The Darkfield Illumination

On the frozen wastes of the Arctic Ocean stands a crystal dome that glows eerily with a crimson light that intensifies over time, forcing the exotic animals that live there to flee the dome in panic. In Manhattan the next morning, a red mist drifts in from the sea and lingers around the city's skyscrapers. The Baxter Building's residents are not unaware of the mist's presence. Ben is watching a TV news report and thinks the Soviet Union is behind the phenomenon. Outside, above the roof of the building, Reed and Johnny are collecting a sample of the mist for analysis using a cellotex net. Sue arrives to tell Reed that while she was reading to Franklin, she lost control of her power of invisibility temporarily. Before she can begin, Reed cuts her off as Johnny suffers a similar loss of control, but thankfully Reed and Sue combine their powers to stop Johnny plunging to his death. Ben arrives on the roof to report that part of his exodermis is reverting to human form, and Reed surmises it has something to do with the red mist and suggests further study of its radioactive particulates.

Elsewhere, two characters called Wiglif and Hrolf ponder the fate of a third, a god by the name of Korgon whose impending death they blame on the outside world. Without his tears, their home for one hundred generations is doomed. Back at the lab, Reed confirms the mist as radioactive and tracks its origin to a part of the North Pole. The Fantastic Four undertake to travel to the area, in spite of the risks posed by the intermittent loss of their powers. Leaving Franklin in the care of Alicia, the Fantasitc Four are soon on their way to the North Pole. On arrival, the Fantastic Four break out their thermal parka jackets and go on reconnaissance in the Fantasti-car. Risking his power failing, Johnny scouts on ahead and spotting a crystal dome from a distance, flies on to investigate. Unfortunately, as he does so, his power fails on him and he falls to the snow below. As he waits for his power to return, Johnny is confronted and captured by a group of Viking warriors, colleagues of Wiglif's. As they drag him in chains behind their snow tractor, Johnny manages to send up a weak emergency flare for the rest of the Fantastic Four in spite of his failing powers. The Vikings assume Johnny to be a sorcerer and responsible for the fate of their god and so render him unconscious.

Inside the crystal dome, Wiglif and Hrolf debate Johnny's fate and argue over who has authority while their leader is incapacitated. More warriors are dispatched to the frozen wastes to look for more outsiders and to kill them on sight. As the remaining members of the Fantastic Four approach the dome, they are attacked and the Fantasti-car is blown from the sky. Battle is joined, but the Fantastic Four are hampered by their powers cutting out intermittently, and Reed tries to negotiate with their attackers. The Vikings insist that the Fantastic Four journey with them as prisoners, with their fate to be decided by Korgon himself. Reed agrees and the team is taken to the dome. Inside, Reed marvels that the dome is a self-contained sub-tropical ecosystem, containing examples of mutated flora and apparently heated by a greenhouse effect. Reunited with Johnny, the Fantastic Four are brought in chains before the fifteen-foot tall Korgon, whose eyes radiate crimson radiation. Lying on his sickbed, the god explains that it is the radiation from his eyes that powers the society within the dome and that after one thousand years, the effort of maintaining the dome has weakened him to the point of near-death. Korgon explains that a thousand years earlier, he was a mortal named Harek Korgon, and was in love with Princess Valthjona, much to her father King Rothgar's disapproval.

Fleeing their home village by night, the star-crossed lovers were caught in an extra-terrestrial explosion that rendered Korgon blind and Valthjona dead. Ostracized by King Rothgar, Korgon was nevertheless allowed to remain in the village, but the mutations caused by exposure to the radiation from the explosion made the villagers wary of him, and he was eventually exiled. Wandering the frozen wastes of the north, Korgon gathered together a band of followers and they made their way to the North Pole to forever isolate themselves from society. There Korgon constructed the crystal dome from his eye blasts and his followers and their descendants lived there in seclusion for a thousand years. Korgon explains to the Fantastic Four their choice: they will heal the god so that he may replenish the energy that powers the dome for his followers, in return for which Korgon will halt the effects of the radiation on the foursome. If they refuse or fail, the Fantastic Four will die.

Recurring Characters

Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, Alicia Masters, Harek Korgon