by Gold Baron
"I suppose you're wanting an explanation." The shadow dropped through the tower and sent up a cloud of dust as the leathery red and black wings fell to his side. A shiver ran through the observer's spine; he remained in the shadows.
"Why this? Why now? Why here?" The man's voice seemed weak in comparison as the powerful figure rose from his descent and strode powerfully down the aisle, candles roaring to life as he passed.
The old chapel had been abandoned for as long as anyone could remember. Marv Velo noted the destroyed cross hanging sideways over the broken-down altar. Velo stepped out of the shadows of the archway leading into the chapel. He noted the Gold Baron's body language, as if he was struggling to contain something.
In an almost-mocking manner, Velo broke the silence. "Funny that you should pick a place like this -- after what you did." The Gold Baron turned and glared sharply at Velo. A flash of black glazed over his eyes; Velo had never realized how tall the Baron was.
The Gold Baron seemed to ignore the statement. "Do you doubt my power? Do you doubt that I am the single most powerful being in the universe? Nations rise and fall at my bidding, the cosmos bend to my will, heaven and hell kneel before me!"
A sour look spread across Marv Velo's face. "You're not at all like I remember you. You've changed."
The Gold Baron stepped forward boldly with a wicked grin, his eyes like oil, writhing within their sockets. "There's nothing that you, or anyone else can do to stop me. It's already too late!"
Velo looked truly annoyed with the fanatical Gold Baron. "You know your destiny. There's nothing you can do to--"
"Fate is for cowards! I choose my own destiny. I AM destiny!"
The ground seemed to rumble in agreement. Dust poured in great clouds from the rafters, while Velo slowly turned a shade of gray. Christopher Trinity's mad rantings seemed to envelop him in a capsule, as he stayed clean.
The rumbling grew more violent, and cracks rent through the small chapel, tearing open the floorlike vents of a volcano, spewing forth nauseous fumes from deep inside the earth, much like the heresies from the Gold Baron's mouth.
Marv Velo saw it coming, had anticipated it all along, but when he moved to stop it, his feet wouldn't respond. He couldn't move, as if the moment was frozen in time.
All the world seemed to stop at that moment, that one instant, as the Gold Baron tore through everything he had tried to save -- his family, his life, his world, all were destroyed with a flick of the wrist. The great sword eagerly complied, and the shadow, like a fog, poured out of his face.
And everything was black.
Marv Velo awoke with a start from the nightmare. Now he knew how the man he had spoken to in London had felt.
He dizzily pushed himself into a sitting position and tentatively took in the sights, and, mind you, there were plenty to take in. Like a picture of the universe in a book, the vast emptiness spread on immeasurably in every direction; planets moved past, stars were born, comets soared overhead. Velo reminded himself to stop spiking his coffee in the morning.
"Where the hell am I?" Velo muttered into the emptiness. Obviously, no one heard it, and no answer was forthcoming. With a great heave, Velo rose to his feet, and oddly enough he was standing on solid ground. His senses slowly sorted themselves out, and he felt as though he was in a bad surrealist painting, and his worst fears came true as a door opened, behind it a thousand more going on into the endless abyss.
And so began the great odyssey through a troubled mind, and an explanation to the events that had transpired.