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, and are not intended to be offensive or provocative.
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, Month December, Day 5.
A Universe—Reality—is such a large concept that many fail to grasp its enormity. Take a human and scale it down to the size of an electron, and the entire Universe would fit between the Sun and Saturn. Is that a good enough example to put it into perspective? No, not really, because electrons are so small they are also outside the scale that average humans can picture.
In other words, the volume of the Universe is so large in comparison to human understanding that most just assign the value of 'beyond comprehension' to its size.
Comprehensively discussing the multiverse is simply impossible for most.
A Universe is so large that, even if he could grow larger than one, not even Aragorn has the dedication to scry its entirety at all times mentally. Additionally, the Self that he stratified inside Reality has certain limits, so it would be an absurd task to attempt.
However, he has the capacity to focus on certain important parts of Reality's structure. The integrity of the Universal Wall/Barrier keeping the void out of Reality is one of these.
Just as he immediately sensed when the entrance to Otherworld shifted, or when Extreme Gamma Radiation polluted Reality, Aragorn immediately sensed when an Incursion was artificially started by Chaos King and Thanos.
An incursion is an event where part of a Universe intrudes on another, and then both are forced to face each other, leaving behind only a survivor. This is the most well-known definition of such an apocalyptic event; however, for beings like Aragorn, what heralds an incursion is not when the invading Reality takes form in the sky and the bells of the end of the world ring.
What heralds an incursion is when the outtermost edge of the Universal Wall is breached, and it merges with the outtermost edge of the Universal Wall of the other Reality.
And incursions are such absolute events, meaning that only one Reality can survive one, that Aragorn always kept a metaphorical eye on the outtermost edge of Earth-5H1N3's wall.
The reason he paid so much attention to incursions was not that he feared a clash of Realities, because he was certain that, barring some exceptions, any Reality that clashed with Earth-5H1N3 would be obliterated by his. The reason he did was that such an event required his attention because of its absoluteness.
Another important detail to note was that Realities are not bubbles, and that the closest point between all Realities is always Earth, the Nexus planet of Realities. As such, even though Thanos and Chaos King's artificial rupture happened at the edges of the Universe, the Incursion started from Earth.
So, a few seconds after the Continuum and Earth-5H1N3 shook hands, the skies turned red on Earth, and a spherical void of absolute darkness appeared above Earth as if another planet were coming out of the veil of space. As if a moon of unpierceable umbra had suddenly appeared and had taken about 80% of the sky's area.
This, again, is not how the average incursion is supposed to look. Normally, another version of Earth should have appeared above, as if a giant mirror had shown Earth its beautiful reflection, but, since Chaos King had eaten whatever Earth Hercules-616 had tricked him into absorbing, the Continuum was nothing but darkness.
The heavens were bleeding a red of the apocalypse, 80% of the sky, what wasn't red, was a non-flective black, all-consuming, and a sense of dissonance tackled humanity, as if what they were observing was peering back with hunger; if these were not the clear tells of another apocalypse, then humanity from Earth-5H1N3 was even more mentally retarded than Aragorn gave them credit for.
Almost instinctively, they pulled out their smartphones and calmly waited for a Purple Alert while making way, in controlled hurry, to the nearest public shelters.
The Arbor Mundi had not stopped expanding its roots through the planet's mantle. At this point, if there was movement in the continental shelf, it was because the tree allowed it, and the volcanoes that still breathed lava were because it was permitted.
Under such 'comprehensive' coverage, and because Aragorn accepted suggestions from Carol Danvers, Doom, and Fury, the roots shelled the existing underground shelters. Additionally, most underground structures—subways, basements of certain depth, sewerage systems, tunnels, cave systems, and more—had been reinforced and shelled by the roots.
In places lacking such structures, a few root poked out of the ground, creating natural tunnels equally reinforced and shelled, and humanity knew all of this not only because the natural and artificial shelters were located near population centers, but also because after the Divine Incursion, knowledge of them was shared by the WSC (Fury).
While the orderly and disorderly mobs sought shelter, a cloak of dense psionic energy burst from Aragorn and shielded the planet.
Psionic energy alone, telekinesis or not, would not be enough to push back the invading Reality; the incursion was not only a physical phenomenon. His objective was to protect Earth from whatever came from the other side.
"Should we summon the pantheon?" Yelena, at Aragorn's left, asked.
"No, not until I can remove Chaos King from the board," Aragorn replied.
A pulse of red and yellow light erupted from everywhere and nowhere in Reality. The psionic shield flickered before disappearing.
"Master?" Irina asked.
".. External psionic energy has been banned from Reality," Aragorn grimaced.
"Thanos?" Irina asked.
Aragorn nodded, and another barrier appeared around the planet, this one powered by void energy.
"How can he have enough umpf to power that without the Power Gem?" Yelena asked, dumbfounded.
Time and Space so that the wish can reach everywhere. Reality to have the authority to make the wish. Mind and Soul to reach every living being. And, finally, Power to fuel the wish, that's how the wish-granting Gems worked.
With the Reality Stone, Thanos had the authority, with the Mind Stone, he had the aiming system, but without the Power Stone, he would be limited, greatly so, in pervasiveness and reach.
"Chaos King must have found a way," Aragorn surmised.
His body morphed, and his humanoid form shifted to his draconic form.
"Stay here, don't summon anyone until I engage with Chaos King," Aragorn commanded before reappearing before the Continuum.
{How complicated has it all been. All this power, and yet I've had to play this game of, as mortals call it, cloak and dagger. And you're not even a multiversal entity, not this piece of you at least.}
The Continuum spoke, Reality trembled, and these vibrations were what conveyed Chaos King's message.
|Where's Thanos?| Aragorn asked. |And what happened to Hart?|
{The Mad Titan is in charge of your pet deities. As for the mortal... His body is mine, and his mind sways like an ebb boat in the ocean of my mind.}
|I knew not even you could have pierced the defenses I left in his mind.|
Aragorn's body had grown to the point that his form encompassed the window the Continuum had opened into Reality-5H1N3.
From below, the mortals who rushed to the nearest shelters, those just tuning in to the livefeed provided by the Sat-Net, and those who possessed skills, powers, technology, magic, or other forms of scrying, all observed the large scaly, translucent back and the massive wings standing between Earth and the hole in the sky.
The crimson reds blended into the translucency of Aragorn's body, contrasting with the blueish-white of his void energy coursing through him. The blue and red mixed and the light colored him in a purple hue with two bright blueish-white stars, his heart and Eternal Flame.
'I don't think I'll be able to keep the void barrier up. This thing is beyond this Self,' Aragorn informed Jean through the connection they shared.
'I'm on my way with Plutus,' Jean replied. 'We can't warp.'
'That's Thanos doing, he increased enormously the density of Reality here,' Aragorn revealed.
'So, if we portal, we risk a black hole?' Jean asked, surprised by the ingenious method of sealing.
'Yes, same for the other Therions,' Aragorn revealed, much to his dismay.
'Who's on Earth?' Jean asked.
'Yelena, Irina, and Kitty.' Yelena and Irina mostly stayed by his side, and Kitty was serving the last month of her family-imposed grounding. 'Hela and Medusa are with Gaea, but I sensed the Arbor Mundi sealed the entrance as soon as the incursion started.'
'Is that new?' Although the situation was dire, the connection between Aragorn and Jean was as seamless as that between Phoenix and Jean, allowing for nearly instantaneous communication.
'I think it took some of the protocols I left behind, and it created something like pseudo-directives. Not exactly thought, but a certain level of free will,' Aragorn explained.
{So your care is not for him, but for your countermeasures?}
|I'm pretty sure Hart told you plenty about me. That's how you stayed away from these eyes. You should know I don't care for him.|
{That's what I'm the most confused about! Why do you protect them when you don't care?}
'Are they stalling?' Aragorn asked himself.
Currently, after external psionic energy had been banned, Aragorn couldn't use his empathy or read Chaos King's mind to figure out what the Cosmic Being was thinking. Based on what he had read, Chaos King was not supposed to behave like this.
There was a measure of curiosity in the few words they had exchanged, and Aragorn didn't know if Chaos King could not use Conceptual Speech or was avoiding using it; after all, with Conceptual Speech, it is impossible to hide intentions.
|Ḏ̶̳̹͓̠̼͖̻̘͓͍͒̌̌̊̈́̽͝i̶̡̘͈̰̥̹̫̝̝̘̬̤͎̯̹͐̕r̵̛̦̜̥̰̲̱̣̺̱͇͉̙͒̃̇̋͐̀͊̾͗̀̚͜͝ḛ̷̛͚̬̝̳̫͆̿͒̾̊̐c̶͙̪̫̯̟̭̗̱͚͗͐̌́͐͊t̸̮̜̝̂͛̓̈̒̾̌̏͘ͅį̵͖͈̥͉̺̙͓̗̱̮̤̼̈́͑̇̏͊͋̾̀͛ͅͅv̴̩̰̂͊̀̃è̵̦͈̠͖͖͕͒́̆̍̃̍͆̃̈́͠ͅs̷̡̨͍̞͙̗͓͎̦̩̳̮͚̟̓̈́͌̾̊͆̍̊̿͊̿̒͘͝| (Directives)
Testing the waters, Aragorn replied in Conceptual Speech. The meaning behind what he meant to communicate with 'Directives' was instantly explained to Chaos King, and it was then that Aragorn glimpsed a strange shiver-like disturbance in the darkness of the Continuum.
The Continuum was absolute darkness, and it was Aragorn's eyesight that allowed him to observe said disturbance.
{Ah, I understand you more now!}
There was something unnatural about his already unnatural voice. To Aragorn, it appeared almost as if- 'My answer...delighted him? What the fuck?'
|You should know that you won't be able to destroy this Reality with me here. What's the meaning of this pointlessly stupid incursion?|
Chaos King was certainly stronger than Aragorn's Self, but if it came to it, Aragorn could save Earth-5H1N3 by taking some extreme measures. And, Aragorn believed that Chaos King should have realized as much.
{Do you want to comprehend me? Is that it? Do you want to understand? From understanding bonds are forged, is that it?}
|... Yes?| Aragorn's reply showed how confused he was.
{Join me!}
|...?|
{Naturally, you will not understand me if I start with the conclusion! So, I'll help you understand me.}
Something triggered Aragorn's every sense, and, decisively, Aragorn took one of those extreme measures he had thought of before.
If Reality could be simplified into a spherical shape, a cap, the point of contact between Earth-5H1N3 and the Continuum was cut into Reality by a blade from the void between Realities.
Just like that, the incursion ended. A piece of Earth-5H1N3 was cut off, and it merged with the Continuum. And the world was saved... Not!
The newly exposed hole in Reality would allow the void between Realities to leak in and to corrupt Earth-5H1N3 into a succinct death by void.
After the extirpation of the invading Reality, Aragorn's body was immediately covered in Script, and, in less than an instant, was sacrificed to create a lid, a patch to the Universal Wall.
Creating a Multiversal Wall was still beyond him, but a Universal Wall was not exactly. It's not that he could create it, but that he understood its creation and inner workings, so it was technically possible to fashion a replacement for it.
This did not mean that the sacrificed Self created a Universal Wall or a permanent fix, which was not a task that could be accomplished so readily. What the sacrifice accomplished was a temporary seal, so that he could later return and figure out what to do with the hole.
Another Stratified Self appeared, the one that existed outside the multiverse, in the void between Realities.
{Oho! I knew you would realize I was about to pour myself into it! As expected from you!}
|Truly, what's the point of that, aside from annoying me? Are you even capable of coherent thoughts?|
Aragorn didn't really understand what Chaos King was about to do, but the warnings his senses sent him told him that he was going to do something irreversibly bad. Which is why his Self outside Reality swung its blade, wreathed in void energy, and cut off the connection between Realities.
{Oh, don't say that. Let me explain, this is all part of my plan to have you join me. But, don't worry about me for a second, please direct one of those impossible eyes to your Reality, I swear I'll not make a move.}
Naturally, Aragorn did not take his eyes from Chaos King, and that caused another shiver-like disturbance in the Continuum.
He opened an eye behind his head and observed Reality, not only his loved ones and their surroundings, while keeping his eyes on Chaos King.
{Hehehe Let me start with my cage, the Cantinuum. This Universe's Universal Wall was molded by Galactus to seal me. I couldn't undo it. Just like mortals can't fight the fourth dimension, Time, I could not fight this Universal Wall.}
Back in Reality-5H1N3, another pulse of Reality Stones' power erupted from nowhere and everywhere.
{A miracle happened, and a small crack granted me hope. Ah~ That maddening sweet thing, hope! But! This accursed wall was still holding strong; hence, the need for the Reality Stone to extend the Universal Wall of your Reality to touch the Continuum's wall.}
If the walls touched and either side invaded the other, an incursion would be triggered, like a spark in ethanol.
|You used the 'naturally' occurring phenomenon of Incursions to crack the wall.|
Aragorn focused on using his All-Seeing eyes to understand what that last pulse meant, but he did not spot any change.
{We both know there's nothing natural about the Beyonders' Incursions, but yes, you're right. That's why I assisted Thanos, and the Mad Titan assisted me.}
|But I severed the connection, stopped the incursion. What now?|
He opened a milliard eyes behind him, all of them dedicated to studying what Thanos had changed.
{That's because I want you to join me. From what I learned from the mortal, and my billions of years of observing mortals, this was the best method. After all, that fraction of you could have never stood against me.}
|... You wanted to fight my full-power Self?|
Disbelief shrouded his now-multicolored eyes. All the anger he felt about the incursion was gone, pushed aside by confusion and disbelief.
{I know you may find this hard to believe, but you're my idol! That absolute erasure, your emptiness, that absence that is yours, a void far deeper than the Oblivion Void.
You can't understand! I almost had them, I almost ended it all, and brought it all back to the void! Yet, they bested me at my strongest... And, after such an incomprehensibly long time imprisoned in the Continuum, I could not help but accept my defeat... Because they beat me when I was at my strongest, precisely.
When I had long accepted the eternity of my imprisonment, that light, your light, I peered through the crack; it called to me. I needed it, I need you. With that void, your void, in my hands, I will absolutely not be defeated, not even by the likes of Cosmological Compass.
So, I need to defeat you at your strongest. Then, like how I accepted their defeat over me, you will accept your defeat to me. Only then will you join me!}
To say that Aragorn was beyond surprise at the very derranged, yet oddly mortal, thought process was an understatement.
He was certain that if Death could observe what was happening outside of the multiverse—which she can't, under normal circumstances—she would be biting her nails off with swirling galaxies in her eyes in jealousy.
When he declared his love to Death, even he was not this passionate.
Outside Earth-5H1N3, the moment the ban on psionic energy no longer affected him, Aragorn managed to gather some emotions through his empathy, but Chaos King was not a being who used psionic energy to think. At Chaos King's current level of power, multiversal at least, Aragorn was only getting static with the occasional sporadic emotion.
Even so, he didn't need his empathy to understand that whatever Chaos King was feeling towards him could not be that far from a form of sickening affection, something close to unrestricted idolatry.
|... Fuck no.|
Aragorn didn't know what Thanos had changed, but whatever it was, it had changed inside Reality, which didn't interfere with his ability to wrap the Universe in one of his barriers and coil his tail around it before bolting out of there like a photon in a Gamma-ray burst.
The Continuum, which until that moment was peeling away its Universal Wall, reformed into an entity of shadows, Chaos King. Contrary to his previous form, Chaos King was now bereft of any discernible features to his face. He was shadows, and the shadows were him, yet, somehow, even without a mouth, the shadows smiled lovingly and bolted after Aragorn.
With a few of the eyes behind him, Aragorn tracked Chaos King as it barrelled like a cosmic avalanche of inevitability behind him.
|Learn to take a fucking no for an answer!|
Aragorn roared, and his speed escalated to the next level.
{Don't go. Join me. Imagine what we could achieve together. Imagine what we would become as one!}
They were moving so fast that they were not exactly moving; they were displacing their surroundings. The problem was that the void between Realities was Chaos King's home turf.
Just like Aragorn could displace space to ignore distance, Chaos King could displace the void to ignore distance.
Instantaneously, Chaos King blocked Aragorn's path.
Without hesitation, full power, Aragorn breathed his void breath at him and cut through the hole he carved into the multiversal entity. When he came out the other side, he did his best to ignore the shiver-like disturbances he had associated with enjoyment in Chos King, and his Eternal Flame started to leave a trail of flaming petals of bluish-white paradoxes.
Some of these petals exploded with enough force to hollow out Universes upon contact with Chaos King, some of them drifted aimlessly in the void between Realities.
{~Ah. So that's how you feel. Oh, such a decisive erasure, even beyond what you released inside your Reality.}
The parts of him that had been erased fell off, like a reptile shedding its skin, and Chaos King was whole again.
{Escaping is impossible.}
His declaration was not empty boasting. While Aragorn could certainly escape, Earth-5H1N3 could not leave the void between Realities, or, more accurately, it could not cross the Oblivion Void.
All Realities belonging to the multiverse were interconnected, even a Doomed Reality—as evidenced by the door to Otherworld—and that meant that trying to escape with it was akin to trying to escape with a net's knot without severing its ties.
|Maybe I can't escape, but I can keep doing this forever. You'll never catch me, and I just need to wait for one of the Bosses to intervene, possibly Noona.|
{What if I target the other Realities?}
A distance away, a cluster of stars inside a glassy shell, a Universe came into view. One of the large shadow tentacles behind Chaos King extended like a chameleon's tongue and wrapped around it.
|Do it. I couldn't care less. Though you might be careful not to incur the wrath of the Cosmological Compass. I bet this time even Boss Oblivion would interfere.|
The tentacle's hold tightened, and the glass capsule was riddled with cracks.
{You appear to be mistaken about something.}
The being chuckled darkly before the capsule fully cracked, and the Universe was consumed.
|I rarely am, but do tell.|
Countless lives were lost in an instant, the entire timeline, to the point that it was impossible to bring that universe back, no matter what bullshit Aragorn pulled. With the Cosmological Compass being the only ones with that capability, or, like Hercules, by sacrificing something as significant as omnipotence.
{When I was born, the multiverse was transitioning iterations. I was trapped then within the Prime Reality, and I had to plot for billions of years for my return. Then, after consuming most of the multiverse, I was sealed.}
|I know your life story, get on with it.|
Aragorn used his concept [Paradox Liminal Permutation] to exchange positions with one of the petals that had drifted in the void between Realities just as Chaos King's claws were about to wrap around one of his wings.
The flaming petal, upon being grasped by Chaos King's clawed hand, exploded into a brilliance of erasure.
{You don't know what your words do to me.}
The moaning way in which Chaos King said that told Aragorn everything he needed to know about what his words did to the Cosmic Shadow.
Every time Aragorn exchanged positions with one of his paradoxical flaming petals, more petals drifted away from the Eternal Flame. Like the swaying embers of a forest fire at night, the petals painted the dark void between Realities.
If a Universe is so large that its size couldn't be grasped by most, the scale of the void between Realities, housing an infinite number of Realities, was beyond description.
A size so incomprehensible that even while both monsters were clearing distances of several universes per instant, their fight had not spread widely. Even so, Aragorn was releasing so many petals that from a distance it looked like how space does inside a Reality, with countless stars dotting the darkness.
{For us, Time's passage is a gentle current which he can fight with ease or ride with calm. But, maybe because Galactus wanted to ensure the destruction of my sense of self, or simply because the Continuum was built in a hurry, the current was the violent streams of hydrogen in a star.}
Aragorn flashed from petal to petal, and Chaos King ate the exploding flames of erasure after each attempt at capturing him, yet the damage was zero.
Using his magic, powered by raw void energy, Aragorn cast any attack spell in his repertoire, cuts, tears, explosions, conceptual damage, and conceptual torture, none of which lasted before it was all shed or regenerated away.
{It was so long, I was submitted to such a current without being able to escape, disturb, or create another current. At some point, they succeeded. I was not who I was before, and with no stimulus but my memories and those of those whom I consumed, I rebuilt myself.}
Aragorn created Selfs and attacked Chaos King from all sides. Mouths with unending rows of fangs breathed the breath of void flames, creating a 'chamber' of erasure.
A single, massive spot of the void between Realities was erased, leaving a white, non-dimensional hole in the void. The whiteness of erasure with the darkness of the void contrasted like black ink on a piece of white paper.
There was nothing left of Chaos King, yet Aragorn didn't wait. He exchanged positions with the floating petals and made a beeline towards the Prime Reality. He didn't need to wait for the end of Chaos King's story; he had already figured out what had happened, what none of them, Abstracts, considered due to their almost unchanging nature.
{Even anew, I was still trapped. With nothing but absence as my motivator, I chose to perfect my powers. My powers were vast; I'm night-omnipotent within my domain, but I was new to them. I never trained them. I never understood them. I figured that if I took that impossible step from nigh to fully omnipotent, I would escape my cage.}
Shadow King reformed in front of Aragorn when the Prime Reality was a few universes away, and then the void between Realities shifted.
If before it was the void between Realities, it was now The Void Between Realities, the Realm of The Shadow King.
{Naturally, I was naïve. My cage was beyond my grasp. But still, I had mastered my power. I was no longer a pathetic shard of Oblivion; I became the Abstract of The Void Between Realities. I'm certain you understand what this entails.}
Yes, Aragorn understood.
When the cage was opened, when Aragorn severed the connection to Earth-5H1N3, as the Continuum was unraveling and releasing the monster inside, The Chaos King was reconnecting to its concept, to its domain.
This meant several despairing facts to Aragorn.
First, an Abstract within their concept was not something that could be interfered with by other Abstracts.
If The Phoenix Force was at her strongest in The White Hot Room, Death in The Realm of Death, Oblivion in The Oblivion Void, The Living Tribunal at The Dimension of Manifestations, The Queen of Nevers at The Land of Couldn't-Be-Shouldn't-Be, and Eternity-Infinity at the multiverse, then The Chaos King was his strongest at The Void Between Realities.
Second, Aragorn was sure that the Cosmological Compass was blind to what was happening inside The Void Between Realities since the moment The Chaos King fully connected with his domain. This is why he was aiming for the Prime Reality, the one Universe that was most monitored.
Third, it could be taken as good news, now Aragorn could kill this 'version' of The Chaos King, and another would be spawned by The Void Between Realities—that's how Abstracts work under certain circumstances—so he didn't have to hold back against him. This good news, however, was overshadowed by the fourth fact...
Fourth, since the moment The Chaos King took hold of his domain, Aragorn could no longer escape. Earth-5H1N3 was fully trapped.
See, previously, Earth-5H1N3 could not be stolen without pulling the net (multiverse) with it, but there were options. For example, Aragorn could have shrunk it and then hidden it inside another Reality. This could have worked because he was certain he could distract The Chaos King long enough to hide Earth, but now, after The Chaos King became virtually all-knowing within his domain, that's not possible.
Aragorn stopped escaping.
{Would you like me to tell you what the Mad Titan did to your Reality?}
The Chaos King appeared right in front of Aragorn and wrapped his shadow tentacles around his wings and limbs lovingly. He cupped his draconic face in his clawed hands.
{He made your Reality incompatible with you.}
|...| Aragorn's eyes went wide.
The last option he had was to hollow out Earth-5H1N3, take everything inside of it into one of his barriers, and safeguard it inside his void stomach dimension. That way, he could find a way to generate another Universal Wall and deposit the insides of that Earth in it, like transplanting a boiled egg into another eggshell.
But, to do that, he would have to reach inside Reality-5H1N3... With Reality being 'incompatible' with him, The Chaos King meant that Reality was allergic to him. In other words, until Thanos was dealt with, he was banned from it, unless he wished to risk its destruction.
One of the tentacles pried his tail open, and Reality-5H1N3 was released from the guarding coil of his tail. It drifted aimlessly in The Void Between Realities, and Aragorn closed his eyes behind him, one after the other, leaving only his three front-facing eyes, dedicating all of his attention to The Chaos King.
{Needless to say, I'll kill Gaea and your unborn son if you escape. They don't have cores, do they? Gaea may have one, but your son certainly doesn't yet.}
Aragorn smiled at him after a long moment and said, lifelessly, |Bonds truly are an Eternal Being's undoing.|
A shiver-like disturbance spread across all of The Chaos King's shadows.
↓Part 2━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 2↓
Earth-5H1N3, Year 2001, Month December, Day 5.
The Mad Titan was a genius. If some excelled at math, physics, biology, sorcery, politics, economy, or combat, Thanos excelled the most at warfare.
Not the type of warfare where opposing bands fought for supremacy, but the type that was always decisive. Thanos was one of those who prepared so thoroughly that when the time of clashing sides arrived, he had an overwhelming advantage over his opponents.
If Thans were to half a planet's population, he was certain he would achieve his goal before embarking on the endeavor. That's what was terrifying about the Mad Titan; all the surviving halves would claim different variations of the same history. Thanos came, he was overwhelming, he ended half, and left.
The large empires would always get the same intel, different variations of the same history, and then, what were they left to work with? How could they plan for the downfall of an opponent that stood at their level while being a being and not a galactic empire?
It was not that the Kree, the departed Shi'ar, Xandarias, Eternals, and others in the seats of power didn't want to get rid of the monster, it's that they didn't even have a clue to start working with.
Thanos was akin to a natural disaster at this point in his life.
But then came the fight between Aragorn and Kubos. Later, The Chaos King revealed the truth of the Fulgebunt Draconis Imperium, a monster intergalactic empire beyond anything he could phantom, and if that was not enough to change him, the Trial of the God Quarry did.
Hence, Thanos did not boldly reveal himself after Aragorn's departure. He did not parade to Earth and halve humanity, for there was no reason to; he had already won.
It's not that Thanos feared deities. Eternals, and Deviants to an extent, were above deities due to their creators, the Celestials. This did not mean that he underestimated them; after all, he used to be always careful of the movements of the Godheads of Omnipotence City, being especially careful with Odin. But, he did not see them as equals. Obstacles, at best.
Aragorn was a different thing. He was certain that wielding all Infinity Gems would only grant him, with great effort, the ability to escape him. This was because what he feared the most in Aragorn were his eyes and breath.
This is why, with Aragorn out of the picture, so long as he held the Reality Stone, he had already won.
When Odin wielded the Cosmic Cube, and when Kubus wielded his power, they all took the same approach: to make Reality hostile to their enemies, and Thanos had witnessed how that played out and learned from it.
His approach was: out of sight, out of mind. If Reality could not harm him, then he just needed Reality to be incompatible with him and to destroy itself, and everyone inside Aragorn cared about, upon contact with the dragon.
Not even a child would fail to see that all Thanos had to do was stay away from the Drachantheon Therion and build up his power until he was ready to take the remaining Reality Gems from their grasp.
It was logical, and Thanos, being an entity favored by causality, knew that time was all he needed to become inevitable. He was certain of his potential.
Back on Earth, after Aragorn had opened a cap on Reality and subsequently sealed it with a barrier conjured by ritualistic magic, the crimson skies characteristic of an incursion of Realities returned to normalcy.
What didn't return to normalcy was the hole in Reality. The seal on the whole was transparent, as most things related to Aragorn were, so the emptiness of The Void Between Realities was perfectly visible, and Aragorn's form facing something made of shadows was as well.
Countless multicolored eyes opened in Aragorn's back, facing the expectators, and, if that image didn't send them into frantic panic, then they would have been called Duskari and not humanity.
Irina and Yelena, who were anxiously awaiting the arrival of Thanos, were at maximum alert while observing their surroundings with all of their biological and divine senses.
⌈DarthKitty: I'm portaling now.⌋
The timely heads-up of the cat through The System alerted them of her arrival. To their side, a portal opened, and the cat walked through with her nine tails flared out, ready for combat.
"What's the situation?" Kitty asked.
"We are awaiting an invasion from the Mad Titan," Irina revealed.
"Our primary objectives are to get a measure of their objectives and approach," Yelena added.
The Therions did not let the eldritch appearance of their eldritch terror distract them from their alertness; their senses were sharpened, sicced on any distortion of space, time, or Reality, awaiting the impending attack that was taking agonizingly long minutes to come.
"Something is not right," Kitty said what they all thought.
Before Irina and Yelena could reply, Reality pulsed once more with yellow and red from everywhere and nowhere.
"... Definitely, something is not right," Yelena muttered in reply.
Then, abruptly so, the scene through the seal changed. Aragorn wrapped his tail around Reality, and then he was seen moving through the void and escaping while attacking The Chaos King.
The Therions could observe this, even if blurry with afterimages, but to the rest of the mortals, and those with lacking dynamic vision, the scene became a blurry image of a bluish-white form vaguely shaped like the back of Aragorn, and flashes of light with the occasional darkness drowning the light.
"We need to speed up the time flow!" Kitty shouted, her eyes narrowed into cat slits.
⌈DarthKitty: Speed up time! As fast as possible!
FoxSorcerer: What's happening?
DarthKitty: I don't know, but we need time to figure it out. Aragorn is fighting something outside.
FastestIncubusAlive: Are you in need of my assistance?
Firebird: Don't come out of the Imperium. I'm on my way with Draco.
ImperatrixFox: Mindee and I powered The Ark. Ready to deploy the time field.
Firebird: The rest of you, be ready to cloak the Barrens. The Mad Titan absolutely can't get wind of the Reality Stones in our possession.
PrincessFox1237: Should we relocate the Barren Lands?
RampagingCortana: We don't have the divinity left for that.
343Guilty2B: I'll open the sealed reserves of Orbs the Master Chief left for emergencies. Don't relocate the Barrens, it's too wasteful.
FoxWitch: You could use the spell Aragorn bought from Fury to create a barrier of Infinite Distance. Cloak it still.
ImperatrixFox: Time field going live in 3...
ImperatrixFox: 2...
ImperatrixFox: 1!⌋
Just as Reality had pulsed red and yellow, it pulsed purple, green, and blue.
From inside, nothing changed, but now, even the slowest of mortals could follow the fight occurring outside Reality.
The time flow was advancing so fast that from outside it was as if Reality had been sped forward, like a video.
Seeing that, without holding back, Irina, Yelena, and Kitty blasted their divine sense with full might, covering the planet, the Moon, and then, going further beyond the fringes of Pluto's orbit.
A divine sense was not the equivalent of seeing/sensing all within it; it was more like a sonar trained by divinity to pick up relevant targets.
Their sense caught two impossibly fast-approaching signatures, but they were succinctly ignored when they felt the familiarity of their auras; it was Jean and Plutusdrakon.
A fraction of a second later, after Jean and Plutusdrakon had slowed down and appeared next to the Therions, Jean reached out to Aragorn through her connection.
'I'm here. We are speeding Reality's time flow. What's going on?'
When Jean asked that, it was right after Aragorn had figured out that The Chaos King had transformed into an Abstract.
'Jean, can you reach Phoenix?'
Jean sensed his urgency and reached out to her patron before asking about it. Yet, there was no response.
'No. How is that possible?'
'This thing is an Abstract. The only reason I can even communicate with you is that my tail is touching the seal I left.'
"No, that can't be!" Jean exclaimed as she replied through their connection.
"Fuck, that's not good," Yelena cursed.
'I don't know when, but when Noona and the others try to reach this Reality, they'll know something is amiss, but I can see it; The Chaos King is using the same trick as you.'
"There's no Time in the void between Realities, how is that possible?"
'He became the Abstract of The Void Between Realities. If he says he is speeding time, then he is. This isn't looking good, Jean. I haven't figured out what Thanos changed, either.'
"We'll work from inside, keep me updated!" Jean exclaimed before turning to the Therions.
"What happened, Jean?" Plutusdrakon asked.
His concern was as visible as his aunts', because Jean had not bothered masking her worry.
For the Therions, who used their empathy as another channel of communication, it felt strange not being able to sense each other's emotions, and they were also experiencing a sense of disconnection ever since Thanos banned external psionic energy.
"Aragorn is trapped," Jean said with a barely perceptible tremble in her lower lip. "No, we are trapped, Aragorn is not leaving us behind," she corrected herself.
"... We are hostages?" Kitty asked.
"No, not yet. Aragorn still has a few options, and if I don't care about my wellbeing, I can also play certain moves, but the situation is not looking good," Jean said while shaking her head in disappointment.
"How can we help Master?" Irina asked.
"It's obvious we can't do anything about that disaster," Yelena pointed with one of her light-blue-tipped tails at the scene beyond the seal. "So we can only take out our grievances on Thanos, right?"
"Yes," Jean nodded.
"That's... easier said than done, no?" Plutusdrakon dejectedly asked. "Although it isn't the Time or Space Stone, the Reality Stone also grants high mobility when mastered. How long will it take us to track Thanos, and what if he bolts?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
"... Plutus is right," Kitty nodded. "However, maybe we can lure him?"
"Our Reality Stones?" Yelena asked. "That's not a good idea. And, we are also using Time, Power, and Space at the moment; it's not like we can borrow them to lure the Mad Titan."
"Let's not forget that the Mad Titan can't be underestimated," Plutusdrakon added, his eyes on the fight ensuing outside.
"The Mind Stone should be limited in dominion after the first pulse," Kitty added, thoughtfully. "So, in reality, he would be fighting us with a stone and a half."
"With Jean here, even if he undid the ban on external psionic energy, we would not have to fear the Mind Stone," Irina added, her mood picking up.
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but he can use the Reality Stone to reach you, physically, with the Mind Stone, even if external psionic energy is removed from the equation," Jean rained on their parade.
"Jean, can't you form a temporary connection with us, like the one you have with Aragorn, and protect our minds even if he reaches us?" Yelena asked.
"No, I would have to use Phoenix's Psionic Nexus as a relay point, and currently, I can't reach her," Jean shook her head.
"This is impossible," Plutusdrakon groaned. "With the protection of void energy in our cores, we could fight the Reality Stone's influence, and the mental shield Grandpa left in our minds should shield us from the worst, but the moment external influence beyond the limit is detected by the shield, the countermeasures would be activated, and we would immolate ourselves."
"Knowing Master, he thought something like 'You can't mind-control my Therions if I blow them up myself!'," Irina said with a dejected chuckle.
"Yeah, and I'll probably end Reality if someone pierces my shields," Jean added, equally dejected.
They were intelligent, not only by birth, but also because of how much they had studied, the modifications being a psychic did to their minds, and the mutations Aragorn blessed them with; hence, they were coming rapidly to the conclusion that the battle outside would come to an end before they achieved anything actionable.
As if to dig further into the hole of their depression, Aragorn reached out to Jean.
'I will be out of reach, Firebird. Your safety is your first priority, I don't care about the Universe or my job.'
"Aragorn, what's going on?" Jean asked.
'Thanos made reality incompatible with me.'
Gasp! Jean covered her mouth in disbelief; she was knowledgeable enough to surmise what it meant.
'I'll send Reality on a collision path with another. I'll keep him distracted, if you can't find a solution by the time of the incursion, blow Earth-5H1N3 up, and escape through one of the other Earths' Nexuses.'
With their eyes glued to the scene beyond the seal, they saw Aragorn close his eyes in his back, and then the point of view shifted. Darkness swallowed the scene, and then, at a greater distance than before, they saw the passing image of Aragorn's back being engulfed by loops of darkness. The image went dark again, and then they saw the bluish-white light for the last time.
'Aragorn,' Jean called out through the connection, but, like with Phoenix's, she got no response.
For the first time since Aragorn came into her life, since he released the shackles Xavier had placed on her with a smile, Jean couldn't sense that calming and protective presence in her mind.
"Fuck, Jean, what happened?" Kitty asked, biting her lip in concern.
"W-We are out of options... We've been taken hostage," Jean revealed, her voice breaking slightly. "I can't reach him anymore."
"Master," Irina whispered, her eyes glassy with unshed tears.
"What's going to happen to Aragorn, then?" Yelena demanded, her eyes wrathful yet desperate.
"He didn't say," Jean shook her head. "He said there should be an incursion eventually, and that if we hadn't found a solution by then, to abandon ship."
"..."
"..."
"... Is that it? Just like that?" Yelena asked.
None could reply because none of them knew the answer.
↓Part 3━━━━━━━ ● ━━━━━━━Part 3↓
It had been a week since a hole was permanently opened in Reality-5H1N3. The initial unrest quickly dispersed after no purple alert was issued, and it became clear that their sky had been permanently redecorated with just the 'simple' side effect of 80% of the sky becoming absolute darkness.
Similar to how the Moon orbited Earth, it became clear that the hole in the sky also orbited Earth; sometimes, instead of a sunrise, a patch of darkness would swallow East, and the only indication of the sunrise was the warm colors at the edges of the darkness.
At points, during a night clear of clouds, under the easing light of the stars and the Moon, a patch of darkness would swallow the scene.
Initially, due to the reduction in UV light exposure, humanity was having PTSD flashbacks of the time when irradiation had ended most of the plant life. Luckily, since King Doom had agreed to share the resources obtained from the Sapling of Discord, and Re-Nazca had signed the agreement to remove their private ownership of the Arbor Mundi, the worldwide export of sap and processed sap was smoothly reaching where needed.
Although tragic, the consequences brought by the Goblin Force's rampage taught humanity what to do in cases like these. And it wasn't like all plant life was irradiated to death, like last time; it was simply that most plant life highly dependent on sunlight exposure was slowly withering away, so the disaster was incoming but not actively present.
A week had gone by, and contrary to the Therions' initial expectations, Thanos had not attacked Earth.
"I don't think he intends to attack." When Plutusdrakon said this, they all surmised the despairing reality that Thanos indeed was not attacking, for he had no reason to. He was winning by hiding.
Still, to not make matters worse, the Therions in the Barrens remained there. Those in their dimensions also did not dare to come out.
The reason was simple: with enough power, the Reality Stone was not that much different from a Cosmic Cube.
By the end of the first week, Fury, Doom—and the surprising addition of Reed Richards—contacted the Halo for a meeting.
They had matters better discussed in person, and they also needed to update the Therions on the status of the world, which, for obvious reasons, they had been too busy to pay attention to.
Jean seamlessly portaled to the base of the Sapling of Discord. Initially, she had not been able to teleport to Earth, due to Thanos's interference, but once Aragorn had been forced to seal the hole in Reality, that interference ceased.
"Hey, Red," Fury greeted her with the familiarity only he had with the Therions.
"I love your style, Fury," Jean replied. Her eyes were set in his white hair and beautiful sky eyes.
"It wasn't by choice, but thank you," Fury accepted the compliment.
He was now an old man. He had extended his life, initially, through the Infinity Formula, so he was not a young man anymore; he had to accept proudly and gratefully any compliment that made it his way. Naturally, after he had used several serums from the Halo, he was not ageing anymore, but he ignored that part.
"It's reassuring to have you with us during Aragorn's absence," Doom said in greeting.
"I don't feel like such a reassuring presence," Jean said while gazing at the horizon, more specifically, at the semicircle of absolute darkness swallowing the sunset.
A week is such an insignificant period for immortals like the Therions; conversely, they think so fast, have such vast reach, that a week is also a significant amount of time if they are focused on a task. This was the reason behind Jean's and the Therions' frustration; a whole had passed, and they had nothing to show for it.
"If there's anything we can trust, it's in Insanity Incarnate's ability to fuck over those he marks as enemies, Red," Fury said with absolute certainty. "His mind, or minds, may be absurd, but I'm certain that right now, all of them are focused singularly on finding a way to end that thing."
"..." Jean didn't verbally reply, but her expression was enough to key the men into the direness of the situation.
"You're hostages, are you not?" Asked Reed Richards, who until that moment was playing the silent observer.
Everyone present noted that he said 'you' and not 'we', or 'the world is hostage.' They were smart and knew Aragorn personally.
"What are you doing here, Richards?" Jean asked icily. "We don't need to exacerbate the situation, thank you."
"It's interesting how age has changed you so little, but I can be certain that when we met, you would not have said that to me," Richards pointed out. If Jean's words offended him, it didn't show.
"It's not age, it's experiences," Jean scoffed. "Answer the question, though, what are you doing here?"
"I'm one of the imbeciles living inside Reality!" Richards exclaimed while opening his arms wide, gesturing to his surroundings. "I may not accept Aragorn and his methods, but I can acknowledge that this place only stands due to his interference."
"How have you grown!" Fury scoffed.
"I would tell you to be prideful about it, but I don't think you can be more prideful," Doom added.
"Victor, let's not talk about pride, shall we?" Richards said flatly. "One is a control freak who is aiming to have the world under surveillance. Another can pass judgment on life at a universal scale. And you, Victor, could only accept Aragorn's extended hand until he made you feel like he needed you. And I, objectively, am the smartest being here, and possibly beyond the planet. Pride is all we are, all we have."
"I can't deny that. I also don't have the need to do it; it's my hobby, job, lover, and life. If I don't spy, I'm not Nicholas Joseph Fury," Fury shrugged without shame.
"I don't deign you worthy of an answer," Doom coldly declared.
"Pride is in my job description. If you're Phoenix's host, and you are not proud, you're a failed host," Jean stated with unclouded eyes. "So, what do you add to this meeting, and why should I not atomize you? Just so you know, I don't have the patience Aragorn has for you. Try me again, and I will warp your mind so much that not even your feeble mental shields would know what happened."
The slitted green eyes, plus the flaming hair, and the shroud of oppression begotten by her status, were more than enough to force Richard's mouth shut and to erase his confident grin.
"The world's oxygen levels are dropping alarmingly fast, and CO2 toxicity is increasing equally so," Richards said. "I think the planet is being silently attacked."
Silence lasted a second or two before Jean exclaimed, "Fuck!"
Marine phytoplankton produce 50–80% of the breathable Oxygen, terrestrial Plants 20–50% of it, and all of them do so through photoautotrophy. In other words, when for long periods, 80% of the sunlight is blocked, the production of oxygen plummets.
Last time, when most plant life was toasted, the world consumed part of the planet's reserves of O2. When Jean restored most of the damage dealt by the Goblin Force, her wish didn't include secondary aftereffects, but mostly the direct results of the rampage.
This may sound dire on paper, but in reality, it would take about 40,000 years for the reservoir of breathable oxygen to be spent.
The problem with the CO2 is that, as the photoautotrophs vanish, CO2 levels would rise precipitously, and death by CO2 poisoning would be reached sooner, in about a century or two.
Now, all of these are problems that should have never mattered, because the Therions were sure to restore things way sooner than those deadlines, or to blow up the world as the incursion started in the near future.
"Fuck the Reality Stone!" Jean cursed. She reached into the System, which kept operating even without Aragorn running it, and informed everyone about the dire news.
⌈Firebird: Thanos is planning to kill humanity by asphyxiating it.
Butler: But, why? Humans are but a pebble in the road, and the guy is driving a bulldozer.
DemonQueen: Do we know if the guy knows magic? Maybe it's about a ritual. It could be a massive sacrifice in exchange for power.
OlderSister: I have additional bad news...
GoddessOfLust: Because why not? As if we needed more shit thrown our way!
FoxWitch: @OlderSister What happened, Maddy?
OlderSister: At some point, he sealed all external dimensions. I can't open a way to Reality.
DemonQueen: Madelyne is right, I just tried, and I'm locked out too.
Plutus: This can't be. Maybe we should do as Grandpa always said: if you can't solve it, then blow it up. What if we blow up Reality to force Thanos out? I mean, he lives in it, no?
GoddessOfLust: So do we, NeetDragon.
DarthKitty: No, wait, the kid is on to something.
Plutus: I am?
DarthKitty: Hear me out... What if we set the world on Cosmic Fire (@Firebird) and make sure only the Barrens are unharmed? For sure, the purple guy will be forced out, right?
Plutus: ...
ImperatrixFox: ...
BigTittyGothGirl: ...
GoddessOfLust: ...
DemonQueen: ...
Butler: ...
FastestIncubusAlive: ...
OlderSister: ...
Firebird: ...
343Guilty2B: ...
FoxWitch: ...
FoxSorcerer: ...
BuckysFairy: ...
StarsnStripes: ...
GoddessOfDragons: ..
SexiestRedCat: ...
PrincessFox1237: ...
DoctorWolfgirl: ...
YellowBolt: ...
GossipWolfgirl: ...
DarthKitty: ...
RampagingCortana: ...
VladNotTheImpaler: ...
BunnyMaidOfFire: If it's for Master's sake... When do we start?⌋
╚═══━━━─── • ───━━━═══╝
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{A/N:
Please check out my P@treon account! There are already 10 chapters ahead for premium members, which is at least 100,000 words. Premium members also gain access to a new chapter every week.
[email protected]/ExistentialVoid
Free Members get access to all free chapters, and I upload free chapters about 12 hours earlier on P@atreon.}
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