The reintegrated unity of **Young Justice** was a tangible force, a reflection of their strength and hard-earned lessons. The quiet determination that now filled the Cave of Secrets was a far cry from the desperation that had hounded them. Though emotional scars from **Conner's** transformation were not yet scabbed over, a fierce resolve had taken hold, propelled by a mutual knowledge of **Klarion's** devious ways. They were no longer simply responding to anarchy; they were looking for it.
**Michael** and **Zatanna**, their study never faltering, sensed the fine changes in the magical flows of the world. Their dual interest in chaotic magic and story manipulation had heightened their awareness of the greater design of Klarion's conflict against order. That first contained chaos of the warehouse episode, and Conner's subsequent alteration, now seemed like a dress rehearsal, an initial pilot run for a greater, more elaborate scheme.
One night, when Zatanna was trying a complicated scrying ritual to locate Klarion's present magical signature, the scrying bowl flared with a sudden flash of static, and then diminished, fading into faint, distorted whispers. These were layered, broken, and they spoke of discord, not merely in one location, but in a string of multiple, apparently unrelated locations. They spoke of *tension*, of *escalation*, of *old wounds reopened*.
"Michael," Zatanna exclaimed, stepping back from the bowl, her eyes broad with a mix of realization and terror. "It's not only Klarion. There is something else moving. Something. older. And it is using the unrest, magnifying it. I'm perceiving a signature. one of great might, from the most ancient lore, nearly. primordial."
Before Michael could answer, a shining golden ankh symbol blazed across the air above the scrying bowl. A low, booming voice, charged with the gravitas of cosmic order, reverberated through the chamber, as if speaking to both of them and, psychically, to the entire Justice League in the Watchtower.
"**Zatanna. Michael Queen. The whispers are not random energy. They are the stirrings of a great evil that has lain dormant for millennia. The entity called Mordru has awakened from his thousand-year sleep. He is the Architect of Entropy, a Lord of Chaos whose abilities are rivalled only by the very fabric of existence itself.**"
The voice was that of **Doctor Fate**, or more accurately, the mind of **Nabu** channeling through Fate's helmet. Visions assaulted their minds: visions of Mordru's past, galaxies-spanning wars of old to contain his power, civilizations falling before his touch, the extent, unimaginable as it was, of his hunger for unmaking. They saw him manipulating empires in the dark, subverting loyalties, and sowing discord on cosmic levels, not for power, but for the sake of unmaking itself.
"**Klarion is but a minnow in his ocean of chaos. Mordru does not desire to rule, but to unravel. He sustains himself on discord, on the erosion of order, until all shall be nothing. The occurrences in Gotham, the metamorphosis of Superboy—these were no happenstance acts, but the first notes of his symphony of oblivion. He probes the weakness of order, harvests the raw material of chaos, and sets his final feast.**"
The golden ankh throbbed, and the voice went on in glacial clarity. "**He is employing humanity's built-in divisions, its resentments and fears, as fuel for a world fire. The moment for nuanced probing is over. Mordru has shown his hand, and his sights are not set solely on the Justice League, but on the fabric of existence itself.**"
The psychic connection dissipated, leaving Michael and Zatanna stunned by the magnitude of the cosmic warning. They were aware that the Justice League had gotten the same ominous message. The pieces fell into place for Michael with a ghastly clarity. "Klarion is not acting independently. He's a pawn, a catalyst. Mordru was lying in wait, but the recent turmoil in society, escalated by Klarion, has brought him to life. He's not merely creating disorder; he's orchestrating it, nourishing on it." He overlaid a projected map of the globe, pointing out hotspots of conflict. "These are not individual occurrences. These are all connected, part of his master plan."
Their discovery, since validated by Doctor Fate's cosmic alert, was brought before the **Justice League** in an urgent, tense meeting. **Batman's** somber focus was on the information, his own sophisticated net of international monitoring supporting the trends Michael shared. **Superman**, while still worried about the destiny of **Conner**, came to grasp the frightening implications of such a pervasive, evil threat.
"Then Klarion is only the match," Batman reasoned, his tone cold and unforgiving. "And **Mordru** is getting the tinder ready."
"Exactly," Michael attested. "It isn't just a matter of a magical conflict anymore. This is a war on the nature of order, for the world. And the anarchy of Conner's change. that was a prime component. A strong source of raw, unconstructed energy that Mordru might possibly use, or even feed on, for his end."
The news caused a ripple of deep unease within the Justice League. The battle against Klarion had been a magical one, but this revealed a threat that spoke of an invisible war, a war fought not merely with spells and superpowers, but with the fabric of international stability.
For Young Justice, the stakes were higher. Their own individual loss of Conner now fit into a global threat. Their own internal conflicts of division and trust, agonizing as they were, had unconsciously set them up for this silent war. They had, in their own crucible, learned to recognize the subtle canyons of discord, and to actively combat them.
"We must discover this individual," **Wonder Woman** stated, her eyes burning with Amazonian determination. "And we must learn the entirety of his association with Klarion. If they're acting in tandem, the danger is multiplied exponentially."
As the Justice League moved to mobilize, opening a broader, worldwide investigation into the surging waves of discontent and looking for any additional evidence of Mordru's direct involvement, Michael and Zatanna pushed their investigation further, this time trying to determine the full extent of this ancient force and its means of action. The murmurs in the static on Michael's scrying bowl became more pronounced, distinct, suggesting ancient roots and patience over millennia.
The symphony of premonition had started, a haunting melody of an approaching reckoning greater and more dangerous than any of them could have envisioned. Conner's fate, and the world's fate, appeared to be tied in with the revelation of this new, unknown enemy, **Mordru**, and the struggle for order was going to be fought on a scale never before imagined.
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