Post by jordan on Aug 5, 2014 2:03:20 GMT -5
All Star Marvel Proudly Presents
Lucifer, the Hood, Michael Morbius & Doctor Strange
In
Dark City
Chapter IV
The Tale of Cthon
By Jordan
*
Last Time in Dark City:
Don Fortunato makes a deal with the devil for the head of Lucifer! But Lucifer, Don’s old friend, has no idea as he contacts Don to hire two of his best assassins! But the fight against Kingpin heats up as Kingpin hires Fancy Dan’s Enforcers to combat the Hood! Meanwhile, Michael Morbius is stuck in a strange different dimension with Doctor Strange as he searches for answer to the death of his wife!
*
It was in a darker time, when man still was searching for fire, when darkness still ruled over light, there were three siblings who stood tall amongst the lesser beings and set out to forge a path of independence for the humans, so that one day Earth might become the greatest planet that ever lived. But it was in this time of darkness that the basis for all evil was forged.
The three siblings—Set, the keeper of death; Gaea, the keeper of life; Cthon, the keeper of secrets—set out to form what would be the greatest empire to ever live. They set to work immediately, Cthon’s rugged hands hammering away, building a city on a lone island with towers that scrape the sky; Gaea’s beautiful voice singing the words of the first song, rejuvenating life from the sea and creating the first humans to populate the city in which Cthon had built; Set, weeding out the weak to make an all-powerful society. Together, they named it Atlantis. Why? Nobody knows.
And these three siblings ruled over Atlantis, showing the uncultured life forms the art of agriculture and pottery, painting and drawing, speech and song. But they always did this from afar, influencing these events from above the skies, choosing a leader whom they could communicate through—his name was Varnae. In years following, he would come to be known as Varnae the Wicked. The city lived twenty years by the hard hand of Varnae and the subtle guidance of the gods. But in the twenty-first year, the Siblings disagreed on their path to success.
Cthon spoke out first, saying that the gods should come forth to the humans, giving them a standard to strive towards. Set believed that they should learn to worship them from afar, then their own powers would grow. Gaea prayed for their own organic progression, saying that the gods should step away from even Varnae. Set and Gaea came to the agreement not to go forth to the humans, and so they set a gate that no god could pass through, not even Cthon.
And it was from this day that the first black magics appeared. Unable to break the gates with his godly powers, Cthon turned to the powers of the Earth which he helped forge. He began to manipulate the energies, forcing the seas around the city to rage, the fires within the city to rampage, the people to murder. And with this new power, he could control the people, pushing them on his path to success.
But Gaea and Set watched as Atlantis was ravaged with fear, torture and torment and they wondered how their utopia and turned to hell. They turned to their brother Cthon, whom they’d known was working to manipulate the energies of the Earth, and asked for an answer. He said he would fix the Earth if only the God Gates were taken down. Sadly, the gods agreed. Within days the fires stopped and the raging oceans stopped, but still stood the murderous fiends. Gaea turned to her brother Cthon with a confession. She looked him in the eyes and said “I think Set is controlling these men to kill. He grows stronger with every death.” And with those words, a spark lit in the eyes of the great god Cthon.
On the next night, Cthon took the form of a wolf and fell to Earth to meet with Varnae. As they talked. Varnae explained that humans gained nothing from the death of other humans. Cthon went through the city and watch the murder and the rape run rampant. Humans would be so much more successful if only they could gain power through death.
And at the end of that night watching murder and rape run rampant, Cthon returned to his heavenly home and approached his brother Set. He turned to set and asked Set for his powers. He claimed he needed them to make their society a success. Set looked at his power-hungry brother and scoffed, exclaiming that Cthon wanted the power only for himself!
Cthon just looked at his brother, confused on why he was not willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure the survival and prosperity of the human race. Finally, Cthon came to the decision—if Set wouldn’t give the power to Cthon, Cthon would just have to take it. As Set turned his back to walk away, Cthon grabbed his largest stone and smashed it against the head of his brother. Set collapsed and died immediately. His heavenly blood soaked into the rock and everything it touched—from the book which Cthon had written his dark magics into, to the very sword and hammer Cthon used to construct Atlantis. But from another room watched Gaea.
She was horrified at the monstrosities that Cthon had just committed, and decided that no longer would her palace be forsaken by the evil of her brother. Using all of her power, she created more cities with more humans around the globe and she cast Cthon out of Heaven, recreating the God Gates. And as Set lie there dead, Gaea wept.
But Cthon no longer needed to inhabit Heaven, as he had the power of Set in his hands as he carried the four blood-soaked objects to Earth with him. He went to Varnae and gave him the stone and the book and told him to guide the humans to greatness. But Gaea still watched from above, and she realized that she could not defeat her brother. She wept down tears onto the city of Atlantis for days, for weeks, for months—and finally the city drowned a sea of Gaea’s tears and became no more. Cthon, now only with his sword and hammer, set out to recreate what he had almost had in Atlantis, but Gaea refused to let him. With enough energy left, she cast down upon him an enchantment that trapped him in a mirror world of Earth with no humans or cities. He could see his Earth slowly growing larger and stronger without his guidance, and he saw the prison Earth slowly breaking apart, bit by bit. With her final enchantment, Gaea disappeared and the humans no longer were with the guidance of their Gods.
So is the story of Cthon.
*
Still Another Dimension, Not Sure if it is Still Monday
Michael Morbius’s eyes slide open as Doctor Strange removes his hand from over his face. Morbius’s eyes are wide, the pale blue locked on the Doctor’s face, the corners of his mouth twitching. “But there was only one stone.”
“That was only a part of the story, Strange. The rest is lost to legend. The man who taught me the art of magic once told me that Varnae, in an attempt to make the first vampire, misused the magic and shattered the stone in seven pieces across the globe. Some say that Varnae never had it and when Gaea cast Cthon from Heaven, the stone fell to Earth with such a force it was shattered in seven pieces across the Earth. The only thing that anyone can agree on is that it shattered into seven pieces across the globe and they have immense power. If you have found one, then others will begin to appear. It all started with your wife, don’t you see? She found one, and then you found one. There are five more. You must take me to yours so I can contain it.”
“O-okay.” Michael agrees, somewhat hesitantly, his eyes still locked on Doctor Strange. Suddenly, the vortexes of monsters and colors surround the two and everything turns white.
*
Tuesday, 3.01 PM
Chelsie’s Diner is a small establishment off of 4th and Grant near the heart of New York City, deep in Hammerhead territory. Twelve years ago, Don Fortunato brought the Maggia, the Kingpin, and Mr. Fish together and made a deal—he will supply contract killers, fixers, doctors and many other things, but he wouldn’t play by the territory game. The families all agreed, but only once Fortunato gave equal parts of his operation—men and territory—to each family who agreed, which was all of them. But, despite Fortunato being exempt from the territories, Lucifer and the Hood weren’t, and being in this area was extremely dangerous, especially after the Hood assaulted Nefaria only a few days ago. But today those two sit in the diner, ever vigilante, waiting for someone to strike, waiting for the Brothers Grimm.
“I thought they were supposed to be here at 3.00 exactly? Your friend Fortunato better not be screwing with us.” Parker says, his passionate eyes scanning the room, looking at every waitress and waiter, waiting for the bullets to start flying.
“Relax, Parker, they will be here. For all we know, they’re here and we don’t even know it. We’ve only been here a few minutes. And look, here comes a pretty waitress.” He motions towards an average height white woman, no older than twenty-one, with long brown hair and brown, bambi-eyes. She places two menus on the table.
“Can I get you two fine gentlemen something to drink while you look through your menus? The name’s Jackie, by the way.” Her smile is perfectly straight, perfectly white. Maybe even too perfect.
“Can I just get some water?” Lucifer asks, his eyes laying strangely on the menu.
“I’d like some coke and jack, please.” Parker says, his eyes scanning the waitress up and down, waiting for her to strike.
“Absolutely.” The waitress scampers off, trying to be as cute as possible.
“I don’t like her. She’s too friendly.”
“Calm down, Parker, she’s just trying to get a tip. You’re lucky you never had to have a normal job.”
“Yeah, I guess becoming a criminal kingpin at eighteen is always a nice career-trajectory.”
“With my luck you would’ve shot the first guy who didn’t leave you enough tip money.”
“Yeah, instead I shot the first guy who didn’t leave me enough cocaine. A nice trade-off, I’d say.” The two share a laugh as they open their menus. Immediately their eyes grow wide as they find a note scrawled on the inside of their menus. “You seeing this, Lucifer?”
“From Jackie and William, the Brothers Grimm. The specialties on the menu are labeled one through seventeen. Choose two meals, the first will be avenue, the second street. You decide the crossroads with which we will meet tonight at 10.22 PM exactly. You can show up three minutes early at max, no minutes late. Our terms aren’t met, we walk.” Lucifer reads the note slowly as he searches for where the waitress went. His search is cut short by a strong, male voice delivering his drinks.
“The water,” he starts, setting the glass down in front of Lucifer. “And the Jack and Coke. We made it two parts Jack, one part Coke. Figured you liked it strong.”
“You figured right.”
“My name is William and I’ll be your server today. What can I get started for you?” He pulls out a pin and pad and stares expectantly down at the two. Lucifer shares a short glance with parker before starting.
“I’d like a number twelve please, medium-rare. I think my friend would like either the six or nine, right Parker?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll take a number nine, actually, light on the ketchup please?” William writes both orders down before turning his attention back to them.
“Will fries be okay with both of those?”
*
Tuesday, 9.44 PM
“It’s just through h-here.” Morbius’s voice shakes as he places his hand on the doorknob to his lab. He hasn’t entered the lab since the first night, and now he returns with his new friend, Doctor Stephen Strange, who is clad in a green suit and a rather massive red cape hanging from his shoulders. If only all his colleagues in the labs at SHIELD could see him right now. The great Morbius forced to rely on a magician. How far he has fallen.
“I wish not to rush you, Michael Morbius, but in order for us to find the answers to your wife’s death, we must open that door and find the stone.” Doctor Strange’s voice remains calm and level-headed. Morbius closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and pushes the door open.
Within the room sits a mess of lab equipment thrown across the room—toppled desks, broken microscopes, destroyed samples—but Morbius wasn’t looking at any of those expensive objects, only at the black stone still sitting, glowing in the center of the room. He crosses the room quickly and stands in front of it, a strange breeze comes from the open window.
“Michael Morbius, please, back away from the stone. It isn’t safe.”
“I…I can’t. It’s calling me. She’s calling me.” Morbius’s eyes stay transfixed on the stone as he slowly reaches for it.
“Michael Morbius, you cannot touch that stone. It holds too much raw energy. You cannot contain it. I must take it back with me to the Other Realm.”
“No. You can’t. It’s my only link to her.”
“Michael Mor—“ Strange is cut short by a massive explosion of energy, throwing him and all of the equipment against the nearest wall. “Ah!” Strange screams out in pain, pushing himself up. “Veni ad me!” Strange hollers, beckoning the stone to him. Morbius refuses to let go.
“You told me you’d tell me what happened to her! Well, what happened, Doc?!” Morbisu screams, streaks of black cutting across his hair, black clouds forming in his eyes. “WHAT HAPPENED?!” The room shakes as the strange breeze turns to a gale-force wind.
“This happened!” Strange calls out, hoping to break since into Morbius’s mind. “Sede!” Strange calls out, pushing Morbius down to the ground. Morbius quickly scrambles up, his eyes and hair becoming ever blacker by the moment. “She gave in to the darkness of Cthon and it tore her apart! Now, Sede!” Strange calls again, forcing Morbius to the ground once more. This time, instead of reaching his feet, he comes onto all fours, baring his teeth which have formed into fangs. He growls at Strange.
“I can’t be torn apart so easily, Strange! I won’t let you have this stone! I need to find my wife!” Morbius lunges at Strange, his teeth bared and ready to bite.
“Fidicinas!” Morbius flies back against the wall. He lunges once more, but to no avail as Strange once more tosses him against the wall. Strange readies himself to repel one more attack, but it never comes as Morbius, teeth and hair black as the night sky, scampers out the window in defeat. “Veni ad me!” Strange calls once more channeling all of his energy into one last spell to gain the stone back, to no avail. “I will find you, Michael Morbius, and I will save you from the darkness of Cthon.”
“When will you realize that you cannot save anyone from the darkness of Cthon, Stephen?” The voice is cold and unloving, like ice on the back of Strange’s neck.
“Mephisto.” A strange breeze as Mephisto teleports from behind Strange to in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
“I missed him.”
“Then why don’t you reveal yourself to him, ‘Mephisto’? Why have you taken on this hellish name? Why do you not tell him what you are and end his struggles?”
“Because he is not ready, Stephen. He is to be a herald to Cthon. As are the other seven.”
“It began with you, and now it moves to him. Who is next, Mighty Mephisto?” Strange stares into the demonic eyes of the Satan and watches as a small smile breaks across his face. “What?”
“You think it began with me, that’s adorable.”
“What do you mean, Satan?”
“There was one before and one before Michael. I believe they call the first one the Hood. Have a nice night, Strange.” Another strange breeze, and Mephisto disappears, leaving Strange standing lost and shocked in a haze od destruction and failure.
Lucifer, the Hood, Michael Morbius & Doctor Strange
In
Dark City
Chapter IV
The Tale of Cthon
By Jordan
*
Last Time in Dark City:
Don Fortunato makes a deal with the devil for the head of Lucifer! But Lucifer, Don’s old friend, has no idea as he contacts Don to hire two of his best assassins! But the fight against Kingpin heats up as Kingpin hires Fancy Dan’s Enforcers to combat the Hood! Meanwhile, Michael Morbius is stuck in a strange different dimension with Doctor Strange as he searches for answer to the death of his wife!
*
It was in a darker time, when man still was searching for fire, when darkness still ruled over light, there were three siblings who stood tall amongst the lesser beings and set out to forge a path of independence for the humans, so that one day Earth might become the greatest planet that ever lived. But it was in this time of darkness that the basis for all evil was forged.
The three siblings—Set, the keeper of death; Gaea, the keeper of life; Cthon, the keeper of secrets—set out to form what would be the greatest empire to ever live. They set to work immediately, Cthon’s rugged hands hammering away, building a city on a lone island with towers that scrape the sky; Gaea’s beautiful voice singing the words of the first song, rejuvenating life from the sea and creating the first humans to populate the city in which Cthon had built; Set, weeding out the weak to make an all-powerful society. Together, they named it Atlantis. Why? Nobody knows.
And these three siblings ruled over Atlantis, showing the uncultured life forms the art of agriculture and pottery, painting and drawing, speech and song. But they always did this from afar, influencing these events from above the skies, choosing a leader whom they could communicate through—his name was Varnae. In years following, he would come to be known as Varnae the Wicked. The city lived twenty years by the hard hand of Varnae and the subtle guidance of the gods. But in the twenty-first year, the Siblings disagreed on their path to success.
Cthon spoke out first, saying that the gods should come forth to the humans, giving them a standard to strive towards. Set believed that they should learn to worship them from afar, then their own powers would grow. Gaea prayed for their own organic progression, saying that the gods should step away from even Varnae. Set and Gaea came to the agreement not to go forth to the humans, and so they set a gate that no god could pass through, not even Cthon.
And it was from this day that the first black magics appeared. Unable to break the gates with his godly powers, Cthon turned to the powers of the Earth which he helped forge. He began to manipulate the energies, forcing the seas around the city to rage, the fires within the city to rampage, the people to murder. And with this new power, he could control the people, pushing them on his path to success.
But Gaea and Set watched as Atlantis was ravaged with fear, torture and torment and they wondered how their utopia and turned to hell. They turned to their brother Cthon, whom they’d known was working to manipulate the energies of the Earth, and asked for an answer. He said he would fix the Earth if only the God Gates were taken down. Sadly, the gods agreed. Within days the fires stopped and the raging oceans stopped, but still stood the murderous fiends. Gaea turned to her brother Cthon with a confession. She looked him in the eyes and said “I think Set is controlling these men to kill. He grows stronger with every death.” And with those words, a spark lit in the eyes of the great god Cthon.
On the next night, Cthon took the form of a wolf and fell to Earth to meet with Varnae. As they talked. Varnae explained that humans gained nothing from the death of other humans. Cthon went through the city and watch the murder and the rape run rampant. Humans would be so much more successful if only they could gain power through death.
And at the end of that night watching murder and rape run rampant, Cthon returned to his heavenly home and approached his brother Set. He turned to set and asked Set for his powers. He claimed he needed them to make their society a success. Set looked at his power-hungry brother and scoffed, exclaiming that Cthon wanted the power only for himself!
Cthon just looked at his brother, confused on why he was not willing to do whatever was necessary to ensure the survival and prosperity of the human race. Finally, Cthon came to the decision—if Set wouldn’t give the power to Cthon, Cthon would just have to take it. As Set turned his back to walk away, Cthon grabbed his largest stone and smashed it against the head of his brother. Set collapsed and died immediately. His heavenly blood soaked into the rock and everything it touched—from the book which Cthon had written his dark magics into, to the very sword and hammer Cthon used to construct Atlantis. But from another room watched Gaea.
She was horrified at the monstrosities that Cthon had just committed, and decided that no longer would her palace be forsaken by the evil of her brother. Using all of her power, she created more cities with more humans around the globe and she cast Cthon out of Heaven, recreating the God Gates. And as Set lie there dead, Gaea wept.
But Cthon no longer needed to inhabit Heaven, as he had the power of Set in his hands as he carried the four blood-soaked objects to Earth with him. He went to Varnae and gave him the stone and the book and told him to guide the humans to greatness. But Gaea still watched from above, and she realized that she could not defeat her brother. She wept down tears onto the city of Atlantis for days, for weeks, for months—and finally the city drowned a sea of Gaea’s tears and became no more. Cthon, now only with his sword and hammer, set out to recreate what he had almost had in Atlantis, but Gaea refused to let him. With enough energy left, she cast down upon him an enchantment that trapped him in a mirror world of Earth with no humans or cities. He could see his Earth slowly growing larger and stronger without his guidance, and he saw the prison Earth slowly breaking apart, bit by bit. With her final enchantment, Gaea disappeared and the humans no longer were with the guidance of their Gods.
So is the story of Cthon.
*
Still Another Dimension, Not Sure if it is Still Monday
Michael Morbius’s eyes slide open as Doctor Strange removes his hand from over his face. Morbius’s eyes are wide, the pale blue locked on the Doctor’s face, the corners of his mouth twitching. “But there was only one stone.”
“That was only a part of the story, Strange. The rest is lost to legend. The man who taught me the art of magic once told me that Varnae, in an attempt to make the first vampire, misused the magic and shattered the stone in seven pieces across the globe. Some say that Varnae never had it and when Gaea cast Cthon from Heaven, the stone fell to Earth with such a force it was shattered in seven pieces across the Earth. The only thing that anyone can agree on is that it shattered into seven pieces across the globe and they have immense power. If you have found one, then others will begin to appear. It all started with your wife, don’t you see? She found one, and then you found one. There are five more. You must take me to yours so I can contain it.”
“O-okay.” Michael agrees, somewhat hesitantly, his eyes still locked on Doctor Strange. Suddenly, the vortexes of monsters and colors surround the two and everything turns white.
*
Tuesday, 3.01 PM
Chelsie’s Diner is a small establishment off of 4th and Grant near the heart of New York City, deep in Hammerhead territory. Twelve years ago, Don Fortunato brought the Maggia, the Kingpin, and Mr. Fish together and made a deal—he will supply contract killers, fixers, doctors and many other things, but he wouldn’t play by the territory game. The families all agreed, but only once Fortunato gave equal parts of his operation—men and territory—to each family who agreed, which was all of them. But, despite Fortunato being exempt from the territories, Lucifer and the Hood weren’t, and being in this area was extremely dangerous, especially after the Hood assaulted Nefaria only a few days ago. But today those two sit in the diner, ever vigilante, waiting for someone to strike, waiting for the Brothers Grimm.
“I thought they were supposed to be here at 3.00 exactly? Your friend Fortunato better not be screwing with us.” Parker says, his passionate eyes scanning the room, looking at every waitress and waiter, waiting for the bullets to start flying.
“Relax, Parker, they will be here. For all we know, they’re here and we don’t even know it. We’ve only been here a few minutes. And look, here comes a pretty waitress.” He motions towards an average height white woman, no older than twenty-one, with long brown hair and brown, bambi-eyes. She places two menus on the table.
“Can I get you two fine gentlemen something to drink while you look through your menus? The name’s Jackie, by the way.” Her smile is perfectly straight, perfectly white. Maybe even too perfect.
“Can I just get some water?” Lucifer asks, his eyes laying strangely on the menu.
“I’d like some coke and jack, please.” Parker says, his eyes scanning the waitress up and down, waiting for her to strike.
“Absolutely.” The waitress scampers off, trying to be as cute as possible.
“I don’t like her. She’s too friendly.”
“Calm down, Parker, she’s just trying to get a tip. You’re lucky you never had to have a normal job.”
“Yeah, I guess becoming a criminal kingpin at eighteen is always a nice career-trajectory.”
“With my luck you would’ve shot the first guy who didn’t leave you enough tip money.”
“Yeah, instead I shot the first guy who didn’t leave me enough cocaine. A nice trade-off, I’d say.” The two share a laugh as they open their menus. Immediately their eyes grow wide as they find a note scrawled on the inside of their menus. “You seeing this, Lucifer?”
“From Jackie and William, the Brothers Grimm. The specialties on the menu are labeled one through seventeen. Choose two meals, the first will be avenue, the second street. You decide the crossroads with which we will meet tonight at 10.22 PM exactly. You can show up three minutes early at max, no minutes late. Our terms aren’t met, we walk.” Lucifer reads the note slowly as he searches for where the waitress went. His search is cut short by a strong, male voice delivering his drinks.
“The water,” he starts, setting the glass down in front of Lucifer. “And the Jack and Coke. We made it two parts Jack, one part Coke. Figured you liked it strong.”
“You figured right.”
“My name is William and I’ll be your server today. What can I get started for you?” He pulls out a pin and pad and stares expectantly down at the two. Lucifer shares a short glance with parker before starting.
“I’d like a number twelve please, medium-rare. I think my friend would like either the six or nine, right Parker?”
“Yeah, I think I’ll take a number nine, actually, light on the ketchup please?” William writes both orders down before turning his attention back to them.
“Will fries be okay with both of those?”
*
Tuesday, 9.44 PM
“It’s just through h-here.” Morbius’s voice shakes as he places his hand on the doorknob to his lab. He hasn’t entered the lab since the first night, and now he returns with his new friend, Doctor Stephen Strange, who is clad in a green suit and a rather massive red cape hanging from his shoulders. If only all his colleagues in the labs at SHIELD could see him right now. The great Morbius forced to rely on a magician. How far he has fallen.
“I wish not to rush you, Michael Morbius, but in order for us to find the answers to your wife’s death, we must open that door and find the stone.” Doctor Strange’s voice remains calm and level-headed. Morbius closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and pushes the door open.
Within the room sits a mess of lab equipment thrown across the room—toppled desks, broken microscopes, destroyed samples—but Morbius wasn’t looking at any of those expensive objects, only at the black stone still sitting, glowing in the center of the room. He crosses the room quickly and stands in front of it, a strange breeze comes from the open window.
“Michael Morbius, please, back away from the stone. It isn’t safe.”
“I…I can’t. It’s calling me. She’s calling me.” Morbius’s eyes stay transfixed on the stone as he slowly reaches for it.
“Michael Morbius, you cannot touch that stone. It holds too much raw energy. You cannot contain it. I must take it back with me to the Other Realm.”
“No. You can’t. It’s my only link to her.”
“Michael Mor—“ Strange is cut short by a massive explosion of energy, throwing him and all of the equipment against the nearest wall. “Ah!” Strange screams out in pain, pushing himself up. “Veni ad me!” Strange hollers, beckoning the stone to him. Morbius refuses to let go.
“You told me you’d tell me what happened to her! Well, what happened, Doc?!” Morbisu screams, streaks of black cutting across his hair, black clouds forming in his eyes. “WHAT HAPPENED?!” The room shakes as the strange breeze turns to a gale-force wind.
“This happened!” Strange calls out, hoping to break since into Morbius’s mind. “Sede!” Strange calls out, pushing Morbius down to the ground. Morbius quickly scrambles up, his eyes and hair becoming ever blacker by the moment. “She gave in to the darkness of Cthon and it tore her apart! Now, Sede!” Strange calls again, forcing Morbius to the ground once more. This time, instead of reaching his feet, he comes onto all fours, baring his teeth which have formed into fangs. He growls at Strange.
“I can’t be torn apart so easily, Strange! I won’t let you have this stone! I need to find my wife!” Morbius lunges at Strange, his teeth bared and ready to bite.
“Fidicinas!” Morbius flies back against the wall. He lunges once more, but to no avail as Strange once more tosses him against the wall. Strange readies himself to repel one more attack, but it never comes as Morbius, teeth and hair black as the night sky, scampers out the window in defeat. “Veni ad me!” Strange calls once more channeling all of his energy into one last spell to gain the stone back, to no avail. “I will find you, Michael Morbius, and I will save you from the darkness of Cthon.”
“When will you realize that you cannot save anyone from the darkness of Cthon, Stephen?” The voice is cold and unloving, like ice on the back of Strange’s neck.
“Mephisto.” A strange breeze as Mephisto teleports from behind Strange to in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
“I missed him.”
“Then why don’t you reveal yourself to him, ‘Mephisto’? Why have you taken on this hellish name? Why do you not tell him what you are and end his struggles?”
“Because he is not ready, Stephen. He is to be a herald to Cthon. As are the other seven.”
“It began with you, and now it moves to him. Who is next, Mighty Mephisto?” Strange stares into the demonic eyes of the Satan and watches as a small smile breaks across his face. “What?”
“You think it began with me, that’s adorable.”
“What do you mean, Satan?”
“There was one before and one before Michael. I believe they call the first one the Hood. Have a nice night, Strange.” Another strange breeze, and Mephisto disappears, leaving Strange standing lost and shocked in a haze od destruction and failure.