NIRVANA's GATEnirvanas_gate-8116

Type: Alternate Reality (Reality-8116) alien dimension;
    existed 1 million years in the future (but perhaps millennia or hundreds of thousands or even millions of years before that)

Environment: Nirvana's Gate is a 10th level reality (see comments)

Usual means of access: Magic

Dominant Life Form: Possibly demons, spirits, elementals, angels, and/or dread veil sorcerers

Significant Inhabitants: None identified

Significant Artifacts: The Eye of the Gods

Visitors: Bialgesuard, Syzygy Darklock

First Appearance: "The Price," Eclipse Graphic Album Series#5 (1981) - see comments 

History:
(Epic Illustrated#9: Metamorphosis Odyssey, Chapter XIII: Doomsday - BTS / "The Price" - BTS) - Nirvana's Gate is a 10th level reality. As such it is the natural habitat of creatures of great power, such as demons, spirits, elementals, angels, and dread veil sorcerers; few first-levelers ever ventured to such a realm. The realm also contained the Eye of the Gods.

("The Price" (fb) - BTS) - A few decades before the main story (see comments), Dread Veil sorcerer Taurus Killgaren stumbled upon a great future stellar event that would have a tremendous and very positive effect on mankind. He further determined that one of the brothers Syzygy or Ajar'l Darklock of the planet Altarix were critical to this event occurring. nirvanas_gate-8116-transport

    Killgaren chose Syzygy and influenced him into joining the priesthood of the Instrumentality, the theocracy ruling Altarix. Rising to the position of Lord High Bishop, Syzygy sought to rule the Instrumentality and put an end the war with the Monarchy. To this end, Syzygy spent long hours at night with forbidden tomes and parchments and casting secret spells.

    Realizing the amount of power Syzygy would need to achieve his destiny and that the fiercely loyal Syzygy would have to sacrifice the soul of the mortal he most loved in the universe to the demon Slytis to gain that power, Killgaren plotted to have his demon servant Bialgesuard slay Ajar'l in order to lead Syzygy to investigate, learn his involvement, and gain the power to confront him (Killgaren).

("The Price" (fb) - BTS) - Taurus Killgaren abused Bialgesuard, seeking to inspire the demon to betray his master.

("The Price" - BTS) - Bialgesuard and/or one of his agents slew Ajar'l.

("The Price" - BTS) - Darklock determined Bialgesuard's involvement, summoned him, and used the Amulet of Pure White Light to force his compliance, and the demon revealed his master to be Taurus Killgaren. After explaining Killgaren's great power, Bialgesuard explained that he could transport Darklock to Nirvana's Gate, where they would find the Eye of the Gods, the entrance to the 11th level of reality in which the gods stored their reserves of mystic energy. While the gods had made these energies deadly to demons to prevent their accessing and stealing it, the gods had neither foreseen the possibility of a mortal becoming powerful enough to reach and tap into the Eye nor that a demon would transport a mortal to the Eye. 

    After Bialgesuard explained that he was allowing Darklock to gain such power because Killgaren had treated him very badly and he wished Darklock to slay Killgaren in a most horrible fashion, Darklock agreed to Bialgesuard 's plan.nirvanas_gate-8116-darklock-devastated

    Bialgesuard transported Darklock to Nirvana's Gate and the Eye of the Gods, advising Darklock that a simple spell of access was sufficient to open the iris and that there were no guards nor traps as the gods had never felt a need for such precautions, a conceit they would regret after this day.

    Darklock then instructed Bialgesuard to depart. 

("The Price" - BTS) - Darklock found that the iris indeed opened with a simple spell, and he was soon bathed in power.

("The Price" (fb) - BTS) - As Darklock's body began to suffer damage from the energies of the realm of the gods, Bialgesuard remotely closed the Eye (so that Darklock would survive to slay Killgaren), but -- seeking vengeance for Darklock's disciplining him with the Amulet of Pure White Light -- not before Syzygy had lost both legs, most of his left arm, and his left eye, and suffered third degree burns over 80% of his body.

("The Price" - BTS) - Sister Marian found Darklock's severely injured form and delirious form.

("The Price" - BTS) - After recovering with the aid of bionic implants, Darklock confronted Killgaren, whose advice led Darklock to reluctantly accept his destiny, but not before slaying Killgaren.

Comments:Created by Jim Starlin.

    Dreadstar was a licensed character/title created by Jim Starlin starting way back with the Metamorphosis Odyssey in Epic Illustrated#1 in the Spring of 1980. The Metamorphosis Odyssey started around the modern era and affected Earth, but then swiftly destroyed the entire Milky Way galaxy and then moved on to a million years in the future. Dreadstar eventually got his own series under the Epic imprint, but Starlin later took the whole shebang over to First Comics. And in 1994, it was published under the imprint of Bravura, a creator-owned division of Malibu comics. He appeared sometime later in issues #5-7 of the Breed III series. And, there's been talk of a Dreadstar television show...
    Still that earlier Marvel connection allows me to place this reality in the fringes of the Marvel Megaverse.
    Peter David took over the writing around issue#31 or so, but Starlin remained the owner. At any rate, from start to finish, it is the best series I've ever read, period! I'd love to see it continued, by Starlin, David, or both!
    This profile represents coverage second part of the Metamorphosis Odyssey, the origins of Syzygy Darklock. It is noteworthy to consider that the very end of the Metamorphosis Odyssey and everything thereafter (including the Price) takes place 1 million years after Aknaton used the Infinity Horn to destroy the entire Milky Way galaxy to eliminate the threat of the Zygoteans.

According to Epic Illustrated#9: Metamorphosis Odyssey, Chapter XIII: Doomsday, there are fifteen known power levels or dimensions of mystical existence:

       The first level is mortal existence as we know it, including the stars, the planets, and all plant and animal life, including humans.
       The second level holds energies easily accessed by mortals, including atomic, electrical, magnetic, photon, etc.
       Dimensions 3-9 are mystical planes, and only highly skilled first-levelers, such as wizards and priests, can make use of these forces;
       Levels 10-12 are the natural habitat of creatures of great power, such as demons, spirits, elementals, angels, and dread veil sorcerers; few first-levelers ever venture here;
       The 13th and 14th panes are the provinces of the gods;
       The 15th level is the sole domain of a being of omnipotent force and many names. His plane of power is without end. His is the reality of infinity.

    The Price was originally published in black and white in Eclipse Graphic Album Series #5 (1981). It was reprinted, with colorized artwork, in Dreadstar Annual#1 (1983) by Epic (the licensed characters/stories division of Marvel)

Profile by Snood.

CLARIFICATIONS:
No known connection to

images: (without ads)
"The Price," story "The Price," story pg. 20, panel 3 (Bialgesuard transporting Syzygy to Nirvana's gate);
            panel 4 (Syzygy and Bialgesuard in Nirvana's gate);
    pg. 23, panel 1 (Marian finding Syzygy's devastated form);

Appearances:
 "The Price," Eclipse Graphic Album Series#5 (1981) - Jim Starlin (writer/artist); I don't know who edited it; reprinted in Epic's Dreadstar Annual#1 (1983) it credited Jo Duffy (associate editor) and Archie Goodwin (editor)

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

First posted: 09/10/2026
Last updated: 12/12/2021

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