Marvel: I Wish To Be One Above All

Bringing his consciousness back out Jon felt refreshed, and even more stable in spirit. He finally took a moment to take stock of himself.

It seemed that throughout his stabilizing process he finally 'took shape' as it were. He had a humanoid body filled with the chaos of creation, energy, and matter. Although if you looked closely at right below where his navel would have been, you could see the forms of his Primordials working with the surrounding energy to create realms for themselves, realms that would embody them and be their homes for the eons to come. Sort of like how each of the Daedra in Tamriel each have their own domain in Oblivion.

As he watched them work he started to wonder if that was all there is to it. Is there anything else he needs to do? 'Ah, maybe that.' He willed Archon to appear near where his forehead would be and moved the domain he started with him. He already told the Primordials that Archon wouldn't show himself most of the time, might as well make sure that his domain was far enough away so there wasn't a visual reminder of his presence at all times. Even though it didn't really change how far Archon could reach, if he needed to that is.

'Now that that's taken care of… what now?'

Jon looked to Jack and wondered if there really was anything left for the old man to teach him. If all of his powers were based on will and intentions, then doesn't that mean that he can pretty much do anything he pleases? What was the point of anything other than consuming the energy and matter surrounding him in order to fuel whatever his Primordial Gods attempt to do?

Stepping in only when things look dire or when his children were lonely seems like a fairly boring existence. Fulfilling though it might be, Jon wasn't exactly looking for a slow life right now, someday, maybe, but not right away. 'Is that why One-Above-All was rarely shown or even mentioned in the comics? Was it because being all powerful is boring? I guess I can see that. I mean, if this is all there is to it than all that's left is moving through my own multiverse once it m.a.t.u.r.es. Probably going to be a loooooooong wait...'

'But still… Even before that. Why was I chosen to be this… Why me?'

"NOW you're getting to brass tax." Jack said bending down at the waist bringing a finger filled with glowing universe orbs linked together by the Web of Life down to Jon's startled face, a finger that, it should be said, was thrice the circ.u.mference of Jon's head. "Indeed, that's the most important bit isn't it? Why you? What makes you so special? It's what underlies the answer to all your other questions. And is the first one I'll answer. So, what do you think? What is special about you?"

After a minute of reflection, 'Nothing. I wasn't anything before this. Just a normal guy.' Jon lamented, his shoulder's sagged.

"Bingo!" Jack snaps his fingers. "Yes, you were. Rather ordinary, normal life, a good one, filled with several acts of self-sacrifice, but ultimately a normal person. But your soul? That was not." Jon points at the swirling mist that made up Jon's c.h.e.s.t.

Puzzled, Jon rubs his hand on his c.h.e.s.t. Not that doing that would really lead to anything, force of habit, maybe. 'What do you mean?'

"When a being such as us, we call ourselves Origins, by the way. It's a handy title, considering we are the origin of everything in the omniverse. Aside from the mists of existence and nothingness, we create everything, we are literally everything's daddy, godfather, inventor, director, writer, and producer. Thus, we are the Origins.

Anyway, tangent, when an Origin m.a.t.u.r.es, and a perfectly stable universe is born in our multiverse, such as the one your previous Earth is from, the souls there begin to m.a.t.u.r.e as well. After a few quadrillion cycles of reincarnation, they begin to exhibit signs of being ready. I won't go into the details of what the signs are, but at that point they choose one soul every relative trillion years to be reborn as one of us."

Jon was gobsmacked. 'Then, the entire purpose of creating universes… is just to make more of us?'

Waving his hand in front of his orb filled glowing face Jack replies matter-of-factly "Oh, no. No, no, no. The purpose of creation is to explore the mysteries of Life and Fate. You see, the very first of us came into being knowing nothing, and over the eons, had come to find that each universe created seemed to follow a certain flow.

Thus, when he or she, we don't really have gender identities that we don't assign ourselves, created his first offspring, he charged that being with discovering the purpose behind this flow and whether we could use it for something. While simultaneously, he continued to try and figure it out for himself.

Over the countless years we've found that the flow is attributed to Fate. Now, mortals might say that Fate is something that gods engineer, but no. Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos don't make Fate. When each iteration of the Greek goddesses are made they are simply along for the ride and are the enablers of Fate. They have the misfortune of knowing where Fate has been, where it is, and where it is going. Their task is to study Fate in each universe I let them exist in. Fate is something that is underlying everything. And we, being what we are, can interfere with it, guide it to where we want it to go, and see it at work, but we don't create it. The players are already assigned, we can just influence it.

For example, how many universes do you know of where Peter Parker is Spider-Man or was Spider-Man in the past? Contrast that with other non-Peter Parker versions of Spider-Man. Very few, right? That's me influencing fate to go down different paths and influence different people. It takes a lot of experimentation, heck having Miles Morales take up the mantle was a challenge, although Gwen Stacy was the most difficult.

Surprisingly, it was easier to have a radioactive pig bite a spider and become Spider-Ham than to have Gwen Stacy become Spider-Woman. Lately, instead of creating new universes I've been having fun sending souls from the stable Earth back into different Marvel Universes, it's been so much fun seeing what changes they make to Fate. So many new histories and new variations of Fate to study. Anyway, perpetuating our own existence, that is just a happy side effect of what we do. Not that we ever die, which makes propagation unnecessary, but it's nice to have others to spend time with. As long as they don't fall to the Klyntar, that is."

So much information crashed down on Jon at once. One thing he definitely felt should be clarified first though. 'Klyntar?'

"Yes, they are the reason we must study Life in addition to Fate. The Klyntar are those black slimy things that occur when you create life without intending to and leave things to their natural progression. They are what they are and we need to find out why. Why are THEY the natural progression of life? I've seen life be amazing and wonderful, also just as dark as those things, but if that's the natural progression of things then it begs the que-"

'I'm sorry, but you said something about falling to them?' Jon asked, trying to get the old man back on topic. It seemed as though Jack was a bit of a scatterbrain.

"Oh, right. It's a terrible thing, really. Seen several of ours fall to them. In order for it to happen, you do nothing until they completely overwhelm your entire being, or you get attacked and absorbed by one that's already fallen. Thankfully, you stopped them in time, so at least you won't be falling the natural way." Jack bends down to Jon's ear, as if he's telling a secret, "Between you and me, I suspect 'The Presence,' as he calls himself, has been on the verge of falling several times now. It would explain why DC is so much darker than Marvel."

He stands up straight again. Clears his throat and continues, "Moving on, those who fall completely become something like the anti-Origin at that point, I suppose you could just call them the Enders. It's one of the other reasons we increase our numbers, besides company, because they're the only way we die, or rather we're consumed by them. It's not really death per se, it's really just becoming a part of them. We could also consume them, helps us grow stronger quicker, but it's an unstable way and makes it easier for the Klyntar to propagate in each universe you create. No, I always say, the only proper way to become stronger is to steadily create more universes. Each universe you create is an increase in your strength out here."

'Wait, aren't I already strong?'

"Well, no, not out here you're not. Why do you think I'm with you? Other than you technically being my actual son, your original soul being from an Earth I created after all, I have to stay with you until I'm confident that you can survive. Don't get me wrong, you're perfectly omnipotent in your own universes and chaos of creation, but out here, you're just one of many. In fact, if you were to visit one of my universes as you are, you'd be about as weak as, say, the Hulk. Sure, you're able to survive most things, but you're not going to be snuffing out galaxies with a sneeze or anything either, much less able to destabilize any of my universes."

What?