[The Dreaming Celestial – Tiamut The Communicator]

He could feel the universe dying at an astonishing rate. Planets and stars exploding just so he could get the required energy needed from his birth.

The only reason he didn't outright lament the astronomical loss was that he knew how important it was that he was born. Regardless of his growing sympathy with the innumerable mortal races of the universe, he still could not forget his importance in the grand calculus of the multiverse.

The least he could do was be thankful that Draul was of the same mind and had taken it upon himself to look for a universe that produced the lowest cost.

Though he was still in the process of learning, he was no baby that couldn't distinguish between what was right and what was necessary.

Large influx of cosmic energy started flowing into him and facilitating the things needed for him. Normally the energy he needed, at the minimal least, was from a few billion people but given that this universe was pretty much out of the sight of Celestials, he decided not to be stingy and tried taking as much cosmic energy as he could, destroying everything else in the process.

His senses were cut from the rest of the universe because of the barrier Draul erected over his Earth. He was a little surprised that he couldn't overpower the shield and force his senses into the multiverse despite it being a simple barrier that Draul had cast.

He knew his human friend might sometimes blatantly forget, most times intentionally, but there was no changing, or even the smallest doubt, of the fact that he was in fact among one of the strongest beings in the multiverse.

Like the others out there, he knew he would have to make a choice and the first one that deserved his first answer was none other than the man who helped hasten his emergence.

He looked at the burning universe laid before his senses but he couldn't put a finger on what exactly he was feeling by watching it. In his mind, the three core aspects of his existence – wants, needs and duty – clashed against each other in a battle that he didn't know which eventually won. He'd have to ask his first friend about that. Even the concept of friendship was a foreign one to him but he was determined to see where it led.

Connecting himself to the only universe connected to the one he was currently in, he warped directly into it since he was sure no other Celestial could feel his energy so there was no problem with him appearing on Earth.

He appeared in the middle of a mountain range, one where he was sure the only thing around were the low leveled sentient organisms of this planet, and waited. He had learned how to be tactful in his time underground after all.

A few seconds later, he felt the familiar shredding of space that alerted him of Draul's arrival.

"I have to say, you really do look imposing in person." Draul said after running his senses over the newly born Celestial who easily stood taller than any of the nearby mountains despite the fact that he'd severely shrunk down his size.

"I concur. Though your idea of imposing might differ from the rest of the inhabitants of your planet, I do feel like I strike quite the threatening impression at first glance." Tiamut nodded to Draul's words, acknowledging the fact that they had come to the same conclusion.

"You Celestials really are different. Even now I can feel the amount of cosmic energy in your body increasing by folds. The universe does really pick favorites." Draul muttered more to himself than to his cosmic audience. "So what now big guy? Knull will be out any second now and that'll be the spark of an all-out multiversal war."

Instead of giving him his answer, Tiamut instead replied with a question of his own. "What do you want, Draul? From this war, the advent and the end. What do you stand to gain from it in any way?"

To know something, you had to first understand how it worked and given that he couldn't understand how Draul worked, he wanted to at least understand how he thought.

"What do I stand to gain? An interesting question but also one that insinuates that there 'is' something to gain from this war, unfortunately that doesn't apply to me. I have nothing to gain but everything to lose. This war can only take from me and give nothing back. Even in the unlikely case that I survive to the end without losing anything, I'll still end up with nothing at the end of it all. It's something you might not understand yet, but there is no crown to be had. No power to be won at the end of it all. There will only be those who lost and those who lost everything, so when you ask what do I stand to gain from all this, I have no freaking idea what you're talking about. What I want is for some peace and quiet but I guess even that's impossible given how this multiverse works, right?"

Even though he was complaining, his voice never went an octave higher and remained at the same tone all through his rant, making it more of a monotonous dialogue than anything else. "To be honest, all I want is for me to wake up tomorrow and not feel the edge of a knife to my neck. Not even possessing the Infinity Stones can grant me that wish." He had long brought out a few wares and started brewing tea while sitting midair as he gave the Celestial his own version of a drunken harangue.

"I see. In other words…"

"In other words, I'm fucking up anybody I come across. Be it Celestial, Gods, Elder Gods, Eldritch monstrosities, cosmic beings and even the fucking Abstracts won't escape the list. If they are all that hell-bent on fucking up my life, then the least I can do is fuck up their entire existence. So tell me Tiamut, what are you going to do?"

Tiamut remained silent at Draul's repeated question as his golden eyes met Draul's brown. "I don't know. I will be the first to admit that my answer is lackluster at best but it's truly the only choice I come to. With my limited existence, I'm afraid that I don't sufficiently understand the true scale of what is about to happen and how it will affect each individual involved. The only role I know of is that I am sure I will participate in fighting for the survival of this universe and the rest, but who I will fight to ensure that, I do not know. It might be you, it might be the other Celestials, the Gods are a most likely probability. Maybe even the Abstracts, or I may even wish to go against the directives of our creator. These are all still within the realms of a multiversal calculus of infinite probabilities but it is pretty much confirmed that I will partake in the upcoming battle. Does this answer your questions?"

Draul nodded his head before continuing sipping his tea. It was a pastime activity he had been neglecting for a while now due to the fact that he was getting bored with almost everything.

"I guess since we've gotten that out of the way, it's about time you group up with the other Celestials. See you soon, T." With those words, Draul left the Dreaming Celestial on his own in the middle of the mountain range and warped off to who knows where while also removing the barrier that covered Earth.

The moment the barrier was gone, Tiamut received a call, or the cosmic equivalence of one, from someone who he knew very well, as all Celestials did.

Arishem The Judge.

"Tiamut…"

"…Arishem."

The link between them became silent for a few seconds before Arishem simply asked. "You were not supposed to emerge for the next few years. How come you did, and without harming any life on that planet?"

"He helped me." Tiamut simply stated. The understanding between the two Celestials was as if they'd known each other for quite a few years. "He gave me a universe, one equally identical to this one with the presence of heavy cosmic saturation on it. I was able to absorb that instead of this one, thereby keeping life on this planet unharmed." Tiamut then explained to him how his emergence came to be in detail since there actually was no need of keeping it to himself.

Hearing all what Tiamut had to say, Arishem only said one word before cutting the line between the two of them. Tiamut looked at the planet one more before disappearing completely away from this plane of existence.

…

In a beautiful garden, a breathtaking woman sat among the meadows and blew a soul-catching tone while playing with the singing flowers around her. If there was ever a picture that could be ascribed to the word 'natural', then everything about the woman was it.

She felt ethereal yet looked as real as the ground she was sitting on. The tune she was singing stopped as a beautiful smile graced her face but the grass and leaves didn't stop with their symphony.

"Dear sister, and here I was beginning to think you wouldn't bother visiting me. How cruel of you."

Standing behind her was a cloaked figure with raven black hair spilling out of the hood she wore. Unlike the natural atmosphere of the former woman, the latter felt as if while being one with existence itself, it felt as if existence was merely doing as she bid.

"Hello to you too, Gaea." She finally spoke, causing Gaea who had remained sitting since the beginning to stand up and draw her into a hug.

They remained like that, none moving, for an indefinite time before Gaea finally separated from her sister. "Come with me, sister. I believe we have a lot to catch up on." She drew her sister towards an alcove by the side of the garden, giggling as she ignored the exasperated sigh that left the mouth of her clearly distraught sister. Like her title, Gaea truly was a mother to all.

"So tell me, what exactly brought you here?" The moment they were seated, Gaea's demeanor changed as if a switch had been flipped and her face turned passive.

"Don't play the fool with me Gaea, you know very well why I'm here. Not only did you let that girl near him but you also gave her your blessing and not just any blessing but one that made her be considered your direct daughter and you know exactly what that means."

"I know your concerns, Oshtur but I believe it was the right choice then. We can't simply think that our input in this battle will be anything special and if we're not careful, they might come back and try to feed on the chaos. My blessing to her was due to her determination and belief, her love for her fiancé was what made me waive the lines. If she wants to fight by his side then you of all people know that she'll need all the power she can get. And besides, I doubt she's the reason you're here."

"It is connected. My last divination showed me something I hoped to never see… Chthon and Set. They too are striving for his power. If they manage to get even a part of it then we're doomed."

"It's not like any of us can see a ray of salvation when the battle starts. All we can do is struggle to survive for another pointless eon until another war on this scale erupts… I'm quite fed up with this pointless circle, but then again, not even we have the power to change reality as we please. Enough of the dreary talk, how was your travels?"

...

Draul went back home with a light heart because of his conversation with Tiamut.

'I will fight.' That was what Tiamut had said, and Draul had to admit that he resonated with that thought. They were similar in a few ways given that they both woke up in a world with a determined course set out for them, and it was how they responded to it that made them different from any other person in their shoes.

They were both prepared to go against their puppet masters if they were not satisfied, at least Tiamut was since Draul had already delivered his middle finger to any curious spectator.

When he got home, the house was empty with the normal residents off to their various ways. He knew they were at Krakoa helping the growing nation as much as they could while Steve was probably with Peggy.

Speaking of Steve and Peggy, it looked like Steve was pretty adamant about her staying out of this kind of life. A sentiment that both couples shared. Steve didn't want to involve Peggy in this part of his life because she understood more than anyone how infinitely dangerous it was compared to whatever she had experienced in her life. It wasn't even a topic of comparison.

Most times they'll tell dark jokes about what will happen if some of them were to die along the way, and though the three women at home were mildly put off by it, they too understood how slim their chances of coming out of it fully whole was.

Draul had on multiple occasions defied the very concept of impossibility but it'll take more than breaking through every unavoidable concept for him to pull it through again. Death wasn't a concept that any of them fancied which was the reason for their bitter end struggle.

Even now, they knew they were mostly outmatched when it came to the upcoming battle but there was no way for them to back out of it now. If there was ever a fight of their lives, then it'll be the coming one.

Gods were panicking. Celestials were determined. Elder Gods were steeling their resolve and looking for the most opportuned moment to spring up whatever agenda they had. The same with the Abstracts and the lot of unknowns out there.

This was the reason why Draul let them be and left them to their own devices. He knew exactly how they were feeling and he didn't need his empathic powers for that. After all, when he wouldn't be a nervous wreck if they stared Death in the face. Not just any death, but the literal entity that embodied it.

Though he had a plan to pull them out, it was entirely unsure if it would work when different levels of omniscience were going to be clashing in the overhead battle.

Left to himself, Draul did something he hadn't done for a long time.

"Hey Marky." He called the CEO of his company and almost lost himself in a fit of laughter as he heard how Marky was trying to compose himself after the illusory boss of one of the most forefront media companies in the whole world.

The past few years had left the Harvard nerd feeling like the most important person in the world as the entire Facebook company was left to him while Draul had the others pretty much running on codes that were at the level of unintelligent AI. Suddenly receiving a call from the man was bound to throw him in and out of different loops.

"I'm fine s-sir. I'm fine *cough*" Marky pulled himself together as his years of experience shone through making him no longer feeling as pressured of the man as he was initially. "Quite an abrupt call s-Draul. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"Hoh? Seems like you've finally grown a pair of overdue balls, eh Marky?" Draul's eyes squinted in a mix between amusement and irritation.

Feeling a creeping chill up his spine, Marky immediately revered back to the role that had been automatically assigned between them. "No- of course – I mean, yes sir." Seeing the way his first employee was still a nervous train wreck, Draul decided to take pity on the man.

"No need to be alarmed, Marky. I just called in to check on you. Don't want to make you feel like an irresponsible boss who doesn't even care about his employee's welfare." Draul said with a smile on his face as he saw Marky's face contort into an unamused sneer but he didn't let any of his inner thoughts filter into the conversation.

"Oh that? You flatter me. You didn't have to do any of that, sir. I've been taking good care of myself and also the company. Though I think the employees will truly appreciate it, a sense of motivation so to speak, if you dropped by the office at times." Marky's face remained impassive but his tone was the complete opposite as he spoke to Draul, knowing fully well that the man will decline it.

"… Hmm, maybe I'll show up one of these days and see how corporate life works. See you around, Marky." Though he knew Marky didn't mean any of the words he said, he thought it'll be fun to surprise the hell out of the man and show up to his company one day. Though he didn't put much thought on it. He hung up before Marky could get another word in and paced around his house before growing bored and decided to take a stroll. A stroll always helped to free his mind.

…

On one of the rare few occasions he ever did it, he shut off most of his senses and suppressed his abilities to the lowest, which was still more than enough to thoroughly decimate the planet, and got on his stroll.

Though he'd never mentioned it before, it was outright impossible for any being on Earth and even the wider universe to sense his presence unless he specifically allowed it.

Even if he occupied a human form, the brain of most sentient beings was still not strong enough to comprehend what he was so he mostly just disappeared from their senses and even the world subconsciously shifted to his desires. Suppressing his senses and abilities was the only way he could get any enjoyment and fulfillment from this endeavor.

He appeared in a random alleyway since his house was in a rather secluded and far area of the state and walked out with hands in his coat.

He looked just like any other random person in the ever-bubbling streets of New York. With that thought in mind, he moved through the crowds hoping to find something that'll hold his attention long enough until he grew bored of it.

…

[Bucky Barnes POV]

Bucky sat on top of an uncompleted building after taking a breather from the work he'd been doing since morning.

He would have preferred staying at home but Nat had suggested a change of scenery as they spent day in and day out indoors and it turns out that the only place they knew that would serve as a great distraction was Krakoa. Constructions were still going on everyday which meant that there were a lot of things he could do to take his mind off any unwanted thoughts.

There was already an established body of order in the small city they had built which was represented by a few people, namely Emma Frost, Ororo, Raven and Charles. Ororo was more of a mediator between all of them because her presence was pivotal to the forming of the metahuman nation. Though they didn't know to what extent, anybody with any degree of heightened senses would be able to tell at forts glance that she was vastly different from the others. A subconscious reaction due to the kind of aura she emitted as a High Goddess of the Sky. Since she was the strongest and also being the one that brought them together, most decisions made for the nation passed through her before they are implemented. And not to mention that her fiancé was none other than Draul, who the other three have simultaneously given up on trying to understand.

"What are you doing up here?" Nat came to his side and sat beside him.

"Just resting and trying to catch my thoughts." Bucky said, not reacting to the sudden weight that impacted his back as Natasha laid her back against his. "I guess you were right when you said a little hard labor was what I needed to stop feeling stuffy."

"Hmm."

Bucky's medium length hair that was tied in a bun to prevent it from disturbing him during his work was blowing freely in the air behind his back.

"More magic practice?" He asked after seeing how spent she was.

"Not really. I was testing the limits of how much I can command reality. Matter manipulation is a lot easier than reality manipulation but we have all the proof we need that I can bend reality with my powers, how far I can take it still remains to be seen." Psychokinesis was a very obscure and rare ability that much isn't known about. The only similarities that could be compared that she knew of were the sorcerers. Draul had given her access to his magical notes and spells since it was the fastest way for her to learn how to truly manipulate her abilities to produce results she wanted.

Matter manipulation was more Bucky's alleyway but his was limited by the fact that he could only manipulate his body so there was no way he could help her out with that.

Psychokinesis was all about impressing your thoughts into reality and the simplest form of that was telekinesis and telepathy. It was like training an extra set of limbs to play instruments.

Playing a gong would be very easy with them but the difficulty increases if you make it play a drum instead. The more those set of limbs get attuned to complex tasks, it becomes less of a limb and more of a string, pulling on the very fabrics of reality. It was exactly the same way magic worked. If simple telekinesis were the same as beating a gong, what she was trying to do would be akin to playing the piano with a set of tightly held-together strings. Luckily she had a lot of experience in that particular area as she had been able to pick it up easily when she first started studying magic under Draul, leaving her to only deepen her experience and familiarity with it to take it to the next level.

"Sounds like you've got a lot on your plate."

"Honestly, it's not that much. I'm just pushing through what I can already do and see if I can take them to the next level." They relapsed into another bout of silence with Bucky watching what was happening below and also the city in the distance. They sure had come a long way in a few short years was Bucky's conclusion as he saw different types of metahumans moving around with a rather lax and carefree attitude without always having to look at their back. To be honest, the lines between humans and aliens have been blurred with how strong he'd gotten. The differences and disparity between specific groups of people grew smaller the more you grow higher. Even in politics, things like race, gender, wealth, culture and even ambitions, lose most of their initial importance due to the level of hierarchy the individuals have been introduced to.

It was also why it was almost impossible, if not downright so, to hear about a racist billionaire.

Not even the government who stigmatizes the metas hates them as much as the local people do.

But they had managed to make something free from any human influence. Very soon, this county will soon be self-reliant as it was richly saturated with natural resources.

"I think break time is over." He still had a job to do so he couldn't waste time sunbathing.

"Hmm."