Khlarion had thrust himself through his hellish portal from the Tower of Fate to the middle of a quaint little town on the outskirts of Poland. His portals, at their current strength, could only transport him to places he had already been. He basked in his surroundings, feeling nostalgic as he brought himself to his hometown, the home he had shared with his dear brother.

Time felt like it stood still as soon as he arrived. Although, that was because as soon as he did come through, he used his telepathy to freeze all the minds in the surrounding area. The crowds of people bustling through the streets rendered lifeless mannequins by his power. Nobody was to the wise of his presence, and it was probably better that way.

It seemed wise not to arouse much panic from the masses if a demonic boy in a wheelchair emerged from the void. As fun as that would be to spread more chaos like the cheeky little shit the universe perceived him as, these were once his people. The Charles Xavier Nelson within him urged him to not do anything to harm them.

The boy turned his attention to his desired location. He looked across the street to see a rather ornate parlor standing out amongst a mundane strip of other businesses. The building was painted an elegant orchid purple with deep maroon curtains draped down over the windows. The most distinguishing feature though were the bundle of webs which decorated the outside. Despite the parlor being fully operational, the exterior looked like a spider's nest. The wooden sign plastered above the door read "The Web of Xanadu".

He wheeled up to the door, pushed it open, and crossed through a doorway into nightmare. A bell chimed as the door fell closed behind him. The interior was dark and eerie. Shelves of mystical artifacts and ancient tomes lined the walls, the room was bathed in a bloody crimson light, and as expected, everything was covered in cobwebs. Khlarion looked around in amusement, this was his kind of place.

At its center sat an old woman at a satin clothed table. She was in her late eighties, but she still carried a timeless elegance to her. She was of darker complexion, likely Romani, and she was generously adorned with golden bracelets, pearl earrings, and various jewels. She wore a long, silk, mulberry dress which draped the floor; it almost looked black with the shadows cast around her. The emblem of a white spider was placed in the center of her garb, its legs bleeding from it and wrapping around her body. But the most distinguishing feature was a red and white blindfold wrapped around her face and tucked beneath ivory hair.

Despite her blindness, the woman's demeanor shifted once she sensed the boy's presence. Her mystic powers let her see things beyond what her eyes ever could have. And she was all too aware of the dark power which lay within the boy. "So, you finally come back to me Witch Boy. I was wondering when you'd finally be drawn here. What gives you the gall to enter my domain?" she asked in a sassy rasp. She was pleased to have Khlarion in her presence.

Khlarion chuckled, "Relax Cassie, I'm not here on business. Just on a little family vacation," he explained as he began to wheel towards the fortune teller.

"I'm sorry to hear about the Fatal Compass. I am sure his spirit rests peacefully now. He deserves it after all he's done," the old woman said sympathetically.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm not here to talk about him. You probably already know why I'm here, don't you?" Khlarion brushed off her sympathies to get to the point.

"Yes, I do," she answered dryly, "I know exactly where all of this is going. I just want to know if you're ready to face the consequences of what you're planning."

"Just answer me this, does it work?" Khlarion answered her question with another question.

"You know I can't tell you that. I'd hate to spoil how it all ends," the teller answered cryptically with a sly smirk. "Anyway, it's been five-hundred seconds. Time to let her arrive," she added as the magic clock Khlarion had conjured up reappeared to chime an alarm at him, confirming the teller's claim.

"Hold on a sec," he then spun his finger around in a circle to summon the exit portal on the ceiling of the parlor.

Quiet screaming became louder and louder before a bright green beam shot from the hole. It made contact with the floor and, it created a construct of a large bean bag chair. Jessica then came crashing down from the ceiling, landing into the bean bag construct she made for herself to break her fall. "I have been falling…for ten minutes," she proclaimed through labored breaths.

"Actually, it was eight minutes and twenty seconds, exactly. I'm a lot of things, Jessie, but a liar I am not," Khlarion proclaimed, "Most of the time."

Jessica took in her surroundings. This was the first time she had left her home since her father's death. That loss made her relapse into her agoraphobia. She didn't think she was strong enough to go out into the world without her father's support. She was prepared to turn back into a terrified, crumbling mess again.

But that was before. She had the help of someone else who was there for her now. She had the magical power at her fingertips which gave her the will to overcome her fear. While his trustworthiness was dubious at best right now, he was still providing her with the strength she believed she needed to handle being back in the world again. How long that dark magic would be enough was a different question.

She took a few deep breaths, and accepted her current reality for what it was, "Okay, okay. So where are we?"

"We're in her fortune telling parlor called the "Web of Xanadu." Her name is Cassandra Inwudu, but people around here call her "The Madame." and she's got psychic powers out the kazoo! She'd be able to use those to prove to you that I'm not lying."

Jessica sheepishly waved hello to the Madame. She remembered her father mentioning her name once or twice before. This was one of the people the Fatal Compass had come to for advice. That fact then made her realize something, "Okay, why is she not attacking us? I thought most magic users hated you."

"That's true. Given the nature of the job, I'm on the hitlists of the Green Mystics Coven, the Spirit of Vengeance, and especially Jason Bloodstone," Khlarion explained, "But all of that's just politics. It's their job to search out people like me, round us up, and exterminate us." His description made him pause for a moment, making a dark connection in his mind.

"As I was saying, Fortune Tellers aren't bound by all that. They're a neutral party in the grand scheme of things. She wouldn't be attacking me, even if I was lying to you, which I'm not." Khlarion's expression grew tense as he thought over what he had said just prior.

Cassandra nodded in confirmation, "Yes, that is correct. Those like me look more into what can be, than what should be, but we interfere in similar ways that agents of Order like your father did. We manage continuity of events so that no matter what happens in between, the most important events in reality can still occur. Welcome to the web, Scarlet Witch."

"Right, thanks. Anyway, could you tell me about Khl-wait, Scarlet? What are you talking about? I'm wearing green." Jessica asked, then being thrown off track by her statement.

"She's blind, she can't see colors, I guess." Khlarion answered glibly with a shrug.

"Right, sorry. We'll get to that later. The web tells me things out of order sometimes," Cassandra explained with a wry chuckle.

"I'm gonna let you two girls chat, I'm gonna peruse the philately of cool magic stuff in the back." Khlarion then rolled off to the back of the store to look at the Madame collection of artifacts.

Jessica eyed her surroundings, finally seeing all the webs surrounding them. The lighting made them look hellish red. She hesitantly approached a collection of strands hanging from the wall. "The web? Is this where your powers come from?"

"Oh good, you catch on quick," she answered in a subtly catty tone. "I draw my power from the Web of Xanadu. They are a collection of threads which weave the fabric of our universe together. I can see all what was, is, and what could be. I weave the connections to link events in time together to ensure the possibilities can happen. Consider me a watcher, except I actually act when things need correcting."

[After her explanation, a being beyond their plane, the Phantom Watcher, felt personally attacked in that moment. But due to divine punishment, I am unable to retort against the one responsible for altering the past continuity, forcing you, dear viewer, to go back and see that previous details were changed to better coincide with current events. I believe the proper term is "Don't shoot the messenger but hang the writer."]

The Madame chuckled to herself, aware of something the others were not. "I also control spiders. They worship me, it's a neat little side effect of everything else. Here, have some tea while we talk." She made a series of gestures with her fingers as strands of the surrounding cobweb latched to her hands. About a minute later, a swarm of a thousand spiders descended from the ceiling, belaying down a teapot, two cups, among other tea accessories.

Jessica looked up at the Madame's spiders in astoundment. A friend of the League could control ants, but this seemed more impressive somehow. She took a sip of her tea, which was also somehow poured by the spiders. "My father told my sister and I of the spider god Anansi, the African God of Stories. I'm guessing you're his avatar as my father was to Nabu?"

"I am beholden to no god, child," she denied shortly towards the allegation. "I only represent the foundation of connections which weaved this world and the spinning of the future."

Jessica was taken aback by her snapping, "So, if you aren't connected to my father that way, how do you know each other?"

Cassandra smiled at the question as she took a sip of her tea, "You would find it hard to believe, but the Nelson boys and I were friends as children. I was one of the first to learn of your uncle's telepathic abilities. My family taught Charles how to hone his gifts and the related tricks of our trade."

The young woman's eyes widened with curiosity. "Really? He mentioned you in passing before, but never anything like that." Despite her reverence of her father, Jessica truly barely knew the man under the helmet. And it wasn't as if Khlarion's stories were ever particularly coherent. She finally found another person who knew her enigma of a father's past, "What were they like back then?" Jessica asked with great intrigue and hope for answers.

"Your father was quiet, but charismatic. He commanded an almost magnetic presence without ever saying a word," the Madame responded with a chuckle. "He always seemed a bit closed off. That is, unless his brother was around. Charles was a bit of a shyster, but he was kind. When I knew the two, they were close as close could be. They were always there for each other, 'till the end."

Jessica looked toward the back to eye Khlarion, then back at the Madame, "I have to know Madame Inwudu, is Khlarion really Charles?" she asked with deep unease. "Everything about him tells me that I've made a terrible mistake by trusting him. He's admitted to being my father's greatest enemy, an Agent of Chaos. Who's to say that someone like that wouldn't stoop so low to steal his brother's face?"

The Madame cocked an eyebrow at her question, "Erik never said anything about him, did he? Ugh…that man never had his head screwed on right even without the helmet on," she said in a combination of disappointment and annoyance to her fallen friend. She assumed he never explained the whole situation because he knew that she would tell them instead down the line. He never really was good at communicating.

"No, he never really spent a lot of time with Minerva and I," Jessica answered. "We didn't even meet him without the helmet on until we were in our teens. Mom basically raised us on her own. He was always so busy with his duties as a sorcerer. He was so busy trying to make a better world, he forgot to be a part of it." There was resentment in her tone, but mostly sadness.

The Madame sighed at the mention of Jessica's mother, "Inza, she was a good one; patient as the stars, she was. Erik didn't deserve someone like her, but by God, did he need people to ground him."

Jessica was starting to get a little frustrated, "Can we stop talking about my father, please? I don't want him on my mind right now."

"Says the girl wearing his helmet," the Madame responded, tapping the ankh of fate encrusted onto the center of the helm. "Do you wish to be like your father? To be his successor?"

"What? I don't know…Maybe I do," she admitted quietly, "That's not why I wear this though. But I wear this to keep Khlarion from reading my mind. It's purely utilitarian."

"Why do you really think the Witch Boy insists on spending time with you? I sense his power flowing within you. What do you think led you to accept it?" the Madame asked analytically as she seemed to stare into Jessica's soul through her shrouded gaze.

Jessica looked down at the ground, mournful, "He came into my life when I was at my lowest," she answered. "I've lost so many people in my life that I've cared about. My dad, Minerva, my mom, my…I just couldn't stand being alone. Every time I try and stand back up, the world beats me down again with more death. And when I lost the last member of my family, alongside the one who was training me to control the ring's power, I was too scared to keep going. I couldn't, so I gave up, and the ring basically gave up on me too. I couldn't even rely on my lantern to recharge it. The oath to activate it, it's just gone from my head."

"Oh, I've seen that before," the Madame commented. "It's a security thing the Coven implemented to keep people of diminished will, such as people under mind control, from using the ring's power. Once compromised, the ring's magic deletes the memory of the oath from the user's head. Then it's a matter of either a.) burning through the reserves to render them harmless or b.) waiting until the user regains their faculties," she continued to explain as she gave a shrug. "It's certainly annoying for some cases like yours, but I see the need. But it seems Khlarion gave you an option c."

Jessica was quiet as she processed the words that came out of the Madame's mouth, "Wow, so I was so depressed, that my magic jewelry mindwiped its recharge password from my brain." The situation was absurd when she said it out loud. She couldn't help but acknowledge how screwed up her life was to lead her to that situation. Jessica started chuckling, only to start busting out laughing in spite of herself. Her cracking was cathartic, helping her accept her current reality for what it was. It also made her feel a little better about "forgetting her password", as it at least wasn't entirely her fault. "Anyway, where were we?"

The Madame chuckled in turn, "Now who's forgetting the point of the conversation? We were talking about Khlarion."

Jessica finally relaxed a little after that comment. She was more at ease talking to the Madame. There was some solace in speaking to someone who seemed to carry so much wisdom but treated everything so lightly. The nature of the universe felt personal while talking with her. And over the course of the hour, she'd been letting her heart out to this woman because she knew, at least to an extent, she could be trusted. She was like an aunt she'd been missing out on for years.

"Right. When he showed up, he didn't know my father was dead. He was grieving like I was. He wanted us to grieve together. In exchange, he gave me the power to protect myself and others again. I wouldn't have to live in fear anymore," Jessica explained as she looked down at her ring, seeing the black light crackle from off of it. "With enough power, I could better control myself so that others wouldn't fear me anymore either."

"So, if the pretenses for his arrival were good, why are you afraid of the choices you've made now?" the Madame inquired. "What has happened to make you not only distrust him, but your own judgement?"

"Everything he does makes me question myself," Jessica answered, "He takes every opportunity to remind me how dangerous he is, how powerful he is. Khlarion's training is making me stronger, but at the same time, I feel just as confused and powerless as I was before. I know it's in his nature to be chaotic, and I've accepted that. But I'm afraid that regardless of whether he really is Uncle Charles resurrected, I'm doomed either way." She let out a heavy sigh as she accepted the gravity of the situation.

"If you're so afraid of him, why don't you go to your friends with the League? Your father knew when he could not handle something alone," the Madame asked, already knowing the answer. For someone omniscient, every question was a rhetorical one.

Jesscia thought back to when she was a young girl; before she got her ring, before her mother died, but when everything in her life truly changed. "I don't want to be the reason the people I care about charge into their own deaths. I can't be the last one standing, not again." Jessica answered as her eyes seemed to glaze over as horrid memories rocked her psyche again.

"So, you let yourself shoulder all the burden of potentially having a literal devil on your shoulder. You seem okay with dealing with the consequences, so why bother with learning the truth to begin with? What could knowing whether Khlarion is really Charles Nelson or not do to help?" the Madame asked dismissively.

"At least if I knew the truth, maybe I could try and get some leverage, manipulate and stall him. If I can use his power long enough, maybe I can control him instead of letting him control me. I just have to wait him out." Her mind seemed to slow down as she tried to justify her actions. She was willing to jeopardize her own safety just for a shot of being a hero again. "If I fail, then I try to take him down with me. Better me than everyone else."

The Madame continued to sip her tea as the young woman explained her plight. "Well, it's a noble gambit, if not a tad foolhardy. You're like Erik in that respect," the Madame commented. "I think I can help you with your dilemma, at least to try and give you some peace of mind. That is why he brought you here, is it not?"

"How are you going to do that? Are you going to probe his mind to make him tell the truth?" Jessica asked hopefully.

"Oh, no. I'm not that kind of psychic, dear," the Madame apologized, "But, I have other methods of seeing into others."

The Madame then proceeded to give Jessica an explanation of how her fortune telling powers worked. She told her that through a ritual, she could examine a person's soul, and that every person's soul had two fragments. Then, by looking at what fragments similar to those did in other universes, she could discern what would likely happen in their future. This way, the Madame could give a potential augury for what Khlarion was planning on doing. Now, Madame Cassandra Inwudu was aware of the multiverse. Mystic powers on the level of hers gave her access to dimensions beyond her own. And with that access gave her knowledge of the truth. Through her discoveries, the Madame would learn of the nature through which their universe was created.

She knew that the being for which she currently existed was only six months old, just as everyone else in this universe was. But she knew that if that knowledge were to ever come out, it would send all of this reality's denizens into mass hysteria, leading to its collapse. So, she kept that little nugget of truth to herself. The explanation she gave to Jessica was enough so that she understood what they were going to find within Khlarion's soul, but not enough to send her into an existential crisis about her birth. That would not provide useful to the continuous weaving of the web.

Jessica sat in stunned silence for a second. Even if she wasn't given the mind-shattering truth, getting enough to understand the situation on a base level was still a lot to let sink in. "So, the Multiverse is real, like, unequivocally real?" she asked for confirmation.

The Madame gave a casual nod in response. "Give yourself some time to adjust. It's a big change in how you look at things. The less you think about the ramifications, the better though."

"Sure, I guess, but then why even tell me in the first place? Wouldn't telling me any of this mess with a lot of other things?" Jessica asked, grappling with everything she just learned.

The Madame shrugged, "I do what I must to maintain the continuous weaving of the web. Letting you in on the nature of the demon child is just going to make some things easier going forward."

"So, why not just tell me? Don't you already know the truth. And if not, why haven't you already scanned the parts of Khlarion's soul before? This seems like something you would've done a long time ago," Jessica questioned, poking holes in the logic of everything the Madame was doing.

The Madame was starting to grow weary of the Emerald Witch's prying. She empathized with Jessica's fears and anxiety about everything, but it was starting to boil to a point of annoyance. The Madame couldn't look into Khlarion's soul until now because she didn't exist to do so until six months ago. But she couldn't tell Jessica that, or else she'd expose the Amalgam. She had to make something up to maintain continuity. It was like explaining to a child where babies come from, but not wanting to explain sex. She just wanted to get this over with.

"It was never relevant for me to investigate it until now. My visions never declared him as a serious threat to my work, so I trusted he was what he said he was," the Madame formulated a passable excuse. "I'm helping you now because the web wants you to know. Does that explanation satisfy you," she asked exasperated.

Jessica shrugged, "Not really, but I'll accept that it's the best I'm gonna get with how much I actually understand about all of this."

"Thank you," the Madame said with a sigh of relief. "I'll bring the boy over and we can get a move on with this." With a snap of her fingers, the swarm of spiders carried Khlarion's wheelchair from the back of the parlor to the main table. While he was being carried, the boy was shouting various butchered expletives in protest at being dragged away by the arachnid armada.

The spiders then positioned Khlarion's wheelchair right next to Jessica's chair in front of the Madame's crystal ball. "Oh, right. This is what we came here for. You ready to finally start trusting me, Jessie?"

"I'm ready to finally understand what you are," Jessica answered sternly.

"Jessie, up until now, I have been nothi-, I've been truthful to you. When will you accept that I really do want to help you out?" Khlarion asked innocently.

"Just do your thing, Madame," Jessica requested, not acknowledging the boy's plea.

"Indeed. Khlarion X, let us see what silks you were weaved from. Let us see who you really are," The Madame nodded and removed her blindfold. Her eyes glowed a divine white as she stared into Khlarion's. She took his hands as the cobwebs which draped the interior of the parlor descended from the ceiling and linked themselves to both the Madame and the Witch Boy. The surrounding webs pulsed with blood red energy as they shifted and reshaped to present the shape of Khlarion's soul.

Shadows danced around the room as the manifestations of one side of Khlarion's being. The webs warped and twisted to showcase facsimiles of the stories which weaved Klarion Bleak, the Witch Boy. Some shapes were vague and unclear, versions of the boy which were greatly unlike the boy which sat before her. But there were ones that were far more defined.

These were the realities which resembled the Klarion of Earth-203225 most. They showcased a child from another realm, a world between worlds, a Limbo. The boy was rebellious to the world around him. He was a trickster and a nuisance to his home world. He was ambitious to become something grander, to learn witchcraft. But the world from whence he came held the boy back, enforcing their order upon him to keep him under their supervision.

Khlarion stared up at the shapes of the webs displaying his counterpart's origin, "Okay, this stuff is new," he commented, not recognizing this part as apart of his own origin.

But primordial forces of the universe, the Lords of Chaos, saw potential in the boy. They gave Klarion the chance to reach the apex of his potential with magic. In return, he would become their Avatar. Klarion would be accompanied by a familiar, what was a witch without a cat? He would spread chaos and disorder across the universe in their name, and the boy would relish every minute of it. For centuries, the child of Limbo would make mystical mischief, malice, and malfeasance across the lands.

"There we are! This part is definitely me," Khlarion said with relief as he laughed at the visual retellings. He then looked at his raven, Miss Tiquel, "But why are you not a cat?" His bird responded with a squawk, "Look, it's not like I care that you're a bird, but it's weird that you're not a cat, okay?"

The webs then started presenting other events experienced by those who shared that soul. Most displayed Klarion fighting a demon from hell, but there were some strange ones shown as well. There was one displaying him turning a bunch of heroes into children, one where he fights an army of robots, and then there was a weird one where his spirit inhabited a school bus. As all of these were showing, Khlarion was taking notes, likely for future schemes.

"Okay, so we all saw that part coming. I've been very upfront about what I am in this sense," Khlarion boasted to Jessica.

"Would you like a medal for that?" Jessica asked sarcastically.

"I mean, kind of," the boy responded candidly.

Jessica rolled her eyes, the Madame would too if her glowing orbs of light had pupils to roll. "How about we take a look at the other part of you, and then I'll decide what to do with you."

Khlarion gave a little huff in frustration. He felt like he was doing an awful lot to earn Jessica's trust. This whole field trip was a show of good faith. But despite everything, she was still scared to trust him. He heard the fear inside her head, but he didn't get a close enough look in her mind to understand that fear. But he realized he was in a very convenient position to learn things about other people. He quickly formulated a plan and made his move.

The boy twirled his fingers to create a large portal on the ceiling behind Jessica and himself. A large demonic bear fell from the hole, smelling of sage and rage. It let out a blood curdling roar, sending a pang of fright and panic into Jessica.

"Oh my God, what the heck is that?!" Khlarion cried out as he performed a quick sleight of hand to move the Madame's hands onto Jessica. And with another quick gesture, the Demon Bear was gone, back from wherever it came. "Never mind, it's gone, let 'er rip Cassie!"

Before Jessica could register what just happened, and it wasn't like the Madame could tell who's hands she was touching before she got the visions, it all began to unfold. The Web of Xanadu began to spin a different tale. The Madame's visions revealed themselves as the origins of the Green Lantern and the Scarlet Witch.