Marvel : Omniversal Clones

Adam walked through the dense jungles, dodging the occasional beast and burning the ones that presumed him an easy prey with his newly awakened mutant powers.

While walking through the terrain, his body suffered from occasional wounds from the thorny flora around him. Before the blood could even clot, the small gashes healed themselves.

Adam could feel the instinctive control he held over his flesh as he looked at the squiggling flesh joining together. The journey was spent experimenting with his mutant powers.

He observed the landscape, searching for any traces of water. He journeyed on foot with his head on fire, which functioned as lighting in the darkness of the forest and also kept the predators at bay. His journey came to an end when he reached a clearing that looked very different from its surroundings.

The area appeared to be completely burned, with no plant or animal present. The soil had an ashen quality, and the atmosphere around the place was filled with eerie silence.

Adam knelt as he grabbed a fistful of soil in his hands and examined it. He heard a squawking above him, and upon observation, he found flocks of vultures flying in the air. His sight was fixated on them as he stood in a daze, watching them flying in the sky.

"You shouldn't be here."

Adam heard a voice in his head. Instinctively, he covered his hands in flames and swiftly turned his head back to look for the source of the words spoken to him. The first thing he saw was a human floating in the air, which surprised him.

"You shouldn't be here; you should leave," words came from the floating man, even though his mouth didn't move.

"Why can't I be here?" asked Adam, but all that came out were growls from his mouth.

"You can understand me," relayed the floating man with a look of surprise on his face, partly at Adam's ability to understand him and partly at Adam's hands being on fire.

"Yes, I can understand. Was I not supposed to understand?" replied Adam.

"Your kind is primitive in their intelligence. My every contact with them resulted in hostility," replied the floating man.

"I suspect the only reason you can understand me is because you are different. Like me, you are an outcast. I am Highwalker," said Highwalker.

"What do you mean when you say I shouldn't be here?" asked Adam.

"This burnt place is where the tribes sacrifice the oddities. They leave anything that looks different than them in this dreary place for the vultures to feast on. You wouldn't have a good time if they saw you," replied Highwalker.

"So, you are an outcast of the tribe," replied Adam as he closely looked at the atrophied body of Highwalker as it floated in the air.

"I'm a cripple from birth, cast away by my own family to die in this very place. I survived with the help of my powers—the very powers I'm using now to talk to you and to move," said Highwalker.

While they were conversing, both Adam and Highwalker heard a commotion in the distance.

"Let's leave this place; the tribe is coming here for another sacrifice," said Highwalker as he urged Adam to follow him. They both left the burnt place and hid in the distance, watching a tribe of humans in fur clothing, with torches in their hands, arriving at the place Adam had been a couple of minutes ago.

One of the older members of the tribe placed a child down. The members of the tribe circled and danced around the child in a ritualistic manner. At the end, they placed the corpse of a dead animal beside the child and left.

"The tribes around the burnt place are xenophobic. This isn't a rare occasion; they sacrifice children who look out of the norm a couple of times a year," said Highwalker.

"Let's rescue the child; it may not survive if left alone for long," said Highwalker.

"Why do you care for a child that even the whole tribe cast aside to die?" asked Adam, as his and the other selves' memories of thousands of years dulled his empathy for life a lot.

"A long time ago, just like today, the tribe left a red-haired child here. In my cowardice, avoiding confrontation with the tribe, I let the child be taken away by a pack of wolves. I decided from that day I wouldn't let another of our kind die," replied Highwalker.

"I understand what it is like to be alone with no kin to speak of. Let's rescue the child," said Adam as he remembered his past life and painful memories in the void.

Adam walked toward the one-eyed child under the cover of darkness as Highwalker moved behind, floating in the air.

While they were walking, Adam saw in the darkness a group of wolves approaching the child. Seeing this, Highwalker panicked as he was reminded of his past.

The wolves surrounded the child. Adam's body lit up in fire. Before anything worse could happen, amidst the pack of wolves, a child with red hair reaching down to her waist picked up the child and swaddled it in her arms.

This surprised both Adam and Highwalker, who were preparing to drive the wolves away to protect the child. Adam put out his flames as Highwalker communicated with his telepathy from a distance.

"Child, I cannot convey how happy I am to see you alive," said Highwalker as he and Adam stood in front of the little girl.

The child panicked, seeing a human floating and a beastly Neanderthal in front of her.

"It seems that you hold the same fascination as me about our kin who are cast away like us," said Highwalker as the one-eyed baby in the child's arms floated toward him.

The child, seeing the floating man speak directly in her mind and the floating baby, freaked out. Along with her pack of wolves, she ran away from Adam and Highwalker, who had a look of disbelief.

"That's not how you placate a child; you shouldn't have used your powers," said Adam.

"I know. It's just that I was excited to find the child alive, who I thought had died because of me," said Highwalker.

"What should I do? I lost her again just after I found her," said Highwalker.

"If she survived years in this cruel place, you don't have to worry—no harm will come to her," said Adam.

"Then let's return to the tribe—a tribe of outcasts just like me. Would you join us?" said Highwalker.

"I have no home to return to, so I don't see any problem. I agree," said Adam.

"Okay, then let's return to the Tribe of No Fear," said Highwalker.