by Starsky Hutch 76
When Samaria became the birthplace of civilization, I was its king.
When Nero fiddled as Rome burned, I was there to fan the flames.
When China’s emperor built the Great Wall, it was because I had put the fear into his heart.
Many of my enemies have accused me of being a braggart, of making my accomplishments sound greater than they are. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, I hid them for a very long time, and for good reason. When primitive minds discovered what I was, it often proved dangerous for myself. I have been stabbed, shot, lynched, poisoned, and nearly beheaded. Once I was even kidnapped by pagans who hoped to gain immortality by eating my flesh. I escaped, of course. You don’t live as long as I do without developing survival skills.
Probably my most-asked question is why I continue to fake my own death, abandoning kingdom and empire to start anew elsewhere. The answer is simple. There is only so much people will accept in their limited perspective, even from their king. Eventually it becomes necessary to the interests of my continued well-being to move on.
I always left some remnant of my hold, though. Even in my absence, a bit of my power base remained. That is, until I made one fateful error.
After the span of my years became too much for me, overwhelming ennui began to take hold. I have known other immortals who have suffered from this. And for us, it can be fatal. Once you cease to care — to feel there is nothing left — it is all over.
I felt what I needed was new territory to conquer. I had learned of a new Earth, one very much like ours but different. So I abandoned my own to venture forth to this new world that its inhabitants, in their arrogance, called Earth-One.
Naturally, it had its own heroes who interfered with my efforts. But as always I knew that time was on my side.
Then came the Crisis on Infinite Earths. World after world fell to waves of antimatter. That something so vast as a universe could be so fragile shook me to my very core. I longed for my own world again, to hold it in my hands once more. I had cast it aside like a child bored with an old toy. What a fool I had been. I hadn’t appreciated what I had. I had to have it back. I would have it back.