Wakanda (Six months after the events of WandaVision)

" Who could have predicted that something like this could happen? "

Looking half down and dressed in an outfit worthy of a funeral, Doctor Strange let a funeral procession pass him by. Sitting at his side, Wang was just as still as he was, and dressed the same way. And all around the duo, a crowd of people, dressed in African clothing styles, showed sadness on their faces.

Today, the world was experiencing a huge loss and Wakanda was the place where this burial was taking place. Marching in front of Doctor Strange and Wang, an entire group of men and women, dressed as warriors, held spears, along with a multitude of sacred objects. The procession lasted several minutes, before the two men could finally see a dozen men who had arrived with a huge golden coffin encrusted with precious stones and where two huge panthers had been engraved.

And the man who lay inside was none other than T'Challa, the King of Wakanda, aka Black Panther. His death shocked everyone. The man had fought alongside Iron Man to face Captain America. Then, he had been close to death fighting against Erik Killmonger. And finally, he had succumbed to the powers of Thanos, before being resurrected to fight alongside the Avengers in the most epic battle the universe had ever known.

Therefore, when this battle took place less than a year ago, who would have guessed that the king of Wakanda ended up being forced to stop, when he had to face a simple tumor in the brain? Regardless of his superhuman powers and regardless of the advanced technology of Wakanda, the man had eventually died out, leaving his country once again without a king.

Letting the entire motorcade pass in front of him, Doctor Strange eventually followed, as did Wang and the rest of the crowd surrounding them. It was true that the master of the mystical arts had not developed any real relationship with the King of Wakanda.

Nevertheless, considered brothers in arms during the battle against Thanos, the former doctor had felt obliged to attend his funeral, out of respect for his courage and his decisions which managed to maintain the peace of his country. .

Not being the only Avengers to attend the funeral, Doctor Strange spotted Steve Rogers among the pallbearers, as did Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.

Finally, arriving in front of a cliff, the procession disappeared inside a huge cave. Walking a few more minutes in a gigantic corridor of rock, the procession ends its walk by arriving in a cavity, where mysteriously, a baobab tree was. at its foot, a dozen tombs were there, showing the number of kings that Wakanda had known and who had had the honor of being buried in this sacred place.

Then, the people at the head of the procession moved aside and formed two perfect columns to let the coffin pass. Heading towards a hole already dug, the pallbearers placed the coffin there. Standing among the crowd, Doctor Strange saw Okoye hitting the ground with her spear, while letting out a scream.

Imitating her, the other warriors of Wakanda struck the ground with their spears while letting out an identical cry. Repeating this gesture twenty times, they ended up stopping when the coffin was at the bottom of the hole. Then, the new priest of Wakanda advanced towards the hole, before beginning to formulate a prayer whose properties will be able to allow the soul of T'Chall to be able to join the world of the spirits where the ancient heroes of Wakanda reside.

Observing all this, Ramonda, T'Challa's mother kept her head held high and managed to maintain a stoic demeanor during the burial of her child. Beside her, Shuri was unable to imitate her, and a handkerchief hid her eyes, while tears were visible on her cheeks.

Then, at the end of the prayer, various sacred objects were stored above the coffin of Black Panther. And finally, the earth began to cover the coffin. In less than ten minutes, the hole was completely sealed. Still standing in front of the tomb, the priest crouched down and used his finger to make rustic designs in the earth. Then, getting up, he declared.

"Wakanda warriors! Today is not a day for our tears to flow! On the contrary, let us rejoice that the soul of our king can join the world where resides the spirit of the great heroes that Wakanda had the choice to know! But, I am certain that his soul will remain with us, until the ceremony is over! Therefore, does any of you have something to say to him before his ultimate journey? "

Immediately, Steve Rogers took a step forward. Contrary to the memories that most Wakanda warriors had of him, the man was now a person of the third age, and had nothing to do with the one who had fought against Thanos. Yet, seeming to have known the same adventures and battles as his youthful version, he declared.

"Black Panther and I had a rocky start! Truth be told, we fought the first second our eyes met! And using our fists instead of speech kept us from realizing how great our characters were. similar."

Wiping his tongue over his lips, he paused slightly, before continuing.

"T'Challa was a brave man, who didn't just want peace in Wakanda! He wanted the whole world to know peace! is beaten alongside them, even against the greatest threat in the universe! And as such, I don't consider T'Challa to be just an Avengers."

Crouching down, he put his hand on his grave, he declared.

"To me, he was my friend! And I wish him eternal rest! Farewell, my friend."

And finally, he placed a heart-shaped Herb on his grave, symbolizing the power of Black Panther.

Seeing him then get up, and move away from the grave, Okoye nodded, before hitting the ground again with her spear. The warriors immediately let out battle cries, while the rest of the crowd began to chant.


" Thanks for coming. "

Shaking hands with Steve Rogers, Stephen Strange affirmed.

"Every hero deserves the recognition he deserves."

Then, looking at Sam Wilson, who was wearing Captain America's old shield, he asked.

"How are the Avengers doing?"

"The deaths of Natasha and Stark still affect us." Steve affirmed, with a somewhat sad tone. "Officially, Hawk left the team to focus on his family, while Ant-man hasn't been talked about anymore! As for Tony's business, it seems that he has entrusted it entirely to his apprentice."

Then he stared at Strange.

"But I bet I'm telling you nothing! Besides, if I ask you the question, I'm sure you know exactly where Thor is."

"Let's just say I know his belly is back to how it was before."

" It's good news. "

Then, a silence settled and finally, Wang waved his arms behind Strange, before creating a teleportation circle.

" Strange ? "

Simply nodding his head, the former doctor turned around before heading to New York.

"Take care." He said, to the Avengers, before disappearing.


New York

"They didn't talk about the events related to Westview and Wanda.." Wang remarked.

"As I thought, none of you know where she might be." Strange stated. "Only Vision could have known. If you ask me, her guilt prevents her from returning to the Avengers."

Then, walking down a corridor, the doctor stopped in front of a chessboard. Removing two white pawns, he declared.

"Wanda Maximoff and Black Panther! After Vision, Black Widow and Tony Stark, our numbers are down again."

Nevertheless, seizing a red pawn and placing it on the chessboard, he asked.

"When's your new recruit?"

"Shang-chi? Let's say we're still teaching him the true history of our world and all the potential dangers he'll face! When it comes to his training, I think the village where he decided to go to settle down and the best place for him to improve his new skills."

"So we can hope he can join our ranks." Strange remarked, looking at the opposite side of the chessboard, which was completely empty. "For now, the black pawns have disappeared along with Thanos! However, evil will never go away and is ever-present around us. Letting go of our guard and foolishly thinking that Thanos' death will bring peace will only bring death closer from us. "

"Words filled with wisdom! I'm glad to see you're still the same, Master Strange." A voice affirmed.

Startled somewhat, Wang immediately turned around. On the contrary, being perfectly stoic, as if expecting to hear this new voice, Strange turned around most calmly, while affirming.

" It's Doctor ! Doctor Strange. "

Opposite the duo had just appeared the Ancient One, their former master. The person who saved Strange from his emotional self-destruction and granted him the right to give him a new reason to live. However, her body, far from acting like that of a living being, was transparent like a hologram. Still, that didn't stop the woman from smiling at Strange.

"You are definitely staying the same, Doctor Strange."

For his part, Wang positioned his hands in prayer, before greeting the Ancient One.

"Ancient One, it is a huge honor for us to receive your visit."

"Visit that, I imagine, hides an alarming reason." Strange affirmed, suspecting that his former master would never have come here for a simple courtesy visit. "To tell the truth, I thought it was impossible to be able to communicate with the dead."

"Indeed, normally this should be impossible."

Looking around, as if scanning the entire environment around her, the Ancient One remained silent for a few seconds. Then, finally, she declared.

"Since I left this world, I have integrated a new world and I now watch over the land of the deceased, Eternity! Integrated this place means saying goodbye to any chance of being able to reintegrate the world of the living under human or astral form."

"How did you manage to appear in front of us?" Wang asked.

"It's easy to explain! There is a wall between the world of the dead and that of the living! Normally, nothing can break this wall and allow the dead to join the living! However, a crack has appeared in this immense wall . "

"How can this be explained?"

"This phenomenon must have something to do with the Blip! Gathering the Infinity Stones and using them to crack space-time and weaken the wall that separates the dead from the living! Plus, more trions of dead people have returned to the life in an instant! Who knows how this phenomenon degraded space-time? Even the gods did not foresee such a phenomenon taking place."

"The gods?" Strange wondered.

"That's why I came to join you."

Staring at Strange, she declared.

"Strange, I think I should take this moment to tell you about the creation of the Universe."

"Are you talking about the appearance of the Infinity Stones?"

"In truth, the Infinity Stones have nothing to do with the appearance of the Universe."

Immediately, the two men in front of her closed their eyelids several times, as they seemed to struggle to take in her revelation.

" Sorry ? "

"Do you know what the Multiverse is? It is the fact that our universe is just one universe among others! Like a galaxy, our universe is surrounded by other universes! And if this is possible, it is because a god managed to create this multiverse! This god is called Zeno-sama."

"Ze... Zeno-sama?" Wang repeated, never having felt like he had heard that name.

"You talk about Universes similar to ours but...how many are there exactly?" Strange asked.

"First of all, there are 12 universes! And compared to what you think, they are not actually similar to each other! In truth, they are very different! Yet, billions of years ago, Zeno -sama created them with the purpose of being able to use them to form the perfect universe! He had consciously made mistakes when forming the first universes, to know how to improve the quality of his later universes."

Using her powers, she then showed a hologram of a universe before creating others.

"Nevertheless, to enable this, Zeno-sama entrusted this mission to his underlings: the Kaio-shins, whose role is to create life and the Gods of Destruction, whose role is to destroy it."

"Destroy?" Strange repeated.

"Creating life is not so simple." Explained the Ancient One. "We can consider the creation of a planet as a painting! Sometimes the painting is perfect and its creator decides to keep it! But, sometimes, he makes a mistake and lets his colleague destroy it to form a better one ! That are the roles of Kaio-shins and Gods of Destruction! Every universe has a pair of these gods."

"Thus, many universes were created, but many were destroyed by Zeno-sama's hand! Only 12 survived, the most successful! But none of them managed to obtain the title of perfect universe! Of course, Zeno-sama could have destroyed them, but one of the people working alongside him, the high priest, persuaded him that these pseudo-universes had the right to live and that, with any luck, the one of them could become the perfect universe."

"So we're one of those twelve universes." Wang understood.

"Not exactly! Prior to the creation of these universes, Zeno had created four pseudo-universes! Four prototypes of these other universes, where he had decided not to incorporate any deities."

This time, she showed the hologram of four other universes, which she arranged in a row. First showing their creation, she let time scroll until one of them disappeared.

"Unfortunately, Zeno-sama quickly realized that without a god to maintain peace and order, these pseudo-universes were doomed to disappear! And without the need to destroy them..."

Two other pseudo-universes disappeared.

"Only one has survived until today! It is ours."

"So why did you come to tell us about this?" Strange asked, trying to take in everything that had just been said to him. "Is, by any chance, our pseudo-universe also threatened with extinction like the others?"

As if to answer his question, another spirit appeared. This time it was an old man, whose aura seemed to belong to that of a great veteran.

"For that, let me continue to explain to you what you don't know."

Then, greeting the two men, he declared.

"My name is Odin, father of Thor."

"I know who you are." Strange affirmed. "I helped your sons find you when you were on Earth! However, if I remember correctly, you were supposed to be dead too."

"As the Ancient One just told you, it is now easy for the dead who gained powers while alive to be able to pass through the breach into the world of the living."

Hearing this, Wang looked concerned.

"Is Thanos capable of doing this? Best to avoid his return, even in astral form."

"Fortunately for us, Thanos is in a place that has taken him farther away from the world of the living, compared to us." the Ancient One assured. "He will never be able to take advantage of this breach. Yet, casually, Thanos may have almost saved our universe."

Startled, Strange and Wang looked at the former king, before asking.

" What ? "

"Even before Thanos was born, I suspected something like this would happen." Affirmed the Ancient One. "Our universe, since its creation, is only a prototype destined to disappear! For a long time, Zeno-sama has been trying to improve other universes by experimenting on ours! And one of these tests was to reduce our population by two."

"What was the purpose of this test?"

"It's easy to understand." Odin asserted. "Without a god of destruction, the so-called bad planets are not destroyed and the number of population of the universe continued to increase while the resources they need decrease! To allow the survival of our pseudo-universe, Zeno- sama wondered if reducing our population would avoid the death of all! Hence the presence of Thanos who, after the destruction of his planet, received a premonition from the Living Tribunal. "

"Living Tribunal?" Strange repeated.

"I've heard of it." Wang affirmed. "This is a myth about the presence of a false deity within our universe."

"Indeed! Living Tribunal is a person who receives orders from Zeno-sama or the high priest, when tests are to take place! He is also the one who reports on the consequences of these tests! It is not a real deity, but I think it needless to say that her powers easily surpass ours."

"So this man allowed Thanos to create a plan to kill half of them and did nothing to help us stop him." Strange understood.

"Unless Zeno-sama or the high priest orders him to, he has no right to interfere in the mortal world." Explained the Ancient One. "Furthermore, not being a Kaio-shin, he created Celestials who in turn created the stars and worlds we see today, but that's all the Tribunal is. Just like our universe, he is simply a prototype of the true deities."

"Thanos did nothing to save the Universe." Strange retorted. "On the contrary, from what I have seen, he only created chaos when the population of each planet found themselves unable to live without their loved ones! Deleting half of the universal population created many additional deaths and halted the advancement of technology."

"In the short term... indeed." Odin agreed. "But, if several centuries had passed, we could have seen the Universe still present, and not destroyed as it was intended."

"The universe...would have been destroyed in a few centuries?" Wang repeated.

"Unfortunately, his resources will never allow him to survive any longer if we keep asking him for more." The Ancient One confessed.

Seeming angry to hear that, Strange growled.

"So what? Those who fought to revive us did it for nothing? Wasn't what they did heroic?"

"We fully understand why you acted like this." Odin assured. "Unfortunately, this has only brought us closer to the horrible fate that awaits us."

"Fate can be changed." Strange retorted. "I only need to see the future to..."

But before finishing his sentence, he felt his soul leave his body and his astral spirit found itself teleporting away from Earth. Then, a moment later, he found himself in front of a huge golem. Appearing as large as a golem, it floated in the middle of the void of the universe. Separated from the rest of its body, its head consisted of three connected faces and hovered above its shoulders, while the golem had nothing resembling a neck.

Initially motionless, the giant being eventually lowered its eyes somewhat, before using telepathy to communicate with Strange.

"Doctor Strange, I presume."

For the first time, the superhero was unable to know who he was talking to.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Living Tribunal." The man assured him.

Hearing this, Doctor Strange frowned. But before they could say anything, Living Tribunal said.

"I sense anger emanating from your mind! Are you angry with me?"

"In your opinion? You are supposed to manage life in this universe and you dare to let half of the living beings disappear? What god are you to let that happen?"

" Better to save half of his universe than to see it completely disappear. " Retorted Living Tribunal.

"You mean you would gladly sacrifice half of us?"

" Not you ? "

" Of course not. "

Immediately, he heard a chuckle in his head.

"Obviously, that's what a mortal would say! They all say that, without understanding that they are wrong. Can mortals avoid the disappearance of the peoples? Can they avoid the explosion nature of the planets? Can they prevent the end of the Universe from taking place? Of course not! Mortals don't have that power! If you were like me, you would understand that what I'm doing keeps you alive."

"I refuse to live, knowing that people died to allow this! What do you think we are? We mortals are able to face fate and change it to allow the future to become better The proof, we managed to stop Thanos, when anyone would have predicted our defeat."

Allowing himself to be robbed until he found himself in front of Living Tribunal's face, he affirmed with certainty.

"No matter what trials we face, we will always succeed in preserving our universe."

"Oh, really? In that case, I might have something that could preserve your universe and avert its imminent destruction."

" Huh ? "