Max is miserable during his birthday celebration because Virgil and Norman haven't arrived or communicated with him in a while. He creates a ruckus by tearing apart his birthday presents and cake in search of a message from the two, but there is nothing. He is happy when they do arrive, but is puzzled when they tell him that he must leave immediately to take care of something urgent relating to his birthday.

Virgil and Norman takes Max to their home where he jokes, but is serious about hanging out with the two sometime in the future. Virgil is mysteriously saddened by Max's comment. He reveals to Max the source of most of his knowledge by partly pulling down a curtain to reveal a large mosaic of pictures. Which show the events that have transpired so far in Max's journey since he received his call as the Mighty One. Virgil goes briefly through it and reveals that Skull Master is not dead as they originally thought, but is alive and well and has reconstructed the crystal of souls wi

Realizing that there is nothing that he could do to alter his destiny, Norman decides to engage the spider in final combat and go down fighting. Max attempts to help Norman, but Virgil pushes Max into a portal and then follows after him. Furious and saddened, Max questions Virgil's actions and tells him that they could have saved Norman. Virgil tells him that there was nothing both of them could do because Norman's death was foretold by prophecy and that when his time comes at Stonehenge, that he would want Max to respect that. He warns Max not to go Stonehenge during the winter solstice because that is when darkness is at its strongest. Virgil makes Max promise not to travel to Stonehenge during that time and they prepare to get going, but are stopped in their tracks when they run into Skull Master and Warmonger. Max is sent to the Astral Plane by Virgil, a place where Skull Master is forbidden to follow. Virgil is then taken captive by Skull Master and Warmonger.

With the power