Outcasts

Chapter One: Fire in the Sky

Circling high above the planet Earth is an asteroid. But, the existence of this asteroid is unknown to the vast majority of the population of the blue and green planet. The asteroid is actually a space ship, that has traveled throughout the galaxy, trying to conquer planets and absorb their life energy, all for the good of the Denebian Empire. Usually, the empire comes against little resistance, because the Denebians are a race of beings highly skilled in black magic. However, the Denebian forces aboard this vessel, who are lead by the empress Phaedra herself, are having a great amount of difficulty conquering this comparatively backwater world. The reason is because this planet has a small but mighty team of super-powered beings called the Spectrum Force. The Spectrum Force is nothing more than a group of young humans, who gain power from the force of white light, but they have successfully come between Phaedra and victory on several occasions. Now, the usually powerful empire is weakening, because of the vast amount of energy wasted in trying to defeat the Spectrum Force. So the empress has set her sights on a new goal--finding an unlimited power source, so her empire can defeat all opposition without depleting their energy supplies.

Not long ago, the empress sent her wizard Morose to the distant planet Edenia, where he was to lay claim to the infinitely powerful Pyramid of Power. However, the Spectrum Force managed to prevent Morose from bringing the Pyramid back to Phaedra. As a token of gratitude, the Pyramid bestowed the six young heroes with the Elemental Armory, allowing them to call upon the force of nature when battling evil. So the Spectrum Force has become even more powerful, and Phaedra is running out of options.

A short while later, Phaedra's youngest child Celea joined her in her battle against the Spectrum Force. Celea utilized an ancient spell she had mastered-- which sent its victims to the Limbo of Lucifer, where they will forever be tormented. But the Spectrum Force managed to escape Celea's magics by pure force of luck, and ended up in a parallel dimension, which also had a team of heroes. This event opened Phaedra's eyes to the possibilities of other universes. Inside the vast plane of the Multiverse, Phaedra found something shocking-- something that the Denebian Empire has been searching for for centuries. Existing in the Multiversal passageway is the energy signature of an interdimensional being, which is life incarnate. This being has been chased by Denebian forces for its powers, and over a century ago, it managed to escape them by means of a magical portal. The being could never be found again, and the Denebians eventually gave up, assuming that this creature had vanished forever. But now, Phaedra knows the truth-- it didn't vanish from existence. It only passed through a Multiversal portal, and took refuge in an alternate reality. Phaedra found traces of the entity's eternal flame suspended inside the Multiverse. This kind of power signature is only emitted when a being of immeasurable power passes through the Multiverse.

Presently, Empress Phaedra and Princess Celea await the arrival of a powerful ally. Acheron, the emperor of the Denebian Empire, is the one most obsessed with finding the eternal flame, and he is presently en route to Phaedra's asteroid from the homeworld of Deneb. A black, spherical space ship passes through the Hyperspace Portal within the atmosphere of Jupiter, and immediately flies towards Earth at a speed that defies the laws of physics. Only moments later, the sphere docks inside the asteroid ship, and an army of Denebian citizens stationed on the asteroid surround the sphere and stand in line, preparing to salute their leader. The gates open, and a tall man with pale gray skin, flowing forest green hair, and piercing blood red eyes marches down the red carpet. His long black cape flies behind him as he hurries past the royal guard, and into the throne room, where his wife and only daughter await. Acheron steps into the throne room, and finds Phaedra sitting upon her throne, adorned in the traditional black gown worn for occasions of celebration. Celea has also done away with her battle uniform, and wears a gown similar to her mother's. Acheron smiles at his family, and watches as they both descend from the platform, and greet him. Celea nods in respect to her father, while Phaedra herself places her hand on Acheron's shoulder, which is the traditional greeting of the Denebian Royal couple.

"I couldn't believe it when I heard your message, my dear," said Acheron, "After all this time, the Eternal Flame has returned! Wherever did you find her?"

"I didn't just yet," said Phaedra, "I merely found where she is hiding. You see, I recently tracked the Multiversal transit of a fraction of the Eternal Flame. Apparently, the Eternal Flame has bonded with a human, who presently lives far in the future of another dimension. She recently passed through the Multiverse, traveling back in time. Now she is in the past, but she will soon return to the future. In order to capture her, we must create a powerful portal that leads right here. I felt that you should be here, to assist Celea and me in the creation of such a powerful portal."

Acheron thought about it for a moment. "You say the Eternal Flame has bonded with a human?"

"Yes," said Celea, "The Eternal Flame is a being of pure energy, but she has infused a part of her energy into a human being, making her corporeal."

"Even a fraction of the Eternal Flame's energies will power the Denebian Armada for eons!" said Acheron, "And, if we capture the human host, we can surely separate the Eternal Flame from her! Who is the host, and where is she now?"

"She is called Rachel Summers," said Phaedra, "and she now exists in the year 1980, in South Dakota of Earth 616, by Roma's Multiversal Count."

"Once she leaves this 'South Dakota' on her way back to the future, we shall be ready."

Rachel Summers has traveled back two-thousand years in the past to find her friend Tanya Trask, who is also known as Sanctity. Both young women are powerful telepaths, as well as time-travelers, and they both were actually born in the twentieth century. By accident, Rachel Summers was hurled into the distant future, and banded together a team of heroes called the Askani, which means "outcast". Rachel recruited Tanya Trask, whose natural time-travel mutant powers sent her into the future. Tanya came back to the past in an attempt to change a horrible future, even though she's risking disrupting the river of time by doing so. Rachel is here to stop her.

"We have to go now, Sanctity," said Rachel, "There's no telling how much damage our presence here has already done."

Tanya nodded silently, and the two young women were both immersed in flaming golden light. They vanished from their location, and passed through the vast expanse of the Multiverse. But, during transit, Rachel Summers was pulled into a strange tunnel, leaving Sanctity alone in the passageway to the future. It was only when she arrived that she noticed Rachel didn't come with her. Tanya found herself alone in the leafy forest that serves as the Askani base of operations. Once she arrived, other Askani warriors came from their hiding places, and surrounded Tanya.

"Sanctity," said one, "where is the Mother?"

"I... I don't know!" she cried, "Rachel's gone!"

A black portal opened in the center of the throne room, and a young woman with curly red hair, wearing a red and gold bodysuit fell through. She landed with a thud.

"Ow," she moaned, touching her head, "I remember Multiversal transit being a little more bearable, Tanya."

Rachel Summers looked up, and to her surprise, she didn't see her companion. And, to add to her surprise, she didn't see the familiar wooden glade where the Askani Clan built its base. Instead, she finds herself in a dark room, elegantly decorated with dark gems and black marble.

"At last," said a chilling male voice, "After over a century of searching, I have finally found you, Eternal Flame."

"Who are you?" asked Rachel, rising to her feet. The source of the voice stepped out of the shadows, his face still darkened by the shadow cast from his forest mane. His red eyes glowed with an unnatural power.

"Come now," he chuckled, "You really don't remember me, Eternal Flame? Search deeply, child, and you will recognize me from years past."

Rachel studied his face curiously, until her eyes widened with surprise. Her green eyes glowed as memories that weren't her own poured into her mind, displaying scenes of relentless chases and obsessive exploits. Rachel gasped as the light dimmed, and the memories of the remaining essence of the Phoenix Force within her opened her eyes to the being standing before her. Rachel couldn't help but shudder.

"Ah," said Acheron, noticing her discomfort, "I knew you remembered me, Phoenix."

"What do you want, Acheron?" Rachel barked.

"What I've wanted since I first learned of your existence, Eternal Flame... I want your power. Your infinite life energy."

"I hate to break it to you," said Rachel, slowly stepping away from the dark emperor, "but the Phoenix Force separated from my body several months ago. The essence returned to the universe. I can't help you."

"But you can," said another voice, coming from behind her. Rachel spun around on her high heels to see a woman, dressed in a flowing black gown, with forest green hair similar to Acheron's. Her eyes also glowed with evil.

"And you are?"

"Phaedra, the Empress of the Denebian Empire. I am the one who finally found you. Even though you no longer have possession of the Phoenix Force itself, you have access to a portion of her limitless powers. It may not be as much as the Eternal Flame has, but half of infinity is still infinity. I'm sure you get the idea."

Rachel's eyes widened again as she realized their evil intentions. Her eyes glowed with orange flames, as she released the flames of the Phoenix through her skin, filling the dark chamber with incandescent light. Both the emperor and empress hid themselves from the powerful rays, and Rachel took advantage of the opportunity, and fired a beam of energy through the tainted glass window. The window shattered under the force of Phoenix's massive energy beam, and she leapt out of the window. The orange aura of flaming power surrounded Rachel's body, protecting her from the coldness of space, and it took the form of a flaming bird. In seconds, Rachel was hovering over the planet Earth, thinking of her next move.

"The Denebians followed me home!" she shrieked, "I need to find some help!"

Rachel let her mind call out, searching for one of her telepathic Askani followers. But none obeyed her unspoken calls.

"Maybe... I'm back in the 1900's?" she said, trying again. But once again, she couldn't find a familiar psi-print. Rachel frowned in frustration. "Where the heck am I?!" she shouted, "There must be some kind of mutants here!"

Rachel focused again, and swept the entire globe with her scan. She finally did discover a mutant telepathic mind, somewhere in California. But, it was so weak, it was barely noticeable.

"Well," she shrugged, "I don't know where else to go."

With that, Rachel descended to Earth, headed for California. From inside the asteroid, Acheron and Phaedra watched her depart.

"Where is she going?" asked Phaedra, "Who could she know on this planet?"

"I don't know," said Acheron, "But it matters not. I shall find her."

Saturday morning, at nine o'clock, Christopher Greyson wakes up at the conclusion of a peculiar dream.

"It... it was a dream," he whispered, sitting up in bed, "But it seemed so... real. And I remember it so well, even after I'm awake."

Chris shakes his head, trying to clear his mind, and glances at the alarm clock beside his bed.

"I'm late!" he yelled, "I didn't even hear the alarm go off!"

Chris hopped out of bed, grabbing his bath towel, and headed for the shower. Five minutes later, the tall, tan young man hurried back into the bedroom, his tone body and curly dark hair dripping with water, and a white towel around his waist. He searched frantically through his chest of drawers, and the noise woke his roommate, Kevin, who was still asleep on the other side of the bedroom.

"A little less noise, please?" he muttered, opening his eyes and frowning.

"Sorry about that, Kevin," said Chris, selecting a green and blue UCLA T-shirt and blue jeans, "but I'm running late."

"Late?" Kevin yawned, stretching his arms, "Late for what? Its Saturday, isn't it?"

"Yes it is, and I'm going to breakfast with Rachel. I was supposed to be at her apartment at a quarter of nine!"

"Rachel, the Cuban girl downstairs?" asked Kevin, "She's hot! So, are you two serious?"

"What do you mean, 'serious'?" asked Chris, running back into the bathroom to get dressed.

"What do people usually mean, Chris? Have you fallen for her?"

"We only met last weekend!" called Chris, "This is the first time we ever went out without the whole gang going, except when I walked her to class."

"So, you're already escorting her around campus."

"We go to the same class," said Chris, stepping out of the bathroom and headed towards the door, "I'll be back later."

Chris waved goodbye to his roommate, and waited for the elevator just down the hall. While he waited, he began to think about the dream that disrupted his sleep last night.

What is wrong with me? Why am I letting this thing bother me? It was only a dream. Wasn't it?

Meanwhile, on the fifth floor of the same apartment building, Keith Maloy, Matthew O'Conner, Tamara Fox, and Craig Gillis sit around the kitchen table of the girls' apartment, waiting patiently while Jocelyn put the finishing touches on breakfast.

"Are you sure you don't want help, Joce?" asked Tamara.

"Nah, I can handle it," said Jocelyn, mixing the pancake batter, "Just be patient."

"Where's Rachel anyway?" asked Matt, "Studying the weekend away at the library again?"

"Actually, she's in her room," said Tamara with a grin, "getting ready for her date."

"Date?" asked Keith, "Really? With that Chris guy?"

"Uh, huh," said Tamara, smiling widely, "I knew they'd make a good couple."

Just then, Rachel stepped out of her bedroom.

"Well," she said, turning full circle, "what do you think?"

Rachel was wearing a deep purple sleeveless "V" neck sundress, with white flowers decorating the lightweight fabric. The skirt nearly reached her knees, and she wore high heeled white sandals, to match. Her hair was worn free, cascading around her face and neck in dark waves with some reddish highlights from the California sun.

"Wow," said Craig, "you look great, Ray."

"Aren't you a bit overdressed for breakfast?" asked Keith.

"I'd say," said Matt, "she must really like this guy."

Rachel blushed slightly, and then frowned at Matthew.

"For your information, I just felt like getting dressed up, is all."

"Sure you did," said Matt with a knowing smile.

"Uh, when is Chris coming?" asked Jocelyn, trying to change the subject.

"He should've been hear about twenty minutes ago," said Rachel, glancing down at her watch, "I wonder what's keeping him."

"He's twenty minutes late?" said Matt, "That's pretty bad, since he lives like six flights of stairs away."

Before Rachel could yell at her opinionated friend, there was a knock at the door. Rachel shot Matt a disapproving glare before she opened the door, and smiled up at Chris.

"Uh, sorry I'm so late," he said sheepishly, "I had some trouble sleeping--"

Chris stopped talking as his eyes ran up and down Rachel's tall, stunning form.

"Uh, wow, Ray," he stuttered, "You look... fabulous!"

Rachel smiled brightly at the compliment, and took Chris' hand.

"See ya later, gang," she called, stepping out the door.

"So," said Keith, "what are the rest of us going to do today?"

"I was planning on jogging a bit," said Tamara, "Its great exercise, and its such a beautiful day!"

"That's an idea," said Craig, "How much do you jog? A mile? Two miles?"

"Actually," she said, "I jog around the campus."

"Around the whole campus?!" said Matthew incredulously, "As in the whole UCLA campus?! That's like twenty miles!"

"Its seventeen miles," said Keith, "and believe me, she means it."

"Ah, come on, gang," Tamara said excitedly, "It'll be fun!"

"Yeah, right," grunted Craig, "and I'll spend the rest of the weekend in a hospital!"

"I'm game," said Jocelyn, "So long as we're back by four, though. I have diving practice at four-thirty, and we have a competition tomorrow against Drexford University."

"Don't worry. We'll be back in plenty of time."

Rachel Castaneda and Christopher Greyson walkleisurely down Hamilton Walkway, which cuts through the center of the UCLA campus. The walkway is lined with colorful trees and bushes, as well as classroom buildings and stores. Presently, the couple is walking to the International House of Pancakes, which is just off campus. They walk in relative silence, and Rachel, being a very observant person, can tell Chris' mind was somewhere else, from the far-off look in his dark eyes.

"Chris?" she said finally, stopping, "Are you okay?"

"Huh?" he said distractedly, "Oh, I'm fine, Rachel. Why do you ask."

"Because you haven't said a word since we left the High Rise! I know you're not that much of a talker, but still, that's not like you."

"Well, I was just thinking. That's all."

"About what?"

"Nothing important. It was just a... dream I had last night."

"Care to share?"

Chris looked at Rachel, and saw that she was genuinely concerned for him.

"Okay, what happened was, I saw this ball of flames coming at me from the sky. It kept getting closer, but for some reason, I didn't run away. I was... too curious, I guess. Anyway, once the flames came close enough, I could make out the shape of a bird. It was flying right at me, but I couldn't move. Just before it slammed into me, the bird took on another shape... of a girl, with red hair. But not red like Matt's hair--red like fire. Pretty weird, huh?"

"Not necessarily," said Rachel, taking Chris' hand, "I mean, since when do dreams make sense?"

"I guess you're right. But, the funny thing is, I can remember it so clearly. I mean, I have the girl's face blazed into my memory. I think I'd recognize her if I saw her."

Just then, a ball of blazing flames streaks across the sky, and lands in an alley nearby. Both Rachel and Chris are stunned by the event. The first to recover is Chris, who immediately began running to the crash site.

"Chris!" Rachel called, running after him, "Wait! It could be dangerous!"

But Chris didn't pay attention to Rachel's calls. He ran into the alley, and stopped when he saw a tall young woman with curly red hair, lying on the scorched ground. He stayed where he was, and watched as the girl moaned, and sat up. She pushed the red curls from her face, and shook her head.

"Two crashes in one day," she said aloud, "I must be losing my touch."

The girl looked up, and her green eyes locked with the dark ones of Chris, who just stood there and watched her. She rose to her feet, and studied his face.

"You..." Chris said, "You're the girl from my dream!"

"Dream?" she asked.

"Yes! The girl inside a ball of flames! The... the firebird..."

"Phoenix," she said with a smile, "Yep, I guess that would be me."

"Chris?" called a female voice. Rachel Castaneda stood behind the young man, and stared curiously at the red-headed visitor. She gasped.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Phoenix," she said, "and I appear to be lost..."

Phoenix once again looked at Chris. Her eyes began to glow with orange flames, startling both Chris and Rachel. She then gasped.

"You're the mutant!" she declared, "The one that I felt in outer space!"

Rachel looked from Chris to Phoenix, her face the very picture of confusion.

"Uh, do you two... know each other?" she asked quietly.

"No," said Phoenix, "but his powers called out to me. Are you a mutant, Chris?"

"What's a mutant?" he asked.

"Mutant? Homo-superior? Super beings?"

"The only super beings are the Spectrum Force," said Rachel.

"Spectrum Force?" asked Phoenix, "No, they aren't mutants. If they were, I would've sensed them when I scanned the planet. Chris is the only mutant I found."

"But, what exactly is a mutant?" Chris asked again.

Before Phoenix could answer, the ground began to quake.

"Oh no," Phoenix gasped, "The Denebians!"

"The Denebians?!" shrieked Rachel, as the ground opened up, letting the three youths fall into the deep, dark earth below. They screamed in alarm as the hole from which they came slowly closed, and Rachel didn't notice as her purple and silver ring slipped off her finger during the plummet.

Go to the Spectrum Force: Summary and Characters to see a photo of Chris Greyson, as well as read some information about him.