Chapter Text
It has been a long time since he left his cradle-world. He wishes he could have stayed.
There are many things he wishes.
He flies carefully. The one he goes to would not appreciate it if he were to indulge into wanton destruction on his way to Her.
He only cares because he enjoys most of all destroying the creations of living beings. If he indulges, She will look. She will see him. So he pretends he is careful because of Her. The other one. The one he is going to.
Eventually, he reaches it.
He thinks the sight alone might destroy him. After all, this is where the Universe was made. Where everything was carefully planned, measured, organized.
In the center of All, there is a citadel. It is empty except for one. It overlooks the Universe. He knows that those who made him, his worshippers, would go mad trying to understand the sight of it.
So he doesn’t try.
He only contemplates it.
For a moment, a second, an eternity.
For all of Infinity.
There is, after all, no time here.
It shifts. It does not make sense like the structures he is used to topple with a move of his feathered wings.
It does not have a definite color. It is all of the colors possible and none at the same time.
It does not have a definite texture. It flows from one thing he know to another. Mostly it becomes many things he has seen but does not know the name of. Occasionally, it is a thing he had never seen.
The only comparison he allows himself is to think it vaguely resemble a chiseled crystal.
He know better than to try to commit it to memory or to comprehend it in any form. He had seen many of his brethren return mad after coming here. Only those truly desperate dare to come to the Citadel.
Around the Citadel is nothingness.
In the past, he had heard it described as similar to The-Void-that-is-Yggdrasil. Now he knows that those stories were wrong, for he had seen The-Void-that-is-Yggdrasil on his way here.
He had not planned the detour. He only wished to avoid the endless armies of mortals that so carelessly offered themselves to the one he wanted to avoid.
He had had to force himself away from the wondrous sight.
For the first time in his existence, he had wished to be able to observe and bask in the beauty of something.
But he could not allow it.
Could not delay.
So now he look at the nothingness that surround the Citadel and compares it to his memories:
There are so few differences. They are so important.
The-Void-that-is-Yggdrasil is a silent place. Is absorb sound. It emit silence. It is peaceful.
The nothingness mute even the voices of the mind. It cultivate dread and fear. It feeds on it.
The-Void-that-is-Yggdrasil is a place of darkness. You cannot see what is on its other side. There is no light in it. It cradles it’s galaxies and stars and planets in its body and contain their light. Like an intricate piece of jewelry.
The nothingness leech off the light that surrounds it. It appear endless. Oppressive. Gigantic. Only the light of the Citadel can piece it’s utter darkness. And even then, it seems as if there is a shield of darkness in front of your eyes.
The-Void-that-is-Yggdrasil is a place of life. It harbor and cultivate it. It protects.
The nothingness repel life. The world closest to it are dead. Living creatures flee it even as they are not aware of its existence.
Inside of it, the Citadel is a deathly lure.
He looks at the Citadel again. He let his mind be soothed by its ever shifting appearance. She cannot reach him here, at the edge of the nothingness.
Eventually, a section of the Citadel stops shifting. It take the form of a great open balcony with a curved doorframe. Behind it, he can guess a gigantic throne room.
The balcony is just large enough for him to land on.
He is expected.
Inside the room that has been crafted to receive him are six seats, placed to form a loose arch. Each are different. Only one is occupied.
The floor is solid stone veined with precious metal.
The columns are translucent crystals delicately carved into spirals that curves around a hollow center.
The very air pulse with power.
Then he stand in front of the one he had come to meet.
He does not bow.
He had never bowed before, not even for his more powerful siblings. Yet Her might is greater than that of all of his sibling combined.
Yet, he will not bow.
He will not beg.
It’s not like any of his action would influence one like Her.
She smile at him, as if she had guessed his thought.
She probably know them.
He meet her gaze and tilt his head a bit. He had never been one for patience and if he is to be refused, he would like to know.
Her smile sharpen and Her voice rise in his mind.
“You have come here for a reason. I would have you say it plainly.”
He know he does not have the talent for words some of his kin had. But then, he had never cared to find the right words.
“I refuse to belong to Death and I don’t have the power to keep Her from hunting me. From the six First Made, I thought you would be the most inclined to help me.”
“You did not said ‘die’ but ‘belong to Death’. Why?”
At the question he stand to full height and ruffle his feathers.
He does not care to speak in honeyed words, he will not lie to make himself more sympathetic.
Why would he be bothered to lie anyway?
“I have seen some of my kin go crazy and some others die. I have come to term with the mortality of my worshipers and with the whims of their minds. It is not my undoing that I fear, it is belonging to Death.”
“A perfectly reasonable fear.”
The simile drop off of her face and she stand abruptly.
“Do not think for a moment that this choice will be without a price.”
The lights that are spread through the room by the columns start to shift violently, erratically. The ambient power press on him.
And it is but a warning.
He had not expected anything else.
“I do not care what you do to me. My worshippers are forsaking me ever faster and soon I will stop existing altogether. Anything you may offer me is better that what awaits me from your sister.”
Her smile returns and the pressure ease.
“And yet, should you accept my bargain, you will find yourself changed beyond recognition.”
“So, there is a bargain to be had. Good. What am I to offer?”
“Yourself.”
His surprise startle a laugh out of her before she can explain.
“Do not worry, I have little use for a slave. I would, however, have a Herald.”
He nods.
He is old enough to remember the ages when Galactus had made the Universe his dining table and how even one as mighty as he was had employed heralds.
“You will keep all your abilities and you will have a chance to add to them. I will send you on an errand through the Universe, on a mission. Your body is already in a poor state and will not get any better, so you will go find another one. Your actions will be limited as well as your choice. Do you accept this?”
He nods again.
“The body must be that of a child: old enough to be completely formed and young enough that the child will not have developed a mind of its own. You must bring him back alive and healthy. You must not have taken him from his family unless they reject him. If you kill to obtain the child, it must be justified and limited to what is needed.”
He think Her proposition over for a moment before asking a few questions:
“What if my search takes me longer than what time I have left?”
“I will maintain you as you are now until you return. I will also shield you from my sister as much as I can. Since I cannot create miracles, you will have to be mindful to avoid areas where her awareness is strong.”
“You mentioned that I would have a chance to add to my powers. I take it that it will be done through the abilities of the child I chose?”
“Exactly. You may chose whichever creature you wish. But chose well because there will be no changing your mind.”
“Any other limitation?”
“Only one: should you fall back on your old habits, I will destroy you myself.”
“Agreed.”
She sat back and looked at something behind him, motioning at whatever it was.
“This will preserve you as well as provide a shield from my sister.”
He turned.
A simple pillar had materialized behind him. On it, there was a bowl filled with a clear liquid.
It could have been water, were he anywhere else in the Universe.
He drink it without hesitation.
He knows it is a test.
A trap.
Reality fracture around him and he falls.
When he awakes, he is laying on his back at the top of the Citadel.
She is standing at the edge of the platform she created.
He rise and goes to stand beside her.
“When is it?”
He can hear the smile in her musical voice: “At the right time for the optimal reality to happen.”
“Time to go then.”
He incline his head in her direction, even if she is still not looking at him.
“Until we meet again, Lady Fate.”
A ramp takes form under his feet, bringing him that much closer to the edge of the nothingness.
“Until we meet again, Hawk God of Arcturus. May you enjoy you first errand as my Herald.”
He grins and open his wings. He bends his knees and feel the cosmic power running wild inside of him.
He clear the nothingness in less than an eye blink.
He has the Universe to comb.