Chapter 2
The Dark Shard: The Rising of the Moon
[18th November 2010]
[Highlands, North of Fort William, United Kingdom]
Dinah Lance shook her head after a glance off in the distance showed the victims of this disgusting place being helped into a bus under the glare of headlights and the shining moon all above. It was sickening...all the more so as after a week of being largely trapped into inaction by the nature of the alien Starro-thing they'd finally been able to help, to do something other than sitting around and watching people, children even, die from up on their tower in the heavens.
Or see Oliver break down into tears when they were alone because Roy...hadn't been really Roy for quite some time and none of them had noticed. Now there were two Roys, and Guardian turned out to be another clone too...she sighed; the fight against these magical beings and the vampires had been a relief in some ways. Relief that had swiftly turned to horror as the sickening and horrifying nature of the place those creatures had been defending had come to light. After a week of hearing nothing but casualty reports, and seeing cities that they were supposed to protect, burn and suffer...it had been almost too much to come face to face with...this.
And now the fact the organisers of this horror show had escaped hardly brought the mood up as she folded arms across her chest; resisting the urge to hug herself from the cold and making a mental note to wear warmer clothes in places like this during winter. Hiding that fact she nodded to Giovanni Zatara in greeting as he arrived in tow with Flash to complete most of a quorum; Oliver wasn't here of course with the Roy-issue, nor Captain Atom who was busy helping the US Army, Captain Marvel up in the Watchtower, while Aquaman was busy scouring the seas for any sign of the starfish, and to help his people rebuild.
With his arrival , Giovanni Zatara glanced at the forms of the blue and golden clad form Doctor Fate, and the youngster John Fortune who sat cross-legged on the concrete amidst a glowing circle of mystical sigils created by the older magician. After seeing what she'd seen today...well, suddenly it was no surprise really but the uncomfortably ruthless responses he, and his mentor, had shown towards rather troublesome situations. Zatara had always warned of the darker sides of the magical world...and today she'd gotten to see far more of that than she'd have ever liked. Up to and including destroying the dreams of Fairies that a younger, more innocent, Dinah Lance had once upon a time. A glance from Zatara being answered softly by Batman at what was occurring.
"There is a situation; it shall be explained in both a moment. Like Doctor Fate young Fortune possesses something similar as you had speculated, and both feel it would be best to summon a brief manifestation to aid in discussing the handling of this problem"
'Judging from the rather unhappy moods of the two, who seem to be amongst the few who'd heard of this place the creature had fled too, this isn't something we'll be overly happy to hear I expect' she mused silently as they stood in silence for a short while as the strange glowing symbols on the concrete glowed and pulsed with strange energies. Something the various Green Lanterns around were either studying intently or completely ignoring for whatever reasons each had. Then, as Doctor Fate raised a hand, they vanished and the young man's back jerked a moment; before something like shadows and blue energy permeate his outline of his body as he moved to stand.
"Yes-Yes, here I am, woo-hoo! Big giant mess to fix with misbegotten mind-flayers running about on this plane of all blood places..." he muttered...strangely, voice slightly distorted as his eyes seemed to glow ever so slightly along with an odd green-grey tint to his face as gazed about him, at the Justice League and assorted Green Lanterns "...and joy, brave adventurers too. Sigh. Of course there are..."
Before turning and bowing to Doctor Fate "Honours to you Nabu, Lord of The Plane of Order. I greet thee in the spirit of cooperation and in service of the Greater Good"
Doctor Fate inclined his helmeted head towards...Fortune?...as he came out of the bow "And I offer greetings and honours to you Shrouded Lord of Nishrek, and cooperation in service of dealing with this intrusion from the Outer Planes"
Fortune? nodded and replied in the same formal tone "Then we are allies in this task..." then clapped his hands together and turned towards them all, tone now somewhat less formal that it had been "Right. Hello there! Now I'm the Shrouded Lord, and I'm currently here possessing this here priest oh-mine, rather than in my nice comfy chair on another plane...mostly because you lovely people have a problem and Nabu, and I, would rather you got it sorted before this gets to the attention of people who would do bad things let's say. Like an Illithid noble with a Power Ring for instance"
"Oh honourable Shrouded Lord, I am Diana of Themsycira and greet thee the name of the Gods of Olympus. I would entreat thee on behalf of the Justice League and the peoples..." Diana began bowing but was cut off as not-Fortune motioned with his hand as Doctor Fate moved to stand beside him.
"Right, look, no time for fancy greetings, entreaties and all the other mystical jibber-jabber as I ain't here for very long and you glorious adventurers have a quest to in the making to perform. I greet you in peace, you greet me in peace, all very friendly and peaceful. We're on a winner there. Now, down to business..." was the reply as not-Fortune clapped his hands together "Righto...so, you've gotta missing Green Lantern, two missing rings of willpower, a rather nasty version of an all you can eat buffet for elemental/undead assholes, and someone whose fled through a portal to the City of Doors with first to? Am I right in that?"
"Indeed, your servant has informed thee correctly..." Doctor Fate agreed glancing around the rest of them as Dinah studied the more confident, nay authoritative stance of the possessed younger man "...it was felt the secondary opinion of what dangers are faced was advisable as those Planes, while visited frequently by both those of Order and Chaos, have long been distant from my remit. Now my friends do you wish to query us before we begin?"
One of the Green Lanterns, the alien Green Lanterns stood forward "Oi, what are these Illithids and how'd he make Lantern Omoto follow him like an obedient little pooser? That girl gots both the spunk and will ta shrug off anything like that. And what're her chances?"
Not-Fortune glanced at Doctor Fate, nodding as the other motioned for him to answered "Well Illithids, also called Mind-Flayers and host of other names, are people just like anyone else. Except...mostly evil, and needing to eat the brains of other sentient beings and a lot of other rather horrible things to them with their rather impressive psionic powers. You..." he motioned at Dinah and everyone else amongst the League, Lanterns, people beyond "...are merely vessels containing nice succulent brains for them to devour, along with Willpower, Intelligence, and often enough memories too. An adult Mind-Flayer has to consume the brain of a sentient being roughly every standard month of this world's rotation at a minimum to stay healthy. Suffice to say they'd often eat more, and this place strikes me as part of a potential future colony setup up, or Laboratory-Farm to feed itself while trading with the outer realms for high-quality items"
Doctor Fate nodded slightly "Yes, and the nature of an educated, technology-based society, would prove very appealing for such creatures as the brains would contain both more knowledge than a more technologically primitive one, as well as lacking a significant magical capacity to respond to their psychic and telekinetic prowess. Indeed Lantern Kilowog it is likely why it has quite the strong interest in your rings, while being resistant to their powers. They are creatures of the Astral Planes, control of Mind and Will come easily to them one most warn"
Dinah...just had to say it "They...eat brains?"
"Indeed Black Canary, they do..." Nabu replied and she felt a bit...weird about that revelation "...they once ruled a vast empire on several of the planes beyond this multiverse. From which they would raid, sometimes in great force, other realms for slaves to use both livestock and slaves. Oft scouring whole nations and worlds, even planes as a whole, of sentients they could capture; for not only does an adult require the brains of mortals to survive they are required for the growing of their young from Tadpoles to adult"
Not-Fortune grunted softly "Yeah, it's pretty icky. Tadpoles goes into your head through the eye or the ear, eats all your brains out, and then slowly it fills the...gap...shall say. Converting the body over a period of time into another of its kind; luckily their vast multiversal slave empire fell apart as their slaves embarked on genocidal war to exterminate the squid faced monster causing them form little remnant enclaves anywhere they can. So they can reform their kingdom of sunshine, joy, and brain eating once again – mostly because they tend to be rampant egomaniacs who view everyone else as cattle, disposable pawns, or maybe just pieces of furniture situation dependent"
Dinah was liking this less with each passing word, though Batman was noting down mentally, while possibly talking to J'onn, everything it appeared to her eyes while she herself exchanged an uneasy glance with Wonder Woman. Hawkwoman stepped forward, voice calm but stating suddenly "Are they spawn or servants of the Old One, Ictultu?"
Nabu shook his head "No, their God, though view it less as that than a creature they wish to be come, is the being known as Ilsensine, The Great Brain, patron of the domination of the minds of others"
J'onn looked unhappy "Such behaviour is offensive, to use and abuse the gifts given to torture and assault the minds of others is a crime of the highest order; to devour them whole after such...is an abomination beyond abomination!"
"Oh, won't disagree here on that don't worry. But I must warn; Illithids are far more than just mind reading and telekinesis in their skills. Generally they don't practice magic, or the Lesser Art of Animals as they call it..." Not-Fortune muttered rolling his faintly glowing eyes "...but everyone thinks they do because their psionic abilities have extended into the physical realms to easily duplicate those effects. Stop energy weapons or physical impact attacks with a thought? Doable, and why it would be bad to allow whoever this was to figure out your magic green rings of willpower. Not just to prevent them trying to use them to reconquer stuff, but also from the Gith offshoots...those former genocidal slaves of theirs...find out and deciding your 'helping' the squid-faced bastards in some ways. Because abused former slaves with an empire in the Outer Planes, with powerful armies and magicians rarely makes good decisions when it comes to the guys who mind controlled, and tortured, them for millennia"
"Would there be no reason with them...um...Mr. Shrouded Lord?" Superman asked calmly and curiously, echoing Dinah's thoughts on the matter.
Not-Fortune exchanged a look with Doctor Fate, before motioning his right hand in a non-committal way "Yes, and No. No, in the sense that they are horrible, terrible people who want to conquer lots of places because...reasons...and generally don't like anyone not them. They have a fanatic hatred of the Mind Flayers though, so if they thought you'd helped them, even by accident...yah, expect armies of angry magic wielding lunatics in response. On the other hand...you want help hunting down and killing a Mind Flayer? They'll likely volunteer on the spot and not charge you a copper piece to help do that. Which brings us too Sigil..."
He sighed loudly and in seeming annoyance "The City of Doors, The Cage"
Hawkwoman glanced at her husband, then at both Doctor Fate and Not-Fortune "You've...well both of you, and the person your temporarily possessing, have mentioned this place. What is it?"
Doctor Fate answered "Your people know of the Bleed do they not? And amongst the Green Lantern Corps also Lanterns?"
With a round of agreements and nods the Lord of Order continued "Sigil is the called the City Doors as it can be held to reside within, and adjacent too, The Bleed. It is a nexus point of realities, a place of meetings between All the Planes, with portals that open to everywhere in existence if you but know where to find them, and how to activate them"
"Then why not go there yourselves and recover the situation? And by a Nexus Point of realities you mean..." Hawkwoman continued curiously rather seeming angered or unhappy. Not-Fortune snapped his fingers and a...Travel Guide/Brochure?...appeared in his right hand.
"Sigil is called the City Doors because it's the centre of the multiverse, one of the many centres. Don't try get beyond that as...well, we don't know exactly. Mortals, Gods, the entirety is beyond us all..." he shrugged "...as to why we don't just storm in their? The Centre of Reality is basically ruled by an Eldritch Abomination with Reality Warping powers...as best anyone can figure anyway...and she basically bans any Power from entering the place; ie Gods, High Tier Demons, Lords of Order, etc, etc...here! Have The Shrouded Lord's and Nabu's Guide to Sigil and the Outer Planes..."
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