The rain still lashed the streets of Gateway City when Wonder Woman, after returning a lost and trembling little girl to her distraught mother, felt a profound sadness wash over her. The relief and love in the mother's eyes had awakened a painful nostalgia within her.
Utopian, who had just finished securing an evacuated building, joined her. He immediately noticed the melancholy darkening her usually determined gaze.
"Diana? What's wrong?" he asked, his voice softer.
Wonder Woman didn't look away from the familial scene fading into the distance. "I'm feeling... homesick. I miss my home. My mother, my sister... their absence suddenly feels very heavy."
Utopian placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Then you should go see them."
She turned to him, an inner conflict visible on her face. "But you came to visit me. I can't just leave you here alone after you've just arrived."
He shook his head, a reassuring smile on his lips. "It's not a problem. Take all the time you need. I'll wait for you. I'm on vacation anyway. There's always work to be done here to keep me busy."
Deep gratitude shone in Diana's eyes. "Thank you, Utopian. Truly."
---
That melancholy, smoldering since her departure from Themyscira, became an urgent call in her heart. Soon after, Diana Prince, determined but with a soul heavy with apprehension, embarked on the journey back to her native island.
But the paradise of her childhood was gone. As her invisible jet crossed the magical boundaries of Themyscira, her heart froze. Instead of lush landscapes and majestic temples, she discovered a city in flames, ravaged by recent conflict. And worse, a deathly silence reigned.
On the main esplanade, she found her people. Not alive, but frozen for eternity. Hundreds of Amazons, including her own mother, Queen Hippolyta, had been turned to stone statues, their faces captured in expressions of surprise and battle.
"NO!" Diana's cry tore through the funereal silence.
A slick, sinister voice rang out behind her. "A touching reunion, isn't it?"
Mad with grief and rage, Diana lunged at the hooded figure emerging from the shadows. But before her fists could reach him, the man raised a palm, and an invisible force stopped her cold.
"I'd advise you to calm down, Princess," said Felix Faust, pushing back his hood to reveal a face with sharp features and a smile full of superiority. "If I so wish, I can leave the island of the Amazones in this state for the next thousand years. Forever a graveyard of stone."
Diana's blood ran cold, but the threat was all too real. She forced herself to lower her arms, her body still trembling with anger.
"Who are you?" she growled.
"Felix Faust. A humble sorcerer in search of supreme knowledge," he introduced himself with false modesty. He explained that he coveted ancient fragments of a sacred relic, an artifact of unimaginable power scattered across the world. Themyscira held the key, but not the pieces themselves.
"Having no choice," he said, repeating his own words with perverse satisfaction, "I propose a bargain."
Her heart filled with a bitterness that burned her throat, Wonder Woman listened, powerless.
"Fetch me the fragments scattered across the planet," Faust commanded. "Once I have them all in my possession, I will free the Amazons. Refuse, and they will remain stone forever."
Her fists clenched so tight her knuckles turned white, her gaze burning with a hatred she had to contain, Wonder Woman, protector of the world, had no other option but to yield.
"Very well, Faust," she said, her voice low and dangerous. "I accept your bargain."
Her new journey had just begun, no longer a joyful visit, but a desperate quest that would test her like never before.