AUTHOR'S NOTE: NEWS! NEWS! GLORIOUS NEWS! I tried switching e-mails for , and to my delight, IT WORKED! Now, I'm back in full force, and not only am I restarting Secret Wars: AX, but I'm making it into a series, with this one being the first book 'Arrival of Champions!' I had to make a few minor changes for Chapter's 9 and 10, more specifically High-King Airdan's attire as well as the soldiers in the Great War in the last chapter, but the flow should be okay. But yeah, hopefully, this will be the start of something grand and expect more stories along the way! Stay Marvelous, my friends and enjoy the show!

With the screen showing the Athians cheering, the Beyonder turned his attention to the still astonished heroes and appeared to be satisfied that he quelled their concerns about the Athians, Steve Rogers especially. "As you can, there is little need for concern as far as the Athains' safety is concerned," the Beyonder stated calmly but still came off as condescending. "And who knows, maybe they might be able to assist you regarding this experiment."

Naturally, this answer didn't sit well with Steve, and upon hearing it, he looked away from the screen and directly at the Beyonder with a look of disgust. "That still doesn't excuse the fact that you're endangering the lives of innocent people by sending us down there to kill each other!"

Here, Carol Danvers, a former Air Force Pilot just as dedicated to defending and protecting lives as Steve, jumped in. "All to satisfy YOUR curiosity about Good and Evil!"

The Beyonder responded to the two veterans with a complacent shrug. "Well, as you earthlings say, 'potayto, potahto," the Beyonder retorted, then turned his attention back to the screen. "Anyway, after winning the war, many of Golvok's were sentenced to imprisonment. But because Golvok's army was so massive, not even prisons in all of Alandra could hold all the former Goblyn soldiers. And thus, they decided on a more different approach…"

MOUNT AVA, AFTER THE FINAL BATTLE

…on this fateful day on the mountaintop metropolis that was Ava City, there was a small gathering of the roof of a small circular building that stood on the lower east side of the city and faced outward at the land of Goblok, which was still underneath the energy dome to keep the rest of the now depowered soldiers of the Goblyn Empire imprisoned. Filing the left side of the roof were a few Guardsmen and a few royal advisors from every country on the continent. On the right was High King Airdan, out of his armor and in royal garbs, as well as the five other High Kings of the Alliged Kingdoms, all of whom wore robes and crowns of various colors that represented the countries they ruled.

The Kings were not alone in filling this section of the roof, for with them were the six queens of the Allied Kingdoms, all wearing multicolored robes like their husbands. All stared out to the land of Goblok behind the energy, both in disgust at the Goblyn army for all the destruction and suffering they had caused and more determined to complete the task they had united to accomplish.

"One that required the Kings and Queens of the Allied Kingdoms," The Beyonder pointed out in a matter-of-fact tone. "Who, like previous Queens before them, were the most powerful magic users on the planet."

Standing beside Airdan was a tall, light-skinned, slender woman of angelic beauty, with her eyes having gold pupils and long silver hair in a long braid that ran down to the back of her legs. She wore a white crown above her brow, a gold stone in the middle, two wings on the sides, and above her pointed ears. She also donned a shining dress underneath a white robe with gold trimmings around her oversized sleeves and the neck area. She also donned a gold necklace with a pendant containing her country's symbol.

"And the strongest of these women was that of Airdan's wife and co-ruler, High Queen Ava..."

THE BEYONDER'S THRONE ROOM

…Naturally, the villains weren't exactly impressed with the High Queen's name, seeing how the people of Ava had already given said name to a city and country. The Leader was the one to vocalize what they were all thinking, who let out a loud scoff and was irritated by not just the Athian's names on how their technology is; while impressive to the simple-minded, he could come up with something much better if given the time. "It is one thing for these beings to have such average technology, but to have their city and Queen share the same name, how pitifully redundant if not arrogant."

Naturally, the heroes didn't take too kindly to the Leader's condescending words, not to mention the hypocrisy in his words when he spoke about arrogance. For as they all knew, Hulk especially, whether the previous battles they've had with him, the big-headed scientist had long proved to be the poster boy of that word.

The Beyonder himself shared the heroes' feelings about the Leader's words but was more annoyed that he was once again rudely interrupted when talking about the planet. As such, he turned and looked at the mad genius with a narrowed brow. "Oh yes, whereas you are the personification of humility, 'Leader,'" the Beyonder said sarcastically, emphasizing the simple name the man once named Samuel Sterns gave himself when he first became infected with gamma radiation. "Or at least you should be, given the numerous times the Hulk has defeated you and other heroes that crossed your path." Understandably, this comment earned the Beyonder an angry scowl from the Leader, but the powerful cosmic being showed that he couldn't care less by turning back to the screen. "Now, regarding the Queens' name, it's traditional. All firstborn daughters of each royal family are named after the country they are to co-rule and protect one day. And it was out of the continent's protection that they performed this great act…!"

MOUNT AVA

…Burning with the desire to rid her people and all of Alandra of the army that brought great death and destruction to their world, Ava wasted no time conducting the beginning stages of the 'Spell of Separation.' First, she placed her left hand on her chest, then put her other hand, which she wore a ring with the same coloring and eye design as the one Airdan wore, over it. She then focused on the center of her body mentally. She thus brought out her inner energy, resulting in her eyes glowing gold and an aura of the same color flowing out of the ring and covering her completely.

Once the other queens saw Ava glowing, they soon followed suit in their roles for the spell by performing the same hand motions and producing their auras, albeit in different colors.

As part of her years of training in magic, Ava sensed the energy from her fellow Queens and thus proceeded with the rest of the spell. In that, she turned her hands forward so her palm faced the dome, then began to will the energy from her aura, causing it to flow from her body, down her arms, and into her palms, which resulted in a glowing, circular symbol to appear. Once it grew to the size of her body, she thrust her arms forward and pushed the symbol, which caused it to move with speeds similar to that of a missile shot out of a cannon until it inevitably hit the energy dome.

Airdan was just as familiar with this spell as his wife and fellow kings and knew that he had to play and hand in it as well for it to work correctly. This was why he wasted no time channeling his energy into his ring, conjured up a white aura, and placed his hand on Ava's shoulder. The High King continued to direct more of his ring, which passed through his hand and into Ava's body, resulting in both their auras joining and glowing brighter.

Once she felt her husband's presence, both literally and figuratively, Ava opened her arms outward with her palms pointing upward and allowed the energy to lift both her and Airdan off the roof floor into the air and pointed her palms downward to stop and levitated high above the city. The High Queen then proceeded with the final phase of the spell on her end by holding up her left hand with the palm facing the dome, creating a smaller circular symbol, then turning it eighteen degrees to the left like a knob, causing the giant symbol she made to grow larger until it took the front half of the dome.

It wasn't long before the other queens levitated up, with their kings also holding on to them. They then stopped just right underneath Airdan and Ava, then moved their arms in a circular motion, then placed their left hands over their ringed hands with their palms facing the dome, created small circular symbols of their then thrust their hands forward, which in turn, caused beams of multicolored energy to shoot out of these symbols and hit their intended target that was the dome, or more accurately, the larger symbol that Ava created. Upon making contact, the beams caused the symbol to cover the entire dome and change its color from brilliant white to radiating gold until the dome resembled a giant gold ball.

What followed next was the sound of solid rock breaking and the ground trembling, which came from the energies of the now golden dome separating the land of Goblok from Alandra itself! Thanks to the combined might of the continent's queens, the process took three to four minutes until finally, Goblok drifted away from the continent. Just as the separated land reached only a few miles out, the dome disappeared, and Goblok was now a large island with the former soldiers of the Goblyn army as its occupants.

"And it was out of the continent's protection that they used their combined powers to separate Goblok from Alandra forever and turn it into a prison planet for the former Goblyn soldiers who aided Golvok in his mad attempt at conquest." The Beyonder pointed out…

THE BEYONDER'S THRONEROOM

…as he changed the image on the screen to the map of Alandra, showing Goblok as the island that floated just above the continent. "And since then, the removal of the Goblok and the Goblyn King's army served as an annual celebration to the people of the Allied Kingdoms. But a day after one particular ceremony."

Tony's ears lit up upon hearing the word 'ceremony.' Whether it was before his armor or to this day, he was always on board for gatherings and could never resist being the life of the party. Unfortunately, in this case, it made him worry, as this ceremony was to take place on the same planet where he and his comrades were set to battle the villains, which meant innocent lives were about to be under 'heavy fire.' "Which is?" Tony said with dread, giving the Beyonder a concerned expression.

With another hand motion, the Beyonder once again changed the image to…

AVA CITY, PRESENT DAY

…where a large, cheering crowd was standing behind a marble barricade in front of a large, round, elevated platform located at the front entrance of the Royal Skyscraper, which had golden circles in the center of the platform and a pole with a gold box with a narrow barrel. Two large mechanical screens on their sides for the people audience, as well as those watching from the windows of nearby buildings. The reason for the crowd's jubilation was that two Elite Guardsmen escorted the country's four most influential people. The first two were the now middle-aged Airdan and Ava, both in their gold and white royal robes and crowns, walking to the podium's edge to smile at the cheering crowd. Joining the royal couple in greeting the crowd were two people to whom the High King and Queen cherished the most: their two daughters, who both had slender frames and wore simple gold dresses with matching shoes, elbow-high gloves, and tiaras above their brows.

The oldest of the High Princesses was a tall, blonde, twenty-five-year-old woman who bore a striking resemblance to her royal mother from her blue eyes, her light skin and white hair, which was also in a long braid, and two long blonde bangs that hung over the tiara. By royal law, she was named after the country that her family ruled. Though nervous about the struggles waiting for her after this day, High Princess Ava kept these feelings to herself for the sake of her people and masked these fears with a smile and a poised, dignified demeanor.

The second High Princess, whom her father named Marrion Jonas, was nineteen years old and stood a couple of inches shorter than her sister. She possessed jade green eyes and fair skin like her father, and while she too had white bangs, her hair was fiery red and in a ponytail hairstyle that stopped at the back of her waist. She, too, smiled for the crowd, but it was mostly to hide her aggravation and waiting for this event to be over. Not that she didn't resent being there with her family; she loved them all, respected their family's legacy, and was incredibly proud of her sister, for she knew that she was well suited for the position she was about to be given. It's just that Marrion felt that these royal appearances were dull, and she thought she could do more for her people and planet by taking a more 'active' approach. Something that her parents never cared too much about but was also something that High-Princess Ava supported, and thus Marrion looked forward to her sister keeping her promise that she would allow her to help the country 'her way' once this day was over and done with.

After addressing the crowd, the High Royal Family turned around to face a white-haired elderly woman in a white robe, which was the traditional garb of Watsa, the High Royal Family's grand mage. She, in turn, greeted them with a warm smile. Not only did she serve them loyally as their high mage, but she loved the High Queen and her husband and two children as if they were part of her family and were just as proud as High Princess Ava as her parents. "I just received word from my fellow mages in the rest of the city, Your Highness," Watsa told Airdan. "The rest of the royal families are ready to proceed."

Airdan responded to this by giving Watsa a nod of acknowledgment and a returning smile. "In that case," said the High King as he turned to his eldest daughter, beaming with pride at the firm, intelligent woman she grew into and knew beyond all doubt she was ready for this day. "Let us not delay the title passing any further…"