Interludes After the Ninth Angel, Part 3
Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English and Martian.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I'm I doing wrong (to correct it).
Titan, Moon of Saturn
J´Onzz´Zahar (J´onzz´ Remembrance)
October the 18th, 2002 (Earth Calendar)
"(He´s awakening, Your Highness.)" The voice rang in the darkness around him. He could smell some kind of disinfectant. At least that was what the smell brought to his mind. He had been to hospitals not only several times, but in several worlds, and the only thing they all had in common was that they all had a sharp smell.
"(Unngh...)" he tried to sit, but gentle hands restrained him.
"(Please remain down. Your body hasn´t mended completely.)" The owner of those hands spoke with a curiously familiar accent. It was, aparently a male, judging from the timbre and cadence of the voice.
"(W-what happened?)" He put a hand on his forehead. There was some residual pain, but it seemed to be receding.
"(We are not sure. You appeared in a flash of light, at the outskirts of the city.)" It was a new voice; sharp, feminine, and certainly it seemed to be used to be obeyed. "(You were very lucky, ten mecrats in the wrong direction, and you would have appeared right outside the atmosphere bubble. Too much methane for you to breath comfortably. Even we have to change our respiratory systems to go out.)"
"(Where am I?)" The standard question, he knew; a big cliche it there ever was one. But nevertheless, that question was necessary.
"(You are in J´Onzz´ Zahar, a colony city from H´ronmeerca´andra; this moon is called C'eridyallca´andra. At the moment, you are a guest of His Majesty King Jemm and Her Majesty Queen Cha´risaa. I am Mender Ordeen. You´re from Per´elandra, right? Oh, sorry, I meant Earth, let me go back a bit, we are in the moon you call Titan, orbiting the world you call Saturn. Am I saying the names right?" Adam nodded, and the voice continued. "I guess you can call me Doctor Ordeen then, if you are more comfortable with that title. They are more or less equivalent, I´ve been told.)"
"(Could you please turn on the lights, Do—I mean, Mender Ordeen?)"
"(Just let me know if your eyes hurt, I´ll light the room gradually.)" The voice sounded a bit pleased.
"(Thank you.)" A few moments later, there was enough light to see his hosts clearly. Mender Ordeen was a short humanoid, with red skin and a short goatee. The other was a regal looking woman, her skin was as white as chalk, and she wore a crisp mane of black, rigid filaments swept back, forming a neat and precise dome shape around her head. Her brow was very prominent; actually, it looked very familiar. A golden necklace hung from her neck, and she was dressed with a simple black garment that accented her figure. Her posture was imposing and haughty, but not hostile.
"(Queen Cha´rissa, I guess. I apologize for my lack of knowledge about the right protocol.)" Adam bowed his head, lying down on a bed, it was the closest he could be to actually bowing.
"(Indeed I am Her. Your apology is accepted, for now. Who are you?)" the woman nodded sharply. It looked like she was in a hurry.
"(Adam Strange, Your Majesty. Born on Earth but mostly living at Rann.)"
Her face changed in a flash, the guarded, semi-hostile frown softened immediately. "(Adam Strange? Ally of the Justice League? Friend of the Martian Manhunter?)"
Finally, it clicked. Her brow was very similar to J´Onn J´Onnz´! Adam decided to start on a good footing. "(The very same, Your Majesty. It´s an honor to meet you.)" If the Titanians were friends of the Martian Manhunter, maybe they could help him go back to Rann.
"(Then you are a honored guest here at J´Onzz´Zahar. Mender Ordeen and his team will see to your needs. Once you have recovered, we must speak at length. Worry not about protocol, my husband spent some time on Earth.)" a shadow crossed her face for a moment, but didn´t elaborate. She turned towards Ordeen. "(Keep me informed of his progress, I shall speak to my husband.)"
Ordeen bowed deeply, in a way a human could never do. "(As you wish, my Queen.)"
As she stepped out, Adam saw that a group of eight bodyguards surrounded her immediately. Four of them had red skin, the other four, white. He waited until the sounds of their steps had vanished.
"(Mender Ordeen, by any chance, and abusing of your hospitality, do you have any way I could contact Rann? I´d like to talk to my family.)"
"(Let me ask. I´ll let you know. Meanwhile, I would like to talk to you, there´s a lot of things about Earth I would like to know. It´s like a hobby, you know? And we can take the chance for )"
Maya´s Dimensional Plane
June the 27th, 2001,
In her left hand, the new Doctor Fate held the right hand of Pamela Isley, better known as Poison Ivy. In her right hand, she held the hand of Firestorm; the Swamp Thing and Dr. Mist were on the other side from the Fire Elemental, while Witchfire and Nightshade were next to Poison Ivy. At both sides, many other mystical entities formed the circle of willing souls that would preserve Maya´s strenght for as long as they could, by forming a kind of magical circuit with the earth´s living soul. Some were human, some had been human, some others could be human, and some others, never had been and never could be human. Some were heroic in nature, some were not, a few were very neutral in outlook.
But they were all of one mind in this matter. Maya had to be sustained. Should her lifeforce falter, all life on Earth would be gone in a matter of weeks.
"Are you sure this will work, Fate?" Firestorm asked. His yellow/white, fiery eyes held a certain disquiet. The fire man remembered when Dr. Fate ans Zatanna had been two separate persons; and, despite the distance he had on his memories, he remembered fondly his time in the JLofA. He appreciated the irony, he himself was used to be two different persons, and not necessarily the same two at the same time.
Dr. Fate´s strange composite voice reverberated from under her helmet. "For a while, it will be enough, yes." She nodded gravely. The eyes of the Lord of Order human form turned towards an entity that didn´t form part of their chain. A tall man, clad with a black suit, a long flowing blue cloak and a fedora of the same color. The cloak rustled softly around him, as if the wind was blowing; but in this dimension, there was no wind at all. "Phantom Stranger. Will you join us?"
"No. Doctor Fate." The Stranger bowed his head in a gesture of respect. "I am not allowed to."
Zatanna´s voice snorted under Fate´s helmet. "I knew it…" Nabu the Wise kept his council; at the moment, Zatanna Zatara would keep some independence, but with time enough, she would merge with his own consciousness. The process had not been completed with his best host yet, Kent Nelson, due to several factors; mostly, that he was merely human and needed occasional respites from the flow of magic that Nabu´s presence subjected him to. But Zatanna had been born a homo magi, a little known variant of humankind; and as such, magic had been part of her since the time she was conceived.
Doctor Fate didn´t pay any attention to her disagreement. "I expected so. What will you do while we stand here?"
"I may not be able to join you in this, but I won´t be idle. There are many threats that would strike when Earth is in such turmoil. I´ll coordinate those whose power will be best employed on the Material Plane. And those who can help protect the Earth from its enemies while you work on healing her."
"Do so. Maya needs us."
The Swamp Thing rumbled his disturbing, halting, voice. "Stranger… keep my wife… and my daughter… safe."
"Abby and Tefe will be waiting for you. I have already set protective measures around them. Tefe will be weak for a while, as her lifeforce is tied to Maya at a deep level."
Swamp Thing´s red eyes shone wet for a moment. "Thank… you…"
With a last nod, the Phantom Stranger walked away from the mystic gathering.
He had much to do, as always.
As he walked away, his steps echoed softly around him, as always.
He walked with purpose, determination.
Even on the road back to Hell.
Ruins of Tokyo-3
A Possible Future, 2016
The strangely dressed man knelt among the rubble. For long minutes he hid his face behind his hands, weeping silently, until something inside him broke. "Again! Again! And again!" He shouted, rising his head to the heavens. Two streams of tears ran down his cheeks. "Must this be the end of yet another world? Another race lost to oblivion?"
Trembling violently, he stood up; his dark green cape and the puffy sleeves of his white tunic flapping pathetically in the dead wind. "Haven´t I been punished enough?" He screamed at the heavens. The air around him was thick with ashes. The smell of freshly spilled blood all around him. But there was not a single body in sight. Just puddles of an orange liquid, slowly flowing down to the sea.
The violet haired man turned around, looking at the gigantic face that seemed to peer down at him from above the clouds. It was the face of a teenage girl, magnified to an inconceivable size. In her hands she held a sphere made of points of light. The simple difference in size meant that he couldn´t even comprehend the ways the perspective seemed to deform her body.
"I have seen whole universes die! Whole realities even! PLEASE! I beg you, whomever you are who holds the keys of my fate and soul. Please! Release me from this torment!" The man broke down in sobs. His voice dropped to a whisper. "Please. Please. Just let me die..."
All around the man, the city of Tokyo-3, that once had been the zenith of human achievement, lay in ruins. Toppled buildings all around. Even the mighty Geo-Front had been breached and destroyed. A hole the size of a small city open to the skies like a gaping wound.
Nine white figures stood in the bay, crucified by their own hands. The remains of a red colossus laid all between them, like a deer devoured by wolves. A few pieces of the body and its armor were recognizable still. They had killed and devoured the titan, killing its pilot in the process. They hadn´t even touched her, the mere shock of sensory feedback had done it for them. Her body had dissolved inside the combination of a plug and a cockpit she had been in when the End of the World had come to claim her and the human race in a swift strike.
Next to the grieving man, unseen and unheard, a woman with chalk white skin and black clothes stood in a respectful mourning, watching in silence as the man begged for a release she couldn´t grant him.
"So, this is how it ends for you, my friends." She said at last, her sad voice breaking a bit. "I will miss you all."
A cloaked figure, holding an open book, appeared next to her. He opened the large tome by a page close to the beginning of the book; and slowly and carefully, crossed two lines across a page. His face hidden in the shadows of his hood, Destiny waited until the ink dried; and solemnly and silently, closed the book. "There are others who will take their place on this world, my sister."
"I know. I´ve seen to them when their time comes. But it will never be the same. They are hurt and lost."
"You are getting somewhat sentimental, Death."
"Maybe," she answered after half a minute. "I like this guise, now I´ll have to put it back at the end of the closet, and take a new form. Maybe a siberian tigress, this time. They will appreciate it, I hope."
"I am sure you´ll choose well. As for myself, I have no preference. Will I see you at the wake for them? The others are waiting for us."
"I´ll be there in a few hours, brother, I have some last matters to attend here." Death nodded curtly, holding herself, as if she could feel a cold wind; but the air around was hot and dry, like the desert wind.
Destiny disappeared, while Death stood next to Pariah; as the cursed scientist from another reality wept, not even noticing when the night came.
When the sun rose, Death walked to an apartment building, her soft steps guiding her unerringly to a particular apartment. The door opened before her, she didn´t hesitate to enter.
On the couch, a red-clad ghost sat, the very image of misery. His head hung limply over his chest, his hands hung limply between his legs. He barely moved when she got near him. "Hi, boss." His voice was heavy and dry. "I´m sorry. We failed."
"It was not your fault, Boston." Death´s hand lifted Deadman´s chin softly. "You did all you could. I find no fault in you. Now come. We must go and pay our last respects."
"Must I go? I would like to stay here a bit longer. I owe them at least this."
"Stay for a while, Boston. You are the last, so there is no hurry."
"Boss? Could I ask you a favor?"
"If it´s in my hand to grant it to you, yes. You know the rules."
"It´s not a big thing. I would do it myself, if I could, but... I can´t. And it hurts."
"Tell me." Her voice was gentle and comforting, a sad smile parted her lips. Deadman´s heart lifted a bit.
Deadman pointed at a beautiful cello, lying on the floor, abandoned by its owner some time before. "Could you put the cello back in its place? Please." He looked at her expectantly, as if he had asked for the impossible.
Silently, Death nodded. Her body shimmered for a fleeting moment, and with loving care, put the instrument back into the case. She secured the clasps, and leant it against the wall. She caressed the case, as if saying good bye to an old friend, who had gone before it was the right time.
"Thank you, boss. It means a lot to me." Deadman stood up, and bowed his gratitude to Death.
"I´ll wait for you at the Garden, Boston."
"I´ll be there, boss. I just want a few minutes to say goodbye."
"Don´t be long," she said softly.
Down at the edge of the sea, Pariah sobbed still. He would stay there for a long time, until his curse dragged him to another place. To another time of death and destruction at a unimaginably vast scale. To bear witness to the end of another race, or another world, another universe, another reality; perhaps.
Such was the price of his sin.
Author Notes
Maya; the Earth's living soul, was introduced in Firestorm, vol 2; during the Elemental War story arc (issues 90 to 93; Oct 1989 to Jan 1990); she is another of DC's underused characters. I think only John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake have shown her in comics. First during their Firestorm run, back when ol'Flamehead was the Earth's Fire Elemental (later reversed…), and during Final Night, in The Spectre, issue 47 (Nov 1996).
Personally, I think she is an interesting character, who could have much to do with all four elementals. Back then, they were Swamp Thing (Earth), Firestorm (Fire), Red Tornado (Air), and Naiad (Water). Their status as elementals was later annulled, except, AFAIK, for Swamp Thing and Naiad (whose soul had crossed over by the time Final Night was being published, and hasn´t been shown since).
Firestorm (created by Gerry Conway and Al Milgrom, back in Firestorm, the Nuclear Man issue 1; March 1978) is a very strange character, originally, a fusion of two persons, Professor Martin Stein and jock Ron Raymond, Interestingly, Ron was in complete control of the composite creature, while Prof. Stein was reduced to the role of a passenger in Firestorm consciousness, forgetting whatever happened during the time they were joined.
Several people have been incorporated into the Firestorm Matrix. After Prof. Stein died due to a brain tumor, the first new new person, Mikhail Arkadin, joined the Matrix. However, someway, this new Firestorm wasn´t controlled by any of its components, but by a third consciousness, who only manifested itself during the fusion. During a brief time, a third human (Jama, during the Eden story arc, Firestorm issues 77 to 79; Nov 1988 to Jan 1989) was incorporated into the Matrix, but he died at the end of the story.
Eventually, it was revealed that this Firestorm was actually a somewhat defective Fire Elemental. The addition of Ron disrupted the process. At the end of the series, in Firestorm 100, only Prof. Stein was present in the Matrix, in complete control of the body. (This is the Firestorm featured in this story; however, he is once again fused with Ron Raymond.)
By the time of Identity Crisis, Ron Raymond was the only person in the Matrix, but after the Shadow Thief hit him with Shining Knight´s sword (somehow… In Identity Crisis 5, December 2004), Firestorm exploded (again, somehow…), and the Matrix was passed to another person, Jason Rusch, who was the basis and consciousness of the new Firestorm, but had to fuse temporarily with any other person to become Firestorm.
Later on, there was a whole group of Firestorms! But I´m not going there. The series was interesting, but I felt the character of Firestorm got lost in the shuffle.
One interesting thing I get to do in this story is using many, many ideas and concepts that received little or no continuity from DC. And to connect them!
Back during John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake´s run in Martian Manhunter, they introduced several interesting ideas, that to my knowledge, didn´t receive any follow up. One in particular is just what happened to the two saturnian races that were colonizing Saturn´s moons. The original idea of saturnians comes from the title Jemm, Son of Saturn (created by Greg Potter and Gene Colan, in Jemm, Son of Saturn, issue 1, Sept 1984), the character was originally a copy of the Martian Manhunter, due to some editorial stuff that impeded them from using J´Onn. The character was largely forgotten until the Rock of Ages story arc in JLA issues 10 to 16 (Sept 1997 to Feb 1998). By then, Jemm was a serious mess, having been brainwashed by Lex Luthor to be a part of the Injustice Gang. Jemm was rescued by the JLA, and the Martian Manhunter took him under his care to help him recover.
The therapy was to be administered at Z'onn Z'orr, a Martian city transplanted to Earth by the Spectre (Hal Jordan; however, I will not have Hal Jordan as the Spectre in this story. For my purposes, Jim Corrigan didn´t lay down the mantle of the Spectre, he is still around, but until his moment comes, he will be out of sight), but Jemm was psychically hurt by J´Onn´s brother Ma'alefa'ak.
Rescued again, Jemm was once more treated by J´onn, and his mental damage was largely undone at the end of the Rings of Saturn story arc in Martian Manhunter (issues 13 to 16, Dec 1999 to Mar 2000): Jemm, as ruler of the Red Saturnians, and Princess Cha´rissa, for the White Saturnians, sealed a peace treatise by marrying both royal houses and races to each other, hoping to end the long running war between them. AFAIK, that was the last mention to the Saturnians by DC.
As a Legion fan, I felt that there had to be a link between the Saturnian races, and the later occupants of the planet. Especially their best known daughter, Imra Ardeen, AKA Saturn Girl, founding member of the Legion.
(Just between us, I haven´t read the story with the telepathic Laothian race, so I´ll simply ignore it.)
The last scene was a strange one to write, I had no intention to write Death and Detiny at all! However, as I was writing the first draft of the scene, I felt just having Pariah weeping for humankind was somewhat lacking, and that Deadman had to pay his last respects at least. Just as I was thinking on how to link both scenes, Death decided to appear, followed closely by Destiny.
I feel the scene is so much the better with them around. Don´t you?
Now, back to Pariah, the character was one of several who debuted during the Crisis on Infinite Earths, (specifically, in Crisis on Infinite Earths, issue 1, April, 1985). He was a scientist from another, previously unknown universe; who broke the ultimate taboo in the DC multiverse: trying to watch the origin of the universe. His actions caused the destruction of many whole universes, and he was doomed to appear just before any of them was obliterated. I don´t need to say that the guy has a severe case of PTSD. And who could blame him for that?