[MV] The Super Wizard From Space #50: Memento Mori

[wilalambre at gmail.com]

 His ancient race long ago unravelled the laws of physics, and they then
learned how to redefine them. They harvest fusion fire to sustain
themselves, and they hollow out suns to build their private strongholds.
They are guardians of the spaces they know and explorers of the spaces they
don't. They strive to live in harmony with the entire cosmos.
Such is the thinking of all _parasites_.
The Super Wizard From Space broods in his sanctuary, a red dwarf star that
he tore the heart out of and made his home in. Inside the star's shell, he
can manipulate pliable gravity to warp distance and direction, to create as
immense a space as he wants. Or to be as alone with his thoughts as he
likes. Its an enclosed world made of stark contrasts, of blinding whites
and featureless blacks, with near-absent transitions.
In his self-created environment, he has created vertical black planes, and
each of them contain a Cosmic Crown. Counting the one he himself wears,
there are _six_ in this place. Its only the second time that so many of
these omnipotent objects have been gathered together.
Six. Of seven total. With only one more to go.
Its wrong to think of the Cosmic Crowns as weapons. It isn't how they
started out and it wasn't what they were intended to be. There are
_stories_ within them. There are _histories_ within them. They were meant
to be _discovered_ and _engaged_ and... but that would require a far deeper
examination, something their wielders were incapable of.
There's a flitter color skirting between the black planes. A red dress. It
slides within all the whites, glides between and behind all the blacks. It
shouldn't survive the fires and pressures and incredible forces this deep
within a sun. And yet, there it is. Filled with light.
Distance is meaningless here. He's made this his place. Nothing is out of
reach if he doesn't want it to be. This could all stop, regardless of
anything already declared or previously believed. All it would take is a
change in character.
But he remains.
The dress flutters along in a nonexistent breeze, as if guided by an
uninhibited choreography. His eyes are transfixed on the clothe as it
gambols amongst the black planes, like a blatant, bloody reminder of what
had to happened to collect each Cosmic Crown. Of what was suffered and
sacrificed for these trophies.
Sharkasaurus Rex, rabid and dead. He thought he could make the universe a
better place. He paid a heavy price for his efforts. His school of phantoms
are left aimless. They'll likely never find another teacher.
Emperor M, melancholic and dead. He couldn't let go of something he didn't
really have in the first place. His religion was brought low, his
government devastated, and his planet left scarred. There will be
ramifications.
Brody Dharma and his monks, divided, quite _literally_. They've been left
with a idealogical hostility that might turn insurmountably violent.
There's so much potential there, and its so likely to be wasted.
And finally, the betrayal of an old friend. The worst of all. Neither of
them understood the fault nor all the poisonous consequences.
Its not over yet, this path of ruin. One place is waiting, one vertical
black plane unfilled, reserved for one last Cosmic Crown. The seventh,
still borne by its heritor, Queen Genovefa Buzz. She won't hide her
ferocity behind madness or melancholy. There'll be no excuses with her. She
fights to _survive_.
And if the Super Wizard wins... what next? So much has been leading up to
her that its been impossible to to see _past_ her. If he takes her Cosmic
Crown, he'll be free from the tournament imposed on him. His actions will
be dicatated by no motivations but his own. He could do anything he wants.
Nothing will be out of his reach.
But right now, his own Cosmic Crown still weighs on him. He clutches his
head as blunt contrivances and foreign compulsions squeeze into his skull.
He can put his task off, but he can't avoid it. Not forever. He is
_expected_. It must _finish_.
The Super Wizard leaves his haven, pushing up and out of the star matter.
Pressure turns into energy, energy turns into plasma, gravity itself
becomes a malleable idea. Distance stretches into hues of oranges and reds
before sudden collapsing; with a smooth splash, the surface of the red
dwarf star surrenders him to the vastness of outer space.
He'll head toward Genovefa. Maybe not immediately, but inevitably. She
can't hide from him any more than he can avoid her. The Cosmic Crowns draw
them together. Its a drive. Its a _feverish heat_.
And I will wait.
The last of seven. Just one more to go.
Before I burn them _all_ out.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.eyrie.org/pipermail/racc/attachments/20160203/afb0b6f4/attachment.html>