THE MOMENT
"Sacrifices are so boring...," Ballisea the Demon Queen sighed in answer to Kurt's question. Her golden eyes stared him down, and they were the only thing he could focus on. He was surrounded by impenetrable darkness. She produced enough of her own light that he could see her curling bone-white ram horns and pale skin. If not for the horns and golden eyes, she might have been mistaken for a human. "Novelty is far more amusing, and I am curious to see what you might do with the power I've granted you."
"What can I do?" Kurt asked. He felt clear-headed and overflowing with power. But, it was a vague sensation of being able to do 'anything' more than any specific powerset.
"You're able to access the power of the sun, now. From your perspective, limitless energy for light, heat, anything you can imagine." Kurt extended his hand and willed flames to life in his palm. He concentrated and in moments a bright orange fireball ignited, exactly as he'd imagined it. He dismissed it and resummoned it, and then tried it again with his other hand; it always worked the way he wanted.
"How do I get back?" it was the obvious next question. He knew exactly how he wanted to test out his new gifts. "Since sacrifices are so boring, you don't care if I take out those cultists, right?" He had to be sure. He'd gotten the impression she was annoyed, and the insight his powers gave him made it easy to see she was above caring about her followers. As positive as he was, he was still surprised to see her expression change. She'd held a pleasant, smiling neutral expression since she gave him the abilities, but now it vanished.
"You have the ability to Traverse to any number of infinite alternate realities, including the original one you left minutes ago. I wonder what kind of universe you'll find yourself in first," she said. "What kinds of fantastical things can you imagine?"
"The first place I'm going is to teach those cult-brains a lesson for trying to sacrifice me," he replied as he tried to imagine the sacrificial chamber they'd taken him to. A portal opened, and he could clearly see the now-empty room. He didn't know where they'd gone to, but he was going to find each and every one. He ignited flames in his hands again and walked forward to enter the portal. Instead, he walked past it, as if it weren't there at all, and he was still in the Demon Queen's presence.
"I'm not telling you that you can't revisit them. But, you're able to do anything now. Go anywhere else first. Explore your new reality," she said.
"So, you do care about them!" It was the only thing that made sense to Kurt. "You're protecting them from me!"
"No, that's not it at all...," Ballisea lowered her voice and shook her head with a sigh. Before he could wonder what it meant, though, Kurt felt intense pain. His palms were suddenly feeling the heat that he'd been controlling. The flaming balls fell onto his bare hands and caught. He started to scream, but no sound came out. He could only see Ballisea's golden eyes as she watched him burn. "...it's just... revenge is so boring. I was hoping you'd be more imaginative."