Sun-Chained-In-Ink

History

Hemi Kiwara was just a tattooist.  An unsuccessful one, at that.  All he wanted was to tattoo some ritual Maori markings on his skin.  He was unaware of how his dreams of greatness could possibly lead him to something more, until the moment when he was giving the finishing touches to the final tattoo.  Then, he was struck by a wave of divine power and faded from his small shop, and reappeared within a shell of cosmic power in Castle Branek in Romania, from where he had been summoned by Enigma and Morgaine Le Fey because of the unusual power of his dreams.  As he emerged from the cocoon, he did not think of himself as Hemi Kiwara anymore, Sun-Chained-in-Ink had been born.

As Sun-Chained-in-Ink, Kiwara was blessed with the literal abilities of a sun, including gravity, heat, and light, which he wielded to great effect both solo and in concert with his Dreambound team.  His first mission involved the theft of a vial of Lex Luthor's blood, during which he displayed only a fraction of his massive powers and easily subdued S.T.A.R. Labs guards.  He was later sent to the grave of Maxwell Lord in an effort to retrieve part of his corpse to fuel the final part of the incantation necessary for his masters to usurp the power of the Trinity.  During the scuffle, Hawkman committed the horrific mistake of cutting through the binding patterns, and the sun within him started begging for release, and threatened to forcefully escape, scorching Earth and destroying the massive hero assemblage of the graveyard.  Metamorpho and Supergirl could barely throw him into outer space where he could detonate harmlessly, but Metamorpho could still hear his laugh.

After the restructuring of reality brought about by the spell, his teammate T.V.M. found upon Swashbuckler's suggestion the Tattooed Man's cell in the JSI Cuban detainment center.  Exhilarated at the promise of the power of a sun, Edwards willingly endured the pain of the transformation as T.V.M. changed his tattoos to channel the binding patterns on his skin and recreate Sun-Chained-in-Ink.  While this was successful, the Dreambound soon found the new Sun was not the best replacement for Hemi, as he did not share the dreams and quality of the original.  Edwards, by his side, felt nothing but disdain for the Dreambound and wished he could punish them for their madness personally.

However, as the Nightlord, the Sunlord and the Truthlord returned to Earth, Edwards suffered from a reality blast that separated him from the sun within to revive Hemi, who came out from within him and restored the original Dreambound.  All of the group escaped Castle Branek to avoid the oncoming assault against Morgaine and Enigma both by Despero's forces, the former JSI and the three Gods of Truth, Sun, and Night.  However, knowing Morgaine would not be felled so easily, they located Konvikt, still full of the divine energy given to him by Enigma and seething against Morgaine.  It was Hemi who convinced him to take the fight to Morgaine and fight for his honor, later, he would also participate in an attempt by the heroes, using the powers of the Major Arcana, to bind and contain Krona using Morgaine's own magics as the Sun, opposing the Void Hound's Moon and Tarot's High Priestess. When the Arthurian sorceress busted the spell, Hemi was thrown across the rapidly dying world.  However, after the Three Gods defeated Krona with the Worldsoul, Hemi was found unscathed in New Zealand.  He was last seen exiting a courthouse with the rest of the Dreambound, celebrating the fact they had been declared innocent by merit of having been controlled by Morgaine.  Thus, he walked away with the Dreambound to roam the world, forever pursuing their dreams.