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Thus Far: Aragon has led the group to a secret corridor in the mines. He also summoned a bunch of demons, including Astaroth. His plan is to go back in time to get the power stone used to summon Shim'tar the dragon from Verdemis.
To start, Tahjarra is still alive, they all are. The demons are not attacking them. Because Aragon has made some kind of deal with Astaroth. They have summoned him early though and it was only supposed to be Zeph and Aragon, so the demons sense something is amiss.
Zeph and the others protest but it is a pretty feeble attempt, they have no real choice but to play along with Aragon's plans. So Aragon tells Astaroth to begin and they all get sucked back in time. Astaroth makes a comment about revenge, for what? We don't know yet.
The spell works. The group ends up back in the tunnels that lead to the Darklyte Armor before Aalok takes it. Aragon purposely chose a time that would make it impossible for Zeph to interfere with the timeline. But Zeph gets distracted by the idea that he can somehow save Delezar now. So he runs off on his own. He arrives too late as expected. Aalok already has the armor, the dragon has awoken, and the confrontation between Verdemis and the others is about to take place.
Zeph realizes what is happening about now. And this is super cool. They must have planned this from the very beginning. Way back in Warlands #7 after Delezar is killed we see a mysterious hooded mage appear and blast Verdemis. At the time the only thing I could think is that Delezar or young Zeph did something magical to cause that to appear. It was over and forgotten shortly after. But now we know! It was Zeph from the future!
There is a sudden and huge mood swing in Zeph at this point. Up until now he has seemed a bit emo and detached. Kind of going with the flow. Definitely letting Aragon call the shots since he met up with him. But now Zeph seems to have gained some clarity and resolve.
The spell ends and they get pulled back to the present time. Where Zeph announces his intentions to kill Aragon and put an end to this.
That was a cool issue! Really like how it tied back into the first series and original events so well. Zeph also seems to be ready to step up and be the main character finally. It was cool to see Verdemis again, he was one of my favorite characters of the series. And the art in this issue was pretty top notch! The dragon looked great. The panel flow was good. Really cool stuff. This was also the first Dreamwave issue, after separating from Image.
So what will happen now though!? They got what they went for but Zeph seems ready to kill Aragon. What does Astaroth hope to gain from this bargain? Can the stop the ice? Surely the Ryotians will have something to say about all this too. There are a lot of demons but they're all surrounded by a pretty powerful army after all. Guess we'll find out soon. There are three issues left. Plenty of time to resolve these questions.
To Be Continued!