"You are looking on? You are listening to my strange soul. When will you drink this drop of dew which has fallen upon all earthly things? When will you drink this strange soul? When, well of eternity? Cheerful, dreadful abyss of noon! When will you drink my soul back into yourself?'' Thus spoke Zarathustra.

Soul Asylum

I had just downloaded the information I purloined from the mutant know as Apocalypse through my mechanical familiar SR22.

“SIR, IN ADDITION TO THE SIGNAL YOU DOWNLOADED, THERE IS A RECORDING OF YOUR CONFLICT WITH THE ENTITY APACALYPSE.”

“Proceed.”

“ACCORDING TO THE FOOTAGE APACALYPS CONTAMINATED YOU WITH AN MYSTERIOUS QUANTITY CALLED THE TECHNOVIRUS.”

“What’s even more interesting is its point of origin? Does the virus come from a race of sentient computers that were created by humanoids or were they some next step in evolution?”

“THE RECORDING CONTINUES WITHYOU SEEMINGLY FROZEN.LIKE AN INSECT IN AMBER AND APACALYPSE SEEMING VICTORY AT HAND. HOWEVER, I HAD ONE QUEARY?”

“Continue the mage particle processor I incorporated into you along with sample of the virus I obtained during my conflict with Apocalypse itself makes you most unique.  You may very well begin to exhibit what sentiments call wonder.”

“WERE YOU ABLE TO CURTAIL THE EFFECTS OF THE VIRUS THROUGH YOUR ETERNEL HERITAGE OR WAS THERE ANOTHER DISCIPLINE, WHICH ENABLED YOU TO OVERCOME ITS EFFECTS?”

“I am Thanos, SR22, and that is enough.”

“YOU WERE THEN AWARE THAT HE APACALYPSE WAS NOTDESTROYED WHEN YOU SHATTERED HIS IMMOBILE FORM, AFTER TAKING HIM OFF GUARD AND INFECTING HIM WITH HIS OWN VIRUS.”

“Of course! Victory was too easy and went as if a weaver of tales would tell it instead of a true conflict. What of my list of agendas SR22?”

“THE CONSTRUCTION OF YOUR HOME SHIP WHICH YOU HAVE NAMED SANCTUARY 1 WILL BE BUILT WITH THE NEW MODIFICATIONS YOU REQUIRE. “

“Its construction must be completed before the invasion of my home world.”

“THAT IS ALSO ON YOUR LIST OF AGENDAS LORD THANOS WHEN WILL THE CONQUERING OF YOUR HOMEWORLD TITAN.

“SIR, THERE IS A TRANSMISSION FROM SKRAGG.”

“Bring our allies on the com-link everything must be planned in advance, otherwise we will not have the power to take out the farcaster gates which will make our invasion moot since mentor will then be able to gate ships from anywhere in the galaxy.”

“#@&^*^$$*@)(&%^”

“SR22, you forgot to urn on the translator tell me of our allies skragg?”

“We Skulls stand ready, Lord Thanos, and have many worlds ready to aid your cause, we have several worlds yet to enlist before we rendezvous with your ship.”

“Excellent, Skragg. Continue with the remaining list of agendas SR22.”

“MOST OF THE SIGNAL AFTER THAT IS DAMGED SIR. EXCEPT FOR A STRANGE DISTRESS SIGNAL, WHICH HAD SOME HOW, SPLICED ITSELF WITH THE ONE YOU DOWNLOADED IT HAS CHRONO READING THAT READS 2020.”

“Perhaps there is something that may yet be salvaged from this after all set coordinates to the signals point of origin immediately!”

“CAPTAIN STYX, LORD THANOS WISHES YOU TO ALTER THE NAVI-COMPUTER TO THESE COORDINATES.”

Interlude: Lazarus Syndrome

It was good to see her once more after all the time had passed especially since I believed her slain and would not see her again in this life.  Mentor sat next to her near the Eternity tree and I was standing with my weight braced on the great tree itself.

Mothers face was as beautiful as I could remember and her hands were clasping Mentor’s tightly, all the while, her delicate strength gently intermingled with Mentor’s own.

It was as happy a time as I could remember. It confounded me at times how we Eternals such long lived beings could be so narrow in our thinking, spending more time trying to preserve man made paradise then spend time with the people who inhabit it.

I sat and gazed at the branches of the great tree, which loomed overhead the complexity of the branches was not unlike the connections between dendrites and axons. The sheer size and magnitude of the great tree made it seem as a colossus protecting its young as we hid under its wing. The great ash extended miles into the sky. Truly, it was a wondrous sight.

My mother’s eyes met mine and she smiled at father. There was a familiar gaze between them, which made me so elated I wished to just kiss her on the cheek.

But something drew my attention from above. A small bird was caught in the great tree spider’s web. And from my frequent visits to the garden I knew exactly what to expect next.

“Eros, it’s so good to see you,” said my mother as she tried to gain my attention she said. However, my attention was fixated now solely above.

“I have even brought you a gift.”

“Gift?”

My mind flashed back to thanos and I during our confrontation in the garden when we were children. And just as when we were children, the spider came out for its prey. I remembered hearing the birds struggling futilely against what appeared to be certain inevitability. Things then began to move in slow motion. 

The sheer phantasmagoria of it all caused me to tremble and shake and while my mother searched for what it was she wanted to give me, I could hear the birds.

“Eros, save me.”

And with that, I saw the great predator descend upon the bird I cringed as the spider injected its prey with a lethal dose of venom.

Tears ran down my face as I watched her die again. 

I turned my head back to my mother who had her gift while on shoulder; I felt Mentor’s hand attempting to comfort me.

“What’s the matter, dear brother thought I had forgotten you?”

Thanos’ great form was before me.

I leapt back in horror trying to protect my mother but her visage was now mutilated and vivisected. However, the aberration of my mother soon passed and once again, my mother seemed whole or was she?

End interlude enter soul asylum

The ship was sitting dead in space when I arrived and according to the chron-emissions emanating from the vessel it was from some unknown future. Hmmm...

Opportunity disguised or a clever trap?

“SR 22, send off the expeditionary force as a diversionary tactic and I will beam myself in the heart of the ship hoping to catch whoever it is unaware.”

Teleportation was one of the ephemeral experiences that had a metaphysical quality that could not be denied, Which led me to believe the difference between matters arcane, and those of science were but semantical. Energy was energy.

There was the strange sense of vertigo the feeling of detachment and then

ARRIVAL

The ships, which I had teleported in, was barely illumed. However darkness would not impede me in the least . The shadows were second nature to one such as I. Suddenly my instrumentation began picking up strange emanations which seemed to operate on levels beyond the normal physical spectrum more than likely it had belonged to the intruders or intruders who caused this ships current fate.

I heard sounds coming from the next room and proceeded cautiously. The sounds were coming from a distorted view screen and had a face of a man who was nearly at my mistress door.

“IF ANY ONE GETS THIS MESSAGE BE WARNED. I HAVE COME FROM A DYSTOPIAN FUTURE TO WARN WHOEVER MIGHT HEAR IT <skreeeee>”

The message was unstable and would likely not last much longer.

“CHANCE TO AVERT ITS DESIGNS <skreeeeeeee>

“THE FUTURE IS IS RULED BY AN IRON TYRANT. AN ALIEN THING, WHICH CALLS ITSELF THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH OF TRUTH

UNDER SUCH A GUISE, IT DOES UNAMABLE THINGS AND CLAIMS THAT IT DOES SO FOR ITS GOD. <SKREEEEE>”

The signal was becoming more broken. I attempted to adjust it but it was folly.

“ITS SERVENTS ARE MINDLESS <skreeeeee> AND WILL DO ANYTHING EVEN SUICIDE FOR ITS GOD. <skreeeee>

“ALLWORLDS ARE OFFERD TO JOIN, AND THOSE WHO WILL NOT JOIN HIS CAUSE ARE SLAUGHTERED IN THE NAME OF TRUTH.

“EVEN WORSE THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH HAS RETURNED TO THE PAST TO CEMENT ITS RULE BUT IN THIS LIES OUR ONLY HOPE. FOR WITH THIS ACTION THE CHURCH MIGHT YET BE STOPPED. <SKKKRRREEEEEE>”

The transmission broke off but not before, I manage to copy it using a disk that utilized a mage particle matrix.

I then began to follow the strange signal where I found what remained of my expeditionary force and according to my instruments, my entire crew was still alive and yet they were not.

Their visages were unmoving seemingly frozen in time with the subtle lines still carved deeply into their face. The architect of such madness was clearly a sadistic craftsman whose raw material was flesh itself.

I followed the signal until I came to where the perpetrators were hidden in a closed room.  My nano-computers quickly calculated the dimensions of the room so that I would not transport myself inside an object or worse another living being.

I moved quickly and teleported the fallen crew man that I held first hoping he would draw fire if my opponents were waiting.

Once again, there was the feeling of vertigo and then...

ARRIVAL

Instead of finding, the mysterious foe that had been responsible for invading my sanctum I instead uncovered Captain Styx writhing in agony.

I called out but he was unable to verbalize because of a strange black bile, which clogged his oral cavity and choked out his breath. 

I used assembler’s small nanomachine with tiny arms that were smaller then an atom. I could use these to create devices out of even the most inadequate material by taking them apart and reconstructing them to suit my purpose. This was a great boon to me when I needed certain equipment but did not wish to encumber myself unnecessarily. I created a portable suction device and attempted to remove the ebon fluid from his throat. The process was slow, but eventually bore fruition.

“Master, kill me please,“ the black bile sprayed outwardly like a small geyser.

“I’m afraid such simple pleasures will have to be denied you captain. The expeditionary force I sent out with you has befallen most unfortunate circumstances I must gather further intelligence. Speak and I will grant you the sweet oblivion Death can give.”

He could speak but a single word, and when he did, it was accompanied by a cacophony of tormented voices all seemingly coming from my fallen captain.

The word he spoke was “SOULGEM” then it dawned on me the legends must be true! Six deadly gems whose true origins were a mystery and capable of cleaving even body and spirit itself.

From what I could put together, it appeared that one of the mysterious soul gems had bound the souls of my entire crew all together in a mass of quivering dementia. 

I imagine such an experience to be unpleasant. Unfortunately, I had no time to admire my opponent’s depravity. Plans had to be conceived and new alliances formed. 

Time was my adversary or was it?

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