The Firefountain in situ

Description and Specfications: No true measurements were ever taken of the Firefountain. However it was seen to go down a shaft of indeterminate depth and up through the city to "the roof of the sky." It is clear that the Firefountain chamber itself was of mystical origins, and may not have been in our dimension, since the Firefountain was not visible from outside the city. In fact, X-Force later used the city to transport to Asgard, years after the Firefountain had vanished.

The Firefountain itself had the ability to transform ordinary humans who touched it into super-beings, who were taller, more muscular and perhaps even more mentally agile than they had been previously. The energy beam on at least one occasion also transformed the clothing of those who touched it (in this case Heather Hudson) into a more rustic, perhaps Asgardian style. Amazingly, the Firefountain seemed to read the mind of the transformed people and bestow abilities on them that mirrored and expanded upon their skills, experience and desires. For example, Madelyne Pryor, who was a part-time nurse, became "Anodyne," a healer with the ability to cure any mental or physical defect, while Samuel Ross a cargo chief who loved to read, became a Librarian, with the knowledge of the ages accessible by his improved mind.

Unfortunately, the Firefountain's gifts came with a price, as the X-Men and Alpha Flight discovered: Loki had devised a trap for humanity, by powering the Firefountain with the creativity and "magic" that infused the world. Creatures such as Snowbird and Shaman, whose abilities were based in magic lost control of their powers and began to wither, and Talisman, who could disrupt magical spells, actually caused the Firefountain to blink out of existence for a moment. Furthermore, the The Firefountain also used up all of the imagination and creativity it encountered; transformed humans discovered that they could no longer innovate and imagine new uses for their powers. Rather, they could only create figures and models of things they had previously envisioned.

The Firefountain's "City"

Relevant History: When Loki created the Firefountain, it happened to intersect with a plane flown by Scott Summers (Cyclops) and his wife Madelyne. Aboard were eight other people on an expedition to XXX. All were transformed by the energy beam except Cyclops, who was not a baseline human. Cyclops's distress was picked up by his alternate-timeline daughter Rachel, who streaked off to attack Shaman of Alpha Flight, since Scott had wondered if the inclement weather that appeared prior to the beam's arrival was his doing. After the X-Men arrived and calmed Rachel, the teams reconciled and set off to explore the phenomenon together. Shortly after arrival, Snowbird fell ill and Shaman was attacked by demons from his magic pouch. Shadowcat, Talisman and Rachel eventually found a Norse village under the city and deduced what the Firefountain was doing when they saw the sketches in sketchbook degrade in quality to that of a child. The information about the Firefountain's effects on imagination caused a split in the ranks, as some worried that mutants and magicians would be ostracized or killed for their differences, while the rest saw that as a small price to pay for the potential to end world hunger, war and disease. X-Men and Alphans, along with the transformed humans, fought each other for control of the Firefountain. Eventually, Loki revealed himself and brought Frost Giants into the fight to force the mutants to accept his gift. They refused until a giant hit Ross, and Anodyne agreed to Loki's terms in order to save him. However, the Norse god's overdeities, Those Who Sit Above in Shadow, overruled Loki and made him restore everything to the way it was before. The Firefountain was doused forever.

Years later, X-Force and Dani Moonstar traveled to the Firefountain's city in search of a way to save the Valkyries from an evil elf. They found a portal to Asgard in the city, which over time had been covered in snow and was decrepit. No trace of the Firefountain remained.