[MV] The Super Wizard From Space #21: The Echo People, Part 5

[Scott Eiler]

On 10/26/2011 8:29 PM, Wil Alambre wrote:
> "Kill him, Andy Dharma," demanded Queen Buzz. "Kill the Szuper Wizzard
>  From Szpace."

... Nice recap.


> The power available to him was exhilarating! As easily as he could shape
> his chi and change his mind, the douli allowed him to bend the world
> around him. He dedicated his life to the principles of ultra-zen,
> creating a meditative nothingness inside that he could calmly fill. The
> cosmic crown overflowed from that space, letting the flexible nature of
> his calm to affect reality instead!

... Nice description.


> He scampered along on all fours, the pads on his toes and fingers barely
> touching the moss and grass as he darted downwards.

... I'm trying to think of a better phrase for a conquering villainous 
monk than "scampered along".  How about "lightly strode"?



> Once he got close, he was careful to avoid touching the dark sand. He
> had witnessed it appear with the Gong Ago, not so much spilling out of
> the rent in the sky as being ejected through. The clattered vibrations
> of the giant musical instrument hitting the mountains had had a violent
> affect on whatever the substance had been, vibrating it apart into fine
> grains. But even in this apparently inert form, it still projected a
> malevolent, foreign sensation. It was a deep, unnatural black, absorbing
> whatever weak light the shadows provided, wanting to devour as much of
> this reality as it could. He gave it as wide a berth as possible.

Ultimate Darkness, now available in convenient powdered form!  8{D>

(I may have to consider the implications of a massless malevolent void 
learning how to manifest itself as mass, even small mass.  Eek.)


> In a round clearing in the middle, the Super Wizard From Space lay.
> Though the crown he wore shone brightly above his head, he seemed to
> barely have the strength to move. The black sand had a spread-out,
> pushed-out look to it. He must have expended a great deal of power
> returning from wherever he had come from, and then expended a great deal
> more fighting off the dreaded darkness that had followed him.

... Nice summary.


> "You lashed out against Amity's blue sun when you fought the megalodon's
> ghost," Andy said to him. "You ripped power right from its heart. Now
> that it's dipped below the horizon to lick its wounds, have you come to
> finish the job?" He approached cautiously. He knew the super wizards
> lived and thrived off solar energy. It gave them a subtle glow that was
> unique to their race. A glow that was noticeably missing now.

... Nice grudge.


> "I am Andy Dharma! I am the difference, not you! I am that change, not
> you! Not you! Not this broken thing I see! I am master villain of the
> Invisible Monks! What are you, here? What gives you the right?"

... Nice motive.  I hadn't gotten the impression that Andy Dharma 
considered himself villainous, but it works for me.


> A crushing against his chest. He was knocked backwards. Falling
> backwards. But he didn't feel the hard surface impact his spine. Instead
> he felt cold. Seeping, crawling cold. More soft shifting sands under
> him.
>
> He yanked at the douli's power. Tried to lash it against the black sand.
> No reaction. It was like the crown didn't see it. Couldn't see it.

Oooh, nice explanation of an inter-universal force.  The cosmic crowns 
*may* be the greatest power in *any* universe; I intentionally left that 
ambiguous when I wrote about it.  But how well do they work against 
something outside *all* the universes?  Not well at all, it seems.

In my own fiction, several have survived trips to the Ultimate Darkness. 
  They either focused their wills to temporarily shock it (though that 
trick may be getting old), or they relaxed (which is probably against 
all the the Super Wizard rules).  Either way, none of their powers saved 
them.  That's about the same way Alan Moore wrote his very similar 
entity, The Darkness Before Creation.  So yeah, I shudder at what the 
Super Wizard must have gone through.  Good thing Ultimate Darkness 
ignores *most* of our universes, eh?


> Like a film peeled back, he could finally see again. Flat on his back,
> looking up. The Super Wizard From Space was standing, a grimace on
> concentration on his face. Reaching up into, almost clawing at the night
> sky.
>
> Then Andy saw the stars go out.
>
> Just pinpricks of light that disappeared, one by one. Scattered across
> the blue-black of the heavens, a half dozen just winked out one by one.

... Right now, I don't care whether the Super Wizard blotted out the 
suns or just took all their light that was on the way to Amity.  Either 
way works for me.


> Andy looked up at the man looking down.
>
> The Super Wizard From Space reached down and removed the douli from
> Andy's brow. Neither resisted.

Thank you!  Thank you for finishing this challenge in one issue!


> NEXT ISSUE
>
> The Super Funeral Of Sharkasaurus Rex

Yay!  I know it's a funeral, but I can't help being excited 'cause it's 
a *super* funeral!

-- 
(signed) Scott Eiler  8{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ ---------

Turns out I'm an anally-fixated oedipal paranoid with 
south-of-the-border schizophrenic delusions...  But never mind, I've 
found me the ideal job.  I'm going to run for President!

- Major Honey, scripted by Grant Morrison, Doom Patrol #46, August 1991.