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Kyle Rayner slowly opened his eyes. His mouth tasted dry and pasty, as if he had been in a desert for days. Stiffly, he raised his head and looked around. Traversing the Multiverse was always a bumpy ride, but this one had been far more abrupt. He had been involved in a war in another universe, a war he could barely make sense of at the time, except for the fact that a man turned god named Charon' was trying to conquer another universe, one with heroes almost as powerful as he. There had been a huge battle between Charon and Kyle...then nothing. Kyle had no idea how long he had been unconscious, although time was very relative when travelling alternate dimensions. He looked around to see if his travelling companions had made it with him. Axel Asher, also known as Access, was nowhere to be seen. As was Kevin, a man (boy?) that had joined them on their multiversal mission.

Kyle was alone. That's when he noticed that he was in a room of some kind, a sealed chamber with no doors or windows.

Kyle stood up, his bones aching as he did so. He looked around in all directions. There was no way out. He was inside a room with walls of a weird kind of stone.

"Hello?" said Kyle. No one or nothing responded.

The floor had felt warm to Kyle's face, different than the look of the place. In-floor heating , thought Kyle with a small grin. He was glad he was able to still find humour in this, even a negligible amount. He walked around the room, looking for a hidden door or other exit he may have missed from his earlier vantage point. The room seemed to be about thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide by eight feet high. Deciding that searching with his eyeballs was getting him nowhere, he concentrated and activated his power ring.

"Ring," said Kyle, "Where are we?"

There was no response.

"Hey, ring," said Kyle again, "Time to rise and shine."

Still nothing. Kyle felt for the bond all Green Lanterns felt to their power rings. Nothing was there. The ring was about as useful as a crackerjack toy.

"All right then," said Kyle, "We do this the hard way." Kyle concentrated, drawing on his internal reserves of power. The ring was a guide and conduit to focus his internal power, not the source of the power itself. It might be messier, but Kyle was not helpless without a power ring. He spread his hands out and willed an energy pulse to make contact with the room and shatter its walls.

Nothing happened.

"Ok," said Kyle, "I'm officially freaked out now."

OH, HELLO THERE.

Kyle jumped. He looked around, seeing nothing but the room. "Who's there?"

HOW DID YOU GET IN HERE?

"I have no idea," said Kyle, "Why don't you can the Wizard of Oz crap and show yourself!"

BUT I AM NOT HIDING MYSELF...I AM RIGHT BEHIND YOU.

Kyle turned and saw a comfortable chair sitting at the far end of the room. Someone was sitting in it. He started to walk hesitantly towards the person, realizing with every step that he was essentially helpless. Still, Kyle knew how to fight. He had been taught at different times by Batman, Connor Hawke and Oliver Queen. If he was going to go down, it would be fighting like hell.

"Who are you?" asked Kyle.

WHO AM I AND WHERE YOU ARE... ARE THE SAME ANSWER.

The person seated before him was speaking, but his mouth was not moving. It seemed almost telepathic, yet Kyle could have swore it was sound he was hearing. That's when he realized it was indeed a 'he' that he was speaking to. The speaker seemed to be an average looking man, nothing particularly special about him at all. Kyle got closer...and gasped.

The speaker was an exact look-a-like of Kyle himself.

I AM THE WRITER. THIS IS MY REALITY...AND YOU, KYLE RAYNER, HAVE BEEN EXPECTED.

Uh-oh , thought Kyle.

UH-OH, INDEED.

 

DC Infinity Proudly Presents

#9

"Talking To Myself"

By Mike Hintze

 

"Ok," said Kyle, "I've hit my head or something, or I'm tripping on space mushrooms."

THIS IS QUITE INTERESTING THAT YOU HAVE ARRIVED HERE. GENERALLY I DECIDE WHO COMES AND GOES HERE. USUALLY, I CREATE EVERYTHING HERE. TO FIND YOU HERE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION...THIS IS QUITE VEXING. I HAD BEEN TOLD YOU WOULD COME...AND HERE YOU ARE.

"Yeah, well, I have no idea how I got here either," said Kyle. "So if you would be kind enough to create a door, I'll be on my way."

YOU ARE A BEING OF GREAT POWER, YET YOU CANNOT ACCESS IT. I IMAGINE THAT MY SUBCONSCIOUS MADE IT SO IN ORDER TO PROTECT ME FROM AN UNKNOWN INTRUDER. YES, THAT MUST BE IT.

"Yeeeaaahh," said Kyle. "Oooh-kay, well I'll just be on my way then."

YOU JUST CAME FROM THE NEGATION WAR.

"I didn't know it had a name, but yeah, I was fighting the Negation. Actually, its a bit more complicated than that."

I SEE. YOU ARE AN INTERESTING CHARACTER, INDEED, KYLE RAYNER.

"I don't suppose you know where my friends are? Skinny guy with close cropped hair named Axel? Big muscle-bound guy (or skinny kid) named Kevin?"

THEY ARE... ELSEWHERE, WHILE WE HAVE A...CHAT.

"Chat about what?"

YOUR MISSION. YOUR TRAVELS. THE STIR YOU ARE CREATING AS YOU MOVE FROM PLACE TO PLACE.

"What kind of stir? If you know my mission, you know how important it is."

THAT DOES NOT TAKE AWAY FROM THE FACT THAT YOU ARE GAINING NOTICE FROM OTHERS AS YOU PROGRESS. NOTICE OF CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS THAT YOU SHOULD NOT BE. THE FACT THAT I WAS TOLD OF YOUR COMING IS AN EVENT OF NOTE. HERE, ALL IS AS I WISH IT TO BE. I AM THE WRITER. TO HAVE SOMEONE TELL ME YOU ARE COMING, FROM OUTSIDE MY SPHERE OF INFLUENCE...DISTURBS ME.

"Considering you look exactly the same as me...I wonder if this isn't a figment of my imagination."

OH, IF ANYTHING, KYLE...YOU ARE A FIGMENT OF MINE.

"All right, that's it. I want out. If you control everything here, then wish me away to a tropical island with my friends, some pina coladas and a few bikini babes and we'll call it a day, alright?"

IT'S NOT THAT EASY, KYLE. I WAS ASKED TO SEND YOU A MESSAGE.

"From who?"

SOMEONE YOU HAVE NEVER MET...YET ONE THAT KNOWS YOU INTIMATELY.

"Who?"

HE IS PERHAPS THE GREATEST ALLY YOU HAVE ON THIS QUEST OF YOURS.

"Who the hell is it??"

HE CALLS HIMSELF...THE MONITOR.

"You're right. I've never met him. I have heard of him, though. He was killed in a Crisis way back when. He's dead...or at least, he was."

HE IS NO LONGER DECEASED, KYLE. HE TRAVELS THE MULTIVERSE AND GREATER MEGAVERSE SUPPORTING YOU. YOU AND HE HAVE THE SAME GOALS.

"He was assigned this mission by the Guardians?"

HE HAD KNOWLEDGE OF THE KEEPERS OF THE CLUSTER THAT YOU DO NOT. HE HAS PREVIOUSLY ENCOUNTERED THEM...BEFORE THEY BECAME KEEPERS.

"They're anti-matter universe copies of the Guardians of the Universe. Little psycho dwarves bent on bringing the house of cards that is existence down around our ears."

THEY ARE FAR MORE THAN THAT...AND THEIR ORIGINS ARE NOT NEARLY AS CLEAN CUT AS YOU SAY.

"What, they started out as back up players for Snow White?"

THE KEEPERS ARE NOT ORIGINALLY FROM THE ANTI-MATTER UNIVERSE, NO MATTER WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD.

"Where are they from?"

YOUR UNIVERSE, KYLE.

"You have got to be shitting me."

I SHIT YOU NOT, KYLE.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam Rey walked out of the makeshift tent he had spent the last few hours in and looked around at the small city that had been built practically overnight. The threat of the Negation Fleet was over, at least for now. The shattered remnants of the fleet had been taken out into deep space, with only a small scattering of ships managing to escape the onslaught of Sam and the Sigil-Bearers. A key person in that fight had been the man named Kevin, who had regained his lost memory in the fight. He now called himself Prime.

Prime was lifting debris and tossing it into a pile to make way for more of the traffic that was coming from off planet. The Sigil-Bearers had managed to establish contact with some of their worlds, at least those that had been capable of faster than light travel. Friends and loved ones were making the journey to see their lost friends. It was these ships that would also see to returning the other Sigil-Bearers to their respective homeworlds.

The Sigil-Bearers had been brought here by the omniscient Danik, transported instantaneously across time and space to become Danik's army in the war against the Negation Empire, an alternate universe alien fleet bent on conquering all. Zamida, an aspect of Danik in the form of a young woman, had been comatose since the disappearance of Danik. Her last words were that 'she was dead'. Sam hadn't been able to get to know Danik well in the short time they were together, but he couldn't help but feel dread at the loss of potentially their greatest ally and the one man that had a chance against Charon.

The Sigil-Bearers had been on red alert since Zamida had gone comatose. Prepared for Charon to return at any moment, they had dreaded what very likely would have been their last stand. But a week had passed...and nothing. No one came. Eventually, they made the assumption that if Charon was returning, he would have by now. Added to that fact that the Lawbringers not killed by the Sigil-Bearers and Prime had collapsed and melted on their own, and it could be easily determined that if Danik had died, he had taken Charon with him.

"Prime," said Sam. "What's the good word?"

"Worst part about a big fight like this," said Prime, "Is the clean-up."

"I hear that," said Sam. "Still no word from Kyle or Axel?"

"No," said Prime, his massive muscles bulging as he lifted another piece of debris. "I think I might be stuck here...no offense."

"None taken," said Sam. "Hopefully within the week we'll all be gone home anyway." He looked around the area. "You're welcome to come back to the Planetary Union with me. Someone with your abilities could really be of help back there."

"I need to get back to my own world," said Prime. "There was a battle...something terrible happened...something evil...and I was cast out. I remember where I grew up, who I am...but the exact nature of those events are still foggy. I just know I have to get back."

"Well," said Sam, "I'm having some troops stay behind here to watch the planet in case anyone returns. You'd be welcome to bunk with them if you'd like."

"You're some kind of General back home, huh?" asked Prime.

"Something like that," said Sam.

"All I know for sure," said Prime, "Is that Kyle and Axel have the power to get me home. They have to come back...they have to." He looked back at the sky. "Everything depends on it."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE KEEPERS OF THE CLUSTER ORIGINATED IN YOUR UNIVERSE, MILLENNIA AGO.

"I can't believe it," said Kyle. "The Guardians never said--"

NEXT TIME YOU SEE THE GUARDIANS, YOU MIGHT WANT TO ASK THEM ABOUT THAT.

Kyle regained his composure. "How do you know all of this? Why do you look like me?"

IN THIS PLACE, I AM GOD. THIS ROOM...IT IS MY REALITY AS I WISH IT TO BE. LATER, I COULD DECIDE TO MAKE THIS AN ALIEN LANDSCAPE OR EVEN A TROPICAL ISLAND. I AM THIS UNIVERSE. THIS UNIVERSE IS ME. I... TOOK THIS FORM TO BETTER COMFORT YOU.

"I've never met a universe before."

BEFORE THE MONITOR ARRIVED HERE, I HAD NEVER MET ANYONE ELSE OTHER THAN WHAT I CREATED HERE. I HAVE AN AWARENESS OF OTHER PLACES...OTHER UNIVERSES. SOME ARE PLACES OF LIGHT AND HOPE...SOME ARE DARK WORLDS, PLACES YOU WOULD NEVER WANT TO TREAD. PLACES OF PURE EVIL.

"The Guardians sent me to stop the Keepers from destroying Prime Realities. Dark or not, I need to find those keystone worlds and protect them. I don't know how I ended up here, and I don't know what happened to Charon or Danik or Axel or Kevin...but I need to get back to them. Can you bring me to them?"

I AM SORRY...I CANNOT. I CAN HELP YOU ON YOUR WAY, THOUGH. FIRST...I WANT YOU TO HAVE THIS.

The Writer stood up out of his chair and reached his hand to Kyle. He opened his palm...and inside was a ring. It was a silver band with no markings.

TAKE IT. WHEN THINGS GET ROUGH...WHEN IT SEEMS THERE IS NO WAY OUT...THAT'S WHEN THIS RING WILL BE OF HELP. USE IT WISELY. IT CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE.

Kyle took the ring. It floated around and went around his left middle finger, opposite his power ring. It briefly flared with an inner light. "Um...thanks."

WE'LL MEET AGAIN, KYLE. UNTIL THEN...GOOD LUCK. AND BE WARNED....WHEN YOU MEET THE QUEEN...DON'T TRUST HER.

"The Queen? What do you--?"

Kyle disappeared in a flash of light.

An instant later, a purple flare of light announced another visitor to the room. The Writer turned in surprise...he wasn't expecting anyone.

WHO ARE YOU? HOW DID YOU GET HERE?

The new arrival gave a cruel grin. "That's not important. What is important is that I know who you are...Kyle Rayner."

HOW DO YOU--?

"I've found quite a few of you so far...but not one quite like you. What's your story? Not that it really matters. You're going to be dead in a second."

YOU INVADE MY REALM AND THREATEN ME? I THINK YOU'VE BITTEN OFF MORE THAN YOU CAN CHEW.

The room shifted into a universe of atomic fire. Nothing could have survived the conflagration. Any living thing would have died in a nanosecond. The fire shifted and retracted, the room reformed to its previous state. The Writer looked...and felt shock.

The intruder was unharmed. A purple aura surrounded him. He had an amused smile on his face. "Nice try...but when I'm wearing a quantum dislocator, nothing you can do can affect me. On the other hand...I can affect you...in a very final way." The intruder brought his hand out. He held a metallic sphere. His thumb hit a switch as he tossed it towards The Writer.

NO...THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE...YOU CAN'T...

The sphere released a light and everything turned into a photonegative effect. The Writer didn't have a chance to scream. Everything was gone. This universe, the totality of The Writer now was an empty expanse of white nothingness. Inky blackness was overtaking it like dark stormclouds, the multiversal expanse claiming this now non-existent and dead universe. The intruder, protected behind his quantum distortion field, nodded with a degree of satisfaction. Another Rayner dead. There was an added bonus to this one, though...another Rayner had just been here and left. No telling exactly where...but he could follow the trail if it was there, and follow it he would.

After all, a dead Kyle Rayner was the only good Kyle Rayner.

The intruder disappeared, leaving this now dead universe (a Prime Reality, too, not that he cared much about that) and continued the hunt. There were many more Rayners to kill...and so little time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Issue: Kyle ends up in the last place he expected to be...