All main characters are copyrighted by Marvel Comics. This is a story of the Bronze Age Eternals.

Previous chapters are arranged in sequence on my blog.

It has been over a month since I posted a chapter so here's a recap:

The Fifth Host of the Celestials has gone out into the universe, one to each planet where they have experimented with the evolution of races. They are seeking to judge the results of their experiments. Since previous Hosts have judged the Deviants and humans, the Fifth Host has put the Eternals on trial. After transporting them to the South Pole, the Celestial has presented evidence of their failure from various points in history. Last chapter, Eros (Starfox) spoke in the Eternal's defense, but only made things worse. Now the evidence phase of the trial continues.

Chapter Eight

Hawaii, 1989

When the screen resolved again, it showed another pair of bright eyes. This time, they were the laughing eyes of Khoryphos. As they penetrated his vision and took on his perspective, the Eternals saw the neck of a guitar and felt their fingers forming rich chords on the fret board. The tones rang out and blended with the sound of rushing waves.

Khoryphos was at the top of a white sand beach, seated on a blanket under the shade of a broad palm. Gathered around him, tourists in loud shirts and bathing trunks sat or stood on the sand, floral colored leis around their necks. Some were humming or clapping along with the music; all were smiling, their eyes locked on Khoryphos. Just the way he liked it. Today's act: beach bum troubadour.

Last night, in a fashionable coffee house in town center of Waikiki he had been a soulful, arty singer-songwriter, sharing his tender pain and slender hopes with the twenty-somethings who hung rapt on his every note. The night before, in a roadhouse on the coast of Washington, he had roared out rockabilly and made the local workmen and their dates scream for more. The night before that, he had held the host of Olympia in thrall with lyre and poetry. Wherever he performed, eyes and ears focused on Khoryphos .

Today, he was Corey the Comber and sang the praises of margaritas by the surf. It was a scene of simple pleasure and relaxation, spoiled only by the nearby older man who kept a portable radio propped on the towel beside him. He had been there before Corey tuned up and would not turn his talk shows down, even when the prettiest young lady in the crowd asked him. To tweak him, Khoryphos was making up a song with the refrain “Don’t tell me no bad news/to give me the beach blues/the surf is too perfect today.” The crowd was starting to join in on the second chorus, when the radio barked a little louder.

“Attention! This is an emergency message of the coastal early warning system. This is NOT a test. Repeat: this is NOT a test.”

Everyone turned toward the radio. The grouch took on a satisfied look and made a show of turning up the volume so all could hear.

“This is an emergency message of the coastal early warning system. Off shore sensors have identified seismic or volcanic activity in the ocean due south of the Hawaiian Islands. Major tidal events, including the possibility of a tsunami, are expected on the southern coast of all islands within 30 minutes. All residents and visitors to tidal areas should seek higher ground immediately. This is NOT a test. Major tidal events, including the possibility of a tsunami, are expected on the coast of all islands within 30 minutes.”

A few moments of screaming and flying sand later, Khoryphos stood alone on the beach. There was no reason to keep up the Corey image, so his form shimmered a moment and then revealed his suit of reddish-gold. A light-sky blue sash wrapped his waist and draped over his right shoulder, bound at his left hip with a blue and gold medallion of an inverted Omega sign. The acoustic guitar shimmered too, reappearing as a gold-finished lute. Then Khoryphos spread his arms, began to levitate and cast the lute into the air. As he streaked out over the ocean, it disappeared.

Covering miles in moments, Khoryphos saw nothing but level waters ahead of him. But he was not fooled by this, knowing that a tsunami only rose when the depth of the water lessened near the shore. Using the same telekinetic ability that carried him through the air, he swept probes through the water far ahead of him, feeling for the shock wave coursing through the deep ocean.

Sensing the approach of the leading edge, Khoryphos dove straight down and plunged to the ocean floor. Covered with loose sand and gravel, the bottom he stood on appeared smooth and solid. But he knew that was illusory as well, any spot could mask a rift or fissure filled with loose material. He had to risk firing blind if he wanted to create a counter shock that would extinguish the approaching tsunami.

He cut loose with the full strength of his eye-beams, tearing into the sea floor at an angle to send back a resisting wave. But the moment he did so, he knew his luck had failed. The floor under his left leg split open and he fell on his side with the leg down the narrow fissure. As he fell, his eye-beams were pulled off target, sweeping uselessly through the swirling water. With the pressure off the ocean floor, the fissure shifted again, closing on Khoryphos’ leg.

Little harms an Eternal, but the full geologic force of the plates of the sea floor is powerful enough. Khoryphos’ leg was entirely crushed. The pain was blinding, but worse was the thought that he had failed to stop the tsunami. The counter wave he created would blunt its force, but not nearly stop it.

Stealing himself, Khoryphos turned his eye-beams on his own hip, just below his sash. He severed his leg, regained his orientation and streaked through the water back toward the shore. The pain remained intense, but Khoryphos knew his limb would regenerate with time. He had to try again.

This time he had to sit on the bottom, for he couldn’t balance sufficiently on one leg to make an accurate cut. Since he couldn’t make a very sharp cut without disrupting his own position, he had to shoot a gently oblique beam into the ocean floor, cutting harder and deeper to make a sufficient counter wave from the decreased angle. This time the floor held beneath him.

When he finished cutting, he reached out with his probing teke into the waters ahead of him. He could feel the leading edge of the tsunami dissipate against the counter wave. Then, in the true test, he felt the full force of the approaching shock wave hit. The colliding forces pushed an immense water spout into the air above where they met. But the tsunami was turned back and its full force spread out into the open ocean.

Khoryphos rose to the roiling surface and began to skim lazily back over the water, toward the islands. He took his time and when he reached the surf he saw the tourists returning to the beach. Part of him wanted to rejoin them as Corey, but the effort of manifesting a false leg was more than he felt up for. Better to loll in the waves, regenerate and watch the fun from a distance.

The scene turned black, and then the scales again glowed through. They were tipped against the Eternals. For an instant the scale rose, then immediately fell again.

“How?” cried Khoryphos. “Did you not see? I saved the coasts of Hawaii. Who can count the lives and livings that I saved?”

The scale shimmered and again the scene of the water spout filled the black. The image swept over the ocean surface to the south, then dove again to the bottom, where another great fissure opened up. The forces unleashed were immense. The Eternals gasped as they saw another tsunami sweep off toward the small islands in the south Pacific. The inhabitants there had no warning system to send them toward higher ground. The Celestial displayed destruction that made Khoryphos and his companion turn their eyes away. The scale reappeared and fell still more.