The stars had not ceased whispering since the breach.
They bore warnings now echoes of collapsing dimensions, dying timelines, and a single name that lingered like poison in every wave of spacetime.
Darkseid.
He did not reach out. He did not have to. When a cosmic entity flexes its will, the universe simply bends.
So I went to him.
Apokolips stretched before me an iron-shod furnace planet sculpted from agony. Its heavens seethed with flames, ash, and screams. The majority would have returned. Even gods.
But I descended.
The planet never assaulted me. It recognized me.
Boom Tubes burst one by one as I traversed the hellish wasteland, the parademons retreating like a sea of submissive monsters. They dared not confront me. Not after what I did to the breach.
I made my way through the charred hallways of the throne citadel until the very air itself was heavy distorted by the force of the Omega Force.
And then I beheld him.
Darkseid.
He lounged upon his throne like a statue carved of stone and hate. His eyes blazed with that eternal red fire, Omega beams wrapped behind his sockets like bound up snakes.
"I was expecting a god," he said, voice gravel over thunder. "I see a child playing with divinity."
I didn't blink. "And yet, I'm standing in your house uninvited."
For a long second, we just stared. Power churned between us. If tension could kill stars, the universe would be ashes.
Finally, he stood up. The throne trembled under his absence.
"Why have you come?" he asked, voice quieter now. Not weak. Calculated.
I didn't blink. "Because something worse is coming."
Darkseid's forehead furrowed, a fissure in his infinite calm. "The breach."
"It wasn't a coincidence. That entity I wiped out it was a scout. There are more. More powerful. Ones that dine on concept. That warp creation itself."
"You desire an alliance?" he said, as if the word tasted like rot on his tongue.
I nodded. "I need to access the Omega Archives. And I need to view the Source End where you draw your Omega energy."
Darkseid laughed.
It was… appalling.
The planet shook.
"You want to test my power?"
"I want to comprehend it," I said. "To ready myself for what's to come. You believe I'm grandstanding. You believe I'm irresponsible. But if I fail this multiverse dies screaming."
He advanced. The floor cracked under his feet.
"You will not take anything from me," he spat, eyes aflame.
So I showed him.
I peeled back a slice of my cosmic shell. Enough.
A flash of my heart fractals of pure chance, sheathed in star forged resolve. The air buckled. Gravity wailed. His throne crumbled into dust behind him.
And yet… he did not retreat.
But he got it.
"You bear something… ancient," he said. "Not merely cosmic. Primordial."
"I don't know what it is. Not quite. But I know it intimidates you."
Darkseid smiled.
"Good."
He turned, advancing further into the citadel. A door creaked an Omega Gate, locked by his will. "Enter, Cosmic Being. Let us determine what you are capable of."
I entered.
Within that vault, I beheld secrets even gods had hidden. Plans of the Anti Life Equation. Rifts in time where Darkseid had battled beyond mortality. I was before the Omega Core, its energy thrumming like the wind of a star bound captive.
And when I laid hand to it, my mind dissolved.
Visions of perpetual warfare. Of myself wrapped in the Omega Force, standing at the apex of shattered timelines, battling Them.
The future wasn't written. War was certain.
When I drew back, Darkseid was observing.
"We're not allies," he declared.
"No," I said. "But we share the same enemy."
He nodded curtly. "Then survive, godling. Because when the final war arrives, you and I will determine which multiverse shall live."
And with that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness.
I stood alone, the flavor of power and prophecy burning on my lips.
Darkseid and I had sketched lines across the stars.
And the universe was watching.