*Note* Hello all, sorry for the absence from the comment section. At the start of the month I took a week long break to try and reset my brain and banish away the writers block and negative mindspace I've been in lately. I ended up extending this until March, as I'm still really struggling to write new chapters for any of my works right now. The current plan is to be back replying and engaging on March first, alongside starting to write new chapters of Krypton. Sorry again, I hope everyone is doing well and thank you all for reading!
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“So, you were around when humanity first evolved?” Tony’s eyes glinted as Phastos manipulated their prototype with a wave of cosmic power. Over the last three days, Dan, Tony and Richards focused their efforts on replicating Apocalypse's modified resurrection chamber. “What was that like?”
“Smelly…” Phastos narrowed his eyes as he chewed the corner of his lip, concentration aimed within the depths of En Sabah Nur’s reassembled resurrection pod. “...and tedious, there!”
The Eternal smiled and snapped his fingers, a motion that clicked the final component into position. The laboratory filled with a brief flash of light, followed by a gentle hum. Dan gave the complicated construction a final glance, satisfied with the results.
So long as a being paired their consciousness with the machine, the Celestial technology would collect and store their soul upon death. A new body would be grown and the fallen soldier of Krypton would be reborn anew, minus their years of solar energy.
“Excellent work,” Dan slapped Phastos on the shoulder and returned the man’s grin. Now, even if someone lost their lives it would not be the end for them, so long as they were paired with one of these machines. “Combined with the Prime’s efforts, we’ve integrated a good amount of Celestial technology into Krypton’s. The modified vessel should be ready within the next twelve hours, and then our assault on the living planet begins…”
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“The people of Krypton have a most interesting society,” the Daughter brushed her fingertips against the upper branches of Krypton’s world tree, now tall enough that its leaves fluttered within the vacuum of space. “Every mind is focused on the betterment of the whole, yet they all look to you and your husband like gods… it reminds me of the days when my family was more active in the galaxy.”
“Why did you retreat in the first place?” May sighed as they descended toward the symbiote ocean, where trillions of Venom’s children basked in the lifeforce of Yggdrasil. The Daughter still refused to make herself scarce, despite May’s best efforts to persuade her to leave. “The Celestials had a firm grip on the galaxy, but then you vanished. Was it really because of Abeloth?”
The Daughter flinched slightly at the mention of her fallen ‘Mother,’ arms drawn inward as she hugged herself. Silence stretched between them, until May settled down onto one of Yggdrasil’s street sized lower branches.
“Your Father felt almost as powerful as her,” May motioned for the Daughter to join her and took a seat on the mossy bark. Sunlight filtered through the leaves above, a world of emerald and blue that always put her into a better mood. “Surely together you could have defeated her, yet you chose to imprison her away and flee the empire you’d built… why?”
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
“Our power is great, but only when our actions are in line with the Force’s will,” the Daughter dropped into position beside May, her eyes clouded by memories of the past. “Abeloth has no such restrictions and the Force demanded that we let her live. We withdrew for the same reasons… the Force sent Father a vision, once that showed tragedy if we continued to expand our influence over the mortal world.”
“Yet more commandments of the Force,” May shook her head. Everything came back to the will of the Force, even the actions of the galaxy's most powerful beings. “I can’t understand its reasoning. Dan and I both know the future its actions create, a galaxy that never rises beyond its past…”
“That is its intention,” the Daughter shrugged, a sad smile on her face as a vibrant butterfly landed on her hand. “Developing the mortal world too much attracts unwanted attention, more so now than ever. There are threats greater than Abeloth in the void beyond the stars…”
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“You remind me of my Son,” a feminine voice echoed within Anakin’s mind, carried on the maelstrom of power that connected to the very centrepoint of the Force. “Filled with a desire to change the natural order, yet too short sighted to see the folly of that wish…”
Mortis faded around him, replaced by a tranquil white glow. Luminous clouds billowed in all directions, backlit by a distant source of light. Anakin drew in a breath and steadied the excitement in his heart.
This new power was nearly enough to close the distance between himself and May, despite its conditional nature. So long as his actions were in line with the wishes of the Force, he was certain he could match any in Krypton blow for blow.
“Thoughts of violence and domination, yet another similarity to my wayward Son,” a sigh whispered through the radiant cloudbanks in answer to his inner thoughts. “The one you call May is still beyond you, and her power will never slow its advancement. You are better off competing with your past self, overtaking the you of yesterday with every step.”
“Who are you,” Anakin dragged his focus from the power in his body and turned it toward the voice. “Why do you know what I’m thinking… also, my own growth is just as quick as May’s. She just had extra time to build her power…”
“Both May and her husband have a potential that I cannot fathom, well past your own,” the clouds before him reshaped themselves into a vaguely feminine face, taller than a mountain and cored by the source of the light around them. “As for who I am… you could consider me to be the first Mother, the one who came before Abeloth and gave birth to both the Son and the Daughter.”
“Another Celestial…” Anakin frowned as he craned his neck upward. The entity was so massive, he had to move his head just to take in all its features. A young woman, no older in appearance than May, half hidden behind a veil of clouds. “How can you be the will of the Force? Even the Father describes the will as an instinctual thing, aware but undefined…”
“His avatars have long forgotten me, a necessary sacrifice that was made to keep all the members of my family safe,” the Mother’s gargantuan lips turned up in a sad smile, a movement that dispelled enough mist for Anakin to better glimpse her features. “Even you will forget, once this vision fades and our connection has been completed. To the mortal world and all who live within it, I am less than a dream.”
“What is this place?” Anakin shook his head. He believed the titanic woman, but doubted he could ever forget the beauty of her half-hidden face. “I can sense my mother here, and May…”
The familiar lifeforce of everyone he knew floated around him, mixed together with the clouds like streamers in the Force. Merlyn, Doom, even Watto and the others he’d known on Tatooine. Countless beings he’d met and untold more that he’d never encountered, all represented within the light of his surroundings.
“This is the true core of the realm beyond shadows, the centerpoint of the essence of the Cosmic Force,” the Mother rose up, golden body freed from the grip of the clouds as she motioned around them. “The origin of our multiverse and the source of all things…”