X-Men, The (1963 series) #108

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.