Tag: Jessica Carter

December 31, 1986, 10:11 pm
The apartment of Patrick Berger and Steve Roberts
Fishtown section of Philadelphia, Pa

Steve Roberts has taken off his birthday from work and some of the guys from work wanted to take him out to dinner. After dinner the guys head for a New Year’s Eve party. Steve tagged along for a few hours, but since alcohol doesn’t affect him, he decided to head home. Tonight he had planned to get the first good night’s he has had in weeks, no dreams, no premonitions of disaster, just restful sleep. Or so he hoped.

He has been asleep for hours when the phone on his nightstand begins to ring. He rolls over trying to ignore the call that is going to change his plans. The ringing of the phone somehow becomes louder forcing him to reach to turn on the light.

He picks up the phone recognizing his Mother number on the caller ID. It wasn’t unusual for her to call to wish him a Happy Birthday, but this was different, it sounded more urgent. “Steve, I’ve been contacted by Mist, he wants to see us,” she tells him. “You said you weren’t happy with his last summoning so I called you first.”

“When, how do we get there?” Steve asked.

“I’m already here, and now so are you,” his Mom told him. Instantly the phone was gone from his hand and he stands in Mist’s palace on Magic Island.

His recent change in sleeping attire was a good one, he thinks. “What is going on?” Steve asked, a bit irritated.

“I have summoned you here to accept your twenty-first birthday gift,” Mist says.

“What kind of Gift?” Steve asks.

“One final test,” Mist replies a solemn look on his chiseled face.

“What kind of gift is a test,” Steve asks, more than a little suspicious.

“An important gift,” Dona Roberts tells her son. “You have come to a turning point in your life and you still have so many questions that need to be answered.”

“This test will answer those questions,” Mist says and with a wave of his arm that without warning transports Steve somewhere else.

Not far away on Magic Island in a small cottage hidden away from prying eyes a similar exchange takes place. Diana Carter has spent three years on this island training to use her superhuman powers. Today her mentor Shanna has offered a special task that will put her training to the test.

“You don’t think the blonde hair is too much?” Diana asks the other two women. Shanna and Robin stand admiring Diana in her magenta and blue outfit. “Is all of this really necessary?”

“As I have told you, this mission must remain secret, anyone you should meet in Zeeza is not to be trusted,” Shanna tells Diana again. “It is important that your identity needs to be kept secret as well.”

“I wish Robin could come along,” Diana suggests, eyeing her reflection in the full length mirror.

“I am just an android training partner, this is work for a real person,” the android that has become Diana’s only companion over her three years of training. Diana named her training partner Robin, after a twin sister she had in a dream. Diana has come to feel that the android is as close to her as a sister would be, although the android does not return the emotion.

“Come now, Diana, it is time you were on your way,” Shanna says as she conjures a portal out of thin air.

The world of Zeeza, is a Limbo dimension that exists in the space between this dimension and the next. It is a world created as a tomb for a great leader who met an unjust death. An eon later they came to Zeeza, the Mistix (late) of Earth. Each of the Mistix began his or her life as a god from some mythic pantheon. Evolving beyond their godhood each took the name of a sign from the Zodiac.

Floating in empty space, what was once a barren asteroid, it is now a mosaic land of strongholds. The Mistix used their great power to construct a New World for themselves. Dividing the asteroid at the center of this Limbo into provinces, twelve of the Mistix created structures from the Earth’s past to suit their own ancient history. Twelve cultures mingle into a collage of long dead civilizations. The thirteenth created a province at the center that binds all the others together. All of the foundations united into one world atop a lifeless rock core. Human eyes have never seen the sights of this world until today when all that changed. It is in this place, lost from reality, where two Earth people now begin an adventure that they will not really understand all of its meanings for years to come.

JANUARY 1, 1987, the world of Zeeza

Zeeza,
The province of Aries

The province of Aries is filled with large marble columned structures. One young man stands in the center of all these structures. Today is his 21st birthday; his name is Steven Andrew Roberts, Jr. For the past two years he has worked as a Philadelphia police officer. Recently he has had some doubts about his path in life. His mentor the immortal Mist has offered him a birthday gift that he believes will clear up those doubts.

This must be a dream, has he been sent back in time? he thinks to himself. Steve reaches out to touch one of the incredible marble statues that line the walkway. Looking to his hand he notices on his wrist he wears his gauntlets over white sleeve that covers his arms. The sleeve changes to red at mid-bicep like a T-shirt. Taking a look down to the rest of his body, Steve sees for the first time that all of his clothing is “skin-tight”. He is wearing some kind of comic book Superhero suit. The red shirt has some kind of hybrid eagle “W” in the center of his chest. A large golden belt separates the red shirt from the blue pants. The pant legs disappear inside yellow striped red boots. He is wearing a much better version of a Halloween costume he made years ago. The one thing he does recognize is the gold gauntlets he wears on his wrists. Is this Mist’s idea of an answer to my life questions? He thinks to himself.

Jogging ahead to a fountain, Steve looks to see his reflection. He is also wearing a white mask that covers his face from the bridge of his nose to his hairline. Strangely his hair is black not its real color of brown. The most disturbing thing is his mustache is gone. HE reaches to touch his lip and it is smoothly shaved. “Damn it, that is going to take me at least a week to grow back!” he grumbles, stepping back from the fountain. He stands there momentarily pulling at the crotch of the tight pants to loosen them up. He thinks, This must be a dream. I wouldn’t be caught dead in this “Wonder suit” again. It was only a few weeks ago that Steve was saying to his father that his past year on the police force is not what he thought it would be. He felt his powers were being wasted, because he couldn’t use them openly. And it was becoming harder and harder to keep them hidden. You see Steve Roberts is no regular man. He is what one-day will be commonly called a Zeni-human. A Zeni-human is a person with abilities and powers beyond that of a normal human.

Ahead, at the end of the marble walkway, stairs lead up to a column-fronted temple of some sort. Walking along Steve’s mind wanders back to the suit he is wearing. Surprisingly, he thinks this outfit is more comfortable than his police uniform ever was. Arriving at the foot of the steps, one leap and the son of an Amazon is up the twelve steps, leading into the temple. Once inside the stone construct, Steve takes a look around. The stone is as old looking as anything he ever saw in Rome. The gold and purple draperies that adorn the walls of the interior appear to be for a king’s temple. “Zeus!” “Jupiter!” “Anybody home?” he calls out jokingly. A rumble of thunder passes over the temple. When it quiets, his sharp ears pick up the sound of footsteps behind him.

Steve feels a chill deep within, he turns with a start. A man in a red hooded, black robe who stands nearly seven feet tall looms in the doorway. “The temple is that of Jupiter not Zeus,” he answers. “I am Aries, once long ago I was his son, the god of war,” the imposing man continues. “Your arrival is the sign that will change all that is for the Mistix,” Aries finishes as he turns to leave the temple.

Steve follows after the stranger, “Ares? Jupiter’s son?” he asks, “Jupiter was of the Roman gods and Ares was of the Greeks.” “If my memory of the mythology is correct, Mars was Jupiter’s son.”

The man stops short, an angry look upon his strong Mediterranean features. “As a god I was known to humans as Mars!” his voice booms. “I am a god no more.” “I am a Mistix, I wield power far beyond that of a mere god now as Aries.” The man somehow looks familiar to Steve. The talk of the Greek and Roman gods makes him think of the man he met at the Triad’s bed and breakfast, March Aries. This man could be a dead ringer for him.

“If you don’t mind me mentioning it, you look like a man I met not long ago, March Aries,” Steve says, causing a strange look to appear on the man’s face.

“I assure you we have never met before this day!” “Whoever this March Aries is he is an imposter!” the Mistix scolds. “Appearances can be deceiving.” “Men had fought wars seeking riches in my name.” “Mine was the joy in war not the rewards.” “Take this stone for example,” Aries says, holding up a small diamond crystal. “Men would have killed for such a trophy.” “See how it catches the light refracting it, changing it, making things look different.” Steve’s eyes focus on the small gem and Aries’ face becomes absurd to him making the man’s features that were once clear to him seem blurred and distorted. “I can will it to make me appear anyway I please.” “To you it is a miraculous trick, to me it is a worthless crystal.” Aries turns and walks away tossing the diamond over his shoulder like a piece of trash. Steve quickly catches the stone before it hits the floor. He tucks it in the waistband of his pants behind his belt. It is not a worthless crystal to him.

As they tour the huge stone structures Steve learns much from the man in the red hooded robe. The name of this world is Zeeza, home of the Mistix. The young cop from Philadelphia is still baffled by the point of these events. His host has been nothing but friendly, showing him around the temple of Jupiter. Following close behind, Steve enters a room filled with fruit and vegetables of all kinds. Once inside, “Eat and enjoy the produce of my province,” Aries tells Steve. The costumed young man reaches for a large plump red apple that sits atop a basket of fruit. Unconcerned, the Mistix continues to speak, “This room is dedicated to what I once was as Mars, god of war and agriculture.” The Earthman takes a big bite from the juicy apple.

“Agriculture?” Steve questions his mouth full of the apple’s flesh.

“An army runs on its bellies, does it not?” Aries says grinning. “Not that I am against meat but a herbivore diet is faster to procure.” “You will be quite content here until your passing,” his words finished as the Mistix fades away into nothingness, “Goodbye.”

The once open doorway is now sealed with a matching marble slab. Steve feels a tingle at the back of his neck. “Damn,” he exclaims. I knew this was going too good, he thinks. When he goes to walk his feet won’t move. Glancing down, vines have sprouted from between the floor tile. The vines are growing at a rapid rate ensnared his feet and ankles. Bending at the waist Steve moves to break the vines hold on him. Grasping the greenery, he soon finds his hands and wrist bound to his ankles. A rather awkward position he thinks to himself. “Time to return this gift,” Steve speaks out loud. Nothing changes the vines continue to coil up his arms and legs binding him even tighter. “Mist you can have this birthday gift back,” he shouts aloud. The strong vines squeeze his body even tighter. This is no dream! Steve’s day to day job as a cop hasn’t prepared him for such an eventuality. These bastard vines are crushing me, he realizes. Steve Roberts has other class of training than that of a police officer. His mother has trained him as a warrior. The main source of Steve’s Zeni-human powers is his mother. She has centuries of experience as a warrior. His mother, Dona is a 3200-year-old Amazon of legend. He has to wonder if she ever met this Guy when he was Mars. If I can just relax my muscles and then, “Aaaahhh!” With one mighty flex of every muscle of his body the vines begin to snap. Again, “Aaauughhhh!” And he stands up right throwing off the killer plants. The plants continue to sprout through the flooring and Steve lunges forward tumbling across the room. A running drop kick to the stone door and it falls under his feet. The previously immaculate corridor is now covered with the trailing vines. He grabs for a massive sword that hangs on the wall. Its weight is as great as its size. At least a hundred pounds of forged steel he swings it cutting through the living vines. Speed is his only answer. He begins to run, his speed increases and his feet squash plant after plant as the sword shreds the vegetation. He runs faster than he would ever dare let himself at home. Within minutes the “Wonder Man” is out of the temple and on the road that leads out of the province. Steve stops for only a moment to look back, the incessant vines continue to grow toward him.

Zeeza,
The province of Scorpius

Steve Roberts is not the only one to come to this place lost from humanity on this day. On the other side of the asteroid an Earth woman named Diana Carter has arrived. She has spent the past two and a half years on Magic island in the Bermuda Triangle. For those years on that island she has been developing her own Zeni-human powers. Powers she has mastered with the help of her friend and mentor Shanna. It is Shanna who sent her to this place to find the Core of Humanity. She has no idea what this “Core” looks like or what the reason Shanna wants it is but it is a chance to get off the island and test her abilities.

Diana stands in the middle of a dark and gloomy forest. Although there are no stars in the night sky of this world, light is present making her bleached blonde hair shimmer. Dressed in a full body purple and blue leotard with thigh high blue boots, her face covered by a mask, only her arms are exposed. The light seems to be coming from the edges of the forest all around. Best I get out of this forest if I’m going to find what I came here for, she thinks to herself. Twigs and leaves crunch under her feet as she walks toward the edge of the forest. The more she walks the farther away the edge of the forest seems to become. Diana stops to look around for a minute, to get her bearings. Her right foot slips off a rock on the ground, twisting her ankle slightly. She kicks the stone causing it to tumble and roll away. How the hell do I get out of this place she wonders. There is a noise in the leaves in the direction she kicked the stone.

Her eyes still find it hard to focus in the dim light. That wasn’t a rock she kicked at all, it seems to still be moving on its own. Crawling back towards her. Diana rubs her eyes. That thing is definitely growing as it moves closer, not just in perception but in mass. Backing away, her shoulder hits a hard surface, a tree maybe. Then she smells it, “Uhhh,” she gasps, “What is that stink?” Before her question is answered, two large spiny arms close around her chest. “Aaaahhh,” she sheiks. Trained instinct kicks in, her body loses tangibility becoming untouchable. Her body passes through the arms that hold her tightly. Forgetting the stone she spins to face her attacker. She knows what smells now. It is this beast that is poised before Diana. She is appreciative of the lack of light now. This thing looks like nothing she has ever seen. It’s part human, part praying mantis? It remains motionless watching her as it begins to gently sway. She awaits the next move of the creature. Her arms sting from the cuts caused by the beast’s thorny grasp. Returning to normal for only a minute, her wounds quickly heals. Her eyes never leave her attacker. A minute is all it takes for the creature to act. Suddenly its barbed arm swings out at its prey. Dodging she escaped the blow, grabbing the outstretched arm she swings the 300 pound creature aside into a tree. The sound of the bug-man’s shell cracking on the tree trunk is grotesque.

It is all the young woman can do to keep from vomiting at the sight and smell of her victory. She turns and begins to run through the trees. In two minutes she has run 550 feet or more and still she has not reached the edge of the forest. Stopping short, she finds it hard to stand. Looking down, more of the stone like beetles, hundreds of them are under her feet. They carry her backward into the woods. This is impossible, she thinks to herself. “It’s like running on a treadmill,” She exclaims.

“Your speed is impressive,” a chilling voice speaks to her in the darkness.

“Who’s there?” the young woman calls out, “Are you the one who has the answers to my questions?”

A blood curdling cackle echoes through the treetops, “I have many answers, little one, none that you would like.”

“Show yourself to me!” “Are you afraid of me?” Diana calls out in the darkness. Without warning an old tree stump bursts into flame. The glow of the bond fire illuminates the grim forest. The beatles on the ground scatter running from the light. Diana moves closer to the flames, the warmth is refreshing in the damp air of these woods.

“I fear no human,” the voice utters. “I was once a goddess who only the most evil of humans worshiped.” The voice is different this time, Diana can pinpoint its origin. Looking through the flames, a slender woman in all black garments waits. All that emerges from under her black cloak is her face.

The young woman walks around the fire to approach the self proclaimed goddess. “I have been sent here in search of something called the Core of Humanity,” the blonde states to the dark woman. Diana can just make out the woman’s features in the dim firelight. The dark woman is over a half a foot shorter than Diana but she is still menacing.

“Wouldn’t you rather have answers of your beginnings, of how you became what you are?” the macabre woman suggests to her. “Those closest to you hide that truth, I have no reason to hide anything.”

“What do you mean those closest to me?” Diana asks in confusion.

“More questions child?” the dark woman says. “Are you willing to pay the price for the answers?”

Diana stands silent thinking for a moment, why would she pay anyone to learn the truth about herself. She is more than capable of finding those answers on her own. Shanna has implied that this “Core Of Humanity could answer those questions without any price. “No thanks, I just think I will be going now,” Diana decides.

“The province of Scorpius is endless,” the woman says, her eyes glowing in the darkness. “Walk in any direction, run if you wish, it is as inescapable as I am.”

“I didn’t catch your name goddess, who are you?” Diana asks timidly, hoping this answer will be free.

“I was De’Obolic, the Goddess of Evil,” comes the reply from the strange hostess. “I was feared by most, even the mention of my name was wiped from history.” I was worship by only those who truly reveled in destruction and chaos.”

“I don’t understand why I would be sent to someone like you,” Diana says if only talking to herself.

“Perhaps it was for some free advice my dear,” Scorpius snickers.

“What kind of advice do you offer that is free?” Diana questions.

“Perhaps, not to ask questions you really don’t want to know the answers to,” the dark woman says leaning in closer to Diana’s face. Diana backs away from her feeling a little frightened for the first time in years.

What did she mean by that? Diana wonders. “I think I will be going now!” she replies, turning away from the dark woman again. She begins to walk away from the bonfire toward the light at the edge of the trees. She only takes a few steps when the Mistix Scorpius steps out from behind another tree.

“I have more to offer you, there are many possibilities,” Scorpius says. Diana turns to discover she is back at the bonfire. “Someone who asks so many questions should be prepared to hear answers she doesn’t want to hear,” Scorpius hisses. “Are you prepared to get the answer you don’t want to hear?”

“So you do know something?” Diana asks again.

“I know that I spent centuries offering humans power and none ever turned it down,” Scorpius brags.

“I would guess that power was no gift, I came with a price,” Diana suggests.

“Of course, most things in your world do,” Scorpius replies. “My gift of choice was the merger of humans with another species.” “In time they learned to live with their new body, that was the price they paid.”

“I have no need of your power, I have my own,” Diana tells the Mistix as her eyes glow, releasing beams of pink energy from them at the dark woman. The beams hit their target as the Mistix becomes a mass of black smoke that swirls, allowing the beams to pass through her harmlessly.

The dark smoke solidified again, “Yes I see you are already an impressive combination of species,” Scorpius says as the Mistix moves to step into the flames of the bonfire leaving Diana lost again alone in the darkness.

“Two species?” Diana questions. Any other person may have been frightened by these events. Diana on the other hand stands alone in the dark province of Scorpius contemplating her next move, trying not to read too much into Scorpius’ departing words. Shanna told Diana she would be going on a quest of epic proportion and this is just the beginning. The fire has greatly burnt down and she can hear the unknown creatures huddle around her waiting for the flames to snuff out and the darkness to return. There must be another way out, she thinks. Calm down! Just think! I can figure this out! That goddess witch can get in and out, how can I? If I can’t walk or run out what is left? Fly? “No wait, that’s it!” she shouts, sending a shutter to the beasts in the dark. Her eyes close as the fire dies and she concentrates hard on moving forward beyond the trees. Before the creatures can attack, she is gone blinking slightly out of this plane sliding across the dimensional fabric.

Earth,
Magic Island

Mist stands alone in his throne room, Guardian of the island but a ruler of nothing staring out the window at the sunrise. His daughter Shanna enters, ending the silence. “Has Dona gone?” the young woman asks her father.

“Yes, the amazon Dona has returned home, I will summon her again when her son returns,” Mist answers.

“I felt strange not telling Diana about her father’s illness before sending her off to Zeeza,” Shanna confessed.

“This reunion is too important to bother the girl with such matters,” Mist replied coldly. “Now that both are adults it is time to see if what we suspected all along is true.” “If they will still fall in love sight unseen.

“Then the Core of Humanity is of no importance?” Shanna asks, never aware of all of her father’s plans.

“No, if the girl manages to retrieve the Core it will be a bonus,” Mist smiles.

“Then will she be ready to be returned home?” Shanna asks.

“If all goes as expected on this mission the Diana Carter will be ready for what awaits her at home,” Mist confirms.

Shanna approaches the large glass globe that sits on a silver stand off to the side of the room. “Can you see what is happening in Zeeza?” she asks.

“No, unfortunately that world is shielded from the magic of the Earth globe,” Mist replies, “I am sure when Steve Roberts returns he will be eager to share everything that happened with his mother.” “It is that exchange we will view in the globe.”

Zeeza,
The province of Libra

Only minutes earlier a red, yellow, and blue costumed figure sped from the temple of Jupiter. His feet carried him over the marble pathway to the outer edge of the province of Aries. Steve stops short before crossing into the next province. Like an invisible wall the border represents a total change in environment. Behind him vines grow out of control moving ever closer. In front of him a lush green and sunny meadow. The creak of the sprouting vines move nearer. Looking back one last time Steve steps into the province of Libra. The vines stop at the edge of the provinces halted by the invisible border, they begin to grow upward. Within seconds the wall that divides the provinces is no longer invisible but a mass of green twisting and sprouting plants. The wall of vegetation runs the full length of the border.

Steve looks to his hand, the large sword is gone. Turning to face the new territory, his sharp eyesight peer out to the horizon as the sky begins to cloud over. What now? Steve thinks to himself, Where do I go from here? He squats down for a moment to catch his breath and contemplate his options. To the southeast Steve can see what appears to be a man standing on top of a small mountain, his arms outstretched at his sides. The sky begins to thunder and lightning flashes. Steve stands and begins to jog toward the male silhouette in the distance. The stormy sky grows more violent as Steve moves closer to what he can make out as a blue-hooded man. Steve feels a tingle at the back of his neck, danger. A crack of thunder, he has only seconds to turn and catch the bolt of lightning with his gauntlet. He feels the heat of the bolt in his left wrist as it is absorbed completely. Another bolt strikes down at him, which he catches in his right gauntlet. Both of his wristbands have more of a charge now than they have had in years. He can feel the heat of the power stored in them. More bolts of lightning begin to strike all around him, too many for him to handle all at once. He manages to catch two more bolts in each of his gauntlets before leaping forward he tucks and rolls over the grass. Steve tumbles and flips across the meadow dodging each surge that follows.

Then as swiftly as the storm began, it clears. Steve kneels in the few inches of water that now covers the ground. He looks at the filigree pattern on his gauntlets; it is tight and small, his gauntlets have a near full charge. To unleash all that power at once could do more damage than he can imagine. The Mistix stands alone in the distance on his perch, remaining ignorant of Steve’s presence. The ground beneath Steve begins to tremble. Steve tries to stand as the trembling becomes a quake, the land cleaves and the water rushes in, leaving only mud in its wake. Trees and shrubs tumble down into the chasms that frantically form. Mesas spring up all around him. Steve leaps and jumps from peek to peek. Trying to stay above ground, he picks up the pace moving up to higher points with each jump. Steve moves toward the stranger who stands at the highest mountain. He keeps just ahead of each new fault line as it zigzags across the landscape. An odd feeling comes over Steve Roberts, even with the danger that is all around him. He feels free. At home, working as a cop he must use his superhuman abilities secretly. He never has the freedom he needs to act, the freedom he now feels.

Suddenly, the blue-hooded man turns to survey his handy work. His eyes flare with an azure glow, startling Steve. Caught off guard by this occurrence Steve finds himself falling down into a widening chasm. In a panic his bare fingers claw through the muddy walls fumbling for anything to grasp. Then it comes to him, spreading his feet apart to either side of the narrowing fissure he slows his fall. His feet burrow into the mud until his legs are buried to the knee in the muck. He has successfully stopped his descent. Without warning, another change to the environment occurs. The mud abruptly dries and hardens around his legs, trapping him completely. “Now what?” he speaks aloud as steam rises past him.

Turning his eyes downward he can see the glow at the bottom of the shaft. Steve’s sharp ears can hear the bubbling of the molten magma below as it rises toward him. “Shit!” the young man exclaims. Pulling at his right leg, he manages to free his calf from the earthen-trapped boot. Then freeing his other leg, barefoot Steve begins to climb back to the surface. The magma rises faster now, forcing Steve to climb faster as well. His fingers and toes search for a hold on the rough wall. Sweat beads on the back of his neck as he pushes off from a strong ledge, leaping the last 100 feet to the surface.

Steve finds himself caught up by a gust of incredibly strong wind. Disoriented and helpless the wind bears the man aloft. Stronger and harder the air twists until Steve finds himself whipping around in a tornado. These ever changing cataclysmic events of the past hours seem impossible to him. Steve’s head spins as he tries to regain a focus on this bizarre reality. He has spent years being trained by his mother to use skills to handle any circumstances. It is now that he must call on that training to think his way out of this predicament. Swirling with him in the tornado is much debris. Straining every super-dense muscle in his Amazon-hybrid body, Steve Roberts manages to latch his hands onto the trunk of an uprooted tree. Riding the tree like some strange surfboard through the winds of the storm this Wonder Man gets as close to the blue-hooded man at the center of the province as he can. The tornado that contains the Earthman twists and spins over the landscape. As it whips closer to its apparent master.

When the Mistix is within range Steve brings his wrists over his head and bangs his gauntlets together. A bolt of lightning six times stronger than the ones Wonder Man absorbed strikes out from the clank of his gauntlet toward his foe. The projectile of electricity escapes the winds of the storm. The backlash of Steve’s action causes him to lose his equilibrium and he is again like a leaf in the wind. His eyes barely glimpse the sight of the large blast striking its target.

Then nothing, but a blinding light. When the light dims and his eyes clear, Steve floats weightless in the white emptiness. He can feel his body being held tightly by the swirling wind. The amazon son’s eyes adjust farther to his surroundings and he makes out the black and blue figure before him. “I am Libra,” the stubbly chinned man states, his wild hair whipping in the storm. “Your presence here has disrupted the balance of this world,” the man states unhindered by the pain that the large burn mark on his torso must be causing him. Steve watches with amazement as the man’s flesh and clothing heal closed before his eyes. “Once I was the Mongol god Tengri, the controller of destiny.” “You fight only with your mind,” “You have no heart,” the Mistix continues.

“What? What did you say?” Steve asks Libra over the sound of the whipping wind as his senses return to him.

“You have no balance young man,” the Mistix Libra repeats. “You fight only with your mind.” “You had no concern for my well being, your only thought was to defeat me when you don’t even know my true nature.” “A true warrior can find the balance between the heart and the mind.” With that statement Libra places his fingertips to Steve’s forehead and presses him back. “You will never be your destiny’s master until you find your heart!” Libra speaks as he floats back away from the young man, leaving floating high in the air over the ground bound by the wind.

The sensation of floating reminds Steve of his trip to Sonoma and the flight vest. He twists around to look down over the landscape. This world is strange in its layout. It appears to be flat with thirteen hexagon shaped borders, each clearly different in appearance. At the center he spots an earthen column that stretches high up above the clouds. The last of these Mistix trapped him with plants now this one has trapped him in the air. Aries spoke of Roman gods and armies running on their bellies, now this one speaks of a warrior’s destiny. It is as if they are trying to teach him something.

Steve tries to break free of his invisible bonds, but finds he can not overcome the ever increasing strength of the wind. He escaped the plants with his strength and speed, perhaps he needs to use something else to escape this trap. He thinks about the flight vest again and how quickly and smoothly he learned to use it. The feel of the wind on his face as he flew over the landscape of Sonoma. He didn’t resist the air then, he let it slide over him. It was like swimming. Relaxing every muscle in his body, he tips forward and his arms are freed from the trap. Steve reaches out his arms and pulls himself forward to propel his body through the air.

He can’t believe it is working. He is flying again just as he did with the flight belt. He spots Libra again high on his mountain and returns to his job of wreaking havoc on his province. When Steve tries to approach the Mistix he discovers he is not truly flying but gliding on the air currents. Libra’s control over the air sends Steve away from him. Steve finds himself on a course out of the province of Libra. Passing by the master of this province the Mongolian man looks up to Steve and gives him the slightest of smiles as if to approve of his lesson.

In his mind Steve hears the man speak to him, “And now I must bring all I have created to an end.” Before Steve can fully comprehend what he has been told, Libra raises his hand increasing the speed of the wind and Steve is shot as if out of a cannon toward the horizon.

Zeeza,
The province of Taurus

A hot desert wind blows over the surface of a pyramid. Then for a split-second a tear in the dimensional fabric and she appears. Diana has escaped the province of Scorpius by teleporting. “Thank God! It worked,” she exhales. I’ve never teleported without knowing my destination. Next question, where am I, Egypt? Strolling along the base of the triangular monument she thinks, pyramids are for the dead not the living. Who could I find here to answer my questions here?

“Cupcake,” Diana hears the voice calling. “Cupcake,” it comes again. Turning to the pyramid her eyes spy something that she didn’t see previously, an open door that leads into the structure. Cupcake? She ponders, I think my mother used to call me that when I was little. “Diana, come in my cupcake,” the voice calls to her. Cautiously she enters the musty smelling corridor. It is lit with torches that are mounted to the limestone walls. “Diana,” the voice is more familiar now. The sound of her footsteps echo in the dank corridor. The thoughts that run through her mind are ridiculous, her mother? My mother has been dead for over twelve years. But, Mom would know the answers to my questions, she thinks. Looking forward as she walks, just ahead there is a bend in the square cornered tunnel. A brighter light glows from around that turn. “Diana,” the voice calls again from around the bend. She follows the call. The voice leads into an empty room. From a dim corner, a figure moves, Diana reacts by willing her body intangible, preparing for the worst. The person in the room with her moves into the light. At first Diana can’t focus on the woman’s face, then her eyes adjust. The woman’s dark hair is pulled up into a ponytail. The face is not unlike Diana’s own. She is wearing a yellow button down shirt and dark maroon pants, like Sylvia Carter wore every Easter Sunday for years when Diana was a child.

“Mom?” Diana whispers tentatively.

“Yes, Cupcake it’s me,” comes the reply. Without thinking Diana rushes forward wanting a long awaited hug from her mother. Still intangible, the two women never touch as Diana pushes through her long lost mother’s body. Turning the mother says, “My god you are nothing more than a Spirit.” “How can this be?”

Diana giggles, “No, I’m alive, but are you?” Willing her body to return to normal Diana again approached her mother. “Is this why Shanna sent me here?” she asks.

“I don’t know any Shanna but, I am alive, I’ve been trapped here for sometime now,” the woman replies.

“How? How did you get here?” the daughter inquires as tears form in her eye. Before an answer can be forthcoming, “Never mind we are getting out of here now!” “You can answer all my questions when we get home.” Grabbing her mother’s hand they run for the door. Stopping in the hallway, the mother and daughter see him. A towering man, his head that of a bull stands at the end of the corridor. He waits motionless, his garb is a Green hooded black robe.

“You didn’t give me a chance to tell you about him,” the mother said, panicking.

“Who or what is he?” Diana asks, as the Minotaur begins to walk toward them.

Pulling her daughter by the hand down the corridor away from the strange man, “He is Taurus, he is the one who brought me here.” I am his prisoner.” The sound of the Minotaur’s hot breath echoes slightly in the dim catacomb. “Many a night I listened to him boast that he was once the Egyptian god Sarapis,” Sylvia Carter tells her daughter.

“Why? What does he want with you?” Diana asks as they begin to jog, the mother leading through the maze.

“I don’t know, but I know the only way out of this place,” Sylvia Carter responds. “Through here,” she yells. Running hand in hand the two women flee through an open doorway.

Suddenly the floor is gone, Diana finds herself falling. Downward she plunges, no end in sight. Remaining calm, she turns to her mother, their hands still clasped. “What is this?” she begs, “How long of a fall is this?”

“Till the end,” the mother answers, “The end of your life.” Laughing, the woman Diana believed to be her mother transforms. Her face contorts and changes as they fall. Diana yanks the hand from the clasp. Horns sprout from the head of the person she thought was her dead mother. A deep bellowing laughter fills the dark pit, as the change is complete. Diana is tumbling to her sure death at the side of Taurus. Then he is gone as Diana closes her eyes.

Zeeza,

At the center of the thirteen provinces an earthen column reaches high into the infinity. Atop the column rest a flat stone platform.

On its flat surface carved into the rock a circle bordered with twelve diamond shapes. At the center of the circle a mark is engraved, the mark of the core. Each of the twelve diamonds contains a mark that represents one of the signs of the zodiac. One of the carvings begins to quake in the cold night, the mark of Aries. The stone of the platform expanses upward, it twists and crumbles forming a figure. Color takes hold of the rocky mass. The bottom three-fourths of the stalagmite turn as black as the night sky, the top narrows into a head-like shape of blood red. The rocky mass softens into focus becoming a black robed human with a red hood. The figure is most definitely male. He stands facing the center of the circle motionless in the cold darkness as the wind blows over him.

Below the stony platform all that remains of the once majestic Olympus are marble columns reaching upward supporting slabs of granite. Now vines of renegade plant life crawl over the stone buildings, laying waste to the once majestic scenery. On the opposite side of the inert chunk the icy stone walls of Asgard endure beneath a rainbow shield. To the west on the domed peaks of Mt. Mandara stands as a tribute to the Hindu pantheon. Parallel to the Hindi fortress a pyramid of limestone reaches outward. Between these four points nine other godly homes consolidate to form this biosphere.

High above the historical provinces, in the cold darkness the man in a red-hooded, black robe stands silent. Under his bare feet a mark from the zodiac is carved, that of Aries the ram. Another diamond carved with the mark of Scorpius is to his left; dark smoke begins to bellow from the carving. The cloud grows upward dancing in the cold air to thicken and form a second person. This humanoid is female in stature dressed in a full black robe not unlike the one worn by Aries. From beneath the dark hood a woman’s voice speaks in a devious tone, “I too have felt the change, the humans have arrived!” Looking away towards the dark sky, she lowers her hood revealing her wavy brown hair and Hispanic features, she speaks, “The evil grows on Earth and the time is at hand.”

The male figure also reaches to lower his red hood. Aries’ strong dark Mediterranean features and clean-shaven face betray his intense vehemence. His dark curly mane flows free of the garment. In a cold malevolent tone the brooding man speaks to the new arrival, “The War approaches quickly now.” “We thirteen must come together to willingly play our role.”

“The balance of good and evil will be forever changed,” A third voice speaks in the emptiness. The two turn to peer across the circle, spying another of their mystic ranks has appeared, upon the mark of Libra. This man is also dressed in the standard black robe, this one with a blue hood. Libra lowers his hood. He peers at the others with his stern brow. “We will act only when the scales are just,” Libra tells them, his flowing brown hair streams smoothly from his garb. He scratches the stubble on his chin before assuming a silent posture like the others who arrived before him.

Zeeza,
The province of Sagittarius

In a split second and through a rip in the dimensional fabric she appears flat on her back on the floor. Diana is weak and pushed to the limit. That last teleport took a lot out of her. Away from Earth these teleportations are much harder. For a moment she lays on the floor, tears streaming down her face. How could Taurus know of her mother? What if he truly was holding her prisoner? It is as though she has relieved the pain of her mother’s death all over again. Brushing her bleached blonde hair back, something stirs deep inside of Diana. It is the strength and the determination that has always filled her when things seemed to be rock bottom. Diana will continue in her quest, she will move past this pain just as she always has since she was a teenager. She struggles to her hands and knees. More questions fill her mind, What does it all mean? Is the only way she is going to find the answers she wants? She decides it is time to focus on Shanna’s quest for this Core of Humanity.

Sitting back on her feet, her hands leave the cold metal floor. Now where am I now? Girders and iron rafters support glass panels at angles above the floor where she sits. Seamless metal sheeting covers the walls. Beyond the glass ceiling, she can see a starless night sky.

“Not as beautiful as Earth’s night sky is it?” A voice speaks to her, the tone like that of vocal cords made of metal. Her density solid this time she quickly jumps to her feet to face the newcomer. Behind her another black robed man stands, this one wears a tan hood. “I am Sagittarius,” his bizarre voice sends a slight chill up her spine, his lightly golden skin hand outstretched.

“No thanks, I’ve had enough tricks from you guys!” Diana informs the Mistix.

“I see,” he replied, lowering his hand and stepping back, “Some of the others might be angry with you.” Sagittarius tells the Earth woman as he turns to walk away. “Your attitude will not help your situation.”

“Others?” She questions.

“Yes, Spirit, others.” “We have existed in this place for sometime, your arrival marks the end of our prosperity in this place,” Sagittarius asserts as he walks away. Diana can hear his metallic bare-feet clicking across the metal floor as he walks. “On Earth I was Eajamail, the Amalgam god of prosperity, that is why the loss of our prosperity here gives me great sorrow,” he tells her.

“Wait!” “What are you talking about?” Diana follows after him. “Why are you calling me Spirit?”

“You are a Spirit of change for us,” he calls to her over his shoulder. Diana walks a few steps behind him as his bare feet meet the metal floor with a clinking sound again. Is this guy made of metal she thinks to herself.

“You aren’t angry with me too?” she asks. The metal floor begins to slope upward as they walk.

“I know you haven’t come here to force an ending.” Sagittarius tells her. “I was once the god of prosperity, I know that prosperity is a fleeting thing.” “It comes and it goes, but it always returns to those deserving of it.”

Spirit trails after the Mistix on an upward ramp. “So, was the woman being held prisoner in the pyramid my mother?” she asks Sagittarius.

The metal man laughs slightly, “Taurus can be quite a trickster at times.” “No human is being held prisoner in Zeeza.” “Your mother is dead just as you always believed.”

“How do you know my mother is dead?” Spirit asks, just a little disappointed to hear the truth from the stranger.

They stop walking in the center of a great open room. “Taurus was once the god of resurrections to the Egyptian people,” the Tan hooded metal man tells her. “The being you saw in the pyramid could have been anyone you wanted it to be.” Spirit’s eyes fall to the floor, the stress of this adventure has begun to take their toll. Suddenly he is only inches from her and his warm metal cover hand touches her chin, raising up her face. “Come Spirit, have a better look at the land of Zeeza,” he tells her. The young woman struggles to push her emotions back down and call back the strength and determination she had minutes ago. She hadn’t noticed where they were standing. All around her is a glass dome that is held together by steel and iron girders. Above is the dark starless sky. The lands immediately around the structure in which they stand are barren. It kind of looks like photos she has seen of the moon.

“Do you have the knowledge to tell me the location of the Core of Humanity?” Spirit interjects into the silence.

The man remains quiet for a moment, then speaks, “Yes I do.” “But another of us might have the answers for which you truly search,” Sagittarius points across the barren landscape over her shoulder. She turns to look south. Spirit can see a desert plan begin where the rocky moon surface ends.

Why do these Mistix keep wanting to make this quest about her? It is almost like they do not want her to find this Core of Humanity. “Are you telling me that all I have to do is walk across that desert and I will find the answers about my life or the Core of Humanity?” Spirit questions.

“One or the other, not both.” he tells her. “But not walk, there is no atmosphere outside this structure.” “Each of the provinces is ten miles across, you would be dead within minutes,” the Mistix states, “Furthermore, there are no doors to enter or leave this complex.” “How did you travel here?” he asks.

“I can’t use that power again, it’s too risky,” Spirit tells him.

“Perhaps a small gift of prosperity will help you,” the Mistix says, waving his metal hand at Diana’s neck.

She feels a strange sensation and then an added weight around her neck. Diana moves to look at her reflection in the glass dome. She now wears a thick flat gold necklace around her throat. The point of the hexagon shaped ruby pendant lays on her chest directed to her cleavage. It isn’t really her style but it is beautiful just the same. Turning around to face Sagittarius she begins to say, ” I can’t accept this…” He is gone! She is alone in the large observation tower. Suddenly she feels a warmth where the necklace lays on her chest and then a surge of energy through her body. She feels reenergized as if her bio-energy has been completely replenished.

Zeeza,
The province of Aquarius

Wonder Man crosses over the border from the province of Libra into that of Aquarius. The air currents on which he glided in the Libra province instantly dissipate and he plunges to the ground. His mind barely has time to flashback to a time years ago when he had a similar fall. There is not time to panic or react as he hits the water. The river is deep and the current is strong. Steve Roberts is a skilled and strong swimmer but somehow the water overcomes him quickly. He struggles to catch his breath, as he is washed along downstream, poking his head above water any chance he can get. Under normal conditions someone in such distress would try to call out for help. Steve Roberts has never been one to ask for help, his own pride sometimes is his downfall. There is no way for him to know how long he is in the water or for how far he has been carried before he at last succumbs to the river.

Then the wet and disoriented young man lays panting in a pasture by a babbling stream. His fingers digging into the ground, he pants heavily to catch his breath as if he had just run a half-minute mile. Wow! I’ve never felt so happy to be alive in my life, Steve Roberts thinks to himself. Still breathing hard he stands and looks back down the way he just came. There is no roaring river or rapids, only the pasture and the narrow stream. At the edge of the province he can see the pouring rains and lightning flash in the province of Libra. The storm stops along an invisible line, like a wall that reaches up as far as the eye can see. Raindrops blow right at him but they never reach this new land. Looking to his right, the weather occurrences continue down the range of his vision, nothing crossing that invisible line. On this side of the invisible barrier a stream flows from nothingness. Looking to his feet his lost boots have returned to him, somehow. What is this place? he wonders. It is as magical as dangerous.

This new area is nothing like the last two. Peaceful and beautiful, a haze hangs delicately over the pasture. It’s like something out of a Fairy Tale, right down to the babbling brook. Dream or not this is a much more friendly environment than the last. His breathing back to normal, he remembers an old rule from camp, “Always follow the direction of the water.” He never really knew to what outcome. Back the way he came, the stream disappeared at the border of the two provinces. Looks like I follow that rule, because I have no desire to go back there, the young man thinks. Walking down stream, it’s as good as anything else he can think of at the moment. The trees begin to become more plentiful and closer together as he walks along the brook. His keen ears pick up the sound of laughter ahead. This time he will be more careful, no more out of control plant life or weather for me, he bears in mind. Moving deeper into the tree cover he steps forward cautiously. Peering from behind a tree Steve spots a young woman splashing in the water, bathing alone at the bottom of a waterfall. He remembers doing the same on Magic Island as a teen. It was a peaceful, carefree time. One of the few times in his life he felt full at ease and safe. Then it strikes him how strange this land is. He was walking down stream to come upon a basin in the middle of the stream that is fed from either side. Where does the water go if it all empties into one place? Why doesn’t the basin overflow?

Her nude back to him, “Come closer, I won’t bite,” she calls to him. She turns and looks to him, “I said, come closer,” she repeats louder. She walks from the water. Her milky white skin and wet long blonde hair is seductive. Not in the sexual sense, but in a soothing way. He steps forward through the trees towards the young girl. Birds flutter down from the treetops wrapping the girl’s smooth flesh in white linen. Like something out of a Disney movie. A cool breeze through her hair and it is dry. “I am Airmid,” her voice is soothing to the mind, “Who are you?”

“Wonder Man,” did I just say that Steve thinks to himself.

“Come let me heal you,” She inquires. Airmid reaches out her hand touching his cheek.

“Oh yes…I mean no!” he stammers, “I’m fine.” “I’m just looking to get home.”

The girl ignores his words, “Remove your garment,” the girl whispers as she pulls his shirttail from under his belt. Wonder Man finds himself speechless as the beautiful girl undresses him. “I can take away your worries,” Airmid tells him as she guides him to the grassy bank of the stream. Wonder Man closes his eyes as she begins to massage his bare shoulders and back. The young man moans as her fingers move over his back. Her strong fingertips rub each vertebra moving down his spine. Then just below his shoulder blades the fingers dig deep. Steve feels a sudden pain and then nothing. His body goes limp and he can’t move. He is completely paralyzed. The massage has ended and Wonder Man hears the voice of a man in his ears. His flaccid body floats up vertically and spins to face the man dressed in a black robe, this one with a silver hood who stands silent in the grass.

“SHIT!” Wonder Man thinks to himself, unable to even speak.

The robed man speaks, “I am Aquarius.” “The human body is amazing, isn’t it.” “The simplest pressure on the right spot in the spine causes a paralysis like that of death.” “The bruising of your spinal cord will leave you in this state for days.” Aquarius grins, “When I was known as Dian Cecht by the Celts, people with such an injury were buried alive.” Grabbing Wonder Man’s jaw in his hand, “Whatever your reason for coming to Zeeza it matters not to me,” “Your arrival spells the end to our world and the beginning of something else.” Aquarius vanishes, as does the Airmid. A tingle at the back of his paralyzed neck, what now? Steve crumbles to the ground helpless. Almost instantly the streams feeding the basin cause it to overflow its banks. Wonder Man’s limp body floats to the top of the water. Then the impossible rivers take a single reverse course washing him upward over the cliff that was once a waterfall. The depth of the water helps him to avoid any rock formations of the cliff-side. When he reaches the top of the cliff the water turns to follow the riverbed, he does not. His body is thrown from the racing river waters He finds himself sailing helplessly up through the sky again.

Steve Roberts mind races with ideas but nothing will save him if he can not move any part of his body. When he reaches the end of his momentum his stiff body begins to fall. Stiff body? he thinks. If I am truly paralyzed shouldn’t my body be limp, my arms and legs flailing in the wind? Wait he can feel the wind rushing over his body, is that right? Should he be able to feel that? Something more than simple spinal paralysis is at work here. Wonder Man is completely calm as he hits the water that rises up to meet him, flat on his back. It is like the worst belly/back flop ever. As he sinks to the bottom his calmness remains as he holds his breath waiting for the paralysis to lift.

Time passes strangely in this world of Zeeza but it is a while before he finally gasps for air taking the water into his lungs. At first it calms and cools his lungs that burn for air. Then he realizes that he is not drowning. He exhales and takes another breath, he is breathing, breathing the water. Moreover, it seems to be healing the bruise on his spine as movement returns to his fingers and toes. He takes more deep breaths of the strange water to regain more mobility. When his muscles are again working completely he begins to swim, swim for the surface. But he can no longer find it, no matter which direction he swims. He is confused and lost, he can no longer tell which way is up and which way is down.

The water is nearly crystal clear but visibility is still limited below that of normal vision. Then he spots something ahead of him. He swims for what appears to be red in the water. He can see no sea life in the water so he hopes it is not blood. As he draws closer he sees yellow in the red, realizing it is his shirt that he took off for the massage Airmid gave him that began all of this trouble. He grabs his wet shirt that floats in front of him from the water and pulls it back on. His only hope now is to find the border of this province somehow to be free of it.

Earth,
The apartment of Patrick Berger and Steve Roberts
Fishtown section of Philadelphia, Pa

“Steve you up?” Paddy calls out banging on his roommates bedroom door. “I’m heading off to work.” It is odd to Paddy that Steve doesn’t reply. His roomy is usually an early riser even on his days off. Steve did ditch out of the party last night early. “Hey buddy, you got a girl in there to celebrate your 21st with?” that should get a rise out of him. Still no reply, but he hears some scuffing inside. Paddy knows there is no need to worry about Steve, he is more than capable of taking care of himself. The temptation is too great as he turns the knob to peek inside the room.

There is no one inside the bedroom. Paddy steps into the room to feel the cold air that blows across the room. He turns to see the window is wide open. That is strange, he thinks. Walking to the window he leans out. The view from the third floor window was not that spectacular, just a parking lot and a few overgrown trees. When Paddy leaned back in to close the window he spotted something out of the corner of his eye as he turned away. There was a guy climbing down out of the tree at the bottom of the window. He carries a wad of dark fabric under his arm. When he reached the ground he dropped the fabric that was weighed down by two shoe shaped forms. Laying on the ground the fabric was revealed to be a small body suit. Paddy had remembered seeing the weird little suit in Steve’s laundry once. “Hey you!” Paddy called to the curly blonde headed man on the ground. “What are you doing there?”

The man took off running as Paddy slammed the window shut and headed out of the apartment and down the stairs. By the time the off duty cop got out the front door the young man was long gone. When Paddy yelled at the guy he turned to look up. Paddy knew he had seen that face before, he just couldn’t remember where. The veteran policeman quickly put together a profile in his head. Six feet tall, maybe six-one. One-seventy, one-eighty. Blonde curly hair, he was sure about that part. Most likely twenty to twenty-five. Definitely a skilled burglar to climb a tree into a third story window.

After going back to lock up right this time, Paddy thought about the incident as he headed to work. Where Steve was really didn’t matter. The real question was that if someone broke into his room why steal that little child’s jumpsuit. Paddy never really questioned Steve about it. He just figured it would be some crazy story about it being his first pair of Christmas pajamas. Steve had a lot of homey stories like that to tell.

Zeeza,
High above the provinces,
Reaching up from the core of the asteroid a pillar of stone supports a flat platform.

On the platform four individuals stand silently on carvings that represent each symbol of the Zodiac. They are Aries, a Mediterranean man, whose black, red hooded robe fits tight over his tall, muscular body. Scorpius is the only female of the four. Her all black robe mimics the look of wrath on her Hispanic features. Libra is average in build, his wavy brown flows over the blue hood of his cloak. The most recent arrival stands towering over Scorpius on the diamond to her right. He has a tall and slender human body topped by a bull’s head. A green hood that adorns his shoulders holds down his brown mane. All stand unmoving as the focus on the center of the ring of carvings.

Two spaces from Aries water flows up fast from the stone carving as it begins to whip up into a waterspout. The waterspout swirls for a moment before compressing into human form. Without a word, the silver hooded Aquarius loosens his robe. The hood falls off and the robe slides down his shoulders, revealing his bare chest. Of the Mistix of Zeeza, Aquarius, is in some ways more eager than any other.

The clanking of metal on stone can be heard in the silence as random shards of iron and copper rain down on the space of Sagittarius. A creaking as the shards mold into a human male. The iron forms the black base of the robe covered figure and the tan copper makes up the shoulders and hood of Sagittarius. The bizarre metallic voice Spirit heard earlier is silent. There is a look of sadness on his face when he lowers his hood. He will miss this place they have called home for so long.

Zeeza,
The province of Cancer

Swimming at full out speed Wonder Man crosses over through the invisible barrier that holds the ocean of water into the province of Aquarius. Suddenly Wonder Man finds his large body falling several feet to the rocky ground. He is exhausted from his long swim. His face in the dirt he lifts his head to choke and cough the amazing breathable water from his lungs. Rolling onto his side spitting out the fluid, he lays there motionless for a moment, staring at the horizon, icy cold peaks poke into his side. Making the effort to move, he props himself up with his arm. Wonder Man looks around to study his circumstance. Blue sky and puffy white clouds are hanging low all around him. Behind him a black pillar blocks his view.

Looking to the ground, two bare brown feet sprout from under the column. No, it is not a column, it is a robe that moves slightly in the breeze. Wonder Man flips around onto his hands and knees to face the dark garbed Mistix, this one with a gray hood. “You have ravaged my creation,” the man speaks, pointing down to the ground.

Wonder Man looks beneath his body. A very small village is crushed under the weight of his body. Tiny huts that surround stone pyramids. Tiny people are scattered across the miniature landscape. Looking back at the robed figure Wonder Man moves to stand wanting to express his sorrow. Before the lost man can respond, the Mistix does, with violence. The Mistix’s knee meets with Wonder Man’s chin. Wonder Man finds himself thrown onto his left shoulder and arm. Grabbing his chin Wonder Man has never been hit with such force. Looking to the Mistix, Wonder Man watches as the east Indian man drops his robe. The man stands wearing only a deerskin loincloth. “I am Cancer, on Earth I was known as Manco Capac, creator god of the Incas.” “I have recreated all I once ruled over and you shall pay for your devastation,” the Mistix tells him.

Kneeling Wonder Man is caught off guard by the Mistix’s continued attack. A foot slams across his face knocking him down again. Grabbing for his face Steve feels the gush of warm blood from his nose. Charging headlong from the ground the tiny stone block pyramids crumble under his feet as if built from sugar cubes. Wonder Man moves through the miniature village like Godzilla through Tokyo, hitting the Mistix in his midriff. Hitting the Mistix is like hitting a brick wall completely unmoving. Cancer grabs his opponent by his golden belt and brings his knee to the Earthman’s gut. Then again before releasing the golden belt. Steve hears the crack and the pain of broken ribs and he falls to the ground. The would-be hero holds his torso in pain as he tries to stand.

“Are you in pain?” the Mistix oddly asks. “I see pain in you.”

“Please, I meant no harm,” Wonder Man manages to whisper.

“Such is the claim of all mortals,” Cancer retorts, backhanding the man. “But you are different from other mere mortals.” “I can see a hole in your heart, not your very soul.”

His eye swelling, his nose bleeding and ribs throbbing, Steve Roberts has never felt such pain. It only gets worse as Cancer moves his foot to Steve’s leg. Even with bare feet his devastating force is great as he literally crushes Steve’s kneecap. Steve howls in agony. Tears mixed with the blood on his face as the unthinkable happened.

“There it is, I see it now,” Cancer says coldly.

“What…what are you talking about?” Wonder Man manages to mumble.

“Your physical pain betrays your real pain buried deep within you.” Cancer says. “You long for a love you can not have.” Wonder Man fights to suppress his pain as the Mistix talks. “You love a woman from a dream.” “She is the one you compare all others to,” “She is the one who holds you prisoner, preventing you from reaching your full potential.” Cancer raises his left hand over his head. Peering through his one open eye the broken and bleeding the Earthman watches as a flaming sword appears in the Mistix’s palm. The “Wonder” in this man is all gone now as the Earthman tries to crawl away as the Mistix reaches for him. Cancer smiles as the man uses all his strength just to whimper as he is lifted up by his right arm. “To sever soul mates is like severing a limb.” “Let me show you.” The blade of the sword burns the skin of Steve’s shoulder. Steve cries out as the flaming blade cuts into his flesh. The heat of the flame seals the wound as his bones separate. Steve goes into shock as his torso falls to the ground freed from the last bits of flesh connecting his right arm to his shoulder. Steve fights to remain conscious, as his own severed arm falls across his legs. He will meet death face to face! Not in his sleep!

“But it is not a dream, nor is this a dream as you would like to believe.” His head spinning, Steve can still make out a voice from above, “Now all must be consumed in flame and rebuilt.” Wonder Man rolls over to try to escape as the all too familiar tingle at the back of his neck begins. He knows danger is approaching but the only thought in his head is, that night with Diana in the attic, it was not a dream. Without another sound the flames of Cancer’s sword consume the Mistix. Biting his lower lip Steve uses his remaining arm to pull himself over the tiny obliterated village. The wall of flame towers over the Earthman before falling downward upon him.

He scrambles to roll from the falling wall of fire. The blistering flames ignite his clothing instantly as he rolls away. Continuing to roll from the flames he crushes more and more of the miniature landscape under his gigantic body. Soon all the hope of escape is gone, all that is left is to burn. The pain is gone now as he is slipping away. Steve Roberts know he is dying and like so many other things in his life he can only accept his fate with bravery as his mother taught him. The fire burns him like no other heat or flame has before in his life. So many times he has heard how one’s life passes before their eyes as they die, he finds that not to be true. His flesh burns from his bones and his bones turn to dust, then there is only darkness.

Then he feels weightless as he floats in a sack of liquid. He breathes the fluid as he did in the province of Aquarius. But all around him there is only darkness. Then he feels the heat again. Not the heat of the inferno, but that of an all encompassing embrace squeezing him. A bright light in his eyes brings Wonder Man back to reality. Again there is light, a wall of flame is all around him. Has he died? Has he passed into the afterlife he wonders. No, he has been reborn into the world. Weak and confused Wonder Man cries out as his small body instinctively wiggles as it floats in mid-air.

He raises his hands to his face. Yes, these are his hands, only tiny in size. Glancing down to his body it is whole again. Only it too is tiny, the body of a newborn infant. He feels a sharp pain as he watches his foreskin being cut away by an invisible blade. The circumcision quickly heals as his body grows to about the age of 2 years, his first day on the big potty. It is now as his body ages and grows that his life replays before his eyes. He experiences day after day of his childhood. His first day of school when he met Gary Rogers. The day his sister was born and the boys only campout he had with his father in their back yard that night. That was only the first of many father, son bonding moments he relives as he grows up all over again. Steve relives the morning he turned fourteen and he awoke with his body having matured over night.

Then he is bound, held prisoner by Cynthia Steele. He relives everything she did to him in the week she held him captive as she tried to steal his immortality. When he sees his mother’s face again as she saves him from the witch. As he recovers the combination of magic and drugs his capture gives him wipe all of the memories of what she did to him again. His life changes then as his mother reveals her greatest secret to him and he begins his training. His life flows on to the summers he spent with Gary at Camp Tandy and the one special summer he met Diana Carter. Nothing changes in the events of those days although in the years to follow he wishes he could make changes. He remembers the strange boy Dan in the summer that follows and how Gary became jealous. Then the memories of Dan are also hidden from him by a power as great as the Mistix who gives Steve this rebirth experience.

It is then that a piece of his life is skipped. That night many special young people spent in the House of the Thirteen are excluded from his rebirth as if it never happened. That night with Diana in the attic was something he has always cherished deep in his heart even though he believed it was a dream. Now it is gone, something the Mistix Cancer believes will open Steve up to his full potential. The action of skipping the memory spurs a reaction from the man. He partially wakes from his dream-like state, freeing himself from the weightlessness.

Without another thought his teenage feet hit the ground to begin to run. As he runs at top speed across the blazing province his body continues to grow and age. The Mistix flames lick at his nude body fueling his growth all the while. The young Earth man stumbles slightly as his legs grow quickly through his late teen years. His natural brown hair billows out in the flames long and unharmed by the fire. The memories of High School, the Police Academy and his Job in Philadelphia continue to play in his head as he runs across the province, the flames burning down as his clothing returns to cover his adult body.

Zeeza,
The province of Gemini

The young Earth woman lays unconscious on the sand. Her last teleportation from the province of Sagittarius has overburdened her power again. She pants, gasping for life. The hot dry air burns her lungs. The arid wind drifts the sand along her body, stinging her skin. Rolling to her side Diana licks her lips and spits the desert dust from her mouth. The name Spirit was something that popped into her head before she began this quest, at this point she feels like she is about to become one. As she lays motionless every muscle, every joint in her body aches. What was she thinking? Was the origin of these special powers really this important? YES! What little Bio-energy she has left she funnels into regenerating her body. Diana’s regeneration powers will save her life this time but her teleporting power is gone for the time being.

Diana closes her eyes for a moment, in her ears she can hear a faint voice. The voice of a child singing, the language is unrecognizable to her but it is a child. Mission mode she thinks to herself, flippantly, as she sits up. I have risked too much. I have to focus on this Core of Humanity if I am going to get answers!

Across the desert plane a young African boy prances. Like some kind of mirage, the boy jumps and disappears to reappear closer. Within seconds, the boy is singing and skipping around the woman seated in the sand. The boy is dressed in hand-made clothing that is old in style but brand-new in appearance. “Who are you?” Spirit asks the boy. The boy giggled and continued to sing. “Can you understand me?” she questions, “Can you speak English?”

The boy giggles again and stops to face Spirit, “I can speak any language you wish.” The boy’s foreign song begins again. Gathering her wits, the Spirit stands to look around. Before she can speak, the boy does, “You are lost!” “Your quest seems hopeless to you at this point.”

The boy takes Spirit’s bare arm. “I’m searching for the Core of Humanity,” she tells the child trying to stay focused. He quietly caresses her forearm, without warning the boy pinches her arm. She jerks her arm from his grasp. “What are you doing?” she yells.

“What I do,” he chirps, “I can tell you anything you want to know, Diana Carter.”

Grabbing the child by the arm, “How do you know my name?” Spirit asks.

The child giggles and slips free of her grip. “I know everything there is to know you about you up until this moment,” he grins. “I liked you better the way you really look.” He struts around Spirit casting sparkling glitter over her. Spirit’s blonde hair shortens and darkens to its natural shade. It would appear that none of these Mistix care for the disguise the Earth people wear.

“What, what have you done?” she exclaims backing away from the child.

“Just showed you how you can not hold onto the present, it always slips through your fingers to become the past.” The strange imp is quickly becoming annoying to Spirit.

“Change me back!” Spirit demands.

“Yes child, most people long to move past the present and into the future.” “Perhaps faster than they should,” another voice comes from behind Spirit. She turns to face the new arrival. Behind her in the desert stands an old African man wrapped in a black robe with a yellow hood. “I know nothing of your past, but I know your future holds great success and happiness,” he tells her in his weak and quivering voice.

“I’ve come such a long way and risked so much to find the answers and the Core,” she begs the old man. “I can not risk anyone knowing who I am.” “Can you change me back?” The little boy jumps and pulls at her clothing as she talks. Spirit struggles to keep the mischievous child at a distance.

“Changing your hair color is not a very good disguise.” “Anyone who truly knows you would recognize you anyway.” The young boy continues to dance and giggle as his elder speaks. “Come into me now boy!” the old man demands and the boy responds. The robed man parts the folds of his garment. Diana can see his shriveled old nude body beneath. Her first thought is to look away until the child steps inside the robe and merges with the geezer. Almost instantly after the black robe closes the figure is transformed into a virile young African man.

“Sagittarius told me that you could answer my question, can you at least do that?” Diana pleads again.

“Although we Mistix are all powerful in our province, we do still have our limitations,” the robed man tells Spirit. “I am Gemini, the ancient Africans called me Wounoru and the secrets of the past and the future are mine to keep within my realm.” “All I can tell you is that you must be patient and all your questions will be answered at the correct point in time.” “For now it will be the Mistix, Leo who holds the answers you are to learn this day,” Gemini tells the would-be heroine.

“Another Mistix?” Spirit moans, “My powers are drained, it will take hours for them to recharge.”

“Your presence on Zeeza has changed the future of the Mistix,” Gemini tells her as he turns and walks away into the desert. “Leo’s province is that way,” he tells her, pointing across the sand dunes. Diana looks over the desolate landscape. She knows that with what little power she has left it will take an hour or more to cross this desert on foot. Gemini turns to face Spirit, “In one hour you will be in Leo’s province.” His strong hand reaches out toward her face. Gemini’s palm touches her face and she is pushed forward through time and space.

Earth,
Carter Industries,
Manhattan, New York

Jean Carter carries her two year old daughter, Jessica as she steps into the elevator. She has come to meet her husband, Zac for lunch. Afterward they plan to go over to the hospital to visit her ailing brother-in-law. Jean has never been a fan of her husband’s brother, even less since he drove off his daughter, Diana for whom Jean truly cared. Even as sick as William Carter is he can not find it in himself to be nice to Jean. And now that his sickness worsens William has even begun to verbally disrespect their daughter Jessica.

Zac Carter had been putting in long days at the office since his brother became so ill with cancer. He has had little time for his wife and young daughter, so these lunches are always a welcome break. Although he dreads going to see his brother. But it is a necessity now. In the past decade William had been taking clients behind Zac’s back, telling him nothing. Although their business had grown in that time nearly doubling its size he needs to be apprised of these transactions now that William is dying. Zac’s investigation into these clients has met with resistance from some of William’s personal staff to the point at which Zac was forced to fire some of them.

Zac really doesn’t understand what changed his brother. After William’s wife passed away he began to treat his daughter, Diana horribly until she at last ran away from home. Even now William will not tell them the truth of what happened that night almost three years ago. Oddest thing is it was that same night that he and Jean were going over to announce the pregnancy, but it was too late Diana was already gone.

Zac and Jean never fully believed William’s story about Diana so in the past three years they have hired several private detectives to search for their missing niece with no luck. It truly is like Diana fell off the face of the Earth. Jean has always kept her hopes high but Zac often wonders if his brother was capable of murder, even more so as he investigates his secret dealings.

“Good Afternoon, Daddy, are we ready for lunch?” Jean Carter asks entering the office with a smile. She lets Jessica down to the floor where the toddler runs to her father laughing.

“There’s my big girl!” Zac exclaims picking up the child to give her a hug and sit her on his lap. “I’m afraid today’s visit is going to be more confrontational,” Zac says looking at his wife. “I’ve found some more big questions in these shady deals Will was making.” “I’ll understand if you want to go home after lunch.”

“Don’t be silly, we need to have this family time, no matter what,” Jean replies in her usual upbeat manner. “Did you hire that new detective?”

“Yes, interviewed him this morning, Zac replies fumbling to find the contract. “Alexander Stormstrum, he is quite different from the other detective we hired to find Diana.”

“What do you mean?” Jean asks, glancing at the contract that is signed with the largest, flamboyant signature she has ever seen on legal paperwork. “Oh my,” she whispers.

“You should have met him,” Zac comments. “Claims his methods are beyond that of the regular private dick.” “His words not mine,” “Insisted I call him Stormy,”

“He sounds like the man we need, not like those other stuffed shirts we hired,” Jean tells her husband as she lifts Jessica from his lap. “We should get going if you have business to discuss with William.” “Maybe he will be in a good mood today.”

“Has he ever been in a good mood?” Zac asks standing up to put on his jacket from the back of his chair.

Zeeza,
An Earthman stands on the border between the province of Cancer and Capricornius.

Steve Roberts falls across the border out of the province of Cancer. On hands and knees he pants. The visions of all he has just been thrown racing through his mind. He is again an adult and dressed in his brightly colored Wonder Man costume. On his knees at the edge of a crystal clear lake. Panting, he looked at his reflection in the water as he did in the fountain hours ago. This time he sees a much more familiar face looking back at him. He wears no mask and his hair has been returned to its natural color. He feels dizzy for a moment as he reaches his fingers for the mustache that has returned to his upper lip. How? What has all of this been? Whatever the Mistix Cancer did to him seems to have broken the spell Mist used to change his appearance.

Then his eye is caught by a glimmer on his left ear lobe. He turns his head to view his ear. Moving his hand behind his belt the gem he took from the province of Aries is gone. Somehow it is now a diamond stud in his ear. He remembers what Aries said, the power the gem had. Gazing back into the lake he concentrates and his reflection changes. A full beard appears on his jaw. He touches the hair, it feels real, like a natural beard on his face. Another thought and it is gone. Then his hair is blonde with another thought. It is amazing to him how he is now able to change his appearance with but a thought. He began this adventure as Wonder Man, that is how he will finish it. The white mask returns to his face as his hair darkens back to black.

Looking around he sits at the base of a high stony mountain on the border between the two provinces. The sheer horror of what he has been through hits him all at once and it makes him scream out loud. His face in his hands he shivers in the cooler air of this new province. “Some Wonder Man I am,” he mumbled to himself. How could that have happened? The pain… it was like nothing I ever knew could exist. I always thought my mom was riding me too hard in training but the bumps and bruises I got then were nothing. “My God he cut off my ARM!” Steve yells aloud.

If this was meant to be a test of my abilities I think I failed it, he affirms to himself. I’ve faced four supernatural threats and faced them all failing to overcome any of them. Wait a minute, I’ve got to clear my head, what has really happened?

He thinks holding his head in his left hand trying to overcome the trauma in his head. The first one of these “Mistix of Zeeza” I met, Aries said my arrival changed everything as if I was part of some plan. He really didn’t seem to care who I was, only that I was here! Then he tried to kill me! Standing with a start, “No he didn’t, he used the plants to destroy his home.

The next one in the blue-hooded Libra used nature to destroy his province, never really making a direct attack on me. It was me who attacked him. He didn’t ever truly retaliate. He just threw me out. Steve rationalizes as he starts up the side of the mountain.

Aquarius, the silver-hooded Mistix only paralyzed me so I couldn’t resist as he flooded his landscape and it was not just to get rid of me.

And the last one the gray Mistix, Cancer retaliated for what I did to his province. Knowing that by burning his land and me along with it I would be reborn. Looking up the mountain to the peak Wonder Man spies a golden domed palace. If events continue as before, I better find this Mistix before the next apocalypse, he anticipates.

A leap upward then another until he reaches the summit of the mountain. The pain he felt in Cancer’s province seems to vanish now that he has a goal. Wonder Man stands in amazement at the sight of the gold and silver city that stands before him. The air is heavy with a floral fragrance. He doesn’t know how he knows it but it is the smell of the lotus flower that fills the air. In front of him, the streets are lined with gold. Huge domed building of East Indian design. A woman in an orange-hooded robe stands in front of the largest temple. “Mistix!” he yells, jogging towards her, “I want to help!” “You don’t need to destroy your home!” The East Indian woman smiles at the colorfully clad man who approaches.

“There is no hurry, young man,” she tells him, “I am Capricornius and what would you know about what I have to do.” “Come with me,” she motions wrapping her arm around his broad shoulders. He is apprehensive about the contact with the Mistix. “You need not fear me young man,” she tries to soothe him. She takes his arm as they walk through the large gold doors of the temple. “This is Mount Mandara and I am in no hurry to eradicate these treasures,” she tells Wonder Man. “To the worships of the Hindu religion I was Lakshmi, goddess of Wealth.” Wonder Man stand in astonishment of the abundance of wealth inside the room. “In truth none of this even exists.” “It only exists because I want it to exist.” Capricornius smiles, “Like everything you have experienced in Zeeza, What another Mistix wants to exist in his or her province does not exist in another’s land.”

“Why are the Mistix destroying their homes?” Wonder Man asks Capricornius.

Capricornius smiles at him again, “We thirteen Mistix came to Zeeza eons ago, to hide from a powerful enemy.” Once here we expanded our power by creating our provinces.” “We all agreed that when the first mortal sets foot on Zeeza we would move on with our goals.”

Wonder Man looks to Capricornius, “What are your goals?”

“The goals of the Mistix are not for mortals.” Capricornus’ piercing eyes glare into Wonder Man’s eyes. “You are of my birth sign,” she says. “Know this, we leave to attack the foe that we once hid from,” Capricornius finishes, “Now you must be on your way.”

“Way?” “Where?” he questions, “I don’t even know what I was sent here or how to get home.”

“You were sent here by a being of great magic power, only a power as great can return you home,” She tells the would-be hero. The Mistix reaches into an overflowing treasure chest to her left. Pulling a necklace from deep inside the pile of riches, she hands it to Wonder Man. “This necklace is a treasure from beyond Zeeza and it will instantly transport you to the next province,” Capricornius tells Wonder Man. “When you reach the province of Core at the center of Zeeza, journey into the caverns to find the Core of Humanity.” “Only the Core’s power can return you home.”

Magic? Steve Roberts thinks to himself. One thing his mother has always enforced in him from the day she started his training was that Amazons should never trust magic. Something he learned to be true after his experience with the Trinity. “All through history witches have sought immortality and Amazons have been their greatest targets,” his mother told him, he remembers. Steve’s mother is a 3200-year-old Amazon and she has lived through that history. He stares at the jewelry dangling from the brown woman’s hand in front of him. That fact always seemed like a conflict to him. For all his mother’s warnings he was trained on an island called Magic Island. That island’s only inhabitant was Mist, who’s magic power was great enough to conceal the island from the outside world. Reluctantly, Wonder Man takes the necklace from Capricornius’ hand, he has no choice but to trust her words. Something he hopes he doesn’t come to regret.

Zeeza,
The province of Leo

Miles away in the province of Leo, Diana Carter stands motionless. She can still feel the fingers of Gemini on her face, even though it has been an hour since he used his power to push her forward through time and space. The look of panic on her face calms as her senses return. Gazing down over herself, she can feel that her bio-energy has recharged over the trip she made “frozen” through time and space. Wiping her hand across her brow she takes a deep breath. Pulling her hair into her line of view, it is still black not returned to blonde as she would have wished. It really shouldn’t matter there is no chance of her running into anyone she knows in this place anyway, she ponders.

The air is sweet and clean, like nothing she had ever tasted on Earth. The air smells of a mixture of lavender and honeysuckle blossoms. Diana looks forward over the edge of the cliff at which she stands. A great ocean that reaches to the edges of the province laps at the base of the cliffs. Will the wonders of his place ever cease? It reminds her of the cliffs in South America, She thinks to herself. Turning away from the cliff, off in the distance she beholds a huge stone castle. Like the ancient stone fortresses of Scotland it towers high reaching into the cloud laced sky. In her short stay in Zeeza she has overused her more extreme powers, taking them for granted. This time she will make the trip on foot.

Spirit begins to jog over the grassy plain. Breathing harder the sweet air is almost intoxicating. She begins to stumble and her feet come out from under her, sending her tumbling to the clover-covered meadow. Sitting up all she can do is laugh. Spirit’s laughter is uncontrollable for several minutes and then it stops as abruptly as it started. Taking a breath, Spirit realizes it is the air that has affected her attitude. If not for her increased metabolism that run might have overdosed and killed a regular person. Breathing normally the air has no effect on her body. The last third of the trip to the castle will be a walk not a run.

As Spirit walks she begins to feel a happiness come over her again. One unlike any she has never felt before. Her hands brush over the high growing daisies that cover the meadow now. Reaching down she plucks one of the flowers off at mid-stem. Smelling its fragrance she realizes that the air around her is having a slight effect even with her high metabolism. The young woman walks alone swinging the daisy in circles by its stem. Thinking back over the events of the past day, she accepts now that she really didn’t have a reunion with her dead mother. Somehow it really doesn’t seem to matter anymore. The contentment she feels right now seems to fill her completely. The hatred she has felt for her father over many years is gone too. All that fills her mind is peace and happiness. Strolling down the dirt path worn in the grass. She approaches the drawbridge leading into the castle. Huge iron chains support the open wooden trestle leading into the stony citadel. Once inside the intoxicating air of this province is replaced by a stale musty odor. The effects of the biosphere quickly fade and Diana returns to normal. The clip-clap of her boots echo in the dank corridor.

Ahead there is a glow of a fire. Entering the room at the end of the hallway it is a grand hall. At the center of the room a large caldron hangs from the open beamed ceiling at the end of thick chains. Massive wooden dining tables surround the fire ring. Spirit stands quiet and motionless for a moment taking in the magnificence of the room. Moving further into the room Spirit can feel the warmth of the fire crackling under the great caldron. The smell of the pork stew within the pot fills her nose. Walking closer she can see the bubbling soup that tingles in her nose. A cool mist drifts into the chamber. It settles next to the caldron forming a thick cloud. Before Diana’s eyes the cloud hardens into the Mistix Leo, whose golden hood slides effortlessly to his shoulders. “Come forward Lassie,” his deep Irish voice echoes. Leo’s arms are open wide inviting her to him, “Come dine with me.” An arch of steam flows up from the caldron and spins on the table to her right. A place setting of stew appears as the mist fades. Diana turns back to the center of the room. Leo stands confidently stirring the huge caldron with a large wooden ladle.

“No, I haven’t come to eat,” Spirit tells the Mistix, “I have been sent here by Gemini.” “He has told me that you can help me find the Core of Humanity,” the young woman says.

The Mistix’s soothing masculine face smiles at Spirit, “Lassie it is rude to refuse the hospitality of a generous host, especially that of Dagda god of generosity.” He lifts the ladle from the stew and waves it in her direction. Diana’s eyes cloud for a moment, when they clear she is seated at the table behind the bowl of stew. A feeling of helplessness suddenly comes over the young woman. Tears begin to well up in her eyes. These Mistix have done nothing but give her the runaround. “You call yourself Spirit don’t you?” Leo questions. Diana fights back the tears and nods her head. “There is no need for tears, taste my stew it will calm your heart.”

At this point, Diana’s resistance is all but gone as she slowly lifts the spoon to sip the thick soup. The broth warms her mouth and throat. Leo is correct. The broth is strangely soothing. Her sorrows seem to fade, to be replaced with something else. “I have come a long way on my quest,” Diana pipes up.

Leo walks slowly to where Spirit sits still eating his pungent stew. “In all these centuries humans have not changed much, have they my Lassie?” Leo speaks to the seated woman. “You possess many incredible gifts that make you more than the mortal humans that surround,” Leo articulates. Diana finishes the bowl of soup and leans back in her chair. A feeling of contentment washed over her. She feels strangely different somehow. A wave of Leo’s ladle and the bowl on the table before Spirit is full again. “With all your gifts your only question is where did they come from,” Leo smirks with disappointment.

The young woman takes a few more spoonfuls of the stew before she realizes what is happening to her body. Spirit pushes the soup away, thinking to herself that eating it is not the best idea. Leo paces away from the table. Feeling slightly woozy Diana looks at her arm and it seems larger. That is not all that is larger she looks down to her lap that is now covered with her enlarged stomach and breasts. “Oh my God!” she gasps looking toward the Mistix.

Leo has also expanded in size as well, the previously lean Mistix is now quite portly. “Your question should be,” “How best can I use these gifts to help humanity.” “Instead you have left your world behind in search of answers you already know.”

“What are you talking about?” Spirit quizzes, “And what was in that stew?”

“Think of it as food for thought,” Leo tells her as he begins to stir his caldron again. “Your whole life you have lived by your mind, never once stopping to use your heart to truly feel anything,” the Mistix recounts. “You believe that the one person who knew all the answers is dead.” “But you suspect that there is another who knows the answers.”

A confused look on her face Spirit pushes back for the table. Her once athletic body now blotted with fat. Her large gut giggles as she stands. Diana gropes at her new shape as she speaks, “Yes, I was told that was you.”

“No Lassie! Not me,” Leo tells her, “Think girl!” “Use your heart!” “You know who that person is!” “When your mother died, that truth tore his life apart.”

Spirit attention is turned from her new body when her temper flares inside her. Leo speaks of her father, William Carter. Diana’s father made her life a living hell after her mother’s death. She grew to hate him with all her heart, never once did she think to ask him why he changed. He must have learned the truth, but what could turn a father on his own daughter.

“Daughter indeed,” Leo mutters as if he is reading her mind.

“What?” “What did you say?” Spirit blurts, her thoughts are interrupted by the Mistix.

“You felt it… you always felt it.” Leo continues, “William Carter was not your blood.”

“And after Mom died he also found out he wasn’t my father,” Spirit rationalizes. Another realization comes over the would-be heroine. “My powers are inherited from my true father?” Spirit looks to the Mistix and wonders how he would know these things. Is this man who has shown her so much truth… her….

“Don’t even think about it, Lassie.” Leo interrupts her thoughts again. “Your powers are based in science not magic.” “Your true father was not a Mistix nor was he of your world.”

“You’re saying my father was an alien!” Spirit exclaims. Again, Leo waves his ladle at Spirit. The steam of his caldron envelops Spirit. She feels dizzy again and then she feels her knees buckle under the increasing weight of her growing body. “Why are you doing this to me?” she screams. “Why are you making me fat?”

Leo moves around the room now in the blink of an eye until he is back in front of the table. “It is you that has always carried this weight with you,” Leo tells her. “It has been your burden for years.” “I see another Mistix has given you a gift,” he observes, reaching out to touch the golden necklace that is now tight around her fat neck. “Sagittarius gave you a one time power surge, perhaps I can give you a better gift.” “You have spent many years wanting to hide from your life.” “I give you the gift to hide in plain sight.” A touch of his finger on the necklace that points down to her cleavage and a ruby appears in the center pendant. “You need only touch the stone and no one around you, no matter how well known you, will no longer see you for who you are.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Spirit asks. Her question comes too late as the steam of the caldron fills the room obscuring her sight completely.

Zeeza,
Reaching up from the core of the asteroid a pillar of stone supports a flat platform

A stony platform reaches high into the starless night sky. Upon that flat stone surface six of the Mistix of Earth stand silent. Each Mistix wears a black robe with a hood of a different color. They are Aries, the zodiac sign of the Ram; Scorpius, the zodiac sign of the Scorpion; Libra, the zodiac scales of Justice; Aquarius, the zodiac sign of the water carrier; and lastly, Sagittarius the zodiac sign of the Archer. They await the inevitable, the time when all the Mistix come together to move into the future.

One empty diamond on the ground stands between Aries and Scorpius. Carved into that plate is the mark of Cancer, the crab. A small flame begins to spark upon the carving. The flames grow and billow, taking the form of another Mistix. Slipping off his gray hood from his straight black hair he does not speak. His darker complexion and hairless face are that of the native people of the Americas. Cancer knows that all that they have created on Zeeza will soon come to an end and he loses himself in thought, silently bidding the past farewell.

“Was it wise to give the amazon child a rebirth?” Aquarius asks.

“I might ask if it was wise to give him a witch crystal?” Cancer replies glaring at Aries.

The grim Mistix Aries speaks in his deep voice. “The child suggested that we had it before this day.” “I have no memory of such a meeting.” “As we all know time flows differently here, anything is possible in the universe beyond Zeeza.” “Perhaps that meeting has not yet happened.” “I merely allowed him the means to allow such a meeting.”

“What then of the others in the House of the Thirteen that night?” Aquarius questions still pursuing Cancer.

“Any of them who come in contact with him will have their memories altered as well,” Cancer replies.

“What of the girl taken by the demon, she is beyond your power’s reach,” the sinister Scorpius comments.

Cancer’s answer will have to wait as more activity on the diamond carved in the stone platform next to Libra, it is that of Gemini. Blue lightning crackles over the surface of the emblem. The lightning leaps skyward combining into a lattice of energy and takes shape. The lightning solidifies to become a man in a silvery hood, his black robe clings tight to his torso. Gemini lowers his yellow hood revealing his strong African face and short-cropped hair. He says, “I feel the time for dialogue has passed, and the gathering has begun.”

Another carving on the opposite side of Libra begins to sprout vine-like growth, the sign of Capricornius. The vines weave and transform to become a female individual. She quickly lowers her orange hood and exclaims, “Let’s get a move on, I’ve waited long enough for this conflict.” The others have become oblivious to Capricornius’ impatience. Her dark East Indian complexion is smooth and flawless in the dim light. Capricornius strokes her straight jet-black hair and reluctantly stands quietly facing the center of the ring like the others.

Zeeza,
The Mistix Pisces calls her province Sessrumnir as a tribute to her long gone home of the same name.

The mist around her turns cold and Spirit finds herself outside of another castle as it clears. This castle is not built of stone but ice. She feels the chill on her skin. Her skin, she looks down to find that her thin athletic body has been returned, she is no longer the fat and overweight woman that Leo’s stew made her. At least there is that, she thinks. Stepping closer to the castle she discovers it is not the air that surrounds her that is cold, but the air that moves out from the castle. The ice that the castle is constructed from seems to be self-sustaining. It is not the air that cools the ice but the ice that is cooling the air. Diana Carter learned years ago that cold affects her powers, it would not be wise to enter this place.

Spirit turns to look for a means to leave, finding only a high icy wall behind her whose top is out of sight. She also discovers she is not alone. In the courtyard stand hundreds of icy statues as if to guard the ice castle. Going to the castle seems to be the only way to get out of the province. She has no idea of what to expect of this Mistix. Maybe the ruler of this province is an Ice Giant! Wouldn’t that be great, she chuckles to herself.

She climbs the few steps that lead up to the twelve foot tall wooden doors. Reaching up over her head she bangs the great brass door knocker that booms to announce her arrival. The door swings open as if of its own accord. “Hello?” Spirit calls out to the large open cathedral on the other side of the door. Candles that sit on a wooden chandelier high over the marble floor ignite as she steps inside. “Hello?” she calls out again as she sees the rows of women that line the path into the room. One of Diana’s lesser known interests has always been mythology and when she approaches the frozen woman at the back of the room she guesses at the style of armor she wears. “What are you a Valkyrie?” she asks the lifeless figure.

“They were impressive warrior women, if you could call them women,” a voice says from farther in the room. Spirit looks up to see a rather voluptuous blonde woman dressed in a black robe with a pink hood. “The Valkyrie were actually hermaphrodites, or is that will be?” “I always get confused by their origin story.”

“Hello, which Mistix are you?” Spirit asks coolly, trying not to show her concern as she can feel her powers dwindling in this cold climate.

“I am Pisces,” the woman replies, lowering her hood to free her thick platinum blonde mane. “I see some of my fellow Mistix have given you gifts.” Spirit reaches for the necklace at her throat triggering it to glow slightly. “That is an impressive gift, but just because I can not recognize your face doesn’t mean I don’t know who you are.” “You are a woman in search of love, who desperately wants to be loved,” Pisces says, stepping closer to Spirit. “Hmmm, I see you have been in love and got your heart broken once.”

“No, this is not why I am here!” Spirit insists. “I am in search of the Core of Humanity!”

“My dear love is the greatest power in the universe, that is why everyone seeks it!” Pisces tells her. “There is more to your love, isn’t there?” “The boy who broke your heart, you saw him again and he returned your love that time.” Pisces reach out to touch Spirit’s belly. Her hand is as cold as ice. “You even carried his child for a time, but not for long.”

Spirit steps back in shock, feeling a chill grow inside her. “You are insane, I have never been pregnant!”

Pisces laughs at the young woman, “You still believe the night you lost your virginity in the House of the Thirteen to the boy you loved from when you were fifteen, a dream.” “How precious!”

“Steve…. you’re talking about Steve Roberts and that night in the attic…..it was real?” Spirit mumbles. The cold in her belly is spreading. Her hand on her stomach she asks, “I was pregnant… after?”

“For nearly two months,” Pisces tells her. “But how could something created of such pure innocent love ever survive after being conceived in such a place of evil.”

“How do you know these things, why are you telling me them?” Spirit asks, almost sobbing.

“I was once the Norse goddess of love and I feel your pain,” Pisces tells her. “Your pain of lost love and love never given has hardened your heart, made it cold, frozen.” Spirit suddenly realizes that she can not move her feet, they are frozen to the ground. In fact her legs are completely frozen as the curse moves up her body.

“Why?” Spirit asks as her arms freeze in position over her chest.

“My province is that of lost love and love reborn,” Pisces tells her. “Your arrival here could mean only one thing, your truth would be revealed. The ice completely takes over Spirit and she is frozen solid.

Earth,
Stanford University
Stanford, Ca

College student Diana Carter heads to the Commissary for lunch after her first two classes. She has felt different all morning, since she returned from Magic Island. It took several hours for the android look-a-alike to discover what had caused her change in consciousness. When the real Diana left for Zeeza their connection was severed. For the past twelve hours she has been acting completely on her own. Nothing she has done has been influenced by the real Diana Carter. To her surprise it has been easy and feels good to her.

She spots John Porter across the room. John is a player on the Basketball team who has been asking her out for months. Diana’s influence on her has been preventing her from making the date. John glanced over at her as he walked back from the counter with his tray. She smiled at him, drawing his attention.

Diana Carter is smiling at me? he thinks as he smiles back heading over to her table. “Hi Di,” John says sitting down across from her at the table. “Is it okay if I sit here?” he asks.

“What about your friends from the Basketball team?” she asks as all of the team’s eyes turn to them. “I thought you were eating with them.”

“I talk to them all the time, you I barely talk to,” John tells her.

“I’m sorry, that is my fault,” she says. “I have been putting too much pressure on myself with school work.” She can’t believe how exciting it feels to talk to this boy. When she and Diana are connected there is a desire to avoid men. That is a desire that might not be as good as Diana might think. “What are you doing after lunch?” she asks.

“Why do you ask?” John quizzes with an eyebrow raised. This hot girl has given every guy on campus the cold shoulder for two years! We all thought she was a lesbo.

“I don’t have any classes this afternoon and I was looking to have some fun,” she replies.

“Some of the guys and I are going to play Frisbee in the park if that sounds like fun to you,” John tells her knowing full well that he told them no because he has a class. A chance to get close to the legendary Diana Carter is good enough reason to cut class in his book.

“Do you think I could tag along?” she asks hoping that the real Diana doesn’t return soon to ruin her fun.

“Sure the more the merrier!” he grins. Bagging Diana Carter would make him a legend, he thinks to himself. Every guy on campus would worship him!

Zeeza,
The province of Pisces

Wonder Man stands at the base of the icy wall. Squeezed tight between his palms, a gold charm that hangs on a fine chain around his thick neck. His eyes stare up toward the top of the seemingly perpetual wall. The cold air whistles around him, it stings his ears. Wonder Man unlinks his fingers and the charm falls to the yellow emblem on the red shirt that covers his hard chest. He can feel the chill in his fingertips, a strange new sensation. Steve cannot remember ever being in such extreme cold, a cold that affected him so severely. His hands move for his pockets, until he remembers that these tight pants he wears have no pockets. Lifting his arms he slips his bare hands into his warm armpits. Strange, he thinks to himself, whatever this costume is made of is very warm for being so thin.

Turning his eyes back to the frozen barrier, looking to the right and then to the left. It appears endless. No doors, no windows. Going over seems to be the only option. Wonder Man squats down, compressing the dense muscles of his legs. In one fluid motion Wonder Man launches skyward. Twenty feet, forty feet but still the top of the wall is out of sight. At sixty feet Wonder Man can feel his momentum wane. Reaching out for the frozen wall his hands touch and he pushes off flipping over continuing up feet first. Upward until at last the son of an Amazon warrior reached the top of the great wall. Years of Amazon training have not been in vain. Every action is choreographed and perfectly balanced. His finely honed athletic body flips landing feet first atop the icy barrier. Wonder Man peers down into the snow covered courtyard. The inside of the wall appears to be no more than twenty feet high. One step forward and he is effortlessly on the snowy ground that is much closer than on the other side. By now his ears and nose are quite numb from the cold. His hands return to his underarms as the frost crunches under his feet.

Scattered throughout the cold windy province ice statues, hundreds of them, stand silently watching. He moves closer to one, its horned helmet points to the heavens. Viking warriors in full armor, the young man would call them. Some holding shields and swords, others stand with long spears and still others with drawn bows. The young man is amazed at the life-like quality of the ice sculptures. At first glance it would appear that these statues are guarding the castle, but there are so many different styles of armor and weapons, giving the impression that they are invaders. Perhaps once frozen they were turned to face out rather than in. That would mean they were not statues at all, but real men cut down by the cold.

His inspection of the soldiers is cut short by a frigid breeze. His six foot three, two hundred and forty pound body is pushed along by the windstorm. He is pushed across the icy surface to the base of the stairs that lead up to a great, frozen cathedral. Wonder Man begins to climb the steps to the doorway at the top. The wind has stilled itself, as if he is where this province wants him. No, he thinks not of the province, the Mistix. These Mistix of Zeeza have controlled this whole adventure. The lessons he has learned on this day mean more than anything his mother taught him about being an Amazon warrior ever did. He must have the heart of a warrior as well as the mind to be a master.

Inside the great cathedral, a one-foot high raised marble floor leads to the other end of the entrance room, from the vaulted ceiling a huge wooden chandelier lit with candles hangs high overhead. Lining the walkway the statuary is different. All appear to be warrior women of some kind. These were not the Amazons that his mother spoke of most of his life. The armor they wear is different, more cold oriented. The helmets and chest plates are made of bronze and brass, not the simple steel and iron of the Amazons. The clothing is made from bear and wolf skins. The large warrior women are all blonde and beautiful. He shivers as he walks forward down through the gallery. Up ahead a statue stands in the center of the walkway. It seems smaller than the other warrior statues. As he draws closer he can see the figure is encased in a layer of ice.

Wonder Man stops in front of the smaller sculpture looking closely at it. This figurine wears no armor and holds no weapons of any kind. The blonde woman wears a skintight purple and blue costume. The young man stares into the frozen woman’s wide eyes. Her gaze mesmerizes him. She appears to be…

“ALIVE?” the voice comes from behind him. Wonder Man turns with a start, ready for anything. Behind him stands a medium height platinum blonde woman wearing a black robe with a pink hood. His eyes almost uncontrollably fall to look at what he would consider enormous breasts. She speaks again, “I am Pisces.” A seductive grin comes over her lips, “In a time long ago a young man of your stature would be an easy prize for me to seduce.” Wonder Man feels a stirring deep inside himself as his heart beats faster. A fiery passion that seems to make the frigid cold around him disappear. His eyes glare at the Mistix trying to take in her every movement. He has so many questions but somehow his voice is silent as his heart races. The Mistix walks to him, her soft, cold hand caressing his cheek, “I see you have been given a few gifts as well.” “The other Mistix have been busy.” Then she backs away laughing, “You’re him, you’re the boy.” “How perfect, you could thaw her frozen heart but when you do you will lose her!”

“I don’t understand, what are you talking about?” Wonder Man says.

“The girl could still be alive inside this ice.” Pisces tells him. “She is a victim of her own cold heart.” Confused, the young man watches as the Mistix moves around behind the ice covered woman. “I was once Freya goddess of love,” she purred as she slid her robe down her shoulder revealing her pearly white skin. “Men found me irrespirable,” Pisces tells him. “I see you do as well,” she giggles as she moves closer to him. The Mistix rests her hand on the front of Wonder Man’s pants and squeezes his growing package gently. “I can not undo what another Mistix has done but perhaps I can soften the impact for a price.”

Wonder Man brushes the Mistix and away from his crotch asking, “What do you have to offer that I would want?”

“It is not what you want, it is what you need,” Pisces tells him grinning. “I’ll make you a deal.” “It has been a long, long time since I had a human man.” “If you forget about this stupid little lost girl that wandered out of the snow, I would show you the ways of love that you never imagined.”

“Lost girl?” he says aloud. How did she get here? Does she have a way home? The questions in his mind break the hold the brazen Mistix has on him. “I have no interest in your offer,” Wonder Man replies even though his body says differently. “If helping this girl will get me home, then there is no way I could ever forsake her.”

“I guarantee that when you free her, she will not be happy,” Pisces tells him, pulling her robe back up to cover her shoulders.

Without another word he pushes Pisces aside and lunges for the frozen woman. Wonder Man wraps his strong arms around the icy slab. Clinching Capricornus’ gift in his cold hands behind the block of ice that holds the young girl prisoner. In a flash they are gone leaving the love starved Mistix alone once again.

Zeeza,
a bright and sunny meadow.
Virgo’s Province

Two colorfully clad young people appear suddenly in a tight embrace. The woman is the first to pull away. She stands shivering for a moment, an aftershock from her experience in the province of Pisces. “Who are you?” she stammers looking the man in the face. “How did I get here” Their Mistix given disguises hid their identities from each other far better than a simple change of hair color. Neither has any idea of who the other is. Then suddenly she falls to her knees crying out, “Arrrghhh!”

“What is it?” Wonder Man asks, reaching out to help the young woman back up. “Are you alright?”

She pushes him away as the gift of the Mistix Cancer burns through her mind, erasing the memory of the night they spent together in the House of the Thirteen. Along with those memories she also forgets everything Pisces said referring to the aftermath. “I felt like part of my brain was on fire the second when I looked at you,” Spirit replies, holding her head.

“One of the things I’ve learned here in Zeeza is that whatever happens to you in one province is reversed in the next,” the handsome young man tells her, moving to help the young woman up. “Maybe it was an after effect of being frozen?” he suggests.

She looks at him muttering, “You did this.” Then without warning she responds with violence. Grabbing his arm she twists it and throws the man across the meadow to strike a tree. The tall Cryptomeria tree that is pushed over slightly by his impact. Spirit stomps across the grass at full density toward the fallen man who returns to his feet much faster than she would have liked. She still burns with anger as her mind tries to fill the void left by Cancer. She lunges at the man landing a right cross to his jaw.

Wonder Man staggers, braces himself against the tree. Taking his jaw in his hand, “That is quite a right you have there.” She takes another swing with her left fist that he blocks, to be followed by a spinning kick that brings her right boot to his face. Wonder Man catches her leg holding her in a precarious position. “You are rather good,” he says. Spirit then twists her body swinging her concrete hard left leg up over Wonder Man’s shoulder, springing up onto his back locking her legs around his neck, she leans back pulling him down and flipping him feet over head to the ground. Doing a handspring she springs to land her feet into his back.

Wonder Man flips over out of her landing zone grabbing for her legs as her feet hit the ground. He pulls her down, tackling Spirit, pinning her down to the ground. Sitting on her belly he asks, “What is your problem?”

“You attacked me first Mistix” Spirit shouts trying to free her arms from his grip, her brain still burning.

“Do I look like a Mistix to you?” he can feel her struggling under him. She is very strong, almost as strong as him, almost. “Where is my black robe?”

“Two very good questions, I’ve been wondering about those things myself,” she asks as she slips through his body. “Start with your name.”

Standing up he smirks, running his fingers through his dark hair, “Now that is a good trick.” “I guess you can call me, Wonder Man, I’m looking for my …destiny?”

She stares oddly at him for a moment, her brain cooling and her mind clearing, “My name’s Spirit” “Thanks for your help, back there with Pisces.”

“Thank You, isn’t necessary, Spirit.” “All I need to know is how you got here and how you’re going to get home to Earth?” Spirit gives him another strange look not completely understanding his question. Spirit did not hear the words Wonder Man spoke. The magic spell Mist cast to send Steve to Zeeza also hides his true identity from anyone he may encounter. Thus the sentence Spirit heard was, “Thank You, isn’t necessary Spirit, I was glad to help.” Wonder Man speaks again, “I’m from Earth too and we can help each other get home.” She hears, “This place is more beautiful than any place I’ve ever seen.” “I never want to go home again, perhaps we could work together to explore this place.”

“Look, I don’t need your help,” a look of irritation crosses her face. “I’m here for a reason and I intend on finishing my quest.” She turns and heads away from him.

“Wait!” he calls after her. She continues walking. “I can help you with your quest.” Spirit continues to walk off totally ignoring Wonder Man. “You’d still be frozen in a block of ice if it weren’t for me,” Wonder Man yells. “You saw what happened, I chose you over that Mistix’s advances doesn’t that mean anything to you?”

She turns back to him, “I saw what happened but I heard nothing.” “The two of you could have been planning your next move, for all I know you are the Mistix of this province,” Spirit blasts.

Walking up to where Spirit stands in the breezy meadow, “What will it take for me to convince you I don’t belong in this bizarre world?” Wonder Man asks.

The two lost adventurers stand silent in the knee-high grass. Spirit no longer feels the chill of Pisces’ province as the bright sun of this province shines warmly on her skin. Looking around the tranquility of the province is stark. She remembers what Leo told her “Your whole life you have lived by your head, never once stopping to feel things.” His words seem to have more meaning than she first realized. Spirit is overcome by a feeling of tranquility as her temper calms. Wonder Man is having a similar conflict within his head. Is he over eager to trust someone that he borderline begs this woman now to let him help her. Should he pull back? he wonders.

Spirit walks through the green grassy meadow. Wonder Man follows a few yards behind. “We’ve been walking for two hours,” He calls ahead to her, “Are you going to stop and talk to me soon.” “There’s nothing here but grass and unicorns.”

Spirit looks to the mythic animals grazing a few yards from where they stand. “I’ve never been much of a horse person,” Spirit tells Wonder Man. “But I must say those are the most magnificent animals I have ever seen.” The two Earth people watch the Unicorns for what seems like hours. First they stand and then they sit on the ground peeking just over the top of the grass. Eventually Wonder Man and Spirit are lying on their backs in the meadow staring up at the perfect clouds in the sky. They don’t speak but in their minds they seem to communicate the fantasy figures they see the clouds form. The mood is broken when Spirit smells the hot breath and the large tongue of a Unicorn on her face.

Wonder Man is startled and rolls away springing to his feet. Spirit on the other hand is not alarmed at all. She slowly stood and stroked the Unicorn’s mane. The unicorn takes to the girl as if they were best friends for years.
Wonder Man is less impressed by the huge animal. A small hand is laid on his shoulder and a soft voice speaks, “The Unicorns are drawn to purity and virtue.” Wonder Man turns to look upon the petite Asian woman dressed in a purple hooded black robe. The Mistix is only about five feet tall, posing no threat to either of the Earth couples. “I will miss them when I leave Zeeza,” the Mistix whispers.

“Why are the Mistix leaving this wonderful place?” Spirit asks as she hugs the unicorn’s neck and head.
“I am called Virgo by the Mistix and like all the others, I know that your arrival here means the end of our time here,” Virgo murmurs. “We were sent here an eon ago to guard the ‘Core of Humanity’ from a powerful threat.” “Your arrival marks our discovery.” “We were told to defend the ‘Core’ at all costs.” “During the time we spent here we have decided it would be better to be on the offense than the defense.” The Unicorn fades from existence before Wonder Man’s eyes and from Spirit’s clutch.

Rubbing his head, Wonder Man speaks, “What were we thinking, we need to keep going.” “As the Mistix dissolves their provinces the effect they have on us vanishes.” “How do we get out of Zeeza?” Wonder Man asks Virgo.

“As we Mistix reabsorb the power that we used to create our homes, Zeeza will vanish,” Virgo tells them. “In the end there will be nothing left, not even air to breathe.”

“We must get out of here then even if I don’t find my answers,” Spirit realizes as the effects of Virgo’s province fade.

Zeeza,
Once again there is activity on the platform high over the asteroid.

Nine Mistix stand without a word in the coldness upon the stone platform. The temperature is too cold for the creation of steam. Yet on the mark of Leo next to Taurus steam begins to swell outward. The steam clears leaving the golden hooded Leo in its place. The once again thin, strongly built Leo inflates his chest taking one deep breath. Exhaling he drops his hood, a hand smoothes his short cropped brown hair. “When first we Mistix came to Zeeza we made this plan hoping it would never come to be utilized,” the Caucasian man says to the others. “Now the time has come to pass as we stand on the threshold of its completion.” Ten of the thirteen now wait for what is to come.

It has been six hours since Aries first appeared on the platform high above the surface of Zeeza. One by one his fellow Mistix has joined him. Scorpius, Libra, Taurus, Aquarius, Sagittarius, and Cancer, Gemini, Capricornius, Leo all stand silently awaiting the arrival of the final three. Aries home on the surface, a place fashioned after Mount Olympian is now completely gone. Eons ago when the Mistix first came to Zeeza, Aries created the likeness of his former home when he was but a “god”. The end draws near and Aries has fully absorbed the energy that was used to create this home away from Earth. Other provinces of Zeeza have been lost to the will of their creators as well. Scorpius, Libra, Taurus, Aquarius, and Sagittarius have also fully ravaged their homes, leaving the asteroid emptiness in its place. Peruvian Mountains that once arched skyward dwindle in size as Cancer draws back the energy that he needs for the next era of the Mistix. The counterfeit dry plains of Africa have begun to fade from existence as Gemini reclaims his power. The golden domes of Mount Mandara still gleam as empty shells to the wealth of the Hindu gods. Capricornus’ heart is low as she devolves her home and each piece of her creations from within it.

On the platform only two diamonds remain unoccupied. Both spaces are between Leo and Gemini. On the mark of Pisces frost becomes visible on the carved plate. The frost grows into ice, building layer upon layer to create an ice formation. The ice darkens to black at the bottom two thirds. The top turns pink. Pisces has arrived. Her buxom breast heaves in anticipation of leaving Zeeza. With the end of Zeeza she knows that a return to Earth is inevitable. A return to the passions of humans.

Next to Pisces, the one remaining sign of the Zodiac, is that of Virgo, the virgin begins to shine, glimmers of light pierces its face. Beams of light radiate into the dark. Within the illumination the purple hooded Virgo comes into view. Silently the Asian woman lowers her hood, she is shy and reserved as she speaks, “I am prepared for what is to come.” The circle of the Zodiac is complete. Dropping her hood the Nordic beauty acknowledges the others. The twelve Mistix that form the ring of the Zodiac now wait for the thirteenth member, the one that brings them union.

December 31, 1999 – 12:43 am
Somewhere in the Pacific 0cean, Victory Island
Victory Citadel, the main Hall

“Are you telling us that this plan is also some kind of correction in the time stream I am also unaware of?” the dark man called Zero asks in surprise.

“It would appear so,” the newly named Psyman replies. “Right down to when Steve Roberts told me that Psyman stole some artifact in the end.”

“Then it is clear that your trip to Zeeza will be a success,” the man known only as Secrets asserts.

“That is only if we can get him there at the right time,” Zero corrects.

“I am guessing it is up to Zero and me to accomplish that,” the pale skinned man Zenith adds.

“Yes,” the blonde wearing a pink silk toga Angela answers. “Zero remember, you must compensate for the difference between the flow of time in the two dimensions.”

“That is why Zenith must open the portal to Zeeza first,” Zero instructs. “Then I will create the time bubble to move us all back to the correct time period.” “Psyman please step over here behind Zenith.” The new composite person does as Zero instructs, taking his place behind Zenith. Then Zero kneels down in front of Zenith with his back to him. “Zenith, put your arms over my shoulders to open the portal to Zeeza about three feet in front of me,” Zero instructs.

Zenith does as he has told, his elbows falling at about the height of Zero’s ears on either side of his head. His fingers move, going through the dimensional fabric one at a time as if he is flipping the pages of a book. A floating replica of the Zenith emblem that is embossed on the man’s chest appears in front of Zero’s face. As Zenith’s fingers move through the dimensional layers only he can see what he is doing. It is like a blind-man reading Braille that no one else can see. It does not take him long to find the plane for which he searches. When he does he clenches his hands into fists. The floating emblem expands to move away from the two men and Psyman. It becomes large enough for someone to step through.

The dark and stormy dimension of Zeeza can be seen on the other side. It was the Mistix that calmed Zeeza to create a home for themselves in the past. It is the past of Zeeza to which Psyman must travel.

Zero reaches up beside his head and takes hold of Zenith’s wrists. He holds them tightly to expand a time bubble out from the flow of the dimensional energy to the rift in space. The bubble grows to contain both them and Psyman as time flows backwards outside the bubble. To the others in the room the people inside the bubble simply vanish. To the three within the bubble streaks of color, light, and darkness flash by as the bubble slides backwards through time. The view of Zeeza also changes only at a slower pace. When the point in time where Wonder Man and Spirit visited Zeeza arrives, Zero stops the bubble’s movement through the time stream.

“This is it,” Zero instructs. “When you step out, remember the exact location you enter Zeeza. “This portal and bubble will remain invisible from the outside.” “You will only have an hour to accomplish your task once you exit the bubble.”

“Less than an hour,” Zenith adds. “You only have until the joining between the two of you ends.” “Which should be in about forty-eight minutes,” Zenith guesses.

“We will not need that long,” Psyman says. “We know exactly where to go to find them!” the composite being says eagerly exiting the bubble.

Zeeza,
The province of Core

The two Earth people press on across the surface of this strange world of wonders that will soon be no more. Both feel an eagerness to leave. A fast walk becomes a trot as they move over the province of Virgo as the meadow becomes a desert. The borders that divide the provinces are fading now. All around them they hear and see the end of Zeeza. The border of the provinces of Virgo and Core is vague. They are not sure they have even crossed into a new province as they walk the rocky barren landscape that seems endless. Now both slow back to a walk. Relaxing not knowing that it is the magic of the province of Core that is affecting them. Neither speak, their minds turn inward analyzing themselves, their pasts and all that has happened today.

Wonder Man can’t help but look back on what happened to him in Cancer’s province. Deep down he is still pretty shook up. What was he thinking when he charged that Mistix. He had already learned that the power of these beings was far beyond his own. Allowing himself to be beaten so badly was just stupid! The man stops and takes a deep breath trying to shake off the events of the day. There is a good side to all of this, the air has never tasted so sweet. An overwhelming feeling of how good it feels to be free and alive overtakes him. Strange, thinking back why did I chose the apple. He has never been a fan of apples, he would have much rather had a pear or grapes. His mother never even allowed apples in the house. She always had some weird aversion to them. Steve and the rest of his family were forced to follow along with it. Another thing that was weird was the panic I felt in the province of Aries. I’ve never been claustrophobic before that moment in time. The only thing on my mind was getting out of there and away from those vines. The list of things grows, I went far too aggressive for no reason in both Libra and Cancer’s province, that was not something I would do. I’ve always been trained to be on the defensive and only to go on the offensive as a last resort. It was as if they were provoking me without saying a word. But in different ways, it was fear I felt with Libra that made me act irrationally. With Cancer it was the terror that made me feel powerless.

Spirit walks ahead of Wonder Man as he watches her firm ass move under her tight leotard. Her bleached blonde hair swings over her smooth back. Her legs are strong and flex as she moves over the rocky terrain. Spirit is a good-looking woman. I’m sure men chase her all the time.

She’s not as good looking as Airmid, the young girl in Aquarius’ province. I was completely taken in by her charm. That was out of character for me too. I’ve spent most of my life resisting sexual situations. Airmid should never have been able to seduce me so easily. No, it wasn’t lust I felt for her it was trust. Now Pisces on the other hand gave me a stiffy. I could feel the desire for her all over my body. He knew that feeling only once before when he was a teen and that girl at summer camp kissed him. Then unlike now he went into a panic, he has grown since that day and has learned to deal better with the desires of the flesh. What was that girl’s name, somehow it slips his mind now. That was his first kiss. Could he have denied himself to the point of forgetting her name?

Looking back to the blonde walking in front of him he thinks, Spirit is a remarkable woman but her brash, strong headedness makes her someone he would never consider his type. Even though she has a killer body, that has never been my aim. Through everything that happened today it never crossed his mind but I think that the Mistix have been manipulating his emotions at all. From the moment I first met Capricornius I felt a profound respect for a woman I never met before or had any knowledge. Stopping for a minute he looks back to the province of Virgo. And the serenity I felt, we both felt in Virgo’s home was amazing. “Hey wait up,” Wonder Man calls out as he trots ahead of Spirit.

Spirit has also been lost in thought as they walk over the province of Core towards a large pillar that reaches into the clouds. Strange, she thinks to herself, I feel strong and fully charged. Maybe Wonder Man is right when he said that things in one province are reversed in the next. If I trust the information that Sagittarius gave me, the provinces are ten miles across. I should have never been able to make so many teleportations. Even if I could have made it then I would have been powerless for days, if not months.

She looks to the jogging man that passes her to leap into the air, coming down to drop kick a boulder aside. What a big ox she thinks to herself. Wow! I really have become critical of men over the years, she confesses silently to herself. Deliberately or not, she has let her anger for her father reach all men that have been around her. There was a point when all she wanted was to be loved by a boy. It has been years since she was a teenager and her path has taken a very different course. Shanna was right; this trip has helped me clear my mind, Spirit acknowledges. Looking back over this horrible day she feels like she has re-lived every bad emotion she has ever felt.

The fear she felt in Scorpius’ province was like when her best friend Gina died and she was helpless to save Gina’s life. Scorpius’ voice seemed to bore into her, into her very soul. But somehow she resisted the fear and got past it. She survived only to be overcome with panic in the Taurus province. Those two emotions alone were stronger than anything she has ever felt for my father. Father? Who is or was my father? she questions. Diana knows now that William Carter was not her father. Did he know that fact? Is that why he treated her, the way he did after her mom died? She realizes now her hatred and anger was wasted on William Carter. She almost understands his position now. She just can’t justify it.

Spirit doesn’t doubt Leo even though she knows she should. She felt nothing but respect for that Mistix. Most likely another emotion generated by these weird provinces. She must have still been in shock from Leo’s revelation when she appeared in the province of Pisces. It is the only way to explain why by the time she noticed the cold it was too late. But what Pisces said is true too. She has let her heart go cold. She thinks about that handsome boy at college, John, that keeps approaching Robin. Why does she keep pushing him away? Even if she has met him through a surrogate that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have something when Diana returns to the outside world. Shanna has promised that the transition would be seamless, John had no idea he was dating an android when she returned home.

When she was frozen in that block of ice, all I could do was stand there and get more and more angry. It was that anger that took out on this Wonder Man character. “I’m sorry!” she speaks up.

Wonder Man turns, a confused look on his face, “Sorry for what?”

“The way I acted when we first met,” she tells him as they stop to stand in the middle of the strange province. “I realize now that this place has been messing with my emotions.”

“So you’ve noticed it too, huh?” Wonder Man replies. “The most amazing part I thought was the serenity of Virgo’s province,” He finishes as they begin walking again. “Personally I think this province has had some kind of ‘self awareness’ effect on me.” “I have never felt so exhilarated.” “I feel like I have come to an important turning point in my life!”

“I know what you mean,” she said with an anguished look of anguished. “Come on, I’ll race you to that cave I just really want to go home now too,”

“I’ll second that vote,” Wonder Man states as he begins his sprint toward the towering pillar.
As she runs Diana thinks about what her life has been and what she wants to do with her future. A lifetime filled with resentment and anger is not what she wants.

Wonder Man on the other hand is impressed with the woman’s speed and agility on the rough terrain.

As the Earth Zeni-humans enter at the base of the column, a final act takes place upon the tall stone platform that will change the past, present, and the future.

Ages ago the Mistix fled Earth to this place to guard the Core of Humanity from an alien evil. Establishing a home for each of themselves, they waited. Waited for the first sign that they had been discovered. On this day they have been approached by the first humans any of them have seen in thousands of years.

High atop the circular platform reacting up from the asteroid, twelve people, eight men and 4 women, stand motionless. All dressed in long flowing black robes. The hoods of each robe differ in color. This zodiac-based circle represents all of the original species of the human race. Aries is Mediterranean; Aquarius is Amphibian; Cancer is West Indian; Capricornius is East Indian; Gemini is Negro; Leo is Caucasian; Libra is Mongolian; Pisces is Nordic; Sagittarius is Metalloid; Scorpius is Hispanic; Taurus is Animalistic; and Virgo is Asian. One is left to arrive at the heart of the circle, the Core that joins all to the authentic power of the Mistix. The first to arrive here was Aries. He has stood motionless waiting for eight hours. The last to arrive was Virgo. She has waited an hour and a half, all the time absorbing the energy she had spent constructing her providence.

All eyes are pinned on the marking carved at the center of their ring. The mark is that of Core, she who will bring the next steps in their existence. Then in an instant she is standing before them, seemingly emerging from nonexistence. Her brown hood falls to her shoulders, exposing her face and neck. The brown patches that encircle her neck, trailing down her chest and back are the prominent features of the near extinct Ruberoid race. Core’s empathic powers make the emotions of the other Mistix known to her the instant she arrives. She feels aggression, compassion, desire, loss, hope, curiosity, mercy, love, generosity, hatred, stubbornness, and calmness. These twelve emotions are what will join the Mistix together as one through Core.

Core speaks to the assembled, “We all were once gods, worshiped by humankind.” Raising her arms as she turns to look around her, “When our time as gods had passed many of us thought our usefulness to the world of our birth, Earth, was done.” Core’s feet lift from the ground as she speaks, “That was until the Oracle Angela came to each of us, offering us a new cause…. A new life…. as Mistix.” “An alien evil had come to our home world. Angela told us that together our power would be greater than any of us alone.” “We have worked in secret to save the Earth and the people who once worshiped us as the evil one grew in power.” “When our mentor Angela was lost to us the stakes were raised.” “The Oracle Secrets sent us to protect the Core of Humanity that is hidden at the center of this asteroid.” “We did as he said, but once we arrived here we changed his plan.” Spinning in mid-air, Core’s speech intensifies, “We agreed that Secrets had been corrupted by his interaction with Zeni-humans.” “We resolved that when the first Zeni-human came to Zeeza we would return to Earth and attack the alien enemy.” “That time has come Zeni-Humans have come to this world and it is here they shall die as this world crumbles in our absence.”

Core unhooks the clasp that holds her robe. It tumbles to the ground. The other Mistix follow suit, their black garments sliding down their nude bodies. Nude the twelve members of the Mistix zodiac join hands. Core floats in the center of the ring of people. She draws her feet upward, touching the soles of her feet together. As she begins to spin slowly the Mistix chants. As Core begins to revolve faster the Mistix raise their clasped hands over head. Electricity crackles between the outer ring and the Core, lifting all from the platform. The twelve Zodiac Mistix move inward toward Core. The sparking electricity between them flares brighter, engulfing them completely. When the surge of electricity clears only one figure remains.

The new being is made up of different aspects of each of the Mistix. Large horns sprout from a Hispanic face. Dark black West Indian hair wave over Metalloid armored shoulders and arms. Brown Ruberoid spots form a point on the strong pectorals. A Caucasian skinned washboard stomach sits atop a sexless Negro waist and legs. Webbed Amphibian toes point down to the stone platform. The energy swirling around this new “Total Mistix” strikes down past the floating being, hitting the platform. Fissures crack in the stone slab from the lightning strikes and the platform begins to crumble. Consumed in a ball of crackling energy the combined Mistix know as Zodiac vanish for the plain of Zeeza. Leaving the asteroid as they found it a millennium ago barren and lifeless.

Far below in the province of Core two people walk through the oddly lit caverns of the province, each is lost in thoughts of their own. Their goal looms over them, a large earthen pillar that reaches into the clouds. “Look!” Wonder Man whispers pointing up ahead in the tunnel. Spirit looks up from the ground to see a brightly clad person standing at a “Y” in the cave tunnel. As they draw closer both notice the strange build of the figure dressed in red and yellow. The sex of this person is not clear to the eye. Wonder Man thinks it looks like one of those female body-builders he has seen in magazines. She is tall but less than six feet with brown and blonde streaked shoulder length hair that is pulled back into a ponytail. Her shoulders are broad and waist is narrow. The heavy muscled arms and legs seem out of place on this body that stands motionless up ahead.

As Spirit and Wonder Man draw closer Spirit eyes the washboard abs and plump breasts on the new arrival. The pectoral muscles are almost too plump, appearing as strapped down breasts. When Spirit looks at the tight red briefs over yellow leggings, this person is definitely male in her book.

“Strange build? Huh?” Wonder Man whispers to Spirit.

“Ya, he must really workout,” she replies.

“He?” “That is a girl, one of those body builders!”

“Take a look at the crotch,” Spirit whispers.

Looking to the groin of the person in front of them, Wonder Man replies, “I’ve heard that steroids will do that to a woman.”

“We’ll see,” Spirit replies defiantly. “Whatever the case, he seems to be waiting for us.”

The couple approach cautiously, about six yards from the man/woman Wonder Man takes Spirit’s arm that she quickly yanks away as he tries to signal her to wait. “Are you the Mistix of this province?” Wonder Man calls to the individual waiting ahead of them in the cave.

“No, I’m no Mistix,” the heroic figure replies. “I’m called Psyman and I was going to ask you where the Mistix are?”

“See I was right!” Spirit turns to Wonder Man. Turning back to the newcomer she says, “Your name is Simon?”

“No, Psy-man,” he replies. “Like Psychic.”

“Still, man is in there!” Spirit scoffs to Wonder Man.

Ignoring Spirit’s comments, Wonder Man says, “The Mistix have gone to attack an ancient enemy, that is what Capricornius told me.”

“They have all told us that we must go to Core, only she can return us home.” Spirit continues.

“Oh no then it’s worse than we thought!” Psyman panics, “We must hurry because if she has left & taken the Core of Humanity with her we are all trapped here.” With that Psyman turns to the left to trot into that tunnel. Wonder Man and Spirit follow into the darkness. Psyman runs faster demonstrating the importance to the others that follow along behind. As they get deeper into the tunnel walls are lined with glowing gems that cast light into the darkness.

Several hundred feet into the cavern Spirit is the first to feel the effect as she runs. She begins to pant, unable to catch her breath. Harder and harder she gasps, even activating her regeneration power has no effect. Spirit falls behind Wonder Man and Psyman as her heart pounds in her chest and head. A few more steps and she has stopped completely, panting. Leaning forward on her knees she struggles to catch her breath. I’ve never been so overheated in my entire life! Spirit thinks to herself still panting. She straightens up, still breathing hard. She begins to walk to find the men up ahead of her in the tunnel. Not far ahead Spirit comes across Wonder Man suffering from the same ailment she has just been overcome by.

“This ——– This is ——– ridiculous,” Wonder Man manages to get out between breaths. “I can’t ——— catch my breath,” he says, still panting.

“I know the same thing happened to me back there,” she tells him pointing back down over her shoulder. “Where’s Psyman?”

“Up ahead she kept going when I lost it.”

“He, you mean HE!” “Come on, let’s walk it off,” Spirit tells him, pulling at the shoulder of his red shirt.

Following the glowing crystals embedded in the walls the two soon find Psyman on his knees coughing and trying to breathe.

Wonder Man and Spirit help Psyman back to his feet. He says to them, “My father told me this would happen.” “But I knew I had to keep running for as long as I could.” “This cavern has nullified all our Zeni-human powers.” “We are all just normal humans here in this place.”

“Zeni-human powers?” Spirit questions.

“Shush, be quiet,” Psyman whispers under his breath.

“Excuse me?” Spirit says with a rude look on her face.

“Sorry, it’s nothing, I’m still a little out of it,” Psyman replies. “The world I’m from, people with superhuman powers are called Zeni-Humans,” answers Psyman. “I thought I could out run the effects of this place but I failed.”

“Your world?” Wonder Man questions, “Where are you from?”

“Let’s keep moving, I’ll answer your questions as we go,” Psyman tells them. “We are still running out of time,” Psyman leads on and a few steps down the cavern, “Stop,” Psyman whispers to himself.

“What?” Wonder Man asks.

“Let’s just say, I’m from a world neither of you can imagine,” Psyman quips.

“What’s the deal with the suit?” Spirit asks, “Does everyone in your world run around dressed like that?”

“No, I’m a Superhero,” Psyman tells them. “Besides, look at the way the two of you are dressed.”

“Get real, I don’t always dress like this,” Spirit retorts in disbelief. “It is an outfit just for this trip.”

Stopping in the glow of the gems Psyman turns pointing at Spirit, “That’s what you think!”

“This is just my workout gear, I’m no Superhero,” Spirit barks. Looking at Wonder Man, “I can’t speak for Sluggo here but superhero is the farthest thing from my mind,” Spirit walks away from the two men standing in the dim light.

Wonder Man grimaces and speaks up, “It may sound far-fetched but I’ve never seen these clothes before in my life.” “This is just what I was wearing when I arrived on Zeeza.” They continue on through the strangely lit tunnel in silence until Wonder Man speaks again, “Being a superhero is something I’ve never seriously considered before.” “Why would you do something so…. well, so silly?” Wonder Man asks cautiously.

Putting his arm around Wonder Man’s shoulders, “The three of us all have Zeni-human powers and using our powers to help when regular law-enforcement and resources are helpless is something of an obligation.” “Besides, being a Superhero is a family tradition back home,” Psyman says to the amazement of both of them.

The three fall silent again as they continue to walk through the cave to an unclear destination. Spirit scoffs to herself at the idea of being some kind of “Wonder Woman”. All she wants to do now when she gets home is to have a “normal life”. It has been years since Diana Carter has had a “normal life”. Now with a better understanding of who she is and where she came from she knows that a “normal life” is more possible than ever before. She’s going to go home and face down her father and do whatever it takes to make her life complete.

Wonder Man is still fascinated by the odd appearance of this new companion. A family of Super-heroes Wonder Man thinks to himself. How proud his father must be to have such a fem-looking son. Ha, Dad’s probably just as odd looking as Junior here. “Super Hero?” The concept has potential Wonder Man ponders.

Steve Roberts has spent the past year of his life as a Philadelphia cop. He joined the Philly police force to put his powers to the best use in helping others. Even though he has helped many people he has also gotten in trouble as well. He has already suffered from the comic book obstacle of using his powers openly puts his friends and family in danger. So he has been forced to sneak off or run ahead of other officers to use his powers without getting caught. Steve has also taken risks that normal cops wouldn’t that have led to disciplinary action by his superiors.

Looking at the strange hero, Wonder Man thinks that maybe an alter ego is the answer to his problem. Especially now that he has been encountering so many threats that were Zeni-human in nature. Steve looks down at the costume he is wearing, but not as Wonder Man! he thinks to himself. Then again looking back over this day the danger he has encountered is like nothing he wants to endure again.

“The Mistix have more power here on Zeeza than anything you will ever encounter at home,” Psyman says, looking at Wonder Man totally out of context.

Confuse Wonder Man asks, “Why did you say that?” Grabbing Psyman’s arm Wonder Man asks, “Can you read minds?”

Psyman pulls away from the man’s grasp, “Don’t be ridiculous, I can’t read minds.” All of them continue walking without another word. Unlike Wonder Man and Spirit, Psyman’s mind is chaos, like two minds arguing over what is right and wrong. In spite of the confusion within Psyman’s mind, on the outside his course is clear and concise as they reach the end of the tunnel.

“Up ahead the cavern widens.” Psyman announces. “This must be where the core rests!” he exclaims to the Earth couple. Psyman charges right in, but it has been a long day for his two companions who are much more cautious. Neither is eager to meet another Mistix today.

Both Wonder Man and Spirit have both learned many lessons on this trip to Zeeza, most of all they have learned “Better safe than sorry.” Wonder Man and Spirit enter the domed ceiling room behind Psyman. It is a hub for five other tunnels that enter from all sides of the room. High overhead in the center of the cavern another tunnel reaches upward into the darkness. The same glowing crystals that illuminated the tunnels light this room. The basketball-sized gems form the patterns of constellations on the high ceiling.

“There is nothing here,” Spirit voice echoes in the emptiness of the open cavern.

“This isn’t right!” Psyman blurts out. “Look around there must be a secret trigger to a compartment or something where the Core of Humanity is hidden,” Psyman instructs. “But touch nothing, only I can touch the Core,” he cautions. The three people begin to scan the smooth stone walls of the cave with their eyes looking for any seam.

Spirit is the first to find something out of place, “Look at this.” “This crystal in the center of the floor isn’t glowing, like the rest,” she tells the other. Spirit kicks over the basketball size stone. It is unmoving. She squats down over it as the others move closer.

“NO! Don’t touch it!” Psyman panics as he rushes across the cavern toward Spirit. “No human can touch the ‘Core of Humanity’ and live,” he tells her.

“So what are you going to do?” Wonder Man asks more than a little suspicious of this weird man.

“It is believed that I have immunity to the Core’s bad effects,” Psyman articulates, not really giving any explanation. “In fact my entire world is depending on that conjecture.” Psyman reaches out his right hand to the crystal, “I pray we are right.” His fingertips make contact and a burst of light and force knocks the three backward, off their feet to the floor.

Wonder Man is the first to move. He crawls over to Spirit, who is holding her head as she tries to sit up. She pushes him away, “Back off Sluggo!” “I’m fine!”

“I was just trying to help you up,” Wonder Man replies as he stands up to back away from the woman. He looks to Psyman who sits on the floor staring at them. “What is your problem?” he asks, feeling uncomfortable at the weird man’s gaze. “Are you hurt?”

“No, I just thought you would be more friendly to…….,” Psyman stops short of what he was going to say, at the urging of the voice in his head. He is from the future and he knows both of these people too well to believe how they are treating each other. He imagined this encounter to be much different.

“What do you mean, friendlier?” Spirit demands.

Psyman manages to get to his knees saying, “It’s nothing, it doesn’t matter.” “Look,” he exclaims, turning their attention back to the gem in the floor. They all watch silently as the ground around the once dark gem, which now glows with rainbow light, begins to tremble. The dirt pushes up from under the crystal raising it up in the direction of the tunnel in the ceiling. The dirt and rock forms a pedestal just about four feet above the floor of the cavern. Atop the pedestal sits an angularly chiseled soccer ball sized stone shimmering with multi-colored light. Motionless the trio watches as the shell crumbles away revealing the twinkling rainbow colored Core. The once glowing gems in the walls are now dark. The colorful beacon at its nucleus now supplies all the light in the cavern.

“You guys okay?” Psyman calls to the others as he stands up.

“Ya, I’m fine, ” Wonder Man replies.

“It’s just my butt that’s bruised,” is Spirit’s comeback.

Before they can approach the gleaming treasure something else happens. At the same time they all hear a noise from one of the tunnels that meet in the cavern. All attention is turned to that dark tunnel opening. Spirit gasps and covers her mouth as they see what caused the disturbance. A wet, shiny, tan and brown speckled mass oozes into sight. It flops and rolls over the smooth dirt floor.

“OOww, it’s the ‘blob’ like in that movie,” Wonder Man groans. The gushing folding mess moves toward the Core of Humanity.

Taking her hand from her mouth, “What’s it going to do?” Spirit poses.

“I don’t sense any danger from it, whatever it is,” Wonder Man whispers.

“You wouldn’t, you don’t have any powers here,” Psyman tells him, “Remember?”

Psyman draws the others back away from the bizarre arrival. At the base of the pedestal it begins to ooze up the shaft. It pulses and throbs to its goal, the Core of Humanity. Once atop the Core of Humanity the blob baths in the variegated beams of light. Letting them wash over its mucky form.

“What’s happening?” “Is it being hurt or healed by the beams?” Spirit inquiries as they watch the blob pull and contort.
“Look it’s reshaping,” Wonder Man retorts. The beige blob is reshaping before their eyes. It stretches and grows taller on top of the Core. Turning and twisting into human form as they watch in amazement.

“It’s definitely healing,” Psyman says. The features of the nude woman standing on the Core are now clear. Psyman recognizes her as a Ruberoid by the trademark brown freckles that cover her neck and chest. Wonder Man and Spirit stand in awe of the transformation they have just witnessed.

The Mistix Core says, “Humans your destiny awaits elsewhere!” Two brown bolts lash out, one from each of her hands. One striking Spirit engulfed her in an aura of mystic energy and she vanished. Wonder Man on the other hand dodges the beam meant for him. Flipping and cartwheeling over the floor as another blast heads for him from the Mistix.

“A little help here?” Wonder Man calls to Psyman, who stands motionless with a broad smile on his face.

“Steve Roberts you will not escape your destiny!” Core shouts and a brown glow envelops the room over powering the colors of the Core of Humanity itself. When the mystic blast fades Wonder Man is gone leaving only Psyman standing before the towering Mistix. Without another word she floats to the dirt floor of the cavern. “As a god I was Euphony, Amalgam goddess of unions and destiny,” She tells the strange looking superhero, “It was I who brought together the Metalloid and Ruberoid races for their mutual survival even though I knew how it would end.”

“How did you know his real name,” Psyman asks, more shocked than curious.

“Of course, I know who they are,” Core replies to Psyman’s question. “I was the goddess of unity and those two have a bond that is so deep it goes to their very souls.” “Even if they don’t know it yet.” “All things that bind people together are like an open book to me.” “I even know the bond one of you shares with them.” The Mistix turns back to the glowing Core of Humanity. “But it is your destiny that is most important now!” she tells Psyman. “You must take the Core of Humanity to Angela.” “Together with it, Angela will be able to save the entire human race.” “You must return to your future with the Core, severing the bond that we Mistix have with it.

Core lifts the heavy artifact from its earthen pedestal and hands it to Psyman. Instantly upon touching the weighty Core of Humanity. Psyman staggers slightly as a surge of electrical charge washes over him. Psyman is left with a feeling of euphoria over his whole body causing him to moan deeply as Core only smiles at the effect the artifact has on the composite being as she continues, “Once you return home the Core of Humanity will reverse the otherworldly damage that has been inflicted on the two of you and all will be as it should be.”

Still a little dizzy, his knees trembling, Psyman says, “Thank You.”

“Go follow, your destiny awaits!” Core speaks loudly and a brown bolt erupts from her palm. Psyman vanishes leaving the Mistix Core alone in the darkened cavern. She turns back to the empty pedestal where the Core of Humanity once rested for eons before she too vanishes to seek her own destiny.

Time passes in the empty cavern until a shining glow reappears on top the pedestal, bringing with it the lost Core of Humanity. Another enters the cavern, the last of the Mistix, who touches the pedestal and the shell again closes around the Core of Humanity and it sinks back into the floor.

“All is as it should be!” The figure speaks aloud.