The leading scientist of Rann's ruling council seeks to have the most powerful sorceress on Rann join the Lanterns, Supergirl, Hancock, Wonder Woman and Jesse Quick to defend the planet from Starbreaker!
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In the Valley of Tira (one of Rann's moons), outside of Rannagar, the Capitol City of the Planet Rann
Local Time Unknown
Although Sardath, as the Chairman of the planet's ruling council, had entered the Temple of Deedra on several occasions in the past, today, everything seemed...different. At first, he couldn't put his finger on it. Then he realized he felt as if he were arriving at the holy place for the very first time. Apparently, the desperation surrounding the situation all the people of Rann faced now had weighed heavily on him and played tricks with his mind. However, even after he'd drawn that conclusion, he couldn't help but think this could also be the final opportunity anyone had to visit the ancient Temple ever again.
Rann's preeminent scientist found himself taking more notice of his surroundings while he stood beside his parked flyer. To the elder man's right was the Hemisphere, a huge dome where the Matriarch of the Rannian People conducted the Ceremonies of the Goddesses, the deities their ancient ancestors had continued to worship even after they had settled their new world many thousand of years ago. At the base of the dome, there were a series of high arches that supported the massive cupola and served as entrances for worshipers to attend temple services. Underneath the dome in the very center of the structure was the Altar that had been consecrated by the Goddess Deedra herself as evidenced by ancient crystalline recordings that had been kept in Temple's Hall of Records. The exalted one, whose skin was as white as the surface of Tira, one of the moons in Rann's night sky, had communed with her people while her faithful companion, Jheryl, the golden-skinned Truth Seeker, had stood witness to that most holy of holys.
To the left of the Hemisphere stood the Emerald Tower. For untold millennia, it had been the tallest structure on the face of the planet. Now the old man gazed up and admired how the serpentine stone edifice seemed to stretch up toward the clouds. Of course, as a man of science, he knew that a trick of the light created the illusion that he beheld.
Several seconds passed before he sighed heavily and began to stride slowly toward the Tower despite the pall that had settled upon him like a death shroud. He had so much to do and so little time. Unlike the people of the Temple, he was not a man of faith even though he believed in The Word. Rannians were quite different from the people of faith on Earth, according to his future son-in-law (he hoped his daughter's wedding day on Rann would come to pass). On Rann, the Hall of Records possessed recordings and physical evidence with an unbroken chain-of-custody from the time his ancestors had left the planet of their origin to found the colony on the world where Sardath was born. However, he preferred to deal with matters he could measure and quantify. Faith, by its nature, was an intangible thing in comparison to the heady substance of science.
He also preferred the certainty of science in comparison to magick.
It was a sixth fundamental force of the Universe and the ancient Atlantean, as well as Rannian scientists, had a basic understanding of it. However, only those with pure blood lines belonging to the offspring of the immortal Atlantean mages who'd founded the magnificent lost empire on their origin world, could hope to wield that power without paying the high price those without the genetic disposition would bear if they tried to use this force. Fortunately for Rann, the Matriarch of the Temple was a scion of those progenitors. The woman was the pinnacle of breeding, directly linked to those ancient mages. She was a warrior priestess who channeled magick to the point she appeared to actually warp reality at times.
Soon, the elder man reached the entrance into the Tower where a pair of young priestesses dressed in green robes stood sentinel. Moments later, they opened the heavy wooden doors with a minor flick of their wrists then waved him inside. He entered a densely columned hallway illuminated by floating lights. Normally, the hall would be bustling with acolytes, worshipers and merchants and the cacophony of their voices would fill the air. Today, though, all was silent. As he strode across the hall, the echo of his footsteps unsettled him.
Pressing onward, Sardath passed between two rows of columns that led him toward the center of the Tower. When he'd arrived, he spied a spiral staircase fashioned from serpentine stone that stretched upward as far as the eye could see. At first, he was concerned because he wasn't certain if the woman who'd requested his presence expected him to attempt such a daunting ascent at his age. However, before he could even begin to place one foot on the first step, he suddenly found himself situated at the highest level of the tower with all of those foreboding stairs comfortably behind him.
Three paces away, along the opposite wall, stood a plain wooden door. Taking a deep, calming breath, he lifted his hand to knock on it. However, he found his knuckles suspended in space as the door swung open suddenly to reveal the tall, Homo Magi woman whose golden hair reminded him of the vault of the planet's sky and whose beauty stirred something deep inside every able-bodied man, even Sardath, an elder whose amorous times had long since passed.
Now she stood before him, garbed in emerald and ebony robes of the most luxurious silk. Normally, the highest of all the mystical priestesses had displayed a relaxed yet aloof expression on her face. Today, though, that was not the case. Now, she regarded him warily, a guarded and haunted look to her lovely eyes.
"Thank you for making haste to meet with me, Sardath. Please, come inside."
"Ayesha," he said with a slight nod of his head. "Although I am certain we are all pressed for time, I am here to assist you in any and all ways."
She said nothing then. She simply turned and led him deeper into her room. In silence, he followed her to a small round table where two chairs awaited them.
Once they both were seated, she regarded him with her witch-green eyes and he feared he'd lose himself within them.
"Sardath…tell me, do…do you believe these visitors are here because of the prophecy?"
He shrugged. "You, yourself, showed me the most holy of holies—the Tome of Deedra. Even though I had found it difficult to believe, the golden alien unmistakably bears the Goddess' holy symbol on her choker. Moreover, she arrived here in the company of the royal Amazon and the scarlet speedster as set forth in the Tome itself."
"You did not really answer my question, Sardath."
He glared at her now. "What is it you wish me to say, Ayesha? You are well aware of the fact I have never been a religious man. I am a man of science. I suspect that shall be true until the day I draw my last breath. However, I know there are forces in the Universe I cannot truly measure or quantify. Your abilities are the proof of that uncomfortable happenstance. As for the prophecy, frankly, I want to believe in it! It may be the only hope our world has to defeat Starbreaker."
She shook her head then. "I have always stood firm at the side of the brave men and women of our military against those foes from beyond the stars who sought to invade our world as did my predecessors. But, to now ally with aliens and these…hairy savages who stole the homeworld of our ancestors from our sires! Why, they are not far removed from the apes who still live amongst them in their jungles!"
He regarded her warily. He'd heard whispers that some of his people had resented the coming of Adam from Earth. He'd even heard that some of them had believed he had manipulated fate to bring the Terran to their world in the hopes that adding his blood to their gene pool would be the start of re-energizing the Rannian birth rate that had suffered during the fallout from the atomic wars that had plagued the planet centuries ago. Of course, none of their speculations in regards to Adam were true but that did not mean he could blithely ignore them. "What exactly do you mean, Matriarch?"
"We are superior to them in every way!" she spat. "How can the likes of them help us stand against a dark god himself?!"
Sardath glared at her then. Our people have no time for this foolishness! he fumed to himself. "Ayesha, when Adam revealed the severity of the crisis we now face to the alien and the Terran women, these…well...heroes never considered returning to Earth to leave us to our fates. Not even once! Instead, they called for more Lanterns, as well as a Kryptonian, to come to our aid. They are, without a doubt, quite selfless and inordinately courageous."
She beamed a look filled with curiosity his way. "Pray tell, who or what is a 'Kryptonian?'"
"She is an alien who, outwardly, looks like us, but whose physiology is far more advanced than even ours. It has been said that her civilization was old when our ancestors on the planet of their origin had invented the wheel. Under the light of certain stars, they are blessed with unimaginable strength, speed, and abilities. Essentially, they are living, breathing batteries powered by the energy of the stars. The alien Lantern revealed to me that the Corpsman assigned to Earth is bringing the Kryptonian here with her."
"Is your future son-in-law an ally of these...heroes? "
He nodded. "He is a friend to the Princess of the Amazons. She was a dear colleague of his back on Earth. And, according to the alien Lantern, the Amazon almost measures up to the Kryptonian in regards to her strength and speed."
"I see," she murmured before she rose gracefully from her chair and practically glided over toward the large picture window that surveyed the verdant vistas surrounding the Tower as far as the eye could see. Unlike most of the surface of their desert world, the Temple and its grounds were nestled among the most fertile acreage on Rann and the fruit tree groves and grain fields could be seen spread across the floor of the valley.
"Ayesha," he asked, his voice low. "Do you not believe?"
"I…I want to. I truly do. I was born to be in this moment, to dedicate everything I am to the Goddess, to this world, to my people. Yet, I find that placing all of our hopes in the hands of Terrans and aliens…makes me question my faith for the first time."
"Ayesha…" he spoke to her in the voice he used to comfort his darling daughter when she was a girl. Of course, that was before she had transformed into a wonderful young woman. "We're all frightened. And we have good reason to be so, based on what I have learned about Luciphage." She snorted at the ancient name the Goddesses had given the intergalactic death god who now plagued their homeworld. Then he continued making his point. "What I heard from the alien Lantern's ring did not give me any succor. However, what I do know is you are the most powerful warrior priestess Rann has ever had. Your powers would probably surpass even the abilities of any single agent of the Guardians of the Universe. If you are united with the Lanterns, the golden one's companions and the Kryptonian, I truly believe Rann shall survive this fateful day."
While she continued to peer through her window, she noted, "Shortly after Adam Strange arrived on Rann, he spoke with me. Were you aware of that?"
He blinked twice at the change in the course of their conversation. "No."
She seemed to draw herself up before she removed her robes to reveal her lean yet immaculately feminine form garbed in her white skin-tight battle dress trimmed in black and green to his appreciative gaze. "He and I discussed much that day regarding the myriad of religions on his homeworld. Do you know that they have formed their beliefs solely on the basis of faith? As incredible as it seems, those people have no video or audio recordings of any of the events that supposedly served as the foundations of their faiths. They truly are so unlike us. Even after the atomic wars that had poisoned our world and driven us to the brink of extinction, we still maintained the crystalline recordings of the day that Deedra and Jheryl descended among us. We still keep the Holy Tome of Deedra and honor the Altar she'd consecrated. Yet, even with all of that evidence to support our beliefs, I experience a crisis of faith." She now turned and gazed at him over her shoulder. "Perhaps…I could learn something from those…savages," she offered with a self-deprecating smile.
"Perhaps," he agreed with a smile of his own.
"The Planetary Defense Force is battling these robot creatures in two cities on opposite sides of our world. Which city did Adam Strange take our visitors?"
"They are attempting to gather intelligence about the ones in Narzam."
"Very well then. I shall join him along with the Lantern and her companions. Before I go, I wish to thank you for coming to see me, Sardath," she said. "I apologize for taking you away from your vitally important work."
"Making certain you understand your role in what is to come is of critical importance to our world's survival, Matriarch."
She graced him with a regal nod in response to his courtesy and respect. "Are you evacuating some of our people…just in case?" she asked quietly.
"Yes. As we speak, my associates are using the Zeta Beam to send them to the site where Adam Strange found the ancient transmat node our ancestors had used to colonize our world. Soon, my daughter shall travel to the other side to represent our people in case..."
She nodded. "I understand, my friend. Let us hope your daughter and her charges will still have a Rann to come home to."
"Ayesha, on behalf of our people…thank you. Fight well."
Now she graced the elder with a look brimming with the confidence that was sorely lacking when he had first set foot inside her sanctum sanctorum. "Good fortune to you, Chairman of the Science Council," she then proclaimed.
"Good fortune to you, Matriarch of the Temple, Defender of Rann!"
Suddenly she graced him with a thin smile before she cast her spell. "Nruter Htadras ot sih reylf!" she exclaimed forcefully.
In the space of a heartbeat, he found himself suddenly standing outside next to his the boom of thunder sounded far off in the distance even though there wasn't a single cloud in the golden sky above Sardath's hairless head.
In the next moment, he shook his head and chuckled softly. "Mystics," he muttered. "Always with their flair for the dramatic!" he mused.
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