The Cosmic Powers Fan Fiction Group proudly presents the next saga from Azmodi's series of sagas started with The Twilight War and continued in Foundations Forged Before Nightfall. The Cosmic Powers Fan Fiction Group now proudly presents Azmodi's War Waged At The Stroke Of Midnight!
War Waged At The Stroke Of Midnight is a two part saga. Each part is made up of many chapters. We will present one chapter weekly until both parts are complete starting with Part One: Dusk's End and continued in Part Two: Longest Night. Below you will find the chapters as they are updated on the site. To read a chapter, click on its underlined title.
We hope you enjoy this latest addition to the Twilight War continuity! Please be sure to e-mail cpufeedback@yahoo.com with your comments, suggestions, or feedback concerning the story or its layout. Now, on to the show!
Part One: Dusk's End
"In the court of the Dimension of Manifestations, the Living Tribunal's voice rang like a golden gong across the assemblage of beings. To most they were beyond imaging or comprehension, but to the multi-faced judge they were little more than children. With eyes like burning starblasts, suns just nova'd and at their peak of shining intensity, the Living Tribunal stared out across the gathering and addressed his inferiors..." Click here to continue!
"The eternal blank whiteness of the Dimension of Manifestations remained, as it always did, but the majority of the cosmic gathering had been left to whisper and wander in that same distant area, while a select few were granted a further audience with the golden radiance of the Living Tribunal.
'Would not my speaking with Adam Warlock violate your own ruling?' the Closed Circle asked tentatively, closely studying his superior's gleaming countenance, searching for some sign of duplicity." Click here to continue!
White water crashed upon jagged rocks dozens of meters below, and from his high perch, Adam Warlock looked down and again marveled at the majesty of nature. Despite all the magnificent events he had witnessed in his relatively short lifespan, still did the man formerly called Him find the simple beauty of nature to be the most awe-inspiring of all? He took his pupil-less gaze away from the sight for a few moments, to look about his surroundings, his cosmic senses suddenly picking up a momentary disturbance. Click here to continue!
Atop a rushing casing of gleaming silver Vyer stood, his arms crossed across his chest as the howling wind whipped his heavy cape into a frenzy. His skin was ice-cold, but not from the air as he and another three dozen Deviant missiles tore across the atmosphere of the Earth. Arcing along the hemisphere, their presence cloaked from Eternal sensors by that sole twisted man's force of will. Its was less than child's play for him to extend his immense powers, of a fusion of those natural psionics burning in his body and the cosmic might of Eyalus, and shield the array of weapons from prying eyes. Click here to continue.
Beneath his frozen mask, the High Evolutionary's features twisted with horror and disgust, "How, how could they do such a thing? Such wanton destruction of life . . . I cannot fathom it."
With his usual placidity, though his moon-like face did betray a hint of sadness. Uatu calmly replied as he stared across the lunar plain, "Wylig has ordered the extermination of all Eternals, and Tantalus hurries to carry out his commands with dogged determination." Click here to continue.
As Wylig's legs carried him across the barren stone, he looked up into the crimson-drenched sky and was struck by how similar the end of time was to the beginning of time. He had been there, not long after the fabled "Big Bang," when this Aeon of existence had begun its long life. Now, as he steadily trekked towards a baroque temple situated in the middle of that hovering shard of rock, the Dark Watch was bearing witness to the Big Crunch, the heat-death of the universe itself. How strange the parallels of nature truly were, even to one as knowledgeable and wise as he himself was. Click here to continue.
"Son of a bitch, I've got you now." Cable sneered as he lowered a massive cannon into position, optical sensors focusing in on the target streaking across the New York City skyline, drenched as it was in early morning light.
With exhilaration, he lightly touched the trigger, and immediately there was a roar of such immense proportions that it nearly shook the small hover-sled to shambles. Nathan Grey grabbed tightly to a steel railing, steadying himself, as the weapon discharged a glowing ball of plasma. Click here to continue.
The man once called Norrin Radd felt the splitting of space seconds before his optics saw that which had caused the fracturing of what was. As he beheld the being who now floated before him in the darkness of his space, he was taken aback by the combination of the condition the entity was in, and the post the entity obviously served at.
Perhaps once this creature had been considered handsome, marble-white skin stretched over sharp, aquiline features, emerald eyes perfect contrast to flowing locks of fiery red hair. But that veneer had been shattered, now, though the Silver Surfer did not as yet know why. Click here to continue.
Tantalus’ steps were measured and his features carefully controlled as he stalked across the marshy ground of the Florida Everglades, the humidity in the late night air more than oppressive. As he passed the towering device, now useless, the image of his Vimana exploding burned back into his memory. His teeth clenched at the remembrance, and he fought back a sneer and guttural snarl. A man, a mutant, had destroyed his greatest warship with nothing more than a clench of his fist, and Tantalus had been unable to stop him. Click here to continue.
Part Two : Longest Night
Outside the citadel walls, the fire-death of the universe raged like a wounded animal. The stars burned with their last lights, the blackness of space curled and, as if glowing a sickly crimson. Yet inside those sturdy walls, the inhabitants of the stately palace were unconcerned by the looming collapse of the universal boundaries. Their thoughts were on the events that remained recent, despite the mere hours remaining of the lifespan of existence. Click here to continue.
Night fell upon the city of New York, but it is forever night on the Moon. The lights of civilization sprung up as they had every past evening, lighting the lives of all those living so far below. But though it was the same as it always had been, Doctor Herbert Edgar Wyndham looked down upon his home with a greatly altered vision.
"It all seems so different now. The men and women, they seem like so much more . . . yet so much less. I still cannot decide whether I like what Uatu has said, or whether I loathe it." Click here to continue.
Fresh snow crunched beneath Uatu's softly booted feet as he strode toward the squatting temple sitting pristinely nestled next to the jagged slope of an ascending peak. On the distant horizon the sun rose, its radiant golden-orange brow just beginning to peak above the craggy cliffs of the mountains festooning the austere yet wondrous region.
Again was the former Watcher glad that he had been chosen to observe and not some other world. The simple, elegant magnificence of the lonely planet astounded him every time he had set foot upon it in the past, and that morning was no different. Click here to continue.
Castle Doom's throne-room was small and without grand adornment. It was obvious that its master had little use for it. Nevertheless, Thor and his comrades had followed Doctor Doom's path through the winding corridors of the palace to find him occupying the squat throne which sat near the back of the archaic chamber. Despite his frozen mask the ruler of Latveria had appeared entranced, deep in thought.
After minutes of tense silence, Kristoff could stand no more and blurted, "How could you have not been aware of Warlock's death, master? Would you not have been informed by - " Click here to continue.
Eternity’s single great emerald eye flashed coldly as his words flowed out over the masses of his cosmic army. The ragged legions stretching out into the sea of whiteness gave their leader strictest attention - there was no idle chatter, no whispers of rebellion as there had been when the Closed Circle had stood before them.
Far to the left of life’s totality stood the somber form of the World Devourer, his gaze fixed solidly on his feet, and his mind focused inward rather than outward. He knew what Eternity’s word would be before they were spoken, for was not Galactus as much Eternity as Galan? Perhaps he had been, but the feared Ravager was no longer so assured of such an assertion. Click here to continue.
The Supreme Intelligence's great lakes called eyes slowly opened, his matchless intellect spurred from a stunted slumber by a familiar ringing. The Kree super-computer the warm light of the living machine's intellect. "My contacts have indicated a large artifact matching the description of the Deviant matter-block was discovered in the outer reaches of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Unfortunately, it was later salvaged by an identified group consisting of three unknown individuals, apparently returned to their homeworld."
"My powers ebb with each passing minute we remain in contact, Ronan." Supremor said wearily, yet with the unmistakable tone of assured command, "The interference caused by the cosmic warfare taxes even my abilities. Speak quickly." Click here to continue.
Quasar glanced at Stakar as his newborn son hurtled through the air beside him. Wendell smiled for a moment, then turned his attention back to Kristoff, who took up the front of the flying trio plus one. The dazzling sunlight glinted off his armor, nearly blinding the hero.
"You got a ship for us kiddo, or are we gonna fly into that cosmic mess all by ourselves?"
The boy did not look back as he replied, "The Master has provided us with his personal spacecraft, Eteocles."
"Are we almost there?" Click here to continue.
Clouds painted in pure shades of heavenly white slowly gave way to darker grays as they sped through the sky. The change above was ignored by the trio plus one below as they tensely stalked through the spartan stronghold of the Enclave. The motley inhabitants of the welkin seemed to pause in their trek, peering down through the transparent ceiling, leering at the small inhabitants of the island outpost, waiting.
The walls of the remote laboratory pulsed with scarcely contained energy generated far below, threatening to burst out at any moment and cleanse the entire redoubt of offensive life. Click here to continue.
The silver door slid shut with a mechanical hiss behind the Watcher’s heels as he strode back into the sloping chamber, to be greeted by numerous pairs of expectant eyes.
"The Supreme Intelligence has deigned to aid the High Evolutionary on Mars." Uatu said somberly, his own placid orbs sweeping across the room, falling eventually upon the haggard form of Kristoff. The young boy’s armor was blackened in numerous places, his cape torn, and his stance slumped - but at his feet lay a single pristine body, its skin golden and its physique ideal. It was already wrapped in familiar crimson and ebony vestments, awaiting only a guiding force to animate its inert limbs. Upon its brow rested the sparkling Soul Gem, radiant as if alive with inner fire. Click here to continue.
The Corona blazed tantalizingly out of reach, and Wylig grimaced as a small bead of sweat formed on his brow, only to instantly dissipate in the cold void. He floated amongst his soldiers, at the heart of his small army, waiting for his astral fingers to close around that small star, and feel its infinite potential flood his body like a welcome potion.
Despite his inner attentions, the Dark Watcher felt the disturbance in real-space as it occurred, saw super-imposed over the galaxy of the Infinity Equation the millions of flashes, which accompanied that disruption. The white sunbursts swiftly formed themselves into humanoid forms, mostly gruesome and deformed figures, nearly all of whom immediately flocked to the towering presence of the Black Celestial, that regarded them silently, as he did all others. Click here to continue.
Herbert Wyndham feared he would vomit into his facemask even as he fought, the overpowering stench of burned bodies and death flowing into his nostrils and choking him from within. However, the High Evolutionary resisted the urge - he was not sure if he actually could vomit - and continued the war he had decided to join. Through cracked lenses he saw a Celestial under fire - Oneg the Prober - and continued his assaults, tearing out jagged pieces of the Space God’s armor with each thrust of his evolved might.
The Celestial shattered and the High Evolutionary was moving through the wreckage already, seeking more of those aegis-laden giants to search out and destroy, for they were the reason for this war, the catalyst for the wanton destruction that surrounded him, tried to permeate and pervert him. Click here to continue.
The End
War Waged At The Stroke Of Midnight is a continuation of The Twilight War and Foundations Forged Before Nightfall.
Be sure to also check out our fan fiction webzine, Cosmic Powers Unlimited, featuring War Waded At The Stroke Of Midnight and many other fan fiction stories by Azmodi and others!
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