“Once I am aware of something, it is possible to track an event forward or back in time. Going forward is very difficult, as branching possibilities must be tracked, and in the end, there is only one way forward in our universe, all the others are but false choices,” I continued on with my Cosmic Awareness explanation to the Inhuman Royals.

“Going backwards is also simply a view of history and what actually occurred, tracked in reverse from pivotal moment to moment. There is no alteration of such, simply observation.

“The number of events I can keep track of at any given moment is limited, but I can of course move from watching one event to another. Mental exhaustion can build up rapidly if I zoom in rapidly from one event to another, or try to juggle multiple in-depth tracking. If Cosmic Awareness were easy to use, it would not be such a rare and powerful ability,” I finished calmly.

“You are capable of employing this in both a strategic and tactical capacity?” Gorgon surprisingly spoke up. He wasn’t renowned for his intellect, after all.

“I am and do,” I confirmed. “There are several operations in Markspace right now being run which I am providing some oversight for.”

They all glanced at one another. Clearly the matter of not being in Markspace was a divisive one for their people. The Royal Family was generally for it, Gorgon being the most opposed as the ornery cuss that he was. It was the other Attilan noble families who were most opposed to giving up any more of their shrunken authority and uniqueness to the Great Bear.

“How aware are you of the background of our people?” Medusa asked smoothly.

“I have read through basically the entire library of history related to the Inhumans in the Eternal, Tribal, and Russian Archives, and have submitted roughly fourteen hundred corrections on datapoints therein after verifying them with my Cosmic Awareness,” I replied neutrally, making them all blink. “I did a temporal watch from the time the Kree came down and started experimenting on humans approximately ninety-five thousand years ago, and started intermixing Eternal and alien genetics together into the first of your kind, forming an akashically-linked subspecies tied together by your Eternal genetics, with sometimes extravagant mutational effects keyed off of the scores of alien genecodes your akasha was encoded to touch upon.

“I didn’t follow through every year, of course, nor every political development and advancement, but I did watch most of the key temporal nexii and track the evolution of your society up to the present day.”

Okay, that definitely wrong-footed them. Well, no reason not to continue!

“I narrowed in more on the politics and actions taken over the last century, leading up to the current date. I am aware of the factions and divisions among the Inhumans, most of the current political dialogue going on, and the identities of all the prominent and influential members of Attilan, their positions on certain issues, and which of them should be dragged out and shot in the head,” I finished calmly.

They stiffened despite themselves, faces having an interesting mix of fear, anger, and awe that I was capable of doing all that. “How long have you been watching us?” Queen Medusa asked hesitantly, staring at me.

“Since yesterday,” I admitted, which was when I’d received the summons.

Their jaws all dropped despite themselves, and Crystal blurted out in disbelief, “You... learned all that since yesterday?!”

I turned my eyes on her, and she froze up as she sensed a movement, a sense of something passing that was far, far vaster than herself. “Your Highness,” I replied calmly, “it is called Cosmic Awareness, not Chat-time Gossip Hour Awareness. I have already informed you of the scale it can act at, which is based on my own mental ability. If you think going through your people’s entire history and looking at the key points is difficult for me, you do not have the slightest understanding of what ‘cosmic’ really means.”

She swallowed and looked away despite herself. The rest of the Inhumans looked similarly unsettled, Karnak most of all, and his expression grew more and more uneasy and afraid as he considered the depth of what I was capable of.

“Are there any secrets from you?” the monastic Inhuman with the oversized cranium asked me softly.

“Naturally. Those capable of perceiving at this level are naturally capable of blocking perceptions at this level, and are also aware of those watching at this level. There are ways and means of blocking Cosmic Awareness in specific events and areas, occluding specific knowledge of what occurs. A great, great deal can be inferred from before or after such blockage occurs, however.

“By example, the Great Bear and the Golden Hag are basically invisible to Cosmic Awareness, unless they want to be seen. But the effects of their words and deeds ripple out around them, and it is possible to infer a great deal of what they have done by their actions on the world.

“Mostly such obstructions are used for the same purposes as any other kind of divinatory blocking: to occlude the truth, so that someone gets away with doing something, most often something lethal, and doesn’t have to bear the consequences. Privacy is naturally enough another issue, and to those with power, blocking the inspections from others is routine.

“Looking into the doings of the Great Bear too much is a fine way to get a Hammer in the brain, for instance,” I pointed out, and they slowly nodded in understanding.

“What would it take to have invisibility from such awareness?” Medusa asked, almost daring me to reply.

“On a personal level? Divinatory Wards against IX effects will prevent Cosmic Awareness direct viewing, but it will be obvious it is being blocked. Wards against X effects will render you invisible to Cosmic Awareness entirely, your existence can only be inferred, not seen,” I replied promptly, without hesitation, rather startling her with how easily I gave that out.

“These... corrections you have submitted to our history,” Triton broke in gravely. “Have you considered the political implications of them?”

“You do not have clearance to read them, Baron Triton, nor do any of you have clearance to repeat what I have said beyond this room and time,” I replied coolly. “If you wish to do so, submit a request to Master Briggs, and he will consider it.”

Well, of course I’d dumped the lot on Briggs and Sama. They’d found it all pretty interesting. Lots of sordid stuff, lies concealing truth, and political racist shenanigans all around.

The Royal Family all sighed despite themselves, unsettled by the fact that the Great Bear now knew more about their true history than they did.

Black Bolt made a gesture, and Medusa smiled brittlely. “We are beginning to think that inviting you here was a mistake. Perhaps if we had not done so, you would not have investigated us so clearly.”

“At some point, the Hag or the Bear would have asked that I clear up some historical points, confirm this or that, and it would have happened, Your Majesty.” I shrugged once. “You knowing we know may puncture a bubble of security, but knowing this is better than not knowing it, I trust?”

“Indeed.” Her eyes were complicated as she and her husband considered me. “Do you know why we asked you here, then?”

“There are four great issues confronting the Inhumans of Attilan which, if not resolved properly, could tear your people apart. Of those, only two are something you would consider asking an outsider about, especially as you did not know about the true efficacy of my Cosmic Awareness. Of those two matters, one is mystical and ambivalent, and the other is political with consequences.

“As you specifically asked how much I knew of your past, my recent exploits have been in space, and your people’s connections with the Kree and the reactions when I mentioned them, I assume you are inquiring about the prophecy.”

They all exhaled in mixed relief and consternation. Queen Medusa spoke again, “It has come out of seemingly nowhere, and is whispered among the people and the nobles, some of whom see it as a path to getting out from beneath the Great Bear. We would know if this is a true prophecy.”

“Hmmm.” I considered each of them, and shrugged. “First of all, the Great Bear is a Source, a Breaker of Fate. If he so wills it, this prophecy will not come to pass, as Fate cannot hold him, nor define the courses of those who serve him. Free will is the right of all sapients, and slavery to Fate is still slavery.”

Their expressions changed as they considered that.

“The root of the Prophecy does indeed lie with the Kree and what they did to your ancestors. It is part of the way they molded your links to one another, in their attempts to better contain and control you.” Their expressions hardened again. “You are a designed people, Your Majesties. That which you think defines you was in fact defined FOR you, chains cast into your DNA and the akasha that binds you all.

“It is why, despite it manifestly being better to rejoin the rest of humanity and join the uplifting going on, your people are resisting it. Your tribal instincts are so strong, empowered by the Eternal-derived connection to your sliver of the akasha, that despite the logic and reason being there, your instincts keep telling you to stay apart and be pure, so the Kree can come down and make use of you in the future.”

Their faces twisted at the words. “The Kree... they control us so?” Gorgon spat out, clearly unnerved by this.

“No. The outright ability to control you fell away some eighty thousand years ago when enough unmodified human genetics spread through your people, attaching your akasha to the greater human species and diluting the control effects worked into your codes enough that their programming is simply an urge and an instinct, instead of a compulsion. If you realize it is there you can fight it easily enough. If you do not, however, fulfilling it simply seems like the right thing to do, and it applies to anyone with a stronger Inhuman heritage... such as all the inhabitants of Attilan, of course.

“Inhumans Awakened outside in the general population of Terra do not have any such compulsions, of course, as they have a full attachment to the Human Akasha to ward off such obeisance.”

The fact they were obligated to and protected by the rest of humanity was definitely unsettling to them, and it was their own inbreeding that rendered them susceptible to it!

“The prophecy is something of a psychic manifestation of this effect, as the unconscious will of your subspecies attempts to keep you intact and united in service to your creators,” I continued. “Unbeknownst to the Kree, they did their job too well. It may come as something of a surprise to you that humanity was not the only species experimented on this way.

“In fact, they did the exact same thing to hundreds of species who had also been experimented on by the Celestials, both trying to find a way to jumpstart their own evolution and to create slave warriors for their endless war with the Skrulls.”

There we go, shatter their perceptions of uniqueness. Their expressions truly turned brittle.

“Unfortunately for these experiments of the Kree, the Supreme Intelligence became aware of the burgeoning psychic will of them all, united by your Celestial Eternal genetics and the very akashic tampering they were exploiting. The Supremor ordered all such experiments destroyed, for he foretold that they would unite in the future, rise up, and take over the Kree Empire.

“And thus, all such experiments were terminated. Only on worlds where there were active Celestials, or the Eternals there were able to protect them, was this unsuccessful.

“Terra was one of those worlds. There are four others remaining after the extermination process.”

They looked back and forth, all gazes coming to rest on Medusa, who straightened slightly. “So... there are... Inhumans of these races?” she asked slowly.

“And they are led, as are you, by Queens. Their kings serve in a warrior capacity, just like you, Black Bolt, but the queens truly run the people. Your societies, programmed by the Kree and in akashic resonance, are practically mirror-images of one another, save by the differences of your species. It is literally almost impossible for you to abandon the monarchy model of government without outside help.”

Like a Mark...