At first glance, Logan would have guessed it was an old style hut city. It was made loosely of wood, but not the kind of wood that would be for building. No, this wood was like sticks and twigs, stacked next to each other and roped around with a thick vine that looked suspiciously like poison ivy. They would have looked like elementary TPs, if not for the lack of animal skin and the roof. It was curious, some of the roofs were made of the same sticks that built up their houses, and some was a maroon plant that looked like discolored straw. There were rows upon rows of these small buildings, as if the people in charge had planned to look identical down the line when they created them. But the building that caught the most attention was the furthest, and Logan doubted that his teammates could even make out the shape; so far it was in the distance.
Logan didn't know it then, because he couldn't see, but he would find out soon enough that place was their exact destination. It was not like the other huts, it was massive and strongly built with stone and brick instead of twigs and branches. The stones were evenly matched and one could almost say it looked like a pyramid, stacked high to the top and getting smaller all the way along.
What seemed to be the only problem was that nobody was visible. Or at least, they weren't outside. Logan could guess from the smoke protruding out the tops of the huts that people-or at least, something, was inside of them. He sniffed the air, not liking the fact that nobody was outside. Something wasn't right about this place. The scent just confused him more, as far as he could tell, no human thing was around, but that wasn't necessarily good because it meant something else was inside those huts. Something that was intelligent enough to create fire.
The others seemed to get the same feeling of something wrong too. Bobby was nervously shifting from foot to foot, Scott was gazing around like he'd never seen a hut before, and Hank voiced Logan's suspicions. "Something's not right."
Logan spit on the dry, gray ground and turned to the group. "D'ya see the building way back behind all these copycats?" To Logan's predictions, they all shook their heads. "Well, it looks different from all these others. I think we should just avoid these guys and go straight there, I don't want any more trouble than its worth and this place is definitely screwy."
"Don't you think we should try to ask around? See where we are, before barging down into the biggest building here? They might be friendly." Scott proclaimed indulgently, he never liked Wolverine's cannonball barge-in style.
Logan shook his head, "No, I don't. That screwball didn't send us ta no fairy tale land. The inhabitants here aren't human and I rather not find out why he sent us here if I can help it." Logan snorted shortly, "And I doubt they're friendly."
Scott snorted, he knew the older mutant had a point, but that still didn't solve anything. And Scott hated when Logan was right. "Then how exactly do you suggest we get out of here?"
Logan grunted and gave him a withering look. "That's what we're goin' to the big place for. If there's anyway back, it's gotta be in the damn most impressive buildin' on the block."
Scott's jaw clenched at Logan's response. He didn't like going about it, sneaking from the start, but Logan was probably right. The team of four heroes skirted the outskirts of the city and made their way down. It was a long walk, even considering the fact that they had been walking for several hours, but Logan could see they were getting closer, and after a while, the others did too. They came upon the building after what felt like an hour, but as Hank's watch wasn't working in this new dimension they were in, they couldn't be sure.
The building was just as Logan had seen it miles back. It stood much taller than the little huts that surrounded it and was built of sturdy stone. The stone blocks were arranged in a pyramid style which left Bobby wondering if they were going to go underground upon entering. There was nothing particularly fancy about the huge pyramid, it stood surprisingly even and the blocks were well cut, for all the shabby huts that surrounded it, but it wasn't decorated in any way.
Scott stared from the Northeastern corner of the aligned rows of huts that apparently made a village. "Now what? We can't cut across without passing these dwellings."
Logan snorted at the term dwellings. The huts were little more than stacks of twigs that were dirt packed together. "We walk across, obviously."
He started to lead the way, but Scott put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "What? No, we can't do that. What if you trip an alarm?"
Logan's eyebrows rose as he glanced across the landscape before him. "Don' think they'll have any alarms, bub."
To Scott's annoyance, Hank supported Logan. "Yes, they're much too primal to have any complicated traps either. They may have some, but they'll be easily seen and avoidable. We just have to be careful."
"We could still be heard." Scott added defensively.
"Then shut up an' be quite 'bout it."
Bobby remained silent, caught up in his own thoughts.
The group of X-Men proceeded forward through the rows of huts. Even though Logan heard activity in most of the huts, nobody came outside and apparently, nobody had heard them. Logan didn't detect any kind of trap, but he didn't expect to. Not yet, at least, maybe when they entered the pyramid. They made their way around to the North end of the pyramid where a sturdy, stone door could be seen.
Scott stepped up to blow the door away with his optic blasts, but Logan moved in front of him and shook his head. In a small, obviously mocking voice of Scott, Logan mimicked. "We could be heard."
Scott glared at him, but Logan didn't see because of his visor. "Then what are we supposed to do, smartass?" Even in a hushed tone, Logan winced at his loudness.
"Shut up already, toothpick." He turned to Hank. "Fuzzball, get that end." Hank winced at the unsavory nickname, but did as he was told. Logan's claws came out with the common snick as he wedged them in-between the crack on his end. With some help from Bobby, who iced the edge on Hank's side so he could wiggle his large fingers in, Hank gripped his end and pushed inward while Logan pulled out his end. Logan's claws made a tiny screech that sounded much too loud to him, but in another second he had pulled the door out as Hank pushed his end in and it lurched sideways, allowing the team to enter.
Logan sent a sideways glance at Scott, who clenched his jaw with effort not to blast Logan, and then went into the pyramid first. After the team had gathered in the hallway leading downward, Logan turned to address the group. It was all dark below and he knew he would be the only one to see well in such blackness. Well, he didn't know how Scott's eyes would adjust, but he didn't predict they'd do so well. Before he could even open his mouth, the door behind them shut with an audible snap, leaving all of them cloaked in the dark.
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"What are you saying, then?" Jean asked with an edge to her voice that wasn't there a minute ago. "That we can't beat this creature?"
Derrick paused in his rapid page flipping to glance up at Jean. "In older times, no one could have predicted there'd be mutants on the earth. Well…I guess they could have if they had the right research and technology, but they didn't. The Indestructible One has gained control of all the power that your group has and everyone you've come into contact with. Originally, it would just be an extremely strong man, hard to defeat, but not impossible. But, with all of your powers and everyone's that you've come into contact with, it's invincible."
Ororo frowned; there was a way to defeat everything. There had to be. "Then how are we supposed to defeat it? Isn't it prophesied that Rogue is the one to channel the Dark Lord's energy? If so, shouldn't we be able to beat it?"
Derrick shook his head sadly. "Although what you say is true, that your friend, this Rogue, is apparently the Chosen One to be the carrier of the Dark Lord because she was bitten, doesn't mean that you can defeat him on this plain."
Kurt bit his lip in irritation; he just wanted his sister to be safe. Although he trusted Derrick, the old man was not a bringer of good news. "Vhat does vat mean, vat ze have to go on va different plain?"
"It means that the Indestructible One's home is not originally this planet. If he were to be transported back to his world, he would only have the power of his own people to absorb from. And the Indestructible One's people are weak, baseline organisms that have not evolved nearly as far as us."
Kitty sighed; she just wanted her friend to be safe. "Then how did it get into our world in the first place? I mean, if it was so weak and stupid over in its own world, then it couldn't possibly have come here itself."
Derrick nodded eagerly, apparently happy that someone else understood what he was trying to communicate. "That's exactly right, Kitty. It was called into this earth by its followers. Although it was believed by his followers, the Indestructible One was never meant to hold the Dark Lord's entity. It was merely set to choose who that would be. Now that it has completed that mission, it is collecting sacrifices for the guardian's awakening."
Captain America jerked his head. "Wait, what?! Is that why it took Carol? She's going to be a sacrifice?!"
Derrick's head dropped, apparently not able to look the other man in the eye. "I think so, the Chosen One is supposed to have a Guardian to walk through the trials. Although that is rubbish, because the Dark Lord would never let harm come to his Chosen vessel. The Guardian's job is merely to be sacrificed along the way as the Chosen One continues forward on their path."
Remy, whose mood had been steadily decreasing as he heard more, burst out. "Dat can' happen! Dey don' have Rogue yet. She's wit' de hairy hommes an' icey."
"And Wanda…" Visions input was barely heard by those around him. Captain America, who stood next to him, stared in surprise at the droid's emotion in the simple statement. How did he-his thoughts were cut off by Pietro's outcry.
"Yeah, and my sister! Nothing happened to them! We would have heard…"
Jean, who was also getting more worried by the second, tried to calm everybody down. "I'll see-Wait-" Before she could finish, a loud, screaming voice rang out through her mind. JEAN?! JEAN ARE YOU THERE? I NEED HELP, WE NEED HELP. JEAN? HELP!
Jean let out a moan and fell to her knees, the other woman's voice created an instant headache. Not so loud Wanda, I can hear you.
Above her, the heroes crowded looking expectantly. Jean spared them just a glance. "It's her, quiet."
Jean, we're in trouble. Rogue and Carol are locked up inside this cave, and they can't do anything to escape because that cruel robed guy just keeps torturing Rogue. And I don't know what he's planning to do, but I need you guys to get over here so we can-
Jean interrupted, suddenly full of concern. Whoa, what? You guys just went to the spot the beast came from, didn't you? What happened?
There was a pause and Jean wondered if she was still there, but then Wanda's psyche voice came through, almost as if she were out of breath. Just read my mind, it'll be simpler than trying to tell you…and try to find me!
Are you in trouble?
A little…just go ahead; read my mind and hurry, I think something might be trying to find me.
Jean did, she gasped at what she saw and projected the images to all of her teammates to save the time it would take to explain it. She was currently hiding in the rocks and red sand that covered the ground outside the cave. Do you have any idea where the others are?
No, sorry. I would have guessed they went to you.
Hold on, Wanda, we're coming. Jean used her telepathy to zero in on Wanda's location, she scanned the area all around her and shivered. "Wanda's in Greece, so is Rogue and Carol. Storm-get us there." Remy scampered to the jet's controls.
Storm looked expectantly at Jean. "What of the others?"
Jean closed her eyes again, her headache, on top of all the telepathy, was growing. She firmly pressed her fingers to her temples. When nothing came up, she did so again, expanding her search all around. She couldn't even feel the familiar link she had with Scott. That meant…
Jean's voice was panicked. "There's no trace of them on this planet…"
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Carol sighed and stopped in midair, causing Rogue to halt and turn around to face her. "This is useless, we're not getting anywhere."
Silently, Rogue agreed. It had to be going on an hour that they simply flew forward to nothing more than the single pathway. The smell of decay hadn't died and Rogue was feeling a little nauseous from it. The only change was the fire that leapt over the sides of the pathway had stopped, but the heat was still insufferably hot. Rogue would have cut off her own hands to get Bobby in there right then. With sweat dripping down her face, Rogue stared at Carol. "What do ya suggest we do?"
Obviously, Carol took the comment offensively, which Rogue had not meant. "I don't know, it's your fault we're here in the first place!"
Rogue responded sarcastically, probably not the best reaction, but she was tired and annoyed. "Oh, Ah'm sorry that Ah couldn't prevent mahself from gettin' bitten. Next time Ah'll warn mahself of being Chosen fohr the Devil's vessel."
"If you weren't so careless in the first place, that might not have happened."
Rogue glared at Carol. "It woulda happened ta ya first if ya had been more concerned with people's safety than ya're shoppin' day."
"Excuse me for having a social life."
"Excuse meh fohr carin' about someone otha than mahself."
"Don't you dare accuse me of being selfish, you bitch!"
Without warning, Carol lunged at Rogue. There was nothing to land on except the single strip of land in the middle that seemed to go on forever, so Carol just dragged her downward along the side of the middle land strip. Rogue let out a strangled cry as Carol punched her hard. Rogue felt her jaw tremble and could taste the metallic taste of blood on her lip as she fought to pull the enraged mutant off her. Without having a grip hold on anything, she grabbed Carol's arm and used Carol's weight as her leverage to slam the girl against the floor of the middle pathway.
Carol cried out, more in frustration than pain as Rogue pulled back her arm to punch her. Before bringing her fist down, Rogue froze. Taking this hesitation as weakness, Carol kicked up at Rogue with both feet firmly planted against her stomach. Rogue coughed, spitting out blood from her lip, and steadied herself in the air.
Carol came up to meet her when Rogue held both hands out in way to calm the enraged mutant. "Wait!"
Rogue's voice seemed to call back a meager amount of sense to the girl and Carol froze too, eyeing the girl suspiciously as if she expected Rogue to strike. But Rogue wasn't looking at Carol; she was looking downward at the top of the small pathway. "Carol, didn't ya pull meh downward?"
Carol dropped her defensive guard and stared down at what the other girl was looking at. It was true that Carol had pulled Rogue downward, but she didn't connect any point in what the other mutant was trying to connect. "What's it matter?"
"Because if ya pulled meh downward, which ya did, then shouldn't we be below the pathway, not above it?"
Carol looked down again, and her brow furrowed this time. That was right. How did they end up above the pathway?
"Wait a minute, stay here, ok?"
Carol was about to protest when Rogue flew off in the forward direction that the path was leading. Annoyed, Carol was about to follow when Rogue appeared behind Carol and had to slide to a stop in midair to keep from colliding with her. "What the?"
Rogue already understood. "We've jus' been goin' in a huge circle!"
Carol frowned. "Then where the hell did we enter?"
Rogue shook her head. She didn't know. "Trah goin' East." Carol spun around in the general direction and zoomed forward. In another second, she encountered Rogue again, hanging suspended in midair.
"Okay…now what?"
Rogue was at a loss. "Ah don't know, he wouldn't send us in here fohr nothin', would he? Ah mean, aren't we supposed ta awaken his guardians or somethin'?"
Carol snorted. "Or something."
"Maybe we're supposed ta follow the path."
Carol looked at her as if she'd gone insane. But lately, she looked at her a lot like that, so Rogue wasn't affected by it. "What's that supposed to change?"
"Ah dunno, it's worth a trah, ain't it?" Carol rolled her eyes at the other woman's logic-or lack of, but followed Rogue to the path anyway. Rogue landed with a flump. "Ah'll go first since ya're supposed ta die in this or somethin'."
Carol narrowed her eyes at Rogue's obvious lack of caring. They started to follow the pathway down and after a short time, they came upon something different. Carol didn't say anything about Rogue being right, and was glad the other mutant wasn't being smug about it. She really just wanted to punch Rogue again, but she knew she had got the better hand in the fight-despite the fact that Rogue really wasn't trying to hurt her.
They came upon the new structure and Rogue couldn't help the gasp of awe that escaped her lips. Before them stood the largest, most beautiful emerald stone that Rogue had ever seen. The stone reminded Carol too much of Rogue's eyes for her to gasp in awe, but she was surprised by it. Carol went forward next to Rogue, but Rogue held out a hand.
"It could be a trap."
"Or it could be the thing you're supposed to awaken the 'Guardians' with." Carol replied sarcastically.
Rogue's brow furrowed. "Ah'm not goin' ta awaken anything that's gunna help that guy." But Carol was staring at Rogue like she'd never seen her before. She didn't even appear to have heard her, but for the response.
"GET AWAY FROM IT!" Again, without warning, Rogue was tackled down by Carol and yanked away from the stone by the scruff of her shirt. Rogue caught one last glimpse of it before Carol flew her away.
"What the hell are ya doin'?"
Carol actually looked nervous. "You…you didn't feel that?"
Rogue squinted, confused. "Feel what?"
Carol pointed to Rogue's eyes. "Your eyes, they're glowing…its fading now, but they were almost neon. Damn near blinding."
Rogue didn't feel anything, but when she turned, she saw the emerald again and a soft, commanding voice rang through her mind. Approach the stone, come to it. Rogue had no other thoughts, but to obey.