what the mirror was for.
Of course, The Beyonder also couldn't help himself from meddling with my genetics, implanting an X-Gene into me and awakening it, giving me a number of boosts to various mental abilities, including turning my mind into a fortress to avoid psychic powers affecting me, giving me psychic abilities of my own, and even making me un-scryable, hardening my spirit to mystic and spiritual corruption, and buffing my willpower substantially. There were a few other, more minor, abilities that came with the X-Gene, such as an innate sense for teaching and martial arts, perfect memory recall, enhanced senses and focus, enhanced reflexes and hand-eye coordination, the ability to adapt to my environment on a personal time-scale, and the ability to speak and comprehend languages just by hearing them spoken, among other things.
Then there were the items, the Grimoire would help me grow my various mystical disciplines beyond what I had, being a sort of compendium of knowledge of all magic systems I had, as well as the ability to teach spells and abilities of any systems I picked up through the various multi-verses. The Wan-Shen was not only made with the Force, and thus capable of blocking and parrying blows from lightsabers and similar weapons and cutting apart force lightning blasts and like abilities, but also was made of Valyrian Steel to boot, which had potent effects when used against beings made wholly of magic such as Demons, Gods, and Fae as well as the ability to cut through steel and other base metals. The stone that was embedded in the ricasso was a Thran Mightstone that would enhance the capabilities of all magical items on my person. Meanwhile, the satchel was a bag of holding and the alchemical glassware, alchemy ingredients, and metallic arts metals were fairly self-explanatory, as was the Cornucopia, tunic and robe, and the various mundane objects.
To top everything off, a Wizards Tower had been placed in New York City for me to take control of, stocked with all sorts of materials, tomes, and mystical perks, and camouflaged in with its surroundings so as to appear as just another brownstone. It was bigger on the inside, possessed a grand archive library, magical defenses, a ghostly staff with impeccable cooking capabilities, the ability to self-repair any damage, a greenhouse for mystical plants, a replenishing stockpile of metals, plants, and other mystical ingredients, and even the ability to follow me between dimensions, universes, and multiverses. Heck, it even generated its own magic field at an increased rate instead of requiring leyline magic to siphon the magic out of the earth!
Of course, the perks weren't all I would be getting, there were also drawbacks, apparently to make things interesting. Firstly, I would be unable to use the full extent of my powers as I started out, having had them diminished to make my start more challenging. Secondly, the aforementioned other version of myself who was empowered in a similar way to me and who would become my rival. Thirdly, I would, at some point in the near future, be given a quest by an Oracle of some sort, that I would be unable to ignore. Fourthly, my other self also happened to be given a geas that he had to have a better Wizard Tower than me, and that he would be willing to do anything in order to have it, including sabotage and attacks on my tower, fifthly, was The Level Six Shift that Scott Summers would undergo sometime in the future, vastly increasing his abilities while also making him more and more irrational until he explodes with all that extra power, taking a city-sized area with him. Finally, if I survived all of that, one year from when I arrived on Earth Six-One-Six, I would be tested by Baba Yaga, which I did not want to fail or I'd be eaten.
There were also hints of other complications like me not being dropped in anywhere close to my Wizard's Tower and having to trek my way there, potential turbulence during my attempts to Planeswalk that might shunt me into unintended realities if I didn't take very specific precautions, and being hunted by people whose liked to hunt various Multiversal Travellers, but who were individually weaker than I was, among other things such as the general dislike of mutants in Marvel Six-One-Six and the fact that I was cursed to live in interesting times. Those seemed practically tame in comparison to Scott Summers becoming a walking nuke and blowing up a city, or Baba Yaga deciding she didn't like how I went about a test I couldn't avoid and eating me.
"I suppose I should get ready. I have no idea how far away from my tower I'm going to be dropped in." I muttered. If the Beyonder was listening, he didn't show it.
I started by altering myself, setting the clock back to my early twenties, and adding peak human potential physicality, which would make me a match for Captain America in terms of raw physical capability, even before adding in any mystical abilities, potions, or magic items. Next, I got rid of several of the disabilities I suffered, such as ADHD, Tourette's Syndrome, and my Non-Verbal Learning Disability, along with my genetic Heart Defect. Finally, I changed my appearance to be more idealized. Turned my beard less coarse, gave myself a small, two-inch, height boost to six feet, darkened my hair, and so on. I generally made myself look good enough to be in my own comic book.
Once I was done with that and finished looking at myself in the provided mirror to see if there was anything I wanted to change, I smirked at my appearance and said, "I look kind of like a younger, taller, more buff, Tom Hardy"
Then I threw on some of the provided clothes, pulling on the Matukai Adept-Mistborn Mistcloak Hybrid outfit before stopping to look at it in the mirror for a bit. "This isn't exactly inconspicuous." I frowned.
Then with a snap of my fingers and a muttered string of arcane words, I enfolded myself in a glamour, changing the appearance of the outfit to a more rugged look of a rumpled black button-down and black slacks. I checked out my appearance in the provided mirror and found that the glamour would serve to my satisfaction, at least.
"That's more like it." I nodded,
Once that was done with, I began grabbing the various items from the wardrobe and stuffing them into my leather satchel, making sure I got everything in there, from the most powerful magic items like the God Metals, Grimoire, Cornucopia, and Wan-Shen, to the very last scraps of mundane equipment, down to the last round of ammunition and pair of socks. Once I was all packed, after checking the Wardrobe for any signs of hidden compartments that might be hiding something else and making sure I didn't leave anything behind. I slung my satchel of holding over my shoulder and checked out my appearance in the mirror one last time. For a moment, I was tempted to check the nightstand or bed for hidden compartments, but a cursory glance revealed that they were all one piece of furniture with no such features.
Looking up at the ceiling, I proclaimed, "All right, I'm ready to go now!"
Then there was a cocky chuckle, and I felt my magic pulse once before I was gone in a flash of light. . .
XXXX
I reappeared in the middle of a desert as sunset started. I looked around to find that I was on the side of a road. Mountains could be seen off in the distance with the telltale signs of spotlights and neon creeping up beyond the valley-like slopes. On the side of the road, a broken-down Toyota Camry was pulled over on the side of the road, and a brief look revealed the reason why it was broken down. Whoever had been driving it had forgotten to gas it up and it was sitting on the side of the road with an empty gas tank. Fortunately, that was an extremely easy fix. I began preparing two temporary transmutation circles and placed a single, one-liter, glass beaker from my alchemical glassware set in the center, before scooping a bunch of rocks and loose gravel into the beaker.
After all, the earth's surface had on average, enough carbon in each square meter of crust to account for two hundred tons of carbon per square meter of crust. I wouldn't need nearly that much carbon to transmute the carbon in the sediment of the earth's crust into hydrocarbons and from there into gasoline. Once I was ready to begin the process, I fed the transmutation circle a little bit of mystical energy and watched as it lit up in a blue light, transmuting the sediment and rocks into hydrocarbons and from there, I moved the beaker into the second circle to transmute hydrocarbons to gasoline.
It was slow-going, forcing me to repeat the two-step process for each liter of gas I fed into the car, and by the time I had a full tank, the sun was almost fully down. Fortunately, whoever had abandoned their car to hike into the mountains had left the keys, clearly abandoning ownership of the vehicle in the process. I claimed it by right of salvage, and if that didn't work, at the least I could drive it into the City that was clearly on the other side of the mountains to drop it off with the police. I'd be in a city then and could grab a replacement vehicle easily enough from there. I got in the car and pulled onto the road, driving into the mountains with the goal of reaching the city on the other side.
An hour later, I found myself pulling onto the Las Vegas Strip just in time to see that Tony Stark was opening a new Casino tonight. With a grin, I pulled around the block to park in the Stark Palace Parking Garage and headed for the Casino. As I did so, I noticed the giant bronze statue in the lobby of Iron Man, who I was apparently informed was still Tony Stark's Bodyguard as of right now, it still apparently being some time in the mid-to-late nineties on Earth Six-One-Six, not that you'd know it from the way everyone had some kind of Starktech Flip-phone like it was the early two-thousands. I guess Supertech did cover for a multitude of issues.
Clearly not ego, though, given the gigantic twelve-foot, statue of Iron Man. Why Tony would do that when the general public wouldn't get the joke and only a very few people who would might actually care about it, I had no clue. It had to be something about all that money messing with his ego and making it bigger, I figured. Shaking my head, I went to go put my debit card in the ATM so I could gamble.
I had no clue just what my choice to gamble at the grand opening of the Stark Palace Hotel and Casino would lead to. . .
XXXX
Meanwhile, in the far-off, embattled, Balkan Nation of Morvania, another Multiversal Traveller arrived. The Republic of Morvania was in a crisis. The Hulk had come in a decade ago and destroyed the regime of Dictator Vaclav Draxon and installed the Rebel Coalition in power before leaving, but factions had formed in the absence of any heroes as without Draxon, the rebels had lost the one thing uniting them. Eventually, the nationalist faction had amassed enough backing and power to purge the more liberal faction with the help of the resurgent Serbian Nationalist Republic of Carpasia. At the Carpasian's urging, Morvania deported eighty-four thousand Czechs, Slovaks, and Croatians back to Croatia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic last year before launching a program against the largest remaining ethnic group in the nation, the Albanians.
This had been as part of a prelude to unification with Carpasia and eventually Serbia to form a Greater Serbia that had been denied the Serbs by the SHIELD intervention in the Bosnian War a few years ago. The Albanians in Morvania were rounded up, had their homes and businesses confiscated, and forced into temporary processing camps awaiting deportation to Albania. Any who refused to cooperate and be evicted from their homes into the camps was shot by the Military Police of the Morvanian Republican Guard. It was in this environment of pogroms and deportations led by a rabidly nationalist government that the second Multiversal Traveller arrived.
Robed in black, bearing a staff of blackened wood topped with a glowing red crystal that looked to be a recent addition, the man had long white hair, golden-hued skin, and eyes with hourglass pupils. When he had been given his gifts, he had opted to transform himself into the spitting image of Raistlin Majere, a famed Wizard of Fiction, though he had taken none of the physical frailties. Instead, he had something altogether more sinister going on, thanks to a bargain made with a particularly interested Demon. One that would become a problem for the Morvanians in the days ahead, for this Dark Traveller wasn't a mutant. Instead, he had chosen to become a Vampire.
The sounds of nearby gunshots drew the Dark Traveller's attention to a small village, where two uniformed Military Policemen were firing their carbines at a row of recalcitrant Albanian Villagers who refused to get on the trucks to be taken to a camp for processing. With a savage grin, he allowed the Morvanian Military Police to do their grim work, before beginning a chant in Latin forcibly reanimating the bullet-riddled corpses with Black Necromancy. One moment, the two Military Policemen who were executing the recalcitrant Albanian Villagers were just finishing up, lighting cigarettes, and the next they were being mobbed by the Zombified Corpses of their former victims.
Panicked gunfire broke out as the Military Police tried to stave off the assault by the Zombies, only to find their bullets did very little to the reanimated corpses. A few thought to try grenades, which were marginally more effective, shredding limbs and immobilizing some, but for each minion that went down, the Dark Traveller was able to raise another from the detachment of Military Police that had been slain. That was the thing about Necromancy, it could snowball fast on an opponent if they did not have magic or any real way to defeat large numbers of walking corpses would could not feel pain and who had to be utterly destroyed in order to be killed.
By the time a panicked Military Policeman thought to radio into the Capital for Air Support, it was too late, his squad was the last living squad of soldiers left in the village. The Zombies tore his squad apart in front of him, even as the Dark Traveller made his presence known to the man, Zombies keeping at bay, parting for their Vampiric Master. The Traveller stalked up to the panicked Military Policeman, who moved to fire two shots with his sidearm at him, only for them to hit a glowing mystical shield and have no effect. Not wishing to become a Zombie, the last Military Policeman attempted to put his sidearm to his temple and pull the trigger, only to find to his horror that the pistol would not fire.
"I have nullified the explosive propellant in your bullets. There will be no taking the easy way out for you tonight." Informed the Dark Traveller in halting Serbian.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Demanded the Military Policeman.
"You may call me Mors Cruenta, and as for what I want, the answer to that is always the same. The World at my feet." Smirked the Dark Traveller.
"You won't get far, the Jastrebs are already on their way from the Capital. Your abominations may work against unprepared infantry, but we'll see how they handle fifty-five-millimeter rockets and two-hundred-fifty kilogram high explosive bombs!" Spat the Military Policeman.
As he said that, there was a roaring in the air as a pair of J-Twenty-One Attack Aircraft roared in, preparing to release their payloads, only for Mors Cruentia, the Dark Traveller, to reach his hand out and incant a mystical phrase. As he did so, a Bolt of Lightning arced out from his outstretched hand, striking one of the Jets and causing it to lose control and collide with its wingmate in mid-air, both Attack Aircraft going up in a ball of flames. With a sneer, Mors Cruentia looked back at the hapless Military Policeman.
"It seems that my forces will do rather well." He sneered. That put the fear right back into the hapless Military Policeman.
"What are you going to do with me?" Questioned the Terrified Military Policeman.
"I had thought maybe to let the townsfolk whose homes you were pillaging deal with you. My forces managed to intercept the trucks before they could leave the village for the glorified cattle pens you call processing camps. However, I am feeling a bit peckish after raising so many Zombies." Mused Mors Cruentia.
"Wait, what?" Questioned the Military Policeman.
Moments later, he got his answer, as Mors Cruentia dispelled the glamour hiding his fangs and struck for his jugular. The Hapless Military Policeman was exsanguinated to refill the mystical energy that Mors Cruentia spent on raising his undead forces. An hour later, the village of Balarod and its nine-hundred-fifty living inhabitants were behind protective wards meant to defend it against bombing just as soon as the village leaders pledged fealty to Mors Cruentia, which, given he had met with them with three dozen Zombies at his back was swiftly done. By the end of the night, five more villages of similar size were also under his control, each with dozens of more zombies to add to the defense.
Within three days, Mors Cruentia had gained all the population centers of the Mopuvar Valley, including the Town of Mopuvar itself. The day after, the Morvanian National Army attempted to take back the Mopuvar Valley, sending two regiments of troops in backed by tanks. They were massacred thanks to a combination of Mors Cruentia's Magic, Wards, Zombie Shock Troops, and Motivated Residents armed with looted Morvanian Military Police Equipment. On the sixth day, two regiments of Zombified Morvanian National Army Troops pushed into the nearby Denestrovsc Valley, to take control of the Town of Dinestrovsc and the mining villages there, even liberating the attached Processing Camp where several hundred Albanians were being held in deplorable conditions. By the end of the week, over seven and a half percent of Morvania was under Mors Cruentia's control.
On the eighth day of his incursion, however, the Morvanian National Army cordoned off the Mopuvar and Denestrovsc Valleys with help from their Serbian and Carpasian allies. The Serbians brought state-of-the-art military Supertechnology they had illicitly purchased on the black markets, while the Carpasians brought a team of Superhuman Agents developed with the covert aid of Hydra. A stalemate would ensue.
It would not last for long. . .
XXXX
AN: All right then, since nobody was reading my Avatar Story, I put it back on the shelf and have replaced it with this. This uses the Magic Multiverse Mayhem Interactive CYOA version 1.5 by Graev, which includes a number of neat options, which you can find at the following link: CYOA
We're starting off in Six-One-Six Marvel circa the mid-to-late nineties. Due to Marvel's sliding timescale things can get a bit timey-wimey with ages and whatnot, so generally speaking, Peter Parker is in his early thirties and is married to MJ, the Younger X-Men like Kitty Pride, Jubilee, or any of the New Mutants group are in their early twenties, the non-younger X-Men are generally around Peter's Age save for guys like Wolverine who are a hell of a lot older than they look or Storm, who didn't join the X-Men till she was in her twenties already, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner are in their late thirties to early forties, while the Fantastic Four are all in their late thirties except for Johnny and Sue who were younger and thus are in their early thirties.
Generally speaking, stuff that happened in the sixties comics generally happened about a decade and a half ago, while stuff that happened in the seventies happened about a decade ago, and stuff that happened in the eighties happened about five years ago. The sliding time scale makes pinning down precise dates and ages fuzzy, but what are you gonna do?
Of course, we aren't going to stay in Marvel the whole fic. There are plenty of other worlds to hop to, after all, and we aren't just limited to Superhero Settings either. There's the potential for trips to fantasy settings like LOTR, Harry Potter, or any of the Dungeons and Dragons Settings, along with Sci-Fi settings like Star Wars, Star Trek, or Mass Effect, and all sorts of things in between. Not every setting is going to be as hospitable, however. Both Warhammer Fantasy and 40K are on the list of universes, after all. So is the Crapsack World of Worm, and if the SI is really unlucky, Cthulu Mythos Earth is also on the list.
At any rate, I'll get the builds of both the Main SI and Mors Cruentia, his Dark Mirror Rival up soon, then we'll be into the first proper chapter.