Justice League V: Eclipse

Chapter Twenty-Four: Egypt

Egypt, 5/25/2018, 10:55 PM

The assembled teams stood in front of the massive mountain with four statues wielding even larger swords lining the entrance. The side of the mountain in between the statues was carved with intricate lines and architecture that made the mountain look as if it were one giant flame. The group began moving towards the entrance, the Legionnaires led the way with Alpha Squad and the Leaguers behind them. The tunnel inside led deep into the mountain with little light to guide the way. Artemis raised a hand morphing it into a massive flashlight to help light the way. 

"What's down here? How old is this place?" M'gann asked gazing at the old stone walls, "I've never even heard of this mountain."

"It's in the center of the desert." Lightning Lad responded looking back at them, "It will be discovered in a few years, but we had to speed up the process."

"How did you know about this place?" Shazam asked from the back of the line, but his voice traveled up towards them.

"We did some research on these entities. We know the tales originated from this very spot."

After several minutes of moving through the tunnels, the group finally arrived in a massive open chamber. Torches lined the walls unlit, pillars held the ceiling up. Artemis began lighting fires with the torches around the room illuminating the walls. The heroes widened their eyes as the paintings on the walls were revealed. The paintings depicted several figures, one looking akin to Atrius, the being that attacked in Los Angeles.

"Translating." Artemis said as she gazed at the wall, her helmet over her head, "It says... Woe the Titans of old, who came from the sky to give us the gifts of fire, water, earth, and air. Hyperion, Scylla, Atrius, and Crius. Bring forth the fifth, the demon himself, the Heart of Darkness and rain red across the world."

 The group stood silently as Artemis finished. The room flickered with light from the torches and the silence was filled with the sound of flames. 

"Sounds like we have all we need to know." Lightning Lad sighed and stepped forward towards Eddie raising his arm, "He's the Heart of Darkness."

Eddie widened his eyes as he turned around seeing Lightning Lad standing there with such a grim look on his face.

"Woah wait a second I'm not-" 

In a quick flash, Katana leapt forward in between the two holding her sword up towards Lightning Lad's throat, "Move a muscle towards him and I end you."

Quickly, the groups raised their respective weapons towards each other or became ready to fight. The tension rose as fast as the heat in the sprucely lit chamber. Artemis stood in her full Blue Beetle armor with both plasma cannons raised. M'gann was floating near Eddie with her hands at the ready. Wondergirl had her hand on her whip next to Shazam and Obsidian who both had their hands raised in fists. The rest of the Legionnaires stood at the ready as well, Kid Quantum had his hands at the ready, Saturn Girl and Leviathan stood side by side behind Lightning Lad with XS in the rear. Timberwolf was near the back standing strangely still. 

"Listen..." Lightning Lad said sliding back a bit away from the sword, "You people don't understand how dangerous he is..."

"Excuse me?" Cassie snarled in anger, "Eddie is our friend. You people are strangers."

 "Eddie is the thing those monsters are after. He is literally the end of the world." Lightning Lad yelled back growing angrier, "He will slaughter the Justice League and bring on total death and destruction!"

Shazam widened his eyes taking a slight glance at Eddie before looking back at Lightning Lad.

"We don't take lives." Artemis snapped back, "I don't know how they do it in the future, but we have morals in this time period."