Sixteen: The Message of Power

The first orange rays of dawn were just edging over Blue Springs as the Star Legion and Teresa Ailoso assembled on the shores of the lake. The world of the living and the new beauty of this place with the nature enveloped Grandmaster–birdsong, the wet scent of the soil beneath her boots, the sounds of small creatures rustling leaves and moving through the forest where the cam once stood. Black smoke poured off Grandmaster’s skin like water and twisted into columns, rising high in the early morning sky as multicolored flames spread in a ring as the well-armed former inmates bound the warden and his guards.

“Me,” Grandmaster said softly. First the guilt, and then the realization hit her like snake fangs sinking into her neck. “Me. He wants me. Of course–this is what he has been up to this entire time. But why? What is so special about me? He is stronger than me–he bested me in combat the last time we fought.”

Could we have made a mistake? Sparks mused aloud. We know that Phoenix is powerful, the host of something you call the Fire Source, but we did not read into the possibilities that he is another reality warper, so perhaps he is manipulating space and time and the fabric of existence so he does–

“The Fire Source is more than ‘something,’ Thomas,” Betta said. “It is among the most feared entities in the entirety of existence–it has the power to burn away reality itself and reshape it into whatever the host wants it to be. It has the power of reality manipulation, and I would consider it to be an extinction-level threat. If I didn’t know better, I would say Grandmaster and the Fire Source’s power are similar in origin.”

“But maybe perhaps he does not want Grandmaster’s power?” Shadowstalker suggested, looking hopeful for a moment. “Maybe he just–”

“He just does not want me?” Grandmaster said, finishing Shadowstalker’s thoughts. Even in the midst of danger, she had to hide a smile. That was her Arkady, always watching out for her, even when she did not care what happened to herself.

Arkady nodded in agreement. Grandmaster paused, took a moment to consider this possibility, and then shook her head. She paced back and forth, and the Star Legion watched as she gently glowed with energy and fire as her brain went into hyperflight.

“Sparks and I conducted research, and I know of the Fire Source–of the Black Angel,” Tempest said quietly. “My people revere it. The host of the Phoenix has the power of life and death, to connect with the Throne herself…it is life and it is death. It does not fear thunder and lightning. The human Phoenix can manipulate ta’lien and unseen energies in a local area–that is how he created this pocket dimension.”

“And the Eternity Corporation is both a public and clandestine organization,” Astra added. “That is more difficult to understand. It was founded as a hellfire club in the 1700s, exerting power and influence through economic and political matters. I believe that Phoenix is also the Monarch of the Eternity Corporation, and he could have joined their ranks when he was very young due to a familial membership and climbed his way up the ladder.”

“We know that the Phoenix is also remaking the world, but I know that kind of power; I have experienced it,” Grandmaster said quietly. The avatar of a phoenix bird rose up in her hand, sprouting twin wings. “It is not satisfied with just one conquest; it wants all of them. Phoenix told me that he wants to bring peace to every corner of existence, on every planet. When he finishes what he’s started on this world…

“He’s going t’ move onto de next,” Gauntlet finished, looking troubled. “Betta, w’at did you say de Eternity Corporation specializes in?”

“They focus on many things, from weapons trading to magic to space travel–”

Cryo snapped his fingers. “That’s it. Space travel. The Eternity Corporation is one of the largest corporations in the world; running it would give him access to all their wealth and capital and resources,” he said slowly, the pieces slowly clicking together in his mind. “He already devastated the Taymyr Peninsula. He could have stayed in the shadows for years, pulling different strings like puppets and finding ways to expand his power. And what if the power to remake the world–the power of the Fire Source–is not enough? What if he needs another source of power to do so?”

“An’ he would think the best way ta do so would be to steal Grandmaster’s,” Riven realized. “After all, what’s more powerful than one cosmic entity than two put together? An’ we already know your powers are very similar–in fact, Ah would say they have the same origin.”

“We already know that this death camp housed mutates and deviants. What if he captured them and tried to experiment on them to replicate Grandmaster’s power in some sort of way?” Phantasma asked. She turned to Teresa. “Did the food ever taste funny, or were prisoners ever pulled away?”

Teresa’s eyes narrowed in thought as she nodded. “There were moments when the food tasted rotten–but not quite, if you know what I mean. And I wasn’t one of them, but some of the more savage inmates were pulled away by the guards and locked up…I thought it was solitary confinement, but it might have been more…”

“If he could manipulate time, then he would have all the time in the world to set up this death camp and take control of Throne knows what else,” Phantasma finished.

Riven gazed at Teresa, the slightest quiver in her voice. “How long were you in here, Teresa?”

“Almost three months,” replied the former superheroine. “But the first inmates had been here for almost two years.

Riven nodded as though that settled it. “It don’t matter what good he’s doin’ with the Fire Source. He created this hell for so many people–we have to stop him.”

Gauntlet gazed at each one of his friends and voiced his opinion. “I’ve had some jobs for companies like de Eternity Corporation, mes amies,” he said in that fierce yet quiet way of his, referring to his time as a thief for Eventide. “Right now, Ah’m seein’ him remake dis planet into a world dat’s finally tolerable. A world we can all live in. I’m not sayin’ we shouldn’t stop him–it just feels like dere’s somet’in’ bigger goin’ on here. I t’ink we’d all rather know de truth–fo’ peace o’mind, if not’in’ else. ‘Cause if dis is true, den I’d say de whole situation is a lot more messed up dan even de Teacher was t’inking. And if Phoenix, Monarch, w’atever he wants t’ call himself–has dis much power, den we’re goin’ have some battle on our hands tryin’ to clean up his mess.” He glanced at Riven for a brief moment and flashed her a smile. “Dat don’t mean I don’t t’ink Phoenix is a wild boar runnin’ ‘round loose from de farm.”

Riven turned her head and raised her hand to her lips that covered a smile that just seemed to be so…disrespectful in this place, filled with tragedy and surrounded by graves of those who did not survive the camp. She knew Ash was just trying to lighten the mood–that was one of his many charms that drew her to him like a moth to the light–but it just did not feel right to be laughing when there were so many people living in terror under the oppressive thumb of the Phoenix. But there would be time for her and Gauntlet to share a laugh or two later–she would see to it, she resolved. Suppressing her chuckle by clearing her throat, Riven turned back to face the group.

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“All right,” Grandmaster said, “our mission is clear: we find the Phoenix; we take away his power and authority with the Fire Source by force, and clean up this mess that he is to blame for.”

“And just how do you plan on convincing him to do that? By asking nicely?” Teresa said sarcastically.

Grandmaster’s eyes glinted and she bared her canine teeth, the point of her tail flicking back and forth as she said, “Leave that to me.” The morning light shone through the ambient flames that licked her skin and claws emerged from the tips of her gloved fingers. Teresa shuddered, almost regretting asking. “If we can force the Fire Source out of him, draw it into another source, then, hypothetically, that person should be able to destroy the Fire Source.”

“You’re planning on killing a cosmic entity?” she asked incredulously.

Grandmaster tapped her claws together in thought. “I know quite a bit about the universe. You cannot kill what is unkillable. And the Fire Source is the manifestation of the cycle of creation and rebirth. If you kill it, it will be reborn as a hatchling. It should be freed of this corruption from Aftab Ferrara, and the universe will be stable.

“Now, we have to find the off-switch to his operations–or at least take the Eternity Corporation out of circulation. Information and attacks. We need to find out exactly what the motivations of his company are, and then try to take them out from the inside out. Burn it down.”

“Good luck,” Teresa said–the deviant cosmic entity could not tell if she was being sincere or sarcastic. “You are certainly going to need it, considering all the resources and money and power the Eternity Corporation has at their disposal. Like this place–he created a freaking pocket dimension to torture us and no one except you guys figured it out. That kind of company weaves a tangled spider web and whoever tries to destroy it just ends up getting stuck.”

“We have to try,” Betta insisted. “If nothing else, we need to do something that will allow us to get to Phoenix directly.”

Yes, Sparks agreed. Well, what about you, Teresa Ailoso?

Teresa started and frowned. “What about me?”

“Why can you not aid us?” Tempest asked. “We all know how powerful you are as the Transcendent Skybreaker–you yourself, powers or no powers, could certainly help shift the balance in our favor.”

Teresa stared at the Star Legion incredulously. She had heard of the Transcendents–they were regarded as the Earth’s greatest heroes, making all other superhero teams seem sub-par. She would have remembered being one of the Earth’s Greatest Heroes, would she not?

But there was so much she had forgotten. Her whole life was missing from her, snatched away, held out of reach. All that were left were the phantoms of the barest memories that breathed in her mind: staring at fluffy white clouds in a blue sky, sunlight limning the outside of her face; her small body being tossed in the air and caught in warm hands; the collection of rainbow-hued stuff animals in her teenage bedroom; and warm words spoken to her: I am your mother. And I love you.

She wished she did not know that she lost her whole entire life. It was like she once had the wings to fly and now her body craved the weight of it.

Teresa blinked the knifed thoughts and the euphemisms away. What in all the moons and stars was that? she wondered. It didn’t matter what happened in the past. All that was left right now for her was her empty future.

She turned to the Star Legion. “I want to help you. I really do,” she said to them, “but I don’t have any powers. I’m not a deviant or a mutate–if I had some sort of gift like you do, I would have burned this hellscape to the ground a long time ago.” She waved a hand toward Riven. “What, are you telling me I can get around in the air and bench-press trucks like she can?”

Riven’s cheeks and the base of her neck flushed a deep red and she quickly turned away from Teresa, all too aware and ashamed of their shared past–and it was even worse, almost, that Teresa did not recognize her.

Teresa had been a superheroine named Skybreaker, a member of Earth’s greatest superhero team known as the Transcendents and Riven had just been a kid, a member of the second iteration of the terrorist group called the Lightbringers, whom they battled in its third incarnation in New York City only a couple days ago. Following an order from her foster mother known as Oracle, Riven had ambushed Teresa one night almost four years ago, on a mission in Manhattan. She had grabbed Teresa and didn’t let go. Her deviation had leached away Skybreaker’s cosmic-spawned powers and her psyche, leaving her body an empty shell with only the barest flicker of life. Frightened and confused, there were two souls living in her now–Teresa Ailoso and Riven. She had fled the top of the Empire State Building and rushed Teresa’s body to the nearest hospital that she could find.

Teresa had remained in a comatose state ever since, and the doctors were unsure if she would ever wake up. The Teacher, Grail and Astra tried to resuscitate her, but Riven’s powers were too deeply rooted. But apparently she did wake up, and was somehow revived by Phoenix without her memories of her time as Skybreaker–and the rest of her life. And she had been brought here. To Blue Springs.

Teresa Ailoso may be unaware of who she was at the present moment, but Teresa was bound to remember what happened at some time. That made her a ticking time bomb. And she knew from Teresa’s psyche, a copy of her spirit that had lived in her mind for so long, breathing her own life into Riven, but now silenced, that she would never forgive Riven for stealing away the totality of her existence. And Riven knew in her heart of hearts, that no matter how much good she put out in the world, it would never make up for what she had done. Those scales would never balance.

“But–” Phantasma began to protest, but Astra silenced the younger girl by placing a hand on her shoulder. The meaning behind the gesture was clear: now is not the time, Betta.

They all turned back to Grandmaster, whose head was tilted back as she stared up at the sky, her lips slightly parted. She had always been powerful, their most powerful members, but lately…her power levels had exploded, ever since she had become the Aetherstorm and killed Blackstar. She had restarted suns, created stars, and levelled black holes. She erased the camp from existence and took down the Perpetual almost single-handedly. It was like she was truly stepping into her role as the deviant messiah, fated to be the salvation of deviantdom.

Grandmaster assessed the area, her tail point flicking up. They were on the far side of the canyon, closer to the east than the south. There were giant hewn structures of stone and enormous ash trees radiating roots and branches in thick turns. A rough dirt path led to a gathering of blinding white light where the prisoners were healed of their traumas from the time in the camp, then teleported back to the real world and their lives and families before the Phoenix had stolen them away.

Grandmaster glowed with iridescent fire and she somehow both surprised and not shocked at all when reality itself receded from her touch, like the tide pulling back from the shore. Her power flared and all the countless threads in the fabric of space and time flickered, touching everything upon it–she then knew she was everything, and thought it with awe.

She gazed up at the sky. It was beginning to look more gray than orange, like a deep bruise, and the air felt moist against her cheeks. Snow had begun to fall in gentle drifts, but it would not stay gentle for long, she knew. A storm would come fast, and with it, so would members of the Eternity Corporation.

“We have to go–” she began to say, but already, she was too late.

Across the gray sky, three massive circles of arcane symbols flashed into existence. Kilometers wide, they represented the loop of a phoenix. The golden circles blazed with power, and from it, figures descended from the sky, clad in orange-and-yellow robes.