Droom
A Marvelous Tale Told in the Mighty Marvel Manner!
The World Below!
A heavy rain pelted the streets below as the people went about their business. High above the people and within the safe air-conditioned confines of a boardroom, several men were presently talking about their futures.
"I'm telling you, we have to go to the press with this!" The man closest to the window stammered as he wiped his sweaty brow.
"And what would we say Jenkins, "sorry we lost another cruise, but we'll get the next one right?"" A balding man snorted as he downed the contents of his glass in one gulp.
"Quiet the both of you." An older man sitting at the head of the table thundered. "Jenkins has a point Bill. If we try to ignore it like the other ones then we might as well as call it quits right now. You can't lose three cruise ships in a row without attracting some kind of attention."
"The other lines are already staying clear of those waters, why can't we?" Jenkins wailed.
"Because no one else goes there, and our cliental wants something different, that's why." Bill countered.
"Well, that's going to have to change. Bill, I want someone brought in on this." The older man steeled his gaze at the bald man as he talked. Bill silenced any complaints under the old man's stare. "I don't care how much you pay and who you pay it to, but get me someone. Someone who can tell us just what the blazes is happening to our ships!"
"Perhaps I can be of assistance." A mysterious voice came from the darkened corners of the room. An eerie figure stepped out into the light. The men recoiled at the black robed stranger who seemingly blended in with the dark.
"Who the devil are you?" Bill demanded as the old man reached out with his withered hand and pressed a button to summon security when the figure's voice made him stop.
"My name is Droom. I have the wisdom of the Lama, the skill of a Yogi, and the power of the Mystic. In the dark shadow world of the occult I dwell. Destroying the evil and protecting the innocent is my mission. Danger is my task and justice my goal."
All three men were taken aback as the figure known as Droom lifted the ebony hued hood back to revel the chalk white face of a young woman. "Ah, yes, how nice for you. Since you are, ah, so qualified, what can you do to help us with our problem?" Bill questioned.
"I can bring the missing ships and their crews back."
"That is what we need, but how much is this going to cost us?"
Droom betrayed no emotion at the question. "Perhaps more than you can afford, but I am the only hope those people have."
Jenkins regained his seat and snorted in disbelief. "You seem to know more than you are letting on. How do we know you're not the one responsible for our troubles?"
Droom fixed her gaze on the man, and Jenkins could have sworn his blood temperature dropped several degrees. "I know the S.S. Luxuria, as well as several other ships, have all vanished near one particular area of the Indian Ocean. So far all ships have been reported as lost, all save for the last one."
"That is correct" Bill answered. "Our shareholders are starting to panic, not to mention the lawsuits."
"Give me 48 hours, and I shall return the ship and its crew."
"You already said that, and for whatever reason, I am starting to think you could do it, but what about your payment? Are you going to the press with this?" The old man clutched his fingers.
"I desire no publicity. Make up whatever story you want when I return with the crew." Droom answered before she turned and walked out through the door.
One week earlier
"But I need to start to looking into those scholarship offers!" Deborah complained as the spectral form of Anthony Druid floated above her. To the casual observer, Deborah Whitman was having a spirited argument with the trees around her.
Druid merely placed his ghostly fingers on the bridge of his nose. "My dear, I am giving you more power than most mortals can comprehend. Powers and things you could never learn about any university."
"Look, school has let out, but I can't keep lying to my father."
"After this lesson, you won't have to." Druid smiled as he floated down. "Today I will teach you the ability to mesmerize the human mind."
Presently
Droom hummed quietly as she poured over sea charts. Her room had taken on the appearance of a disaster area. Since her training had begun, books, maps, and arcane items were scattered around and taking up nearly every inch.
"The ship was reported being near Sri Lanka before it became lost, but the last radio transmission reported no unusual activity." Druid read off the facts as he looked over Droom's shoulder.
"We know that, but what else? Several other boats, from sailboats to luxury yachts, have all vanished near this area." Droom countered as she grabbed a nearby reference book off of her bed.
"So, what does this mean?"
"Since you made me get involved, I doubt it is a natural phenomena. A sea monster?"
"There would be wreckage."
"True, alright then, someone or something is taking the ships whole, but for what reason and how?"
Druid smiled again. Deborah was growing to hate the man's ghostly visage. "I think you've grasped enough of the puzzle to try and solve it."
"How then?"
"Why not go there and see for yourself?"
The tone was matter-of-factly, and his face betrayed no sarcasm, but she felt like she had just been the victim of a rather bad joke. "I can fly? We haven't talked about anything like that yet."
Druid nodded his head in agreement. "True, but this is less flying and more projecting one's physical body through space." His thoughts drifted as Deborah began to plan. "This was my first real foray into battle with the dark forces. I know I could end all of this if I simply told her what to do, but for my sake I must let her find a solution to this problem that doesn't come from me."
He blinked when he saw Deborah staring up at him and he realized he was lost in thought. "You recall the spell of teleportation?"
"Yes" She began, but Druid held up his fingers.
"Then use it. I shall monitor your progress from here. Use your powers wisely my pupil." With that, Druid faded from view.
Grumbling in her mind, as she knew her erstwhile teacher could more than likely hear her complaints if spoken, Deborah started a chant and focused in on the image of the missing ship. Her volume increased as she like she was tugged by invisible hands away from the comfort of her bedroom and through the very fabric of time and space itself. The sensation lasted only seconds, but as she opened her eyes she found herself floating over the vast blue water of the Indian Ocean.
"Holy Hannah!" She exclaimed, and suddenly dropped from the sky and landed with a moderately sized splash in the cold salty water. Thrashing to the surface, and struggling to keep her head above the waves, she tried to force herself to calm down and remember some of the spells that she had learned. Practicing in the woods or the safety of the bedroom was one thing, but finding one's self suddenly suspended in midair over a foreign body of water is something else entirely different.
Gagging on the salt water, Deborah tried to float again. Her concentration, however, was broken when she spied a large shape coming up from the bottom of the sea. Panicking, and imagining a shark or some other deep-sea denizen making a snack out of her lower body, Deborah felt her panic grow as whatever the shape was increased its speed to match hers and take hold of her feet. Deborah tried to remember a spell that would come in handy, but as the strange thing absorbed her legs, she found herself almost hyperventilating as she was pulled under the water. She closed her eyes to protect them from the burning salt water. Right before her head vanished under the waves, a single thought came to mind. "It looks like a big balloon."
A
While Deborah was presently experiencing a sensation entirely new to her, she was not the first person to be abducted in such a fashion, not was she the second. Miles below the surface, and tucked away near a small undersea mountain range, sat a city. Not a ruin, not a remnant of some lost civilization, but a fully functional city.
Green skinned humanoids swam freely to and fro from the city, with a select few swimming up to greet the large bubble and its unwilling passenger. Deborah had managed to calm herself down enough not to panic at the sight of the ghastly large black eyes that stared unblinking at her, nor at the sight of the sharpened coral knifes and spears that were strapped to the strange creature's sides and belts. Seeing one of her escorts opening and closing its (for she could not be sure of the creature's proper gender) mouth in rapid succession, as well as moving the large fin that stretched around its head around in a pattern, she guessed that the creatures were communicating about her.
They floated ever downward, past the dazzling towers and past dozens of armed sentries until they entered a large and heavily guarded building. Droom gasped in amazement as she saw the Luxuria floating above the sea floor, and enveloped in a similar bubble. Her bubble/jail was tossed by her escorts to another pair and taken past the ship. Droom noted that the passengers were still alive as she spied a few brave souls looking over the railing. She tried to project an aurora of calm and power, but her fear gnawed at her.
She was floated through a series of tunnels. There was no light in them, leaving her floating alone in the darkness. A distant shaft of white attracted her, and she forced herself to focus on the light least she unleash a spell that popped the bubble.
As she neared the light, her captors suddenly pushed against the bubble and swam back. She drifted into the light, and then her bubble burst. Instead of finding herself crushed by the pressure or having her lungs burning for air, she gasped in shock as she breathed not salt water but air. Stale air, and foul smelling at that, but air all the same. "Well, the sentries weren't mistaken after all." She heard a strange voice speak. She blinked as the speaker approached her.
The creature towered over her, but its size was not the strange thing. Like the rest of the creatures she had seen, this one too was green. Its face reminded her of catfish she had seen in restaurants. Its posture was stooped shouldered. Dropping whiskers (she failed to recall the proper name, but their placement on the thing's face reminded her of a mustache) brushed against the red and blue armor and occasionally twitched.
"You may call me Leader" it spoke as he gestured towards her with a webbed hand. "What species are you?"
"I am a human" Droom forced herself not to stutter.
"Then you're a lair. You may look like a human, but your structure fails to match with our collected data. Are you Inhuman? Perhaps a spy sent from Atlantis?"
"Neither, I am a human, and you may address me as Droom."
The creature widened its eyes at her tone. "Such impertinence! Very well, if you are in fact a human, then why is your skin so different? We have catalogued every race and every possible mutation, and yours is unlike any other."
"I take pride in my individuality, but tell me, why have you taken the surface dwellers?"
The creature's lips flopped around in what could have passed for a smile. "Then you are a surface dweller at least. Have you come for negotiation or for vengeance?"
She considered her answer. "For the moment I am simply an interested observer, nothing more."
The creature chortled as it approached her. "Indeed. Tell me surface dweller, what have you observed that you find so interesting?"
Droom stepped back as the creature drew closer. Remembering her training, she looked the aquatic being directly in the black eyes and slowly said the words Druid had told her. "Open yourself to me. Your will is my will."
The creature blinked, but she could tell it was too late. It was already in her command. "We are friends, but act as you would act with anyone else. Tell me everything I want to know."
The creature nodded once and stepped away from her. "Our race has no name. Some believe us to be refugees from Atlantis, or perhaps former slaves from some other ancient culture. We have no records and no past, but we choose to call ourselves Aquaticans. Our race must conquer if we are to survive."
"Why?" The question burned at her mind, and she could feel herself slipping further and further into the creature's brain. Sweat poured down her face as she maintained the link.
The creature began to slur its words but it still continued to talk. "Because there are so many other kingdoms and monsters. We lack the power to rule the seas, but we can breathe air. Our enemies here cannot, thus we have the advantage. We have known of humanity for centuries, but we have been living like scavengers and collecting vessels from the surface, but only recently did our leaders order us to start taking larger ships."
"For what purpose?"
"Conquest. All of the previous ships were wrecks we found, their crews dead. We needed live specimens to study."
"And how would that help you?"
"We needed to know the level of surface dweller technology and how to best prepare against it. We were able to learn from the specimens we captured. We also understand the concept of politics and plan to use chaos to instigate confusion. The world's governments shall each blame each other for the attacks, and while they are distracted we shall conquer the oceans and land."
Droom nodded as the creature spoke. "You have helped me greatly, now return to your dwelling and forget my presence. I do not exist." She whispered as the creature mutely nodded and wondered off.
"So those other crews and passengers are dead." The realization hit her as she tried to formulate a plan. "Alright, I know they are vulnerable to mesmerism, but how can I control such a large population?" She thought to herself as she paced back and forth. "Druid said he couldn't help me on this, but I admit I wouldn't say no to his help now."
As she paced, she suddenly became aware of the smell of sulfur and brimstone entering the room. A hearty chuckle made her turn around as she came face to face with a strange man. He was naked to the waist, with a large upside down pentagram on his chest. A fiery red mane of hair spilled down his back as he stared her. "So, you are the first, eh?" his voice was accented, but she couldn't place where.
"Who are you?" She placed her hands up and began to silently chant a defensive spell. The man laughed at her gesture and she saw his sharpened canines.
"At the moment, an interested observer much like yourself. You are seeking a way to rescue those poor souls trapped on that ship, as well as trying to stop this group of undersea creatures from launching a full scale war upon the surface, correct?"
Droom was taken off-guard by the man's response, but she knew enough not to show it. "Yes, but how-"
"Oh, just consider me a little god in the machine." The man joked. "What I would suggest is simply casting a spell." He rattled off a series of words and commands as Droom listened. "Place everyone under your command and tell them to forget everything. After that you just send yourself home."
"All right" She said skeptically, "but why are you doing this?"
"Oh, I have my reasons my child. I ask no payment for this gift, but future meetings I am afraid my price shall become most expensive." The man's grin widened. "And now I shall say adieu. Please be a dear and don't tell Anthony about this little chat. I expect I shall be seeing him sooner than he thinks." The man vanished in a blink.
Droom herself blinked as well. "That was unexpected," she thought as she rubbed her temples. Hearing the approaching footsteps of the city's inhabitants echoing down the hallway, she decided to go with the stranger's plan. "But at this point why should a strange man appearing out of nowhere be a shock to me anymore?"
Remembering what the man said, Droom began the spell as the aquatic sentries entered the room. She suddenly grew dizzy, as the room seemed to melt around her. The green skinned creatures made a babbling noise and fled from the room as the dizziness increased. She closed her eyes as she saw the floor warping and shifting under her feet, but when she opened them again she found herself standing over the city.
Looking up, she saw that her head was merely inches from the water's surface. Turning her attention back to the city, she saw the alarmed creatures trying to mount an attack against her massive feet. The water around her didn't bother her as she spoke, her voice somehow broadcasting through the salty brine. "Attention mortals" She intoned as all movement ceased on the ocean floor. "This is Droom speaking. To the Aquaticans, I order this-forget your invasion of the surface world. It is little more than a destroyed and poisoned husk; utterly unfit your race's survival. I order you to release the surface's dweller's ship and then forget about it. From here until eternity you will never again attack any passing boats or ships that tread in your waters, for you never know which ones will forth a painful death for your entire species. "
Turning her attention to the rising bubble that contained the cruise ship, she issued more orders. "People of the Luxuria, hear me. Your ship suffered damage due to engine failure in a sudden storm. Any passengers or crewmen that were lost were claimed by the sea. You will forget the name of Droom." As the ship floated up towards the surface, Droom spoke the spell again. The water swirled before her eyes as she felt the back of her head twitch.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself on the deck, with the startled crew and passengers. She quickly performed the needed teleportation spell before anyone took notice of her, but before she vanished in a blink, she overheard the some of the crew chatting. "I never thought we would get our engines going again skipper!"
"Yes, lucky for us they did. I'd hate to think we'd be stuck out on this sea for much longer."
D
Droom materialized back in her own bedroom. The bed was almost like a shining beacon as she dragged herself to it and pitched forward onto it. "Resting already? I take it the venture was a success?" she heard the familiar tone of Druid above her. Grumbling into her pillow, she forced herself to roll over and look the ghost directly in the face.
"Yes, it was" She mumbled. "I managed to hypnotize a great many people and fish things, rescue the ship, and cloud my presence. I implanted a little suggestion in the ship's owners to forget me as soon as I left."
"Excellent. Deborah, I am very proud of you. I must deal with some pressing matters, but I will return to further your training." Druid vanished into the air. As his ghostly visage faded away, Deborah sat upright.
"Pressing matters? How can a ghost have pressing matters?"
D
Druid focused his energy and knocked once on the ornate door before him. "Enter" came the voice of Ancient One from the other side. Druid simply floated through the wood and stood before the old man.
"Well she passed my first mission with flying colors. Have I not taught her well?"
The Ancient One looked at his former pupil, but even the dead man could not read what thoughts the man possessed. "Indeed, but this one act hardly absolves you of your sins, now does it Anthony? Nor does it absolve you of your responsibility. There are many more challenges that await her, and she must choose her own path. Remember Anthony, your role in this is limited."
"Yes, yes, I understand that Master, but must I keep silent when I could simply offer an alternative to the solutions I found?"
"Perhaps, but I am not so foolish as to let you guide her unobserved Anthony. Remember, the role of Droom is to prepare the world for the coming age, nothing more. If I allowed you alter her fate, then would it be for her own good, or yours?"
Druid was silent, but the Ancient One could tell his remarks had struck a nerve. "I see your wisdom Master" Druid began as he slowly floated back towards the door. "I shall do as you instructed, and simply point Droom towards the path and nothing more."
The Ancient One said nothing in return as Druid faded from sight, but sighed once his ghostly visitor had left. "Even in death the man simply can not learn. Perhaps more players are needed on the board."
H
Down in Hell, things were more or less the same. Sinners were being tortured, demons howling in delight at the sight of said suffering, etc., but past the myriad kingdoms and borders, on a throne crafted from bones of angels sat Damien Hellstorm. Unlike his unholy brood, the ruler of Hell's many kingdoms was silent.
Sitting, with old scrolls and dark books spread out before him, Damien flexed his fingers. "So, she is already in my debt. The pieces are being moved." He smiled as images of the Earth appeared before him. "This is not the Earth that I once walked, but it will give me the chance I need." The images of Earth quickly changed into one massive image of Droom. "And she will be the conduit for it all. Anthony, I can not thank you enough."
Just as quickly as the images appeared, Damien banished from his eyes with a wave of hand. For even in Hell one must be wary of what might be eavesdropping. The phrase "for even the walls have ears" took on a more literal meaning in some areas of his kingdom. Damien smiled as he gathered up the books and maps. "So much to do, but I must be careful." Walking past a picture of himself back in his younger days, his smile grew darker. "Things are going to be different this time around."
The end
Amazing Answers
Well, another story down. This particular story was based on "The World Below" from Amazing Adventures #2 (July 1961). The only credits I could find cite Jack Kirby (pencils) and Dick Ayers (inks). Things are starting to move for Ms. Whitman, so be here next time when Droom faces…Zamu!
And now some mail.
From Darci
I went to Files Transformation Stories
Cambot's Stories
Amazing Adventures #1.htm and read your
story. I thoroughly enjoyed
it! There are only a few typos, which
I'd be happy to send to you.
Keep up the good work
Yeah, I admit I can never find all the errors in my stories. If you still want to edit my work, the position is still available.
And of course, no letter page would be complete with out a word (or three) from the ace number one fan of the Dungeon, Ms. Tiffani
Great story. Your dialogue is as good as ever. :)
And I liked the
pacing. Great job. :)
Thanks for sharing.
And as I have said so many times before, thank you for reading.
And be sure to give some of my upcoming works a thumb through.
Tales to Astonish #4-Betrayed by the Ants! Ant-Man & the Wasp tackle Egghead. Can Ant-Man escape the man's fiendish deathtrap in time?
Sensational Comics #6-The Hulk VS the Metal Master! Also, be sure to tune in to read a very important announcement from the management concerning this title.
Journey Into Mystery #7-The Thunder Goddess and the Thug! The most offbeat Lady Thor story yet!
