"Hector, we are lost."

The Shaman of Geshem paced his tower, his face hiding nothing and his consternation clear.

"You are sure that the Queen has fallen? That she and the Prince Consort have failed?"

"Yes," said the Shaman and he considered what had happened in the time since the bonding. Queen Rain had accepted her bond with the primal magics of Geshem and the land had healed and they had though all was well, until the Mage returned with the other knights of the realm. They had been told the rebellion was a ruse to remove them from the palace while the Beast hunted and killed the Queen and more trouble would follow.

The magic of the land was indeed hers but at the same time, there were many out there who had wanted the power for their own, and it was they who had set the Beast out to kill her to and there was another problem. Because Queen Rain had denied the power for so long, it could be wrested from her and many had tried. The remote rebellions had grown in strength and the Shaman and Mage had been forced to combine their skills to find out who was behind it and they had been shocked by what they had found, as both of them searched to find who or what was behind this, using the man who had been the Beast as well as the leaders from the Rebellions.

Two Necromancers from far away lands had joined forces - one called himself the King of Shadows and commanded an army of the undead while the other was referred to as Tyrant. Tyrant was the more dangerous of the two in the Mage's eyes as the Tyrant led his army personally and would not stay away manipulating the game. The Tyrant had been the one arranging the rebellions and it was rumoured that he had given the rebellious Duke Horge the sorcery in which he had attempted to overthrow the Queen by creating an army of mechanical constructs.

The army had been defeated, but the Prince Consort had been inured and the Shaman had been able to save him with some of the destroyed mechanicals. The Mage had then searched out the means to how this had happened and though he had no proof he knew it was the Tyrant and he had sworn that he would destroy the villain, however the battle had taken a decisive turn some time ago when the Mage and the Tyrant engaged each other in combat, a final battle, and each army stood back and watched as the fate of Geshem was decided, but something happened that none could explain - and both Tyrant and the Mage vanished.

The rebel army fled in fear but the Knights of Geshem knew that it had not been them and as soon as that was realised the army would be back. Whether it had been down to the King of Shadows, wiping out two of his main rivals or the hand of another, they were gone and the kingdom mourned, but it did not have time to do so for long and an undead army marched on Geshem. They were beaten back time and again, but the Queen had decided she had taken enough and she and the Prince Consort had gathered all the Knights they had and gone East to the Shadow Realms to take on the King of Shadows. The Shaman wanted to join them, but he had been commanded to take care of the Princess Ariel.

"I should have gone," he mused. "Now the Knights have fallen and the Queen is in the hands of the King of Shadows."

"And if you had, you would be dead," Hector said of his master and the Shaman looked to his familiar. "You are still the best hope of rescuing them."

"I appreciate your faith," he said, stroking his hand through the blue fur of the small beast. "However I do not feel better." He looked at the sleeping Princess. "I also fear for her life. How many assassins came after the Queen left with her guard?"

"We stopped them all," said Hector. "We will do so again. As you said, I have faith, my l-ah!!" Hector's speech was cut off as a knife struck him and he fell from his chair and the Shaman turned to see yet another assassin.

"Will the King of Shadows never learn?" he said, as he raised his staff and lashed out with magic, but the assassin was faster than his magic and he was on top of the Shaman in a moment and he separated the man from his staff.

"Yes," he said, "he does, and I..." He stopped in mid speech and then slumped to the floor.

"Thank you, Hector," said the Shaman as he pushed the man of. "A timely intervention and an excellent ruse."

"Been called a lot of things, bub, but Hector ain' one of them." The Shaman looked up and his eyes went wide as his saviour sheathed the claws he had just used to dispatch the assassin.

"You? But how..."

"He looked just like Bullseye," said another voice, a female the Shaman didn't know and he looked at her.

"The Witch of the Pharos!" he said in horror as he saw her and he was on his feet in a moment. "I thought you were dead, killed by the Mage!"

"She's with me," said the other. "No objections, Shaman?"

"If you vouch for her then no," the Shaman said, as he looked at them. "Welcome back to Geshem, Sir Logan. But I did not bring you from Terra."

"Fella called Gateway," Logan said. "This is Elektra, my wife, or she will be in a little while."

"It is a pleasure, my lady. My apologies for earlier, it is just you look like someone I know."

"As do you," said Elektra. "This will take some getting used to."

"Tell me about it, darlin'," Logan said. It had only been moments ago that they'd had to get out of Almagordo before the whole place went up and Gateway had provided a portal, but Logan had got the sense that it wasn't to anywhere on Earth. He'd asked Jean to look after Jacob and then he and Elektra went in to the portal and now here they were. "But we're gonna be here a while, if that's okay with the Queen?"

"Alas," said the Shaman, "the Queen is in no position to grant your request. These are dark days, Sir Logan. Your return is ill-timed."

"Really?" said Logan. "I think it might be very well timed indeed. Tell me what's goin' on and we'll see what we can do to help. After all, I'm one of the Queen's knights."

The Shaman nodded. Perhaps this was the good fortune they had needed...

"My love?"

The Prince Consort opened his eyes. There was no sign of the Queen's Guard or of the Knights of Geshem, but his beautiful wife Rain was before him and he could see that she was fastened to a stone altar and she was struggling against the ropes that held her.

"Your love is unable to reply," the sorcerer said appearing before them, "on account of the rags that bind her mouth and also infuse her body with potions, and doping the beast within her."

"The King of Shadows," Doug spat at the sorcerer and the King gave a low chuckle.

"And you the ragamuffin that would be king," the King said. "I know of you, little man. I know of everything that has transpired since the Queen's sixteenth birthday. Magnus was a fool, as was the Mage - neither of them understood the truth of the prophecy."

"The Shaman knew," said Doug.

"Yes, the Shaman indeed knew, but his attentions were elsewhere - something that I arranged. I have been planning this for a long time, however the fool that I chose to be possessed by the wild magic failed me."

"Thanks to Sir Logan," said Doug. The legend of the man of another world who had twice saved Geshem was well known.

"Yes, the stranger from another world, but he's not here now. I would have felt it if the Shaman had summoned him through the dimensional planes, but what good could he do now anyway? At sunset the potion will have spread through the Queen's body and the ritual can take place - the magic of the land will be mine and a new world order will begin."

"And why am I here?" said Doug. "You will kill her before me!"

"Because the despair you feel is a vital part of the ritual," the King of Shadows said. "But you will not have to despair for long." The King then faded in to the darkness, letting the Prince struggle on his bonds, but to no avail.

"Oh Rain," he said as he watched her struggles slowly grow less and less as the potion began to numb her body and mind to what was going on. "Shaman, if there was ever a time we needed you, this is surely it..."

"Your assistance is well timed," Shaman answered as he looked at the two of them. "However there are two points - the first is that I cannot come with you. I will be able to provide transport to the Shadow Realms. I must stay and protect Princess Ariel, and if you are to fail I must do what I can to try and infuse her with the magics of the land." He shook his head. "She is too young to willingly accept it and this will corrupt me..."

"Corrupt?" Elektra said.

"Dark magics are needed and the darker the magics the deeper the corruption. The Mage used dark magics, but stayed off the darkest and so he was only partially corrupt, which enabled him to face the Tyrant. My corruption is minimal at best, but this will push me over the edge." He looked at his familiar who was recovering. "Hector knows what must be done."

"If the Shaman were corrupted an evil would be unleashed the like of which the world has never seen," Hector said.

"Okay," said Logan. "What's the second point?"

"The King of Shadows can only be killed by one who is undead." The Shaman looked out of the window. "At best you will be able to stop him and free Queen Rain and the rest of the Royal Court, and we will make plans to stop him anew."

"Maybe not," said Logan and gave a smile. "There might be something we can do to make sure he won't come back." He looked at Elektra and she nodded.

"The rewards will be great if that is possible," the Shaman said.

"There's nothing you can give us," said Logan. "Save being left alone to live out our lives."

"I'd like that," said Elektra. "If just for a few years or so. Then perhaps we could go home."

"That is talk for another time," the Shaman said and he lifted his staff, and the wolf head pendant began to glow. "I will put you as close as I can to the Queen without alerting the King of Shadows." The two of them nodded and they vanished in a cloud of smoke and a bamf was heard as air rushed in to the vacuum they had left and they appeared many leagues from the castle.

"You and your friends," said Elektra as she drew her sais from her leggings and Wolverine smiled as he unsheathed his claws and he sniffed the air, trying to find a scent he could follow.

"You think we can lead dull lives after this?" he said as they began to run.

"We'll see," she said as they approached a foreboding castle, the face of a snake carved in to a mountain, as fire and flame seemed to come from all around. "Someone's been watching too many cartoons," Elektra said.

"Oh yeah," her lover replied as they ran to meet two guards at the entrance who were quickly dispatched. Logan made an up gesture to her and she nodded and started to climb the castle walls while he used the adamantium claws to hack through the timbers that blocked access. A two-pronged attack seemed the best idea and he burst through the door to see a cadre of the undead and he smiled as he launched in to them, claws flashing in the air as he hacked and slashed at the enemy who had not been expecting anything like this to happen.

The Knights of Geshem had been subdued quite easily, but this man... he simply would not fall. Swords struck him and he just shrugged them off and his demonic claws tore apart the undead warriors, ensuring that though they had a semblance of life they would not be able to continue the fight.

"It matters not," he said as he looked at the skies. Dusk was setting in and the warrior was still surrounded by an army. There would be no way that Sir Logan could get to the upper levels in time and then it would be too late, and once he had the power of Geshem he would ensure that Sir Logan came to a fitting demise before he turned his attention to the simpering Shaman. He moved, his cape fluttering in the breeze and he headed up to where Queen Rain would now be bereft of motion and the will to fight him. "He's just one man."

The scent of death was rank in this place, but there were other, sweeter scents that cut through the atmosphere and he hurried, making sure that the enemy didn't hold him back, but instead of going up, he started going down, towards the dungeon areas, but he knew that by doing this, he'd have a better chance of getting to the top and he broke down the door to see the counterparts of people he knew, all bound and separated from their weapons and artefacts.

"Now then," Logan said, "I hear you people need a hand."

"Well met, Sir Logan," said Lord Summerisle as Logan's claws flashed and cut the man down and he quickly headed to the table where the Basilisk mask was being kept and in a moment he had helped Logan free the others.

"Now, we've got to hurry," said Wolverine. "I've got friends helping, but I ain't so sure she can stop the King of Shadows by herself."

"We're with you," said Lord Paladin, wielding the Shard of Kym and they headed out, moving up through the castle, hoping they weren't too late...

"Tears, my prince? How noble of the heart," he said as he moved his hand over the stricken body of the Queen, allowing his power to synchronise with hers and there were damp spots where the tears of the Prince Consort had fallen on to her. Love was a sickly emotion but it indeed have power, power for good and power for evil. In this case, it was for evil for the breaking of a heart had manifested itself and there was nothing that had greater potency than that.

"You will pay for this effrontery," the Prince wept.

"Unlikely," said the King of Shadows and he began to chant the words and the spectre of the beast began to form around the Queen. Hair grew on her body, she became more muscled and her clothing tore under the transformation and as the change took hold the King of Shadows eyes glowed and the transformation began to reverse as the power began to flow from Queen Rain in to the King of Shadows.

"Yes!" he said. "I can feel it - the power of the land. Total power, life, death, time, space - all mine to command. I..." The sai flew through the air and plunged itself deep in to his chest and the King of Shadows fell to the floor.

"Command that," Elektra said and the King of Shadows looked up.

"The Witch of Pharos," he said, "or is it?" His hand cast forth a burst of lightning, which grabbed hold of her and brought her to the floor, writhing under the mystical attack. "Perhaps not..."

"I don't understand," she said, fighting to stand. "You should be dead. That shot..."

"If I were that easy to kill, I'd have been defeated long ago. I taught Magnus well, and the act of organ removal is a skill that not many possess."

"I'll find another way," Elektra said, finding her feet once more, pushing back the mystical lightning, even though to do so caused her great pain and the King of Shadows shook his head.

"If I were you I would find a way to save yourself first. I may not have all the power, but I have enough for this!" He gestured and a crevice opened beneath her and Elektra cried out as she fell, grabbing hold of the edge of the opening. "Now to complete the ritual..."

"Not today, bub," said a voice and Wolverine and the Queen's Guard entered and the King of Shadows grew angry. It was all falling apart around him.

"It's over, your majesty!" said Summerisle, derision in his voice as the Basilisk Mask fired a blast of mystical energy at him, but the King of Shadows gestured and redirected it away from him at the same time as Lady Mistral and Lady Jehanne attacked with their sorcerous skills. However the King had counter spells and with the power of Geshem that he had absorbed he was more than a match for them.

"Not yet," the King of Shadows declared and a shockwave was given out, which was met and countered by Sir Richard with the Quake Mallet, but the two forces countered each other out with equal force, throwing everyone to the floor but the King of Shadows.

"Now this ends," he said and he raised a knife high. "With the spilling of royal blood, I make the power of Geshem mine!" He plunged the knife down and it struck flesh, but not the flesh of the Queen. The knife was stucvk through the arm of Sir Logan.

"Now that hurts," he said, anger in his face, but his breathing ragged. "Poisons of some kind, I reckon..."

"A balm that would have ensured a swift death for the Queen, but not for you..." The King of Shadows grabbed him and threw him to the floor, slamming his foot down hard on the man's chest, using the force of Geshem to bolster his attack, but Logan looked up.

"That it, bub?" he said. "Nice kick, but it ain't gonna break adamantium..."

"Ada-what?" the King of Shadows said. "There's no metal on Geshem that is not under the command of the magic."

"This metal ain't from your world," Logan said, and he threw the King of Shadows away from him. "And you're not that powerful..." He stood, but then he staggered as the poison took hold off him, his healing factor struggling to stop the poison.

"Neither are you," said the King of Shadows, "and you'll not save the Queen..."

"He doesn't have to," said Lord Paladin. "She is already free." The Shard of Kym had cut her away from the altar.

"And you'll have to go through all of us," said the Lady Lillian, wielding her own sword and the others stood by her.

"Insects!" cried the King of Shadows. "You will not stop me, you cannot defeat me. I am immortal, I am..."

"Too fond of your own voice," said Elektra, and she grabbed his head and twisted, the King of Shadows' neck snapping as she did so and it lolled to one side and he fell to the floor, dead. Then his body floated in to the air and his mystical energies began to disperse, the power of Geshem returning to the Queen, reviving her as it re-entered her body and the whole mountain began to shake.

"This place is falling apart," said Samuel, flying up and retrieving the Prince Consort.

"Then let us depart," the Prince said, "and let this vile place return to the hell that spawned it!"

"Logan," said Elektra, as she came over to him. "Are you?"

"Gonna need a hand," he said, his voice a pale reflection of the one she knew and she realised how bad he truly was. "Ain't gonna make it on my own. Poison's spreadin'..."

"Let me help," she said and hoisted him up, his weight inconsequential to her and she helped him to move as the castle crumbled around them, the undead army no longer having animation with the death of the King and they hurried out of there and just as they escaped the mountain crumbled and was swallowed by the fire.

"And so dies the King of Shadows," said the Queen, weakness in her voice, but a regality still present in her tone. "The last of the dark sorcerers."

"I felt better too," Elektra whispered to Logan who smiled, weakly. "Wanted to kill the King of Shadows for a long, long time."

"Samuel, get Sir Logan to the Shaman," the Prince commanded, seeing that Logan was not good and it was only his willpower that was keeping him going. "His powers will aid the healing process and Samuel nodded and the two of them went off in to the distance.

"We are glad of your appearance," said the Queen to Elektra as she watched them go. "Three times has Logan saved the kingdom of Geshem, and we are in his debt. And yours. Anything you ask, it will be yours."

"There is one thing," Elektra said. "If you could marry us, your majesty, that would pay the debt..."

"Of course," said Rain with a smile and she put her hands on to Elektra's. "It would give me no greater pleasure..."

Flying over the countryside, Logan just managed to catch the words on the breeze with his heightened sense and he smiled, the first real smile he'd had in a long time.

It was all over and finally he could rest.

Author's Note

Well, then. That was it - my last issue for M2K. I started with Wolverine, I'm ending with Wolverine. The adventures of the X-Man known as Logan have been the biggest piece of work I've undertaken - ever. Originally it was the continuing adventures of the series over at Marvel X, what would have been had I stayed there. It changed from that and became a series in it's own right. There's a lot of things I'm happy with about the series, as it resolved a lot of continuity issues from the actual Wolverine series as well as told an origin that I felt was more deserved than the canon series. It has been one hell of an experience, I've surprised myself at times, written myself in to corners, but it's been fun and I've enjoyed myself immensely.

So what's the future for Wolverine? I truly have no idea. As far as I know there are no new writers for the series, and as the rest of the world considers him dead, maybe he'll be out of action for a little while. I think he deserves a break. He's not the only one.

Thank you, Marvel 2000. It's been cool, hasn't it?

TTFN

David