//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 – The Two Titans // Story: Infinity Era // by JDPrime22 //------------------------------// 6 Equus Badlands, Equestria 10:47 p.m. A tear in space opened in the heart of the Badlands. Through that mist of black and blue, Thanos and his Black Order stepped through and onto the new world. Instantly, the scenery was the first thing they saw. A complete and barren wasteland under the watchful gaze of the night sky and the alien moon’s ghostly white light cascading across the desert. Sandstorms blocked the land in the distance, giving it a sense of endlessness. Mountain tops circled the landscape, hills and valleys stretching as far as the eye could see. And nearby, amongst the piles of rocks and boulders and dead plant life, remained the skeletal bodies of beasts long since extinguished. Their bones rose high, pearly white and cracked as the Black Order walked past a particularly large one. Corvus Glaive reeled his nostrils back in disgust just staring at the bones. “This place reeks!” Corvus Glaive gagged, stamping his glaive in the sand with each step he took. “What’s so special about this world?” “I agree,” Proxima Midnight added, staring at the far-off skeleton of a massive creature. “This place is dead.” Cull Obsidian just grunted. Resting over his shoulder was Bruce Banner, still unmoving, still shirtless, and still groaning. Still alive. Instead of resting on his free shoulder, Thor was dragged by the back of his armor, eventually laid to rest when Thanos stopped just ahead of Obsidian. Thor was dropped chest-first into the dirt and sand, the God of Thunder gasping for air, coughing when he breathed in dust from the earth. The Ebony Maw stopped just by Thanos’ side, and with him, the God of Mischief, Loki Odinson, stood in silence. He stared in silence. At nothing. His eyes, as well as his brother’s lone pupil, were dilated and glazed over. They could do nothing but wait and follow the orders that proceeded from Ebony Maw’s whispers. But he ignored them. For the time being, at least. Instead, he closed his own eyes, breathed in the air of the new world, and sighed. His fingers danced with one another, his thoughts processing, his very being taking in the energy of the world he stood upon and the kind of magic it held. And it was unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was not a dark magic coined by sorcerers with thoughts of only death and destruction on their mind. It was not a magic fueled by hatred, or of alchemy, or every possible consideration of how magic could be formed or birthed. The world he stood upon, of which he, his siblings, and his father remained, contained a magic that was… harmonic. It was the perfect word to describe it. Harmony. “Do you feel that, Father?” the Ebony Maw whispered. He breathed in several more times, exhaling with a sigh. “That energy… that ripple of power. Oh, it’s overwhelming.” “Guess Loki wasn’t lying,” Midnight said. Nodding to that, Ebony turned to the Mad Titan, stared at his backside. “What say you, Father?” Maw asked. Thanos didn’t respond at first. He was busy staring at the distant peaks, at the star-filled skies and the alien moon. But most importantly, he gazed at the tallest peak in the valley, the mountain that resided mere miles directly ahead of them. He stared at that mountain, at the devastation that surrounded, at the shattered boulders and dark crevice within it. He closed his eyes and felt the world. He felt the sand touch his skin as the air blew around him. He heard the cries of dead wind. He could smell the horrid stench of the wasteland. His fists clenched, the Gauntlet’s plating responding in kind. “I know this world.” And just like that, the Black Order turned their attention to Thanos. Thor tried to push himself up, but Cull Obsidian planted his boot on his back, keeping him down. “I’ve seen it before… in my dreams,” Thanos muttered. He bent down, and with his right hand, grazed the sand beneath him. He felt the particles between his fingers, bringing his hand close and watching as the dust faded away into the air. In his expression, his eyes, he felt only emptiness. “I was meant to come here.” “Why?” Glaive asked, breaking the silence that Thanos was trapped in. He ignored Glaive’s question. Standing back up, Thanos stared at the Gauntlet, at the Space Stone for several seconds. The gem shimmered a dark blue, its center lighter than the rest of its being. Thanos clenched the Gauntlet tight, looking back to the tallest peak in the center of the wasteland. He felt a strange chill race across his violet skin. The first time in a long time. “What is this world?” he said, asking no one. He turned around when the Maw started moaning. He had his eyes closed, his hands held low, fingers outstretched to point to the earth beneath him. “Oh… Oh, it’s so beautiful. This magic, this harmony, I sense it far away. The strongest on this world…” Ebony Maw paused, opened his eyes, “… and yet… something is blocking it. Blocking me. Something’s coming.” “What’s coming?” Proxima Midnight asked, her body tensing up. Ebony Maw blinked. Breathed. And said, “Something darker.” As the deathly silence of the night creeped back in, it was drowned away as the ground erupted and the earthquake followed through. The Black Order stumbled to keep themselves steady. Loki nearly fell, but straightened himself out and turned his attention forward, towards Thanos. Towards the darkest form of energy he had ever felt pulse across his skin and throughout his body. Thanos felt it, too, but it was far from being the darkest energy he had ever felt. Still, he kept his balance as the tremor continued its onslaught, keeping his eyes latched with ground, jaw tightening and teeth clenching. And then, it came. “Thanos!” The voice. Followed shortly by the earth erupting several yards in front of them. The Black Order proceeded to back away, weapons at the ready. The ones that stayed where they were happened to be Cull Obsidian—having to keep his foot planted on Thor—and Thanos. The others took several precautionary steps back as they observed what spewed from the earth. Thanos observed it, as well. And he frowned. It erupted from the ground as a stream of fire. A massive stream of fire. Just the width of it was larger than the ground all four members of the Black Order and Thanos covered. On closer inspection, they noticed the fire to be a form, a single pillar of bright burning orange and blood red. That pillar of fire bent at an angle, moved about that fire wouldn’t normally have done. In fact, Thanos noticed how the fire seemed to move… as a serpent would. His theories seemed to be true, as the face of the fire finally came into view, staring down from its elevated position high above the earth. And it stared at them. Its face was pointed, much like a serpent. Several jagged horns remained atop its head. But its eyes were the worst, glowing a bright red, even brighter than the fires that consumed its entire form. The beast, the serpent, whatever it was, stared down at the Black Order. More importantly, it stared at Thanos. Even more important, it knew his name. Meaning that the wrath of Thanos was spread throughout most of the known universe. Just as he wanted. Thanos narrowed his eyes on the beast. The beast did the same towards the Mad Titan, and for several seconds, that was their situation. Until Ebony Maw somehow found the strength to step forward, closer towards the creature. After several seconds of nothing, he assumed it wasn’t going to attack them, at least not yet. For the time being, he would get a closer look. “Well, this is certainly an interesting development,” Ebony Maw said, growing closer and closer to the flaming serpent. He was stopped by Thanos, who held up his right hand to him, and spoke out. “Who are you?” The beast exhaled through its nostrils. It slowly leaned downwards, closer towards the Mad Titan and his children. Thanos could feel the heat increasing, his gauntlet clenching, the Stone shimmering. Just in case they needed an escape. The creature studied them, its burning gaze narrowing for a second, then relaxing. When it spoke, its mouth would not move. It was as if the voice was carried out through its entire essence. That essence, that unhinged darkness and energy made even the Maw tingle in his knees. Thanos could feel the same flushing throughout his veins. It was a darkness they had never encountered, an evil they had yet to experience. And it said, “My name…” The beast paused, almost appearing to be lost in thought. Turning its head back to Thanos, the creature finished, expelling a torrent of flames from its nostrils. “I… am Typhon.” The beast known as Typhon lowered its head even further. Thanos could feel the heat on his skin, but he would not back away like his children had. “You dare step upon my world, Mad Titan?” Typhon growled. The fires were so bright on its skin, even brighter in its eyes that Thanos couldn’t stare into for long, no matter how much he wanted to intimidate the beast. It was like staring into the heart of a newborn star. Keeping his gaze locked with the beast’s mouth instead, Thanos said, “If it be a step closer to destiny… then I suppose I have.” Typhon snorted, flame shooting out from its being. “What do you want with Equus?” “Equus?” Thanos said, tasting the name on his tongue. “So that’s the name of this world. I had a feeling. First the dreams, then… it would seem fate itself wants me here.” Typhon narrowed his eyes, the glowing slits burning with raw, red energy. “Then fate is wrong.” Raising a brow at that, Thanos flared his own nostrils, mirroring the beast called Typhon. The Black Order stood with their weapons at the ready, pointing them to Typhon, leaning back and preparing themselves after the beast’s tone shifted dangerously low. Studying their positions, looking back at Thanos, Typhon snarled, leaning back several yards. “Whatever you plan, I will ensure that you will not bring about the destruction of the world that is rightfully mine. Not until the Princesses… and the Pillars pay for what they’ve done to me.” “Princesses…?” Thanos repeated. “Pillars?” Proxima Midnight whispered to her husband. Corvus Glaive just stared at her, barring his teeth, just as confused as her. They both turned back to the fire, flinching as Typhon roared. “Enough of this!” Typhon bellowed, rearing back his neck. “The fate of the universe hangs in the balance, by a simple thread! I have seen it for myself! Trillions of lives vanquished in an instant! Entire worlds crumbling, collapsing, my own following! I will not allow you to leave here to continue on that path of universal devastation!” And as he said those words, that deadly final threat, several eruptions surrounded the Black Order and Thanos. Thor and Loki could do nothing but watch. Watch as several burning red tendrils shot out from the dirt, just as equally massive as the serpent’s head that glared down at them from above. But instead of holding facial features like Typhon, the tendrils were as sharp as blades, pointed ends turned towards Thanos and his children. Poised to kill. “Stand ready!” Glaive yelled, weapon jutted outwards from his hands. Thanos turned about, staring at the tendrils that surrounded him. Instantly, he shot out his hand, the Infinity Gauntlet and the Space Stone reacting to his will. The Stone shimmered, its energy coursing through the air and attaching to Typhon’s body, then to the tendrils, then completely fading from existence. Thanos bellowed, bringing back his gauntlet and staring at the Stone in shock. Whatever it was, whatever Typhon was, he was invulnerable to it. It did nothing. “That’s not possible,” Thanos breathed, turning his eyes back to the beast snarling from above. He didn’t react in time to the smaller tendrils shooting out from the ground beneath his feet. They latched onto his arms, wrapping around Thanos’ gauntlet so tight he couldn’t even move his fingers. Nor could he close his fist. Thanos barred his teeth, looking back to see the same thing befall his children. The tendrils wrapped around the arms and legs of each of the Black Order, keeping them frozen in place, unable to escape no matter how hard they struggled. “So weak,” Typhon taunted, the tendrils hovering higher and rearing back. Ready to strike. Typhon’s gaze and tendrils constricted ever so tighter, centering solely and only on Thanos. And he was disappointed. “You should have never come to Equus!” By that, the tendrils shot down, halting once Thanos raised his head and yelled, “Wait!” The tendrils stopped. Mere yards above their heads. The Black Order slowly twisted their heads back to their father, limbs still held down from the flaming tendrils. They spotted Typhon above, glaring at them from below. Fire practically melted from his face and eyes, dripping down and dying in the sand. Burning ash evaporated from its being, and even so Typhon waited. “I don’t want this world.” Typhon leaned in closer, until his gargantuan face was mere feet from Thanos’ own. He glared down at the Mad Titan with a forever cinder boiling in his eyes, narrowing the slits until each eye glowed even brighter. He stared into Thanos’ eyes, searching for the deceit but finding none. He growled, finally releasing the Mad Titan and his children. The fiery tendrils slid back into the dirt, the Black Order rubbing their limbs. Thanos clenched his gauntlet. “I want balance,” Thanos continued, shielding his eyes from the brightness with his right palm. “For in this vast universe, there is a constant sickness, a lone cancer that cannot be cleansed… unless one was willing to do so. To gather the power needed to do so. If I can, and I will, this universe will be free from overpopulation… and you, Typhon, will have this world… and so much more.” Typhon backed away a few feet, Thanos lowering his arm to rest by his side. He said, “You just need to trust me.” The beast leaned further back, eyes widening at that statement. “Trust you?” Typhon laughed. His laughter faded shortly, replaced with a soft growl that only intensified as the constant seconds of pain and torment powered on. He screamed, “The last time I trusted someone… my children were slaughtered!” It was at that did Thanos actually flinch in surprise. How such a beast, an uncaring and vile monster could actually have children that he cared for, that he loved, and he lost… was sounding more and more familiar the longer he thought about it. Thanos stared at the Gauntlet, at the Stone and the empty spaces with it, and closed his eyes. It was because of his lust for saving the universe, his constant drive to acquire the Stones, that he sent away his favorite daughter to find one in particular. And she left him, never returned. Joined a group of freaks and called herself a hero. Thanos opened his eyes and saw the world. He saw Typhon, and Typhon saw the world, staring off into the distance of the dead and barren landscape. “What happened here?” Thanos asked. And for just a second, a fleeting moment, he sounded sincere. And for just a moment, a brief millisecond that would never come to pass again, Typhon actually appeared… saddened. The fires on his body began to cool, began to dim down, but still held a great amount of strength. Not one of fury, but from within. From his deeper, more personal power. From the heart that hadn’t beat in over a thousand years. And he spoke. His voice was not one of anger like it had been before. It was… calm. “The land you look upon was once a thriving landscape… where I ruled with my children. We were a strong race, a proud one, but this land could not hold us and our growing family. We needed to expand.” Typhon turned away from the hills covered in sandstorms, his gaze falling before Thanos’ feet. “The Princesses… and the Pillars… thought otherwise.” He growled softly, continuing. The Black Order began to lower their weapons, listening. Loki, Thor, and even Bruce Banner stared at the flaming beast, remaining silent. “They turned against me… turned the whole world against me and my children. Our home became a barren wasteland in the aftermath, and with a magic far greater than I could have fought against… the rulers of this world struck me down, banished me beneath the earth, and proceeded to do the same with my children.” Typhon slowly closed his eyes, the brightest lights dying out. “Every… last… one of them.” Thanos could feel his eyes start to burn. It wasn’t because of the fires. “Until we were all prisoners of Tartarus, where we were tortured constantly, endlessly for more than a thousand years. Until I was nothing more than a spirit, a soul of my former self. I thought I could fight back, deliver that one last final blow to the rulers of this wretched world when Ultron came to me.” The name, Ultron, caught Thanos for a moment, but he remained silent, allowing Typhon to continue. “But he as well… let my children die… until I was but the last of my kind.” Thanos’ head perked up even higher at that statement alone. Typhon’s eyes stared into the ground, a grieving look appearing in the twin flames. “And so… I waited, in hiding, within the shadows and always watching, never fighting. But growing stronger… every single day. Until the day would come where I would enact my vengeance on this world and the rulers of it for taking everything away from me!” The fires returned just as bright as before, if not even brighter having to rekindle old, painful memories. Typhon’s eyes lit up like a burning furnace, centering down on Thanos alone. His children held out their weapons once more, returning their attention to the tendrils zeroing in and the massive head closing down on them. “And I will not allow you to wipe half of this world away before I do so.” “Then I won’t.” Typhon’s head backed away, his neck leaning several yards backwards, eyes slowly widening. Turning away from the tendril she faced, noticing how it too began to slither backwards, Proxima Midnight looked at her father. “What?” Midnight blurted out. “Father…” Ebony Maw began, his tone sounding betrayed. The Black Order were silenced in the instant Thanos raised his gauntlet. To silence them. To trust him. “We share somethings in common,” Thanos said, staring right into the eyes of the beast. It didn’t hurt this time. The fire in his eyes had cooled considerably. They cooled even further with Thanos’ next words. “You are the last of your race… and I am the last of mine. Your home was destroyed… and so was mine… despite our most desperate acts to stop its collapse. And you only want to give your children a better life.” Thanos’ gaze was elsewhere for a moment. Tightening his fists, Thanos continued. “I see what you want… justice done right, and I can give you that. I can give you your form again, your strength again, your life again. This world can be yours… again.” Somewhat startled by his offering, Typhon nonetheless growled, leaning closer. “And how do you propose to do that?” he asked. Thanos thought for an instant, then turned towards the Gauntlet. The Space Stone continued to glow calmly against it, its power rippling off of it in unseen waves. Thanos slowly lifted his gauntlet, to Typhon, who studied the weapon and the Stone. Thanos then said, “I’ll need one more Stone. With it, you’ll have the power to finally be reborn.” He lowered the Gauntlet after that compromise. And Typhon… was silent. As if the world-breaking, race-killing, Mad Titan Thanos was willing to offer him something was insane as it was, it was even more insane for Typhon… to listen. If what he said was true, what with them sharing similar things in common, then how far could Typhon truly trust the Mad Titan to live up to his end of the bargain? He could slaughter them right there, burn their corpses and fling their bones to the Badlands, and the universe would be saved. And no one would know Typhon saved it. They would only know… if he lived again. If what Thanos said was true, he could live again. If what he said was true… Typhon leaned in once more, much closer than he had before, and stared the Mad Titan in the eyes. Thanos did the same. Titan to Titan. He didn’t look away. Neither did. “Swear to me.” Thanos’ brow wrinkled. “Swear to me… when you bring me that power… that Equus, the Princesses… and the Pillars… are mine.” To Typhon’s relief, Thanos smiled and raised his right hand. “When I get what I need, when I snap my fingers…” he did just that, “Equus and all with it… will still exist.” The fire was extinguished. The tendrils fell back into the ground. And Typhon retreated back into the earth. The silence of the night slowly, very slowly, followed through. The winds of the Badlands surrounded Thanos and his Black Order. They stumbled about, weapons lowered, wondering whether or not what they just experienced was real or a dream. Thanos knew it to be true. He knew that the proposal he made to save their lives cost them a planet that would be spared for the Cleansing. But in the end, would one world truly matter in the grand scheme? It would not, Thanos thought. This world didn’t belong to him. It belonged to someone more deserving, someone with retribution to fulfill. But still… that didn’t mean Equus wouldn’t experience salvation… beforehand. But before that, Thanos thought back to his own proposal, to the power he promised Typhon in exchange for their lives. The power he promised… Power. Looking back to Proxima Midnight, Thanos slowly smiled. “Midnight… as you were saying about Xandar…?”