"What's wrong?" Batman's voice cut through the hushed tension in the Watchtower. His sharp gaze moved over the gathered magic users, their unease evident.
"We sensed an overwhelming darkness," Doctor Fate said, golden energy swirling around his hands as he wove a spell, searching for traces of the anomaly. "A presence unlike anything we've encountered before… but it vanished as quickly as it appeared."
"I tried to look into it," Zatara added, his voice uncharacteristically shaken. "And something looked back." He swallowed, running a hand over his forehead, wiping away the cold sweat. "Billions of eyes. Each one belonged to a being powerful enough to snuff out our entire universe with a mere thought."
He hesitated as if saying the next part aloud might summon it back.
"But the strongest presence among them… It was beyond anything I could comprehend. I fear even the true forms of the gods would bow before it."
"Where is the person Superman brought in a few days ago?" Batman asked, his tone sharp as his gaze swept over Shazam and the others.
"We were just about to report," Green Lantern Hal Jordan said, his frown deepening. "He teleported away using some kind of dark energy… he's most likely the presence they sensed."
Batman didn't waste another second listening. Without a word, he turned on his heel and strode toward the nearest console, pulling up surveillance footage from the room where Ashborn had been. His fingers moved swiftly across the interface, fast-forwarding through the recordings until the screen played back everything that had transpired.
His jaw tightened as he watched. His eyes narrowed. Then, without hesitation, he turned his attention toward Earth.
"He's either still on our Earth or has moved to another one. Everyone needs to work together to find him," Batman ordered before swiftly teleporting back to Earth. Without wasting a moment, he began scanning Gotham, his city, searching for any trace of Ashborn.
"I've never been to California… but I'm pretty sure there wasn't a city called Jump City," Ember remarked, arms crossed as she observed the unfamiliar skyline.
Ashborn stood beside her, taking in the city that didn't exist in either Marvel or his previous life.
"Should've gone to New York, right? I just did a random teleportation," he mused.
She nodded, giving him a knowing look. Sighing, Ashborn was about to open a portal when something caught his eye—an explosion erupting in the distance, flames licking the sky as the sounds of chaos filled the air.
"This is new—the Fearsome Five, robbing a bank?" a green cheetah-like figure called out, sprinting toward a man with a single, glowing eye and 4 others
Without hesitation, the one-eyed man fired a devastating energy beam, slicing through nearby cars like they were paper.
"Raven, they're all yours!" the green cheetah shouted to the gothic-clad girl hovering ahead.
But Raven wasn't paying attention. Her mind was elsewhere, drawn to something far more disturbing—the overwhelming darkness she had sensed just appearing within the city a moment ago. She had always believed her own power was something formidable, something to be feared. But compared to whatever she had just felt… her darkness was nothing.
Boom!
Her momentary distraction cost her. A sudden blast struck her mid-air, sending her crashing to the ground.
Seizing the opportunity, the Fearsome Five wasted no time, disappearing into the chaos before anyone could stop them.
"I told you luck was on our side!" a girl named Jinx laughed as the Fearsome Five disappeared, teleporting away in a flash.
Beast Boy shifted back into his human form and hurried to check on Raven. To his relief, she was okay. She pushed herself up, brushing off the dust, and muttered an apology to him and the rest of the Teen Titans. But before she could explain what had happened, her head suddenly snapped toward a distant point—where Ashborn stood.
Meanwhile, Ashborn stood unfazed, deep in thought. "Now that I think about it, we need IDs… money… and a few other things," he mused aloud. With that, he stepped into his own shadow, which swirled in front of him, forming a portal straight to New York.
"We could just mind-control people to give it to us," Ember suggested nonchalantly, leaving Ashborn momentarily speechless.
Before he could respond, the two vanished into the swirling darkness of the portal. Just as it was sealed shut, Raven appeared in the sky, her gaze locking onto the shadow portal disappearing. A deep unease settled over her.
Meanwhile, Ember spoke again in New York. "By the way, you do realize someone manipulated probability to make sure you ended up in Jump City?"
Ashborn raised an eyebrow at that.
"Hah, didn't even notice," he said with a shrug. "Guess they were too weak to register."
After all, his teleportation had been completely random—whoever had interfered was barely worth his attention.
"Let's find a rich villain or something. Lex Luthor would do. I'm sure he'd be willing to part with a few billion dollars—for the right price," Ashborn said casually.
Ember tilted her head, tapping into her cosmic awareness to pull up everything she could about Luthor. "And what exactly are you planning to sell to that foolish human?" she asked, intrigued.
Ashborn smirked. "Good question… How about hair?"
Ember stared at him, caught between amusement and exasperation.
"That reminds me—when we get back to our world, I want to sacrifice my eyes in exchange for wisdom… and I also want to hang myself on Yggdrasil to further boost my powers," Ashborn said with a grin. He had planned to do it after dealing with the Void, but then he'd ended up in this new world.
Ember raised an eyebrow, her expression unreadable. "Why stop there? If you sacrifice your entire body in exchange for wisdom, you'll gain insight beyond comprehension. And if you don't just hang yourself from Yggdrasil, but let its roots pierce into you, you could obtain the purest form of rune magic. That would at least put you on equal footing with the true form of Knull." She said it lazily as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Ashborn blinked. "Wow, you really just said that like it was nothing." He chuckled, shaking his head. But still… his plans were set.
"Why Gotham?" Ember asked blankly as she surveyed the dark, foreboding city they had found themselves in.
Ashborn smirked. "Well, this city practically calls to me. It's the perfect place for someone like me."
Even in broad daylight, Gotham felt shrouded in eternal twilight, the shadows stretching unnaturally long as if resisting the presence of the sun. It was a city that seemed to thrive in darkness, and Ashborn found that oddly fitting.
[Next Chapter: Ashborn Vs the Dark Phoenix