The arrival of the Eternity Key on Super Earth One signified that the War was, indeed, coming to an end. At the time of destruction, the key would be used to open a door to the Core Reality, and all followers of the Light would be pulled through it. The Key, however, had a plethora of other powers, and other citizens of Super Earth One wanted to take advantage of those powers; like Madam Zero, who believes the Eternity Key can be used save the planet, or the villainous War Chess, who would like to use the Key to open a door to the Shadow Realm, which would allow him to bring his previously dead shadow warriors back to life.

The Eternity Key also has the power to give or restore hyper-abilities, and that is why Centuria, Fracture and Eclipse of the Centurians betrayed Captain Infinity, and stole the key for themselves. They wanted to use it to help their teammate, Sapphire Shade, who had lost her powers during a battle with Madam Zero. Fracture and Eclipse took the Key deep into the Southern Mountains of Super Earth One, where Sapphire was waiting for them. She wasn’t the only one though, as Seven was also waiting.

Seven approached the three anti-heroes and simply held out his hand, indicating they should hand the Eternity Key over to him. They, of course, refused, and that’s when Seven pulled out his cosmic staff and attacked! His speed and agility were incredible, as he easily avoided the thunderous blows from Fracture. Eclipse was able to fare a little better with his vast array of martial arts maneuvers, but a few blasts from the cosmic staff threw him off guard as well.

Sapphire Shade attempted to jump in as well, but without her powers she could not contribute much. So she grabbed the Eternity Key, and ran off with it! Seven noticed and gave chase immediately. Shade ran toward a cliff and jumped off, landing on a huge, snowy ridge (the Southern Mountains are rock and desert at the top, and get colder and snowier the further down you go). Shade continue to go deeper and deeper, but Seven was gaining on her. Eclipse and Fracture tried to catch up, but they were no match for his speed and agility. Seven was just about to grab Sapphire and the Key, when Fracture suddenly unleashed a massive thunderclap, which caused an avalanche of rock and snow! Seven was forced to disengage and fly off the mountain, as the snow buried Sapphire. Fracture unleashed another thunderclap that blasted the snow away, and Eclipse confronted Seven, who flew back in for another attack.

As the two of them went back and forth, it allowed Sapphire Shade and Fracture enough time to unlock the Eternity Key – suddenly, thunder and lightning began to fill the sky, as Sapphire was suddenly engulfed in a cocoon of light. A few moments later, after a series of blinding flashes, the light disappeared. It took a few seconds to regain her balance, but once she did, she realized that she had indeed regained her powers. The three of them all turned to Seven, ready to battle him again, but he did not engage. Instead, he stood there, looking up at the thunderous sky, as fear and terror filled his eyes. He shook his head at the Centurians, then flew away.

The mysterious operative flew north, scanning the horizon. Finally, he saw what he was looking for… a flash of lighting that was creating split-second doorways – or more accurately, portals. He flew toward the recurring lighting bolt and waited, hoping against hope for nothing to come through the portals before the lighting storm ended. It was only a few moments before his hopes were dashed, as right before the lighting storm ended, a hyper-being leaped through the portal and headed toward the surface.

Seven immediately gave chase. He tracked the hyper-being to the Infinity Fortress and as he arrived, he could hear screams of horror coming from within, as a multitude of laser blasts and explosions went off. Seven’s greatest fears had come to pass… it was Madam Infinity! Moments later, she blasted out of the Infinity Fortress and headed north toward the Shadow Forest, where a similar volley of laser blasts and explosions accompanied by screams of horror took place.

Seven tracked her but did not engage, for he knew he was no match for her. He did know a pair of hypers who did stand a chance against Madam Infinity – and that was the two beings whose essences were combined to create her, Captain Infinity and Madam Zero. Fortunately they were not at their respective home bases, but he had to find them and warn them. He darted throughout the sky, searching, until finally he spotted them. They were in the Quantic Shrine, with the young hero Radiance. It was a sort of parlay between the mortal enemies, as they attempted to convince each other to lay down arms, and join the others’ cause. Centuria – who has continually played devil’s advocate on both sides of the war – had also shown up.

This discussion had been cut short by the thunderstorm, and now it was about to be cut even shorter by the appearance of Madam Infinity. Seven flew in, but it was too late, Madam Infinity ambushed Captain Infinity, Madam Zero and Centuria, hit them with a series of blasts from her lasers, which put them both in stasis fields, and teleported the two supreme hyper beings away from Super Earth One. Madam Infinity teleported away with them.

Seven flew down to the Quantic Shrine, where Radiance was recovering from the attack. At first she prepared to defend herself, but Seven showed the palms of his hands, signifying that he was not there to fight. He attempted to communicate with her, but his lack of speech made it difficult. Fortunately, another hero showed up on the scene – it was Spectra, a powerful and respected member of the Infinity Force. And it so happened that she was telepathic.

She had been off-planet, patrolling the outer rings of Super Earth One, when she saw the lightning and thunderstorm. She returned to the planet’s surface, to find that the vast majority of both the Infinity Force and The Army of Shadows had disappeared. She then heard the voice of Seven in her mind, and she followed it to the Quantic Shrine.

Through Spectra, Seven explained that since the War for Eternity was drawing to a close, he had come to help usher the followers of The Light through a portal, and into the new world. However, because the Centurians had used the Key prematurely, a different portal had opened, which led to the Shadow Realm – a place where the most evil of all beings go when they are destroyed. It is indeed the place where War Chess’s minions dwelt.

Spectra, along with Max Galaxy and Decibel, had had many confrontations with those minions, and had been responsible for sending many of them to the Shadow Realm. Unfortunately one of the more dangerous minions, Madam Infinity, had transported to Super Earth One and taken dozens, maybe hundreds of hypers into the Shadow Realm, where they could potentially be trapped forever. That also meant that all of the hypers who followed The Light would not be able to migrate into the new world. And that included the Defender of the Light himself, Captain Infinity.

Seven expressed that it was imperative for them to use the Key to travel into the Shadow Realm, find a device called the Eternity Lock, and get back to Super Earth One before its destruction, which at this point seemed like it was only days, maybe even hours away from coming to pass.

Spectra, Radiance and Seven left the Shrine, to gather any remaining hypers who could be of help. In the Infinity Fortress they found no one – they were all gone. So they traveled to the Shadow Forest, but not a single member of the Army of Shadows could be found, either. Finally, Seven suggested they head down to the Southern Mountains, to see if Eclipse, Fracture and Sapphire Shade had avoided Madam Infinity. Luckily they had, and they still had the Eternity Key.

Spectra informed them of what was happening, and then said she was leading an expedition into the Shadow Realm to save as many hypers as possible, including Captain Infinity and Centuria. But she would need their help. After realizing what was at stake, and that the end of Super Earth One was truly on the horizon, the Centurians agreed to follow Spectra’s lead, and travel into the Shadow Realm. Seven and Radiance stayed behind with the Infinity Key, as they had to lead a last ditch effort to bring as many hypers of Super Earth One into The Light as possible, and then be ready for the jump to the new world, once the planet’s destruction took place. Hopefully, Spectra would return from the Shadow Realm with the others, before it was too late.

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