CXVII
Undone
Author's Note:In Norse mythology, Bifröst is the rainbow bridge that connects Midgard (Earth) and Asgard (the Kingdom of the Gods). In this story, the New Gods have harnessed Bifröst as the physical lining of Boom Tubes, except they call it "bi-frost".
And speaking of New Gods, we left Scott, Barda, Orion and Lightray way back in Chapter 105 on Elysium after their encounter with the lethal Darkseid. We have to step back a little in time… moments before Raven appeared in front of her father to make 'The Deal' to save the Earth from Bruce's Engine of Destruction.
We now pick up their story in an Elysium devoid of Father Cronus, moments after Arella had sacrificed herself to rescue Raven from Darkseid's Omega Beams and seconds after Raven had an out-of-body experience in desolate Azarath, returning to her physical body, only to depart once more back to Bruce...
Scott watched as Raven departed, leaving Orion with only tendril wisps of smoke snaking through his fingers where once his cousin had once been…
If it had been anyone but Barda…
If it had been anyone but Barda… he would never have used the Anti-Life Equation in the presence of Darkseid. Even if it had meant his own life, he would have died willingly without letting the God of Tyrants witness the Equation at work.
But he couldn't lose her.
To save Barda's life, Scott had shown Darkseid who truly possessed the Anti-Life Equation. And now the dread Lord of Apokolips would relentlessly hunt him like an animal for the remainder of his Eternal days - until Darkseid possessed the equation that removed all free will - enabling his mad step-father to make all sentient life bow to his every whim.
It was the only tool the stone-faced God of Tyranny required to take control of the entire Universe… and it was lodged in the mind of Scott Free. Under the oppressive skies of Apokolips, the God of Freedom had also become the God of Subservience, cursed with the power to take away all individual freedom. He was the living epitome of freedom and the loss of it.
Even now, Scott was certain Darkseid would be preparing the terrible theatre of operation on Apokolips to pull the formula out of his mind (most likely killing him at the same time), and allowing Darkseid's to become the only free will in the Universe. Scott was the antithesis of evil Darkseid, but he did not know how to keep the spirit of freedom alive within the Cosmos when the Great Tyrant's ultimate ambition was suddenly so close to his treacherous grasp…
The manipulative Lord of Despots would never fight a battle directly, relying instead on hidden schemes and underhand tactics to gain final victory. There would never be an unguarded moment in Scott and Barda's lives from this point forward. The agents of Apokolips could be waiting around any corner for them… to take them back to Apokolips.
Barda and Raven had travelled to New Genesis seeking allies but had instead enlisted disaster…
And now, Darkseid had ensured the flow of time had once again returned to the Land of the Dead. Cronus, the elder God of Time had been beheaded by the evil Lord of Apokolips to start the countdown to his final victory over free will. Elysium had fallen alongside its ancient King and now the land was dying. The entire plane of existence they stood upon was shaking itself apart, tumbling into the Rivers of Oblivion to be forgotten in time.
"We must travel to battle, Scott Free!" As dejected as Scott felt, Orion was overjoyed in equal measure at the prospect of the approaching fight.
"Travel where, Orion?"
"To Earth, Scott Free… to fight the demon Trigon!" Orion clapped him on the shoulder. "And then - if the blood in you still courses hot through those noble veins, child of Izaya - you may travel with me to Apokolips where I shall break the Pact and make my vile father pay dearly for his crimes against my beleaguered cousin."
"Trigon?... That may not be the best idea, Orion."
"You have suffered a grave injury, step-brother. Your reticence does you no disservice. But the lust for battle in this warrior's heart beats the drums of war across the very Universe itself! Blood must be spilled if Orion is ever to rest once more."
"Orion, we need time to think about this…"
"There's no time, Scott!" It was Barda who interrupted over the earthquake which shook the ground. "This whole place is coming apart! We have to go… now!"
His wife opened the Boom Tube with her Mega Rod as she waved them in. Barda was correct, they did have to leave immediately. But there was something that gnawed at Scott about Trigon… Their battle should have been with Darkseid, not Raven's father. The Earth was worth saving, certainly, but some instinct told him not to take this fight…
The instant his foot had stepped out of the Boom Tube onto the near-dawn soil of Kahndaq, Scott realized their mistake… The Prince of New Genesis and the Prince of Apokolips, the two key components of The Pact between two worlds, never permitted to set foot upon the world of their birth… had just stepped in front of a God who could transport anyone anywhere with but a mere thought.
They could not confront Trigon without jeopardizing The Pact.
"Orion, we have to go back!"
Scott vainly attempted to restrain the mighty warrior from his charge. Orion bolted like a mad bull at the massive, red God as thunder rolled across the dark sky leaving an empty-handed Scott stumbling in Orion's fierce wake... unheeded, but by one.
It was a calm voice two hundred feet above him that answered his declaration, crystallizing all sudden fears within Scott Free as he witnessed his three quick companions disappear into nothing more than crimson puffs of smoke.
"Yes… they do." Trigon stared intently at Scott.
An almost nude Mister Miracle now stood alone, staring at the full-sized God of Apokolips who grinned back at him. Scott could Boom Tube away, but he did not know where Trigon had sent his companions… He could use the Equation once more if required to command the Demon to bring them back, but Trigon spoke once more.
"To answer your question, I have sent them to gaze upon Gods who dare too much… But you, you have a familiar look. What is your name?"
"I am called Scott Free."
"A terrible name… And what are you the God of, Scott Free?"
"Freedom."
"How droll. And you are in direct opposition to my brother, Uxas, I assume?"
"He is called Darkseid now… and I am."
"Ahhh… You are Izaya's son, aren't you?! You have his manner of speech. Your father and I, long ago we often sat at the same tables at the feast, shared the same wine, boasted of the glory of the hunt… Before my brother engineered the war between our worlds. You and I… we are not enemies, Scott Free."
"Then why have you done this, Trigon? Why have you killed countless lives indiscriminately… those who were neither friend nor foe?!"
The Great Beast smiled broadly in the darkness.
"I will tell you a secret, Scott Free… so that you may convey my words to wise Izaya and impart the bitter truth of what has been laid before me. I speak as Izaya's friend Drax, not the monster my brother has made of me…
All that I have done, Scott Free… The trillion souls I have devoured as Trigon, has been in the name of the future. I have been shown what will come to pass and it is a tragedy beyond even the dreams and nightmares of Gods…
My brother wins, Scott Free.
This sad destiny of dark tyranny shall come to pass. I have seen the future, and the weave of Fate shall be cast in stone. His stone. The Great Tree shall be as a statue of rock, a living thing no longer. The Source shall shine for Darkseid alone. This is the vision I have been granted… But I will destroy this Universe before I let him rule it!"
"Darkseid will be stopped, Trigon. You need not destroy the Universe to see Fate spun in a pattern more pleasing to your eyes."
"Stopped, Scott Free?... Can the destiny of a God be stopped? Your father, my brother, myself, we are true Gods. From the instant of our birth, our fates were cast, each of us predestined into the weave. Just as each immortal God before our Fourth World came into being were knowingly prophesied to fall in the fiery onslaught of Ragnarok, so too will the great Tree of Fate Yggdrasil be turned to stone and all Fate stopped… this is the Age stone-willed Uxas will bring to pass."
"I too am a true God. Fate will be altered, Trigon. You will be shown."
"All you have shown me is how Uxas achieves his destiny, Scott Free. You carry the one and only lesson he requires to fulfill stone-carved providence inside your thoughts and emotions. No… The Age of Tyranny is upon us. Now quickly, my daughter approaches to seal the Fate of this world. Talk to your father of my vision young one, and pray he does what is right with you…"
Before Scott could object, he was gone.
He traveled through the black of dimensional space once more. But this journey was much farther than when Raven had rescued himself and Barda two days before. He realized that Raven and Trigon's power to transport matter was like a Boom Tube, but without the rainbow bi-frost coating to safeguard the traveler. Demons must travel this way…
And then, to a startled crowd of courtesans, Scott Free appeared in a puff of crimson smoke before the magnificent throne of New Genesis, before the mighty Highfather Izaya himself… Cast across the Universe by a mere thought, Scott appeared to his own father for the first time since he was a newborn - bartered to the mercies of Apokolips to seal The Pact. A God of Freedom who had never been free to return home.
Until now.
When his bare foot touched the gilded marble floor, a thousand streams of light shining in the hues of rainbows danced around him, spun him and cradled him in a loving kaleidoscope of color. The Stars of the Heavens twinkled in the air around him while gossamer threads wove themselves through vaulted ceilings into the constellations of all Gods - a Universe of beauty unfolded before them.
The calm waters from the pool of the Memory Sea surrounding the limb of Yggdrasil in the courtyard spun and became a frothy whirlwind rising upwards – until it crashed down into the pool once more, like a thousand beating drums to announce his arrival while the myriad colors sparkled like fading embers throughout the throne room.
The Prince of New Genesis had returned.
The Pact was undone.
A stunned Highfather stared at the stranger who had appeared before him, knowing… knowing in conflicting extremes of love and fear that this was his son! The Pact was undone, but his own son had come home to him…
"Scott Free… First-born Prince of New Genesis… My son. Welcome home."
"Izaya the Inheritor… Highfather…. My father." Scott bowed before his father. "I am truly sorry to appear like this… to unwind The Pact between the two worlds. I was sent in this careless manner by another God… to convey a message to you, Father of Peace."
"What vital message could be worth a war of the Gods, my son?"
"It is from the eldest born of Yuga Khan, the God you knew as Drax who has now taken the name of Trigon…"
"Drax?! He was murdered by treacherous Darkseid, I know this…"
"Drax was destroyed - but only for Trigon to be inseminated in the Omega Fires… One is the aspect of the other. As Izaya recreated himself before the Source, so too was Drax reborn within the womb of the Infinity Pit… We faced him in battle, father. Before mighty Orion, Lightray or my wife could land even one blow, they were sent to the void by the power of Trigon, while he sent your heir to you with a message… Have the others returned to New Genesis?"
"They have not, my son. Be at peace, I will find them."
Izaya gripped his Staff of Power, casting his vast consciousness throughout the infinite expanse of space, scouring the very edges of existence itself until…
"By The Source! He has placed them next to the Wall itself! No Boom Tube could ever function so close to the unbreakable pull of the Source Wall. It is the resting place of all foolhardy Gods who seek to rule the Source. Take my hand, my son… This will require effort, even for myself."
Scott took the strong hand of his father and gave him all strength required to bring the three back to New Genesis. The God of Freedom had only to think of his Barda. In seconds, the three displaced Gods appeared in a blinding light…
"By the Fires of Apokolips! I care nothing for that place!" Barda was back and as loud as ever... until she spied Scott and the power in her voice suddenly transformed into an even mightier embrace, lifting the God of Freedom a full foot off the ground, trapped in the two arms he hoped he would never escape from.
"Scott! You had to come to New Genesis to save us and…" The realization dawned upon Barda of exactly where they had reappeared as she set him down. If Scott had travelled to New Genesis, then…
Izaya completed her thoughts…
"Yes my daughter, The Pact is broken …Clearly, there was a well-calculated trap that has been sprung, but I do not know which brother has laid it, Uxas or Drax. Speak to me the message of Drax… of Trigon, my son."
"Trigon spoke to me, saying that he had seen the destiny of all and that Darkseid will prevail. The Dark Lord's preordained right of oppression will be realized. The weave of Fate in the Great Tree Yggdrasil will be cast in stone, until all destiny is stopped and the Tree becomes only petrified rock while the Source shines of Darkseid alone… That the Age of Tyranny is now upon us. And that Trigon will destroy the Universe before he allows his brother to rule it..."
There was a gasp of shock from the surrounding courtesans of New Genesis as mighty Orion cried out…
"Then the choice is clear, father! The Pact is no more, the pathway to Apokolips now opened. We must bring war to those fiery shores and destroy the Great Tyrant before his brother destroys more worlds!"
Izaya quieted his step-son with a single stare.
"I have already sent you into one trap, Orion. I do not wish to send both my sons into another. By all accounts, I do not believe this was the foul workings of Darkseid, but his schemes have more layers than we have years combined. Be not hasty for battle Orion, Apokolips has prepared far too well for war against us. I cannot say the same of carefree New Genesis… Did Trigon speak any further of the dread prophecy, first-born?"
"Yes, Highfather… That I carry the one and only tool Darkseid requires to fulfill his stone-carved providence inside my own thoughts and emotions… the Anti-Life Equation."
Another gasp from the crowd. A few of the female Gods swooned in shock.
"A frightening burden, to be sure. How did this come to be, my son?"
"As my birthright, you christened me the God of Freedom, Highfather... In your eternal wisdom, you declared that Apokolips could never enslave my heart for which I am eternally grateful. Save for my eternal love for Barda, my heart has remained free since that time.
But in the foul air of Darkseid's reign, I fostered another aspect of my dominion. His dark oppression fuelled a sad change in my divine light - until a shadow was cast across my sad heart. In corrupt Apokolips, that darkness became the God of Subservience … the power to grant absolute freedom granted by my true father was joined by the power to remove it completely, unwittingly granted by my step-father.
All thoughts and emotions, all aspects of liberty and slavery have ravaged the unchained landscape of this heart until the Equation became known to me. Trigon has told me that this is the tool Darkseid will use to achieve his new Age of Tyranny…"
"Does Darkseid know you possess this power, my son?"
"He does… Mere moments ago, I had to command the Tyrant himself to depart from us to save the life of Barda. I had sworn to keep it secret…"
"All secrets are revealed eventually, my son. Before the great war, there was a God who sought to seek out all secrets of the Universe who cared nothing of our Godly passions… He was called Metron. It was he who gave us the technology of the X-element, the material of the Boom Tube from the bi-frost of old. I have not seen him for millennia but remember him even now… I must grow nostalgic, forgive an old God while he reminisces.
There is no doubt that Darkseid will attempt to extract the Equation from you my son, but he will not attack you directly. If you possess the equation, then he fears you. You may become his master. I'm afraid there is only one way to truly defeat him in this matter."
"To destroy him?!" Orion looked hopeful.
"No, second-son… Had Scott wished to destroy him, he could have done so with the Equation. It is a testament to the nobility of his spirit that Scott did not do so - especially after living his young life under the cruel thumb of the Tyrant. To ensure this vision does not come to pass, we have but one unfortunate remedy…
To remove the equation."