A thick column of cobalt-blue light extended a hundred feet or more into the air. The energies within
the column swirled and roiled, crackling with flashes of a strange electricity that seemed to throw off
little globes of fading light.
The five heroes stared soundlessly at it for a long moment, at a loss over what to do next.
"I see... something in there," the Flash said at last. "Look at those patterns."
The light inside the column writhed like a living thing, tortuously weaving this way and that as it
gradually began to acquire a faintly humanoid form. But there was something animal about it, too. As
horns began to sprout from the giant figure's head, Batman suddenly realized why it seemed so
familiar.
"The same figure I saw at Gotham Cathedral!" he exclaimed. "The monster that killed all those
people!"
"It's not a whole lot different from the thing that attacked me, too." Green Lantern nodded in agreement
"About ten times bigger, is all." He remembered the feeling of looking into the eyes of the shamanic
mask, the mesmerizing power that had seemed to sap his will and replace his thoughts with . . .
something alien.