They say it was as though a star exploded in Louis Forest.
The force from the blast caused Red River to overflow into the homes
and shops along it’s canals. And legend has it that every window in
Founders Falls shattered.
The blast washed over the gathered heroes
of Top Ten and knocked them off their feet. After the explosion, the
park was unnaturally quiet, the silence marred only by the far off
wail of car alarms and the sobs of a lone woman.
And Tropic found
himself in the middle of a field.
He sat up and looked about cautiously.
The grass came up to his shoulders and wildflower of yellow and purple
bloomed around him. He stood and saw a dense treeline to his right
and towards his left the glade sloped down into a valley, in the distance
a mountain range of snowcapped peaks rose majestically into the clouds.
There was something vaguely familiar about the tableau.
He sighed.
"Well, I must be dead then," he said with his hands on his hips.
"Yes.
There is naught I can do about that," a light feminine voice said
from behind him.
Tropic spun around and froze, amazed at the sight.
The woman was at least seven feet tall, not including the six or so
inches she hovered above the ground. Her hair was held back by a simple
headband of woven gold and her clear blue eyes gazed down at him with
a look of bemusement. Her breastplate was made of gold as well and
inlaid with rubies. Her well muscled abdomen was bare and her skirt
was the hard leather leaves the Roman legions used to wear. The greaves
covering her shins were made of the same gold and from the tips of
her sandaled feet to the top of her auburn hair she was surrounded
by a pure white glow.
Tropic stared for a moment and then somehow,
instinctively, knew who she was. "Artemis," he whispered and sank
to one knee in front of her.
She laughed lightly and came to rest
before him. "Do not kneel to me, Dread One," the goddess said and
put one hand tenderly under his chin.
The hero stood and said calmly,
"So, I am dead."
"Aye, even I have not the power to changest it."
Tropic gazed again at the peaceful setting and frowned. "But...this
is...it’s not Tartarus," he said quietly, fully expecting to find
himself in the ancient equivalent of hell.
"No," the Goddess whispered.
"But the things I’ve done...the people I’ve…"
She laughed lightly.
"Typical mortal," Artemis shook her head, "we hath gifted thee with
paradise and yet thou still doth protest."
"But I’ve…"
"Thou hast
saved the world," she smiled, "we gods may be tough but we are not
blind."
Tropic smiled weakly then turned to his surroundings once
more. "This place looks awfully familiar. I just can’t remember…"
Artemis grinned crookedly. "Yes, all is as it was."
The fiery hero
raised an eyebrow in question. "Goddess, I have had enough of riddles
to last me a lifeti...well, a long time. What is as it was?"
The Goddess
smiled again, "All is as it was, Dread One," she repeated and said
no more.
Tropic frowned and gazed at his surroundings once more. Her
words rang in his ears as would a tolling bell. "All is as it was,
all is as it was." He shook his head and turned to her again. She
hovered there smiling peacefully at him. He sighed and looked at his
feet and then to her. Suddenly his eyes grew wide. "Surely she couldn’t
mean…," he thought. "All is as it was," he whispered and held his
gloved hands in front of him.
"Aye," Artemis whispered softly.
Tropic
looked into her eyes then back at his hands. Gripping the glove on
his left hand he removed it in one quick yank. He gasped and his eyes
widened, large as saucers at the sight. No longer was his skin the
hot red shade he had been accustomed to, but the tan skin of someone
who worked outdoors, as he used to all those thousands of years ago.
He stared at the Goddess once more and she smiled sweetly down upon
him saying, "As it was."
He removed the glove from his right hand
and was greeted with the same sight. "I...I...don’t understand," he
said, the confusion evident in his voice. He looked up but the Goddess
had vanished, leaving him alone in the field.
Tropic gazed at his
surroundings once more and sighed heavily. "Gods and Goddesses," he
thought to himself, shaking his head. He glanced at his hands again
and was shocked to find his costume, his Top Ten uniform, gone. In
it’s place he wore a simple white tunic, gold and blue piping on the
sleeves and hem. And he recalled, from somewhere far in the back of
his mind, that this had been his favorite.
He tugged at his goatee,
his mind reeling. Suddenly, he heard a light female voice calling
out. He turned and in the distance saw a woman heading toward him,
waving. She was far enough away that he couldn’t recognize her but
her voice...her voice was...familiar.
He squinted and could see she
wore a long skirt the color of the blue sky and her blouse was a lighter
shade of that color. As she neared she called out to him again and
now he could see her hair was jet black and shot through with gray
and she wore a kerchief to hold it back.
Suddenly, his eyes flew open
and he gasped, the breath catching in his throat. "It can’t be!",
he thought.
And then he said, his lower lip quivering,
"Mama?"
Slowly,
the members of Top Ten picked themselves from the ground. The force
of the blast had dazed them, at least momentarily, and they looked
at each other in apprehension, not wanting to turn to it’s source.
Then, as one, with somber resignation, they moved down the hill.
Johnny
Cognito was climbing weakly to his hands and knees, his strength only
now returning. He had been closest to the explosion and his face was
red, like it had been sunburned. TuxedoGin helped him to his feet,
putting the controllers arm around his shoulders and holding him up.
"Did we…did we win?" Johnny asked, stumbling and trying to stand on
his own.
Tux frowned, a sad look on his face as he surveyed the scene
around him. "Yeah," he whispered roughly, "we won," and he helped
Cognito to stand with the rest of the team.
The power of the explosion
had caused a small crater to form. On one side of it lay the Beast,
it’s maw open in it’s final scream and it’s black skin bleached to
a charcoal gray. Suddenly, a stiff warm breeze kicked up, swirling
around the inside of the depression, and, as it touched the Beast,
it simply blew away, it’s great power turned to ash with no form,
scattering into the sky.
Buttercup watched as the remnants of the
monster disappeared from view and she whispered, quoting the Tablet
of Traume once more, "and the Beast shall be slain, scattered to the
Four Winds." Her tears began to fall again and she shook her head.
"It was right…the Tablet was right about everything."
But the heroes
really could care less about the Table of Traume now as they gathered
at the other side of the small crater. Cadecus lay curled on his side,
the back of his uniform burned away. Captain Denmark gently rolled
the slain healer over and sighed in relief. The only disfigurement
his teammate suffered was his burned hand, the one he used to pass
his power into Tropic. Elendil dropped to one knee beside his dead
friend saying as his eyes filled, "Man, you did good."
Directly beside
him Tropic lay, his eyes now devoid of the fire that had burned in
them constantly. He stared up, sightlessly, at the sky, his right
elbow on the ground and his hand in the air, clutching claw-like at
the heavens. His hands had been burned black and the top of his uniform
had been burned away. But he had a strange little smile still left
on his face, a look of peace maybe…or contentment.
Willow kneeled
sobbing beside him, holding tightly to his upraised hand, pressing
it tight to her heart.
Ryuuhoshi stood above them, sadly looking down.
Deep Phreeze stood next to him and said, absently, "His eyes were
blue." Ryuu looked at the ice mistress and reached out, putting his
arm around her shoulders.
Tux had at last helped Johnny to the scene.
Cognito sighed heavily. "I’m sorry," he said quietly, "I gave…"
Aeroxon
looked straight into Cognito’s eyes. "Hey, you did everything you
could. We all saw." The statement was met by murmured agreement from
all.
TuxedoGin turned to Johnny as he held him up and said, "I saw
him say something to you before you all rushed down here." Tux paused
for a moment looking at the fallen blaster. "What did he say?"
"He
said…," Cognito began, the breath catching in his throat. He began
again, his voice cracking. "He said…‘Take heart.’"
As the words left
Johnny Cognito’s mouth the green mist covering the sky over Louis
Forest started to clear. The morning sun broke through and a golden
beam of sunlight streamed down, straight onto the crater and the heroes.
In the distance they could see all manners of super beings making
their way to the park. The sky and streets seemed to be full of them.
"Look," Miyaka said softly and the team followed her pointing finger.
At the edge of the forest a news van from one of the cities television
stations was parked, it’s crew out, the cameraman recording, the reporter
reporting. They had filmed everything.
"So," Valya sighed, "what do
we do now?"
WillowWind was still kneeling beside Tropic. She looked
up into the sunny sky, to the town below, to the river and then back
to Tropic. She folded his arms over his chest, smiling sadly, and
stood beside Valya. She took and held Val’s hand.
Willow gazed over
the park. She saw the bodies of her friends resting there. Blighting
and Umbral, Cyber-Blade and Temptations and at her feet Cadecus and
Tropic. She turned to the super group and said, strong and with conviction,
"We do what he said.
"We take heart."