Flashback:
Storm recalls how, as a six year-old, she lost her parents and was buried in the rubble due to bombs falling on Cairo.
Present:
Now, thanks to the self-styled god Uovu, her parents are alive once more, standing before her. He informs her that he is a god. Ororo muses that his name is the Swahili word for evil. And yet… She happily hugs her parents.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Kitty Pryde is fighting some robbers with Mandroid suits. She is joined by Magik, who asks if she needs a hand. Does it look like she does? Kitty replies curtly and then points out she thought Illyana was busy with the New Mutants.
Joining the battle, Magik replies they need to talk and Kitty has been avoiding her since her wedding. She ended up not getting married actually, Kitty reminds her waspishly. Illyana worries that Kitty made her choice because of the doubts Illyana expressed about her and her brother.
Is this really the right time for them to talk about their feelings? one of the Mandroids protests weakly. The two hit him at the same time and order him to shut up.
With the fight over, Kitty turns to Illyana and stresses she has nothing to feel guilty about. Illyana wants to know why Kitty has been avoiding her then. She has been avoiding everyone, is the reply. She needs some space to get perspective. And to grieve a little, too. She’s lost something precious. It was her decision, but it still aches. But lllyana does not own that pain. It is not on her. Not even a little bit. But what she said, Illyana begins. Kitty cuts her off. Was right and true, and said because Illyana is her friend. She hugs her and promises she is her friend as well and that is never going to change. She may not have become Kitty’s sister-in-law, but they will always be sisters.
In Uzuri, Ororo walks with her resurrected parents, who marvel at her superhero career. To see how remarkable she has grown up is a blessing beyond description. Ororo tells them this must be disorienting. It is, her father admits, but they are just grateful to be with her. N’dare adds they will acclimatize in time, then notices Ororo is staring at an old man exiting a building. She apologizes but there is something she must see.
Storm walks into the hut. The man who left wears the garbs of the clergy of Uovu. Possibly a coincidence. She examines the computer to find it is only a prop and wonders what it is supposed to hide.
With her weather power, she notices a slight shift in the wind and a trapdoor beneath a carpet revealing a stairways going down.
In the meantime, the priest Zuberi kneels before Uovu and complains that Storm is dangerous. He asks for permission to eliminate her as he did Ainet. Uovu replies he does not understand that a god’s power is derived from belief. The windrider may have abandoned the village but many still revere her. Were something to befall her, it might cause some to question their faith in him. And that would sap his power when they are so close to their aim. Through her parents the windrider will take her place among the most devout of his followers. What if she doesn’t? Zuberi asks. Then he will render unto her a death from which there is no return, Uovu promises.
Storm has followed the stairway and arrives in a big cavern filled with the dead bodies of many people. Shocked, she realizes they must have been collecting dead villagers for years. But village custom is to bury the dead. She knelt at Ainet’s grave just yesterday. Then Ororo sees Ainet’s dead body and becomes very angry, certain this is not the only lie she has been told.
She flies upward and outside, ready for a fight but is stopped when her parents call out to her. They marvel at her power. She tells them to get out of the village. Something is very wrong with this place.
She flies into Uovu’s hut, calls him a monster and hits him with a lightning bolt, which has no effect on him. She tells him she has seen the catacombs!
Unfortunate, is his reply and he grabs her by the throat. Her ignorance was the only thing keeping her alive. She demands to know what he is keeping the dead for. He tells her she is mistaken. They are not dead. And empty-eye the bodies begin to move…
The undead file out into the village. The power of belief, Uovu boasts. More potent than any deity. He has bided his time. Waited years and now the reaping has come.
Outside, the villagers flee. Among them are Ororo’s parents but then they too enter a zombie-like state.
Storm calls for her mallet Stormcaster but it does not answer her. So she uses her own lightning but Uovu swats her away through the roof. She lands in front of a horde of zombies who close in on her. Storm is shocked to see her parents among them. Storm is helpless and wonders why Stormcaster has abandoned her as the mallet flies into space...
