Obligatory Disclaimer : I do not own anything (except maybe OC characters) all characters, places, worlds, universes…etc mentioned here belong to their respective owners and/or companies.

This is purely a work of fiction. Not meant to offend or incite, but to entertain and (maybe) inspire.

DOOM QUEST IV

One Million BC

The Fire God's Cave

The fire god was going to be leaving them soon. He said nothing of sort, but Ousthur could tell, gods never stayed long with mortals.

“No, kid, don’t touch that.” The fire god said, lazily soaking in a pit of boiling green water – acid, yes, that was what the fire god called it. A drop of it had once landed on her body, it made that patch of her skin burn and fall off. She had no inclination as to why the fire god would put himself in such punishment, just to clean himself, or perhaps it was the way of the gods. Who knew why the gods did what they do? Certainly not her. He had been doing it whenever he wasn’t busy hammering in the forbidden portion of the cave.

“What is this?” The boy asked with innocent curiosity, pointing at the small, shining stone tablet on the cave wall.

“It’s a chronotron harvester.” The fire god answered with his eyes still closed, as though he could see even then.

“What does it do?”

“Well, it’s going to get me to the place I need to be.”

“Back to the skies?”

“Something like that”

“Are you going to leave us?” Oushtur paused, waiting to hear the answer.

“...I have a mission I have to complete, before it becomes too late”

“What is a ‘mission’ ?” The boy inquired.

“It’s something you have to do, something you have to see through to the very end no matter how hard it may seem.”

“What is your mission?”

“To save the world.” He said with resounding finality.

“How are you--”

“Nope! No more questions kid, go practice the work I gave you, just do anything to keep yourself busy.”

“But I want to know mor--”

“No buts kid. Knowledge is power, never turn it down or shy from it. Go on, shoo”

The boy grumbled as he slowly rose to his feet, promising to finish his work quickly so he would be able to ask the fire god more questions. His work consisted of things the fire god termed simple Aritmetik. Which involved scores and values called numbers.

“He’s a smart boy, he’ll make you proud.” The fire god praised her son, making Oushtur feel a sense of great pride – the boy was the child of a god after all, perhaps he too is destined for great things.

“You can speak your mind woman, we’ve known each other for months now. I’m not going to smite you or anything”

When the fire god spoke of months, Oushtur knew he meant the passage of time, the one related to goings and comings of the full moon. She had spent much time with him indeed. She would never understand the ways of the gods, but even she knew that the fire god could have driven her and her child away into the wilderness the moment after he healed the boy. But in his own godly way, the fire god truly was generous to mortals like her.

It made her want to dedicate herself to worshiping him, but he refused her worship and he went to great lengths to show her that he too was human – the name he gave to mortal beings like her and her son – but deep down, Oushtur knew that the fire god, was just that, a god. Perhaps one of fire, creation and knowledge, but never a mortal. If he once was, he was no longer.

She could feel the powerful and dangerous aura around him, the one hidden beneath his night eyes. The one hidden beneath his sometimes playful exterior, and she had been a witness to that deadliness when it was made real. Only the unwise and innocent like her child would have nothing to fear when standing before the fire god.

Oushtur might not be innocent, but one thing she is not, is unwise. She reminded herself.

“I know you’re afraid. And no matter how many times I tell you not to be, you still will be. Maybe you’re right to be, maybe you aren’t.”

“I apologize for offending you Lord.” Oushtur bowed.

“Rise. I never said you offended me. I just – sigh Oushtur,” She stood upright, watching the fire god rise from the acid, his back facing her as he reached for his leg robes – the black things with two long necks which covered both his feet up to his waist. She watched him and she was transfixed. His body was one of glorious strength and pure beauty to Oushtur, it was something that gave immense satisfaction to look at, something which cultivated warm stirrings deep within her.

“I’ll have to go on my journey, it is one I cannot allow you to follow me on, not only because I don’t want you to, but because there’s a journey you and your son will have to take too.” Oushtur’s attention was entirely on what the fire good said to her. What did he mean she would have to take a journey? She pondered.

The fire god took the ape hide, which had turned from white to green as the acid water he bathed in, after he once soaked the hide within. Perhaps the magical effects of the water were suffused within the hide. She did notice that ever since he soaked the hide within the acid water, the hairs on it never again fell off.

“They are coming, and you’ll have to go with them, because they can help you and your son, more than I can.”

“Who, Lord. Who are the ones you speak of?” she asked. Worry, pain and slight anger in her tone, yet again she was being abandoned by another god. Was this her destiny? To meet gods, to have them imprint on her life and watch them all leave?

Oushtur watched the fire god walk into a deeper portion of the cave. The part where he had been using his fire and magics for all the past moons she had dwelt with him, to work on the shining, hard rock which he had brought back the day he made a second sun in the sky. She was never allowed to go into that part of the cave, the fire god warned her of the magical potency and the heat that rivaled that of the sun within that portion of the cave would kill her in a moment's notice. His magics protected them and the rest of the cave from being afflicted by the heat.

From within the fire god emerged, in his hand was a curved glinting thing. The thing was smooth, smooth enough for Oushtur to see her own reflection on it. The smooth, glinting thing also had eye holes, but no eyes. Yes, it was like a face, but with no nose, and no ears and no mouth either. Just a smooth surface, that shined with the color of moonlight gracing on calm waters, and eye holes that had the look of a predator staring at prey.

“Your kind, Oushtur, your true kind, not human, something more.” The fire god answered as though it were but a passing remark. To Oushtur, it was a thunderclap to her soul. Oushtur, had not many memories pertaining to her past, the furthest she could remember was living in a tribe as a toddler and meeting a god. She never had any memories that spoke of a past family, no parents and neither any siblings, all she had was tribe and her deep connection to the earth’s aura and her son.

Many times has she asked herself how she could have been born without the mating of parents, but like the voice of the moon, she was awarded silence.

Oushtur furrowed her brows, perhaps this was all just a ploy by the fire god to fill her with false hope, so she could once again be abandoned. But he was a god, what would it benefit him to lie to her? Nothing. She concluded.

“Look,” Pointed the fire god at the cave’s mouth. “your real family is here for you.” Justin Hammer announced. He had grown fond of the determined woman and her curious child, they were unlike any others of this time period, they were more than just human. He had once entertained the thought when she told him her name, but disregarded it at the time due to the circumstance.

But getting to know the woman well, he realized some truths about her. There was something ancient, something primordial in her blood. Something that allowed her to be favored and nurtured by the earth itself as though she were it’s child.

During one of his sacred meditations, he had been visited by an astral projection birthed from the energies of the world – the spirit of an elder, an old one. The spirit spoke to him, unveiling truths in gratitude for his magnanimous acts towards their brethren.

It was but an eventuality that Oushtur would have to leave, her people, her true people would come to take her home. He decided to stay with her until then, it also helped that the extra-ordinary metal ore he discovered would take time to refine and forge. For the metal wasn’t of earthly origin, and it’s amazing attributes would aid the budding god in his mission, he named the metal Proto-Adamantium, its properties accurately matching those of its mainstream namesake.

Deciding to proceed earlier with his enhancement plans, the budding god created the bioelectric chemical process that would allow organic materials and bodies to obtain an extremely augmented durability and enhanced strength. This is a highly potent and acidic version of the process that would be utilized by the scientist Noah Burnstien in the far future to enhance and augment the unbreakable Luke Cage.

The budding god would often soak himself in the pit of boiling chemicals to further enhance his godly physique and increase his physical might.

Holding the mask that would serve as not only protection against physical forces and the resistance forces of trans--chronal displacement inertia, but also as an accurate navigation system working in tandem with the chronotron harvester and to lesser parts an identity obscurer. Hammer knew that reality was robust, but it was always wise to be careful when dealing with time.

The budding god went around the cave, storing some items into the hidden compartments of his enhanced, emerald fur cape. Watching the woman erupt in tears when the mighty being possessing the body of a man with the head of a meat eating predator, came forward to hold her and the boy in a deep embrace..

For Oushtur, this was the third time she had known such joy. The first being when she met a god; the second was when her child was brought back to life, and the third was now; when she met another who was family, true family. One whose aura touched hers and formed a connection as deep as one she shared with her child.

She realized that she truly was part of something inexplicably greater than all she knew. He showed her wonders that spanned more years than she could count, not through images, but through thoughts that entered her mind, through the power of his magics. His name was Hoary Hoggoth, an old one.

“It Is ...A Joyous ...Day Indeed” Oushtur soon realized why he was called hoary, for his voice was like the gathering of many souls speaking in harmony. Hoggoth raised the boy, who sat comfortably in his arms, not fearful of the being’s beastly head. The boy kicked his feet excitedly, asking endless questions to the old one, who just smiled in response.

“Our Journey... Is Long,... My Sister, ...We CanNot... Delay”

Ousthur could have never imagined things going this way. What if I had never met the fire god? She asked. Would I even live to witness this day? Ousthur was grateful, but sad. Despite the fear she held for the fire god, she had developed a liking to him. He was unique and unlike any she had met, even amongst gods.

“Well, I was never one for drama anyway” He said cooly, placing the glinting smooth face over his. Looking at the golden orbs glowing within the nightly expanse of his eyes was as captivating as always.

“I am grateful for all you have done for me lord.” She bowed. She could feel the displeasure of Hoggoth at her act of calling anyone lord or bowing for that matter. But Oushtur cared not, she was a woman of honor, this was just a small gesture that would never be able to repay the fire god for all he had done for her and her child.

If the fire god noticed the extent of her gratitude, he did nothing to show of it as he continued on looking at her without a change in expression. Not that she could even see his expression behind the featureless face he wore.

“Tell me one thing and consider our debts settled.” The fire god said, retrieving the shining stone tablet.

“What’s the kid’s name?”

“Ah..” Oushtur exclaimed, smiling as she did. There was a name, one that had appeared to her the day the boy was born, one she had been withholding on speaking of or even thinking of. For names held power, and she wouldn’t want her child to be burdened by his. That was folly, she realized, it was the boy’s name, his identity and destiny, who was she to deny him of it.

“His name is…. Agamotto” She declared and the earth made it so. An aura appeared over the child, one that nourished him with knowledge, power and things unknown.

With eyes full of understanding and deep wisdom, the child stared at her, smiling brilliantly as he did. Doing the thumb raising gesture he had learnt from the fire god. Who laughed and called him a ‘meem’(?) – a word she could not recognize.

The fire god snorted in good humor, “Called it” he said “Down the line, when you get to creating a sanctum, write a note to the ancient one for me. Tell her ‘Ok Boomer’, got it kid?”

The boy nodded, speaking with wisdom past his age “Sure, I’ll make it so she gets it.”

The fire god silently gazed at the child. “Don’t look too hard into the future, enjoy your childhood and be a good son. Punk.” He finished, pressing down on the shining tablet.

Out of nothing, a shining platform materialized beneath the fire god’s feet. Steadily rising and as it did, the fire god’s body began to disappear. Oushtur realized that she too had no knowledge of the fire god’s name. ‘Fire god’ was what she had taken to calling him, but that was not his name. No, she had heard whispers of his name, when he was lost in creating his tools and the only companion he would speak to was himself, he would mutter a name in a foreign language. She had to know what it was before he left!

“What is your name!” She yelled in urgency, watching the platform rise above the fire god’s head.

He disappeared before he could answer but his voice came through, rumbling with untold power all through the cave and down to her soul. The name was soaked in the supernatural, it was as dreadful as it was awe inspiring. It was the final conquest, the last victory, it was...

DOOM