He-Thing fell.

Upon his impact into the planet,

the earth shot

mammoth shards of rock,

and thick,

sea-sized clouds of soil

high into the air,

in an explosion

of cosmic vehemence

that rivaled

the Omniverse’s

greatest supernovas.

Downward

into the planet Infinia

He-Thing crashed,

his rate of speed

so incredible,

that not even the

awesome and eternal power

of the last world in the Omniverse

could stop his descent.

Through the crust he drilled,

rocks

bludgeoning his bones,

dirt

pulverizing his flesh,

through the residues of the ages,

through ancient civilizations

whose marrows

had yet to be discovered,

whose ghosts

had yet to even

whisper.

He-Thing reached

the mantle of the planet,

his body burning with friction,

his skin on fire,

his eyeballs boiling,

his mullet flaming,

on a path of reverse flight

into the liminal edges

of the Nineteen Hells.

Oh, the creeping touch

of those infernal Hells,

whose reach was long —

should you falter!

And He-Thing

flew also into fear,

for it had not been since

the prior Omniverse,

before the terrible Linearity

freed possibility

for infinite infinities,

that anyone had ventured

into the Nineteen Hells

and returned.

The mantle broke loose,

and

He-Thing cannonballed

into an underground cavern

of vast proportions,

at the bottom of which lay

towering pillars of fire,

lakes of blood,

and undulating hosts

of demons

that were watching He-Thing

with foul,

obscene hungers,

as they waited to receive

this great gift.

He-Thing instinctively

reached back

for the destroyed

Nebule Blade,

but realized

he was not weaponless,

for even a man had teeth

to bite and tear,

and hands to choke,

and he would need both

to battle this unparalleled torment.

Once he landed

in the writhing pile,

He-Thing battled

for his life and his soul,

his fiendish foes

biting at him with their fangs,

tearing at him with their claws,

and beckoning him

with their infinite evil.

Until

a sound,

that could only herald

one thing —

a sorcery-powered

lasercopter.

Zolantos,

Merciless Cripple,

along with his

adopted daughter,

the chaste huntress

Vaila,

perilously piloted

a glimmering lasercopter

through the burning tunnel

He-Thing had drilled

in his fall into

the Nineteen Hells,

flying to the rescue

of his eternal student.

to be continued...