//|| //^^\\ || || .|. COHERENT COMICS UNINCORPORATED PRESENTS // || \\ || || --X--------------------------------------------- //======================= '|` ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES #31 // || \\ || || "Time's Error" // || \\__// || || Copyright 2000 by Dave Van Domelen ___________________________________________________________________________ [cover shows JakZak dressed in red and gold garb that appears to be from Middle Ages Italy. He stands in what's clearly an alchemical workshop, and a sinister humanoid shadow falls across him. The golden pyramid at the bottom of the cover is more than half red now. "PYRAMID SCHEME: STEP THREE"] ============================================================================= ACADEMY OF SUPER-HEROES ROLL CALL CODENAME REAL NAME POWERS STATUS -------- --------- ------ ------ Solar Max Jonathan Zachary Spacetime Control PSYCH LEAVE "JakZak" Taylor Meteor Sarah Grant-Taylor Superspeed MEDICAL LEAVE Green Knight Salvatore Napier Strength, Regeneration ACTIVE Contact Aaron Zander Psi, Mind-over-Body ACTIVE Scorch Scott Handleman Pyrokinetic ACTIVE Essay Sara Ana Rodriguez Gadgeteer ACTIVE Peregryn Howard Henderson Jr. Elemental Mage ACTIVE Lightfoot Tom Dodson Velocity Control PROBATION Breaker Christina Li Telekinesis PROBATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [August 15, 2024 - Chicago, Illinois Sector] JakZak's armor was out somewhere in the western Sectors. Officially, it was so that the armor could be upgraded, and an improved AI system installed so that Triton couldn't try any more virus stunts on it. Unofficially, however, it was being done to tell JakZak he was grounded. The Combine had been willing to back his previous actions, but someone had finally decided that a mere status change to psychological leave wouldn't keep him from doing some serious damage if he really wanted to. And so, to keep him from doing something the Combine wouldn't be willing to support, he'd been grounded. Oh, he could still fly off to try and do something about the invasion in Egypt without the armor. But it'd take him a long time to get there if he had to go slowly enough to breathe, and without navcomputers, finding Egypt without going suborbital would be tricky as well. He stared at the graphics being displayed on the newsfeed as if he could change the course of the war by force of will alone. Not that his will, strong as it might be, was enough to stop the thousands of robotic "sandcrabs" Triton had used as his first wave. The Moslem Confederation didn't have any organized paranormal force, and their regular forces simply weren't enough to hold back the robots and genetic mutations Triton was throwing into the Nile valley. Even muted, the voices of the news commentators were still audible at the edge of hearing. They were speculating on the "odd" nature of Khadam's assaults. Some of the battle plan was classic blitzkrieg, of course, but Triton didn't seem to be interested in holding territory, with one notable exception. Giza. The talking heads thought that Triton was merely feeding his ego, grabbing the most obvious national symbol as his first beachhead. But they didn't know what JakZak knew, information the Combine had done its damnedest to suppress. Triton wasn't playing normal warfare conquest games, he was trying to mystically seize territory, using the Book of Thoth. And the monuments of Giza would let him pull off...something big. Probably not what he intended, since he didn't have the *real* Book of Thoth. But Rebus's fake almost certainly had some real spells to it, to judge by how far the CSV had gotten in Montreal, and whatever the result ended up being...it would be BAD. The fact that it would be bad for Triton as well didn't particularly cheer JakZak up. He turned off the newsfeed with an aggravated sigh. So many things he couldn't do anything about. The weight of his conscience just kept pressing down on him, and he couldn't even distract himself from that guilt by worrying about other problems. He couldn't help in Egypt. He couldn't do anything for his wife, who was still alive, but turned to unmoving ice. He couldn't kill Triton or Rebus. He couldn't take out his frustrations on the CSV captives. Caprice knew almost nothing, and the shapeshifter had been totally unresponsive. He was tempted to escape into some sort of chemical refuge, but he knew he couldn't even do that. As Solar Max, he was too big of a national symbol not to be watched pretty closely, and if he tried crawling into a bottle, they'd just pull him out and send him to MetaPsych for treatment. And he *definitely* couldn't go to MetaPsych. Not now that he Knew Things. Whoever agreed to treat him would end up locked away afterwards in the remotest part of Baffin to keep him from inadvertantly broadcasting the truth about JakZak's role in Rockfall. He had enough training to keep those thoughts away from casual scans, but the kind of in-depth poking around that treatment would involve...well, it'd all come out. He slowly crushed the steel thermos mug held in his left hand. There was a pop when the vacuum seal was broken, but no sloshing, as he'd drained the coffee an hour ago. That had been one thing he could do. Train. Because there WOULD be a rematch with Triton, and if his alien armor was too complex to be modified for greater strength...then he'd have to modify himself. Weight-training for hours each day under self-generated gravitational fields of over ten gees, he'd already quintupled his strength. Showed what you could do when you had nothing else TO do and all the frustration in the world to work through. There was a gentle rap at the doorframe. JakZak turned to see Peregryn standing in the hall, his long hair slicked with sweat despite the fact he must have just come from the freezer. "Bad news," Peregryn said without preamble. He wasn't one to mince words, and he knew JakZak was in no mood to be danced around. "The ice power I removed from Cockatrice...it wasn't her true paranormal talent." "Seemed too easy," JakZak sighed. "Indeed. She must be a storage cell for quasi-elemental forces, with ice simply being what she had been filled with. The energy I removed tells me nothing of what happened to Meteor's flesh and blood body." "So find Cockatrice again," was JakZak's flat reply. "I already tried," the mage wiped a slick of sweat from his brow. "However, now that her power is in dormant mode, she is no longer a beacon to my senses as she once was. Cockatrice has gone to ground somewhere, probably a bolthole in Manhattan so that she'll remain safe from...well, us." Another thing JakZak couldn't do, he sighed. The agreement with Umbrae still held, despite Umbrae's "alleged" ties to Khadam, so ASH was barred from taking official action in Manhattan. He knew he shouldn't take his frustration out on Howard, the mage had done more to help Sarah than anyone else. But he couldn't find it in his heart to be gentle, either. He settled for a restrained snarl, "Do what you can, Peregryn. I'll be in the weight room." * * * * [August 20, 2024 - near Giza, Egypt] For millennia, the desert sands had shifted restlessly, attempting to conquer and hold lands that mankind thought it had claimed. But always it had advanced mindlessly, borne by winds natural or (more recently) unnatural. Mankind had reclaimed the land a until a generation ago, when the gods forced back the encroachment of Cairo and left this land to the sand and their eternal slumber. Now the sands were awake, their slumber broken, their motion directed by a conscious mind. But the mind was not their own. It belonged to a stranger to this land...to this world. Polla, the TerraStar, crept stealthily over the dunes and rocks, keeping the cloud of sand between her and any sensors or observers. She was deep within the lands claimed by Khadam, and had no desire to trigger a confrontation yet. Oh, she knew she had the power to deal with the robots and mutations Triton employed to hold territory that his Gifted had taken. But this was a scouting mission. She sought information, not battle. Personally, she didn't care if Triton conquered the world. In fact, it might make things easier for her...let him do the work, then destroy him and take the throne. Father would not approve, of course, but Polla knew he'd taken advantage of such easy paths himself. He simply had his old-world reflexes, and they tended to kick in whenever he dealt with Polla. On the other hand, the land murmured warnings to her. Something was afoot, and Polla didn't think Triton knew quite what forces he was setting in motion. If he destroyed the world rather than conquering it, that would certainly interfere with her own plans. And if he merely destroyed himself? Well, Polla wanted to know if that was likely, so she could at least recover the Astro Spear first. The horizon flashed, bright enough to stand out against the twilight sky. Polla felt the lines of the earth quiver, and heard a burst of static over the radio in her helmet. Someone was putting up resistance, someone Gifted. She sighed. The nations of the Moslem Confederation probably had enough powerful "supernormals" of their own to have driven off the initial Khadamite assault, but they refused to use such resources intelligently...or at all. Her father had often told her of the power of faith in war, but the Confederation was clearly a case where faith hindered an army. The Moslems considered the Gifted to be agents of evil, demons in human form. So the governments persecuted people they should have been courting, recruiting, training. Polla shook her head. What history Hector had told her since her arrival certainly gave the Confederation good reason to reject the Gifted, but the decision was costing them dearly now. The earthlines had stopped quivering...the isolated resistance had been quashed, where a coordinated counterattack against Khadam might have won through. She moved closer to the Pyramids, drawn by the sheer power they radiated. Whatever Triton had planned...it would not be small. * * * * [August 24, 2024 - Chicago, Illinois Sector] JakZak stalked through the halls on his way from the weight room to his quarters, taking random turns here and there to break up the monotony. He was starting to reach the limits of his body's ability to add muscle mass and strength. He'd never be on the same level as Aaron or Sal, but he could probably lift a small car over his head now if he needed to. Time to start thinking of ways to enhance his muscle power with directed gravitational fields. He'd need some empty space out of the city for that, though, in case things got away from him. The next time he saw Triton, he'd feed Derek that Astro Spear. Sideways. He found himself passing by the lounge, and there was an excited buzz coming from inside. He stopped by the doorway, just out of sight, and eavesdropped. He didn't feel very social, but he was still curious. "Now they're really entrenched," someone said. It sounded like it might have been Lightfoot. "Not even those nukes the Egyptians used to try and stop the second beachhead did anything." "Oh, come now," Breaker retorted. "We all know nuclear weapons are useless against a group like the CSV. If Labyrinthe hadn't voided them, half the CSV has powers that could have made them useless. It's the reinforcements that really bother me. A week ago, we might have been able to go in with EUROPA and dislodge the CSV, give the conventional forces enough breathing room to kick out the robots and the freak show. Now? No way. We'd have to totally destroy the Conclave and then spend weeks helping root out all the Khadamites." "Too bad I can only jump forwards in time," Lightfoot mused. "I mean, if I could take a ship full of us back to the 13th and just 'happen' to be hanging out in Cairo on vacation...." JakZak immediately started heading straight for the roof access, not waiting to hear any more. He wondered why he hadn't thought of it before? Probably because it was suicidal...just trying to LOOK back in time had nearly killed him once [Academy #6 - Ed.]. But he was stronger now, in better control of his powers. And if he *did* die in the attempt? Well, his life sucked pretty hard right now, he wasn't sure he'd miss it. All he had to do was go back about a year in time, borrow a spacesuit, find Rebus and drop an asteroid on his general location. Anchor THAT, bastard. Of course, innocents would die. But countless thousands or even millions of those who had died as a result of Archangeli's machinations would still be alive. Triton would still be in jail. There would be no Conclave of Super-Villains, no Anchor Plague, no invasion of Egypt. No frozen Sarah. And no blood on the hands of the JakZak of the new timeline. Time would be changed, rendering the "current" Solar Max an extra. Maybe paradox would wipe him out. Maybe he'd just pop the seals on the spacesuit once he'd thrown the rock. The other him could live a happier life, never having to know he could be a mass murderer. He stepped out onto the roof and took to the skies. He needed to make sure that wherever he popped back into spacetime he wouldn't be in the middle of someone or something else. Arrowing northeast, he was soon skimming the waves of Lake Michigan, just above mast level for the sailboats that sometimes plied the shallows here. A pair of flying security cameras trailed him at a discrete distance like they had any time he went flying lately. Let them TRY to follow this time.... Solar Max reached out with his powers and grabbed a piece of reality. He TWISTED. Reality TWISTED back. Everything went black. * * * * [The Past?] "Owwww...." JakZak tried to move and clutch his head in pain, but he couldn't. Not that he was restrained...it was just that trying to move sent lances of molten lead through his skull. At least, that's what it felt like. "Ah, you're finally awake," spoke a voice with a strange accent. The man apparently knew enough to be talking very quietly, and even the almost whispered words were painful to JakZak's ears. Something cool spread over his chest, and the pain receded. "The salve should ease your pain, but it will also dull your perceptions, so do not try to move much, you may injure yourself without knowing it," the man advised. JakZak slowly opened his eyes. It was like looking through a fog, but at least the dim light of the candles didn't hurt his eyes, as he suspected it might have if he'd opened them moments earlier. He hazarded a look around the room, but he couldn't see much, just flickering shadows of strange shapes and a hint of wooden beams in the ceiling. His host wore loose robes tied off with a crimson sash, but had rolled up the sleeves in order to work with something just out of JakZak's sight. "Do you understand me?" the man asked, turning away from his work table. "By your delirious mumblings I thought you might speak one of the spirit tongues, the one that sounds vaguely like what the Englander peasants use." "Yes," JakZak rasped, realizing his mouth was totally dry. "Water?" he gasped. "Drink this," the man held a small vial up to JakZak's mouth. "Just sip. It's a mixture of grape juices from my vineyards and a few herbal preparations...if I gave you water right now, you might simply bring it back up." JakZak was now awake enough that he was starting to see that something was wrong. This was clearly not 2024, so he'd traveled in time. In fact, it seemed like he'd overshot. A LOT. But this man knew a fair amount of modern first aid wisdom. He sipped at the contents of the vial, and he was instantly refreshed. The taste was a bit odd, but it was incredibly refreshing. "Thank you," he sighed, the croak gone from his voice. "Where am I?" "Ah, allow me to introduce myself, honored mage. I am Iago Montessi, master of this house and the lands around it, currently in exile from Florence, which is several days travel from here. Five days ago, I saw a falling star strike in the mountains above this house, and followed it in hopes of obtaining starmetal. Instead, I found you, naked and on fire, at the bottom of a crater. I immediately recognized you as a fellow practitioner of the arts...how else would one fall from the sky and live? I brought you back here and used my poor herbal arts to bring you back to health." Iago Montessi. Something about that name nagged at the back of JakZak's memory, but he couldn't remember why. But no one got exiled from Florence anymore, so he must have really overshot his mark. That strange accent must be very old Italian. "Signor Montessi, may I ask you what year this is?" Montessi arched one of his narrow black eyebrows. "I see...not only are you a mage, but you have broken the fifth pillar. No wonder nature exacted such a heavy price from you. It is the year of our Lord 1321." "Seven hund...?" JakZak exclaimed, then bit his tongue. The same nagging voice that told him the name Montessi was important also told him that he shouldn't trust the man too much. Too late, though, he sighed. "Yes, a heavy price," he agreed. "It will be some time before I can even try to break the barrier of years again." Something about knowing he was in the past was making him put on a costume drama speech pattern. He mentally shrugged. He'd probably be copying Iago's accent by the time he'd recovered enough to leave. "Why are you in exile? Your arts?" he glanced meaningfully towards the table. Montessi grinned and shook his head. "No, I was careful enough to keep *that* hidden. But I did not keep my loyalties to a would-be Emperor hidden...and I found myself exiled when Henry of Luxembourg failed to win his crown. My sons and I live here with a few servants while I want for the winds of political fashion to shift back, if they do within my lifetime." He grinned again. "Of course, I hope for it to be a very long lifetime. So...what is your name? I heard you mumble and scream a number of names during your fevers, even one I recognized, but I would guess you would not scream out your own name." "Ja...Jonathan Taylor." He paused, wondering if he should risk digging for more information while so completely at his host's mercy. To hell with it. "I'm also known as Solar Max. Do you have another name you are known by?" "My name in the Art, you mean? Well, perhaps I am guilty of the sin of pride on top of my other sins, but the spirits know me as Simon Filius." JakZak closed his eyes, feigning weariness, but desperately trying not to show the panic behind them as his heart leapt into his throat. Simon Filius, known also in the 20th Century as...Lord Ebon, the necromancer. One of the deadliest enemies humanity ever had. He was at the tender mercies of a man who, in later years, would make Rebus look like a kindly uncle. * * * * [August 23, 1321 - Italy] Wind blowing down out of the mountains ruffled JakZak's hair, which was starting to grow out after being burned off during his dramatic arrival in the 14th Century. From his position on the balcony, he could see Iago's sons helping bring in bushels of grapes from the vineyards. Giovanni had passed his tenth birthday during the weeks JakZak was recovering his strength here, and Bruno was eight. They were fairly serious young boys, but not dour, nor did they seem concerned that they lived in exile. Right now they were sharing some joke with one of the servants, and their laughter echoed across the mountain valley. So. Iago Montessi would one day become Lord Ebon, one of the greatest villains of the 20th Century. But right now, despite dabbling in what might be called Black Arts, he was a basically decent man, even God-fearing. His expression was occasionally tinged with sorrow, as if he knew that the price of his curiosity was eternal damnation. No wonder he sought immortality so eagerly...eternal life on Earth was certainly preferable to eternal torment in Hell, at least the way Montessi saw the cosmos. While still not at 100%, JakZak knew he could probably kill Iago without much effort. The alchemist relied on ritual magic, and really had no warmagics. Apparently, those were skills he'd learn during his centuries of entombment, with none to talk to but malevolent spirits whispering in his ears. Skills that would be used to kill thousands before the Godmarket, and unknown multitudes during Lord Ebon's quest to become one of the gods in 1998. It would be so very easy to kill Iago. To repay hospitality and perhaps the saving of his own life with murder. To leave two innocent boys fatherless. Just a few dead now, against thousands upon thousands dead seven centuries from now. And, of course, the little matter of killing what was left of JakZak's own soul. There was also the matter of Rebus. Iago knew an Archangeli in Florence, a member of the faction currently in power, and quite possibly Lorenzo's direct ancestor. According to Iago, this Archangeli was a thoroughly unlikeable man, but hardly a monster like his descendant. If JakZak could find this man and kill *him*, Rebus might never have been born. He didn't owe anything to his Archangeli, nor did the man have any children yet...that was part of the point, of course. But it had been three years since Iago was exiled, and Archangeli might have sired a son by now. Could JakZak bring himself to kill an infant? He sighed. He'd had too much time to think about this all. He'd wanted to arrive in 2023, blazing with righteous fury and kill Lorenzo before he could bring himself to realize he was killing innocents around Rebus. He'd been ready to become a monster himself, to slay a greater monster. But now he knew he couldn't take that last step. SHOULDN'T take that last step. Guilt had been driving him forward for weeks, but now that he'd had a little time to step away from his own life, he saw that he couldn't keep going along that path. There HAD to be a better way. A way to get a better future without sacrificing the past. And he had plenty of time to think of a better way. He had seven hundred years.... * * * * [September 13, 1321 - Italy] "Jonathan, my friend!" Iago burst into the room, smiling broadly. He smelled of sulfur. "I have succeeded! I have deciphered the last portion of Simon Magus's books," he held up a lump of gold, "and the transmutation of the elements is within my power! I now have the last secrets unlocked, and can attain the transmutation of the body...immortality!" A chill ran down JakZak's spine. According to history as Peregryn had related it to him, the immortality potion put Montessi into a deathlike state for several months, enough time for the man to be buried at the church graveyard in a nearby town. Immortal but unable to overcome the power of holy ground, Montessi had been locked in his tomb for seven centuries, slowly going mad. Eventually he escaped, immortal and insane. "Iago," he put his hand on the man's shoulder. "Are you certain? A mistake could mean death...or worse." "I am as certain as a man can be," he nodded. "I have already prepared the potion, it needs only to age for a few hours before it is ready." "All the same..." "All right," Iago grinned, with that infectious smile of his. "I shall make arrangements with my servants. Should harm befall me, you will be master of this house in my name until Giovanni comes of age, or until I recover, should the harm not be fatal." JakZak relaxed, but felt guilty that he had even considered killing this man who would trust him with all he owned, with his own sons, even. But now he could change the future by helping, rather than hurting. Montessi would fall into his coma, but JakZak would keep the servants from burying the man. Iago had taught him enough Italian to make his case to the servants. And in a few months, Iago would wake up, immortal but still sane, and Lord Ebon would never come to be. And then, maybe he could try fixing up Signor Archangeli with a different woman...or better yet, convince the man to become a priest. Maybe he could pull a Scrooge on Archangeli.... * * * * Iago removed the crucible from the embers using a long pair of metal tongs, setting the clay container on a stone slab to cool. "There it is, my friend. The secret of eternal life," Iago crooned, his eyes glowing like the embers of his hearth. In moments, the crucible had cooled enough for Iago's purposes, and he gingerly picked it up with thick leather gloves. He carried it over to a goblet of wine and dumped the steaming contents into the drink, which hissed and spat in reaction. "Wine, the blood of God," Iago whispered as he shucked the gloves. Then he picked up a small wafer of flatbread and crumbled it over the goblet. "Bread, the body of God." He lifted the goblet to his mouth. "Immortality, the essence of God." He drank, draining the goblet in a single breath. JakZak tensed, waiting for the "death" he knew would soon come. Iago set down the goblet. "Ahhhh...I feel the power! Life is flowing through my body! So much life!" He threw his arms wide and spun around in a circle, looking up at the ceiling as if looking through it. "Jonathan, I have never FELT so much LIFE! You...look shocked, Jonathan." Iago frowned. "I see...you expected me to die. You must have known, from seven hundred years in the future, that I would die now...and that this would leave all my secrets open for you to plunder!" The fire in Iago's eyes was no longer that of joy, but of anger. "Iago, I..." "No, Solar Max! Your mistake was in warning me today. I found a small error in my alchemical proportions when I rechecked, and corrected it. I might have died, but now I shall never die! BUT YOU WILL!" The stone of the floor rose up and wrapped around JakZak's body, threatening to crush him. He resisted only enough to stay alive, he didn't want to tip his hand too quickly. "Iago, I wanted to save your life, not take it! I was just surprised that..." "Spare me your lies, 'friend,'" Iago snarled. "Now that I have attained perfection, the elements respond to my commands without the need for sorcerous incantations or alchemical preparations. I am nearly a god now, and I will not let you stop me from attaining my destiny! Now I have the power to wrest the Book of Osiris from the Byzantines, and with it I shall become a god!" JakZak's heart sank. It wasn't the entombment that drove Montessi mad. He was insane from the beginning, he simply hid it with the skill of a psychopath until now. And JakZak had started the man's reign of terror 671 years early. Now he had to undo the damage he'd done, find a way to entomb an unkillable foe who was master of the elements. The stone shattered as JakZak flexed the "muscles" of his power for the first time in weeks. Shards that flew in Iago's...Lord Ebon's...direction simply veered away, as if unwilling to strike their master. There was no more time for words, as Ebon commanded the elements to assault Solar Max, who replied with command over reality itself. Fires twisted, grew and guttered. Air battered at Solar Max, tried to leave his lungs. The walls lashed out at him. But he endured, and sent wave after wave of crushing force into Lord Ebon's body. To no effect. His lungs burned. A shard of glass sliced through his leg, severing an artery and spraying the room with blood. The man who called himself Simon Filius simply smiled as Solar Max's anger washed harmlessly off his transmuted form. It hadn't had seven centuries to slowly decay, as it had when Tymythy Twystyd shattered it in 1992 and freed the malevolent spirit to possess others. Force was not enough, and JakZak could feel his life ebbing as blood pumped from his wounds. He needed magic to defeat magic, and cast about him. Through all the destruction, one wall had remained intact, the shelves holding Ebon's chemicals and books. It was important to Ebon...and more importantly, there was magic in that shelf's contents. Fighting the dizziness and blood loss, JakZak reached out and slammed Ebon back into the wall. "NOOOOO!" Ebon shouted as the jars burst and the fragile scrolls shattered into fragments. "I'll...I'll...what...have...you...." Iago Montessi fell to the floor, dead for all the world could tell. Giovanni and Bruno, along with one of the servants, burst through the remains of the door. Their mouths hung open in shock. "The spell...did not work," JakZak fought the rising red haze as he struggled to remember enough Italian to say what needed to be said. "Demon attacked. Be sure to bury...Iago...holy ground...." And with that, everything went black. * * * * [September 1, 2024 - Chicago, Illinois Sector] Awareness returned with an all-too-familiar pain, and this time JakZak knew better than to try and move or open his eyes. "He's awake," he heard Aaron say. "I'm...back..." JakZak croaked. "You were never gone," Aaron replied, as the pain receded. JakZak opened his eyes to see he was in a hospital bed, surrounded by his teammates and some doctors. "You screamed out and collapsed into the lake, the security drones caught it all. We had you in the infirmary within minutes, you've been here for a week. I was just about to try and go inside your head and try to pull you out, like last time you knocked yourself into a coma." JakZak turned to Peregryn. "Maybe just my spirit went back in time. But I met Iago Montessi...you were wrong, Peregryn, the entombment didn't drive him insane, he was already insane. He wanted to use the Book of Osiris to become a god." Peregryn's eyes widened, as if coming to a shocking realization. JakZak realized it as well. JakZak's voice fell to a whisper. "Rebus wants to become a god." ============================================================================ Next Issue: The pieces have all fallen into place, the horrible scope of Rebus's plan is made clear...and you'll never believe who shows up for dinner! Be here for ASH #32, "In Darkness Bound"! ============================================================================ Author's Notes: I arbitrarily set the historical sequence in late summer of 1321, wanting a time in the general realm of Dante's Italy without being directly on top of the main events of Aligheri's life. Imagine my surprise when I went to look up details during editing and found that Dante died September 13, 1321. So, of course, I moved the final fight scene from September 6 (where I'd initially set it) to September 13.