Issue 5: Scattered Memories
While the bigger pieces moved across the board? My son and I managed to find the future that the enemy feared the most. --Micheal Brookes
God and the Universe work in mysterious ways. In all my life I would have never imagined seeing such a sight. Existence corrected. The hope and folly remembered. Not by the citizens of the renewed cycles. Those of us who bore the touch after. Not all lost their memory of what went before.--Father Brookes
///Good Morning New Ashbury! Foundation Day is only two weeks away! The Arch Bishop’s arrival brings about reconciliation from the Cracking of the Old Way….///--Core Worlds News Network.
Earth, New Ashbury (Texas)
Temple of Light
Date Recorded: April 12th, 5488 A.C
Database Notation: (The Brothers Indexing Updated)
Michael Brookes stared at the city skyline.
The layout was familiar but it had additional landmarks not present upon Eden Earth. His skin prickled as protective wards seeped into his soul. The Unseen Order? No. This felt different. Had the Murphys combined both Orders into….
His son exclaimed, “I sense no blood vibrations!”
It was a plague upon the hybrid. He could always feel the dark pulse of his progenitor's influence. Even moreso than when Eliza got her nosebleeds. The Father fell to his knees in the cool grass hilltop overlooking the marvelous temple. It was marble. Its steeples drank in the light. Gleaming a golden hue in the mid morning sun. Trouble hopped onto the rocks. His dark eyes twinkled. <<Boss Mama did want us to take ya!>> Gulliver waddled next to Micheal. He peered up at the former FBI agent. “This is the future we must protect!” Father Brookes brought his cross to his lips. Energy flowed into him.
Old wounds knitted. Not physical.
His spirit felt lighter. He started forward. His human father followed.
The temple grounds reverberated with the merry clanging of bells. Both men stopped short as a figure approached. His face was open. Lined with age but they recognized him. Abraham Murphy’s eyes were healed! No longer scarred by his fight with Karvax.
Murphy beckoned them. “This way.”
As they entered the temple various murals shifted. Father Brookes marveled, “It is made of Living Stone!” Not the corrupted constructs molded by Unity or its true master. One white marbled face turned. It’s face reformed. Noah’s face. His voiced echoed from the statue, “….as we cross these sea of stars we shall bring the Light and Grace of God….”
Father Brookes read the entry below the statue’s feet, “...we come from the ashes. The Path of Ancients shall remain open to those who illuminate the Way….”
His breath caught. He brought up his H.U.D.
///Search Parameters? Please note: No data will remain. No data will remain. No….///
With a flick of his eyelids he closed the warning. Made sense. Murphy pulled them into a side room. Chairs rose from the floor. Floating serenely. Micheal did the same search his son had performed. This version of Inet had no information.
The Star Spangled Banner was nowhere to be found on HeroNet.
He did a general search on the Murphy clan. Thomas and J’ino came up. Father Brookes took in their features. She had never gone by an alias here. Openly Typherian the whole time. Date of Union: 5028 A.C. The priest rocked forward. His eyes glued to the information blazing across the surface.
///Clan Ayeer recognized by the Western Alliance Protocol. Noted Merchant Family of the 1000 Spheres. The Typherian Ascendancy and WAP combined forces in the Outbreak of 2349 to repel Ninth Circle cult breaches in Sector….///
No hint of a royal line. Additional events flashed.
None of the same wars had happened here. No Accord War. Breach Wars. Anything that had been instigated by Unity, Chronos, Abbadon or the Dreamweaver had been rendered defunct.
Abraham Murphy noted quietly, “We look every day. Those of us who remember.”
Another entered. The woman exclaimed, “Finally!”
Anna Preston McQuire tapped her stylus against the table.
“Time to find our wayward caped duo!”
Gulliver quacked, <<Sorry it took us a while. We had our marching orders!>>
Father Brookes convulsed. The chair closed about his arms and legs.
Murphy placed one palm over the priest’s brow.
“Breath easy son. You are finally free.”
Obsidian black gave away to bright ice blue eyes.
∞
For the billionth time J’ino Murphy checked the new arrival updates. No sign of her twins. She recalled the Light Mirror Network. Staying with her children and family within Final Home. All those worlds had massed together. Jumping beyond time and space. Typherians were no longer recipients of the Dreamweaver’s “Gifts.” There were no Houses or a Commons anymore. Yet she remembered the previous history. Thomas as well. Unlike other’s of her kind? Due to mixing into a demi family and carrying Eliza and Dexter? She retained gifts otherwise unknown to this rejuvenated Universal realm.
To think that the powers prized by so many of the former Houses had been cursed abilities. Matter Manipulation had been the chiefest of them. Her twins had kept their promises. Typha was free. Never enslaved or abused by the Prime Evil. She had assumed Final Home would have been the end of it all. She circled the blank patch of grass where the Banner museum should have been.
A blast of wind hit her face. The Blue Blaze crossed his arms, “Nothing?”
J’ino sucked in a breath. Nowadays her son was the premiere speedster. The Golden Bulleteer never emerged during the Accord Wars. Instead, Abraham Murphy had been classically trained as a Soul Warden. Blaze cocked his head to the side. Emerald K-9 landed with a thump.
<<The anchors are here!>> His tail moved in a blur.
A handful of people remembered. All of Bardax recalled what had transpired after the Light Mirror Network had rippled. Captain Overwatch appeared in a single heartbeat. A purple sash on her waist. The only indicator of her real role. She hooked her thumbs into the belt under the sash.
“I still have a tenuous connection. I don’t think Dexter and Eliza are done with their mission. Neither are responding on the old Thronebearer channels. Which considering how everything was reformed after….”
She tapered off. She knew that look.
Best not to rock that boat for a while.
J’ino crouched. Her fingertips just above the grassy knoll.
Why had the Highest and Oversoul allowed them all to keep their memory of the Fractured Realms? It was the name given to the former Multiverse by those who could still recall such a feat. For example? This Earth was three times the size of the former Edenverse equivalent. The heavier core gave birth to additional demi bloodlines. From magic to physical to spiritual. J’ino whispered, “Where are they?”
Emerald K-9 floated upward.
He pressed his paws on J’ino’s back, <<Won’t be here! Not yet!>>
The Defenders worked much as they had in the past. Each belt representing the primary strata of the user. Blue for Hope. Red for Blood. Yellow for Intellect. There was no need for….
Judgment appeared in a spark of purple flames. “No alerts on the magical end. But….”
J’ino sprang up. It shouldn't be possible. “Brookes!”
Not just the priest either. His father was in tow as well. Anna’s grin widened. “Turns out the Duck Duo brought us another present!”
∞
Alice Hayden Brookes followed her husband and son. By day she had no corporeal form. Only after sunset could she return to the land of the physical. It had been the only way. Her human form had been too twisted by Chronos’ experiments. At first they had tried to track Meathook as best as they could. But they had lost the monster’s trail once he traveled into Unity’s universe. This place was teeming with life. Ten times as potent as Eden Earth. This had been the goal of the Oversoul the whole time. The threads were not yet stable.
The final act approached.
Each vibration linked to all levels. Weave, Soul, Physical…
She frowned. Another element had been added. Ethereal in nature. Not fully formed from this remade universe. Her fingers met resistance. Surprise flooded her features. Her son turned. His completely human eyes locked onto the spot where she floated.
Alice trembled, “Even now they battle...”
I know the taste of her Tears.
Chronos’ darkened orbs bored into Alice.
Do you think we will give up so easily?
No. It wasn’t just Chronos under that skin. Alice pulled all her will into the form of an arrow. She hoped it would reach through the new layer.
The Dark Bride was both.
The Dreamweaver had picked Thoth and Hilary within the same breath. But hadn’t considered the effect of Chronos being trapped within!
∞
Judgment linked to the HeroNet archives. He placed one message into the que.
///Weatherfall. Two Suns Blaze Unending. Circling the White Tree eternal.///
It was time.
The fires of the Ninth Circle would keep all of them contained. Even the one known as the Dreamweaver.
∞
The Mighty Mallet grabbed the hoodlum by the scruff of his collar. “Hey now! The Blue Saucer isn’t for robbing!”
The white and orange clad demi hauled his catch over to the awaiting police transport. New Rachel still had its Area 51 visitors but instead of being the first steps in making contact for the Uplift Protocol? It had been an international space port for all sorts of dignitaries from the onset. If it hadn’t been for President Marshall he thought it would have been all a fever dream.
The Unseen Order had been there to provide all of them with the Eden Memories places to vent. Had that been the reason why a certain Arbiter had been so determined. The last time he had seen Dexter Murphy? It had been across a battlefield of broken hulls. Artock bodies drifting everywhere. His giant black tiger companion swatting combatants left and right as Murphy drifted near the embers of a dying star.
It had made quite the impression. Why he had to meditate all the way out there? Mallet didn’t want to dwell on it. This Earth had its perks. Typha didn’t control the multiverse pathways either. That had been left to Bardax. He was glad those odious Houses didn’t exist anymore. He checked HeroNet. It was a ritual by now. “Come on Big Blue Girl Scout...”
Nada.
The only element that worried him within this new existence? The Ninth Circle cult. Reminded him far too much of Unity’s early forays into Eden Earth proper. A British bulldog padded over to him. It promptly sat. Its deep brown eyes stared soulfully into his. Mallet pulled out a bit of bacon.
The dog in question sniffed at the offering delicately, <<A fine morsel indeed!>>
The collar around his neck flashed with a light blue gem. Earth dog.
Silver for Bardaxians.
Since the dawn of man upon this + sized blue dot? Dogs had been maintaining watch over the Weave for signs of trouble. Ninth Circle variety. Whatever the Banner and her brother had done? It had made the multiverse safer. Instead of dead civilizations from the core outward? The reformed Milky Way Galaxy had been teeming with all sorts of interstellar neighbors. Mallet had lost count.
Instead of one kind of Markav on Mars? There had been three different races living upon the “red planet” from 2 parallel universes! It had never been scorched by Chronos either. Demis from King Arthur’s time had made contact via astral projection. Merlin himself had brokered the first trade agreement between the Markav Astra and Earth. One small step indeed! Twin Ourobouros Titans had guarded the Sol System. Each singing in time with others like themselves across the Milky Way.
Mallet still needed a stiff drink.
Bardax had been the first space faring race. The first of firsts within the Milky Way.
Humanity had been delighted by this turn of events.
Mallet pulled out another strip. “Ok. What have you got for me, Governor Fisher?”
<<Indeed! Robin Hood has called the Unseen to Camelot!>>
∞
Elias Payne stared into the Grail. The waters were pure starlight. Figures came into view. The Murphy Twins. Back to back. While Thoth and Hilary circled. Their faces lined with crimson sores. It was time.
He glanced up as others began to fill the Hall of Castle Camelot. Undimmed from the annals of time. There had been no Mordred to break the Round Table asunder. Queen Guinevere sat upon her throne. Next to her husband. Each host granted the proper memories from their Intez companion. They too remembered the Fractured World. He had never needed to take up the mantel of King here. Still? Prime Arbiter Protector of England had a nice ring to it. Marion shot him a coy glance. Elias tugged on his neatly trimmed beard. Akin to the Musketeers of yore! A silver haired Typherian burst into the meeting chamber. Her sandy haired brother on her heels. Tomas Murphy clad in the highest form of his Judgment gear imaginable.
J’ino made a beeline for the Grail.
Arthur rose from his Throne. “I know what you seek dear lady.”
He motioned to Elias.
Payne brought the Grail forward. Its simple exterior belied the divine potency contained within. J’dax and Thomas Murphy took up positions behind J’ino.
She drank from the cup. She pitched backward into her family’s arms.
An anchor to help them home. The first of many.
Issue 4: Here
Issue 6: Here
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