Lord Dragon sat before a small shrine dedicated to his late wife. Small paintings of her decorated the elegant memorial. Five piles of melted wax remained from the long-since spent candles. Only a tiny shaft of light creeping through a meager opening near the door allowed light. One would assume he was merely a statue, a memorial himself to the mighty leader of the Mythics.
“My lady?”
Color returned to his face as he took in deeper breaths.
“It...it cannot be.”
Suddenly his body transformed into the fabled Dragon and he burst out of the room, splintering the door as he crashed through it.
Santa flew in a circle around the sparsely populated island. People stepped out into the snow around their villages to see him go over. Some children waved with eagerness. He smiled and waved back, but his eyes were ever scanning for signs to lead them by.
Gar flew up and grabbed the side of his Sleigh. He put a foot on the runner and leaned back, letting the Sleigh carry him for a moment. “I cannot find anything. I asked people if they knew. No one did.”
Santa shook his head, “I doubt it will be obvious. And, under this fallen snow, it might be near impossible to see anything from this far up.”
“I did get one clue.” Gar said. “One fisher said a volcano erupted, but then stopped. He said it was not a normal eruption.”
“Ah, but Gar, there are so many volcanoes around this area. And, they hardly are predictable.”
“We could at least look.” Gar said.
“Yes, lets...” Santa paused, “what was that?”
Gar almost asked when a red wave struck both of them.
Santa gasped, “It cannot be. I sensed it.”
“What was that?” Gar felt himself.
“I know where they are.” Santa turned the Sleigh hard, changing course that took them directly across the Island toward a smaller island in the south-western corner.
Moments before:
Krampus let go of Chase and ran for the floating Ruby. He was ready with his sack to cover it once again. In the corner, the chair still poured energy into Quark, who screamed, laughed, and made all sorts of strange animal sounds.
Just when Krampus was about to reach the Ruby, it burst with a brilliant wave of red energy. He flew back hard, crashing through tables and computer equipment. Chase was pressed against the wall. When she looked up, there, floating in the room, was Strange Quark. His body had changed to a deep red hue. The chair he had been sitting in was now scattered across the floor in hundreds of pieces. In his eyes was a strange glint, like that of a deep greed mixed with fury.
“It is time.” Was all he said.
Krampus reached out, “no...it’s too soon...”
Quark reached out for the ruby, “I do not hear the words of the pathetic.”
Taking the ruby in his hands, he held it before him, pressing it between his palms. A red aura encompassed him, floating around the room like a horrible red fog. Quarks eye’s grew brighter as he gripped the ruby. His voice boomed with two distinct voices. One was his, the other a woman’s.
“It is time! I SHALL BE MADE WHOLE!” A glowing light shone between him and the Ruby. The room shook, lights burst, the computers exploded, the walls cracked. Outside, the volcanoes on and near this island rumbled and belched out smoke as they spewed lava.
Chase held her arm up to her face. She could no longer stand the heat and pressure against her. It felt as though her bones would crack, but not before it seared her skin off. Whatever was happening, this was going to end her life. She looked to the only other person, but Krampus was gone. Only his sack remained on the floor.
Just then the doors on the other side of the room were ripped off and two figures came in. Chase saw the first and instantly recognize him.
“CHASE!” Gar screamed as he came flying through the room.
The Ruby became a ball of light, Quark was dropped to the ground, and everything exploded. The last thing Chase saw was the shadow of a statue leaning over to protect her.
Nova paced in the Operations center while dozens of videos played on the screen, each muted. They were observing the rescue and recovering in Tokyo, and related news broadcasts. They also had several news broadcasts talking about the strange seismic activity near Iceland. The robots were processing all the data, looking for connections.
All at once, EB slammed into Nova. The doors of the elevator were still opening from where he had arrived.
“BUDDY!”
Nova huffed, “What is it?”
“Something terrible is happening, down on Earth.”
Nova let out yet another sigh, “Yes, I know. We stopped WMD, but...”
“No, something's worse. I can sense it.”
Just then a loud alarm blared in the room. In fact, this alarm rang throughout the station. All the screens shut off and changed to an external view.
“Warning, Warning, solar activity! Danger, Danger!” The computer called out.
“REPORT!” Nova yelled.
The alarm silenced as a Robot answered, “Solar activity critical. Temperature of the sun has decreased.”
“Decreased? What? How?”
“Unknown. Readings are contrary at this time. Need more data.”
Nova was about to give an order when another robot stated, “relevant data. Energy spike on earth.”
“Energy spike? Location.”
“Icelandic island, Surtsey. Energy, unknown. Reaching critical levels.”
The view changed first to an orbital view, where they could see a red dot on the planet. The view changed several times until they were now looking over the Icelandic area from a drone. A brilliant red dot of light blazed near the southwest corner of the country.
“What the hell is that?”
Chase’s body felt heavy. Her arms wouldn’t respond to her thoughts, and she wasn’t even sure she had legs. She forced her eyes open and looked up at darkness, with blurry red light coming around it.
“Chase! Chase!” A voice called her name, a familiar voice, one she found great comfort in.
“I... I know that voice.”
The darkness moved, more of that red light came through and caused her to clench her eyes shut again.
“Chase, come on, wake up!” He held her, his hands so cold and rough, yet gentle.
His hand touched her bare skin on her arm, and memories flooded her. She relived a past she had forgotten. She saw herself with Gar, Quark, Nova. She recalled the fight with Jinn, the League Wars she had helped organize, the space station, everything. His touch activated her super power, and she traveled through history with him, remembering who she really was.
“GAR!” She came around quickly, lurched forward and wrapped her arms around him.
“Chase!” He held her, wrapping both his arms and wings around them.
“I had forgotten everything. It was like being in a horrible dream that I couldn’t wake from. Oh, I am so sorry for what I did to you, to everyone.” She never wanted to let go.
Suddenly, a fresh voice said, “No time for that. We have to get out of here.”
Gar let go and moved aside. The first thing Chase saw was a brilliant, ominous red light and swirling red clouds overhead. As her eyes adjusted, she then saw Santa holding Strange Quark’s body. Both were in terrible shape.
“What’s happening?” Chase called out.
“I don’t know! It isn’t safe here! We need to go!” Santa turned to run for his Sleigh when that red light blasted out a wave of energy. Santa fell over and Gar was shoved back.
Suddenly, a powerful female voice spoke over the din. “I am complete again! I am whole! I am supreme! There shall be no other light than mine! All will bask in my glory alone! I SHALL DARKEN THE SUN TO PROVE THAT NO OTHER LIGHT IS GREATER!” The skies above slowly dimmed, the land lost most of its color. The only remaining color was the reflected red glow from the ball of brilliance lifting higher into the sky.
“GAR! WE NEED TO LEAVE!” Chase cried out, but he didn’t respond. “Gar?”
Suddenly a cloth flew over her, and she fell in darkness. It was as though a void had absorbed her. Then she saw Gar tumbling out of control. Next, falling down above her was Strange Quark.
“What just happened?” Her voice trailed off into a distant echo, lost in this terrible void.
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