The X-Men stare in awe as the M’Kraan Crystal radiates
energy, lighting up the sky. The others demand that Cyclops give them all the
details about what Lilandra told him in the last issue. So Cyclops summarizes
how Emperor D’Ken, Lilandra’s insane brother, has seemingly realized his goal
of ultimate power by activating the M’Kraan Crystal, to serve as a gateway to
an infinite power source that could wipe out all of reality! Over at Starcore,
the United States’ premiere spacelab, Peter Corbeau confers with the Fantastic
Four and the Avengers about what the energy readings from the M’Kraan Crystal
could mean for the universe, though the source is of course unknown to them.
Back with the X-Men, Phoenix wrestles with the information she learned about
Corsair last issue when a small being called Jahf makes himself known as the
guardian of the gateway, tasked with making sure no one gets through. Wolverine
underestimates the tiny creature, allowing Jahf to punch him all the way into
orbit, where Wolverine is collected by the Starjammers’ ship.
Meanwhile, Jahf is tossing all of the X-Men around
with ease. They try to reason with him, but he claims that his programming
means he can’t let them leave. Phoenix pulls an impressive stunt, though still
weakened, by telekinetically snaring a nearby meteor from space and dropping it
directly on the creature! This turns out to have had no effect and so Banshee
swoops in on the creature, with a plan. Having heard Jahf’s comment about his
programming, and figuring he’s a robot, Banshee delivers the tightest, strongest
sonic scream he’s ever attempted point blank to the creature’s face, finally
taking him out! The others check on Banshee, when a second guardian appears, a
large mechanical being called Modt, who reveals that a new guardian will appear
with each one defeated, until the X-Men are finally stopped!
DKen basks in the glory of his defeat of the
Starjammers and his acquisition of absolute power. Colossus points out that the
guardian will only kill D’Ken too and the Starjammer called Raza confirms that
the Emperor is beyond reason at this point. Raza takes matters into his own
hands, throwing D’Ken into the Crystal. There’s a huge flash of energy and
suddenly everyone present, aside from the guardian, find themselves in a
strange ethereal city with a strange, glowing sphere in the center. Phoenix confirms
that they’re now inside the crystal, as she feels life, pain, and beauty
emanating from the sphere. Just then, beams of light shoot from the sphere,
passing through each person and sending them each into their own personal
nightmare. D’Ken sees himself being consumed by his own Soul-Drinker,
Nightcrawler witnesses his own friends hunting him down and killing him, much
like the villagers tried to do in Giant-Size X-Men #1, and Corsair sees the
memory of his murdered wife.
So it goes for
each person, until we see Jean’s nightmare, her own death. However, Jean has
already faced this nightmare, having died and been reborn as Phoenix, breaking
the sphere’s effect on her. She notices Cyclops, his optic blasts firing
wildly, as that would be his nightmare, when his beam turns upon her! It passes
straight through her, however, as she finds that she is now ephemeral, knocking
out Cyclops to keep him from accidentally hurting anyone else. She enters the
sphere, which cancels the nightmare effect on her friends, and finds a lattice
of energy, the absolute power D’Ken was after. She senses that it’s dying and
sees a vision of the energy imploding all of existence.
Determined not to let that happen, Phoenix attempts to
knit the lattice back together, but finds she doesn’t have the strength. Storm
then offers for Phoenix to draw energy from her and Phoenix requests the same
from Corsair. Pheonix reveals to Corsair what she learned last issue, that he
is Scott’s father, as she heads inside the sphere once more. Phoenix uses her
power to reform the lattice, with the help of her friends’ energy, with the
Phoenix’s bird form spreading out throughout space in a mesmerizing display of
power! Their job now done, the X-Men return through the stargate portal to the
very roof they left, to find Firelord waiting for them! He reveals that
Professor X explained the whole situation to him and that he was guarding the
gate until their return. The gate opens once more, and Lilandra comes through,
revealing that she is now exiled to earth until the legal matters of her
banishment are wrapped up, and admits her love for Xavier. For now, all is
peaceful.