Author's Notes: In comics, the Wizard who dwells in the Rock of Eternity may leave for 24 hours at a time. In my AU, the Keeper of the Rock may visit the realm of reality twice. Once - for no longer than a single day - to select a Champion and then a final time to enter the afterlife, as Shazam did when he took Adam's place upon the scales of Anubis.
CII
A Stranger in Eternity
The Wizard Adam stood away from his granite throne, before the statues of the seven deadly sins of man lining the halls of the Rock of Eternity… Pride, Envy, Greed, Anger, Sloth, Gluttony, and Lust. He had known them too well, allowed these enemies to warp the power that had been blessed upon him. All of the accumulated power in the Universe meant nothing if a Champion did not have the strength to overcome these enemies…
Did even such a champion exist?
A child perhaps… But the threat was too great, too soon. And a child could be swayed by the seven deadly enemies just as easily as an adult, and then not have the benefit of wisdom this day required.
A holy person may resist the mortal sins but place their faith elsewhere and not in their own actions and abilities… when the world so desperately needed them now. And even the holiest of men was not beyond pride.
He needed time to choose a worthy successor… time he did not have. To fail in this pinnacle of choice would only quicken the demise of mankind, or worse… eliminate the slim chance that existed for the future of this world. A mistake in judgment and the world, perhaps even the Universe, was lost…
He sensed the Stranger's appearance before the Stranger even arrived.
Adam the Wizard turned to face where the Phantom Stranger would appear and watched as the mysterious, caped figure faded into existence upon the hallowed floors of the Rock of Eternity
"You are welcome here, Phantom Stranger. The internal toil of my dilemma must be truly monumental to invite the presence of the Wandering Jew."
"I go where I am needed, Wizard Adam and I am needed here. The balance of Universe itself hangs upon your decision."
"I am aware, Stranger. But tell me, who is beyond corruption? Who has the courage to face the darkness and embrace the power of the lightning to cast it aside? Who takes the mantle of Champion in the brief moments we have? Have you come to reveal such a man?"
"Nay, Wizard… But these are brief moments indeed. The child of the Second Coming is already upon us."
"… The Adversary's child. Your atonement is finally at hand?"
"It is… but for one single word… And yet there is the small hope that a seed cast to the Sea may grow to be the pillar of life upon far, distant shores."
"It is better for men such as yourself to speak with their deeds. Errant metaphor serves no one this day."
"Then come… Join me, Adam. Bear witness to these deeds of men. Perhaps in this blackest hour of need, the Wizard must go to the Champion."
"The Wizard is bound to the Rock, but may leave its sanctuary for the course of one single day and then one last, final night."
"Cruel Fate has decreed your tenure as Wizard begins on the final day of the world, my friend. If ever you wished to see the land you called home, now is the time! I myself travel to events that may commence a new future for humanity…
...A singular moment in time which may swing the balance to our favor… but only as a terrible sacrifice is made. As once I taunted the first savior of humanity to earn my cursed fate as wanderer, I depart now to pay the proper tribute of tears to its second."
"Then I will journey with you, Stranger. Guide me for these final hours and let us pray that I make the right choice soon. Otherwise my return to the Rock of Eternity may be the beginning of a cursed existence that even you would pity."
"Then we depart, friend Adam. To the heart of the land of your birth…"
"NOOO!"
Bruce Wayne watched as Clark's mighty form crumpled to the dark rooftop… His lungs expelling air to a scream that followed too late…
… a split-second after he realized that Ra's al Ghul had entered the stranger who had called himself Clark's father. The stranger who had alerted the evil spirit of his plan to destroy the solar system… if only to finally extinguish the myriad evils of Trigon. A plan that would also have laid waste to the dark green plots of Ra's al Ghul...
The thoughts of what secrets Ra's could rip from the strangers mind terrified Bruce… what technological wonders he could contort to his sick and twisted designs?
Bruce sprang to his feet, maybe, if he could launch himself at the old stranger… to plummet to the ground below before the madman had a chance to take control… if he could drive him to the ledge...
Bruce pulled up as the second alien figure stepped forward. Would he have to battle that stranger as well? Were they as strong as Clark? Or perhaps he could explain what Ra's had done to the old man? Could do... and then he stopped dead in his tracks as she lifted her visor… Held by those tear-filled, ice blue eyes that said stop….
"Barbara!"
Bruce stood motionless as he watched Barbara Gordon in the strange, alien suit reach across to push a button on the old man's suit. His visor suddenly snapped shut as valves clanked and gears whirled... sealing him on. Carefully, gently, with an air of reverence, she lowered the stiff, strange suit to lay upon the asphalt of the roof and placed its arms across its chest.
Bruce's eyes softened as the tears streamed down her flushed cheeks and she wept. Her audible sobs were the only sound in a desolation of silence. As Barbara now struggled to gather stuttered breaths into her small frame through the cries of sadness, Bruce struggled to comprehend what had happened.
Where was Ra's? Was the spirit still inside the old man? He saw beads of sweat glistened on Barbara's forehead below her moistened copper tresses as she leaned forward to embrace the body that she had lowered …to gave one final kiss to its helmet, tears on alien metal.
A voice from inside the suit crackled through external speakers… struggling… wheezing for breath… in a world where the air and the gravity did not suit Kryptonians, Jor-El had played his final part bravely… his hand rose slowly to grip the hand of Barbara Gordon as the old father strained for three final words…
"…be…with…him…"
A piece of Bruce's heart broke as he watched this brave woman he admired and adored – surrender completely to painful cries of anguish for an alien man who had paid the ultimate price to save them – who had willingly volunteered to entomb the spirit of the greatest evil ever born to this world… if only for the chance that his son could live once more…
Bruce stood transfixed as the ethereal form of light emerged from the visor of Barbara's suit into the night, illuminating the entire rooftop with pure light... An angel of light… who entered the prone body of Clark. Bruce couldn't help but tense - the lesson with Ra's al Ghul had almost driven him to madness - as Big Blue slowly rose to his feet once more… And spoke to him.
"…It's alright, Bruce. It's me… Clark. Ra's is sealed in with my father."
He could only watch as the Man of Steel took a devastated Barbara into his arms to embrace and comfort her, the hand that could crush granite gently stroking the back of her head. It was as though they had both lost a father…
"He wanted it this way, Barbara. You can't blame yourself. His only regret was that he didn't think of this plan himself.…"
Kal-El then kneeled down to place his hand upon the last father of Krypton.
"I will always remember Jor-El… my Father…what you showed me in our brief time together… what courage… what love… truly is. And as you wished, I will wear our family crest with the pride and honor it deserves. To protect and love this new home you gave me."
Clark carefully removed the red alien symbol from his father's breastplate, which strangely resembled the letter S in an inverted triangle and affixed it with quick, powerful movements and heat vision to his own blue costume… a symbol for this new world from the ashes of an old…
Bruce jumped when he felt the white gloved hand lightly grip his shoulder from behind, spinning with reflexes he didn't think he had to view two men who had not been there a moment ago. He recognized one of them… the Stranger who had appeared to him as he had stormed down the manor's hallway to confront Raven, telling him to cast aside his anger and forgive. Bruce had confirmed later with Alfred that the Englishman did most certainly not have stage magicians in his acquaintance.
Clark seem to have recognized the other stranger as he moved Barbara behind him, a steely glare of cold venom in his eyes, ready to take action…
"Adam."
Adam, wearing long, white robes, raised his hands in a gesture of peace and replied.
"A ghost of Adam only, man of the stars… reborn as the Wizard to select a new Champion of Justice. The reign of Adam is no more... The God of Freedom ended that sad tale of wanton destruction. May the next Champion I select bear the yoke of power with more Wisdom and Nobility than Teth Adam ever could."
"Then stay out of my way… Bruce… Barbara, remain here where it's safe… I'll be back for you. I can't lose this world as I lost Krypton…"
The cry of "CLARK!" Barbara screamed to the night sky would never reach the man of steel's ears… he had departed with a speed far beyond what the sound of her plea could travel… traveling towards the Great Ravager…
"That idiot!… Bruce, we've got to help him! On Krypton, Trigon vaporized his cousin who was just as powerful as Clark!"
"I hope we can, Barbara… but I'm afraid there's something I have to take care of first…"
"Bruce, this is it!… There is nothing else. The final conflict. Look, I know Raven's not here yet, but it's starting! She'll make it! We have to be there… before… before…"
"Before he was trapped… Ra's told me whether I met with Trigon or not… it wouldn't matter… that everyone was going to die."
"Trigon plans to kill everyone. That's not exactly news, Bruce..."
"I don't think he meant Trigon, Barbara… Somehow, he hacked into my Engine of Destruction. It's here, in Kahndaq. I had Lucius move it…The way he spoke … Ra's plans to eliminate all of humanity… with Trigon or without him… at dawn…"
"God damn it, Bruce! Why did you ever make that *& #瘩 thing!"
The silent smell of human decay that surrounded them, a country of eleven million wiped from existence, brought the tears of profound regret once more to his eyes as he finally comprehended why he had built it…
"…I never wanted what killed my parents to happen again…"
More Author's Notes:
The Phantom Stranger is one of the few major characters in comics who does not have definitive origin story. In the January 1987 issue of "Secret Origins" #10, four distinct origin stories were presented by some of the top names in comics; including Alan Moore, Mike W. Barr, Jim Aparo, Joe Orlando and others. It's a brilliant comic where the mysterious stranger's origin is still left… a mystery. There are four very different origins presented.
However, the origin story that has always been closest to my heart is the Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo piece entitled "Tarry Till I Come Again". In a stroke of brilliance and courage, Barr presented the Stranger as an incarnation of the Wandering Jew, a figure from medieval Christian mythology.
The original legend of the Wandering Jew tells of a Jewish man who was among the crowds as Jesus Christ carried the cross to His crucifixion. The Jewish man taunted Christ while he struggled with His cross and was condemned to walk the earth for all eternity until the Second Coming of Christ.
"Tarry Till I Come Again" was the final Phantom Stranger story drawn by the late, great Jim Aparo, the artist who had taken over the original series from Neal Adams without missing a beat. His pencil-and-inks ranks up there with the all-time greats and his work on Phantom Stranger is stunning.