Wind and Cyclops

Once upon a time there was a lad who became a monster!

Mark was his name, ahead of his game, only rule; win.

The first rule actually was make money, and don’t lose.

Mark had a rough and tumble journey to get to work. Yet he made his way, through hard work and persistence, to become a successful winner.

The irony, he started as a loser. Glooming through the local neighborhood in the evenings, he would scrap to make ends meet. Before becoming a successful salesperson, he moved out--just a homeless man riding the graveyard train, to call as a delivery person.

Well, no one answered, some how, some way Mark ate. Living off food stamps and bumming for change was a far cry from now following the footsteps of a global leader in financial markets!

He was like a rolling stone, going door-to-door and making friends by partying the weekends.

First it was life insurance, then it was stocks, then it was options, and then it was investment banking.

A company advisor, getting through the day was still an adventure, no two were alike…

There were tight-lipped traders actively feeding their adrenaline rush, who swore they knew it all. Mark was not a know-it-all, Mark was a go-getter. With the investment that he made, he bought a robot, who grew on ol’e Markus.

~

Life was peachy for the youth in ‘Old Harbor’.

Just a no one at the time, Markus made his way through the halls of Richard Nixon Intermediate. A college prep school that offered accelerated STEM courses.

The school was a brick building, that had a different feel than its surrounding charm.

In science, Mark met his charmed soulmate, Kara. She looked like a little queen, with her hair in a bun and lips in a curl. She had countenance, as they say, and, lots of long hair.

In high school, Mark had a choice; did he want to work, or go to college? State board licenses didn’t require college.

All of his old schoolmates barely saw the light of day finishing all of their Advanced Placement AP courses, and he had time to think about college later. So, he decided to go with Regional Occupational Program (ROP).

This fork in the road made Mark some new friends. There was the boy over the wall, near where he lived. And there was the college prep tutor, David, who was already applying to University.

The boy over the wall, Michael, liked magic. Every day was a new day for Mark, as he would wrangle with glass blowing and auto mechanic courses.

Then one day, Mark got swept away to think he had a chance to be working and schooling with AP courses was just a fancy. Border reiving he went into the pit of a sewer-- instead of hopping the wall—and, found out it was a super shortcut. Well, on his way back he fell into a puddle of acid rain and made it out with hazy vision, when he exited on the other side.

After seeing the eye doctor, Markus was told he would lose his vision by the time he reached his college graduation.

This was the origin of a one-eyed monster.

He would have to wear corrective lenses for the rest of his life…

When he came back to school the next day he was too ashamed to say what he was up to, jumping walls and playing hooky. He met with lovely Kara who poked him telling him he was in a dream she had. She didn’t know for sure but by the coke-bottle lenses Mark had on it was clear he had developed poor vision.

He could see almost with X-Ray vision with them on, it was just a slightly sad sight to see this young man hurting for some kind of way back to go to college.

Most border reivers weren’t prone to injury, and he just didn’t seem to be the part to manage through traffic and the terrain on Earth.

He looked more like a Mars Land Rover with bionic technology in his glasses and an ear piece for a phone.

Eventually, young Mark--the becoming of cyclops--changed tracks to go to college instead of work.

He would type away at his typewriter, people thought he was lost, he possessed one of many magical powers. The force of light could be harnessed to light up his vision. He would actually harness the light from the Sun and the stars to regain his ‘photoreceptors’ and ‘cones’ behind his eyes’ retina, called macular regeneration.

As he saw, he no longer needed his coke-bottle bionic lenses, this is how he cured his blindness after being struck by lightning.

Once again he met with his affectionate one, now in college, and recounted his tale of how much he preferred studying and working then being a mere apprentice to an artisan.

It was odd but this is how Kara realized he was living in her dreams…

Mark was a force of nature, Kara, the ironic icon of a queen.

Well, it’s a good thing Mark took some ROP courses because he wasn’t making a cent as a stock salesman.

He joined a clan and would run around to meet the love of his life, Wind.

She loved to play games, and he loved to type. So, they lifted off the ground to the clouds she would dream him, too. Mark’s devotion yet was to his cronies, who was the fairest one to hear his tales? No longer would Kara, because ironically Markus now tapes and graphic novels.

He and Wind also liked Starcraft, but not the video game, they would map out constellations in the sky, and knew where there would be constellations made on the planet.

You see, there were such stars, space cadets, and bugs, The ones who belonged in a different constellation.

As Cyclops, Mark would communicate with the stars to mainly Northern Lights, in Wind’s tent, the highest point of the Little Dipper.

They would go rock climbing together, running together, where there were parks, swings, waterfalls, and even ancient rock formations!

When it wasn’t climbing and running It was True North and observatories.

They were real humans by day and Cyclops and Wind by night.

Mark liked it because he could tan well, and build his muscles.

~

Clearly, they didn’t want to bug, so knowing what constellations were focused gave Mark a clear idea of what stars would be roaming the Earth.

For instance, Neptune’s Poseidon made a clear cameo in the return of Moby Dick, the tall tale…

Who would have thought someone could relive the great whale ship on land?

He wasn’t dreaming, Kara was…

She revived Mark’s inanimate life as a star on Earth. In essence, she was his anchor point for looking up.

Instead recounting his tales to Kara, Markus spoke with Michael. All the different adventures, some real, some imagined, Michael was new to all of Markus’s ways, yet was catching on to him.

Michael was no mutant, but was definitely a good talker. When it came time to work, he would lead the pack.

Instead of playing video games Markus did look up in the sky, and made his constellation.

By chance Michael saw him at night with Wind, and threw a stone at him.

Markus just looked him in the eyes as if to say, “What was that for?”

Michael just ran away...

Glued in front of the computer, Markus sped read, he was done playing video games, and stressed out from ‘Starcraft’, the dream he had now was to become Cyclops.

So, he did.

Then it was Gambit, known for card throwing and kinetic energy.

So he did.

Then it was Hulk.

Ah, now he had time to think how he was going to be more like Hulk.

And, how do you think he could?

He had possessed all the potential energy in the world and could make it kinetic, now it was time to hit the gym!

So, now all Markus had to do was study human anatomy, the benefits of proper weight lifting (preventing injury) and gaining muscle mass was mostly an adventure to look like the Hulk.

Ironically, he did possess the same powers as the mutant legend. He could basically make Earth out of clay, and manifest a realm of words to build and do what he said. Like breathing coal, and running the local marathon.

By piecing words and wordsmithing sentences this new age of typewriting with ‘word processors’ made a manifestation of inner strength that one could called soul. That was afterlife matter at this point, because Mark the Cyclops apprentice had lots of studying to do.

He was sure to study closer in Anatomy class, taking mental pictures of the pages. Not only had he become telekinetic, he was getting a photographic memory.

He had light and was becoming bright…

TO BE CONTINUED…