Annihilation: Silver Surfer (2006 series) #3

The Annihilation Wave has struck from the Negative Zone via the Crunch (at the edge of the expanding universe) led by Annihilus. Its 1st target was the Kyln intergalactic maximum security prison. Soon after that it killed the Nova Corps and their HQ Xandar. Annihilus has also sent Ravenous and his Seekers with their Currs to bring him all the (ex-)Heralds Of Galactus because he wants their Power Cosmic. The robot Herald Gabriel the Air Walker perished in a black hole, and Terrax The Tamer has been taken. Silver Surfer has teamed up with Firelord and Red Shift, and the current Herald Stardust is with Galactus.
Meanwhile Thanos has the 1st Herald, the Fallen One, as his servant currently on a mission. And the Titan and his companion the sprite Skreet have met with Annihilus and are pretending to be his allies.

Now its Annihilation Day + 20 (the day after last issue) and we return to the ruins of the Kyln to see 2 new chars who were apparently imprisoned there. They are huge beings named Aegis (female) and Tenebrous (male), and they are fascinated by the small (dead) beings they see around them. They imply that they were imprisoned by Galactus and they want revenge. And they detect a trace of Big G nearby.

Thanos has sent the Fallen One to the Kyln to check on the Beyonder, who he had left trapped in the unconscious body of the female Maker in Thanos (2003) #10 and he now fears may be free. If he finds the Maker alive then she should be brought to him. If she's dead then he must be told because it means the Beyonder is free. But if he finds the Beyonder himself then he should fly away fast. He finds her dead body.

But then Tenebrous reaches into this large chunk of debris and grabs both of them and confirms that the FO is 1 of those beings given power by Galactus and therefore must be his servant. The FO says he serves Thanos of Titan, who they've never heard of. He says he *used to be* a Herald Of Galactus but he was cast out centuries ago, which is why he is known as the Fallen One. The giants are most interested in the word 'centuries' and ask how long it has been since the Creation Event (ie the Big Bang) and are disconcerted to learn that it is many millennia. They declare that they will extract all his knowledge and then he will serve *them*.

The A-Wave has already invaded the Skrull Empire in the Andromeda Galaxy. Surfer and co are in the Tercera Minor system where they've just dropped off Tarq Maru in a refugee fleet. Firelord and Red Shift want to wage war on the A-Wave but Norrin Radd thinks 3 beings, even with the Power Cosmic, aren't enough for a war. But then Stardust pops up to make it 4. However she says that their master desires SS's presence, but *she* will stay with *them*. Surfer says he will heed Galactus' call. He opens a wormhole to take him there. But a Seeker and his Curr report it to Ravenous.

Firelord suggests they strike at the heart of the A-Wave, ie Annihilus himself. But Red Shift detects Seekers approaching, and Annihilation warships start gating in. The 3 Heralds attack in defence of the refugee fleet and the warships fire on them. But they can tell that the foe isn't trying to kill them so their master obviously still wants them alive. But of course this means that the Heralds can just concentrate on destroying enemy vessels.

Annihilus's flagship is in the Yarvam 7 system elsewhere in the Skrull Empire. Thanos and Skreet are still with him as is captive Terrax. But he also has the body of another ex-Herald Morg. The dead body no longer has any Power Cosmic and the bug-lord wants to know where it went. The Titan professes to have never thought much about the Power Cosmic because there are other greater power sources. But he knows that, as Annihilus's technicians have already found, the Power Cosmic can't be 'harvested' while the owner lives, but when he dies it dissipates. But he implies that *he* may know how to access that of Terrax, and he agrees to share that knowledge for a price.

Next day (A+21) Silver Surfer arrives where Galactus is. Big G tells him that the Kyln contained some beings of unimaginable power. Surfer says he'd heard that the Beyonder was there, but Galan is referring to much worse than that. When the universe was young he and others were the Cosmic Consonance, the Cosmic Balance,  but some of them were corrupted by the power they wielded. They intended to defy the Creator and remake the universe in their own image. There was a war, and in the end only he and 2 of the corrupted, Tenebrous Of The Darkness Between and Aegis Lady Of All Sorrows, survived. And he imprisoned them in the Kyln because only the power of the Crunch could hold them. (But the Kyln already existed and he doesn't know who built it.)

Now Galactus feels them free again, and he needs Surfer to take up the full power of a Herald again to help against them. Norrin Radd doesn't know whether he can do that again. He still feels guilt for all the planets he led G to consume. His former master tells him he can give him the conviction to do what needs to be done, and take away his conscience as he did before. Norrin says he'll accept the power but this time he'll keep his conscience. So Galactus closes his fist around SS and energy crackles ...

... as a fleet of Annihilation warships gates in and Ravenous and his Seekers demand to be told where Silver Surfer is. R also says that Annihilus would welcome G as an ally, but if not that then as a prisoner. Galan laughs and says he'll 'give' them the Surfer. And he opens his hand and SS flies out on his Cosmic Surfboard with more power than he's had in a long time. Power enough to take down the whole fleet in seconds.