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"To seek the sacred river Alph To walk the caves of ice To break my fast on honey dew And drink the milk of paradise...." I had heard the whispered tales Of immortality The deepest mystery From an ancient book. I took a clue I scaled the frozen mountain tops Of eastern lands unknown Time and Man alone Searching for the lost--Xanadu -"Xanadu", Neil Peart July 5, 1930 Flashing lightning streamed across the Illinois sky. The storm had held off long enough to allow the Chicago residents to enjoy a marvelous Independence Day celebration capped by a glorious show of fireworks. But the hour was now small, and the people tucked snuggly into their beds while rain pattered on rooftops and thunder boomed in the sky. One particular man stood atop a tall building, waiting, and not of his own volition. He went by the name Bill Cooper, and he worked for the City in the Records Department. He knew his co-workers would be astonished and aghast to see him, standing naked on a rooftop, elements flailing furiously around him. He would have been astonished as well, if he were not so angry! A trap, he thought, it was all a trap! Curse them for doing this to me! The three sisters had welcomed him cordially. "The Kindly Ones". Ha, that was a laugh. Never were there any so unkind, at least to Bill (or Etienne, as he went by at the time). He had been invited into warm surroundings, and given a golden wine that made the wonderful drink of the mainland seem like ditch-water. Something about these sisters both frightened and intrigued Etienne. In the flickering candlelight, he had ALMOST seen larger figures encompassing them...terrifying, winged creatures that would flicker in and out of his vision. He laid bare his soul to these three, and begged for their assistance. "Do you know of any like me?" Etienne asked, voice quivering with emotion, "I cannot bear the solitude, nor the mystery. My entire long life has been nothing but questions for which answers I have none!" "Things have progressed as they should," said Alexis "Today you will learn more," answered Megan "We will help you with where to go from here," spoke Phoebe Etienne squirmed a little, uncomfortable with the cryptic nature of the answers and the odd speech patterning amid the three. "I have...heard tell that you may know of something. A place called the Well of Furies wherein lies the Fountain of Zeus. The claims go that he who drinks from the Fountain gain a life eternal, like mine. I seek it to find connection, and perhaps some solace for my loneliness." "You were not brought here for that," cautioned Alexis "Such a place is not for you," warned Megan "Others have been chosen to find the Well," explained Phoebe, "the time is not yet ripe." "Not brought here for that?" exclaimed Etienne, "I brought myself here! And if I have been brought, then for what?" "The way has been prepared long ago," bristled Alexis. "You are here at our will, and are but a mere tool!" cried Megan, raising her voice. "You will do as we bid, whether you will or not!" shrieked Phoebe, the invisible figures flashing in and out of Etienne's sight with flickering madness. Fear struck Etienne's heart. He became aware that there was more here than met the eye, and that it had been a mistake to come. He rose hurriedly, intending to flee these strange women with unnatural knowledge and trappings of power and fear. "It is too late," wailed Alexis "You will HOLD!" shouted Megan, and Etienne froze in his tracks against his will. "You will do our bidding! You have no choice!" screamed Phoebe. Limbs rigid, unable to move anything below the neck, Etienne struggled. "Why? Why?" he screamed, but no answer from the sisters came. For they had vanished, and in their place, tall winged violent looking creatures, taloned and fearsome, stood near. It was then Etienne recalled the tales of the Furies, Greek goddesses of retribution and vengeance. Etienne's mind spun out of control, and he nearly lost consciousness. But he remained awake, as each of the fearsome creatures kissed his forehead in turn. "You are now bound to us. You have outlived your life, and may be used as we will," moaned the thing that had been Alexis. "You need know no more," hissed the thing that had been Megan. "When the time comes, you will simply do. No thought of yours is required," snarled the thing that had been Phoebe. And as her lips had touched the flesh of his forehead, he had slumped unconscious. Thirty years later, Bill recalled awakening in the deserts of northern Africa, frightened and confused. He knew his questing had been in vain. He was in the grips of powers far above him. Beings he had not considered existing, and yet, real as any other on this plane. He vowed to seek no more, and live his life as he would. He threw himself into more mundane pursuits, a more "ordinary"existence...until last night. He had felt something coming, some event of such magnitude that he himself was naught but a flea by comparison. And then, at the stroke of midnight, he KNEW. He knew it all. What he was to do, what his place in this sweeping change would be. He knew he was but a sidebar, one of many. The main thrust of what was happening was aimed at Paragon City on the east coast, and those related to it. The Champion and the Adversary were about to be born, along with the Maiden, the Elemental, the Watcher in the Darkness, the Thinker and the Acter. He knew not who they were, but what they represented. War between good and evil was about to begin on a larger scale than any time in the past. Bill's was a task of reinforcement. He would aid those to come, those that would help the Champion and his allies. More than help...create or facilitate the creation of. But details he had none, he could but follow the instructions of his mind. Fight it though he would, he found himself stripping off his clothing and climbing to the roof in the storm. He stood motionless. Hours passed. Around 4 am he felt something stir. The rains stopped abruptly. He blinked as phosphenes flickered across his eyes. But they were not that luminous ocular illusion, they were REAL! Blinking like fireflies, balls of energy flitted across the sky. One...four...ten...the sky was soon full of the flying fireballs of energy. The Well had been opened! The Fountain had been drunk from! The energy released! Without thinking, truly unable to think, Bill thrust his arms into the air and screamed a banshee-like cry! The fireballs in the sky turned as one in his direction. Rushing headlong towards him, the fireballs fused as they came near, until they formed one gigantic mass. It struck Bill with the force of multiple hurricanes, but Bill did not budge. His body absorbed all the energy, until it glowed in the dark night like a beacon. Bill�s body twitched and writhed, trying to contain the incredible power, but he knew it could not. Whatever supernatural power was guiding him directed his expanded senses outward, towards a small meteor just entering the atmosphere. Bill instinctively released some of the great power in its direction, a blast streaking through the atmosphere, colliding with the meteor and dragging it down. The now basketball-sized meteorite slammed into the ground in a vacant lot on the south side of Chicago. Bill's body slowly calmed as much of the excess energy drained from him to the muddy space rock below, but he felt more of the energy inside him. It was stable, but he could not touch it in any way. He was merely a receptacle, a storage container. He could feel its presence like a separate entity, one that would be with him until it released when and where it would. Below in the lot, a young lad, stunted in stature but with an intellect that more than made up for his physical shortcomings, approached the cooling meteorite. He stared at the rock until its glow had diminished greatly, but did not disappear. He rumbled around in the trash piles until he found several plates of lead, constructing a box. Using two long metal bars, he picked up the space debris and placed it in the box, then fled to the abandoned building he had been squatting in. Bill knew this boy now, though he had never met him. The guidance he was receiving from powers well above his status was keeping him informed while forcing his actions. The boy was an orphan, parents killed in an automobile accident some time ago. He had fled his home to avoid being sent to an orphanage and had lived on the street since. He was small, almost dwarfish, but he was also a genius. No, far more than a genius. At the age of 8, his intelligence was already off any known scale. It was not his real name, but he had chosen to call himself Hermonius Brinkman. Ahead of him lay his destiny2. When the boy acquired the meteor, Bill's body stopped shaking, but he swayed precariously. His head rang with a screeching sound he had only ever heard on a small island in the Aegean. "THE FIRST HAS BEEN CHOSEN, BUT NOT THE LAST!" Tears streamed from his eyes as he staggered towards the roof door, covered quickly by the return of the rains. "I...won't...be...a...puppet!" Bill gasped weakly, before collapsing like a marionette with the strings cut. |
| Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Acknowledgments |
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