Granny

I have faithfully served my Lord for longer than any of his other minions, and I was used to his need for privacy in his chambers as he sought to find a way to achieve his ultimate goal, which lesser beings such as the Kryptonian have often interfered with. Most other servants foolish enough to invade such privacy have never come back, for undoubtedly they had perished at the might of my master's Omega Beams, which had no equal in power. Some like the cowardly Desaad were brought back by my Lord for reasons that could not be understood, but my master always made decisions that would favor his causes in the end, and his judgment was always intact.

It was one such time that my master was alone in his throne-chamber that I was heading out of the palace to inspect the Furies, Apokolips's finest and most blood-thirsty warriors. I was nearly halfway to the training facility, where memories of my faithful hound Mercy, who I trained to follow the demands of my master, resurfaced. I was recalling such glorious times when the atmosphere behind me seemed to glow a slight shade of blue. I turned to see what it was, and I witnessed what appeared to be an object of great blue light falling from the vast emptiness of space toward a destination distant from where I was located. The object was no meteor, for I had never seen a meteor that could give off such a powerful aura. The object speed toward and eventually met its destination, and there it gave off a powerful force wave. The glow intensified to the point where I could no longer bear to face it, and I turned away with my eyes closed, waiting to again look at the mysterious object.

When the noise had died down, and I could make out the sound of dust settling, I looked back around in the distance to observe the damage done by the object. Any structures that were there were knocked down…no, they were not knocked down. They were dissolved to nothing. Any trace of them that was once there was gone forever. I had never seen such massive power brought about before, except from my Lords Omega Beams, and this left me in a temporary awe. I looked around myself and saw various Parademons in a similar manner that I had previously been in, and I automatically saw it as my duty to rally them and get to the bottom of the matter. "You!" I shouted to a nearby Parademon, who immediately snapped to attention, along with the other ones nearby. "Get a squadron down to that site, and have Desaad report down there with the Furies to await my orders! Send a messenger to inform Lord…". "No need Granny" boomed the deep, familiar voice behind me, "I have arrived." I turned and bowed, and the Parademons followed my example, as deeply as I could to my master, who stood to his full height, clad in his familiar attire of dark blue and black, his deep eyes glowing with red fire beneath his dark helm. He stared in the distance, in the direction of the mysterious object, and signaled me to follow him. We walked together for a long while, and we met Desaad walking towards us, his pathetic face facing the ground with false and cowardly respect towards my dear Lord, who looked down on Desaad with a clear look of loathing and disgust in his gaze. "My Lord" sniveled Desaad, "We cannot identify…"

"I do not have time to listen to your pathetic report Desaad" boomed my master, whose voice seemed to come from under the planets surface like the fire pits that made up a majority of the planet. "I will go to the site myself and see what I make of it." With that, my Lord again began to stride towards the object with myself in tow, leaving the miserable wretch to himself. Eventually we reached the site, a crater that appeared to have around a mile diameter in all directions, surrounded by the Parademons that I ordered to observe the site. I desired to go down and see what was capable of causing such unparalleled damage, but my Lord signaled me to stay where I was. "You will maintain control here, and no one is to follow me down" he said in that powerful and deep voice that could make his enemies shake in fear. He continued down into the crater in the direction of the center, where the object continued to glow blue, but now it was far more bearable to look at, and I could make out the shape of it better. It was a cube.

Even from the edge I could feel a slight aura of power emitting from the cube, pulsing like a beating heart. My Lord reached the center of the crater and looked down at the cube, observing it with great interest, and I watched on with great anticipation, along with the Parademons. He was making a gesture to pick it up when a great light came into existence a few yards in front of him. He looked up to face it as the light intensified, and I looked on with my curiosity furiously growing. The light then died down, and a new being stood where it was, and I realized that he looked like my master.

He was different, of course, for he was clad in a lighter blue color and had gold plating on his outfit, and his skin complexion was purple, whereas my Lords was a stone grey color, but he was built similarly, with powerful muscles making up his whole being, and he radiated a level of power that matched my masters. He also shared a similar charisma in his eyes, which also glowed red with malice and hatred. They stared at each other for what seemed to be forever, until the new being said in a booming voice, also similar to my masters, "I have come to take back what is mine." My Lord responded "You will take nothing from me. This object emits a power that I see as useful, and it has fallen into my territory, and is therefore mine." Many lesser beings have trembled at the sound of such a voice, but this newcomer stood his ground and wore a new expression on his face. It was an expression of annoyance. "You are a fool if you think you are worthy to wield the Tesseract." This retort fired up my fury. No one could go about making such insults at my master without suffering my wrath.

My Lord stood silently, facing his opponent without moving. Then, faster than I could follow, my master's Omega Beams blazed from his eyes in a glorious red beam of pure energy. Immediately another intense light blazed between the two beings, and I was again forced to shield my eyes. I managed to glimpse occasionally at the epic event, and I saw what was occurring. The new being was firing his own energies at the Beams, and they continued to meet between the two superpowers without actually meeting their targets. I was astonished, for it was rare for me to witness a being who could match the might of my master. Then, as suddenly as it started, it ended. Both beings stared at each other, neither looking remotely tired or exhausted, but they now shared the exact same look on their faces. Amusement.

"Perhaps I was mistaken to think that you were unworthy" stated the newcomer, "for few can match my prowess." "Likewise" responded my Lord, "I have never met one who could defend against my Omega Beams." They both looked down at the object that the newcomer called the "Tesseract", and my Lord eventually said "This truly is a powerful relic. With it I could find the Anti-Life Equation." The new being looked up with a look of curiosity on his face. "The Anti-Life Equation?" he inquired. My master responded "The means to wipe the universe clean of all life in existence and rewrite the universe in my own image. Other lives are meaningless to me and hold no value." The new being looked at my master's face and spoke "That is a true perspective that I myself share, and I too seek to, as you say, "wipe the universe clean of all life"."

Again, they stood in silence as I looked on with the Parademons in astonishment. Finally my master said "The only problem is lesser beings who think themselves to be higher than us, who view themselves as heroes of their worlds." The newcomer nodded in agreement and said "I have had my fair share of dealings with such heroes. They would always beat me, but just barely." My Lord then said "My heroes have proved to be quite formidable, but what if they were to meet yours in combat?" The newcomer nodded and said "It would be the ultimate battle, and it could easily be arranged by our combined resources." My master stood silent, a cruel grin stretching across his face, and he said "Come. We must talk more on this matter. But first, what are you called?"

The new being responded "Names can be dangerous." This was true. Few on Apokolips were worthy to even mutter the dread one's name. My master raised an eyebrow, then he said "I am Darkseid, ruler of Apokolips." The new being's face also split into s cruel, dark grin, and he said "I am Thanos, the lover of Death."