—The Dreaming—
Entering the Dreamscape for the first time, Ciri was almost immediately taken in by the blissful atmosphere this realm radiated. Watching the dreams of people all over the cosmos float around us, she snuck a peek into several of them as they flew by us. Subconsciously reaching out for a young child's dream about their family, I quickly grabbed her hand before she could touch it. Snapping out of her trance-like state, Ciri regained her senses and quickly apologized to me.
"I have never been to a place like this before, I am sorry!", Ciri sincerely apologized, "Just out of curiosity…is there a reason you stopped me from touching the dream bubble?"
"All of these dreams connect back to the individual's mind, touching one of them without proper care will cause you to be dragged in. Once you are inside their mind, removing you is nearly impossible without mentally scarring them for life. In the event they awaken while you are still inside their psyche, you will die in an instant.", I warned her.
"Oh…I see.", she replied drifting closer to me, "Still though, I never knew such a place like this existed. It is such a beautiful, calming space."
"Everyone thinks it is till they stay here for a while. The minds of mortals are not always filled with happiness and joy.", a voice echoed in our minds.
Caught off guard, Ciri immediately reached for her blade and looked around for a threat. Seizing her arm before she drew the weapon, I asked her to calm down as there were no immediate threats here. Telling her the voice came from the ruler of this plane of existence, the voice confirmed that he indeed was Dream.
"That is correct, I am the Endless Dream.", he acknowledged, "What brings two World Travelers to my plane of existence? Are you here to sightsee or maybe even to fight me?"
"No, we are here looking for the House of Mysteries.", I responded, "I believe that remnants of the Justice League are hiding out in Constantine's home to escape Brainiac and Darkseid. If you would be kind enough to point us in the direction of the home, we will get out of your hair as soon as possible."
Feeling his gaze fall on us, Ciri froze up and gripped my arm for dear life. Assuring her that everything would be alright, I used the spell Calm to settle her nerves. Retracting his gaze a few moments later, Dream gave us an answer.
"While I have my doubts about the child, your power far exceeds anyone I have met in this universe.", he stated, "If it is you, I am certain you can aid them in restoring balance. Allow me to bring the House to you."
In an instant, the space in front of us was replaced by the House of Mysteries. Thanking Dream for his assistance, we stepped onto the porch and walked into the home. Walking into a field hospital instead of the elegant residence I recalled, dozens of League Members lay on stretchers all around us groaning loudly in pain. Noticing that several of them were missing limbs or other body parts, Ciri's demeanor quickly plummeted seeing her friends in such rough shape.
Not seeing several close friends of hers, she started to panic assuming the worst-case scenario. Suggesting that we speak with someone before writing off the missing people, I spotted Constantine sitting by the fire with a bottle of whiskey in hand. Walking over to talk to him, Zatana intercepted us as she ran over to hug Ciri.
"Ciri, it is good to see that you are alive and free still.", Zatana commented with a warm smile.
"Zatana, I…I am so sorry!", Ciri choked up, "I never meant for any of this to happen to all of you. You risked your lives and homes for me, someone you barely knew, and you lost everything for it."
Holding her tightly, Ciri bawled her eyes out apologizing to them for everything. Hearing her voice, many of the members present forced themselves out of bed to see her. Even though some of them had to be bitter with how things turned out, no one spoke an ill word to Ciri. Seeing how she reacted to their plight, several of them also began choking up as well.
"Everything will be okay Ciri, we have been through worse and always bounced back.", Clark assured her as he entered the room with a cup of tea, "All of us knew the risks involved with aiding you, no one here blames you for this."
"He is right Ciri, you did not do anything wrong here.", Barry adamantly agreed, "Our poor planning led to this, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this."
While a few members consoled Ciri, Bruce and Oliver were more focused on me. Studying my armor and appearance for a moment, they asked me who I was and how I was associated with Ciri.
"Names Kessler though family and friends call me Cole.", I answered, "Ciri is currently staying at my home till we kill Eredin and his military order. From what I gathered on your computer, you guys are in a pretty bad way now that your big guns are out of commission."
"That is an understatement, Darkseid has Wonder Woman, Power Girl, Black Canary, Superboy, and Kid Flash locked up on Apokolips. He took them weeks ago, if we do not save them soon Granny Goodness is going to turn them against us.", Oliver said with a nervous tone.
"Oliver, I know you are worried about your wife but you have to be logical here. If you made a rash attempt to save them, more of you would likely be captured or killed by Darkseid.", I stated.
Giving me a dumbfounded look, he asked me how I knew what his name was. Turning to Ciri for an answer, she shook her head and said she had not told me anything about them.
"My original homeworld was on a much higher plane of existence, I know quite a lot about all of you. For example, I know that Constantine had a romantic stint with King Shark.", I told him.
Spitting out the whiskey in his mouth, Constantine stumbled to his feet in anger. Throwing the bottle in the fireplace, he demanded to know how I knew about that. Giving him a shrug, I stated that I had first-hand knowledge of this from a very reliable source.
"You…you had a romantic relationship with King Shark?", Zatana said trying not to laugh at him, "Out of everyone you know, why was it him?"
"He…he had a way with words.", Constantine remarked, "Enough about my romantic history, how do you suggest we rescue our teammates and take back our world? As you most likely know, Superman, Flash, Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman are all out of commission. Brainiac killed Dr. Fate and Spectre is missing so we do not have the strength to take out Darkseid's forces."
"I do not expect you to handle Darkseid and his strongest fighters, all you need to do is focus on liberating your world from his forces here.", I stated as I released a bolt of lightning that arced through all the Heroes.
Not feeling any pain from the lightning arc, the Heroes watched in disbelief as their bodies reverted back to a state prior to losing their powers and body parts. Peeling their bandages off, they looked themselves over carefully still reeling from the sudden changes that had occurred.
"Heck yes, my speed is back baby!!", Barry laughed with excitement.
"How did you do that?", Clark asked in confusion, "Constantine has been pounding his head against a wall for weeks trying to fix our powers."
"Oyi, do not rub it in!", Constantine complained as a sense of relief washed over him.
"I simply set your bodies back to the way they were when Ciri left this world.", I informed Clark, "Now then, I will go handle Darkseid and his goons myself. Everyone else needs to focus on driving his forces off your world in a timely manner. Once they are off-world and your allies are safe, I will erase Apokolpis from existence."
Leaving Ciri with the Heroes to aid their efforts, I left the House of Mysteries and teleported straight to Apokolpis using Batman's Starmap as my guide.