The Man-Thing and Devil-Slayer are engulfed in flames, but rather than a fire that burns, it is a purging blaze that grows to encompass the Rosewell Sanitarium, as well as the town of Charles, Massachusetts. When the flames die away, the asylum has been returned to its proper place, Eric Simon Payne, the Devil-Slayer, has been cured of his madness, and the fragment of the shattered Nexus of All Realities that was within him is released. From it, the mute telepath Sorrow fashions a necklace and places it around Ellen Brandt's neck. Eric describes to Ellen what he learned in his fiery epiphany: Sorrow is an ancient entity whose purpose at the asylum to provide hope for her fellow inmates.
As the Man-Thing and Ellen exit through a mystic portal, the inmates and staff of the sanitarium celebrate Christmas Eve as if nothing unusual had happened.
Instead of returning to the swamp, Ellen and Ted Sallis, the man the Man-Thing once was, find themselves living an ideal existence in the midwestern town of Serling in 1947. At first, everything seems in proper order, then Ellen realizes with a start this is not where they belong, even though all her memories of living in Serling ring true.
Meanwhile, Mr. Termineus abducts Job, the adopted son of Jack and Gwyneth Burke. He and Job then appear to Ellen in Serling, where she immediately knows Job is the child she gave up for adoption years earlier, having been pregnant at the time she betrayed her husband. With this realization, reality reasserts itself and she and the Man-Thing are once again in the swamp. As Ellen's mind reels regarding the reappearance of their son and her determination to get him back, several menacing robed figures confront them. In their clutches is Howard the Duck, screaming his trademark cry of exasperation.
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