Another dimension:
Magik awakens in the darkness. She calls for Storm. Small flames suddenly surround her and a voice tells her she is all alone, all alone like Illyana left her!
The small flames turn into a full-scale conflagration, burning Magik. Even as she recognizes the voice as that of her ward Sapna, Illyana screams…
Reality:
… and wakes up for real. Storm tells her that Sapna beat them and left though a dimensional portal. She’s been trying to awake Illyana for the last twenty minutes. Illyana holds her aching head and grimaces while blaming herself. She should not have left Sapna alone at X-Haven and she should not have accelerated her training so aggressively. She should have been more careful… and now that thing has her!
Storm gives her a hug and assures her it is not her fault. She did everything she could to help the girl. It wasn’t enough, Magik insists. Storm replies they have to help and free her then. So how about getting the hell out of here? Illyana agrees and figures Sapna went back to Limbo. She reasons that the thing had Sapna lure them here to get the Soulsword, and to have the Soulsword is to rule Limbo. The portal Sapna and that thing used, is sealed.
Storm reasons there is still the way they came. Magik agrees; they only have to retrace their steps. Storm flies them upward into the sky where they came from. They remember the mystics who attacked them in the last world. They seemed to be enemies of that thing and called it the World Eater. Maybe they can convince them to help them. Illyana adds that, if Storm tells anyone she cried, she will dismember her. That’s her girl! Storm laughs.
Egypt:
Glob Herman apologizes before hitting the brainwashed Colossus, while Anole tackles him. Nightcrawler helps but Colossus is about to shake them all off. Fortunately, help comes through the wall in the shape of the Sentinel Cerebra, who grabs Colossus and Nightcrawler (on his back) and teleports them back to Forge’s workshop in X-Haven.
Forge sends Cerebra back to Egypt to get Iceman and the kids after she puts Colossus in a containment tube.
Colossus rages that this can’t hold him. He calms down when his fellow prisoner Apocalypse addresses him. He tells him to calm himself. They are exactly where they need to be. Forge snaps at him to be quiet. Nightcrawler tries to calm him. He points out Apocalypse is trying to distract Forge, as he is the only one who can help Colossus. Embarrassed, Forge looks away, admitting he doesn’t know if he can.
Kurt pleads with him. He has never seen a problem Forge couldn’t solve. He mustn’t let that monster get into his head. He knows all about monsters in his head, doesn’t he? Apocalypse leers at Nightcrawler. Kurt snarls at him that he has already lost. Has he? Apocalypse grins. They need him. Forge will fail. If they want to save their beloved Piotr, only he can help them. It is only a matter of time until they start begging…
Elsewhere, Magik leads Storm through the dimensional gate. Storm believes they are running in circles but Illyana is sure about what she is doing.
They end up in the ruined world of the heroes they’ve faced before, surprising the old man wizard Jack Craw sitting at a campfire. Storm takes him in a headlock as he calls for help and his friends join him. Magik and Storm tell them to stand down. They are all fighting the same enemy, the World Eater.
Jack Craw doesn’t trust them. Illyana pleads with him. The World Eater has their friend, a child! Jack calls for Spectra, who explains she can test if they are telling the truth if they let her. Illyana warns her not to try anything as Spectra touches her forehead. Soon she informs the others she is telling the truth. They come from a world not yet reaped.
Annoyed, Illyana asks why they didn’t do that the first time instead of trying to kill them. Enoch retorts they didn’t stay alive that long in this Lattice by taking chances. Jack Craw explains this place was his home called Amihava, A great city and the home of magic in this world. The other worlds they saw are magical realms connected by the mystical superhighway they call the Lattice. Wherever they came from… this Limbo is a part of the Lattice as well.
Illyana asks about the World Eater. Anne Tenna explains each of their worlds had a different name for it, but it always meant the end of everything. It lives only to consume. It feeds off places where great magic lives. It is anti-magic… anti-life. One by one, it has eaten its way through the Lattice, devouring thousands of worlds, leaving only husks in their wake.
The great irony is that the World Eater is nearly powerless on its own. To move through the Lattice, it requires a host from each world. It took a vessel from each world it consumed. Without such a vessel, it cannot consume or travel the Lattice. Storm asks who they are. The last mystics from each world, Jack Craw explains. Their power saved them but not their homes. So now they do what they can trying to stop it. But so far…
Anne Tenna grimly adds, she fears the child they seek is already lost. The World Eater is using her as its host. Together they will consume their world. Storm asks what happens to a host when it is finished with a world. Jack finally admits there is no hope for their friend. Before the World Eater moves on, it consumes everything. All past hosts are dead!
Angrily, Illyana sends a blast of magic into the air. There has to be a way back! she seethes. She can still sense Limbo right next to this world. She has to keep on trying!
Jack considers Magik’s connection to Limbo. Maybe if they all lend her mystical power, she might reach her world. Storm fears it is too dangerous. Illyana reminds her that it is not just Sapna but X-Haven that will fall. She is ready to do it…
X-Haven
Cerebra teleports Iceman and the X-kids back. They are welcomed by Martha Johansson and Jean Grey. When Glob shyly greets Jean, Anole tries to play wingman by announcing how brave Glob was in battle. Glob tells him to cool it then calls out to Jean. He rambles while working up his courage trying to ask her out. When Jean grabs her head as though in pain, he stops. She tells him it’s not him. She senses a presence…. Suddenly, she screams in pain and sinks into Glob’s arms as blood spurts form her nose.
In Forge’s workshop, Forge admits that, despite doing tests on Apocalypse, he is still no further to understanding Colossus’ transformation, let alone revert it. Logan urges him to keep on trying, causing Forge to snap at him.
Apocalypse announces the solution is simple. He will turn Colossus back. All they have to do is set him free…
Nightcrawler snarls he will rot down here, when they hear a noise from outside.
A moment later, they too see the possessed Sapna, holding the Soulsword and surrounded by demons.
Glob is looking for help for Jean. Cerebra and the team attack Sapna’s demons and, a dimension away, Illyana urges the magicians to give her all their power.
In Forge’s workshop, Apocalypse tells them to do what he asks. They need Colossus!
A dimension away, Magik screams in pain and Storm shouts at the magicians to stop it. They are killing her!
Jean Grey screams she will consume everything!
And Sapna assures her foes this is the end and, in the end, it all falls…
