More Than a Mortal

The Genetic Council

Prince Acrimon laughed so loudly when he received the news that the courier recoiled in fear that he had sent the prince into madness. "Your majesty?" he asked in a frightened, concerned voice.

"Those fools on the Genetic Counsel should have listened to me," he fumed as he began to pace back and forth in his room. "So the crystals were unearthed. Are you absolutely certain of the information you received?"

The courier quickly nodded his head.

"Don't you have a voice?" Acrimon barked.

"Yes, your majesty. The Observers say the crystals have been unearthed. And there was an exposure. Someone has begun Terrigenesis."

Acrimon stopped pacing. His entire posture conveyed a boiling rage that threatened to burst free of his body. He turned around very slowly and glared. "Say that again?"

"I overheard the Observers," the boy explained. "They say a human has started Terrigenesis. He is already in a Terrigen Crystal."

"Dean Allen," Acrimon hissed. Without another word, he stalked out of his quarters and moved purposefully toward the Observers' station. He walked into the large room and glared at the collection of crystals the Observers used to watch events across the galaxy. Tasked with watching and reporting their findings, the Observers looked on as Acrimon entered. He walked up to the crystals and what he witnessed incited such rage within him he almost unleashed his temper.

No, he told himself. Not yet. Save it for Dean Allen.

"Prince Acrimon?" one of the Observers said.

"How long ago did this happen?" Acrimon asked as he looked at the crystal displaying Dean Allen's exposure to Terrigen Mist.

"It was recent, your majesty. Perhaps five minutes ago."

Acrimon turned and stalked out of the room. It was time to enact the plan he and the Genetic Council had discussed only days ago. The plan had been that if, by some chance, a human with Inhuman DNA were to be exposed, the Genetic Counsel would have no choice but to declare this an act of treason. No Inhuman, regardless of their origin or ignorance, could go through the sacred process without the approval of the Council. Doing so was grounds for harsh punishment.

"I take it you are aware of what is happening on earth," one of the Council members said when Acrimon entered the Council chamber.

"Indeed," Acrimon said as he stood in the center of the large room and watched as members became aware of his presence and moved to surround him. "I take it our plan will go into effect?"

The men and women nodded their heads in agreement and one of them stepped forward. Council-member Shaksel, a tall and imposing redhead, greeted Acrimon with a grim smile. "I will go before the King and Queen and tell them of the Council's ruling."

"Am I to understand that our plan of sending me to earth to deal with the criminal still stands?"

"Indeed, Acrimon," Shaksel said. "Now, let us go and have an audience with the King and Queen."

Queen Medusa stood at the balcony and looked out into the shimmering city that had been her home for the entirety of her life. As she stared at the skyline, the extremely distant sun ascended. At such a great distance away, it barely illuminated the planet's surface and delivered such a minuscule amount of heat that the entire population would be dead were it not for the environmental regulators that maintained the ideal conditions to maintain life.

Earth. For all of her existence, Medusa had never given much thought to the planet from which her people had come. It was a footnote in Inhuman antiquity, relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of their rich history. When anyone spoke of earth, it was only to discuss the origins of their kind and the dark days that eventually saw them seeking home elsewhere. Now, with the original Terrigen Crystals having been activated on earth, her curiosity was piqued.