The TWILIGHT OF THE GODS
THE TOWERING INFERNO
A Story of Mantra and Black September
By Aladdin and Christopher Leeson
Posted 01-03-25
Chapter 15
THE TOWERING INFERNO
“To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Glancing at the Time Capsule’s viewscreen, I was not pleased with what I saw.
New York was below us again.
But how could that be? We had left New York only seconds before it was destroyed.
This had to be an entirely different version of New York. This insane mission was like a repeating dream that wouldn’t end.
Which version of New York was this? And what was the date?
The monitor showed me an aerial view of physical damage below, as if New York had been slugged by a heavyweight boxer. The bruiser must have been on fire, too, because I saw licking flames below.
“What happened here?” I asked Gabriel.
“We’re in another alternate timeline. In this reality, Nemesis has already seized the Infinity Gems and the ultras that opposed have rallied on Earth to await her attack.”
“Why did we come here?” I asked.
“To observe, learn, and to plan.”
“Serious fires are burning down there. What are we going to do?”
“We shouldn’t do anything. This timeline is doomed. The standard policy advises the Timekeepers to leave bad enough alone. Try not to be too upset by what you see. This isn’t your timeline, after all.”
That came across as incredibly cynical. “We think differently; maybe it’s because I’m not as educated as you are. But when people are in danger, this dumb person wants to help. Are you going to give me trouble about that?”
You’ll be risking your safety for a world that may not endure much longer.
“Mom!” yelled Evie. “Don’t go!”
The three kids were standing together in the open hatchway. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I have to save lives, but I’ll be as careful as possible. If the worst happens, never forget how much I loved you.”
I flashed back into my Mantra armor, and the youngsters looked dismayed to see me do it. Their mother had died trying to pull off the sort of brave deeds I was going to attempt now.
I entered my ghost phase again and leaped through the hull of the Time Capsule. That put me high above the ground and falling fast.
My levitation ability arrested my plummet. As I floated took stock of the scene below.
I saw scorched concrete and plenty of blown-out windows. I saw buildings swaying, but I knew that knocking over a Manhattan skyscraper wasn’t easy.
But one high rise was on fire in its upper reaches and that meant that hundreds of lives were in danger. I don’t possess the powers I needed to evacuate crowds of people en masse, but maybe I could hold the flames back long enough to start an orderly evacuation.
I phantomed myself through the high-rise wall and entered an inside room. I immediately needed to raise a shield to protect myself from the smoke. From one hall, I heard panicked cries. The elevators, as usual, were disabled by the emergency system, causing a commotion as people fought for entry into the fire stairwells.
We were high up, close to the fire above us, and the route of escape would be slow. It looked like everyone was wild with fear.
Someone grabbed my arm. “Are you Mantra?!” an adenoidal voiced intern type asked in a shaky, adenoidal voice. Then he answered his own question. “You can’t be. She protects L.A.”
“I’m here to help. What can I do?”
“The people above us can’t come down. The stair is jammed somewhere above us.”
“Thanks,” I said and ghosted up through the ceiling. The next floor seemed empty, so I flew higher. I came out where choking smoke filled the air. I heard many cries; many people were trapped on this level.
Getting air to them was the overriding necessity. Using a force bolt, I smashed a gap into the outside wall. With access to the cleaner atmosphere outside, I employed my elemental power to draw in fresh air. Due to the excessive smoke on the level, I shielded the suffocating people in front of me with a force bubble and provide them with fresh air.
The confusion among the people escalated as they found themselves trapped and surrounded, causing even more panic. Escape attempts were being made. Scuffles had broken out, and the clamor drowned out my shouted instruction. To startle them into quiet, I released a burst of light.
When I could hear myself think, I yelled, “You’ll be all right. I’m Mantra. I’m an ultra! I’m here to help!”
Some people understood, and they tried to calm down the others. “No pushing, no climbing over one another,” I said. “Settle down and get into order! Does anyone know if there are people above us?” I asked.
“I think there are! But they can’t come down,” a woman shouted. "There’s a blockage in the stairwell.”
Assuming she was correct, I had to do something. “You people have to stay orderly. Panic will kill you, so keep your heads on straight! I’m going to get the stairway clear.”
Above these people, a blockage existed, and I had to remove it. I therefore phased through the concrete to locate the problem. I found a mass of helpless people stopped in front of a slug of rubble and twisted steel. They couldn’t go forward and the human press behind them made it impossible for them to go back. When something is in my way, it’s my instinct to use a magical blast to clear it away, but in a case like this, it would hurt people next to it. Also, the falling debris would land on people farther down in the stairwell.
I thought I might have a clever solution. I possessed the power to move matter from a dimensional plane where I’m standing into an alternate dimension. It was just a king-sized version of what I do every day when I project solid objects into my mystical closet for safekeeping.
But I didn’t know whether that other reality was inhabited. I could hurt people if I sent them a few tons of rubble to them. I hesitated to take a risk, but clearing a path for the trapped was a life and death necessity.
I concentrated like hell, and suddenly parts of the obstructing mass disappeared. I kept up the effort until the entire mass blinked out of existence. The cleared stairs appeared usable. But the herculean effort had taken a lot out of manna out of me. I was hoping for a second wind, so I could continue to save lives.
Although evacuation was improved, the fire and smoke filling the upper floors were still placing many at risk.
Fire departments fought flame with floods of water, and they knew better ways to firefight than I did. Going to a wall-sized window, I broke it and then invoked my elemental command over water. I used my power to condense the moisture held by the cumulus clouds hanging like a lighter-than-air mountain range above the city.
Out of that cotton-candy sierra, I summoned a rushing creek of water. I directed this through the burst windows toward the flames, while trying hard not to drown anyone. Where the cold water collided with the searing flames, clouds of hissing steam rolled up. Hot steam presented a danger, too, so I needed to spend even more magical manna to protect myself and others.
Using telekinesis, I directed the water to where I needed it. However, the hallway and office occupants continued to suffocate. Water wasn’t enough; I had to provide air for people to breathe. This multitasking proved to be more difficult in practice than in theory.
I spotted a flying man through a window. He looked like an ultra, but I didn’t recognize him. Had this interventionist come to save lives or to loot? He looked like a powerhouse, though, and I needed some heavy-duty help.
I flew out of the high rise through a broken window and sped after the stranger, waving my arms to make him notice me.
When he saw me, he stopped to chat, descending into the chaotic street. I followed him down.
The unknown ultra wore red and gold armor that made him look like a robot. But I sensed his bio-emanations, so I knew there was a man inside that metal shell. I landed short of him. He stood watching me, cautious but not overtly defensive.
I remarked, “I’ve met a lot of ultras, but I never came across you before.”
The armored man, his voice electronically altered, replied, “I’m new around here, but I’m not inexperienced. Why did you flag me down, miss? Do you need rescuing?”
“No, I’m good, Armor Man,” I said. “But there are still office people trapped in this burning building. They need more help than I can give them.”
“My handle is Iron Man,” the newcomer informed me. At that moment, he gazed skyward.
“This must be our lucky day, Goldy,” he said to me. “We’re getting reinforcements.
“I’m called Mantra, by the way,” I told him. I looked up and saw that the “reinforcement” he referred to was somebody I’d already met.
A powerful being, godlike in aspect, set down near us. He recognized me as well. “Lady Mantra!” he exclaimed in a powerful baritone I’d heard before. I guessed it was the sort of male voice that would send shivers down many a female spine.
“Verily ‘tis I,” I affirmed.
“How do you know a person living in another universe, Thor?” Iron Man asked.
“I did speak to thee about the land of Vahdala,” answered the blonde titan. “This maid of blue and gold was the fairest flower I encountered there.”
Clearly, he liked brunettes. But though Thor didn’t know it, he wasn’t complimenting me. The Mantra he had met months before had been Eden Blake during that brief, tragic episode when she had regained possession of her own body and had taken over the role of Mantra. I’d been standing beside her in a cloned male body when we interviewed the Asgardian. With both his eyes filled with Eden Blake’s beauty, Thor probably hadn’t even noticed me.
“Hi, Thor!” I said. “Can you give me and Mr. Iron Guy a hand rescuing some people trapped in that burning building?”
Thor looked up at the high rise and answered, “It shall be a pleasure, my lady.”
The two men, not only from a different timeline but also from a distinct branch of the Tree of Eternity, soared toward the top levels of the fiery tower. That left me standing on the asphalt pavement amid a squad of excited, just-arriving rescue workers.
I buttonholed an authority figure and told him what I knew about the fire, before jumping clear and levitating into the air. I intended to rejoin Thor and Iron Man to help them pull off a major life-saving operation. Saving lives today would take the sting out of all the lives I hadn't been able to save lately.
TO BE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER 16
