Storm and the X-Men travel to Kenya to aid Ainet, Ororo’s former mentor.
Storm describes to her fellow X-Men how she received a message from her foster mother Ainet in Kenya, requesting her help. She tells them she intends to go and won't insist any of them accompany her, but the rest agree to go along. Then Psylocke arrives and teleports them all through their shadows to Africa.
However, Psylocke and Wolverine get separated from the rest in transit, and, as they plummet through the air to the African plain below, they encounter a group of warriors intent on killing them. They break their fall on tree branches, and the warriors abruptly dissolve into sand. While Psylocke and Wolverine try to get their bearings, he vanishes.
In the village where Storm once lived, she and the X-Men, Cannonball, Dr. Cecilia Reyes, Maggott, and Marrow, are puzzled to find the place empty. Then Cannonball disappears. Soon, they discover all the villagers sitting in a circle entranced, as they are greeted by a possessed Ainet and an incarnation of the spider god, Ananasi. Cannonball, meanwhile, finds himself in a nightmare realm, confronted by a crazed phantom image of his late father.
Outside the village, the X-Men go on the offensive, and Ananasi counters by shunting Reyes, Maggott and Marrow into the dream realm. There, Marrow's appearance becomes normal, without her bony growths. They also see Wolverine, chained and in a feral state.
As Storm tries to tend to her unconscious foster mother, Psylocke teleports onto the scene, slashing the spider god with her psychic blades. She then sends her spirit and Storm's onto the psionic plane to battle Ananasi, but he immediately gains the upper hand while Ainet's soul tries to warn Storm of his tricks. Too late, Storm realizes they have been manipulated by Ananasi into this very situation and she tries to warn Psylocke, but she already commits herself to a powerful psychic thrust that yields unexpected results. Her bolt of mental energy shoots through the spirits of the entranced villagers, amplifying through each one, finally striking her with immense force. The blast then expands across the psionic plane, affecting both psychics and normal humans alike.
With Psylocke defeated, her astral self left in a confused jumble, Ananasi reveals his true self, that of the Shadow King.
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