Darkness.
That was the first thing I saw.
No sky.
No earth.
No stars.
Nothing.
For a moment, I wondered if I had died and ceased to exist.
Yet somehow, I could still think.
I could still feel.
"What... happened?"
My own voice echoed through the endless void, but something felt strange.
There was no sound.
I wasn't breathing.
I had no heartbeat.
Panic began to rise within me.
I tried moving my hands.
To my surprise, countless streams of golden energy followed my thoughts.
"Where am I?"
Suddenly, memories from my previous life appeared.
Earth.
Family.
Dreams.
Stories I had loved.
Marvel.
And then—
Death.
"So I really died..."
Before I could process everything, the darkness around me began changing.
Tiny lights appeared in the void.
At first, there were only a few.
Then hundreds.
Then millions.
Stars.
Without realizing it, I had created them.
"W-What?!"
I stared in disbelief.
"Did I just..."
As if answering my question, ancient voices echoed from every direction.
"The Child awakens."
"The Primordial One has been born."
"The Balance has returned."
Three enormous beings formed from pure cosmic energy appeared before me.
Their size surpassed galaxies.
Yet strangely, I felt no fear.
Instead...
I felt familiarity.
As though I had known them forever.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"We are the Witnesses."
"Servants of Creation."
"And you..."
They bowed.
"...are one of the Primordial Gods."
I blinked.
"Primordial God?"
My mind immediately thought of Marvel.
Gaea.
Chthon.
Set.
The Elder Gods.
"No way..."
One of the Witnesses spoke.
"Your name among mortals was Marvin."
"But among the stars..."
"You shall be known as Aetherion."
As soon as those words were spoken, immense knowledge flowed into my mind.
I could sense planets.
I could hear the songs of unborn stars.
I could feel life waiting to emerge.
Yet despite possessing such unimaginable power, I still felt like myself.
Just... bigger.
Older.
More connected to everything.
I looked at my glowing hands.
"So..."
"I'm really a god?"
The Witnesses chuckled.
"Not merely a god."
"One who stands alongside Gaea herself."
Suddenly, my eyes widened.
"Gaea exists?"
"Indeed."
"The Mother Goddess slumbers."
"One day, your paths shall cross."
I sat down—or at least attempted to, despite not really having a body yet.
"This is insane."
Yesterday, I had been an ordinary man.
Now I was some cosmic being before the birth of humanity.
No Avengers.
No Asgard.
No Earth.
Nothing.
Only endless possibilities.
I looked into the infinite darkness before me.
And smiled.
"If this is my second life..."
"Then I'll live it without regrets."
Unbeknownst to me, far beyond my senses, hidden deeper than existence itself...
A pair of ancient crimson eyes slowly opened.
They gazed upon the newborn Primordial God.
And a voice, old enough to witness the first cycle, whispered:
"He has returned."
The eyes closed once more.
Waiting.
Watching.
Until the day the Child of Creation would remember who he truly was.
To Be Continued...