Short chapter. Needed to work on something outside of the vacation. So, Meanwhile:


Chapter 9: Here the Darkness Meets the Light (The Destroyed World)

Ater watched as the team rocketed into the atmosphere, leaving Headquarters behind. He gazed at the vehicle until it vanished from sight, and turned away to go back inside once it was gone. The building seemed so quiet without them there, save for the electronic beeps and buzzes. He took time to wander through the halls, not searching or inspecting as he did previously, but simply pacing and gathering his thoughts. Slowly he found his way back to his room, and simply lay on his bed, his hands folded across his chest. He wasn't sleeping. He stared at the ceiling, watching the fan rotate around and around. It was extremely mindless, and that was what he needed at the moment. The inactivity of his surroundings gave him time to think, and yet, very little thinking was accomplished. The same emotions and ideas dominated his mind and heart, erasing any hope of other thoughts occurring. Seeing her smug face brought it all back.

At first Ater's anger was trivial, worn off over the day's events. Yet, as he remembered, and recalled the battle with Vena, the fire grew. It fed on itself, one of those unique fires that merely needed a trigger, and will leeched off of itself. Its own existence led to increased fury, and this fury fueled its existence. Eventually, Ater could no longer contain it, and leapt into a black portal born of the shadows on the wall.


A desolate landscape was all that was in sight. Miles and miles of empty land stretched out across the horizon. Sand lay on the land, absolutely still. This world felt still. There was no air here, the atmosphere having vanished long ago. There were no clouds, no blue sky, only the dark reaches of space and the starlight shining down from above. It was this light that made the grains of sand twinkle and shimmer. The whole planet felt unreal, an ethereal dream. No wind blew. The planet was still, unmoving, silent. It was quiet here. It was truly the destroyed world, a wasteland of sparkling sand and starlight. Except for one thing.

Jutting out of this desolate landscape was an obelisk, lonely and tall. This great monolith was pure black, and extraordinarily wide. It had one low, rounded entrance into its hollow interior. Above this doorway read: In Memoriam. Ater walked into this entryway, and stood in the center of the rectangular inside. Still, the walls were black, and the sky couldn't be seen. The inside of the obelisk was lit, though. There was writing on the walls, written in flame. They were carved into the rock faces, and glowed like fire, ever-burning. They were warmed by the heat of the planet, designed never to burn out, not until the end of days. This writing was millions and millions of names.

He spun around, awed by the sheer numbers, entranced by the glow. Here in the shadow of the monolith, a memorial was burned into the walls, for all of time. Nobody could memorize all of those names. There was no discrimination. There was no difference in skin color, gender, status, wealth, happiness, age. They were simply names. Yet, these names had an extraordinary impact on Ater. Directly in front of him were the few names that mattered the most to him. Four names, with the last name of "Knight" were etched into the monument. They burned into his soul, as he stood staring. A moment later, he fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. His hands were in the sand, no smooth floor to bar the way between. He sobbed, the breath rattling his body. He moved in spasms, unable to contain what he felt here, in this place of honesty. Here, light met dark, joined in sorrow and memory. He lifted his face at last, and saw the plaque lying on the ground. It read, "Here, I honor my mistakes, for time immemorial. I will atone." It was this statement that gave him the strength to stand, for it was a promise. He pushed himself off the ground, and stood. He walked out the doorway, wiping the tears from his face. After he had passed through, Ater turned around to look at the final inscription, carved into the monument, although missing the fire the names had. "Travelers, the dead are remembered here. Pay your respects." This was the first thing any visitor would read, and the last they would see as they viewed the monument for the final time. Few travelers came to the destroyed world, knowing it served no more purpose, and was a ghostly, eerie wasteland. So many memories were locked into this place… Ater felt the hatred return, replacing the grief he had felt mere moments before. It arrived with such force that he felt his stomach clench to simply contain the emotion. At last, he could not hold it back any longer. Ater bellowed all the rage into the sky, a bestial, agonized roar. So strong was this feeling that his powers had burst into the roar, the sound waves only existing because of the dark energy laced into each wave. It travelled into the sky, and vanished, camouflaged by space, and dying without the medium to carry them, air. A flash of light appeared behind him. He grinned, although it was a pained one, the muscles faltering on his face, and turned around slowly.

There stood Caeli, in a white t-shirt, a small black vest overtop it, and white jeans.

"What, no formal wear?" Ater teased. "I'm hurt. You'll dress well for a ruler, but not for your oldest friend?"

Her voice was soft and peaceful. "Ater, why are you here?"

"Cut to the chase, will we? Well, miss, I could ask the same of you." Ater's faced seemed playful, but it was his eyes that told the truth. So dark, always focused and intense, yet sad and tired at the same time.

"I'm here because you are." Caeli calmly stated.

"Ha." He chuckled. "You don't come running every time I go somewhere."

"Please, cut the act. I can see your pain." Caeli cut straight to the point, and told things as she saw them. Such was the honesty of the light, although light could be more deceiving than any darkness at times.

Ater stared at her. "I needed to be here." He said simply.

"You were crying." Caeli pointed out.

He snarled at her. "You act as if I don't have justification!"

"Why are you torturing yourself with this? You're only causing yourself more pain!" She was growing frustrated, past arguments rising back up.

"How can you stand there and ask that? How can you bear to look at me, knowing what I've done?" Ater shouted.

She was taken aback for a minute. "Because I know you. Because I care about you. If you were anyone else, I could never forgive you. But you are not anyone else. You are guilty, yes, but you hate yourself for it. You and I both know it. You let it devour you, it tears apart your heart and soul." Ater turned his head away in shame. "Why do you think you made the monument? The plaque in the heart of it was your promise, to the memory of the dead, that you would atone. Vengeance, Ater, and justice are two different things, though they may blend at times. You have atoned with the heart. It is this which redeems you. Now, we must avenge what has been done."

"We can never fix the mistakes of the past, Caeli. I gave that up long ago." Pain was the only thing his face showed now.

"You're right. But there is justice. No mistake should be repeated." Caeli walked right up to his face, and looked into his eyes.

"I don't plan on doing it again. I took down Vena already."

"Four more to go." She said, her voice full of hope.

The duo began to walk away from the monument, with no set destination and no purpose, outside of walking and talking.

"Do you honestly think there'll be an end to this?" She asked quietly.

Ater sighed. "Either we finish this, or it finishes us. We stick to the plan, and pray it works."

"But will it be enough?"

"I can only hope. I'm not going down without a fight." Ater's face was full of grim determination. His fist clenched at his side, his mind and heart resolute in this choice.

Caeli laughed softly, though traces of suffering and pain could be heard in it. "You never did tell me why you were here." Ater said.

"Just finished molding one of them. I tried to find Vena, to make sure the molding worked, but she was missing. I figured you had something to do with it, so I tracked you down and found you here." Caeli explained.

"I put her in the dark, with no light at all. That's why you couldn't find her. So, how long does each one take? I mean, you're forcing sleeping super-powered people to immediately be drawn to Acmetropolis. Not exactly the easiest task." Ater inquired.

Caeli smiled. "Not too long, but long enough. I have to leave the minute one wakes up. They go to Acmetropolis, like I made them. You're right, molding the brainwaves of one of them isn't easy, but I've got to play my part. And how's yours going?"

Ater groaned, acting as if teaching the Loonatics was a pain. "What a mess. Two of them can't just admit they like each other. One's a power-hungry nutcase, but has no leadership skills. I've got a predator and his prey, building machines. I can't understand the last one, 'cause he talks in gibberish, if he's not eating. Plus, the minute I improve anyone's powers, they're useless for a week, until they're fully re-trained. They're not combat ready, and I had to save one from Vena. That one nearly died, and was stuck in the hospital. They're all on vacation now."

"You gave them vacation? How unlike you." Caeli faked surprise.

Ater was serious. "If they don't need it already, then they're going to."

Caeli shrugged. "Fair enough."

The two continued to walk, but at this point, the monument had vanished from sight. All that was left in their view was sand, in all directions. The only change was the location of the stars in the sky.

"How are you holding up?" Ater looked at her, the concern evident on his face.

She kicked the sand with her foot a bit, looking at the ground. "It's not easy. Living inside their ship. I'm nearly always working. And it's…frightening, I guess."

"I know." Ater put his arm around her shoulders, comforting her. "But once you're done, you can join us. Then the real party begins."

"Just as long as you don't start it without me." Caeli laughed, and looked into his eyes. "Wouldn't want to miss all the fun." Caeli pushed off him, and began to walk away.

"Watch your back." Ater said as she began to leave.

"That's what you're here for." Caeli smirked as she said this. She waved goodbye, and in a burst of light, was gone.

"Guess, I'd better get back. I swear, the two of us have got to be bipolar. Eh, well, we're nutcases together, no?" On this insightful note, Ater took one final look at the wasted horizon, and the stars in the sky, before he leapt into his own shadow, and traveled back to Headquarters.


For Ater, the rest of the week was rather uneventful. He inspected the prisons, in which he beat down some of the prisoners that disrespected him. No important villains showed up; it was mostly the minor criminal here and there, and those were jobs for the police, not a superhuman. Most of his time was spent training, or recording the day's events in a small logbook. Often, the recordings were short and to the point, describing little unless it was of the utmost importance. Patiently, he bided his time, until the end of the week when the Loonatics returned.


So, please elaborate in your reviews. I'd love to know what you thought. Joyful, horrifically depressed, bewildered, etc. And if you have no idea of what just happened, excellent! Backstory is in a much later chapter. And so, part of the character development for Caeli and Ater.