History
The Well of All Things was a pinprick-sized portal that intersects multiple dimensions that on earth manifests in Cambodia. The hole released various forms of interdimensional energy. Centuries ago a group of natives built a temple around the well in the hopes the tribe could one day harness the power of the well. These people became known as the Cult of the Dragon's Breath.
Over the centuries the cult began practicing selective breeding in the hopes of breeding a generation that could harness the power of the well. After WW2 this generation came about and included Tai. Tai began killing her rivals in the cult to ensure she alone would tap into its power. Her people believed in a prophecy that Westerners would one day marry into the cult and that from these unions would come powerful children who could be sacrificed to the well in order to grant someone the power of the well.
During the Siancong War the prophecy seemingly came to pass when a unit of soldiers called the Half-Fulls stumbled upon the temple in the jungle. Tai promised the six men (Daryl Taylor, Andrew Chord, Diego Casseas, Mark Conroy, Collier Mack, and Go Vin Ng) undreamt-of power if they agreed to marry and father children with the six maiden brides ("The Daughters of the Dragon") of the cult. Almost all other members of the cult had been killed off by Tai by this point. Five of the six soldiers agreed but Night Thrasher's father Daryl refused on the grounds he was already happily married (ironically he would later go on to father an illegitimate child anyways). This agreement was known as "The Pact" and the product of these unions was known as the "Children Of The Pact".
One of the soldiers, Andrew Chord, married Miyami, the only one of the six brides who was Tai's biological daughter. Miyami had two children: Midnight's Fire and Silhouette. Not wanting to lose her children to her mother's sick schemes. Miyami plotted to fake her death and the deaths of her children in a car accident. She arranged for her children to be given new names and be raised in Chinatown. Andrew and his mother-in-law Tai assumed the children were dead. For years Andrew wandered the world as a mercenary until he came upon the temple again and renewed his acquaintance with his mother-in-law. Tai, fearing the Pact was unravelling, chose to leave her temple and return to the United States with Chord.
Tai forced Andrew Chord to renew his friendship with fellow soldier Daryl Taylor who eventually had a son with his wife Melody named Dwayne and Andrew was made his godfather. Chord also became an integral part of Daryl's company, the Taylor Foundation. When Dwayne was six years old, Tai returned to Chord demanding Andrew kill Daryl and Melody. Terrified by Tai, Chord acquiesced and shot the couple to death in a restaurant. It was at this point Tai was introduced to Dwayne and she used her powers to cloud his memory of what had happened.
Tai chose to use Dwayne as part of her plan to salvage the pact. Tai and Chord seized control of the Taylor Foundation, raised Dwayne as his legal guardians, and trained him to avenge his parents' murder. They did not approve of his first choice of vigilante teammates Midnight's Fire and Silhouette, but at the time did not realize they were Chord's children with Tai's daughter Miyami. Later they convinced Dwayne to recruit a team of superheroes. This group banded together after a battle with Terrax and became known as the New Warriors. Chord and Tai served as their mentors for many months.
Sometime later Dwayne discovered Chord had involved his family's company in many illicit enterprises and confronted him. Chord first tried to turn the New Warriors against Dwayne but eventually tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the temple. He was saved by Marvel Boy and taken to the hospital. While in the Hospital and still comatose, Chord was visited by his wife Miyami who Chord had thought was dead. This mistake led Tai to unravel Miyami's lies and realize that Silhouette and Midnight's Fire were her grandchildren. A short time later Tai confronted her daughter in a restaurant and became so furious she sliced her daughter in half. When Silhouette came to visit Chord in the hospital Tai revealed their relationship and blasted Silhouette out a window. Tai healed Chord to the best of her abilities and told him to tell the New Warriors where to find her.
By this time Diego Casseas had been gathering the Children of the Pact to confront Tai. Diego's wife was killed in an elevator fall that left their daughter comatose. Diego spent years learning the dark arts and used his spells to drain his comatose daughter of her Darkforce energy.[1] Diego became known as the Left Hand and gathered the children of his fellow soldiers: Midnight's Fire, Bloodstrike, Smiling Tiger, and Silk Fever. He had to force Night Thrasher for him to join. The six of them became known as the Folding Circle and went to the cult's temple in Cambodia to confront Tai, but the New Warriors arrived soon after.
Tai later explained the origins of the cult to both teams. Left Hand revealed to them that the original end of the prophecy was that the children of the pact would enter the Well and gain omnipotence, but this went against Tai's plan who wanted the power for herself. Tai's original plan was to sacrifice the Folding Circle to the Well of All Things, but at some point had decided to sacrifice the Warriors instead and keep the Folding Circle as her avatars of world domination. Night Thrasher kills Tai to prevent her from dropping his friends into the well and Nova leaves Left Hand to drop to his death and he too falls into the well and seemingly perishes. As a result of this the Well of All Things imploded and took the temple with it.[2]
Later Silhouette was sent into the past by the villain the Sphinx. There Silhouette met her grandmother as a young girl in Cambodian temple. Even as a young girl Tai was plotting to seize power and demanded Silhouette help her eliminate Tai's young rival Chei-Lin. Silhouette dumped her young grandmother in the Well, reasoning that this would not affect her own future but rather create an alternate timeline without Tai.[3]
Many years later, the Well of All Things was revealed to be tied to a concept called the Wellspring of Power. Apparently there are several other pinpoints all over the globe that access multiple dimensions, and supposedly this is the source of various super beings powers on earth.[4] Through a series of machinations, Baron Helmut Zemo seized control of this energy and used it to defeat the Grandmaster. Songbird, not trusting the Baron, betrayed him, using the Well to send him hurtling back in time.[5]Residents
- Tai
- Miyami
- Chei-Lin
- Other brides of the Dragon's Breath cult
Notes
Trivia
- Only 5 of the 6 daughters of the Dragon's Breath are accounted for. It's unknown if the sixth bride ever mated and gave birth to a child of the pact.
- Daryl Taylor's brief exposure to the Well (a few weeks' worth) may have led him to pass down mutant genes to his sons even though he did not mate with one of the brides. His son Dwayne with his wife Melody has a gene for psionic protection,[7] and his illegitimate son Donyell from a one-night stand has bioelectric powers.[citation needed]
- Scorch may be another Child of the Pact. Silk Fever was orphaned as a child and did not know who her parents were. Tommy and Theary/Min Li both share the same surname and both have flame powers.