In a lot of ways and especially those that benefitted Henry in what was his second, third, maybe even fourth round of being a super power - hero or villain, that was much harder to say - it paid to be a bookworm. There was the obvious: It kept him out of trouble, putting his nose in a book and generally remaining there until something else, be it a customer to Arcana, a break for a meal, or Faline needing to go out for a walk, called to his attention; and then there was the at times well-intended, but nefarious, potentially treacherous knowledge to be gained from near-memorization of archaic texts no human had any business breaking into; but when one was in trouble, particular in that of a magic variety, it was hard not to step foot into the twist and turn crapshoot of magics remembered than magics readily seen.

And it had already produced failures, something he watched played out on two different dimensional fields while he remained in what was intentional quarantine, locked away in a hellish clocktower while war seemed to rampage across the plains of Limbo, the lumbering eldritch abominations playing guard and sentry, unmovable by almost ant-like forces until they were swarmed, to those who somehow maintained devotion to the dimension’s ruler while the smaller of creatures, spider-like in nature, spun elaborate webbing of the abyss they were made of to trap members of the uprising. Where such action in Limbo was warranted, the mirrored experiences of those topside, those escaped through malfunctioning magics and improper spellcasting took to such on the streets of San Francisco, stretching his range of sight while remaining just out of his grasp to stop.

Each one had been a notch in the belt of magical failure and Henry wasn’t exactly thrilled with the blind trust he had to put in those that remained in San Francisco to stop what he had unwittingly unleashed - thankfully in small form though even small amount of dimension bleed through was unwanted and unwarranted - in his attempts to right what had been wronged by Blackheart.

Still, there was no stopping and there was no giving up, no matter how tired or thinly stretched he might have been, when the sooner things had been righter, the sooner the hordes would stop and the sooner the governance of Limbo could be returned to its rightful state. No, it was never peace - not entirely - but it wasn’t complete chaos either, smaller pockets much easier to deal with than the entire dimension’s population turned on its heels for the sake of rebellion. Rest had been few and far between in Limbo’s current state, scaled skin and ever-present tentacled limbs, no longer barred by skin-generated gateways signs of an all too long exposure to the plane, but Henry had once more found himself at the beck and call of necessity, staring at the sigil painted on the ground in front of him, disjointed in small parts because of the state of the wooden canvas it sat upon.

“Okay, are we going to work right this time?” Henry commented to no one in particular, frustration evidence in the tone of his voice when all other attempts had been mired in unintended results. It was always just one little piece - one little ingredient wrong, one word said incorrectly, one twist of his hand or flick of his fingers that brought about everything from miniature avatars of eldritch beings, still angry at being awaken for nothing of universal importance, to an accidentally bald crow that didn’t seem to appreciate its summoning as it squawked in flight across the horizon, and that hadn’t even touched the topside troubles.

“Are we? Or are you going to do something stupid again?” Maybe he was going a little crazy under the circumstances, fingers reaching up to scratch at his chin even though it didn’t stop him from pacing about. No, insulting a magic circle wasn’t going to work, it wasn’t going to help, but it really had seemed like the most viable option until his resolve had solidified and he had come to a stop in a proper place for the intended magics at hand.

There was only one way to see if it would work and that was to do it.

The aura of the magics that arose was equally ominous as it was melodic, the occasional twinkling like chimes piercing through a veiled shadow that seemed to press down on the air around him, for a moment blocking out the constant roaring, chattering, and even screeching of creatures at war for a silence that he found even more peculiar when everything about the hive had been so loud and consistent. There were beings in the ether, in the far and untouchable reaches of the universe where man dared not tread if they found themselves so readily influenced by the deities that slumbered there, that could have helped with the dimensional woes he faced; and if he could just reach out to those otherworldly beings, maybe… just maybe…

And there was a pop, something loud and almost explosive, that forced him to step back and away from the circle - not entirely a retreat so much as it was a surprise - before bringing his hands down to spy the potential success or inevitable failure that had been summoned within. It really could have gone either way, but if recent history were to repeat itself, he hadn’t counted on the former potential.

Individual identified: Jon Kent. Species: Kryptonian.

“What?” It fell out of his mouth without much thought to the ring that had taken to scanning the individual that had shown up, a helpful, however unissued order from its bearer who was putting more stock in magic in this place than the space-faring Lantern Corps. It had been an afterthought, the possibility that it could help him escape this place, though that did nothing for the current state of Limbo’s affairs.

Individual identified: Jo -”.

“No, I didn’t ask you to repeat it!” There was a sigh, almost collective over the wind as the sound of the hordes came rushing in again, his eyes a wash of distraction for a moment before he shut them and pinched at the bridge of his nose. Even the hive was frustrated, Henry sure that was his own projection through the masses.

Secondary individual identified: Star Conqueror”.

“I didn’t ask for two aliens!”