Screams and cries are heard on the horizon, as fire and flames rise and spread throughout the city. burning buildings, charred corpses, as if the very apocalypse burst right in the middle of Kentucky. and amidst the calamity, surged a boy, hair as white and pristine as snow. his name? Aether Calamitas.
Aether: Kyahahahaha! I see no hear no evil! black writings on the wall!
He sang as he danced amidst the embers, people ran away from him in vain, as with a flick of his finger, entire blocks were scorched, and those that had not yet melted from his flames could only do so much before he rushed through them, splattering their bodies in an instant into a bloody mess.
Aether: ah! Freedom is so delicious!
But before he could continue his madness, a voice, ethereal and magnificent in sound, echoed from the sky.
Voice From Above: Halt! Aether Calamitas, thy madness hath gone too far and f'r too longeth, thy mission hath not yet been acomplished
Aether, stunned by the sudden sermon, asked a question to the unseen being.
Aether: Ah? you're back? took long enough buddy, but what am I supposed to do again? I forgot already lmao
Voice From Above: sigh, Stellar light Issue, thee w're hath brought from thy homeland of angels and devils to vanquish a most wondrous evil
Cheerfully, Aether exclaimed
Aether: oh yea! that's why you brought me here! alright time to bail, see ya!
But the voice screamed in panic
Voice From Above: Halt still! Thou art not stout enow to visage t yet, thee might not but developeth thy abilities and passeth thy first testeth. To findeth the Heart-Stone enshielf somewh're on earth, and I'm certes you're capable of doing yond.
Infuriated, Aether exclaimed
Aether: Not strong enough? bitch I'm Aether fucking Calamitas, the Prince Of Darkness himself! no task is beyond me! exploring earth to find that stupid relic will be easy peasy!
Voice From Above: Then wherefore has't thee not done so yet? I'm c'rtain thee has't the abilities to completeth this task at a festinate pace
Aether: ain't I supposed to develop my abilities? I'm doing so by testing them in these weaklings!
Voice From Above: This chamb'r in the f'rm of a univ'rse wast created to p'rfectly fiteth thy requirements of improving yourself and thy strengths, to testeth thy abilities 'gainst pow'rful foes and beest able to findeth the artifact utilizing thy skills in less than a month. So wherefore scorch this sacr'd landeth instead of learning with t?
Aether: you call Kentucky a sacred land? this place is a shithole. that's why I moved out of it after killing the president in my world!
He starts running away but then suddenly stops dead in his tracks
Aether: hol' up, universe? you created a whole ass universe and not just Earth?
Voice From Above: Can thee not seeth the travelling lamp on top of thee? The stars which thy augmented vision catches yond beings cannot?
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Aether: and you only put the shit-stone on earth? aw hell nah! I ain't getting confined just here!
In a blink of an eye, he was gone, having flown out of orbit with the intent of exploring the universe. Mars, Venus, Mercury, The Sun, he traversed by passing right through them, right towards their cores and overpowering their gravity, all in mere seconds.
Aether: to infinity and beyond!
Just as he was about to leave the Solar System, he bumps into an invisible wall
Aether: ow! wtf???
Voice From Above: F'rgive me, but I cannot alloweth thee to leaveth this parteth of the plane just yet, thee has't w'rk to doth, a verily imp'rtant one
Aether: but there and hundreds of thousands of other worlds out there! I can't just be confined in this boring planet!
Voice From Above: I begeth of thee, prithee finish thy mission. Wherefore doth thee need to sway hence from thy objective and doth aught else but t?
Exasperated, Aether stares at the nothingness of space, and says with a serious tone but a smirk in the face
Aether: listen, I'm a free man. Every person is given the right to freedom from the moment they're born, to decide their own actions and fate without anyone to tell them what to do! I'm simply using my freedom to its fullest, for that is my right! May you like it or not! You want me to do your job, yes? I'll do it, but if I'm not granted freedom to do as I desire on the path, then there's no point in doing so!
The Voice, although confused, gave in to Aether’s words and let out a sigh
Voice From Above: That...sounded strangely fair. Fine, I shall grant thee thy freedom, sayeth, what doth thee planeth to doth next?
Aether: Hm, say, what will I find once I finish this stage?
Voice From Above: Thee shall meeteth many humans liketh thee and expl're multiple places while unbounded by the regulations yond shackle thee h're, and thee shall und'rstand thy true objective in this dimension.
Aether: more people?! Are they strong? Cool? Fun to talk with?
Voice From Above: But of course, many friends and foes f'r thee to spar with, perchance some coequal stronger than thee, grasping a leveleth beyond thy wildest imaginations.
Aether: THEN WHAT AM I DOING HERE?! I GOTTA GET TO THEM ASAP!
He zigged and zagged like a wild child, colliding with the spatial matter around the edge of the solar system, like a deadly show of fireworks
Aether: UGH I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET THEM AUGH!
Voice From Above: Halcyon down, issue! Thee shall meeteth those folk as anon as thee finish thy quest.
Aether: hold up, just to know, what counts as me getting the Heart-Stone?
Voice From Above: The Heart-Stone shall beest classified as being present in thy possesseth if t is contained by thee f'r a prolonged p'riod of tempus, independent of condition 'r mann'r.
Aether: Is that so? Thanks for the tip!
As he returned to the Exosphere of earth, he had a malicious grin on his face, as suddenly he began to grow and grow, and the citizens of earth gasped in both awe, shock and fear, as they stared to the sky while being covered in a thick dark shadow eclipsing over them. Aether had grown so large that earth looked like a golf ball in comparison.
Aether: y'know, I've always wondered what planets tasted like, so how about I discover it now?
At a speed far faster than showcased before, he grabbed Planet Earth, his fingers crushing multiple continents in an instant, and in no time, the Planet was already near his mouth, as it opened wide in an inhuman way, and the planet was soon inside his mouth, swiftly being crushed bit by bit before being swallowed whole not long afterwards once it had devolved into nothing but small fragments of what it once was
Aether: oof, this tastes horrible! What does Galactus see in this?!
The disembodied voice stared at Aether in shock and terror, enraged by his action but incapable of doing anything
Voice From Above: did…DID THEE JUST FEAST UPON EARTH?!
Aether: hey! You said the Heart-Stone was on Earth, and now Earth is in me, so technically the lil trinket is now in my possession, no? You didn't say I needed to do something specific with it, only that I needed to have it!
Voice From Above: Hm, thee art not wrong, I didst sayeth yond, and thee has't completed thy objective, so I believeth I shouldst commendation thee f'r the creativity
Aether: Yippie! So can I leave now?
Voice From Above: Wherefore ay forsooth
In a blink of an eye, a large rift suddenly appeared where Earth once was, its size being far larger than Aether himself. It pulsed blue and seemed to distort the space around itself, as if it was begging for someone to go inside it
Aether: So this is the next step of my journey huh? Will you come with me too?
Voice From Above: Ay, but I shall not beest able to guideth thee liketh I has't in this stage. From anon on, the only one guideth thy trail shall beest thee
Aether: just in the way I like it! See you on the other side, voice god!
Without looking back, the boy walked through the portal, as the space behind him collapsed into nothingness, but it mattered not, for all he could and wanted to do was to move forwards, and with the disappearance of that plane of existence, all that was left was the reality on the other side of the rift.