PROLOGUE TO MADNESS UNBOUND
It was on a day like any other. Like any other day in this city, warm air from the southern states mixing with the cooler air from the polar north created an almost permanent foggy haze on these streets. This dreary fog was partly the reason why Gotham City never won any awards for its beauty, especially at night. The gothic architecture probably didn't help that case, when it could be seen that is. It was a sharp contrast when compared to the glistening white stone and concrete that built its "twin" city, Metropolis. They weren't actually twinned at all, but the partnerships and businesses (food chains, banks, journalists, etc.) have been collaborating between the cities for an exact number of years. How exact would those years be?
The number of years since they appeared. The so-called 'World's Finest'. One, a man devoted to putting the fear of God, or if not himself, into the scum of the late-night alleyways with his fists and tools. He finds his home in the rooftops and sewers of his gothic necropolis, a man of true skill and a nigh unparalleled tactical mind. Bruce Wayne, the billionaire heir of an estate who was reborn one night when he eight years old, the Batman of Gotham City. The other, if he could even be called that, was a man of great conviction and power who used his voice, his presence and morals to change the lives of the wicked from their paths in life before they got out of hand. His symbolic power as pure, champion of his country's values is matched only by his actual power. Fuelled by the life-giving Sun, his strength would be likened to a modern God. Clark Kent, born Kal-El, regular journalist from the humble town of Smallville in Kansas, a foil for the alien saviour of the people he holds dear. The Superman of Metropolis. The great irony is that both are more alike than they would care to admit. Their stance on politics, justice and 'the right thing' are identical and there time working together has taught each other lessons on how to better themselves and see things for how they really are. Now they see the two cities for what they are.
Filthy. Corrupt. Brimming with people content to live their lives ignorant of the values both men have worked tirelessly to uphold for better part of their adult lives. With a team of people just as colourful and as powerful and as virtuous as they, the Justice League. Together, they fought powerful foe one after another, alien, supernatural and domestic threats hundreds of times over, they ended wars, averted natural disasters and political crisis. They became symbols for the two men of Gotham and Metropolis as much as they were to the common man. For a time, a golden age, it was true. To them most of all. They were changing the way things were, making a difference. But now, they faced a crisis unlike anything they've ever seen or faced before. This crisis was unnatural, ungodly and was bigger than they were, than their world. Than their universe. A person can think through problem, overcome obstacles. A group of people can get scared; can influence the fears of others, especially when faced with a problem. The League had this happen to them for once.
It started slowly. Ripples in the fabric of reality had happened before. Beings or effects have slipped through when the defences were low enough and the League was there to face them. The "walls" have been passed through or climbed, but never shattered and broken through. 'Hell on Earth' would almost be a funny thing to say if it wasn't literally happening. What made it truly terrifying was this- it wasn't their hell. To them monsters of terrifying shape and frightening power stepped into their world... and couldn't stay defeated for long. The rifts opened in Gotham and Metropolis both, and it's defenders saw their defences routed and it's people and their resolve crumble.
The world the League had fought for, lost friends for, was crumbling before them. Several weeks later, the Batman and Superman at their wits end have been forced to rally their forces and consult the experts of this activity, the Justice League Dark, to unravel the mystery behind the 'word'. The word that shattered the primordial boundaries between life and death, creation and emptiness. This "other world" that the crisis originated from have made contact and formed an allegiance. The creatures that stepped through for help came in different colours and sporting powers as frightening as their own, with convictions as wavering as their own. A scientist among them, a blue haired woman of considerable intellect and this Earth's greatest minds convene to save the worlds they have shed blood for.
It was on a day like any other... when the word was uttered. "JANEMBA".
