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#2
MAY 12 |
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“Decay is Central”
Pyres conjured from an unearthly force blazed with amazing intensity, illuminating the pitch black skies of the desert. It took impossible flames to burn the mangled bodies of the fallen gods. After days of constant work gathering and cremating his brothers and sisters, Magnar, one of the only remaining New Gods, finally took solace in knowing that the people of New Genesis had finally fully become one with the Source.
His usually brilliant red mane of hair was matted with grime and sand, his pristine hands were caked with grime and the blood of his brethren. His eyes were dry and swollen. His tears had long been exhausted. The only thing left beating within his chest was his heavy set heart, pounding against the charred skin of his chest, with every heft of the shovel and every body that descended down into the pit that yawned for them. His exertions had taken him through the night and through the day light hours for nearly four days. His body stank of sweat.
“Magnar,”
“Grnf.”
“Magnar, please.”
The sand whipped up for a moment, blowing particulates against the near naked form of the warrior God, and the assembled might of two of the Justice League.
“We know what you are doing,” J'Onn said quietly. The wind whipped up against them, and Magnar could swear he saw others in the particulates. Ghosts. “Magnar?”
The great god shook his head slowly. “You know nothing. Leave.”
“We have to talk. About you. About all this,” Aquaman said, gesturing to the rising plumes of smoke, and the wreckage around them. “We have to talk.”
“The first break comes from within,” Nix Uotan said. He stood in silence with his hands behind his back. Weeja Dell slid her fingers over his shoulders.
“First break?”
“The Orary,” Uotan said, looking at the huge construct before them. “Before the Word-Power that changed me from Monitor to Mortal, I presided over this, did I not?”
“A decidedly emphatic not, Uotan,” Weeja said. “You were one of many, not one of one.”
“Psst. You have no vision, my love,” he said, looking over his shoulder at her. “Clearly I am without peer in the observation of parallel iconography.”
Weeja cracked a smile and moved away from him, looking out over the White nothingness of Hypotime. “I am worried for us, Uotan.”
“I am too, Weeja,” Uotan said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I am too. The Earth has already lost her soul, now she loses her body as well.”
“Her body?”
“Yes, the body of her beliefs, Weeja. She is under a theocratic invasion.”
“Ah, would that not relate to her soul, Uotan?” Weeja asked.
“Not in this case, my love. In this case, the theology is that of the very nature of nature itself. Of life eternal.”
“No,” Magnar said, quietly. “This is not for today. This is not for now.”
“I think we could argue the case that it is.” Aquaman was growing increasingly agitated.
“Arthur, please,” J'Onn warned with a hand. The King of the Ocean's shrugged it off and took another step towards Magnar.
“You cannot continue this course without burning yourself, Magnar. Burning the bodies of what you have...burning the memories, that doesn't create peace.”
“Do not presume to tell me what to do, Mortal. You know nothing of this pain.”
“I can assure you that I most assuredly do, Magnar. Your need to bury the dead, to purge the memories of the bodies of your family and friends, it creates a disconnection. It prevents you from truly moving on.”
“I DO NOT WISH TO MOVE ON, MORTAL.”
Magnar lurched forwards, his exhausted eyes searching for a purchase to grab. Aquaman and the Manhunter moved in a singular conjoined movement. Arthur's fists hit the warrior in the ribs with enough force to drive him sideways, driving a furrow in the sand, while J'Onn was already driving the New God into that very same ditch with a hay maker.
“We are the Justice League, Magnar. We do not bow to insecurities any more than we bow to dictators.”
“What am I to do, Justice League?” Magnar asked, looking up from his knees. “What am I to do?”
“All of this,” J'Onn said quietly to Magnar, dropping down onto a knee, “all of this becomes a tribute, and not a trail. You are not responsible for this havoc and you are not to be given the rope with which to ha-rang yourself.”
“’Hang yourself’, J'Onn.” Arthur said.
“Quite,” J'Onn looked up at Arthur, who smiled. He knew what J'Onn was doing.
“You are a good man, Magnar,” Aquaman said. “I know how you fought in the battle that brought all of this. I am...sorry for your loss. More than you can know. We all are.”
“How can you be sorry for my loss? A loss that is mine and mine alone to bear?”
“We all bear our own losses, Magnar. God, Alien or King, we share tragedy as though it were bread between us.”
J'Onn smiled at his own analogy, as did Arthur.
“Perhaps we can dial down the religious verisimilitude, J'Onn?”
“Perhaps.”
“I feel the need to apologize here, guys,” Blue Devil walked across the sand with his hands in the air. “I've totally run out of pithy dialogue for you, and this is like the fourth day of this incarnation.”
“No need to apologize, Danny,” J'Onn said quietly, heading towards the azure hero, “but I'd suggest you remain a reasonable distance away from our friend Magnar until proper explanations of your appearance can be given.”
“Then perhaps I can intercede with all this pomp and preening and focus our collective minds on this remarkable dull young lady we've brought with us.”
“Hi.”
“Lori,” Aquaman said. He remembered her from the Crisis.
“What's the problem?” J'Onn asked.
“This? How am I supposed to eat my Dad's crappy pancakes if my arms are floppy as shit?”
Lori pulled back the sleeve of her hoody to reveal her marked, decaying flesh.
“I'm guessing, from your reactions, that this is the opposite of normal for her, right?” Blue Devil asked.
J'Onn nodded slowly, moving towards the young girl. Aquaman was already there, his hand pressed against J'Onn's chest. “You smell.”
“Yeah, well you're a dick,” Lori looked up at him, meeting his eyes.
“No, I mean, you smell of something that you shouldn't.”
“Keep stating the freakin' obvious, Aqua-dick. I know I smell of something I shouldn't? My arms rotting off my bones and my left leg is made of wood.”
Lori pulled up her jeans a little, to show the sprouts of woody leaves and bark that covered her skin. “I shouldn't be able to do this.”
“You shouldn't,” Aquaman said, looking back at J'Onn. “She smells of the Clear, as well.”
“Please remain still for a moment, Lori,” the Manhunter suggested, his red eyes focusing on the energies within her.
“Black Alice,” she corrected.
“Remain still, Alice,” J’Onn corrected himself, knowing the importance of a dual identity within the hero game.
“Black Alice,” she emphasized as the Martian Manhunter tilted his head at her, twisting his eyes in a way that Lori thought immensely creepy. “I don’t call you ‘Martian,’ do I?”
“Very well,” J’Onn did not falter his gaze as he flashed a fraction of his spectral vision through Lori’s body. “Remain still, Black Alice. Please.”
Black Alice grinned a bit, having won a trivial argument with one of the world’s greatest heroes. “I will,” she replied with exaggerated smugness, “Martian Manhunter.”
J’Onn scanned her body, filling with confusion as he surveyed its strange composition. In addition to her necrotic arm and her arboreal leg, pockets of air filled the spaces between her organs. Her blood seemed to have become something akin to napalm while spores birthed almost invisibly from her tear ducts. Her toenails were composed of living water. The elements were overtaking her physicality, warring against each other for dominance.
“Do not be alarmed, Black Alice, but this does not look good,” the Manhunter finally spoke. “You’re becoming a consortium of elements. I’m not sure how to proceed from here.”
Black Alice was silent, not wishing to show her fear to the likes of the others. Bravery in the face of terrible things was a necessary skill amongst the members of the Justice League.
“We have contacts within the Elemental circle,” Aquaman stated as he tried to keep a positive timber to his voice. “We can try to reach Diana or the Red Tornado. We’ll have the Physician take a look at you. You’ll have the full resources of the Justice League to help you with this situation.”
“Pardon me if I’m not that hopeful,” Alice relied with a frown. “Pessimism is in my nature. Maybe I’m becoming an Elemental of Pessimism.”
“It’s good to see you’re keeping positive about things,” J’Onn replied ironically. “Let’s see about getting Magnar back to the Hall of Justice.”
As J’Onn and Aquaman turned to retrieve Magnar from the massive funeral pyre, they witnessed the New God finally taking notice of Blue Devil. All sanity seemed to drain from Magnar’s eyes as her mistook Blue Devil for something sinister and in desperate need of killing.
“Foul spawn of Apokolips!” Magnar screamed as he barreled across the sand, taking flight on a wave of agitated gravitons of his own creation. “Die for the sins of your world!”
Blue Devil flinched away from the attack, unprepared despite knowing that Magnar was most likely delusional. He drew his trident from the mystical tattoo on his arm as the Martian Manhunter latched onto Magnar’s torso. The force of the collision brought the two into the sand, blasting a mushroom cloud into the desert. Blue Devil, Black Alice and Aquaman stayed their distance as J’Onn attempted to calm the raving New God.
“Thank God for Martians,” Blue Devil said with a nervous smile. “I wasn’t looking forward to betting pulped by that loon.”
“We have to get out of this desert if Magnar isn’t going to cooperate,” Aquaman stated. “This isn’t my ideal environment.”
Black Alice wordlessly touched Aquaman’s shoulder, instantly hydrating his Atlantean body on contact. She did not understand why she had been compelled to do so. “I’m not liking this one bit,” she said. “Can we go now so I can see the Physician and he can sing all of this creepy junk out of my body?”
As if on cue, a teleport flare coalesced between Alice and the sand cloud that shrouded the nearby Martian/New God skirmish. The Accomplished Perfect Physician had been monitoring the action from the Hall of Justice and decided that his presence was required.
He calmly walked into the cloud of sand, disappearing from view. There was a sharp high pitched wail and then silence as the dust and dirt slowly began to settle. After a moment, the Physician walked unharmed back to the others with the Martian Manhunter and a docile Magnar following him.
“Now let me have a look at the young lady,” the Physician muttered, expressionless despite showing the others that he was obviously awesome. He gingerly examined her arm as Blue devil smiled at him with awe.
“I apologize for my confusion, heroes of Earth,” Magnar said as he bowed to them. “I have not been myself since the genocide of my brothers and sisters. The sounds of this man have brought clarity back into my head.”
Aquaman was about to reply to Magnar, assuring him that the outburst had been justified when the Accomplished Perfect Physician let out a surprised whistle. “This is not good,” his eyes were wide with shock.
“I think we’re all aware of that, Doc,” Alice shook her head. “It’s been established that this is not good.”
The Physician shook his head, panic in his eyes. “I certainly think that you are underestimating how bad this is,” he said as he drew away from Black Alice.
Before he could elaborate, a bulb of green vegetation sprouted from the desolate sand amongst them. The plant grew instantaneously into a large bulb that erupted slowly with new arrivals on the scene. Kudzu, the Samurai of the Green, stepped onto the desert floor accompanied by the enigmatic Black Orchid, the mythically enhanced Misty Kilgore and the outrageously out of place Superfish!, alien clownfish of tomorrow.
“I regret to inform you that things are worse than you can imagine,” Kudzu whispered, the vines and pollens of his throat scratching together to create his voice.
“It’s the Rot,” Superfish! announced, floating in the air in his hovering fishbowl of tomorrow. “The Rot, I tell you!”
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To Be Continued...
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