(General P.O.V)
Necron, Neron, Ares, Doomsday, Upside down Man, Eclipso, Darkseid and finally... Empty Hand. All powerful aspects of the Great Darkness. 4 of whom had grudges against Aden Strong.
3 of whom had died...
And been brought back by the Great Darkness infinite and terrifying power. The 3 of them stood behind the plague of creation, an army made from the Great Darkness. An army that consisted of foul beings with no ounce of remorse.
From demons to eldritch abominations, some with powerful dark magicks while others with bodies that induced nightmares and insanity upon all who beared witness to them. Yet the dark army was only the first wave of enemies that Gaea had to face. For Aden's realm had been unlucky enough to have a rift in space that connected to Earth 7, the Gentry's base of operations.
And the first wave was nothing before the power of those who stood behind them, Intellectron, Demogorgunn, Lord Broken, Hell Machine, Dame Merciless and although broken and destroyed by Order...the right hand of The Great Darkness sat on a throne in the war torn world of Earth 7. And Empty Hand was full of hate towards the one who made him fail his master.
In a different timeline, the Superjudge, last monitor of the multiverse would have arrived, answering a distress call and proceeded to give his life for the last surviving member from that earth. This time things were different. Empty Hand completely decimated the group of heroes from that universe in anger at his loss in Aden's hands.
Aden had fast turned from the biggest investment of the Great Darkness to its biggest hindrance towards remaking the multiverse in its own image. With the last of it's influence on Chaos energy, the Great Darkness managed to take advantage of the explosion caused by Aden's two states fighting to connect the realm with his seat of power in the physical world.
Empty Hand gave the order, and the dark army answered.
(With Aden's Pantheon)
The full force of those standing ready to defend what was their home, temporary or not was not as big as you would expect. Aden's Pantheon and family were first in the line up. They had changed location to the ideal battlefield according to the plans they had drawn up. And it was now time to defend.
Before the spirits and gods was the mother of the realm, Gaea.
She was glowing blue while pulsing out her energy to attract the horde towards their position.
Yaotl turned to address the masses of gathered heroes.
"We only need to hold on for an hour or so. After that, we will have won. Stay on your toes and do not allow yourself to be cornered."
Then he turned back around, changing forms into his humanoid Panther war God form.
The air became charged with a certain kind of energy and a few seconds later, a blue shield materialized in the sky, rippling into visibility as the first wave of attacks landed.
Superman floated in midair using his supervision to see past the shield. His eyes widened.
"My god..."
He frowned, looking at his companions below.
"They're here. And they are many."
Most of the heroes and villains gulped.
"Steady Lady Gaea..."
Yaotl said, holding up his arm.
The shield started flashing dangerously.
"I feel like taking my chances with the Hollowlands."
Deadshot joked to Killer Frost.
"Too late for regrets now."
Superion replied to him, body clad in a red cloak of energy.
"Wait..."
Yaotl added. The shield was now reacting to the bombardment by ripping holes in other places around the globe to provide more energy to the point in the shield that the dark army wanted to Pierce through.
"Ah... anytime now!"
The Flash yelled, he like the others saw that it was just a matter of time before the shield was completely overwhelmed.
"Wait..."
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Yaotl refused.
A bead of sweat fell down Kid Flash's forehead.
"Just a little more..."
Artemis fingers turned knuckle white around her crossbow...
Just as it seemed that the tension could not get any higher, Yaotl finally gave the command.
"Now! Open it up!"
The shield rippled like water as it opened up, revealing darkness and terrifying forms. The hearts of everyone skipped a mighty beat. These things, were scary. Imagine The Trench d.n.a spliced up with Xenomorph d.n.a. Their energy signatures were just as bad as their monstrous forms.
They came with varying sizes and seemed to surf on a tide of darkness. With the rift opened up, it seemed as if they were going to spill right through. A flash of lightning left everyone's eyes momentarily blinded as Vaatu made his move.
A divine aura that had elements of dream energy blazed out of him. He had suddenly powered up to his true god form for just a single instant, wary to leave the mortals fighting on their side insane or blinded by witnessing the true body of a god.
"Begone."
Black lightning, in the shape of one massive storm, streaked through the sky, with a thunderous roar. The alien creatures from the dark army thought they had succeeded in making it inside only to be completely shocked (literally) by the unexpected planet buster attack.
50% of the aliens near the opening in the shield turned to ash and were instantly destroyed. The shockwaves produced drowned the next 25%.
"Holy..."
April O'Neal begun.
"Crap? Shit? Cow?...none of that can describe what we just witnessed."
Leo added.
"That was severely cool."
Mikey agreed.
"Don't get too happy so soon...look."
Superion warned them.
Despite the attack having enough power to destroy the earth a 100 times over, it didn't even dent a portion of the true numbers in the dark army.
"Oh my god."
Zatara said. A second later, he grabbed the helmet of Fate held in-between his arm and chest, ready to wear it.
"Are you sure?"
Batman asked from the side, two battle drones flanking his side. He had linked them to his wrist computer and could remotely control them.
"Yes."
Zatara answered with conviction. He was doing this to ensure Zatanna and the rest had had a fighting chance. He wore the helmet.
A blast of order mystical energy washed out into the surroundings, the lord of order Nabu taking the helm.
'Will it be enough?' Batman asked himself, eyes cast towards the sky. Past the shield opening, an endless army of dark beings swarmed towards the mouth of the rift and behind them were a few very notable individuals...stripped of their wills.
Darkseid, Neron, Ares and Doomsday.
The day of reckoning had arrived.
(Elsewhere)
(Overload!)
(Overload!)
(Host Condition critical due to unstable energy signature's volatile pattern)
(Warning! Mind erasure Eminent!)
(Warning! Physical vessel deterioration Eminent!)
(Warning! Soul Eradication Eminent!)
(Deploying countermeasures...lesser miracles exhausted...)
(Condition Stabi... Warning! Personality disassociation observed...)
(preserving true Self...)
(Failed)
(Preserving memories...)
(Failed)
(Preserving Essence...)
(???)
(Domain incompatibility observed)
(Overload... explosion eminent!)
(Emergency energy reserves exhausted)
(Requesting for faith energy...)
(Initiating...initiating... initiating...zero worshipers found)
(Running diagnostics)
(Spatial Positioning... unrecognizable)
(Warning! Soul deterioration occuring at an unprecedented rate. Complete function loss.)
(True Death in T minus 6 seconds)
(5)
(4)
(Incoming transmission)
(New stable energy source detected)
(Commencing repairs)
(Time until repairs are complete:- 2,860,689,041 years)
(Commencing Hibernation protocols)
(Transmission saved)
"The year was 567 ad.
The sorcerer supreme of that time had a dream.
A dream that prompted him to get up and visit the time stone. The dream was of a vision that on the surface made no sense. Yet underneath the obscurity, foretold a terrifying omen for the future.
A flock of doves fighting against a blood red and blue hawk with regal weight and a wing span that stretched out for millions of miles, covering the whole sky. It's slashes instantly tore the world apart, destroying the flock of doves and revealing a powerful creature in the shape of a fearsome serpent at the center of the destroyed earth.
The serpent and the hawk fought in a short battle. The serpent could do nothing as it was torn apart into dregs of flesh by the hawk's powerful claws.
The hawk then turned to the Sorcerer Supreme's observing eyes and once he looked deep inside those blazing orbs of majestic power, Merlin's legs shook as his knees lost strength. He saw a righteous fury. An anger that would consume the world. Would, not could. He felt more than just insignificant, he felt empty.
"Thief!"
The word instantly jolted him out of sleep. He walked into the library of Kathmandu and perused any details he could find on what he had just dreamt of. His powerful spells that could pierce through time and space even without the time stone or the space stone revealed nothing. And no amount of reading showed him what he wanted...no, needed to see.
He finally settled for the last option, looking into the future through the time stone.
That's when things begun to make more sense in the most nonsensical way possible. Every timeline that had the chance of occuring was laid bare for his eyes to see. And every one of them showed him the same thing.
The year 2000 would start the countdown to the end of the world.
Merlin was shocked, appalled and heartbroken. That was 1500 years into the future, long after he would have died and his body rotted. Yet...he could not let that be humanity's fate! What about everything he had worked for to ensure the protection of his species? Was it all for nothing?
Merlin made a decision.
He pushed himself past the recommended limit. Delving deeper into the time stone and what it revealed, seeking an answer. Any answer, to what was going to be the fall of humanity.
An acolyte found him in his quarters, eyes bleeding. His gaze empty. Of hope and life. The singularity had drained him of both.
On a parchment of paper, he'd written.
'Do not fight It. Once he awakens, fire shall burn down the vast forests, water shall freeze and boil, windstorms shall ravage the land bringing with it despair, the earth will crack and swallow everything. Heed my plea, do not fight the man in purple and white.'"
The ancient one finished her explanation. She took a sip of her tea and stared at the two Aesirs sitting before her, listening with rapt attention and in the case of Thor, a small skeptism.
"That is why I need your father to honor the promise he made to Agamotto. The time has come for the Avatar to awaken and incase things do not go favorably, Asgard's help will be invaluable."
"And you said coming to earth was going to be boring."
Loki told his brother.