Chương 175: CHAPTER 173
[Dormammu, The Dark Lord POV]
Dormammu thrashed in his dark bubbling domain as he reasoned the words of the conniving Hell Lord, Mephisto. One would have to be purely insane to believe a smidgen of an iota that came out of that Devil's mouth but Dormammu had it on good ground that what Mephisto was saying had a great deal of truth to it as even he could feel the phantom wriggling on his form.
A choke, a gnarly groan… an hellish nightmare.
It had been eons that he escaped but even he couldn't forget that reality of nightmares.
Mortals would say demons resided in the pits of hell, tormenting evil doers, and concluded that the dead either went to heaven or hell and they were right, at least to a degree. Demons were not the only one who had dominion over souls, Gods did too.
The Gods, at least the smart ones, found a way to extend Death's reaching arms by creating a domain that they could rest after their physical death, giving them their last reprieve from her clutches.
But what of demons? Do they just disintegrate to dust and become as one with the sands of Hell? Or was there something that all demons feared just like the Gods did death?
A phantom feeling perhaps that death for them wasn't the end as Death itself wasn't absolute. Even without knowing or remembering why they had that feeling, all demons instinctively knew that there was something, something darker than the darkness they thrived in.
Something so ominous that the scares and nightmares they plagued the mortals with were nothing more than a jesters' act.
Something so despairing that their hellish domain would seem like the Gods' golden cities when compared.
As a Hell Lord and arguably the strongest, Dormammu knew all too well what laid beyond the veil of this feeling. He's seen it after all.
But now, that damned Mephisto had the gall and effontery to come into his domain and speak of their most likely and imminent arrival.
But who was he?
He was Dormammu, The Bringer of Dread, The Great Devourer, Lord of Darkness and all that reigned within.
He was-!!!
"Amusing thoughts you have there, little one…."
Hell froze over… literally.
The bludgeoning flames and wisps of darkness all froze, time rendered useless and what was and what should be or could have been completely escaped Dormammu's comprehension.
'That fear… that despair! The nightmare…'
Dormammu for all his life finally remembered what true fear felt like. His pride had already been crushed and he had yet to gaze upon the face of the nightmares of his long-forgotten dream.
"Hmm? Are you perhaps deaf?" The breath of the nightmare trickled on Dormammu's nerve as the phantom feeling of being entangled in vines consumed him. But he had to move.
He knew being frozen in fear for too long might irritate the being behind him and could make it potentially wipe him out.
So steeling his fiery resolve and going against his better instincts, he turned around and what he saw was enough to destroy any thought of defiance that might have brewed in his deepest heart when he was turning his back against it.
Infinity and Chaos.
Merged in the most atrocious way possible, power and end, the fulcrum of which could bring an end to the primordial nothingness.
What was in front of him was no being of power, power itself couldn't describe what he was seeing.
This was absoluteness made tangible and ephemeral at the same time.
"I remember you… small little thing you used to be. Now you reign in dominion over the little retches of this infernal realm… to each his own, I suppose. I've forgotten why I'm here so bear with me, okay?" The being muttered to itself rather than Dormammu, the latter doing nothing more than stand transfixed as fear was currently washing through him as he came to a startling realization.
He was powerless, not figuratively but literally.
His dominion over the flames of hell and its infernal heat along with darkness were all snuffed out in the presence of this being. The power, 'No, not power!'… he couldn't even come up with a word to describe the ______ of the being in front of him, but whatever it was, completely dwarfed all that Dormammu is.
"Oh I finally remember… Something you ate that doesn't belong to you… G&@I¿¡V§°E... |T… #B@A¶&C]K."
The unholy screech that seemed to throw the netherrealm in a constant loop of destruction, creation and acausality brought Dormammu to his knees, boring him deeper into the barren soil of hell.
"I… D-D-DON'T!... KNOW… W-WHA-T-T Y-!!"
Dormammu's screams were cut short as he felt his dark soul being ripped apart, the being shredding him to pieces as it searched for what it was looking for.
"Hmm? It's not here… Oh! I see."
Its next action left Dormammu speechless, even forgetting the untold cacophony of pain he was being subjected to.
As far as Dormammu could see, infinite numbers of Dormammus appeared in the Dark Dimension and even some in different parts of the universe, or rather, multiverse, but even the infinite multiversal distance didn't faze the being as it extended itself and proceeded to rip through them also, fractionally searching for what it was that Dormammu ate.
The Dark Lord felt all what his multiversal self felt, the same went for them.
As if that was not enough, Time was rendered in shambles as the being stretched itself through the infinite loop of time and all the Dormammus across the time streams in all the universes howled in torment as the being ripped apart from them an existence that never was.
What he ripped apart was a man, one Dormammu knew, one he ate, or thought he ate if not for Strange Stephen Strange's tampering with the laws of acausality. The man was even more sumptuous than the Sorcerer Supreme had been if his delusions were correct, channeling such chaos through his body had been a feast for Dormammu.
"Oh, there he is… I should kill you but at least you were truthful in your words… sO YoU gEt To LiVe."
And with that it was gone, bringing the unsteady flow of time back to the Dark Dimension.
Even after hours had passed, Dormammu still stood, rooted to the same spot he was left in, still feeling the eerie gaze of the being still on him until it finally receded, causing the one prideful Dark Lord to crash to the ground like a loose puppet.
He was both plagued and terrified that even his intellect which could comprehend things, the secret of the universe, failed in comprehending what just happened or what that being was…
No!
He knew what THAT being was but what he couldn't understand was how there was such an abomination that would make even the greatest taboo seem like a compliment.
That being had ripped open a hole in reality across the multiverse, at the same time, and held all the Dormammus within the multiversal, stopping time across realities, ripped them open and searched through them until he found what he was looking for.
Dormammu trembled as the sheer level of existence one would need to be to do something like that and not even feel a thing. The sheer audacity of that being to bring down his might on all realities gave Dormammu an insight to what the top would be like.
But that wasn't what was on his mind. What was on his mind was that man which the being had ripped away from him.
He knew for a fact that he didn't consume that man which meant that that thing had ripped the man out of a negative reality, one that never existed but left a shadow… through him.
He didn't know what that thing wanted with that man, but he knew that whatever it was, he had to know of it. For all he knew, it could finally be a chance for him to surpass his current existence.
It was a risk, he knew, but… nothing ventured, nothing gained.
….
[IN THE DARK OVERVOID THAT PERMEATES THE GREAT DARKNESS]
The Overvoid went by many names, though the names it went by didn't matter since no one knew anything about it.
The Primal Chaos.
The Bedrock of He Who Dwelleth.
Beyond the Veil of Existence.
…
The Outer.
It was a plane of nonexistence that flowed outside of the multiverse… multiverses.
It also acted as a bridge, the only pathway between two different aspects of realities. The Outerverse.
The Outerverse were verses that existed an infinite distance away from a multiverse, governed under different logic and aspects.
A place where neither space, time and logic held any meaning. A place where even infinity was but a traversable distance.
Like all other planes of reality, there was an hierarchy of power that existed in the Outer, and since they were the bridge between different multiverses, these powerful beings also existed as different entities across the Outerverse.
Suddenly, the gross darkness became enveloped in a blinding light but even the vestiges of that light came to a halt as the darkness once more swarm over everything but even with his overbearingness, it couldn't consume the being that was the source of that light.
Having an height that was immeasurable to mortals, a humanoid body that was the source of the light as it was a resplendent gold, and atop his shoulders under a veil, were three conjoined heads that floated. Each with eyes that bore through the darkness, searching for the being that crossed his authority.
"Yog-Sothoth, I will ask you to stay away from my multiverse. Your manipulations have caused a chain reaction that will consume universes untold. Roam your dark world and never set a foot on mine." His voice of Necessity boomed through the darkness, echoing in the ears of each and every resident of this foul plane.
Cascades of laughter that sounded like the screeching of metal and the wailing of the damned in Death's realms echoed through the void but it did not move the golden beings expression a bit.
"Tribunal… How long has it been since we last gazed at each other? Or have you forgotten after so many reboots?"
The darkness swirled and formed a visage that would shake brave men and reduce them to insanity. Its size was unquantifiable as it stood to match The Living Tribunal whose gaze had never strayed since he appeared, golden eyes peering at the monstrosity in from him.
"I will tell you this one last time: Stay away from my multiverse…"
"Or what? Threatening me will not work out well for you and you know that. So how about we leave this discussion and you go back to watching the little ants you rule over and leave me to mine?" The voice of Yog-Sothoth didn't appear the least intimidated, even having a slight teasing edge to it.
The darkness surrounding them came alive as he and The Living Goldie stared at each other, each brewing with might.
"It would do you well to heed my warning, or I might be forced to end you." The moment those words left one of mouths of The Living Tribunal, the darkness swirled around him, threatening to devour him but the first watcher of the multiverse didn't flinch, his body shining with power as they both stalemated each other.
"I have unfinished business in one of your universes and I'm sure you already know about it. Do me a favor Goldie and stay away, or else…. Y#O%U.. W$I¿L÷L.. D*I§E!"
Before the Living Tribunal could react, the darkness around him morphed into a humongous mouth with fangs that threatened to pierce through galaxies and swallow universes.
The Living Tribunal, seeing the position he was in, with three pairs of eyes glowing with unbridled power, waved his hands and the laws manifested before him, shielding him from Yog-Sothoth's attack.
When the mouth closed, an explosion swept through the Outer but Yog-Sothoth didn't move an inch from where his form was.
"Remember my words, Goldie."
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A/N: This disclaimer, although terribly late(for spoilers obviously), is for the minor group of people who will inevitably rage about introducing of foreign elements that are not Marvel-centric into this fic.
I'm only here to say that, though not thoroughly explored, there have been, on more than one occasion, references made it the Lovecraftian Mythology. The Chthlu Mythos is a part of old Marvel Comics that they just didn't bother to expand upon and so I decided to go that route.
We are near the end and it's something I decided since the starting of this fic.
Peace out ✌️, and a happy weekend.
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Read up to 35 chapters ahead at pa*treon.com/Draul_TheOminous.
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