A black spot that only hinted at the chaos that had been unleashed upon the inhabitants of Dimension 616.
There was nothing ordinary about any of the other crystals, for that matter. Each contained the life-force of an entire dimension—a creation of Merlyn’s father, back when the omniverse was still young. Why her grandfather had done this Roma had never been able to discover; his son, Merlyn, liked to have his secrets, and there were some—far too many, in her opinion—that the technomage refused to pass on to his daughter, even after he had turned his duties over to her. And yet, despite Merlyn’s always infuriating silences about his reality-affecting schemes, it hadn’t taken long—a century at most—for Roma to truly understand the power contained within the crystals ... and what might happen if one were broken.
Such a tragedy had only happened twice in her lifetime, and both occasions were set in motion by unforeseen circumstances. The first came about when her father had made a poorly chosen move in “The Game,” the cosmic chess match Merlyn often played when he was in the mood to manipulate the lives of mortals. Sometimes, Roma was his opposing player; more often than not, he chose to play alone, as he did so in that particular instance, when Merlyn had focused his attentions on the Skrull Empire of Dimension 4872. As with most of their counterparts in other continuums, the Skrulls were a warlike race, constantly expanding the boundaries of their territory by conquering other worlds and enslaving their inhabitants, f/nlike their counterparts, though, these Skrulls were more highly developed on an intellectual level, their scientists working round-the-clock on the development of new and more powerful munitions that would aid the war effort.
One of these weapons was called the World Ripper.
Not a terribly original name for a weapon of mass destruction—in any dimension, the reptilian Skrulls had never been known for possessing a flair for the dramatic—but it was an accurate name, nonetheless . . . if it worked according to specifications. Truth be told, the scientists hadn’t been certain the device would ever work, since testing it would have required tapping into the Skrull homeworld’s molten core; a successful activation of the Ripper would have essentially turned the core into the most powerful bomb ever created and atomized the planet. Nevertheless, the technicians completed their work on the weapon, silently praying to S’lgurt, their god of war, that they would never have to learn first-hand if they’d done their work properly.
But then Merlyn moved one of his pawns—a green-and-white-garbed warrior named Mar-Veil, who belonged to the race called the Kree, the Skrulls’ oldest enemy—further across the game board, influencing the alien captain’s decision to infiltrate the research and development laboratories where the World Ripper was housed. A battle between the Kree soldier and a Skrull battalion soon erupted. So heated was the exchange of blaster fire that no one—not even Merlyn—was aware of the weapon’s activation by a stray bolt that hit its firing mechanism . . . until it was too late.
The resulting explosion not only shredded the Skrull homeworld, but the force of the blast tore apart the protective barrier separating Dimension 4872 from its neighboring realities. A ragged hole was created in time and space, causing the formation of a vacuum that began to suck in large sections of Dimensions 4871 and 4873, thus destabilizing their barriers, as well.
All too aware that this collapse of realities might become an unstoppable domino effect that would ultimately destroy the omniverse, Merlyn wordlessly removed the crystal containing 4872’s life-force from the podium—then smashed it on the floor.
And somewhere within the depths of time and space, a continuum died.
Billions of sentient creatures were wiped from existence within the space of a heartbeat. Merlyn spent the next two decades in a state of depression so deep it seemed as though he might never recover. Yet recover he did, and was soon hard at work on his next plot, acting as though nothing had happened. Watching her father return to his old form, Roma was never certain if his ennui had been caused by the realization that he had just destroyed an entire dimensional plane ... or because he never got to see his intended plan—whatever that might have been—come to fruition.
The second catastrophe took place shortly before Roma became
Supreme Guardian, when events on the Earth of Dimension 238 had gone horribly wrong. Surprisingly enough, Merlyn was not the cause of the trouble .. . this time. His attentions were focused elsewhere.
As Omniversal Majestrix, Satumyne had been—and still was, to this day—the one to maintain order throughout all dimensional planes, answering only to her superior; in this instance, Merlyn. Traveling to Earth 238, she was assigned the task of helping the planet reach its evolutionary potential—to give the inhabitants of this world “The Push.”
A less than awe-inspiring title, this Push—one would almost believe the Skrulls had a hand in assigning it its name—and yet, the procedure itself could affect entire populations. It was rarely used, though, since a Push carried out incorrectly might cause the inhabitants to go mad from the strain of having their consciousnesses expanded so rapidly. Nonetheless, there had been times when forcing a world to “grow up” virtually overnight became necessary for the good of the omniverse.
And so it was with Earth 238.
The “Earth series””—as the multitude of similar-yet-different planets became known—had always been Merlyn’s pride and joy, for the people of these alternate realities had always shown great promise as they constantly strove to attain enlightenment and peace. His 50,000-year program for the omniverse—the details of which had never been given to Roma—depended on all variations of the Earth achieving this goal by the year 2000, and almost all had managed to make significant headway along this path . . . with the exception of 238. It was the most primitive version of all the planets, with its focus on greed and war, its repression of basic human rights, and blatant misuses of power. With such a staggering amount of negative energy flowing through that dimension, the progress of the other Earths was being retarded. The master plan was in jeopardy of failing.
But Merlyn had a solution: Satumyne and her team would go to 238 and pour drumfuls of a special life-enhancing fluid into the drinking water. When the populace sat down in the morning for their first cup of coffee, first glass of water, first bottle of formula, every man, woman, and child in this nation would automatically leap up a few rungs on the evolutionary ladder. Within a year, the DDC would have done the same with every other city around the world, and 238 would have at last been able to join its counterparts at the dawn of a new Golden Age.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t taken long for matters to spiral out of control, almost from the outset.
It all started with a man named Jim Jaspers—Sir James Jaspers, to be precise. A member of Parliament, a man of great influence, a powerful, psycho-kinetic mutant. . . and a lunatic. It was he who initially turned the world against its super hero population. Earth 238 was his plaything, and he didn’t care much for people who tried to spoil his fun.
Yet even with all the troubles caused by Jaspers, the DDC partly succeeded in their goal. Earth 238 was on its way to enlightenment.
And then Jaspers pulled the plug on the operation by using his powers to turn the world inside-out.
It was called a reality storm. As Satumyne looked on in horror, the laws of physics were rewritten around them. Men burst into flame. Women turned into pillars of salt. Children melted into puddles of goo. Gravity ceased to function. The streets and buildings of London twisted into the sort of landscape one usually found in a Salvador Dali painting. And within the calm eye of the storm sat “Mad Jim” himself, calmly watching his universe tear itself apart.
It was all too much for Satumyne. Gathering her few remaining colleagues around her, she ordered the Avant Guard to teleport them all back to the Starlight Citadel.
Arriving at the citadel, Saturnyne was immediately placed under arrest by the Supreme Omniversal Tribunal. The Majestrix was charged with negligence on a cosmic scale: the Tribunal in
sisted that she had been the cause of the trouble; that, under her command, The Push had gone wrong, and her only (cowardly) solution had been to cut her losses and escape before Earth 238 came apart at the seams.
It was a short trial, to be truthful—Satumyne never had a chance to mount a proper defense. It took but a moment for her enemies to come to a decision about the fate of Earth 238.
With the simple turn of a crystal key, the dimension was eliminated, and whether the Tribunal’s judgment was brought about by a deep-rooted sense of duty to protect the other continuums before the “reality-cancer” spread, or simply to destroy any evidence that might have aided in Satumyne’s acquittal, was never made clear. Not that it mattered in the end—the inhabitants of 238 were still very much dead ...
And now, as she gazed at the darkened scrying glass, Roma knew she was faced with the possibility of having to condemn yet another reality to extinction. The difference this time was that her final decision would shatter the lives of people she knew personally—mortals, true, but ones unlike the majority of the beings on their world. Hated by most, misunderstood by all, feared because of their incredible abilities, the X-Men had never shirked responsibility, never refused to come to the aid of even those who so often sought to destroy them. Mortal they might be, but they possessed the kind of spiritual dedication to a dream of universal peace that was normally only found in more highly developed races. Even a celestial being like Roma could not help but admire their resolve, given the magnitude of the dangers they faced every day. To destroy such enlightened creatures was unthinkable ... at least in her opinion.
For the first time since becoming Supreme Guardian, Roma wished that someone else would have to pass judgment on the inhabitants of Dimension 616.
“I, too, hope you will not be forced to make a decision you will come to regret, Your Majesty,” said a deep male voice.
Roma started, her pale green eyes snapping open. Looking up, her gaze settled on a man seated a few feet in front of her. It was difficult to determine his age, since his head was completely bare, but there was a distinguished air about him that made him seem far older than his years—although, to an immortal like Roma, he was more like a child when measured against her own age, which could be counted in centuries. His expression as dark as the conservative business suit he wore, the telepathic mutant called Professor Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men, sat—back ramrod-straight, hands folded across his lap—in the antigravity unit-propelled device in which he traveled: a hi-tech version of the sort of wheelchair to which he had been confined since losing the use of his legs, many years ago.
“I assure you, Your Majesty,” Xavier continued, “although the outlook seems bleak at the moment, my X-Men will yet prevail.”
Roma frowned. “I do not appreciate prying minds, Charles Xavier. My thoughts are my own, to be shared with no one else.”
“I understand your anger, Your Majesty,” Xavier replied politely, “but I would never presume to scan your thoughts without permission. However, in point of fact, you were broadcasting your concerns with such intensity that I could not help but detect them.”
“I. . . see.” Roma’s lips twisted into a brief half-smile as she brushed aside a strand of dark hair that had settled across her high forehead. “Then, in the future, I shall endeavor to ‘keep my thoughts to myself,’ as you humans say.” The smile quickly faded. “I admire the resolve you show for your students, Charles Xavier, but even you must admit that they have failed in their mission. In truth, they have exacerbated the situation through their attempted—though well-intentioned— intervention.” She gestured toward the scrying glass. “You have seen the evidence for yourself: Not only were they unsuccessful in reversing the effects of the anomaly created on Earth 616, but your world has undergone yet another change, further weakening that universe’s dimensional barriers.” She turned to face him, eyes full of life but devoid of emotion. “My father toyed with the fates and futures of worlds and peoples. Thousands of realities. Billions upon countless billions of sentient beings . . Her voice trailed off. “I played his games because he compelled me to do so . .. but the gameplay must now come at an end.” Slowly, Roma shook her head. “I am sorry, Charles Xavier—not just for you, or your students, or even the people of your world, but for the untold billions of souls I must eliminate in order to save billions more. I must destroy the crystal, rather than allow the anomaly to spread to other dimensions.”
Behind the Professor, Satumyne suddenly cocked her head to one side, and placed a hand to the tiny receiver/transmitter that dangled from the lobe of her right ear. A finely-shaped eyebrow rose in a quizzical fashion. “Is that so?” she muttered to the person at the other end of the transmission. “All right, then—stand by.” She looked up to find Roma and Xavier gazing at her.
“You have an update on the situation, Satumyne?” Roma asked. There was an unmistakable tone of hope in her voice.
“Indeed, Supreme Guardian,” Her Whyness replied. “I’ve just been informed by the DDC that their sensors have detected a signal being transmitted from Earth 616 .A transportation beam.”
“A traveler,” Roma whispered, her eyes widening slightly. “Tell them to intercept the beam. I would speak with this being.”
“At once, Supreme Guardian,” Satumyne said.
As the Majestrix conveyed Roma’s order to the Dimensional Development Court, the raven-tressed Guardian turned toward the professor. “Now, Charles Xavier,” she said, “we may at last have the answers we seek to the madness that plays out before us.”
Xavier nodded. “Indeed, Your Majesty. Answers . . . and perhaps a solution to our problem. . ..”
I haven’t the slightest idea what I’m doing here, Betsy thought as she and von Doom shifted across realities, moving away from their home dimension and the transmutational curtain of energy generated by the Cosmic Cube that had enveloped their world. I’m certain, though, I’ll learn why Doom wanted me to accompany him. . . eventually. Just as I’m also certain I won’t like the answer a single bit. . .
Looking around, Betsy stared in awe as time and space flowed around her like a surging river, giving her quick glimpses of the true length and breadth of the omniverse. In one reality, she saw the costumed adventurer Spider-Man as a member of the legendary Fantastic Four—or, rather, Fantastic Five, to be precise; in another, her fellow X-Men were engaged in a battle royal with the Hulk and members of Earth’s mightiest heroes, the Avengers, at the base of Niagara Falls. So many different versions of her own planet, most of them varying only by the slightest of degrees: the Confederacy winning the War Between the States in America; a World War II-era test detonation of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico, that—as the scientists on the Manhattan Project had feared might happen—ignited the world’s atmosphere, turning the Earth into a massive cinder hanging in space; a reality in which ninety-nine percent of the super hero population had been exterminated, and the major cities were controlled by their killers: giant robots called Sentinels; a certain type of butterfly accidentally stepped on at the dawn of mankind. Openly gawping at the sights, sounds, and colors flowing around her, Betsy couldn’t help but be reminded of the penultimate moment of the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, when astronaut Dave Bowman rushed along a special effects corridor to find himself within the world of the mysterious, alien-constructed Monolith. Not one of her favorite movies—Stanley Kubrick was always a little too “out there” for her tastes, though she had enjoyed seeing Tom Cruise’s bare bottom in Eyes Wide Shut—but it was the first thing that popped into her mind as she struggled to take in the spectacle of everything whipping past her.
The flow of the images began to accelerate, the windows to the various realities opening and closing so quickly that Betsy could no longer tell what she was looking at—it all became one blur leading into the next leading into the next, moving faster and faster until she felt her mind starting to close down from the visual overload—
And then it all disappeared, and
Betsy suddenly found herself sprawled across a white-tiled floor. She panicked for a moment when she was inexplicably plunged into darkness; then she realized it was caused by her voluminous, lavender-hued hair falling in front of her eyes.
Wonderful, she thought dryly. Abducted to who-knows-where by one of the deadliest villains in human history, cut off from my friends and teammates, and I’m frightened by a curtain of “bedroom hair. ” Well done, Betsy .. .
Brushing her hair aside, she looked up to get her bearings. She was in a large, white-colored room; how large was impossible to say—the walls, floor, and ceiling were all curved and evenly lit, blending together to create an illusion of a chamber that seemed to stretch off toward infinity. If, that is, it really was an illusion, or even an actual room; for all she knew, she and von Doom could have materialized within the heart of the Cosmic Cube.
Betsy started, an unwelcomed chill suddenly working its way up her spine. Could that have been what von Doom meant when he said he still had one last hand to play? Could he have been that mad to think he could regain control of the Cube from the inside?
Well, yes, he could, she knew all too well. After all, hadn’t he elected to continue using the reality-changing device that he had created, fully aware of its defective assembly—that, because of a miscalculation by one of his technicians (or so he had said), the Cube now relied on the power of its possessor’s life-force to maintain the vision of the world they so desired? Of course he had, even though his aging process had been accelerated at an alarming rate, even though each moment he selfishly held onto the Cube brought him that much closer to death. And what had been his ultimate wish for the Cube to carry out just before he died? To destroy the world, so that no one else would be able to rule it.
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