This work is a piece of fiction. While it may be inspired by real events, cultures, and practices in human history, the story blends factual history with fictional characters, dramatizations, and creative interpretation.
It is not intended to promote, glorify, or encourage any illegal activities, substance use, or harmful behavior. All depictions of sensitive topics are included solely for narrative and historical context.
For the effects of the story, all characters are to be considered above the age of majority.
Reader discretion is advised.
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Earth-5H1N3, Year 2001.
While the news of Lilith's possible death was abrupt and concerning to an extent, I couldn't drop everything to go and take a look at the shitshow Wade Wilson's mind was.
The cores of Yelena, James, Sislohrie, and Kitty were already back in Halo; their lack of bodies would soon be solved. The damage they dealt the ocean would not heal as easily.
It wasn't only that a chunk of the oceanic waters had been erased with everything in them, there was also the 'small' problem we discovered after turning back the darkened waters to simple oceanic waters...
... Macrolife did not survive the conversion.
"... This is a problem," Seraph commented.
Emma had been summoned by her daughter, something about rebelling and claiming the crown for good if she didn't show up to work, and Yao had to drop by the Order of Sorcerers to check the World Shield and make sure the birth of such warped territory didn't allow any more intruders. So, it was only Seraph and me.
"Yeah... Most of the coral reefs didn't survive," I added.
Honestly, this was a big fucking problem.
Even if my Chocolate could drop by and shower the oceans with her divinity to bless them with [Growth], [Resilience], [Life], and [Healing], the damage was already done, and by the time new life sprouted to replace the lost one... It would be an entirely different ecosystem.
No matter how much Gaea blessed life, [Life] followed its proper course. Meaning, it was impossible to recover what was lost.
"The ocean is essentially a microbial soup seasoned with a few multicellular, large spices," Seraph said. "But even then... the, what? 30% of marine life lost means that everything else will collapse, no?"
"No doubt," I nodded.
We were floating about a section of the gelid South Atlantic Ocean, my eyes, the ones I had at my disposal, were scanning everything, hoping for a miracle.
"When the overirradiation affected most of the planet's plant life, it was not that tragic because plants have roots, but this time... fish don't have backups," I added.
"Father, when you scanned for the Life Code of some of the species of the planet, before you ascended the maids, did you not keep a record of several codes for marine life?" Seraph asked. "I can only find a few in the Grand Repository of Knowledge."
"That's because fish aren't fluffy," I deadpanned. "I only have the few I coincidentally scanned with my eyes or consume when eating as Aragorn Abner."
"... Shit, right?"
"Shit, indeed."
"How long until this affects the coast, rivers, and then the landmasses?" Seraph asked.
"Days for those who sustained themselves through fishing to starve to death and abruptly change diets—"
"Only humans, from what I gather," Seraph interjected.
"And a few selected species of birds," I added. "After that, it's going to be a chain reaction. Not everything in land will be lost, but yeah... this is a shitshow. We need to create a new food chain and import species from... I don't know, Halo, the Imperium, possibly even from Gaea's Dimension."
"There's a rich marine life in Nirn, too," Seraph said. "But I understand how complicated this will be."
Imagine a mathematical equation with thousands—hundreds of thousands, bordering millions—of variables. The combination of at least two variables generated a result that had to be tested against each individual variable.
After this result passed the grade, another two variables would be tested, and this same result would have to be tested against anything else.
Hundreds of thousands of pairs, you undo these pairs and then try with different pairs, and then you do this all over again, until you have tested all variables against each other in pairs, and then you move to trios. And then you keep increasing the number of aggregations until you finally have the General Equation for an Ecosystem.
Yeah, it's almost an impossible task. The few times the Duskari have needed to use the equation, they have always requested Seraph, Spark, and my help, and they have needed this equation to restore an ecosystem with foreign variables. And, it has always been to create new ecosystems in terraformed planets, which is comparatively easier since you don't have to worry about the already existing planetary balance.
"Father," Seraph turned to me with a pout, "Do you think this shadowy guy knew about this?"
"... I don't think he knew exactly what repairing this would entail, but I imagine he extrapolated that whatever mess he created would have to be fixed by us," I growled.
"... I hate this," Seraph pouted harder. "I'll go kidnap Spark. You should ask Gaea, Jean, and Doom for help."
"Doom? What can he do?" I asked.
"He might want to take the chance to request a few requests from the list we offer," Seraph explained.
"I guess," I nodded. "I'll see in Krakoa, then."
Seraph nodded and teleported.
I reached for Doom's mind and sent him the equivalent of a telepathic text message. After sensing his annoyance, anger, displeasure, and finally acquiescence, I teleported to the United Kingdom.
Throughout the ordeal, I had not left James Jaspers away from my sight.
I appeared immediately behind him and pulled his [Spirit] out of his body. His body fell dead inside one of my void bubbles, and then I breathed the fuck out of it. No body, no X-Gene.
Before his [Spirit] could catch up with the situation and pull some Marvel Comics shit out of his astral asshole, I purged his [Soul] out of his [Spirit] and utterly broke, destroyed, warped, and erased his [Mind].
I opened a small window to Hell, Wandabus' Hell, and pushed the soul to the Fields of the Damned.
'Wandabus,' I reached out.
'Aragorn?' Wanda asked. She had already sensed my window to her dimension.
'Take careful care of this soul, please,' I requested.
'Uhmmm, it doesn't look like it passed through a limbo, did you purge its mind, or did it lose its mind somewhere while alive?'
'I purged it,' I replied. As the Goddess of Hell, it was expected she would notice the difference.
'An enemy?'
'Not exactly,' I admitted. 'A possible, highly likely, future headache. I killed him before he became that.'
'Oh, how proactive of you,' Wandabus mused. 'I imagine this isn't only about the divine war, as you barely place deities in your eyes. So, another upcoming headache?'
'Yes,' I didn't need to hide the obvious truth. 'Thanos.'
'Ugh, everything is hit in this Reality,' Wandabus growled. 'Yesterday, by Earth's time, a few hundred years ago by my Hell's time, the Hells of Buddhism began their incursion along with Hades. By the way, Persephone, Hecate, Charon, and Hypnos took over Hades.'
'If you need help, you know what to do,' I advised with tenderness.
'Yeah, I had Madelyne lend me Sahara, and Kaguya sent Lucian (her son), to assist my twins,' Wandabus replied. 'Pietro's return also helped with the workload. Agatha is commanding my demons with Duke Blaze, so it isn't as taxing as you might think.'
'That's good,' I commented. 'Heaven and the Abeyance have not been attacked. Earth has been a battlefield since Kubos' fall, and we've detected a few divine scouts sniffing around the sealed edges of the Barrens. I'm not sure how, but they realized the Imperium and Drachantheon Therion are housed there.'
'Maybe due to all the portals you guys opened when stealing planets from the Shi'ar,' Wandabus suggested. 'I even sensed Jean's fight from here.'
'Sigh... I don't know, but I'm not that concerned about the deities; you guys have it handled. The problem is the shadowy guy, and that I'm yet to recover fully,' I whined.
'Don't worry, Aragorn, if it comes to it, we blow up this Reality and create our own, a utopic one!' Wandabus eagerly suggested the slaughter of all life on a reality.
'I'll leave as a last resort,' I agreed.
We said our goodbyes, and I closed the window to Hell.
I portaled to Gaea's dimension and was shocked by how much things had changed here since I last saw it.
To be fair, I only did not expect this much change because I didn't think Gaea would speed up the time of the dimension relative to the outside. Actually, it's curious, she created an upper and lower layer to the realm. The upper layer, where she resides, is synced with Earth's time, but the lower level, where all the biologicals I gathered for her are located, is sped up about ten times.
'Come, Love,' Gaea's voice rang in my head. I teleported to the upper layer of her realm.
This place was a miraculous sight.
If the lower layer represented all of Earth-199999's preglacial life, then this realm represented all of the magical and divine life that didn't exist anywhere but surrounding Gaea.
I spotted elementals, spirits, fairies, pixies, and countless forms of guardians, nature guardians.
"Ehmm, where did you find all of these?" I asked as I made my way to my pregnant Chocolate.
"A few of them walked through the portal in front of the Arbor Mundi and then were attracted to the point of connection between my dimension and our tree," the Chocolate replied from her flower bed, literally.
She spread her arms and gave her what she wanted. I wrapped my arms around hers and shifted her close to my chest in a hug before positioning myself below her and allowing her to lie atop my chest as I became her bed and lay over the flower bed.
I leaned down and met her soft eyes. I was glad I had recovered enough of my body to give it some material essence.
I planted a kiss on her forehead and lowered my hands to the sides of her belly. Her bump was noticeable now.
"How's the kernel?' I asked as I pushed my biokinesis in and opened my eyes, the ones in contact between her belly and my flaming body, to observe all.
"Healthy," she said with a comfortable smile, nestling on my chest. "I felt a few pulsations yesterday, but today he is calm and collected, like a prince."
"... I'm glad, Gaea," I replied. My eyes, no doubt, were pink and gold.
"What's up, Love?" She asked.
"I need your help, we kinda fucked up Earth's oceans, and now we need to reconstruct the previous ecosystem with alien materials (lifeforms) without collapsing the surviving structure (ecosystem)," I revealed.
"No, I don't mean that," she shook, tapping on my chest with her nails, clearly noticing the difference between my usual body and this flaming shell. "Your eyes shifted colors strangely for an instant."
"... Ah, that..." I drawled my reply. "I confess, I have my reservations about my ability to raise a boy, especially if he is similar to me."
"But you did such a good job with the little maids," Geae tried to reassure me.
"At my core, Lucian forms the base for plenty of what makes me me," I began explaining. "My directives were created when I was still Lucian, or when the existence of my mortal self didn't feel so distant."
"Mhmm, I know," Gaea assented. "You—and Spark oftentimes—have shown me the memories of when you were only Lucian."
"As Lucian, I had my sisters," I continued, playing with her long, silver-white hair and softly caressing her pregnant belly. "My sisters were fairly normal, and I could observe how my parents raised them. I could, now and even sometimes back then, determine when they made a mistake and understand both sides.
"But me, I realize now that I was possibly not normal, and that the mistakes I perceived my parents made with my upbringing might have simply been the result of the incompatibility between the method and the target," I explained.
"Wrong tool used for the incorrect bolt?" Gaea asked.
"Precisely... And, this child will be even more different than whatever minuscule difference I presented as a child," I pointed out the logical. "I've been observing the Duskari raising children, and even our Therions, but I still feel unprepared.
"I know that we'll have each other, the three of us, to lean on, but none of us is truly prepared for what's to come out of your womb, Gaea," I said. "This child will not be raised the same way you raised your previous offspring, no offense—"
"None taken, I recognize my mistakes," the Chocolate nodded with a sagely and distant look.
"Death is probably more inexperienced than I am in this," I chuckled. "Honestly, we are not ready for this, are we?"
"... No, Love," Gaea replied softly.
We know too little about our baby, and when I asked Aniki about it, he simply said that even he is looking forward to the birth. There's no Abstract of [Childcare] or [Motherhood] here, so even the option of a counselor is not an option. What I've seen with the mortals and even my Therions won't be of much help when the baby could be born with a mind as complicated as mine.
And let's not talk about the consequences of our baby being remotely connected to Void-chan through me. I've discussed it with Void-chan, as much as my Self Outside could, and all that I've been able to determine is that our child will be connected to me and not Void-chan, but I'm part of Void-chan, so that doesn't set my worries to rest at all.
What if, from Noona's and Gaea's concepts, our child inherits [Life of the End] or something like that, and then he begins to give birth to lifeforms that bring ends? What are we to do with a little machine of apocalypse-spawns?
Maybe, only now I'm beginning to realize the impact of our rushed and thoughtless decision.
Sigh... Everything is becoming a mess.
I gazed down at my Chocolate only to find her sleeping on my chest. Weren't we brainstorming? Sharing our concerns and ideas? This is a serious matter, sleeping Chocolate!
'Maybe that's why all of her offspring turned out as they did,' I thought while narrowing my eyes.
I pulled my index finger with my thumb, ready to flick her forehead hard, but placed down my weapon of mass destruction at the last second and decided to keep petting her.
I reached for the [Time] of this upper layer and altered its flow to grant her a nap of a few hours before I portal us to Krakoa.
Really, everything is so complicated here. I'll take a nap too and try to pull some energy from my Self Outside. I might as well try to speed up my recovery.
↓Part 2━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 2↓
"So, this bitch is dying again? What number is this one, fourth?"
The conference room in the Spire of Krakoa was a large room with tall ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, and, in contrast to the high spec of the Spire's tech, it had a traditional aesthetic.
Seraph was resting while slouched over a beanbag that had grown out of the floor. Her position, while lax, accentuated all the unnecessarily licentious curves of her body. Her 'defenseless' state was excused due to the tiring nature of her previous encounter at the bottom of the ocean, in Atlantis. Additionally, no one present was a stranger to her or an idiot who would covet a stupid and purposeless death.
Doom carried the same regality he would while giving one of his kingly speeches for his subjects. Despite being one of the most overworked beings on the planet, none of the lassitude settling in his mind could be seen in his face or the way he carried himself. Surrounding him, multiple holographic screens floated, projected from his P-Link. Even while waiting for Aragorn's and Gaea's arrival, he was working.
Jean Grey, even though she could be considered the vitality monster of this Reality, was ragged like a worn-out toothbrush that had seen too much for too long and only desired to be replaced. She didn't bother hiding it; her hair was a mess, her green Phoenix Force regalia was torn, and it was doing a terrible job at keeping her 'innocence' hidden from prying eyes. Her psionic control was sloppy, and even the non-psychics in the room were sensing her mood.
She had almost just arrived, but still, she was in a state of fucks deficiency; she just wanted to rest, but Seraph had asked her to come.
Magneto and Storm were also present, but not due to the value of their input or the importance of their opinion; it was because they were present in their capacity as hosts.
Spark was present, hovering around Fury like a fangirl, purposely trying to annoy him and/or fluster him.
Fury was another mortal who sat right next to Doom on the throne of the most overworked humans ever.
He has not slept since before the Therions departed to Earth-199999, aside from the time he fell unconscious after overusing his magic during the confrontation with Odin. The archane magic coursing through his veins, and the newly formed packs he made with the Wolven Princess upon their return, and a few other Therions were keeping him awake and dangerously overworked.
Just as Doom was constantly overseeing in the still ongoing WWIII and plotting for world unification, Fury was dealing with a combo of apocalypse after apocalypse, and after Hydra was taken out and so many positions were left empty, Fury could help but curse them even further—if that was even possible.
"Initially, it was not considered another apocalypse," Spark replied. Her voice had a bass to it that most would consider arousing; she combined this with her body language and looks to try to purposefully get a rise out of Fury. "But, well, the mass extinction turned into one. However! It has not developed into an apocalypse yet; we still have 77 hours, approx."
"Tell that to the world," Fury scoffed and looked away from the floating Spark orbiting him, only for her to orbit back into his line of sight. "There are talks of redesigning entire countries around the known underground refuges protected by the roots of the World Tree. I would have said that the market collapsed again, but it hasn't even recovered. The news channels, all of them, are talking about how the oceans turned black before reducing their volume considerably, and the apocalyptic repercussions this would have in the weather patterns, which, let me add, were already fucked up about one apocalypse ago. So, fuck this bitch, this is already the fourth or fifth apocalypse in like two years."
"It could be worse," Doom added. The bass in his voice was pleasantly leveled when compared to Fury's expletive-like complaint. "And this, based on what the girl told us—"
"Hey, I'm as old as your species!" Seraph quiped.
"—It could be an opportunity to request biological resources we lacked," Doom continued his point without minding Seraph's interruption. "Humans are what they eat, their bodies mainly, and by introducing possible superfoods, we could do to humanity what agriculture once did to our progenitors."
"Really? And do you think Insanity Incarnate would have summoned us if it were as simple as adding fish to the shopping cart?" he said while grabbing Spark with his hand and pushing her away. "Spark, stop this! Tell us, what's the catch?"
"Fine," Spark said with a sigh before landing and taking a seat. A beanbag, just like Seraph's, grew out of the floor, and she plopped down in defeat. "It will be an arduous task, even for us," she gestured to Seraph, herself, and then hesitatingly to Jean, "and there are close to a billion or three decisions to make, in which you'll participate."
For the first time, possibly since he almost ended the world by inviting Mephistopheles to Earth, Doom flinched after connecting the dots and understanding what having to make a billion choices meant.
"How do you expect them to keep up?" Fury and Doom gazed at Ororo with thankful eyes for asking the question they themselves feared asking.
"..." Spark looked at Seraph, as if asking her if she wanted to reveal the news or if she should do it.
"Effort, and he will possibly uplift your minds temporarily," Jean grumped out the answer. "That's what I'm here for, right?"
"Pretty much," Spark and Seraph said in unison.
"Annoying," Jean mumbled.
"Can't he pull them from the past?" Magneto asked.
Doom, Fury, Seraph, Jean, and Spark shook their heads as if the answer were obvious.
Seeing the confusion in Ororo and Magneto's faces, Spark explained, "They died in the territory, the territory no longer exists, there's no past to return to."
"And if Father pulled the fish from before they were swallowed by the territory, he would spark a paradox that would swallow this corner of the Universe before imploding," Seraph added.
"Let's not," Fury flat out stated, his eyes as tired as his soul.
While Ororo and Magneto were calming their hearts after such a revelation and understanding how easy it was to cause the end of the world, a portal sparked open in the middle of the room, and Gaea walked through with Aragorn hand in hand.
"Firebird, you look like shit," Aragorn greeted. He pushed his psionic field around her and began to fix her appearance.
Jean felt so at home while cocooned in his psionic field that she almost nodded her head sleepily.
"And you two, you are in no better state," he addressed Fury and Doom.
He pointed his flaming tail at them and cast a few reinvigorating spells and recharged them with chakra.
"Ain't that something?!" Fury exclaimed, sensing the changes in his body, but then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Wait, why did you do that?"
"Sigh..." Doom gazed above, as if trying to get an answer from the heavens. "So, it's true?" he asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but you'll need your bodies at peak state for what's to come," Aragonr said.
While Aragorn was playing the role of energizing drink, Gaea was received by Ororo with warmth and respect. Magneto acted deferentially towards her, more than he did towards anyone else.
After the greeting, everyone got to their seats, and Aragorn began explaining.
"Basically, Jean and I will upgrade your minds to the level of the one slowest to process information; Gaea's," Aragorn nodded towards the goddess. "Then, we'll pull you to a mental space and have you assist us in making decisions."
"We'll also dope your bodies," Spark added.
"And cast a time manipulation spell around here to give us enough time to pull this off within 72 hours," Seraph said.
"Easy peasy, lemon squeezy," Aragorn nodded to the horrified looks of the mortals present.
Magneto and Ororo threw sympathetic glances at Fury and Doom.
"Before we begin," Doom said with a distant and reluctant look. "I believe we should bring Prince Namor into this fray."
"Uhmmm, Namor... I had overlooked that he existed," Aragorn confessed.
"It can't hurt to get the opinion of a local for some of the decisions to come." Seraph nudged Aragorn with her right foot, lazily extending her leg towards him.
"It's not that I oppose it," Aragorn shrugged. "Just that no one knows more about biology and all that entails than Gaea, Jean, and me, so I didn't think it would matter."
Fury and Doom were there to make choices that would benefit humanity, given that that was their priority. In fact, long before, Fury had requested this of Aragorn, that if he ever had to make decisions concerning Earth or humanity that he could participate in, he should be included.
He feared that if left to Aragorn, in three days, they would have fluffy and shiny fish.
So, Namor, the prince turned bartender, was brought over. He had been the most anxious to escape Krakoa, dive, and swim his way to Atlantis, but the living island was currently in lockdown.
"What of Atlantis?" Namor asked as soon as he arrived. The anxiety was palpable even to the non-empaths.
"About 100% of the Atlanteans suffered grievous wounds," Aragorn didn't sugarcoat it. "But only 48% died, your kind is quite resilient."
With each statement, Namor's heart contracted like an imploding submarine.
"And anything above the ocean floor was destroyed," Seraph added.
"This happened to all underwater cities across the planet, the ones below the ocean." And Spark delivered the final punch.
"... No," Namor said in a choked gasp.
"They can probably recover," Jean said. She took pity on him. "The surface world has been through a few 'rough' patches in the past years, I bet Atlantis can do even better. Even if they'll refuse our help."
Jean's assumption was not incorrect. The Atlanteans would not accept pity from the 'surface dwellers.' So, they would most certainly refuse any helping hand extended to them from above the surface.
His fist tightened, his jaw clenched, he felt like an iron ball was rolling at the pit of his stomach, and that the air was refusing to flow through his lungs.
Almost 50% of his people were annihilated in less than an hour and a half. By percentages, not even the surface world had suffered such crippling wounds after three, four now, apocalypses.
"Not to be insensitive," Aragorn called out. "Which, to be honest, I care very little—"
"You did not need to say that, Father. Don't be a dick," Seraph interjected.
"—but we are working on something to prevent all marine ecosystems from collapsing in 75 hours or so. Whatever emotional upheaval you're experiencing, you might want to schedule it for later and act like an Atlantean prince," Aragorn said. He pushed his empathy through Namor and guided him to calm.
Gathering their determination and gritting their teeth, the mortals got ready for it after a few minutes of discussion, just before they found themselves in the previously mentioned mental space. That's when the true overworking started.
Three days later...
Namor, Fury, and Doom lay wasted in their respective rooms in Krakoa's General Hospital.
They were inside the equivalent of a regeneration pod that Krakoa was allowed to buy from the Imperium. It was not as miraculous as the regeneration pods found in Halo or the rest of the Imperium, but they were top of the line for Earth; the type of tech that could only be surpassed by alien or foreign tech found on the planet.
They were so tired that their minds and souls were also healing, not only their bodies.
But their efforts were not wasted. All around the planet's oceans, portals would open 'randomly,' and macrofauna would swim out and scurry away.
The complicated part—inhumanly so—was resolving the equation; once that was done, the execution was easy for any Therion. Just like following a recipe.
By the second day, the world had already noticed that there were no fish in the oceans, so panic had already taken hold of the coastal cities. The smart ones were able to understand that this was not a problem of only the coastal cities, so now, by the third day, mass migrations had started, and the market had collapsed more... well, even more.
Governments were paralyzed, and no one could blame them. If the social structure of a functioning society could be compared to a tree, humanity's was equivalent to a tree that suffered a tornado, a wildfire, an infestation of termites, and finally winter. So, not even the Therions, who most of them don't look on humanity from Earth-5H1N3 with warm gazes, belittled their social collapse.
The Therions dispatched a few of their Duskari to assist humanity, and that's how the humans came to learn of the Imperium's existence.
Some, who view Earth and humanity as Aragorn's possession, rejoiced because they assumed Earth was part of this wondrous Imperium. Others, those who read the fine print, understood that at best they could be considered an offshore territory of the Imperium, like Puerto Rico to the USA, and that at worst, Aragorn had not introduced one child to another because he intended to keep both families separated.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
While Earth was walking out of its fourth pseudo-apocalypse, and the humans were shyly making first contact with the Duskari, the few who chose to do some charity work on Earth, at a distance so far away from Earth that light-years turn negligible, Thanos was aboard one of his ships orbiting around the largest black hole he had ever witnessed.
On his left, his Infinity Gauntlet held the Mind and Reality Gems.
His eyes, with a yellow and red hue, observed in deep concentration the black hole as if peeling layer by layer of its secrets.
"... It exists," he murmured. "A black hole without a singularity."
Black holes were Reality's way of hiding away dangerous elements, mostly singularities (paradoxes), but, as evidenced, they could also be used to hide other things.
"The entrance to the God Quarry, the Graveyard of Gods," Thanos commented, his eyes shining with resolve.
In this case, Reality hid the entrance to something far more vital than the graveyard of deities; it was something that was hidden below the God Quarry, but, coincidentally, Thanos believed that Reality was hiding the God Quarry, and so, he was certain he had reached his destination, where he would change his destiny.
He warped Reality, and his ship opened up to allow him to walk out of it. His steps were solidly landing in [Space] while he made his way calmly toward the black hole.
He warped the pull of the black hole away from him, and at a deliberate pace, he approached the event horizon.
His figure was not even comparable to the monster of deep space, but his power was.
From a distance, he looked smaller than a one-dimensional dot, eventually disappearing into the impenetrable umbra of the black hole.
↓Part 3━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 3↓
At first, there was an absence of light so absolute it was indescribable. Even while powered by the Mind and Reality Gems, Thanos could not make a distinction between having his eyes open or closed.
His body was not suffering from spaguettification, as he had warped the gargantuan gravitational pull away, but that did not mean he was wholly unaffected by crossing the boundary, the event horizon.
Black holes, on paper, were all the same in nature; however, from Reality to Reality, depending on their level, black holes varied.
For a Reality as stable as the main Reality, black holes didn't bear alone the weight of protecting it from singularities. If the Reality in question were robust and firm, then it wouldn't need to overload its black holes.
Additionally, if the Reality was unstable, with a tendency for collapse, then its black holes would be as robust as it wasn't.
For a Doomed Reality, its black holes were monster constructions when compared to other Realities'. Hence, Thanos personal hell started.
The power of the Infinity Stones protected him after he crossed the event horizon, but after crossing a certain invisible threshold, he felt something change, and faster than his perception could track, something was stripped from him, something conceptual.
His will, tempered by madness, delusion, ego, and absolute conviction, acted on instinct, sucking at the Infinity Stones' energy with sudden desperation.
There were no shouts of pain, for what he was missing didn't allow him to experience feelings or emotions, not even while his body was being grated away.
The Mind Stone powered his thinking and processing ability to the theoretical maximum his brain could bear. The Reality Stone warped his body to break past his limits and raise said limits.
And then, with the sound of an implosion, he crashed into something solid, something that had matter.
For a moment, he didn't move. His body was akin to a mashed potato being kept as a unit by its skin. Then, the coursing red and yellow energies regenerated him, and he slowly began to reform.
His existence recovered slowly, the concepts it had lost returned, his mind finally processed what he had gone through, and his senses recalibrated.
A muffled groan escaped him despite his efforts to contain it. His instincts kicked in, and her evaluated his surroundings.
The ground was red, like the most crimson clay found on Mars, and the sky was absolute darkness, like a black hole. Heaven and earth were connected by crimson lightning as thick as the roots of the Arbor Mundi.
There was something foreign, alien, to the surroundings beyond the fact that it was located inside a black hole. Something that even with the Infinity Stones currently in his possession, he could not comprehend. Something that made even the Mad Titan tread with caution.
But he did, he treaded and moved forward. He had an objective, and he would accomplish his goals no matter what, not even if each step was a war against his instincts, not even if he could sense danger coming from all around him, but mostly from underneath the very same crimson ground.
There were no stars illuminating the surroundings; instead, it was the bright flashes of the constant lightning that illuminated his path.
|Ah, another Thanos! What a surprise, is it not?|
|Destiny's child found its way to one of the Nexus of all Realities.|
|Nothing is surprising about that.|
The God Quarry was a singular location. This same God Quarry was the one that could be found by flying into a specific black hole at the edge of the Universe-616, just as it was the same God Quarry that could be accessed from Earth-199999 and any other Reality connected to Marvel's multiverse.
|You do have a point. Just as Wandas and Jeans would find themselves at the center of the flux, Thanoses may walk different paths, but they would all reach their destinations.|
These voices ranged inside Thanos and equally from outside. It was something deeper than his mind, he understood instinctively; his soul.
"The Cosmic Coven," Thanos spoke their names.
As if his words had power, the moment he named them, they were summoned, or maybe he was summoned so fast he could not register the translocation.
|Welcome to the Inverted World, son of Titan.|
|Welcome to the End of All Things.|
|Welcome to the God Quary.|
The Elder Witches, The Cosmic Coven, The Oldest Magic There Is, The Three That Are One, they were known by many names, but, with how ancient they were, this was not strange.
If Aragorn, after walking side by side with Humanity of Earth-199999 for 300,000 years, had as many names as languages existed, these witches, who were older than deities and who claimed the title of Sisters of Eternity, had so many more names than there were sentient species across the universe.
They were three entities clad in robes woven with the first shadows of the current iteration, sewn with the threads of the first magic, and blessed by the divinity of all the deities that have ever perished.
Their faces were shadowed by the inability to be recognized. Their voices were immaterial and phantasmagorical.
Just by standing there, without taking any action yet, Thanos could understand that even with all the Infinity Stones in his gauntlet, they had undeniable dominion while in the God Quarry, and possibly even outside.
"I'm here for what rightfully belongs to me," Thanos declared.
He recognized their might; he didn't doubt it, but that did not mean that the Mad Titan would lower himself. He was Thanos; no matter the location, circumstances, or time, Thanos was Thanos.
|Oh, but is it?|
|All deities, across all Realities, who have ever perished permanently rest eternally at the God Quarry, yet you claim rightful possession?|
|Oh, the greed so characteristic of mortals, what an intoxicating hum it has.|
While the words were inherently mocking, their entonations were fat, and their expression were hidden by the veil of primordial shadows cast by their robes' hoods. It was impossible to determine the nature of their comments.
"Tools," Thanos said while lifting his gauntlet, "were made to be wielded. Resources," he made each Infinity Stone glow individually before pointing at the divine graveyard the Witches hovered over, "are for the exploitation of the capable."
|But are you capable of wielding the tools, of exploiting the resources?|
|But are you worthy and deserving of the tools and resources?|
|But do you think you are able? Do you have the demanded will? Do you have the understanding and comprehension expected?|
The Witches spoke at the same time.
"I am Thanos," he replied.
His name, his being, that was all he considered their questions needed for an answer.
His name was his identity. Just as Aragorn's true name carried the comprehension and understanding of his being, Thanos, whether unequivocally or equivocally, was certain his name was the same. To him, [Thanos] was a concept, and the concept represented him just as he represented the concept.
|...|
For a moment, the Witches only stared, unresponsive. The laughter that followed was the nightmare of monsters. Something so wrong the Reality Stone did its best to warp away his ability to listen with his body, and teh Mind Stone made sure his mind would not be able to recognize their laugh. Yet, their chuckles reached his soul.
|███████████|
|███████████|
|███████████|
It was something incomprehensible, so much so that for a moment, Thanos hallucinated the suffering of children behind their censored laughter.
|Prove it!|
|Test your mettle!|
|Are you worthy?!|
They exclaimed and gestured to the deep hole filled with the crumbling corpses of countless deities.
|Go on, step inside.|
|Allow the Quarry to judge you.|
|Can your will overcome what countless deities couldn't?|
Thanos looked at the hole, a dark hole with corpses akin to statues of all hues and materials for walls and floor. A hole pulsing something remotely familiar to divinity, but much more than 'mundane' divinity.
He took a step forward, but came to a stop right after. His eyes went to his gauntlet, to the Infinity Gems specifically, and something told him that it was better to leave them behind.
He trusted his insights and removed the gauntlet. Immediately after, he felt the difference, but it didn't bother him.
He walked to the edge, without hesitation, and jumped.
The light of the lightnings faded away, the soft hue of the statue-like corpses blurred, and darkness engulfed him.
After his sight, came his other sense, and then his mind; it all went dark.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Earth-?????, Year ????, Titan, Saturn's Largest Moon.
My story starts on Earth, where dreams and nightmares coexist. Specifically, it starts with the Eternals of Earth.
When the Celestials, Cosmic Gardeners, created the Eternals, the need for their increase in numbers was nonexistent. As such, Eternals couldn't reproduce naturally.
For untold eras, this was not a problem for my people, but like most things in life, this changed. A schism divided the Eternals.
Some wanted to invest resources into finding a way, while others believed trusting their creators was their way.
My father, he wanted to find a new way.
This divide led to conflict and conflict to a civil war. My father and his peers lost this battle, and they were exiled from Earth.
Back then, the Solar System was not the hub of intergalactic activity that it is today. The Solar System was alone in the vastness of space, and its neighboring star systems hadn't been seeded with life yet, as I would come to do millennia later.
So, my father chose to settle in an old abandoned post in Saturn's Largest satellite, Titan.
With him and the rest of the Eternal dissenters, they brought a few thousand protohumans and genetic samples they thought useful.
For the first centuries, my father, Mentor, focused on leading his people and the protohumans to prosperity.
Without all the trouble that follows the Nexus Planet Earth, my Father and his people found a few problems that couldn't be solved with their combined might and wit.
So, it was not a surprise that a few millennia after they had arrived, Titan had become a marvel.
Through adaptation and experimentation, the protohumans had become something new, and they were named the Titans.
They began to explore Saturn's other satellites, and they set their aim on the 'lands' beyond the Solar System.
With prosperity on the fast track, my father took some time for himself, and not long after, a century or two, he met my mother, Sui-San.
Their dream for natural reproduction had not been forgotten, and with the experience he acquired experimenting with the protohumans and later Titans, my father was ready to try.
That was how I was born.
During my earlier years, as a kid, my curiosity was unbridled, and the motivation I received from my father and mother did nothing but fuel my desire to know, to discover, to comprehend.
I wanted to be a great man, just like my father. I wanted my people to seek me when in need, like they did my mother; I wanted Titan to prosper as it did under my father's reign.
As I grew and proved myself more capable, my Father started to delegate some of his duties to me, and I gratefully accepted these as my own duties.
For this reason, I was the first to notice the upcoming resources crisis that would besiege Titan...
Around these years, early into the foundational chapter of the empire, we had yet to make a landing outside the Solar System. Space was vast, and we had yet to crack the equation for the light-speed engine.
Earth was protected by its unfathomable guardians, and the rest of the planets in the Solar System could not provide the resources Titan desperately needed.
This was when I suggested my innovative initiative.
Randomly, half of Titan would yield its rights to the surviving half.
For a year, the council and my family obstructed me from protecting my people, from saving them from themselves, but in the end, with the future of our people in mind, the only logical decision was made.
When my parents were randomly slated for liberation, I was there to set an example for my people. In my heart, I could not feel more pride for the sacrifice my parents were making for Titan.
After I showed my people that even I, their benevolent ruler, would follow the established law impartially, some called me the Mad Titan, but the vast majority recognized me as Thanos the Just.
With half of Titan's resources yielded to the blessed half, the road for our future was opened.
Millennia later, another half had to be liberated, but that was the last time, since, shortly after the second liberation, we cracked the equation for our Light Engine.
I was there when we first made contact with the Zcisillians, and it was I who accepted their surrender after the first interplanetary war of the empire, for the Zcisillians also ached for my guidance.
When we clashed with the Skrull Empire, it was I who led our empire to success and guided us out of the times of distrust brought by the Skrull's Secret Invasion.
After 2367 years since our people stepped into the intergalactic picture, I set my sights back to our Home Star System, the Solar System.
Earth, the mother of my parents' generation, remained a world cursed by freedom, and it demanded my guidance. So, I started the Solar Conquest Wars.
It is now, as I watch my Empire prosper without the need for my guidance, that I can finally relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor and sacrifices.
It is while I observe this grateful world that no longer needs me that I can finally feel at peace.
When I look at the smallest Kymillyen, flanked by its parents, with a smile as they travel the Emperor's Way, I feel a sense of fulfillment.
When the Black Order, without the need for my input, expands my dominion and enlightens civilization after civilization, I truly comprehend that this world is a better place thanks to my efforts, and that it no longer needs me.
This thankful, better world doesn't need me anymore. How marvelous is that?
It understands that my way is the way, the only one, and it is grateful for that. This, this is what I call happiness.
↓Part 4━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 4↓
Because this perpetual motion machine called the Empire would never stop, just as the universe expands, so does the Empire. And the rate of expansion is just right to allow for the new seeds of life to sprout vast forests before they demand the intervention of my Empire.
The universe expands, the newly born worlds are seeded with life, time passes, life develops, life overgrows, and then, my Empire arrives. The new worlds are enlightened, and by the time my Empire moves to the next world, sufficient time will have passed to allow for new worlds to be born and new forests to thrive.
My Empire would never expand faster than the Universe's ability to grow. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
... And yet... Why do I feel unfulfilled?
Where is this nagging feeling pushing to act coming from?
"My Emperor," I hear a voice as sweet as the honey from Earth coiling languidly around my neck and caressing my jaw softly. "What is it that dares worry your mind?"
I turned to the voice without the need for concern, for I am the wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet, possessor of the Infinity Stones, holder of the Power Cosmic, overlord of the Enigma Force, and master of divinity.
What I met was the female I expected; she was different. Her form shifted with my thoughts, her hair changed with the sway of the gentle breeze, and her eyes allowed me a glimpse of the most beautiful souls in existence, yet I could not truly describe her, for she was ever changing.
"State your name," I commanded.
"My Emperor, I am who you want me to be," she floated slowly around me, dragging her shifting hand as she did so. "I could be Carella," her form settled into the form of an attractive Titania of blue hair and brown eyes. Her eyes were gentle, filled with love and care. "Hela," her form shifted into a woman of evil, dark green eyes, pale skin, raven hair, and lethality. "Terraxia," she became a mirror of myself, that reflected all of my attributes, but in a female form. "Or I could be... Death."
My heart stopped for a moment.
She was not dissimilar to Terraxia, but the essence was different. The lethality of Hela, mixed with the power of Terraxia. The coldness of an Emperatrix meant to rule over all and beyond. The confidence of one who knows they are absolute.
I was certain I had never met this woman in my life, but I knew she was for me as I was for her.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
God Quarry, Year ????.
|Power and authority.|
|Acknowledgement and trust.|
|Pride and finally... Love.|
|But not any love. Thanos, almost all of them, would not be fooled by such a banal emotion.|
|No, it is the type of love that forged two men into brothers through shared life—|
|—Mixed with the refuge found in a soul mate—|
|—With just the perfect amount of familial love.|
|A companion.|
|A partner.|
|A mate.|
|A twisted relationship.|
|Just as twisted as the one our Sister Death has with the Progeny of the Outside.|
|For beings so different, Thanos and }{Lucivacui/Lux Vacui}{, they can be so similar.|
|Destruction and annihilation born from purpose; Thanos.|
|Protection and creation born from emotionless directives; }{Lucivacui/Lux Vacui}{.|
|Different origins leading to diametrically opposing ways of life.|
|Yet, both are compatible with Sister Death.|
|Is this why Sister Love claims Sister Death could represent her concept?|
Why would the fading deities instinctively tread to the God Quarry regardless of their different origins? For reasons unknown to all but the Witches, the God Quarry provided the ultimate relief and fulfillment to the entities that sought its depths.
A fading deity, at the end of its natural lifespan and forgotten by its believers, without faith to sustain its lifeforce anymore, would always, one way or another, find its way to the God Quarry.
The black hole, which warped and almost peeled Thanos to oblivion, would open for a fading deity, as if by design.
And the God Quarry, after trapping the fading deity into a wish-fulfillment illusory Reality, would accept its divinity as payment.
Their body, if the deity arrived with one, would become a flowerbed for the next fading deity to come. Like this, the God Quarry has been accepting fading deities since the eternal death of the first deity ever in the multiverse.
Thanos, lost in his perfect Reality, now faces as a challenge the promised relief of all fading deities. That was the nature of the test.
Earth-5H1N3's Thanos was different from many of his counterparts. He, unlike plenty of his selves, did not meet Death while growing up. He was not influenced by her twistedness, yet he grew equally twisted.
So, when the God Quarry showed him his perfect world, his heart didn't ache for the approval and acceptance of Death. What he desired the most was for the understanding of the many he saved, for the prosperity of his blessed civilizations, and, after a long journey, for Reality to no longer need him; his purpose fulfilled at last.
The detail was that, like the vast majority of mortals, Thanos didn't truly know what he wanted and needed. He ignored his ultimate form of bliss, but the God Quarry didn't.
Earth-5H1N3's Thanos was not the first Thanos to stumble or claw his way to the God Quarry, and, unlike Earth-616's Thanos, not all Thanos walked through life with an indomitable will. So, it knew what a Thanos needed and wanted without him knowing.
With that, Thanos' perfect world was completed...
|Will }{Lucivacui/Lux Vacui}{ finally get a break?|
|Will this Thanos fertilize the God Quarry?|
|Will Earth-5H1N3 overcome its first natural universal apocalypse without its protector's direct interference?|
A relative day pass in the God Quarry before Thanos replied.
The answer, upon witnessing the imposing figure of Thanos bathed in the various ownerless powers from Earth-5H1N3, couldn't be clearer.
"Who was she?" Were his first words after overcoming the test.
He knew who Carella was; she was the only woman who had ever touched his heart, and she was the reason he was standing, alive today.
Odin's mental interference was not at the level of affecting the complicated mind of an Eternal, much less a Deviant-Eternal hybrid like Thanos, so he knew who Hela was.
And Terraxia couldn't be more clearly a product of his ego and narcissism.
But Death? Something told him it was not a fake product of the test.
|Oh, woe is the Progeny of the Outside.|
|Cursed with Sister Death being coveted by the Mad Titan.|
|Oh, woe is the Mad Titan coveting what belongs to the Progeny of the Outside.|
"Who is the Progeny of the Outside?" Thanos demanded with half a snarl.
|...|
The Witches didn't answer with words; they created an illusion of Thanos escaping for his dear life from Aragorn's breath attacks, fighting an impossible battle to escape the abrupt end of his destiny as collateral damage.
Thanos' demeanor turned cold, murderous, and wrathful, and when it looked like he would explode, he calmed down abruptly. Unnervingly abruptly.
He walked a distance away from the hole and took a lotus position in the air. He felt the cosmic storm of power churning like the plasma of the brightest star. The limits of this power he was failing to grasp, even if it was his own power now. His control over it was sorely lacking.
His experience escaping from Aragorn's breath was not enough for him to claim to have grasped the level of his future obstacle to overcome, but it gave him an idea of what was to come.
He could tell with certainty that the untamed power running wild through his body was not enough, and even less so while it remained untamed.
The only logical conclusion was that he first needed to tame this monster and claim the power for himself before taking action.
He had been granted so much by the God Quarry, but even more importantly, as the rich attract riches, his power attracted power, and he could sense so much ownerless power in his home Reality that it would be foolish to run off to fight Aragorn after a single power-up.
An aura of gentle colors shrouded Thanos; his training arc had started.
━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━
Earth, Year 2001.
At a dinner in Brooklyn, New York, before the chaos of the morning rush hour started, an old man of greying hair sat with a cup of coffee and a half-eaten bagel sandwich while fighting with his smartphone.
"This thing!" The man whispered in anger, being mindful of not making his problem the problem of everyone else at the dinner. "I tapped it, just like Peter said. Why is it not working?"
The waitress noticed the struggling old man and approached with a friendly gait and a steaming coffee pitcher.
"Darling, why don't I ask Lucy over there to help you?" She asked while refilling his cup.
"Lucy?" The old man asked while turning to where the waitress was pointing with her nod. "What was wrong with the newspaper being printed? It's in the word, no? News'paper'. Not Newsdigital."
Lucy, the woman the waitress was gesturing at, was sitting with her back facing the old man, but from behind her long silver hair and business attire could be appreciated.
The old man turned back to the waitress with a look that asked, 'Are you sure? She looks high-end.' The waitress, understanding where he came from, rolled her eyes at the old man and called out, "Lucy, can you help Mr. Parker with his phone? It's one of those fancy N-Tek models."
The woman with silver hair turned to the waitress, and the old man caught sight of her face for the first time. She was etereally beautiful, the type of face for which humans used to wage wars, and as she stood, Mr. Parker felt that high-end was not enough to describe her.
'May is my one. May is my one. May is my one. May is my one.' The old man repeated like a mantra in his mind as the woman catwalked with a grace no dinner in the country had ever been graced with.
"Sure, I can help," she said while claiming the seat opposite Mr. Parker. "Lisa, honey, can you bring me my waffles here. It will take a while to go over the basics," she asked with a peaceful smile.
"A pleasure, Mr. Parker, my name is Lucy Vacuo," she extended a hand in greeting.
Mr. Parker, not forgetting his manners, reached over and shook her hand. "I'm Benjamin Parker, but if you are going to help me tame this beast, you can call me Ben." His words were accompanied by a roguish smile that, to the eyes of the waitress, made him grandfatherly charming.
"Then call me Lucy, Ben," Lucy replied with a smile while reaching over for the smartphone. She paused, asking with her action if it was okay to grab it, and Ben nodded.
"This is quite the model," she commented while inspecting the smartphone. "What do you normally use it for?"
"Read my news, and contact my wife and nephew," Ben said with a tired sigh. "I miss paper."
"After so many plants burned to the light..." Lucy replied while tinkering with the phone.
"I know, no paper trees, no newspaper," Ben said in resignation. "And the remaining paper was prioritized for more important avenues."
"The bright side is that after Ms. Abner restored nature, things should return to how they used to, right?" Lucy tried to uplift the mood.
"Hahaha," Ben chuckled. "How can things return to how they used to be? We've got deities, dragons, and whatever the Abner family is now. Nothing is returning to how it was."
Lucy paused her thinking and agreed, "You're not mistaken, Ben. Is that why you're trying to get on with the times?" she asked while gesturing to the smartphone.
"My nephew, he said this was the future," he smiled a tired and caring smile. "He said these are cheap now, but that they would not be once N-Tek and Stark Industries stop with their charity."
"Your nephew is a smart child, Ben," Lucy nodded.
Lucy taught Ben the basic functions of his smartphone and left a note in his note-taking app with a few simple instructions that could help him in the future if needed.
After 45 minutes, they parted ways. Ben to his nine-to-five job, and Lucy to her job as a math teacher, or so the world was manipulated to believe.
'The fuck? He was normal too.'
[No clones either.]
|Or any of the other humans we checked, which is about 99,93% of the total population.|
'Yeah? Then why was Reality momentarily tethered to the multiverse? If it wasn't The Web of Life and Destiny, what else could have been?'
[Our emo Reality is trying to heal? I would more easily believe it was trying to kill itself by placing at risk the other Realities and forcing our hand in ending it.]
|You have a point there, but still...|
'Heck! We even checked the mutants and Inhumans with arachnid mutations or similar.'
While talking to his Selves, Aragorn teleported to the Arbor Mundi and then walked through the portal to Otherworld. His figure flashed through the realm until it appeared inside an opulent room with tall window panes overlooking realms of stars instead of a marvelous landscape.
"Barbie," he called out to the Omniversal Majestrix.
She was startled and turned on reflex while aiming at the intruder who dared to access her bedchambers. Her face paled ashen when she realized who she was aiming at.
The dimensional energy went out like a candle in a storm, and she lowered her head deferentially, "My Lord, how can I be of assistance?"
"Did you connect my Reality to the multiverse for an instance?" Aragorn went straight to the point.
"I wouldn't dare, my Lord," she denied. "No sane Majestrix would connect a Doomed Reality to the multiverse."
"I surmised that, but I wanted to check," Aragorn sighed. "As always, stop any incoming travelers, Barbie," he instructed.
"I will continue to do so, my Lord," she replied.
Aragorn disappeared and reappeared at the base of the Arbor Mundi. He looked at the portal to Otherworld with a measured gaze before waving his tail at it and making it disappear.
To any normal mortal, the portal would be unreachable.
Aragorn's eyes stared emptily at the air. He may appear to be daydreaming, but all across the oceans of the planet, small portals appeared, depositing school after school of fish.
"So busy," he complained while focusing on the task and keeping an eye out for any fluctuations in Reality.
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
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{A/N:
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