"Awake?" Ororo's voice stirred up my consciousness at the same time as all of Earth entered my senses before I threw it to my subconscious to handle.
"Mornin' love." I greeted before capturing her lips as she tried to answer back.
"Mhmn~" The kiss was as intense as any kiss we've shared when we were alone. "It's 10 in the morning~ We have to get up." Though she said that, she went back in for another kiss as she collapsed on top of me.
"There's an easy way out of tardiness, y'know." I mumbled as we broke away our lips from each other's.
"And I've told you that increasing the hours in a day is not an option." She said and tapped my lips, likely considering whether to dig in for another or not. I let out a groan of dissatisfaction when she pulled away which got a laugh out of her. She went to the bathroom to get herself ready for the day while I just laid there and stared into nothing.
"Stop staring into the universe, Draul, and get your ass off the bed while you're at it." Her voice snapped me out of my daydreaming and brought me back to focus only to find out that she was already done with her morning ablutions.
I winced as I saw the look she was giving me. "How long was I out for?"
"A little over 30 minutes. Draul, listen to me – you need to get help." She said softly and ran her hand through my hair but there was no way I would budge on the matter even if her petting was heavenly. "You've been lagging more frequently lately and if I hadn't found out about it you would have simply rewound time… again."
That had been quite the bicker when they had found me just staring into the sky for half the night. To be honest, anytime I found myself 'missing time' I would just backtrack a few minutes back or if nothing noteworthy happened, just let it be.
It wasn't that much of a problem to me honestly but I figured why it would have alarmed Ororo. What if I blanked out for like a month or even a year? – was probably what was going through her mind.
I wasn't that stressed out about it because while, yes, I did lose time, it was also something that was with control. I sometimes just let my presence flow through the universe and I end up forgetting how truly short time was to others. And it was also a way for me to alleviate my boredom which was why she's been seeing me stargazing quite frequently recently.
"Fine, I'll stop stargazing. Cool?" She looked at eyes, searching for any lies which she wouldn't have been able to find even if I did lie but I wasn't going to tell her that, before nodding her head. "And besides, I don't think I'll have the time to stargaze anytime soon."
The mood immediately dropped a few degrees at my words.
"You finally decided?" Was all she asked.
My eyes were firm with my reply, "Yes. I've found all the Eternals and the one underneath isn't going to be waking up anytime soon." Only I knew exactly how risky my plan was but I had to push forward regardless. In my sight, universes were being snuffed out by the second and it was creeping ever so closer. "If I absorbed the sleeping Celestial, it's highly possible that I'll be in a war against the Celestials which will cause a huge spark for power. The Gods and Elder Gods won't be able to sit this one out and I also can't wait any longer. It's better if I start it than let it come to me with its own agenda."
"Mhmn, it's not going to be easy but at least you have us at every moment of the way. Be they Gods or Demons untold, we'll fight to the bitter end." She said with such conviction that I sometimes wonder I made her fall in love with me because I knew I was the least serious person I knew.
"Have I ever told you how much I love you?"
"Only one too many times. But I'll love to hear it once more… after you get your ass off that bed."
Seriously? And here I thought we were having a moment. Despite being a universal entity that could create and obliterate galaxies at a whim, I still dragged my ass to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
…
My eyes trailed Ego as he moved around, devouring anything that earned his ire. He was one of the Celestials on my list, still was, but he wasn't the first I was going for.
Tiamut was the first choice for any Celestial that was available for me to absorb. While I had nothing against the Celestials, more so after my mind evolved to what it currently was, I also wasn't in a position to choose how I got my powers.
To my understanding, the Celestials were bees; hurt one and the others come running for you. But I also knew that due to the current crisis and the inevitable re-emergence of Knull, they were already on their armored toes which in turn gave me a bit of leeway. The icing on the cake was and always would be Dormammu.
I could feel him fighting my encroachment for every second of the day but that would immediately change if I managed to devour Tiamut.
'Guess I'm on a tight schedule.'
…
[Asgard]
A huge figure walked with broad shoulders that rested the head of a hard warrior with golden locks walked through the halls of Asgard's palace.
Even though it had been quite a short time, Thor had grown far more than he had in the past few centuries. His thick arms were left bare for all to see and his blue eyes had gained a bit of maturity and coldness though it still retained its purity.
He stepped into his father's, Odin's, throne room and was met with the appearance of both his parents.
"Father, mother." He greeted his parents with a slight bow before he turned his gaze to fully focus on his father. "I am ready, father."
Odin looked at his son not knowing whether to console him or rebuke him. He knew what his son was saying but he couldn't understand why he would still pursue it. Thor was as headstrong as other mighty Asgardians and it was exactly that attribute of his that was a prick in Odin's one eye.
He had met the man named Draul, and even though he would never say it, he could understand the man or at least the perspective of the man. Emphasis on could.
Now?
Odin ran his sight to the stars beyond Asgard's atmosphere and into the streams of lights that continued to flicker in and out of existence. Now he wouldn't be able to understand him.
When he had first met the man, he had been like an open book that he could read and memorize with a glance, it would take a bit of special to escape the Allfather's sight after all, but he couldn't do that now. That man didn't fuse with the Infinity Stone, no. He fused with the universe and everything in it that was, is, and will be. He was outside Odin's scope of understanding.
"*Sigh* I thought I taught you to forget your grudges, Thor." Odin tried to reason but he was surprised at the nonchalance of his son's answer.
"I hold no grudge towards him, father. I just want to see how far behind in strength I truly am. I refuse to believe he'll say no to an earnest request for a duel."
Thor's words caused his father to remain in silence while his mother had a wry smile. "Thor, what your father is trying to say is to leave the Midgardian on his own… he is now very far above you." Odin's eye bulged at the words of his wife. 'Aren't you supposed to be the one cuddling him and keeping him oblivious to the harsh reality?'
"H-how far are we talking about here? Can he now crush a star under his might?" Thor asked. There was no way he would back down at this point. The Gods were preparing for a war and if the Midgardian was at the center of it as he presumed, it meant that he was still weak to participate and Thor would give anything to fight a war alongside his father.
"Very… powerful." Was all his mother said and Thor immediately understood. – You have no chance against him then and you have no chance against him now – was what his mother was trying to say.
"I see."
He turned around and left the throne room only to find his brother resting against a wall with his trademark smirk on his face. "I see that the Mighty Thor was rejected."
"Aye. I guess your warning did come true brother. The Midgardian is above us, above me."
"I see you're still delusional to think that the world still revolves around you. You were never a part of the equation, Thor. None of us were, we're only extras in a story, part of a perspective if you will. He was never our match, Thor, not after he came in possession of the Infinity Stones. The least we can do now is get ready for what is on the horizon." Loki said in a rare moment of seriousness.
"War."
"War. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to see him again after all. That reminds me, how's Mjolnir doing?"
Thor looked at the hammer strapped to his waist before shrugging. "It's never misbehaved since that day… but I feel like something serious had happened that caused Mjolnir to act like that. Well whatever it is, we'll come face to face with it when it's time."
Loki nodded and they both went their way with Loki having a thinking expression on his face. He clearly understood the reason why they couldn't afford to even be in the presence of that man, it was also the reason why he had given him a wild berth.
He had somehow gotten all six of the Infinity Stones.
Not just him but even Asgard couldn't afford to offend someone who could wipe them all out with a snap of his finger. And then there was the spectacle of Thor's hammer relinquishing a part of his divinity to someone, a new Sky God. There were a lot of things happening all around and Loki was ignorant of them and he hated being ignorant.
…
[Draul St. Cross POV]
I blinked and the Indian Ocean was laid in front of me.
Space rippled behind me as Steve and Bucky came through.
Natasha arrived using a portal, something she'd grown easily accustomed to while Yelena ran here.
Ororo arrived with lightning, flashy as always.
"So… what are we doing here?"
"I'm going to absorb the fetus growing within the Earth." Their aghast faces told me I should have phrased that a little bit better, thankfully Yelena came with a save.
"I thought you were going to absorb a growing Celestial?"
I nodded, "Yes, hence the fetus." It was a fetus after all since it hadn't been born yet and what I was trying to do was basically an illegal abortion.
"And is there a reason why we need to be here?" Nat asked, not in displeasure but just asking for any new information they might not have been privy to.
"Just beat up any ragtag team that comes around. It'll suck if I was disturbed and whatever is down there in turn absorbed me and emerged." I said before warping myself into the Earth core.
My formless form flowed through the crevices towards the huge ball of energy that had already begun consolidating deep beneath the Earth.
.
.
.
========================
Read up to 30 chapters ahead at
pa*treon.com/Draul_TheOminous.