Chapter 98: Untitled
A/N: Three Chapters today! This is the first one, while the last one is just a Summary of what I had planned to write, but couldn't.
Read on!
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1986, Missouri, USA:
Earth, my first home. After being banished by the Gods of Earth, almost 400,000 years ago, I had mostly stayed away from this planet, not willing to wage a needless War with the Gods.
Despite the fact that the Gods had forgotten all about their previous life, about me, they still recognised me for what I am. They still fear me. Of course, I can hide it, but I have to hide even my name, and my Divine Nature for that to hold true. Their instinct warns them otherwise, that Theos the God, is also Theos the Celestial, and he is their enemy.
Well, in their minds at least, I am the enemy. For me, they're just nuisances. Because of them, I lost a dear friend and teacher of mine, Scathach, who also forgot about me, for a century or two, before mother brought her memories of her last life back.
But, just because the Gods of Earth were afraid of me, I didn't just.. refrain from coming here. I've been here numerous times before. And if I happened to miss something important, I could just go back in time to witness the event anyway.
I was there, watching over the developing planet of Asgard, when Buri buried his way out of the dirt. I was there on Niflheim, when Ymir first took a breath. I was there on Midgard, when the two fought, and Buri encountered the Space Stone, still inside the Ring he had worn in his previous life. I witnessed him forge the Tesseract to encase the Space Stone too, just as I witnessed every other important event in Asgard. Bor, Odin, Hela, Thor, Loki, I was there to witness all of their births.
I was also here, on Midgard, when Zeus killed his father a second time, and when the Olympians came to rise as the rulers of Olympus. I witnessed the return of the Eternals back into the timeline, and I witnessed them getting reduced to a meagre amount of a few dozen people.
I witnessed the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and I witnessed the birth of Jesus. At every important moment in this planet's life, I was there to witness it. An ironic twist of fate, that I, a Celestial, was doing some of the duties of the Watchers.
So, it was very natural, that I find myself once again witnessing another important event, that I couldn't change even after trying.
"So, you're still hell bent on that plan of yours?" I ask, becoming visible as a man comes out of the house I was watching.
The bearded man turns towards me, a little startled at my sudden appearance, but then glares hatefully at me. He says, "My plans are my own, Sage. I asked you to join me, and you refused. Are you still thinking of getting in my way?"
I chuckle, looking at the house, at the pair of mother and son, and seeing the small tumor in the head of the mother, I say, "You're too full of yourself, Ego. I don't need to do anything. Your plans will backfire, one way or another. That is in your nature."
Ego, the Living Planet's human Avatar just snorts. I knew, after the return of the Celestials some 10,000 years ago, that as much he wished to be, Ego wasn't a Celestial. He was older than me, almost a Billion years old in fact, but he wasn't a Celestial. Ego was made from the brain matter of a Celestial, but he isn't one himself. He just.. is.
Ego takes a few aggressive steps towards me, and says, "You think you're better than me, don't you? Not limited to a single place, not limited by the constraints of size. But let me tell you, soon, I will rule over the entire Universe, and you.. will be forced to watch, as I claim both of your homes as my own."
Frowning, I softly say, "You think you're strong enough to take over the entire Galaxy? When you can't even figure out why all your children are all mortal? When your little Avatars lose time and time again to the Mortals of different planets? How many Sorcerer Supremes have you lost your Avatars to, Ego? How many more will you lose? Let me just tell you this, Ego, this purpose you focus over, making the Entire Universe yours, it isn't your true purpose. You're meant for a lot-"
"Save it, Sage. My task here is done. I won't return to this backwater planet again. But if you know what's good for you, you won't interfere in my plans while I'm gone." With that, Ego turns around to walk towards the highly advanced ship of his.
As he flies away, I whisper, "Oh Ego, I won't have to make a single move to kill you. Your own actions, and your.. ego.. will ensure that."
Heh, pun. His confidence in his plans success is what will take him down in the end. So, I was speaking the truth when I said I won't have to make a single move.
"You know, not interfering does mean that you.. don't interfere." A sarcastic voice says from behind me, the person joining me in watching the Quill household.
Chuckling, I turn towards the boy behind me, and hug him. With my hands on his shoulders, and a proud look in my eyes, I ask, "How have you been, Gaghan?"
Gaghan, the Observer. He was the Celestial that was born in the Sun of the Sol system, and had decided to stay with and learn from Uatu. And boy, has he learned a lot. If I also hadn't learned under Uatu, then I would have completely missed his appearance.
Gaghan was the name he had chosen for himself, and the Observer was the title the other Celestials bestowed upon him, at their return.
Thankfully, he had gotten over his intense hatred of all things Divine and Demonic, but he's definitely not making any Godly friends anytime soon.
Gaghan smiles at me, and says, "I have been well, Sage, since the last time you saw me. Which was 3 months ago. Observing, as always."
I chuckle, and teleport us to the moon, from where I could see another story unfolding. The ship of Mar-vell was floating in the Earth's orbit, invisible to all senses but ours. It was full of civilian skrulls, kids, women, and even men, who had nothing to do with the Skrull-Kree War.
My eye turns towards the American town of Rosamund, California, and towards a woman walking around in the farm, with a dog at her side. The woman looks up at me, and waves her hand, with me waving back at her with a smile. Chhaya and I had been here for 200 years now, changing names, and cities once every few decades.
Currently, we were Martha and Jonathan Kent, farmers in Rosamund, and we have been the same for the last 40 years. Creating identities for us is child's play, since the technology here is still primitive, compared to even the likes of Induk.
Gaghan's voice brings me back to the moon, as he says, "Do you keep the Celestial frequencies open? Arishem was asking about you, I hear."
I frown, a bit annoyed, and worried. The leader of the Celestials was not someone I can ignore for too long. I might be a match to him if we fought alone, but he has a literal Army of Celestials behind him. An Army that was either trapped in their Dimensions, or dead, as far as I knew, until 10,000 years ago.
And that's not counting the Exitar, who was at least ten times stronger than me, by himself.
I still have no idea how the dead Celestials came back to life again, since One Above All was still not anywhere to be seen. And he was the only Celestial that could revive other Celestials back to life.
But Arishem, Jemiah, Scathan, they had all returned to life, even when Knull had personally killed them, and I had witnessed it.
Arishem somehow knew of my existence, not that I was hiding it, but it is probably because he's the Leader that he knows. He knows about Gaghan, and Tessar, the Celestial that I took to Donna's sun. He was somewhere on the other side of the Universe, doing Queen knows what.
As for Arishem, he comes and goes, which I can thankfully see coming.. most of the times.
Waving my hand, I say, "I'll meet with him the next time he comes knocking, and I know when that will be."
Gaghan sighs, and asks, "You're going to meddle again, aren't you?"
I chuckle, and say, "Boy, you know me so well, ha?"
Gaghan snorts at my statement, and says, "Just.. don't make the situation worse for Terra. The Humans do that by themselves well enough."
And then, he disappears, off to his Observing once again. With a flash, even I disappear, and return inside my farmhouse in Rosamund. Walking outside, I join Chhaya.. or Martha, in her walk around the farm.
She places a small peck on my lips, and asks, "Did he listen?"
I say, "He's Ego. What do you think?"
Chhaya shakes her head, and sighs. As we comfortably walk, in silence, I think over the first time I had met Ego.
It was during my Time travelling phase, when I was insistent on going back to meet Madonna, my other mother. I did meet with her, on Earth, and it was while I was observing the mining going on in Knowhere, 1 Million years ago, that he saw me, Ego.
He recognised me as a Celestial almost immediately, the armour giving it away even if I had retreated the headpiece. He offered me a hand of friendship, and then explained to me his plan of turning the entire Universe ours. Or rather, his.
He took exception when I refused, knowing that he wanted a second Celestial just as a battery. His Pseudo-Celestial genes weren't strong enough for him to do it alone.
Anyway, we fought, he lost his Avatar in the fight, and then we barely ever met.
Soon, our walk takes us towards the fence that separates our land with our neighbour's.
"Hey Martha! John!" A woman calls out, with a toddler hanging on her hip.
I wave back at her, as Martha approaches the fence to talk. Martha asks, "You're home early, Maria. Everything alright at work?"
Real subtle, Chhaya. Real subtle.
Maria waves the question away, and says, "It's my little girl's birthday! Of course I'm coming early to celebrate. Speaking of, I'm holding a small party today. Some of my Air Force buddies will be coming over, along with Monica's playschool friends. It starts at 7, but you can come anytime before 9, if you want."
Martha turns towards me, and raises her eyebrows at me. I smile at them both, and say, "We'll be there, of course."
And then, I leave them to talk together, while I go work on breaking some lumber. Maria and Monica Rambeau, our neighbours. Maria was divorced, but she had a frequent visitor in one Carol Danvers.
And tonight, I'll get to actually meet the woman, who will soon become one of the strongest mortal people in the Universe.
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Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone