The circle flared an angry red and illuminated the docking bay in its crimson aura. Tanashi and Howitzer, closest to the circle were thrown back by the force of the eruption. Drax and Idol, now joined by Faq, looked on in horror as the area where the rune circle had been etched shifted away and sulfurous flames leapt from the gaping hole. The body of Zak was gone, having fallen when the floor shifted out of existence. The flooring around the circle sputtered, cracked, and steamed as it melted to liquid and fell into the hole. The central docking arm nearest the abyss bowed under its own weight and fell to the floor as it began to melt. The heat was unbearable. With a gesture Drax erected a telekinetic force field around them to keep the heat at bay.
“Foolish Mortals!”, the voice boomed through the melting docking bay.
“You have returned to me that in which I have sought for a millennia. Across planes of existence this vessel has evaded me, and been shrouded from my possession. Now I may once again walk the physical plane in the body that is rightfully mine!!”
A dark figure levitated above the abyssal hole, holding the limp form of Zak. shrouded in black robes of some forgotten religion, inky black hair flowed around a face of pure masculine beauty and pure malicious evil. Drax recognized the figure as Nefaria. A Demon lord that he and his friends had made a pact with long ago in a time of desperation. while the demon looked human enough, he was far from it. Watching in awe, all eyes were upon Nefaria as he reached into the body of Zak, by this time fully regenerated, and pulled a corporeal form from the body. The figure wriggled a little bit, and Nefaria threw it across the bay. The form of Nefaria dematerialized, became insubstantial, and merged with the body Zak.
A shock wave blasted through the docking bay knocking everyone from their feet. The force of the wave was so great that it buckled the walls of the bay and ripped bulk head from its mooring. Air began to violently flow from the structure as it began to lose its structural integrity from the blast. The circle of sulfurous flames widened as the portal to some hellish plane began to expand. Devouring everything in its wake.
“Azznorock!! Where are you! We need you and Ash ASAP!” Drax screamed into his comm.
The figure of Zak/Nefaria hovered in mid-air engulfed in a bluish flame from head to toe. The arcane and psychic power was so powerful that even those not attuned to it could feel its growth.
Not one to stand around and wait to be killed, Howitzer leveled his powerful rail gun and began to fire long bursts into the floating form. He growled with all the intensity he could muster. Even with the sound of the rail gun and all that was collapsing around them his rage could be heard.
The figure cast to the floor by Nefaria began to stir. He was human and very naked. stumbling to his feet he looked around groggily at what was going on around him. He was hit with incredible pain as Faq tackled him heavily in the mid-section yelling, “Get DOWN!”. The two hit the floor as a metallic girder crashed to the floor where he had been standing.
“Quickly, get in to the hall!”, Drax barked to the others. Tanashi scooped up Idol and Drax and made a quick wing assisted leap to the exit of the docking bay. Half of the docking bay was melted and crumbling into the growing abyss. The demon still hovered over the carnage seemingly unaffected by the barrage of rail gun fire and the collapsing structure around him.
