Written by Barry Reese
"All My Pasts Remembered" Part One
My name is Geoff McHenry and I'm a Geomancer, a keeper of ancient lore and power -- a protector of the world. Let me tell you the story of the Rock of Reality, a powerful artifact that was capable of reshaping both earth and time. It's important that future Geomancers understand what happened in the year 2000 and it how it affected a man named Aric Dacia. You must pay attention, because this event will have repurcussions in the far future -- and you must be prepared!
In a way, the story began in January, 2000 when Crescendo came into possession of the Rock of Reality. She had allied herself with two great threats -- the Spider Aliens and the Dromak. With their aid, she was able to locate the various shards of the Rock and put them together. This gave her more power than any woman since Erica Pierce!
But the story really began before that. A long time before that, in the days when the Immortal Enemy was known as Klitus and served in the Roman Empire....
The Year 408, A.D. Rome.
Klitus lounged on the many soft pillows that lined his floor, a beautiful slave girl feeding him grapes one by one. He felt anxious, ill at ease. When would the youth arrive, with the pretty trinket that Klitus had been promised? If it was everything that Klitus had heard, it would at long last give him the immortality he craved -- and more than enough power to declare himself Caesar.
The great doors to his chamber suddenly flew open and a thin, dark-skinned man stumbled into the room. It was Antaeus, the scavenger who had sent word only days before that he had found something of incredible value. Klitus had always liked Antaeus, enjoyed the soft duskiness of his skin, the long lashes and the somewhat long hair. He had seemed pretty, like a flower opening in the morning.
Now, however, the being that strode towards him was covered with flies, bits of bone protruding through the skin. His hair was mostly gone, though stray bits of it still clung to his flesh, as it hoping against hope to take root once more. His toothless mouth hung open and slack, as if he'd screamed so often that his face had frozen in its mask of terror. The stench was overwhelming. "Master Klitus... So long have I searched...."
Klitus took a step back away, nearly toppling over the screaming slave girl, who was screaming madly. Antaeus was holding out a small cube in his hand, one that pulsed with energy. Without a doubt, Klitus knew, that was the source of Antaeus' strange illness. "Put that away, you fool!" Klitus reached for his nearby sword, holding out at arm's length to keep the youth from approaching.
Antaeus stopped in confusion. The look in the poor creature's face would have been heartbreaking to most, but to the Immortal Enemy, it was only the face of death -- and Klitus could not abide that. "But...Master... this is it. The Rock. It is so wonderful, Master. The things it can do... the things it can show you.... I have seen... men in red suits, with powers of the Gods. I have seen a man who jumps through time! I have--"
Klitus let out a roar. The mutterings of this madman had to be ended. He had built up much in this most current lifetime and was in no hurry to be reborn again elsewhere. He slashed out with the sword, separating Antaeus' head from his shoulders. It flew the air and landed with a sploosh.
"What-what-what was wrong with him, Master Klitus?" The girl was still on the floor, the rank smell of her urine giving full notice of her terror.
Klitus didn't answer with words, instead choosing to plant his blade deep in the girl's chest. He pulled it out slowly, watching as her life slid away from her. "No witnesses, my little slut. Not to this."
The Immortal Enemy nudged the cube with his foot. It was dangerous -- powerful, yes, but far too dangerous. Such a thing would destroy its owner... and, in the wrong hands, could definitely destroy me. I know enough of the arcane to recognize something that is not of this Earth.
Klitus knelt next to the object and frowned. He could do much with it, if he were willing to pay the price. He glanced towards the rotting form of Antaeus and made his decision. "It's not worth it, little Rock. Not at all. I'll see you smashed to bits and hidden 'round the globe, if I have to call in every favor I have -- and there's not a few, I assure you."
The Rock of Reality was broken into almost a dozen shards and hidden from the eyes of man. Though the Immortal Enemy was killed soon after this*, his minions carried on his work even as Cheng was reborn elsewhere. There were stories about the Rock that drifted down through the years, and Geomancers were told by the Earth that an awful thing was hidden deep inside it's crust, just waiting to be found. In the mid-1800s, a sorceror named Lord Draken sought to bring together the Rock of Reality but he was stopped by Gilad and the Geomancer of that time.
(*See X-O Manowar # 77)
Even though every attempt to put the Rock back together failed, we Geomancers always knew that eventually somebody would succeed. In late '99, just after Mr. Boniface helped rid the world of the Darque Power, I sensed that something awful was coming*. The Earth was scared, but it couldn't really express what was wrong. Having Solar shift our reality along a temporal corridor** had shaken almost everything -- including the Earth.
(*See X-O Manowar # 80. **See Armageddon 1999 # 2.)
When Crescendo came into possession of the last splinter, and fused it together with the other shards to recreate the Rock of Reality, I felt it like a punch in my stomach. Mr. Gilad was really worried about me, when I started to screaming and carrying on. He thought it had to do with Darque, that maybe we hadn't destroyed him like we'd all thought -- or maybe even that other Solar, the one who was trying to destroy all the other realities.
But it wasn't either of those things, thankfully.
But in some ways, especially for Mr. Dacia, it was worse.
January 8, 2000, the home of Aric Dacia. 1:00 AM
Aric finished off the glass of whiskey and tossed it aside. It clinked on the floor alongside the other glasses and several empty bottles. He knew that Gamin was upstairs, ignoring him in his drunken stupor. She'd argued with him after he'd returned from battling Crescendo's soldiers, claiming that he couldn't blame himself for their successful escape. But she didn't understand. It was always his fault.
Diedre had been killed because his own uncle had grown to fear him*. Randy had been butchered because she was his lover and would not betray him. Ken had died at the hands of Crescendo, as well, before being reincarnated as a scientific wraith**. And even Gamin... sweet Gamin... she had been killed by the Immortal Enemy. If it hadn't been for Solar's magic, she would have joined Randy in the afterworld***.
(*See X-O Manowar # 0. **Randy and Ken died in X-O Manowar # 44-47 and Ken returned in X-O Manowar # 73. ***In X-O Manowar # 79.)
And they were just the beginning. There would be more deaths. He knew it.
With a belch, he stood and wobbled on his feet. He wore only a robe, but he did not feel truly naked. Since bonding with the armor to dispatch Cheng, he had always felt clothed and warm.
Still staggering, he made his way over to the liquor cabinet. It was now empty and he stared mutely at it for a long moment, as his anger mounted. With a swipe of his hand, he knocked everything off the counter of the bar, roaring in his anger. Crescendo was still free... and allied with the Spider Aliens and the Dromak. That meant that more and more and more would die.
"You're such a brute, Aric. Like a bull in a china shop."
Aric froze, his face twisted in a grimace. I must be drunk, Good Skin. She couldn't be here, not now. She wouldn't dare!
Crescendo stepped around him, a smile on her face. She looked every bit as cold and full of malice as the last time Aric had seen her. "It really is me, Aric. In the flesh, borrowed though it is." She cast an appraising glance at the two of them in the mirror. She looked majestic and glamorous, while he was a sweaty, drunk barbarian. "In all the years, we haven't really changed, have we? We've both adopted the trappings of moder society, but underneath we still are what we are. I'm a Queen. And you... you're a filthy animal."
Aric snarled, spittled flying from between his clenched teeth. He lunged for her, but she tossed him aside easily, using her mental powers to pick him up. He tumbled over the side of the couch, knocking it over. He rose to his knees, his mind still clouded. "I killed you the last time... and I'll do it again. A thousand times over if that's what it takes!"
"No, Aric. This is our last battle. I swear that to you. Once you're dead, there won't be any miraculous resurrections, no last-gasp heroics. It will all be over." She watched as Aric rose once more, his powerful armor shaping itself about him. He seemed calmer in some ways when he had it on -- but deadlier, too. "And you'll miss all the fun -- you'll miss me reclaiming my dominion. And I'll turn your little bitch Gamin over to my troops for sport, Aric. She'll scream and scre--"
X-O fired his ion cannon, the beam striking her with enough destructive force to incinerate a building. To his shock, however, she merely stood there and laughed as the energy faded. Good Skin...! How?
"Your armor won't be able to help you this time, Aric. It's just as confused as you." For the first time, X-O saw an object in her left hand. As if sensing his attention, she raised it for him to see. "The Rock of Reality. With this, I cannot be stopped." Aric suddenly screamed as he was lifted off the ground. Pain shot through him, overloading both his own senses and that of Bekhara. "I'm not going to simply destroy you, Aric. I'm going to unmake you. I'm going to erase you from existence. You won't have died -- you won't ever have lived.And I'll make sure that your accursed Visigoths join you in Hell!"
Aric felt himself pulled apart, as if she were shredding him on a subatomic level. The pain was worse than anything he had ever imagined, worse than being bitten in two by a bionosaur, worse than realizing your wife and son were long, long dead.
A red-gloved hand grabbed Crescendo's, bellowing "No! This is going to stop right now." Crescendo blinked, staring into the visored face of the Man of the Atom. Solar was stepping out of a light-rift, its sparkles fading as he grappled with the mind-witch. His voice was calm, as if this sort of thing were not the least bit unusual. "Even if Geoff hadn't warned me about you, I still would have picked up this kind of energy expenditure. What you're doing is wrong -- that Rock of yours is powered by something I don't even recognize, but it's very unstable. You're as likely to eradicate this entire timeline as you are to gain your petty revenge."
"I will not be denied! You are too late, stranger -- Aric of Dacia is no more!"
Solar glanced behind himself, watching in concern as Aric did, indeed, vanish. The effect on their surroundings was instaneous -- the house vanished, the sky darkened and a hard rain began to fall. In the distance, thunder rumbled across the sky. "Sigh. Now you've done it."
Crescendo managed to pull herself free, still clutching the Rock. "What...is this?"
Solar stepped forward, as if peering not only into the dense forest around them, but into it as well. "It's the Lost Land, or at least a part of it. A new part. You've weakened the fabric of our timeline to such a degree that our universe is breaking apart. The lucky few who happen to survive will find themselves trapped here, outside of time."
Crescendo shook her head. "No. I'll be able to stop this. The Rock of Reality allows me to change the universe around me. It --" She suddenly gasped, staggering back. Her form was suddenly emaciated, her skin looking taut like tanned leather. "What is this?"
Solar snatched it from her hand. "The rock is like anything else -- it has to draw its power from somewhere. All its doing now is converting your molecules into a power source. You're a living battery, for however long you last."
Crescendo reached out a clawed hand to grab his uniform. "Please! I can't sense... any minds... close enough for me to claim! And yours is too powerful! I have to...."
Solar sounded genuinely sorry when he said, "It's too late. I can move tremendous amounts of energy, but in order to properly restore you right now I'd have to drain your essence from the rock -- and that's gonna take some time. Time you don't have."
Crescendo began to break apart, like a hunk of sandy rock being crushed between invisible fingers. She fell to the ground, the undying Queen, now dead forever.
"What are we gonna do now, Solar?"
The Man of the Atom turned to see Geoff walking towards him. "You made it, Geoff?"
"The Earth told me where to run. I found a gateway point that led into the Lost Land."
Solar turned his head skyward. A pterodactyl was flying over head. "It's not too late yet." Particles began to swim in front of his hand. "There are three key points in Aric's existence. Places where he absolutely has to be in order for our timeline to flow correctly.Crescendo's attempt to unmake him has split his existence along one of the more crucial ones."
Geoff rubbed his chin. For a moment, Geoff noticed how much the young boy had grown up over the years. He was a man now. "What does that mean exactly?"
"It means that his consciousness is active in a time period in which he shouldn't be -- and if he doesn't make the exact same choices that he did the first time, our reality will break apart and new realities will split off from the different path he takes."
"Do you know in which of the three points he is?"
"Yes... The points are 408 A.D.... 1991... and 2062. The first two I recognize. The year he was taken by the Spider Aliens and the year he broke free. But the future one... I'm not sure what significant event occurs there. Regardless, that's the one he's in."
"Solar... Is there any way you could send a message from me to the future?"
"I can try. It should still be possible at the moment. But to whom?"
"I don't know. But I bet the Earth does. It knows an awful lot."
2062
Aric felt himself ache. He was old, so old. He stared at his nude body in the mirror for a long time letting that sink in. A newsticker on a nearby countertop flashed the headlines : 2062, a world ruled by Corporate States, two-thirds of which belonged to Harada. And Orb had just fallen.
Is this how Crescendo wanted me to die? As an old man, in a future where one of his greatest enemies reigned supreme?
"Aric, honey? Are you coming down soon?"
Aric's eyes flickered over to a photograph. A wife. It was obvious. I have a wife in this era.
His gaze dropped back down to the control ring on his finger. Why was there such a feeling that he should do something with it? Something important.
Aric rose slowly, his old bones creaking. If Crescendo believes I'll accept this, she's wrong. I'll find Solar. I'll return home. And I'll have my revenge!
I don't know know exactly who you'll be but I'm betting that, on the off-chance that you knew me, I've never mentioned this to you before. It's really important to make sure that knowledge of the future doesn't leak out ahead of time. Anyway, you have to find the Aric Dacia of your era... and make sure that whatever's meant to occur, will. Trust the Earth to guide you. And remember -- if Aric changes history, even if it's his own future, the world will never be the same!
Lucinda Mendez looked away from the archaic paper and script. It was definitely her uncle Geoff's handwriting, though he'd died over a month ago. She'd meant to visit Aric anyway, thinking he might need her guidance -- but this message from the past (borne on one of Solar's hands, no less!) made it imperative. With Orb having fallen, Harada would no doubt seek to claim the spoils of war -- the mighty X-O armor!
The Earth whispered to her what must occur, though it pained her.
She had to make sure that Aric Dacia, hero of the Corporate Wars, died.
Coming up in X-O Manowar # 84 : Part Two of "All My Pasts Remembered." Aric Dacia is in the body of his future self -- a future self who is doomed to die at the hands of Toyo Harada! Can he sacrifice himself so that the future might live? And what will happen if he decides to break with the destiny shown in Rai # 0?
LETTERS PAGE
Outstanding!!!!!!!!!!
Looks like another good story line pouring out. Later.
Eric Gill
Thanks, Eric. I appreciate that!