Cosmology

A black page. That's all -- just one page-sized panel of blackness.

1. CAPTION:

In the beginning, there was nothing.

2. CAPTION:

Nothing but the potential of a multiverse.

3. CAPTION:

Quantum probability.

4. CAPTION:

Magic.

A full-page view of ASTRA (part of her lower body obscured by panels 2–5, of course). This is a symbolic image, so no background detail needed. She's dressed exactly as she was at the end of last issue and in fact her pose can be very similar to that she adopted in her last panel of last issue.

1. CAPTION:

Now pay attention, because I've got 15 billion years to cover and not much time to do it in.

In the centre of blackness, a single point of white.

2. CAPTION:

Fifteen billion years ago, probability exploded into reality.

The white has expanded to fill a large section of the panel.

3. CAPTION:

The multiverse began.

The white fills most of the panel, pushing out the blackness.

4. CAPTION:

Not a single universe. An infinity of them existing simultaneously in multi-dimensional space.

The panel is solid white. Within the white are dim shapes -- smears of shadow, hints of colour, the possibility of geometry.

5. CAPTION:

Every possible combination of physical variables was expressed in its own distinct universe.

Pure white.

1. CAPTION:

Some universes were created stillborn.

Speckled black-and-white, like static on an un-tuned television.

2. CAPTION:

Some lacked the laws of physics required to form coherence.

Blackness.

3. CAPTION:

Some lived and died in an instant of time too small for us to measure.

A cluster of planets, but obviously alien -- one red hued, one ringed like Saturn, one rocky, one icy, one blue with water, one white with cloud.

4. CAPTION:

An infinite number formed universes with the laws of physics that we are accustomed to.

Earth. Nuff said.

5. CAPTION:

An infinite number of those universes are so similar to ours that you could walk the streets of their Los Angeles and think you were home.

Blackness again. But in the centre are two glowing red slits. Like a pair of narrowed eyes glaring out at us. Rather like the eyes of AVATAR, in fact.

6. CAPTION:

And four of them—

7. CAPTION:

Four of them attained sentience.

Another full-page panel. On a black background are four clumps of densely-packed astronomical phenomena -- stars, nebulae, galaxies, planets. But these "clumps" form specific shapes: the shapes of four inhuman beings. Can you picture that? Try it like this: imagine a full page picture of densely-packed galaxies, planets, etc. On top of this picture, lay a sheet of black paper. In that black sheet, cut out four windows in the shape of demonic figures, so the underlying picture shows through. That is what this page looks like. The figures don't need to show any detail, because they're just outlines filled with shapes and colours.

The four shapes are as follows: a squat, bat-winged humanoid (KAROONA); an octopoidal creature (VIRIXA); a multi-armed serpent (MAGADA); and a vague insect shape, possibly tick-like (ARANA).

Captions should be placed so that the preamble is at the top and each of the four names is by the appropriate figure.

1. CAPTION:

Four infinite consciousnesses, each an entire universe to itself, each with infinite power, each intelligent and aware of its nature.

2. CAPTION:

Beings like that have no true forms as we would understand them. Nor names, except perhaps for the mathematical equations that describe them.

3. CAPTION:

But fifteen billion years later, the sorcerer-scientists of Atlantis knew of them and gave them forms from their deepest nightmares. And they gave them names:

4. CAPTION:

Karoona.

5. CAPTION:

Virixa.

6. CAPTION:

Magada.

7. CAPTION:

Arana.

8. CAPTION:

And they called them demons.

9. CAPTION:

But there was a Fifth Demon that they didn't name.

10. CAPTION:

Couldn't name, because they were not aware of it.

11. CAPTION:

Couldn't be aware of, because they were part of it.

A huge zoomed-out view of the universe showing dozens of tiny spiral galaxies (yes, spiral galaxies are actually the exception, but it's how everyone pictures galaxies so it's more reader-friendly to show them).

1. CAPTION:

Our universe was destined to be the Fifth Demon.

2. CAPTION:

It hadn't attained full sentience. It had been created with the potential, but it lay on the cusp. Almost alive yet still a functional universe.

This panel is overlaid on PANEL 1 and shows a zoomed-in view of a single spiral galaxy.

3. CAPTION:

But it was sufficiently aware to want to be more. To realize its potential. To live.

Overlaid on PANEL 2, as if we've zoomed in another step, is a single yellow (spectral type G2, if you want to be technical) star. We can possibly see a couple of planets orbiting it -- Jupiter and Saturn. (Can you see where this is (literally) going? Good...)

4. CAPTION:

So it focused its nascent consciousness to bring about the conditions that would bring it to full life. Focused it on a single point within itself.

Zoom in one more step -- and it's EARTH, of course.

5. CAPTION:

Earth.

Robed men and women sit in a circle, engaged in animated debate. The setting is an open-air amphitheatre surrounded by stone columns in a classical style. They all hold long staves, some of the men have long white beards, and they all look generally wise and wizardly. It's all very clichéd.

1. CAPTION:

Magic. It's just an application of the laws of quantum probability.

2. CAPTION:

The Atlanteans understood that, but they destroyed themselves and magic descended into superstition for the next few millennia.

A man in more mediaeval garb stands in a dim room, surrounded by smoking braziers and mystic symbols drawn on the floor. He gestures with a wand.

3. CAPTION:

Somewhere encoded into the laws of our universe is the chance that you might turn into a toad, or a rabbit might appear in my hat.

4. CAPTION:

Magic is just making sure that it happens when you want it to.

ASTRA. Her cloak is billowing out behind her and her hands are stretched out in front of her, fingers spread and glowing energy streaming from them. She is being attacked by a horde of small, flying, imp-like creatures, which her energy is sweeping a path through.

5. CAPTION:

Somewhere encoded in the laws of our universe is the chance that reality might implode, destroying life as we know it, wind itself back to the moment of creation, and reinvent itself as a single entity of infinite power.

6. CAPTION:

All the Fifth Demon had to do was make sure that it happened.

7. CAPTION:

And the way it did it was to stretch the laws of what was probable. To make the Earth the center of more and more reality-twisting events. A nexus of coincidences. A suspension of the universe's sense of disbelief.

8. CAPTION:

It invented superpowers.

A group of Neanderthals squat outside a cave, watching meteors streak though the sky.

1. CAPTION:

For our planet's entire history, unlikely things just... happened.

2. CAPTION:

If an alien fled his dying world, Earth is where he would aim for.

Bronze-age warriors kneel before a thunderbolt-wielding giant.

3. CAPTION:

If immortal beings traveled between universes, Earth is where their portals would open.

4. CAPTION:

And as time passed, superhumans multiplied and the laws of physics bent further and further from what they should have been.

Now a panel full of honest-to-gosh superheroes. One man flies with eagle's wings sprouting from his back and carries a golden staff. Alongside him is a heavily-muscled man with metallic grey skin and the emblem of the USSR on his red tunic, flying with no obvious means of propulsion. A third man glows like the sun and leaves a golden "comet" trail in the sky behind him. (These characters are incidental to this story, which is why I'm not naming them.)

5. CAPTION:

Ancient wizards handed out mystical abilities to anyone who asked.

6. CAPTION:

Experimentation stretched human potential past its limits.

7. CAPTION:

Men caught in explosions didn't die; they got better.

8. CAPTION:

The physical laws that our universe should have followed collapsed. Causality itself tottered on the brink.

9. CAPTION:

You have to remember that to us this was normal. No one was alarmed that the laws of physics were wrong. No one even noticed, because we were inside it and had no other point of reference.

In a darkened room, a cloaked and hooded man sits cross-legged on the floor in the middle of a painted circle. Candles burn around the circle and symbols are painted around its circumference.

1. CAPTION:

And at some point in the early 24th century, a brilliant and ambitious scientist called Wilhelm Zod began to investigate the knowledge of the ancient Atlanteans.

2. CAPTION:

Fusing science with magic, he tapped into the consciousness of the universe. Allowed it to possess him. Bargained his soul for the power to rule the world.

3. CAPTION:

Yes, that was in the future. Excuse the confusion with tenses. Linear time doesn't apply to demons.

Another view of the Earth from space. The planet is surrounded by the menacing figures of the demon shapes from PAGE 4. Of course this is symbolic -- the reader isn't supposed to think there are four giant shapes orbiting the Earth.

4. CAPTION:

But the other demons noticed.

5. CAPTION:

For 15 billion years the four demons had warred across countless universes in an eternal stalemate.

6. CAPTION:

Now they were aware there was a Fifth whose birth was imminent (as they perceived time). A new well of infinite power that could swing the balance of their war, if one of them could subvert that power before it attained full sentience.

7. CAPTION:

They couldn't enter our universe directly. That would just trigger the birth before they were ready.

8. CAPTION:

But they could communicate. And influence. And, if they were careful, they could extend small portions of their power into our universe.

A close-up of a small amulet. It's a disk, black, with a silver pentagram embossed on it (sound familiar?). It hangs on a silver chain which dangles from a man's hand.

1. CAPTION:

Karoona was the first. He "allowed" an Atlantean, Earth's first Supreme Sorcerer, to tap a tiny fraction of his power and bind it into an amulet.

2. CAPTION:

Then he caused the Atlanteans to destroy themselves and the amulet passed through various hands until it came into the possession of a bumbling wizard in the middle of the 24th century.

A robed man stands *outside* a painted magic circle, hands making mystic gestures. It's his hand that holds the pentagram amulet. Inside the circle is a smoky humanoid shape.

3. CAPTION:

The wizard was then nudged into repeating Wilhelm Zod's experiment. But instead of summoning the essence of the Fifth Demon, the amulet allowed him to reach beyond the dimensional boundary and summon—

The figure in the circle is now fully solid. It's a black, jackal-headed, Anubis-like figure. Yes, it looks exactly like AVATAR. The wizard regards it with fear and horror.

4. CAPTION:

An Avatar of Karoona.

The wizard with the amulet is clutching at his chest and collapsing to the ground.

5. CAPTION:

But the best laid plans of demons and wizards...

6. CAPTION:

The human was too weak.

The wizard is on the floor, apparently dead. The black figure -- AVATAR -- has stepped out of the circle and is bending over him, picking up the amulet.

7. CAPTION:

He died. And lacking guidance, cut off from Karoona's consciousness, the Avatar was left with free will.

8. CAPTION:

And did something nobody could have foreseen.

AVATAR flying through the sky above a futuristic city (tall metal towers, elevated walkways, flying cars). He wears the amulet on its chain around his neck.

1. CAPTION:

He became a hero.

2. CAPTION:

In fact, he joined the 24th century's super-powered police corps and fought against such menaces as—

Central to this panel is the hooded and cloaked figure of WILHELM ZOD. He is standing in a stylised "menacing" pose, with a group of other figures arranged behind him -- at least a dozen of them, wearing a variety of outlandish costumes. I'm not going to describe them all, they can be small and with minimal detail. The only two that need to be identifiable, slightly forward of the others perhaps, are a young blonde woman in blue with glowing "butterfly" wings, and a man in a black-and-gold costume, crackling with electrical energy. Yes, these two are SYLPH and DYNAMO from way back in ISSUE #22. I'm not going to explicitly join-the-dots in the captions, because ASTRA isn't giving everything away to the people hearing her story, but I hope readers are putting the jigsaw pieces together themselves. (Hmm. Mixed metaphors.)

3. CAPTION:

— Wilhelm Zod, now calling himself the Wraith and leading a powerful criminal cartel...

4. CAPTION:

...Including his daughter, Sylph, to whom he gave a tiny fraction of his own power.

5. CAPTION:

The irony is that while Avatar didn't know what the Wraith really was—

6. CAPTION:

—Neither did the Wraith himself. The Wraith was a megalomaniac, an insane genius who thought he had found the power to rule the world. He had no idea that he actually held the power that was destined to destroy it.

AVATAR is walking up the steps of a gleaming metal building towards big doors flanked by uniformed guards. It's still in the futuristic city. AVATAR may not be alone in this panel but the perspective should be such that we don't see who might be with him. A sign on the wall reads "INSTITUTE OF TIME".

7. CAPTION:

Then one day in the year 2350, a brilliant scientist by the name of Karl Zod—

8. CAPTION:

Yes, the brother of Wilhelm.

9. CAPTION:

—Discovered a threat to the fabric of time itself, something that would wipe their present time from existence if not stopped.

10. CAPTION:

Avatar volunteered to join a team of officers who would be sent to stop this threat.

The dominant panel on the page shows five figures standing in a high-tech control room, looking at an image of the Earth on a view screen. In fact, we've seen this control room before: back in ISSUE #22. Some of the figures might be familiar, too: AVATAR, of course; a younger version of DIANA JUST, wearing a white body suit with a flowing cape (BLACK SWAN); A man wearing fairly non-descript, dark-grey, loose coveralls with a number of bulging pockets and pouches (NIGHTFLYER); A man in a form-fitting blue body suit with lightning-bolt motif, including gloves and full-face mask (ELECTRON); and MAJOR DEMOCRACY -- yes, a man in JAMES's green-and-black spider-silk costume, identical right down to the cowl, boots, and gloves. With one difference: he has a shield strapped to his left arm but it's a plain grey disk, no silver-on-black pentagram design.

The captions naming these five should be placed by the appropriate figures.

1. CAPTION:

Avatar

2. CAPTION:

Black Swan

3. CAPTION:

Nightflyer

4. CAPTION:

Electron

5. CAPTION:

and Major Democracy.

6. CAPTION:

Strikeforce.

7. CAPTION:

Sent 400 years into their past to save their present.

8. CAPTION:

They succeeded but they were left stranded.

9. CAPTION:

In 1987.

A close-up on AVATAR -- upper-body view only, showing the pentagram amulet around his neck. In his hand, he holds ANOTHER pentagram amulet. Energy crackles around both amulets.

10. CAPTION:

And so Avatar became the unwitting trigger for the first demonic incursion.

11. CAPTION:

Because during Strikeforce's exile in 1987, he found another amulet of Karoona—or, I should say, the same one again. Four hundred years too early.

Another view of AVATAR with the two amulets, now holding one in each hand. The energy mounts around him, emanating from the amulets, and his head is thrown back as if in a howl of pain. In the background the massive, powerful, winged humanoid figure we saw back on PAGE 4 (KAROONA) towers over him. Again, this image is mainly symbolic so the figure doesn't need to be anymore than an outline shape.

1. CAPTION:

And to a demon, a paradox is the equivalent of lighting the blue touch paper. Reality breaks down—

Same view, same howl from AVATAR. But now the amulets are crumbling away and a pentagram symbol has appeared on his chest, marked by silver flames as if it has been burned into his black flesh.

2. CAPTION:

—And infinite power pours through.

AVATAR, flying towards our POV, the angle allowing the blazing pentagram to be visible on his chest, and his eyes burning with a matching silver flame. It should all look very powerful and impressive.

3. CAPTION:

Avatar went mad — at least as far as we could see.

4. CAPTION:

He went on a rampage, attacking both good and evil magicians across the world and draining their magical powers into himself.

5. CAPTION:

We had no idea why. The sorcerers who could have explained it were the first to fall.

KAROONA stands in a clearing in the woods. The surrounding trees look like Californian redwoods (we don't have to see surrounding detail in this panel, but this scene will last for several panels). We now see him in full detail. His bat wings are grey and leathery, his body is half-scaled, half-furred, his eyes glow a deep red, and a red glow also seems to emanate from his gaping mouth. And he's BIG. When we see him in relation to other figures, he looks about 20 feet (6m) tall and correspondingly wide.

6. CAPTION:

We only understood after Karoona manifested.

Now KAROONA is being attacked by STRIKEFORCE. But not the same STRIKEFORCE we saw on PAGE 11 (things are never simple with Strikeforce). We see ELECTRON and MAJOR DEMOCRACY but we also see ASTRA, PHOTON (who had a cameo way back in ISSUE #22), and a man encased entirely in a suit of metallic armour, grey/black with yellow markings (CENTURION).

ELECTRON is blasting KAROONA with bolts of lightning from his fingertips. CENTURION is hovering (with no visible propulsion) and his armour's gauntlets fire something like ball lightning. PHOTON also flies, in a halo of green light, and fires green lasers beams from his eyes. ASTRA fires glowing energy from her spread fingers. MAJOR DEMOCRACY stands around gesturing and shouting, as if directing tactics (note that he still carries the plain metal shield). Unfortunately, none of these attacks seem to be making the slightest impression on KAROONA. They either strike glowing shields some distance from his body or actually seem to curve away from him and miss completely.

Note, these additional characters are named for artistic reference but I won't name them in captions as it's not relevant to the story.

No dialogue.

CENTURION has flown too close to KAROONA and the demon has caught him with a powerful backhand blow.

No dialogue.

KAROONA blasts lurid purple energy from his hands. MAJOR DEMOCRACY has swept ASTRA from the path of one bolt. Another bolt has blasted a crater near ELECTRON, who is thrown backwards as the ground bucks. In the background we see CENTURION has been flung away by KAROONA's blow and is smashing a path through big, solid trees.

No dialogue.

We switch to a high, distant view of the battle. Details are indistinct, but we see PHOTON felled by another purple bolt.

No dialogue.

Looking at the battle from the same angle but closer now, as if we are zooming down towards it. We see MAJOR DEMOCRACY flinging his shield at KAROONA, the disk looking particularly small and puny as it arcs towards the giant demon.

No dialogue.

Same angle, closer still. KAROONA has turned his head to face the incoming shield and a ragged beam of blood-red energy streams from his mouth. The energy envelops the shield and we see the disk actually melting, deforming, metallic droplets spattering away. (This must be illustrated carefully, as the damage can't be so severe that we can't tell it's the shield but should be severe enough for us to tell it's not recovering from the attack.)

No dialogue.

Our zooming in POV is almost on top of the scene now. All we see is fallen heroes and a triumphant demon. The MAJOR and ASTRA remain standing, but he's weaponless and she's slumping against him for support, as if exhausted. But she's also looking up -- that is, directly out of panel at us -- with a wide-eyed expression.

1. CAPTION:

So much raw power pouring from beyond the universe. For all Strikeforce's power, there wasn't a thing we could do against it.

Now we switch to a different viewpoint to show us AVATAR flying head-on at KAROONA. (It's been his POV we've been looking from, of course, as he's been streaking in towards the battle.) He's flying at incredible speed, a black blur intermingled with silver flame emanating from his eyes and the pentagram on his chest.

2. CAPTION:

Except for one of us.

A full-page splash panel. AVATAR has struck KAROONA. But the result isn't an explosion -- it's more of an implosion. KAROONA's form is merging into that of AVATAR, both of their bodies distorting as if being sucked into their common centre of gravity. Multi-coloured energy -- red, black, silver -- swirls around them, but seems to be spiralling in rather than spraying out.

No dialogue.

Pull further back to show MAJOR DEMOCRACY braced against the force of the implosion (note, trying to avoid being sucked IN, not blown AWAY), one arm holding ASTRA. Beyond them, we see AVATAR and KAROONA continue to "merge", their forms even more distorted as they spiral inwards together.

1. CAPTION:

Avatar's attack on Earth's sorcerers wasn't a mindless rampage.

2. CAPTION:

It was a calculated strategy. Borrowing their magic to give himself the power to defeat Karoona.

3. CAPTION:

He couldn't destroy the demon. Not when it had — it was — the infinite power of a universe.

The demons have vanished, leaving a small, intensely bright point of light. We still see this from a distance, with the MAJOR and ASTRA in the foreground. The imploding pull has stopped and they are now shielding their eyes against the glow.

4. CAPTION:

But he could bind it, seal it away from our universe and deny it entry. For eternity if necessary.

5. CAPTION:

Though binding spells are simple, nobody had ever worked one on a being of Karoona's power.

6. CAPTION:

But Avatar was temporarily the strongest magical entity in the universe, and he understood Karoona intimately.

Now a close-up on the glowing remnant of the battle. In the centre of the glow we see a brighter, pure, silver light. The silver forms the shape of a pentagram.

7. CAPTION:

All he needed to complete the spell was a binding symbol—

And as the outer glow fades, we are left with the silver pentagram on a black, metallic disk. As it hangs in the air, there is no sense of scale in this panel. Is this the original amulet Avatar wore? Or--?

8. CAPTION:

And an object to bind it to.

A gloved hand -- MAJOR DEMOCRACY's -- reaches in (from off-panel) to pluck the black disk out of the air. And it's not a tiny amulet, of course. It's bigger... maybe two feet across... come on, you've guessed it by now...

No dialogue.

MAJOR DEMOCRACY straps a new shield to his forearm. It's black with a silver pentagram.

1. CAPTION:

A shield.

A panoramic view of a high-rise city at night. (For artistic reference: it's Vancouver, Canada.) In the centre of the scene, but indistinct due to distance, some kind of activity seems to be taking place in the sky above one particular building. All we can see is a shapeless glow of energy, surrounded by more steaks and flashes of different-coloured energy.

2. CAPTION:

Even though Major Democracy couldn't tap the power bound by the Shield, we knew that its potential was infinite. In the wrong hands, it could devastate the universe.

An image of MAJOR DEMOCRACY in some kind of action pose, the SHIELD prominently on his arm. He's standing in front of a group of children and using the SHIELD to deflect bolts of energy (fired from off-panel) safely away from them. The background of the scene is the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline.

3. CAPTION:

And so, for several years, the Major carried the most dangerous weapon ever created. Protecting it even as it protected him, in battle after battle against the most powerful villains on the planet.

Another action panel, and this time the background looks like the Kremlin in Moscow. (That Major sure got around a lot, didn't he?) This time he's in hand-to-hand combat with the Soviet-themed character depicted back on PAGE 7.

4. CAPTION:

For Strikeforce, life went on. Members came and went. Villains were defeated. The world was saved a few more times. Nothing unusual.

THE WRAITH, with his minions from PAGE 10 (again, we don't need to show full details of the minions; just as long as there are many of them and SYLPH is fairly prominent). This isn't an action panel -- it's a posed view of the people we are now talking about.

1. CAPTION:

And it might have gone on forever, if not for the Wraith traveling to the twentieth century.

2. CAPTION:

Still unaware that he was hosting the consciousness of the Fifth Demon, the Wraith's latest plan was to conquer the world through mastery of time.

In a symbolic panel, MAJOR DEMOCRACY (and SHIELD) and the WRAITH face each other.

3. CAPTION:

Of course, whatever new schemes he developed, Strikeforce stopped them.

4. CAPTION:

But none of it would matter. Because a critical mass of metaphysical energy had finally been achieved.

Another symbolic view, this one showing THE WRAITH as a huge cosmic figure holding the Earth in his hands.

5. CAPTION:

Time paradoxes, the demons bound into the shield, superhumans of vast power, and the consciousness of the Fifth Demon. It had all come together.

6. CAPTION:

As the final ingredient, the Demon allowed the Wraith to die. This unbound the Demon's consciousness—

A repeat of last panel, except instead of the WRAITH cradling the Earth, it is AVATAR.

7. CAPTION:

—and allowed it to act through a new Avatar. This was a form that could support the final concentration of power the Demon needed to birth itself.

ASTRA in conversation with four other people: an ancient-looking Chinese man in shabby Western clothing; a younger (middle-aged) Caucasian man in a very English-looking tweed waistcoat and a jacket with leather patches on his elbows; a young Chinese woman with a rainbow-coloured cloak; a man in long robes (including a face-concealing hood) that are coloured black on the left half of his body and white on the right. They seem to be in some sort of cave. ASTRA sits cross-legged on the floor, the Chinese man is on a small stool, the Chinese woman is in the lotus position on a cushion, the English gentleman is in a big leather armchair and drinking a cup of tea, and the robed man is aloof in the background with his arms folded and standing in mid-air a foot above the floor.

1. CAPTION:

It was at this point that the magical community got seriously spooked.

2. CAPTION:

Finally started to figure out what was happening.

3. CAPTION:

And—

4. CAPTION:

—I'm ashamed to admit it—

5. CAPTION:

—We ran.

ASTRA sits alone, cross-legged, on the grass beside a small circular pond which she is gazing down into. Small bunny rabbits sit next to her and bluebirds flutter around. Alert readers might recognise the location as that depicted in the painting called "HAVEN" in ISSUE 32 PAGE 15. We should also note that the SHIELD is lying flat on the grass beside her. On the grass on her other side is a small carton of ice cream (chocolate) with a spoon sticking out of it.

6. CAPTION:

We took ourselves outside the universe, to places of sanctuary. We told ourselves that it was so our power would be denied to the Demon.

7. CAPTION:

But to tell the truth, we had just given up.

Another view of ASTRA on the grass. This POV is from above her as she looks down into the pool, so we can see what she sees in its waters. And she sees a vision of a fight. It's small and indistinct, but we should see enough detail to understand that it's STRIKEFORCE in battle with an AVATAR.

8. CAPTION:

But I was a member of Strikeforce before I was Supreme Sorceress.

Ok, a HUGE fight. This will have to be the dominant panel on the page. It's on the main deck of the STRIKEFORCE SPACE STATION, as depicted on PAGE 11. The AVATAR stands in the middle, radiating massive amounts of energy. Multi-coloured bolts of power fly in all directions. Arrayed against him is STRIKEFORCE. Lots of them: MAJOR DEMOCRACY (using a plain grey shield similar to his original), NIGHTFLYER, PHOTON, CENTURION, BLACK SWAN. And others we haven't seen before: a muscular man in a red-and-black bodysuit with a full-face mask; a man in a suit of blue armour; a man in grey combat fatigues holding a tonfa in each hand; a feline humanoid (A "cat man") wearing a black body suit that leaves his head and hands exposed (so we can see what he is). SYLPH is here too, and she seems to be fighting on the side of STRIKEFORCE. There should be others, but the panel is probably already too crowded. All of these various heroes are in pitched battle with the AVATAR.

1. CAPTION:

And Strikeforce doesn't give up.

A close-up on MAJOR DEMOCRACY. Around him flare the energies of the battle. Beside him, some kind of glowing portal has opened in the air and ASTRA is stepping out. She carries the SHIELD.

2. CAPTION:

During my exile, I worked out how to beat the Demon.

With the battle raging in the background, ASTRA and the MAJOR seem to be arguing about something. She still holds the SHIELD

3. CAPTION:

To effect his transformation, his birth, the Demon needed an unnatural concentration of superhuman energy. So—

The battle scene again. But STRIKEFORCE have stopped fighting. Instead they either lie unmoving on the floor or are in the act of falling to the floor. From each one, a glowing tendril of pure white energy reaches into the triumphant figure of AVATAR. The only person unaffected is the MAJOR, who still stands defiant. ASTRA has collapsed at his feet but seems conscious and is feebly holding up the SHIELD. The MAJOR has dropped the "plain" shield to the floor.

1. CAPTION:

We gave it to him. Sacrificed the powers that made us unique, made us more than human, made us walking anomalies.

2. CAPTION:

And not just Strikeforce—

A picture of the Earth from space. From locations all over it, white energy streams up into a single point somewhere in high orbit.

3. CAPTION:

But from all over Earth, and beyond.

4. CAPTION:

From every hero, every villain, every piece of anomalous technology, we let the Demon strip the power he needed.

5. CAPTION:

And when it was done—

Back inside the space station, the streaming energy has stopped and the Demon glows a pure white. MAJOR DEMOCRACY is the only hero still standing -- and he's throwing the SHIELD, yes the real SHIELD, directly at the Demon.

6. CAPTION:

In the split second before the universe transformed and all life ended—

The SHIELD strikes the Demon and the familiar sucky-spirally-implosion thing is taking place.

7. CAPTION:

We trapped it. Forever.

A stretch of shoreline (somewhere in southern California). A glowing object plunging into the ocean with a great splash and burst of steam. We can't see the object clearly, but we can assume from the glowing trail it has left through the air that it has fallen from space.

1. CAPTION:

The death toll was horrendous. But we saved the Universe.

2. CAPTION:

We had no other option.

3. CAPTION:

Sometimes being Supreme Sorceress — or just being a hero — really sucks.

4. CAPTION:

But that's what we do. We make the choices that nobody else can. That nobody else can even understand.

Same view, maybe a bit closer to the beach so we can see detail, and we see figures emerging -- staggering and dragging themselves -- from the ocean. Leading the way is THE MAJOR (with the SHIELD) supporting ASTRA. Close behind is SYLPH, and some -- not all -- of the rest of STRIKEFORCE further back. There is no sign of the object that hit the ocean.

5. CAPTION:

People called it The Event, and gave up trying to explain it. All anyone knew was that powers were stripped from the world. The laws of the universe had fundamentally shifted.

Close up of the MAJOR and ASTRA, sitting on the beach and facing the ocean. They are wet and covered in sand, so we can assume it is just after they crawled out (but we won't show any other STRIKEFORCE members in this panel). The MAJOR has his head in his hands. ASTRA's head is bowed so that her face is hidden by her long, wet hair.

6. CAPTION:

The survivors adjusted to life without powers.

7. CAPTION:

And gradually retired, or just faded away, to make way for the next generation of superhumans.

Posed group view of JAMES (in costume), SARA, FRED, PAUL, and CHI-YUN.

8. CAPTION:

Yes, that would be you. Powers are returning in your generation. But returning slowly. A natural evolution, not the forced madness of the Demon.

The SHIELD fills the final panel of the issue.

9. CAPTION:

The shield—

10. CAPTION:

It had no place in the new world. It contained power that could undo everything we had put in place.

11. CAPTION:

We sent it away. To a place outside the Universe. A safe haven.

12. CAPTION:

And we prayed the Universe would never need it again.