“WAKE UP!!!” Venom’s urgent hiss pierced through the veil of sleep, a call that woke him to the thunder of his own heart. “There are things in the darkness, creatures we cannot fully sense!”
“I’m up-I’m up…” Dan shook his head and opened his eyes. The phantom zone had been reformed around them, its empty void expanded to contain a brilliant, white star. “Where are these creatures you’re worried about?”
His vision scanned the edges of this new starsystem, where he soon found the source of Venom’s concern. Amorphous shadows brushed against the edge of the newborn star’s light, indistinct leviathans that let out mournful cries.
The more he observed them, the more these creatures gained form, as if they were defined by outside observation. Dan frowned and let his biofield expand, only to find its power had been magnified to an absurd degree.
“It seems that my spell worked, to a certain extent,” Dan’s eyebrows raised as the star at his back pulsed, its light carried within his biofield to force back the shadows and create a plain of stabilised space. “I’m connected to an impossible reserve of energy, one far beyond the power stone…”
It rested at the back of his mind, a silent cloud of shadow that held a true infinity. His mind was not alone around this swell of power, joined by at least one other. This intelligence observed him from beyond his perceptions, an ancient and calculative gaze.
It was this ‘Other’ that controlled the creatures within the shadow, a test against his defences that was easily repelled. Dan focused on the being that shared his connection to the phantom zone, but it slipped backwards, cautious and silent as it crouched beyond his sight.
“Who are you?” Dan let his biofield project his words, past the light of his star and into the limitless void beyond. “My name is Dan-EL, a son of Krypton… I assumed this place was devoid of life.”
In answer to his words, a pair of stars blinked into existence. Dim at first, their light grew to rival the sun at his back. They cast a cold sheen, locked in a struggle with the silver-white that held the shadows at bay.
“ALL OF THIS UNIVERSE IS OF THE AETHYR,” The frozen stars narrowed, the eyes of a fathomless giant. The darkness around them split and tore, spun and twisted until it resembled the face of a demonic bat. “YOU HAVE INTRUDED UPON THE DOMAIN OF THE OVERSOUL. RELEASE YOUR HOLD UPON THE AETHYR AND SUBMIT, YOUR WILL CANNOT HOPE TO SUPPLANT US.”
“We’ll see about that,” Dan ignored the thunderous demands of the unusual cosmic entity, focused on his connection to the zone around him. This thing radiated power, yet it hesitated to attack. “If you’re so powerful, why haven’t you simply taken what you want?”
A flare of heat rippled from the frigid orbs, the only answer Dan received. He shrugged, a small smile at the corner of his lips as he expanded the reach of his biofield. The silver-white sun flared, infused with the wellspring of power he could pull from the zone.
“UNACCEPTABLE!” The Aethyr trembled, its eyes widened as Dan’s area of influence continued to grow. More shadows warped into place, shaped into the body of a grotesque titan. “YOU HAVE DIVIDED WHAT SHOULD BE SINGULAR. AN ABOMINATION THAT CANNOT STAND!”
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The void trembled, shifted and compressed as the titan pulled back a fist. Dan frowned, mind locked in a grappling match for control over the zone’s power. This ancient intelligence had far more experience in manipulating this dimension, but for some reason it shied back from the touch of his thoughts.
Dan stood before the oncoming fist with a calm face, hand raised to part the storm of fragmented space. The titan’s blow passed to either side of the silver-white bubble around him, a harmless display that gave him a greater insight into the beast’s nature.
“You’re the consciousness of the phantom zone,” Dan continued to increase the scope of his grasp on the zone's power, nearly even with the being he chose to dub ‘Aethyr.’ It put up almost no resistance, as if it had no experience with something that connected to its own energy. “Sorry, but I’m here to stay and it doesn’t seem like you can do much to stop me.”
Aethyr sent out a series of attacks, all divided and pushed aside without much effort. Unless it was willing to confront his mind directly, he could simply take hold of anything it threw at him as if it was his own power.
The more it struggled, the less it had to throw against him. The stars of its eyes had retreated far into the distance., driven back as the light of Dan’s sun expanded. A final roar, filled with loathing and hate, echoed from its malformed maw, before it turned its back and retreated beyond sight.
“YOU MAY KEEP THIS LOST FRAGMENT, KRYPTONIAN,” Aethyr’s voice crashed against him like a hurricane, a last complaint before the touch of its mind faded from his perceptions. “NEXT TIME WE MEET, I SHALL RECLAIM WHAT YOU HAVE TAKEN…”
Dan shook his head, nearly overwhelmed as his will took hold of the zone, uncontested and alone within the void. He could detect an infinite space, empty and timeless. Outside the glow of his sun, the phantom zone lacked true substance. It was defined by a harsh edge, a line drawn between light and dark.
“My senses are certainly more defined now, just like the Ancient One promised,” Dan pulled back from his unity with the realm and glanced around. “Now… how do I get out of here?”
----------------------------------------
“Will Mother be alright?” Astra clutched her massive, mechanical hands together, face drawn in lines of concern. Eyes locked onto Krypton’s sun, her lips turned down in a frown. “Her energy is changing, I almost can’t detect her at all…”
“Merlyn is with her,” Anakin soothed the robotic titan, his own senses extended into the depths of the star. “She’ll be alright, but we need to keep things under control until she wakes. Now come on, we’ve been given the task of collecting all the force sensitives under Krypton’s control.”
Merlyn, Doom and Ultron had decided it was best to recall all the active members of Krypton’s forces, at least until May was back in action. With Merlyn focused on supporting May’s evolution, there was a gap in their defences against Abeloth.
Krypton’s magical barriers were unshakable, even against Abeloth’s power. Only those with the strongest mental defences would be permitted off world, especially amongst those who could touch the force. Ultron’s drones would be more than enough to maintain their territories, and his nature as Dan-EL’s servant made him impossible to turn to the dark mother’s will.
“Alright, but let’s hurry,” Astra sighed and extended her hand to scoop Anakin up. She placed him on her shoulder, the space around her distorted as she engaged her phantom drive. “I want to be here when she wakes up!”
----------------------------------------
“Logan has been taken,” Charles coughed, eyes unfocused as Cal sent another wave of healing light over his battered flesh. “...Bucky was here, but he’s been changed. His mind is wrapped in shadow, and his body…”
“You saw Bucky?” Steve floated from the skies, hand in hand with Peggy. Covered in soot, their eyes held traces of exhaustion. “What’s happened to him?”
“His power has grown, but I’m afraid Apocalypse’s influence is strong within him,” Charles raised himself from the ground, unsteady on his feat. Cal gripped his shoulder and held him upright, still busy with his healing spell. “His physical appearance has also changed… he’s nearly as large as the Juggernaut, covered in a bony exoskeletal structure.”
“Let’s get everyone back to the Fortress, before we continue this conversation,” Cal opened his eyes, finished with his spellwork. “Kara has pulled Juggernaut from the bottom of the Atlantic, we’ll hear both of your reports at the same time…”
“Mutants of Earth, you have been given time, but now you must choose!” Apocalypse’s voice echoed through their minds, a horrible weight that threatened even Cal’s mental barriers. “Join me in building the kingdom of the future, or become fertiliser for its growth.”
The Earth shook, a tremble that disrupted the tides and drove legions of birds into the skies. Cities across the globe were rocked to their foundations, buildings toppled as pyramids rose in their place.
“Come forward, dogs of Superman, and face your end…”