The Coming of Galactus 2099UG #4

New York City.

The Public Eye was holding a tight perimeter around the location of the disturbance, two square miles of uptown, by order of Hikaru-Sama of Stark-Fujikawa. No one was allowed in for any reason, and even emergency response personnel were being held at bay, awaiting the all clear signal. Why the high order of security, the PE wasn't exactly sure, but they were being paid too well to ask questions. Rumors were running wild, though. Perhaps it was another Fujikawa biological experiment that got out of control. Or it might be mutant terrorists. Or maybe it was more of that holo-vid shoot that had scared half of uptown out of the city earlier that day. Massive rioting and panic had gripped uptown only a few hours earlier when a giant silver spherical spaceship materialized in the sky above the city, blocking out the sun like an earthly eclipse. Then an enormous purple and blue gladiator suddenly emerged to hover over the frightened denizens like a mad god from some dusty old legend. Moments later the unearthly vision had disappeared like a dream. If it wasn't for the tight security around the island in the sky, life in Nueva York had pretty much returned to normal, with the exception that a whole bunch of people got out of school and work early for the day.

"I hear they're having a Pamela Sue Henderson clone do a dance scene on top of the Chrys-corp building in a holographic swimsuit," one of the PE guards was saying, even as he directed another mag lev car to an alternate route.

"Friend of mine down on 34th street coulda sworn he heard some explosions," his companion answered through the mike in his helmet. "You think they got Vinnie Stallone doin' that sequel to Dead Stiff Four down there? I bet that's what it is. I can't wait to see that on the vid, I hear it'll have real blood splattering outta the tube with the enhanced nano-effects."

"You an' them stupid Dead Stiff vids . . ." the third officer chimed in. "It ain't neither one o' those. I heard the Lieutenant talking on the scanner, they say there's muties in there. Some big fight, couple of 'em fell off the mag lev clear into downtown too."

"Man I'd hate to have to clean up that shocking mess."

"No cleaning up involved. Says they picked themselves up offa the ground and walked away."{see Last Issue of the Galactus LS if you missed that exciting scene!}

"No shocking . . . !" the first guard replied, the alarm in his voice tinged with fear. "Man, I hate them shocking muties, scare the livin' piss outta me to be sure. Anyone that can fall that far, and still be in one piece . . ."

"Man, your wife's synth meatloaf can fall that far, probably dent the sidewalk too." That elicited a round of hearty laughter from the rest of the guards. "That stuff scares me worse'n any mutant I seen!"

"Aw shuddup you shocking son of a glitch . . ."

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Above the City

The smooth skinned humanoid glided forward easily on his silver board, held aloft by energies undefined and unseen. Balanced on the board with the grace of a dancer, his lean but muscular body did little to betray the enormous energies he commanded. The silvery coating over his skin rippled like living liquid, mirror smooth, reflecting both the brilliant blue sky, and the menacing scowl of the giant Galactus. He circled the monolithic cosmic being warily, a look of concern and anger crossing his normally calm features. The Silver Surfer kept an uneasy distance from his powerful nemesis, and though he wished that resolution could be achieved without conflict, he harbored no false hopes. He had only once before seen his former Master this desperate for the life energies he craved, and the memory of that conflict did not endear him with much confidence.

At the side of the Surfer, another former herald of Galactus soared through the air on sheets of cosmic flame. Nova, who was once the earthling Frankie Raye, had known that Galactus was again intent on feeding on the Earth. The great Devourer of Planets had pledged that he would forever spare the Earth his enormous appetite, but that had been more than a hundred years ago. Nova had feared that there was no one left on the Earth who could stop Galactus from feasting upon the blue-green orb she still cherished. So she had defied her former Master and sought out the one being who might be able to turn away the great Galactus from her home world. The Surfer had come, although reluctantly, but even so, Nova wasn't sure if they would prevail. She followed the Surfer's lead dutifully, yet in her cosmically transformed soul she harbored a secret of her own, and now that the battle was about to be joined, her loyalties were tragically torn.

"HERALDS, TO MY SIDE!" bellowed Galactus, his booming voice both frightening and commanding. He did not refer to the two former heralds who soared antagonistically before him now, although Nova found herself hard pressed to resist his authoritative summons. His order instead was directed at two new heralds, Sonica and Gravus, who responded obediently.

Though each herald had been infused with a portion of the power cosmic, their encounter with this era's X-Men had weakened them, and they attended to their master with their enthusiasm for the battle considerably dampened. Sonica, manipulating sound energy, lifted herself and the earthen Gravus to the base of the worldship platform on a current of sound to dutifully attend their master. She had barely recovered from being nearly drained by the psychic vampire, La Lunatica, and her eyes were still glazed over with the effects of having relived all the horrors of her mortal life in a single instant. Gravus had pieced himself together, but had not yet had time to completely regenerate his arms, after having been dissected by Krystalin's crystal knives as he had attempted to crush the third mutant, Timothy Fitzgerald, in his earthy grasp. With only stumps where his arms had been, he looked to be even more like a walking lump of moss and mud than when he had arrived on this planet.

Galactus did not acknowledge the diminished state of his own heralds. To him, they were naught but pawns, necessary to accomplish his goals, but ultimately expendable. It is not mere callousness on the part of Galactus that makes him think this way. His gift of the power cosmic merely binds the heralds to his will, it does not grant them with any greater sentience in his eyes. Galactus is a force of nature, like the typhoon or the earthquake, not a creature that can be defined in human terms of wanting and fear and compassion. He has little regard for the humans of this planet, or for any life form on any planet upon which he feeds. He does not regard them at all, not through cruelness or arrogance, but through the simple fact that they are ultimately inconsequential. His only desire is to fulfill the aching hunger that drives him, and to do that he must feed. That he must consume living planets does not fill him with guilt or remorse. Does the deer feel remorse for the grass? It is simply what he must do, and whether it is the Earth or Antares or the home world of the Skrull or the Kree, it does not matter to him. And all the life and art and beauty of the worlds he consumes is lost to him, as the living give up their mortal existence to sustain him. No amount of pleading can turn him from his chosen meal, no amount of praying will send him away, no politician's entreaties or any amount of sacrificial virgins will appease his hunger. And on countless thousand worlds just like this one, battles have ended only in bloodshed for those who would dare take arms against GALACTUS!

This one, however, his first and best herald, the one he called the Silver Surfer, does give him pause. Noble beyond measure, strong in spirit and soul, and embodied with an inordinate share of the power cosmic himself, twice has the once Norrin Radd turned his hunger for this same pale blue planet away. And the inhuman eyes of Galactus follow only the Surfer, with suspicion and a growing anger that is uncharacteristic in the traveler of the spaceways.

"Galactus!" cries the Surfer. "I entreat you, cease this attack upon the Earth! Turn off your siphon, have your heralds seek another place. This world and its inhabitants are still under my protection, and your solemn promise was to spare it from your hunger!"

"THE TIME FOR PROMISES IS DONE!" Galactus thundered. "YOUR APPEALS ARE WASTED. I FEED, HERE, NOW! STAND DOWN SURFER OF THE COSMOS. YOUR TIME AS THIS PLANET'S CHOSEN PROTECTOR IS LONG OVER!"

"I will not stand down!" the Surfer said, gliding his board as near to the monstrous face of the devourer as he dared. Even after all of his close association with Galactus, the experience of being within reach of the towering giant was heart stopping. "The inhabitants of this planet gave to me a gift of love that I can never hope to repay. It is my lifelong sworn duty to protect them. As a young one recently reminded me, it is in my power to turn you away, and so I must use that power! I beg you, retreat now Galactus. The Earth is not yours to consume, and I will defend her with my life if necessary."

Galactus was silent for a moment. He closed his eyes, then muttered, "SO BE IT!" And when he opened his eyes a blast of pure cosmic fire leaped forth and struck the surprised Surfer, blasting him from his board. As if responding intuitively to the attack, the two heralds Sonica and Gravus joined in the battle, as Nova flew forward to defend the fallen Surfer. The Surfer quickly recovered his board and his composure, and raced forward to do battle with the new heralds. Cosmic energies swirled around the foursome in a maelstrom of light and crackling power.

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On the walkway below, the three X-Men were quickly recovering from their own encounter with the heralds of Galactus. Luna had bested the female herald, but had been pulled off of her by Tim, who's badly crushed legs weren't broken, but damaged enough to force him to limp slightly. Krystalin stood beside them, disappointed that her crystal knives hadn't had a more lasting effect on the muddy Gravus. The muscles beneath Luna's ghost white skin twitched with nervous energy and the still fresh excitement of having fed on Sonica's psyche.

"Looks like the cavalry's arrived," Tim stated, marveling at the display of energy taking place in the sky above them. He could feel his own mutant power energizing in sync with those awesome forces.

"The silver one appears to be on our side," Krystalin noted, following the course of the battle.

"Yeah!" Luna shouted, cheering on the newcomers, "save some of that kick ass for us!"

"Wait a minute," Tim said, holding back his powerhouse girlfriend. "The heralds are distracted, maybe now we can take out that machine that Galactus was building! Even if we can't stop him ourselves, at least we can slow him down, and buy us some time!"

"Good thinking, lover," Luna said with an appreciative grin.

Krystalin pointed to the multiple legs streaming out of the massive siphon ship that served as Galactus' base. The legs were anchored into various buildings throughout the city around them like insatiable leeches. "Start with those tubes coming from the ship," she suggested. "We should split up, hit as many as we can!"

"Shock yeah!" Luna cried, giving Tim a parting kiss. "I just hope they leave a little of the big guy for us, cuz as soon as we're done down here, I'm taking it to the top!"

Tim smiled, energized by Luna's enthusiasm, if not a little concerned for her daring, and raced off (albeit still limping a little) in another direction to tackle part of the energy siphoning machine on his own.

Luna was the first to reach one of the power pods. She looked at it curiously for a moment, and then ripped off one of the metal panels with her bare hands. The coursing energy emitting from the jagged hole was bright and searing, but she was undaunted. Super strong and with tough skin that was nearly invulnerable, she was not easily deterred. Strengthened by her recent feeding on the herald Sonica, she was even bolder than usual. She reached into the melee of energy with a slender white hand, and was instantly repulsed!

"Now now now," the voice of Air Walker, the third herald of Galactus admonished. A hologram of his robotic face appeared within the energy stream. His life force had been completely assimilated by the giant world ship, and he was now a part of that ship and every part of machinery connected to it was also part of him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you!" he scolded her like a grade school teacher.

Luna wasn't one to heed anyone's warning, and was inherently distrustful of authority, so she again reached into the fire, right past the image of Air Walker. Again, she was repulsed, whipping her hand out of the energy stream as if she had been shocked! The skin on her arm was singed, but not badly damaged. Her anger was riled however. She became so enraged, that not even Timothy Fitzgerald could have stopped her.

"I warned you," the Air Walker said smugly. "Galactus is not one to be toyed with!"

"Galactus can eat my shorts, darlin'!" Luna shouted angrily, and ignoring the pain, she began ripping apart the siphon, pulling out liquid cable connectors and breaking the metal casing with her fists until there was nothing left but a smoldering hulk of twisted metal. Then the smirking face of the Air Walker changed into a look of alarm, just before his connection was severed and he disappeared from view entirely.

"Ha," Lunatica snorted derisively. "Galactus my . . ." Her disdainful muttering was interrupted by a terrible explosion from above, as the battle between the heralds was heating up.

The sonic blast ripped through Nova like a hurricane force, sending her sprawling into a nearby high rise, knocking out several walls from the thankfully evacuated office space. Her momentum was not slowed, as the glass on the towering edifice burst inward and followed her like a whirlwind clear to the other side of the building. She flew backward out of the 227th floor, and had less than two seconds to regain her composure and use her powers of flight to change direction, before colliding with the next high rise behind her. Flying on a stream of orange red flame, she banked sharply and circled around, using the buildings for cover so as to approach Sonica from behind. In her arrogance, Sonica believed that her blast had taken out Nova for good, and she was turning to use her powers on the traitorous Silver Surfer, who was deeply engrossed in battle with Gravus. Nova was far from defeated however, and poured on the speed as she realized Sonica's intentions.

The Silver Surfer, despite his great power, was at a loss with how to deal with the mud creature Gravus. The slippery beast had dropped down onto his board like a ton of bricks, and wrapped his earthen body around the Surfer in a crushing bear hug. No matter where the Surfer punched or fired beams of pure white energy toward his foe, it seemed like Gravus was able to separate and reform, never giving the pilot of the spaceways a chance to escape. It was like fighting a smothering blanket that refused to be cast off. By staying close to the Surfer, Gravus was denying him the use of both his legendary agility, and his formidable offensive powers!

"So, you like the Earth so much," Gravus growled in his ear, "how about you eat some of it!" Gravus wrapped a muddy limb around the Surfer's mouth, attempting to drown the silver alien in soil and moss and dirt.

The Surfer could not drown, nor did he need to breathe the air in his cosmically enhanced form, but the sensation of suffocating was real and alarming as well. And as the Surfer continued to struggle with his opponent, he turned to see Sonica preparing to blast them both with her sonic powers! But Nova was coming up like a meteorite behind the other herald. He relaxed for a moment, hoping to deceive Gravus into thinking he was defeated, and waited for the right moment.

Timothy "Skullfire" Fitzgerald powered up and blasted with all of his anger and rage at the siphon leg before him, seditiously gratified as it was obliterated in a shower of green and white energy pulses. He hadn't always been so brazen. There was a time not so long ago where he had repressed his powers, out of guilt and shame. Lunatica had changed all that for him, following her wild hearted lead, he now reveled in his might, and was no longer hesitant to cut loose. Still, living with the X-Men had forced him to practice restraint, and it was refreshing to not have to hold back. Nearby Krystalin was using a large crystal sword to cut through another leg of the siphon with cool precision. As soon as she finished, she turned methodically to the next nearest leg.

Seeing Skullfire watching her, she addressed him over her shoulder. "Pace yourself, Tim," she instructed, "there's more of that machine that we must disable if we're to prevent Galactus from feeding on the Earth! We can stop to admire the view later." She moved on, drawing from some inner well of calm strength to do what she could to make a difference in the world.

Tim realized he had been spending too much time admiring his handiwork, and frowning at what she must have thought was laziness, he hobbled off to try his hand at the next one. So far though, their efforts hadn't even garnered the slightest bit of attention from the towering Galactus above them. At least those other two were keeping the two heralds busy, he thought, taking care not to spend more than a passing glance at the battle above their heads. He charged up as he ran, and hit the next leg with another blast.

"Arrgghhhh!"

Tim stopped and looked around at the sound of Luna's angry cry. He thought for an instant that maybe he'd misjudged his aim, and might have accidently hit his fellow mutant. But she was too far away to have been affected by his blast. He turned back to the siphon leg and felt his heart sink. The leg before him was only slightly scorched from his energy blast! Normally it took him a little time to recharge, but by his reckoning of the previous damage done, this leg should have been nothing more than smoking rubble right now! He was about to hit it with another blast when he realized the reason for Luna's cry. She too had been unsuccessful at tearing into the siphon leg beside her. To his left, Krystalin's sword shattered against the same machinery she had severed just moments ago! Tim looked up at Galactus with anger and frustration. Somehow the Devourer had keyed into their powers, and was now shielding his machinery against them!

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Space.

From the coldest depths of unknown emptiness, unchartered space and galaxies as yet unnamed, a reckoning is coming. Ten billion light years from Earth, nearer to the beginning of all existence, across the great wall of expanding matter, past infinite levels of time and space with the speed of thought. Yet no time to embrace the worlds and the wonders and the power as yet untasted passing by, even though I sense every pulse of energy, every raindrop on a lost plain, every swirl of dust that are planets as yet unformed. The infinite power cosmic, coursing through veins no longer precisely human, has transformed the confining flesh into infinite patterns of light and sound, streaking colors and form merged. A being of pure energy, pure thought, and force unequaled! The gods themselves stand aside, and rightly so. The lure to explore the nether regions is fierce, the temptation to challenge those gods outright alluring, but the dream and the promise pull at the human consciousness that still remains. The stars can wait. A task at hand, I focus now forward. The Milky Way is a distant swirl that grows closer with each passing breath, though no air passes into lungs of blood in this place of nothingness. Across the abyss, past glowing red nebulae of dying stars, and suddenly the brilliance of the galaxy blinds eyes accustomed to the endless black of empty space. The void is left behind. Ahead, Procyon, Cassiopeia, Sirius and countless other stars pass by in a wink and disappear in the distance. Closer now, this blistering speed diminishes, and I am slowing down, carefully gauging the vast distances so as to not overshoot the mark. Leaps shorten to bounds, bounds reduce to strides, strides to painfully slow and measured steps. Each stage exponentially less than the last. Passing out of the Kuiper belt, I focus on a blue planet, full of life, circling a yellow star. Galactus is there. Now, so am I.

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Sonica hardly knew what hit her when Nova came barreling into the middle of her back like a locomotive. Her sonic blast went wide, catching the Silver Surfer a glancing blow at best. Enough to break the focus of Gravus, still wrapped around his silver back. The Silver Surfer bent down, and used his opponent's momentary distraction to focus the power cosmic through every pore of his body. Waves of concentric force radiated out from his very being, taking bits and pieces of Gravus with it. Sonica, meanwhile, had recovered from Nova's stunning blow, and was turning to counterstrike. She was met with the Silver Surfer, who grasped her from behind with a strong choke hold around her neck. Nova had switched opponents also, seeing the opportunity to cook Gravus before he had the chance to pull himself back together. Intense heat shot out from her hands, frying the pieces of mud and soil that made up his body, removing the moisture that kept Gravus' malleable form together. Turning him into shapeless pieces of hard- baked clay.

"Let me go you ungrateful freak!" Sonica shouted, struggling against the Surfer's grip.

"I am loathe to raise a hand against a lady," the Surfer stated smoothly, still holding her head in a powerful vice grip that kept her from focusing her powers. "Yield, renounce Galactus, and I will release you."

Nova shouted, "Surfer, no! You can't trust her to honor her word! Just take her out!" She couldn't believe that the Surfer was still so gullible after all these years.

"I'll yield," Sonica stated malignantly through gritted teeth. "Right after I send you back to the void you traitorous dog!"

The Silver Surfer merely raised his eyebrows, and frowned with regret. Using a powerful grip around the herald's throat and a sharply focused beam of the power cosmic, he disrupted her neuropathways. She dropped to her knees like a rag doll, unconscious and silent at last.

Below them, the X-Men had regrouped. Frustrated at their attempts to disable his siphon engine, they had changed tactics. Now it was time to take the battle to Galactus himself! Timothy powered up, and his fearless love La Lunatica was completely undaunted by the size of their opponent. Krystalin alone seemed to doubt what they could do. Despite all of their best efforts, the great cosmic being had positively ignored them throughout the whole ordeal. It was like they were no more than insects, beneath even so much as a passing notice at the foot of the godlike being. But then Krystalin looked up and saw two more allies materializing on the roof of a building high above. Even from this distance, she knew that Salem and Omen, the Archangel, had returned! Perhaps the odds were getting better after all!

Salem stepped forward, his dark cloak silhouetted against the brilliant white of the Archangel's magnificent wings. His magical staff lay easily in the crook of his arms, but he would not need it for what lay ahead. In his hand he held a single page from the book of the Darkhold, a spell won at great risk from the clutches of the demon master, Mephisto! {See Salem 2099 UG #8!} There was more risk ahead, for to wield the spell may mean the destruction of Galactus, or, it may mean that his undying soul would be lost for eternity. Either way, Salem was prepared to go forward, to rid the Earth of the taint of the Devourer forever!

"Galactus, behold!" Salem shouted. "Leave this Earth now, or suffer the fate of the Infinity Spell!" He held aloft the single sheet of paper, and eyed the colossal creature that dominated the skyline with contempt, confident in the power he now wielded. Yet Galactus paid him no heed, and continued making adjustments to his machine.

"Galactus, you must yield!" the Silver Surfer raced close by his former master. "Your heralds are defeated! This world will not be the sustenance that appeases your appetite!"

"All right Galactus," Timothy Fitzgerald was glowing with energy from every pore in his body. He stood beside the cosmic being's boot with his fellow X-Men, dwarfed by the enormous cosmic entity. "Just because you're the biggest bully in the known universe, doesn't mean you can push us around! We're the X-Men, and if you want to destroy the Earth, you have to do it through us!"

Omen raised his wings and took flight, rising above the buildings and facing Galactus again with his gleaming sword raised in defiance. "Thou shalt heed our warnings, Galactus!" he shouted righteously. "The Covenant Home is under my protection! I forbid you from continuing with this vile consummation! Leave now, or suffer the consequences."

"Galactus, please! I beg you!" Nova cried out, circling on a river of flame around his face. "This is not like you to go back on your word! You promised that you would spare this world! I'm begging you, please stop this now!"

The Silver Surfer added, "If we must, we will stop you. We swear it on our lives!"

At this last, Galactus finally looked up, and perhaps acknowledged in some small measure the forces allied against him. His eyes betrayed no emotion, no fear or regret or anger or elation. He simply said, "THEN I WILL HAVE YOUR LIVES!", and then reached for the switch that would activate his siphon engine.

As one, the powerful beings gathered around Galactus struck, as if their actions were perfectly choreographed by their common goal. Searing energies from the gathered forces collapsed in a maelstrom of light and futile sparking turbulence around the gigantic form of Galactus. Only Salem, alone on his rooftop, held back, sheltering himself from the residual energies that threatened to explode throughout the city. His sense of wonder and momentary fear was reflected in the face of Hikaru-Sama, head of Stark-Fujikawa, who alone was watching on a holo-vid display, from a sheltered bunker deep in his massive building. A last exodus, which he knew would not withstand the might of the world devourer, but which brought the man some comfort in what he knew would be his last hours. Yet Hikaru-Sama shrank from that display of energy, awed at the fury and the purity of it, as the defenders of the earth struck with all their heart at the being who threatened the existence of all life on this planet.

There was a pause in the attack, as the super powered beings stopped to survey the effect of their massive assault. To their astonishment, Galactus seemed shaken, but otherwise unharmed. His massive hand still reached toward the switch at his console.

"No!" cried Nova in despair.

Omen turned to his ally on the roof below, and shouted out a short command, "NOW!"

Salem stepped out of the shadows and fearlessly began reading from the ancient script in his hand. The strange words tumbled forth, summoning the power of the ancients, the powers of creation itself, aligning forces that he barely understood in a helix of infinite possibilities. The spiral glowed in the spaces between realities, visible but unseen, a hallucinogenic folding of time itself, spilling forth from the crumpled pages in his hand.

"NO!" Galactus turned at last and saw what was happening, but he was too late. "YOU CANNOT . . ." the great being struggled through the warping of reality that was enveloping him, his thundering voice fading in and out. "YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT . . . POWERS . . . UNCONTROLLED!"

Salem continued to read, calmly, his voice being drawn from some inner source, even as the reality warping around him seemed to take him out of his body. He was watching himself, from a far away place, reading as if from a book of poetry. And the helix of energy surrounding all the world now seemed like a pretty picture, a light show for the amusement of children. The colors swirled through reality, sucking them in and mixing them together, a vortex of iridescence focused on one man, alone on a rooftop, in a tattered cloak. Then, from somewhere outside of the vortex, a silver gauntlet reached in, reaching for the paper in his hand, as an angry voice unfamiliar to him commanded, "No! You fool! You don't know what you've done!" But it was too late, as the swirling colors accelerated around him, and then all light was extinguished.

My name is Galan. I was first born in a dimension far from here, in a world a thousand millennia long gone. Now I am reborn, and the world that was once mine is a figment of a memory, a shard of existence and a fate so horrible that I no longer wish to recall it. This life, this Earth, is the world I now call home.

My memories are plush velvet blankets of warmth and comfort. I remember the voice of my father, strong and reassuring as he held my small hands in my first tentative steps across a familiar room toward the glowing smile of a woman who was my mother. In time, my first faltering steps became energetic leaps, and the walls of the home I knew opened up to embrace a seemingly infinite world beyond. As a boy, I raced along the banks of shimmering creeks in the summer, and dug for worms in the warm mud and in the dark leafy places where the small things live. I splashed pink toes in cool water, and slipped once on a rock I'd crossed a thousand times before, breaking my arm. That autumn, as I watched the teams that I longed to play with from the sidelines, I first saw the red-haired beauty whose flashing eyes and slender waist I would dream about for many years to come. She was there, in the corner of my vision, and then in the crowd and the noise of celebration, I lost her, and I despaired that she would be gone forever.

As the fates would have it, we would meet again. In the spring of my nineteenth year, when a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of love, I learned her name at last, and all worries of exams and school terms and scores were swept from my mind. Frankie Raye. A vision, an angel, a celestial goddess. Where all others merely stepped upon the earth in a plodding parade of painted flesh, she floated across fields of green and gold. I was mesmerized by her charms, and the greatest glory of all miracles was when she turned to me and smiled, red lips parting to reveal perfect white teeth. I drank her up, like a man dying of thirst drinks from a cool well. My arms slipped around her slender waist, and her fire burned deep inside of me. She slaked my thirst, and more, teaching me wonders I never knew existed. We danced upon the frozen waters like enchanted nymphs, and lay together under the stars in breathless wonder. For the first time in my life, I knew true joy. In the winter she warmed my bed, and we made our vows before all that we held dear, and pledged our lives together. In the fall, she bore me a son, whose blessed coming into the world lessened the burden of the death of my father. The years passed, and life went on. Seasons unto seasons, a circle complete as the rotation of the earth around the sun. There were rare days of strife, followed by months of serenity. In all I was complete. Nothing more mattered to me than that the son and the woman were protected and safe. The memory of the life that had been, was like a faded photograph, locked away in a dusty closet.

But the burden of guilt I carried would not be lifted forever. What price to pay for this happiness? I was not worthy of it. So it was that there came to our planet, the terrible world ship, and the seasons to come no longer mattered. From within the bowels of that dreadful monstrosity, stepped a creature from my darkest, unspoken nightmares. His armor glimmered in the night air, and his heinous purpose gleamed from inhuman eyes. There was fear all around me, as the people fled from the frightful sight. I alone stood before the creature, ready to atone for what I had done. Frankie clutched at my arm, begging me, pleading with me to flee with her and my son. But there was nothing we could do, nothing anyone could do. I alone would dare to face the monster, face the devourer of worlds with my fists clenched and my heart bared. I cried like a child, tears of pain that welled up from my soul. How could such a thing be? How could the Universe birth such a monstrous apparition to feast upon the lives of the innocents?! But as I suspected there was no answer, from neither gods nor devils. I collapsed upon the earth and was empty inside. Without hope, without wonder. I could not fight him, there was no defense against that which had come to take us. All the world was as if a ball of dust, and Frankie and my son were lost in the stream of humanity upon her surface, like insects streaming out of their homes in panic. Small things, insignificant in the enormity of the unknown and unknowable cosmos.

I stand above them all now. All love and pain and joy and anger is gone from me. Galan is no more. I am Galactus. And all that remains, is Hunger.

The silver gloved hand reached in through the whirlpool of light, reaching for the paper in Salem's hand. An angry voice commanded, "No! You fool! You don't know what you've done!" But it was too late. Then there was darkness, followed by a painful, searing light that blinded everyone in the vicinity. Through his blindness, Salem could only feel as someone grabbed him and shoved him roughly to the ground. Then a blast of hot air, as an inhuman roar like a hurricane screamed above his head, the force of it slamming down on his back. Salem feared that his end was coming, and for a moment he wondered who would save the others who had rallied faithfully beside him, and if their souls would forgive him for having failed them.

When the dust had settled, Salem raised his head. There was a great weight lying on top of him. He turned, and realized that the Archangel, Omen, had shielded him, protecting him with his great iridescent wings from the backlash of energy he had unleashed. In his hand, he still clutched the last page of the Darkhold, the Infinity Spell, but the page had once more been ripped in half. The other half was nowhere to be seen.

Omen stirred, and rose, battered and bruised but otherwise unharmed. "What of thee, Salem? Art thou hurt?"

"What happened?" Salem asked weakly. "Is Galactus gone? Where's the man with the silver glove?" He pushed himself up, but the shadow of the worldship above the tops of the building answered part of his fears. As he stood up, he saw that Galactus was still there, head bowed and motionless beside his worldship siphon. Salem's heart sank. Had he sacrificed his soul for nothing?

"The Devourer lives still," Omen answered, his dark eyes narrowing in anger. "The Demon's spell has failed. Yet I saw no other man upon the rooftop with you. Perhaps thou hast dreamed it?"

"No, he was here," Salem said angrily, "and he did something to the Infinity Spell." He held up the ripped paper and scowled. "Otherwise it would have worked!" Salem marched angrily to the edge of the roof and looked below. The other heroes had also been knocked flat and pelted by the rubble that had been blown about during the explosion. That energy backlash had come either from Galactus, or from the force of the Darkhold spell itself. He couldn't be certain. His recollection of the events moments earlier wasn't exactly clear. The Earth still existed, and Galactus had not yet begun to feed. But the Devourer still stood seemingly unharmed, beside the machine that would begin the destruction of the world. His siphon appeared only slightly damaged, and worse, there was no one left to stop him.

Far below, the Silver Surfer and Nova lay in a crumpled heap on the walkway at the base of the mighty world ship. A pair of silver boots walked among them. Stopping beside the Surfer, silver gauntlets reached down and lifted away the board that covered the unconscious body of the first herald of Galactus. The Surfer stirred, his eyes fluttered open. There was someone standing over him, he felt the dark shadow covering him. He pushed off some of the rubble that surrounded him. He felt inexplicably weak, and was unsure of what phenomenon he could attribute that to. From the corner of his eyes, not quite focused, he saw the flutter of a green cloak in the light breeze. The sunlight seemed too bright, and he raised his hand to shelter his eyes.

"Who is there?" he asked through a throat burned hoarse by the cosmic fire that had nearly consumed him.

The other laughed deeply. "Surely so much time has not passed that you would forget me, surfer of the spaceways?", a deep voice intoned.

"Doom!" the Surfer cried, recognizing the voice instantly and struggling quickly to his feet with anger and suspicion foremost in his thoughts. Doom stood before him with arms crossed, the red lenses of his inhuman mask blazing beneath the shadow of his royal green cloak. The armor the monarch of Latveria wore now had changed from what he had remembered from a hundred years past, but that cold laugh was one he would never forget.

"Good!" Doom stated calmly, facing the enraged Surfer fearlessly, "your hatred for me has done what your courage and fortitude could not! Yes, rise from the rubble, Silver Surfer, and face Doom with your strength revived. Now you are ready to take the battle to Galactus again, and this time to prevail!"

"What makes you think we would stand beside you, even against Galactus!" the Surfer spat. "Your treachery is known to me, Doom. You are not to be trusted."

"You cannot afford to distrust me now, Surfer," Doom shot back angrily. "The fate of the Earth is at stake. As long as Galactus threatens, we must put aside our personal differences. You need the power that Doom brings to this battle, alien, without it both you and this planet are condemned to annihilation!"

"Power? What power of yours can stand against Galactus?" the Surfer asked, and then he finally realized what was different about this Doom. Always an imposing figure in his armor and fearsome mask, he now virtually glowed with radiant energy. It was the light from the silver gauntlets and breastplate that the Surfer had mistaken for the sun in his eyes moments earlier. Every metallic piece of the Latverian's armor radiated with power, power that the Surfer recognized instinctively. It was the Power Cosmic! And more frightening still, was the thought of such power in the hands of one such as Doom!

"Yes, you understand now," Doom growled threateningly. "Doom now possesses the unbridled and unlimited Power Cosmic {see Doom 2099 UG #19}, the source of power to the great Galactus himself! It would be unwise to challenge me, Surfer, for such a conflict would have me the victor, and the Earth would ultimately be lost as a consequence. Rally your troops, Surfer, the enemy here is clear. Attack Galactus now while he remains weakened by the reality storm, and we may still have a chance to prevail!"

Doom turned away, dropping effortlessly down to the lower level, as the Surfer helped Nova up from where she had fallen.

"Was that Doctor Doom?" Nova asked groggily.

"It appears so," the Surfer answered glumly. "I fear we may be in league with the devil, but that ordeal must wait until the immediate threat of Galactus is eliminated. Come," he added, and gathered up his board to face Galactus again. "Perhaps we have been given another chance to stop the Devourer."

Doom hovered soundlessly above the platform where the X-Men had fallen. The trio of mutants had survived the energy backlash protected within a hastily erected crystal bubble. Doom raised his hand and the rubble around the shield was swept away, revealing the huddled forms of Krystalin, Skullfire, and La Lunatica, shaken and bruised, but alive.

"Rise, my X-Men," he commanded forcefully. "The battle is not yet over!"

"Doom?" Timothy exclaimed with surprise.

"What does he mean, 'my X-Men'," Luna muttered suspiciously.

"Doom! What's happening?" Krystalin asked, surveying the destruction around her with a mixture of fear and dismay.

Doom noted their reactions with silent amusement, but did not pause to brief them on his new powers. "Galactus still lives!" he announced sullenly. "Hit him with every last ounce of strength you have, we must keep him off balance until the final blow is dealt!"

"What's the plan?" Timothy shouted up at Doom, but the silver and blue armor was already streaking away and out of hearing. "Typical," Tim muttered dejectedly.

Luna surveyed the damage around her and shrugged. "What more can we do?" she wondered aloud. "And who's he think he is coming in here shouting orders all of a sudden?"

"He's Doom," Krystalin answered quietly, "and I hope he knows what he's doing."

Doom sailed gracefully up to the rooftop where Salem and Archangel stood assessing their options. He landed on the parapet wall, and eyed the two remaining heroes critically. They were unknown to him, but the cosmic power in his veins immediately revealed much about them.

The Archangel flared his wings suspiciously, there was something about this armored one that he instantly distrusted. Salem, however, took a more active stance. He grabbed his staff and with an expert twirl he quickly adopted an aggressive attack posture.

"You!" he cried angrily. "Our ex-president Doom! You're the one who disrupted the Infinity Spell! What did you do with the other half of the page?! Answer me now before I cut your heart out!"

"Put away your toys, demonspawn," Doom answered coldly. He stepped casually down from the parapet and glared at the young man in the dark cloak. "Your ill advised conjuring may have put an end not only to Galactus but to the universe entire. You should be thanking me, not threatening me."

"I'll thank you when we're both in hell!" Salem cried, leaping forward with his staff. The glowing weapon cut through the air, the mystically enhanced staff capable of shattering boulders in a single blow aimed precisely at the green cloaked head. But the killing blow was stopped by a single silver gauntlet, catching and holding the staff in an armored fist just inches above his silver mask. The impact reverberated through Salem's hands to his shoulders, as if he had struck solid unyielding adamantium with a sledgehammer, and he gritted his teeth against the pain but did not cry out.

Doom's red eyes glowed with subdued anger as the staff in his hand sparked with energy. "Save your anger for the real threat, boy," he growled. "Galactus still lives, and we will need all of the resources at our command if we are yet to save this planet."

"Salem is rash, but his intentions are good," Omen stated stepping between them. "We had believed that the Infinity Spell would rid the universe of Galactus forever."

Doom eyed the angel from behind his mask with calculated suspicion. "You are one of the Host?" he asked, nodding imperceptibly to himself as the angel answered. "Yes, well the spell might have destroyed Galactus, but the repercussions of such an act would have torn our universe apart. Galactus is a force of nature, destroying him would be like destroying the wind. All life in this reality would be compromised. No, there is a better way, but we must cooperate, and not waste time in futile antagonism."

"What, your way?" Salem grumbled. "Who's to say you're not here to take the power of Galactus for yourself?"

"And while we stand here arguing, Galactus is already recovering from your ill spoken spell," Doom growled, the red lenses of his mask blazing. "Behold," Doom gestured toward the worldship without taking his eyes off of Salem, "the battle is already renewed. Would you stand here gaping while your friends down there risk their lives?"

That hit a cord with Salem, and his demeanor toward Doom relaxed in his self-conscious guilt.

Omen was less impressionable. "Yet I sense that you radiate with the power cosmic, armored one," he said brazenly. "What would thou have us do that you could not yourself?"

"You must provide a distraction, occupy the attention of Galactus, while I enter the worldship and extract the tools necessary to evict Galactus from this planet," Doom instructed smoothly, as he turned to watch the battle below.

"Yeah, right, like we're going to let you pick and choose from any number of weapons in there that will let you become ruler of the universe!" Salem protested, held back from Doom only by Omen's firm hand.

"I haven't time to argue with you, boy," Doom snarled, turning to face them. "I've been in that ship before, I know what I need to find. No one else here does!"

"No shocking way, Doom," Salem said. "You hold the line with the others out here, and Omen and I will go inside to find your all powerful gizmo."

"It is true, Salem does have a way of finding that which he needs," Omen backed him up, muscles flexing threateningly beneath his mystic armor.

Doom glanced over his shoulder at the battle raging below, even as he assessed the power of the angel. It was an unknown, yet his cosmically enhanced senses detected that the Archangel was nearly his match. It would be unwise to challenge him at this time. Perhaps at a later date, he mused. "Very well," he said finally. "Go, then. But be forewarned: Galactus will not tolerate any intruder on his ship for long."

"We're already on our way out," Salem replied with a smirk, twirling his mystic staff to open up a transportation portal. "Let's go partner," he told Omen, "one more trip through Hell's portal!"

"Aye," replied Omen, then stepped through the dark hole that opened up in front of Salem's twirling staff.

Doom watched them go reluctantly, but his plan was not yet lost. He turned to Galactus and smiled within his mask. "Galactus!" he shouted. "This Earth is not for the likes of you, great Devourer! The fates have decreed long ago: she belongs to Doom!" And the power cosmic crackled around him like living lightning, drawing all eyes upward in fear and wonder.

Inside the worldship, Salem and Omen suddenly appeared in a cavernous tunnel. "So there's some kind of ultimate video controller, I once heard rumors about," he said, "do you suppose that's what Doom meant?"

"Nay," Omen replied, taking flight. "I can sense it now, an entity that was hidden to me from outside." He grabbed Salem by the arm and lifted him effortlessly from the floor. "It is this way," he said, streaking down the enormous corridor.

Outside, Galactus turned away from the other embattled combatants, and recognized Doom at last. He knew this creature, this one who had once stolen his power to battle the Beyonder. And now, it seemed, that the Beyonder's power was his again.

Doom leapt down from the rooftop toward Galactus, and as he did he used his cosmic powers to grow. Straddling the elevated walkways, Doom was now the same size as his intergalactic foe, and equally as fearsome. The other heralds and the X-Men backed away in the face of these two titans.

"DOOM!" Galactus shouted, his voice a booming roar between the buildings.

"Yes, indeed," was Doom's simple reply, and with a swift punch his fist connected with Galactus' jaw, sending the goliath sprawling backward unto his bum. Galactus was stunned for a moment, but he recovered enough to deflect a salvo of cosmic energy pouring out of Doom's silver gauntlets.

"YOU HAVE RECOVERED THE BEYONDER'S POWER," Galactus intoned calmly, "BUT YOU LACK THE SKILL AND EXPERIENCE TO USE IT TO ITS FULL EXTENT!"

The great Devourer countered with a stream of energy that brought the monstrous Doom crashing to one knee. But Galactus was unprepared for a physical attack, and Doom used his combat experience to his advantage, grappling with Galactus so that he could not bring his powers to bear. Galactus' eye beams went wide, blowing the top off of a nearby building. Doom was unaccustomed to operating on this scale however, and tripped when his footing became unstable. He caught himself, but not before Galactus' eye beams connected with his shoulder, searing through his armor. The two heralds, Nova and the Silver Surfer, were keeping their distance, but charged in at that moment to distract Galactus and give Doom the time to recover. Their ploy worked favorably, as Doom positioned himself behind Galactus, locking his arms around the mighty helmet of the celestial entity.

"What the shock is that?" Salem cried, from inside the worldship.

"I do not know," Omen replied truthfully, his great wings bringing them closer. "But I sense that this construct is the source of the woes Galactus now suffers."

"What do you mean, woes?" Salem asked, "I thought he was just hungry?"

"Aye," Omen answered. "But why here, why now? And why a hunger so fierce?"

Dominating the room ahead of the two heroes stood a half-finished robot. A great hulking construct of steel and cables, it was as large as the Sentinels of ancient times and was constructed of scraps salvaged from countless dead planets and spare pieces of the great worldship itself. Still, there was a sublime beauty to the scrap heap, a simple functionality that betrayed the care with which it had been constructed.

"So is this pile of junk the weapon that Doom wanted us to find?" Salem asked, as the pair landed at the feet of the unfinished robot.

Omen placed his hand upon the cold metal frame. "No," he replied thoughtfully. "Yet it is the vessel of a consciousness with such hatred toward the Covenant Home that I could not help but be drawn to it. We must destroy it." Omen's hand instantly erupted into a gleaming golden sword.

"Noo ooo oooo!" An inhuman voice screamed, echoing through every piece of circuitry around them. The last herald of Galactus, Air Walker, whose bodiless essence now occupied the computer banks of the worldship itself, wailed in agonized protest. Suddenly the robot in front of them came alive, as Air Walker transferred his mind into the circuits of the unfinished beast.

Salem leaped back in surprise as the creature began to move. "Hey, I don't know about this, Arch," he said, twirling his staff nervously in his hand. "We're supposed to be looking for some weapon to use against Galactus, not vandalizing his tinker toys!"

Omen leapt into the air to avoid being picked off by the reaching hand of the massive robot. He parried another strike with his sword, cutting deeply into the metal digits. "The source of Galactus' hunger is here," Omen flew swiftly upward, anger flashing in his dark eyes. "There are unnatural forces at work here! Demon of the metal heart! Reveal yourself!"

Air Walker's robotic face materialized in a holograph over the face of the construct he inhabited. "Curse you, servant of the Host," he spat. "Once Galactus has consumed this planet, my surrogate body will be complete, and I will be the one and only herald of Galactus for all time!"

"Ah, it speaks at last!" Salem sprinted forward, launching himself into the air to strike at one of the partially complete joints with his magical staff. His blow struck true, shattering one of the motor components. Agilely he leapt away before the slow-moving robot could slap him down with a massive metal hand. "So what's it you have against the other heralds? A little herald rivalry going on?"

"That cursed Silver Surfer, he was the first, and Galactus gave him the more of his cosmic power than any of the rest of us!" Air Walker growled, still futilely chasing his agile foes. "And Galactus has always held Nova in high regard, even though she was never as loyal as I was. I was his second herald, and I sacrificed my own body, resigning myself to live inside his ship for eternity to serve him, a soul without a vessel! Still, the great Galactus pines for his two lost heralds! Nevermore! Once the Earth is gone, their significance to him will be lost, and I will take my rightful place by his side! In this new body, I will prove my greater worth! It has taken me years to collect just the right parts from across the galaxy! You cannot destroy it! Not now that I am so close to completing it at last!"

"You mean you're willing to destroy an entire planet just so you can be the big guy's favorite pet?" Salem asked incredulously. "That's just plain sick, man."

"This planet means nothing to me!" Air Walker stated coldly. "No more than any other dozen planets that would feed my Master!"

"Aye, but its value to you was what caused you to lead Galactus here," Omen countered, "despite your Master's oath to spare the Earth from his hungers!" He dove again, slashing with his sword at the exposed innards of the Air Walker robot. He connected, but so did the robot at last, swiping at the flying angel with an outstretched mitt. Omen went tumbling out of control and smashed against a bulkhead of the ship.

"Arch!" Salem called out, seeing his friend in trouble. "Look out!"

His warning came just in time, as Air Walker's eyes ignited with cosmic flame, shooting twin barrels of liquid heat toward where the Archangel lay. But Omen quickly leapt out of the way, his magnificent wings lifting him swiftly out of range in the large open bay.

Outside the worldship, Doom and Galactus were locked in battle, neither one seeming to gain the upper hand. Galactus, weakened by his great hunger, struggled in vain against the vicelike grip of his cosmically powered foe. Amazingly, the great Devourer appeared to be weakening. On the ground, the X-Men could do little but take shelter as the two behemoths trampled everything in their paths. The Silver Surfer kept his distance, as surprised by Doom's transformation as he was by the fact that Galactus appeared to be losing in this titanic struggle. Nova, however, could no longer sit on the sidelines.

"Stop it! Stop it now!" she cried, blazing forward between the two combatants.

The Archangel used his powers of flight to his advantage, leaping into the face of the Air Walker robot. No longer content to cripple it, his anger had flared and his intention now was to eliminate it completely. He aimed his flaming sword at the massive head, as Salem on the ground below swung at the already crippled legs. They struck simultaneously, each blow cleaving through the metal frame of the massive robot. At the head, Omen's sword disrupted crucial circuits, and at the feet, Salem broke its balance. As Air Walker cried out in dismay, the mighty construct came tumbling to the ground. It landed with a crash, shaking the floor of the worldship so hard that it knocked Salem off of his feet.

Omen flew down to aid his friend, then they both turned back to the giant robot. It was motionless once more, and there was no sound from the entity that had occupied it.

Nova used her great flame power to generate a solar flare of blinding light between Galactus and Doom, temporarily blinding them both, and separating them. "Stop this now!" she repeated angrily.

"Woman, are you mad?!" Doom growled. He struck at her with cosmic firepower of his own, but she deflected it with a controlled supernova blast. That gave Galactus the opening he was looking for, and his eyebeams caught Doom full in the chest, pushing him down onto the platform below the world ship. Doom raised his hand to block the blow, but the drain on his energy reserves was too high. He was forced to revert back to his normal size, flying off of the platform just as Galactus' beams exploded it into shards. Galactus however, was also weakened by the sustained effort, and he collapsed against the outer hull of his worldship in exhaustion.

Inside the ship, Salem and the Archangel had made a startling discovery. Beside the downed robot was a kind of transformer, and the huge energy conduit leading into it appeared to be tapped into one of the main energy circuits for the ship itself.

Salem looked to the Archangel. "So you think Air Walker was stealing energy from Galactus in order to build his new body?"

"It would appear to be so," Omen stated curiously beside the still humming transformer. "Perhaps the great hunger of the Devourer was also artificially created in order to complete his revenge against the Earth."

"What do you suppose would happen if we just, disconnected it?" Salem asked.

Omen shrugged. "I know not what these machines do," he admitted. "But if thou thinks it is wise . . ."

"Well, I'm not sure it's the wise thing to do," Salem admitted, "but I have a hunch that it's the right thing to do."

"Agreed."

Acting as one, the demon and the angel focused upon the giant pulsing conduit, and brought down their weapons with a concentrated crash of light and energy.

Nova swept down beside her former Master. "Please, Galactus, this conflict must end before you are destroyed!" she pleaded. "I pledge myself to you again. I will find you sustenance outside of the Earth's solar system."

"Your herald speaks true, Galactus," Doom spoke from where he stood near the base of the worldship. "We could continue this battle for hours, or perhaps even days. We are too closely matched. In the end, you would be without nourishment and too weakened to travel to a new planet to feed. You must yield, or face your ultimate defeat!"

"We have no wish to destroy you, my old Master," the Silver Surfer added, gliding close on his silver board. "We know that your place in the cosmos is essential. But so is the Earth's, for she has produced the noblest and bravest of souls in the Universe, and she still has much to teach us."

Galactus lifted his head at last. Suddenly, there was a new light in his eyes. He seemed to have been regenerated, as if he had tapped into a new source of energy to restore him. Doom and the two heralds braced themselves, surprised at the renewed light they saw in him, and ready to do battle again if necessary. But Galactus turned away from their threatening posture, and turned his back on the gathered heroes at last.

"NOVA," he commanded quietly.

"Yes, Master?" was the flaming girl's anxious reply as she flew close once more.

"I REQUIRE SUSTENANCE," he said slowly. Everyone present held their breaths. "I MUST FEED . . . SOON. WILL YOU BE MY HERALD ONCE MORE?"

"Yes, Galactus!" Nova replied cheerfully.

"THEN FIND A SUITABLE PLANET, NEARBY. I HUNGER," he commanded. He paused, and looked back at the gathered heroes. "DOOM," Galactus turned at last to glower upon the small armored man who stood defiantly at his feet. "WE WILL MEET AGAIN. IN THE MEANTIME, THESE ARE NOT WELCOME ON MY SHIP!" With a wave of his hand, Salem and the Archangel came tumbling out of the opening to his worldship, wrapped in a ball of kinetic energy, their hands and faces blackened by an explosion of some sort. They tumbled out unceremoniously onto the platform with a small cry, as Galactus once more disappeared inside the massive ball that was his enormous worldship. Once the doors closed, everyone left watching sighed collectively in relief, and stared in wild wonder as the round ship rocketed silently off into the sky like a great bouncing ball, followed by the single streak of flame that was his faithful herald.

The Silver Surfer waved goodbye, but Nova was already long gone, soaring the spaceways in the service of her master. And if he understood the depth of that service, he would not say, for he understood all too well the devotion that Galactus inspired in those who he chose to serve him. The Surfer turned to face Doom, but the armored monarch had flown down to confront Salem and the Archangel.

"We never found it," Salem was saying, rubbing his sore head, "whatever it was you wanted us to find. We didn't find a thing in there," he lied. "But it looks like we didn't need to after all. You folks did all right on your own!"

Doom stood above them, glowering. He had hoped for one artifact, just one that might give him an edge the next time he and Galactus met. For now, however, he would have to accept that he had faced Galactus head on, and fought him to a standstill. It was at least as good as Reed Richards had ever done. Still, he sensed Salem's easy lie, but what he was hiding he couldn't tell.

"Aye, Covenant Home is safe again," Omen added. "Surely that is all that matters."

"Hmm, yes," Doom muttered cagily. "When I return Archangel, we will have to meet again. I would enjoy discussing . . . the Host, with you."

"As you wish," Omen replied, his angelic wings folded tightly against his back. In his dark eyes it was clear that his sense of distrust had not yet been dispelled of this dangerous armored man, despite his civilized speech.

The Silver Surfer approached the trio. "Doom, I must bid you well, and beg you also to use the power cosmic for purposes of good, and not evil," he said coolly.

Doom eyed the Surfer with disdain, but replied, "There is much good Doom would accomplish with this power," he acknowledged the Surfer's plea discreetly. "But for now I must return from whence I came, to fulfill a promise. Adieu, gentlemen, until the next time, whether we meet again as allies, or as foes." With that small threat, Doom rocketed off into space, quickly disappearing from view into the clear blue sky above.

From his hidden bunker, Hikaru-Sama watched the heroes say their farewells and slowly depart from the field of battle. Even as he had awaited the end of the world, the cagey CEO had made note of the players involved, and the threat each one of them in turn might hold for him and his future plans, now thankfully renewed in the sudden departure of Galactus from this planet. He switched off his video monitor, and relayed the order that would have damage control teams sweeping the battlefield, removing any and all signs of a disturbance. By nightfall, the holographic dome that had shielded the conflict from all eyes but his would be lifted. The residents of Nueva York would return to their homes and their jobs, none the wiser for what had happened here. Hikaru-Sama meditated on that for a moment, and decided that soon, there must be a change. The superheroes and mutants of this time were far too dangerous, and the need to control them would be the key to his own survival in the future.

Sometime later, Salem sat alone at last on top of one of the undamaged buildings. He held in his hand the page that was half of the Infinity Spell, but his eyes were averted from that ancient document. Instead, his face was lifted to the west, toward the setting sun. The skies around him were streaked with red and orange, the light reflecting off of his shadowed eyes. He had emerged from the safe dark world he had once known into the light of day, to face a greater threat than he had ever imagined, and in so doing, it had changed who he was. He wasn't sure he liked it, but he felt very small in this big universe. Unseen behind him, the Archangel Omen watched the young man below, and said a silent prayer for the fate that would become one who had spoken the ancient words of the Darkhold. Then Omen raised his wings to the setting sun, and quietly took flight, soaring unseen above the darkened buildings of Nueva York.

THE END.

"Each day is a little life: every waking and rising a little birth,
every fresh morning a little youth, every going to rest and sleep, a little death."
Arthur Schopenhauer, German philosopher.

DS
10/13/99



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