Son of the two most influential figures in Apokoliptian history, Uxas, was born in a small royal family of four. His father was the all-mighty Yuga Khan, the most powerful person in the universe, the emperor of the greatest empire and the strongest being in it. His mother was Heggra, the most influential politician in all of Apokolips, queen and wife of Yuga Khan. His eldest brother, Drax, a talented heir who many were pushing as the next in line to power. And he, Uxas, only eight years old, small and yet inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. And today he woke up… for the lack of a better word, aware. Aware of the omni-verse.
A thread was connecting seemingly unconnected universes, different histories, different laws of nature and even different gods. Some of the universes out there have never even heard of Apokolips and New Genesis… The endless chain of connected universes was so fascinating that it let his imagination run wild with possibilities and power.
Oh, what could he do with the infinity stones?.. What could he do after creating the Philosopher's stone or conquering Arrakis and gaining control of the spice?.. Or learning the ways of the Force, learning Transfiguration or Fel magic?.. Possibilities were truly endless.
But who was he? Yes, he was a prince of the most powerful empire in the whole universe, but he held no real power; he was almost a nobody right now. And he needed to change that, before his eventual rise to power, before he assumes the power of Darkseid.
With the knowledge of the omni-verse also came knowledge of his own. He knew what would happen in it, how and when, in their broadest strokes. It was as if he were reading a history book, a very detailed and very dry history book. He knew of events, timelines, secrets and even eventual betrayals. And he knew his own unfortunate destiny. He was destined to fall from the highest of places, on the throne of the mightiest empire. He was destined to see it crumble and forced to see it die, only to die himself in the fires of his own ambition. Under the weight of that dreadful knowledge, he set himself on the path of redemption, or rather... improvement. He failed to conquer, he failed to rule. But this was an opportunity to learn from his own mistakes that he was yet to make.
So, how should he do it? Well, his own example was a dead end. And his brother shouldn't be an example to follow, too. Drax, despite all the talent and all the power he held as the first prince, never used them. He would declare himself a pacifist and try to move against their father's plans. Yuga Khan was a warmonger; he held immense, almost endless power, and he waged wars with it, he conquered and took things for himself. Making an enemy out of their father was a fool's errand. Good thing that Yuga would fall to his own folly, imprisoned for his own ambition and greed.
His mother, Heggra, was a terrible parent. She was never there for her children, even less than her husband, who was home once or twice a year. Her interests lay solely in amassing her political resources and influence on the goings on of the Empire. And with the knowledge that Uxas had, he also knew her darkset deeds; ones that he would swear to prevent to his best ability.
As for Uxas himself, he didn't want to be a warmonger like his father. Yet Uxas' own greed and yearning for power, even now, at eight years old, were undoubtedly influencing him the most. But he knew that the tyranny of their family should end, as it ultimately would bring doom to them all. At this very moment, somewhere, someone was holding a meeting to rebel and usurp the power of his father; he was sure of it. No, relying only on fear to rule people was foolish, as was relying entirely on love like his brother. And the political soft power that his mother was gathering, despite being very impressive, would not be enough to reach the goals that he had in mind. So he needed to best his brother and his mother in their race to the throne, once his father fell. He knew that both of them were eying the position of Yuga Khan, but he also knew that he would win.
For the next couple of years, Uxas planned and orchestrated his rise to power and the ultimate demise of the rest of his family. Unfortunately, there was no way to achieve such goals in the short term. He was too young, too weak, and his father was too strong. He needed to get stronger himself before that. Fortunately, that was easy.
As the second prince, he had all the resources and instruments for personal growth. Heggra agreed to fund martial lessons for him easily. After all, the stronger were the heirs - the stronger was the hold of the royal family on the reins of the throne, and consequently, her own.
Best teachers on the Apokolips were swiftly employed to help the young prince learn to fight, wage war and kill. Hand-to-hand combat, swords, pikes, rifles, handguns, railguns, laser guns, artillery lessons. Everything known to the Apokoliptian arsenal masters became a topic to go through with the teachers, handling them became practical lessons, and the history and the process of creation became the theoretical ones.
Uxas loved every single moment of it. The long days spent in the sand pits under the watchful eyes of his martial instructors, running laps around the training yard, pulling and pushing various weights, practising sparring, bruises and injuries, and constant exhaustion. It was all sweet to him; his labour was paying off. Every single day, he felt a tad closer to his goals, to his dreams.
Other people noticed his rapid growth as well. The speed at which the young prince was developing was astronomical; in a span of months, the child was on par with average soldiers of the Apokoliptian army. In a year, Uxas was stronger, faster and more skilled than most warriors that could be found on Apokolips. In five years, even the best martial instructors were struggling to keep up with the pace of the young prodigy. And in ten years, there were no peers left for Uxas to spar with; no one was even close to his brilliance in the arena and in battle.
So he had gone and joined the battlefronts. As the champion of his own people and his planet, he went on to claim numerous victories. Invasions on sentient planets, raids on space stations and enemy camps, defensive battles, patrols, everything that he had participated in went smoothly. He would fight tooth and nail for every single meter of land that the Empire was claiming, slaying endless hordes of enemies, destroying whole spaceships with his own prowess and tactical genius. Yet, he would still see the practical uselessness of war. It would never end. The territory that he would claim would fall to the enemy soon after he had been deployed elsewhere. It was a tag of war, a never-ending struggle. He grew tired of war fast; his thirst for blood was quenched, yet his quest for power had yet to be started. He knew there were other ways to achieve his goals, without such bloodshed.
After his war campaigns became known to people, he gained his own influence, and he became famous and recognised for his bloody deeds. "Young Demon" was how people started calling Uxas after his martial prowess became a topic of rumours and discussions amongst the elite and lowlies alike. His ruthlessness had also become apparent to people around him, especially to his training partners and witnesses of the carnage that he would sow on the battlefield. Broken legs and arms were often the result of facing the young prince in the training arena; severed heads and smashed bodies were the results of his battles.
Uxas himself was basking in the rays of his infamy; the fear that his accomplishments put into people was intoxicating, it made his blood boil with savage need for more. Yes, he wanted even more awe and fear; he wanted to be so strong that no one would dare to oppose him in combat. That is why he pushed himself every single day. Even after finishing his campaigns and returning to Apokolips, he would train tirelessly. Mornings started with physical training, weights, running, and swimming. Then, after a quick shower, it was study time. Mathematics, battle tactics, physics, biology, every single thing that could give him an advantage on the battlefield, he was willing to study. He understood that the war was much bigger than strength or might; it also required tactical and practical knowledge. Then, during evenings, it was shooting, driving various transport, riding various animals, flying (in spaceships and without) and of course fighting, till the sunlight came down past the horizon, and even after. All these things should be done not only in good conditions but also under bad ones, including the lack of light and poor visibility.
Now, at twenty years old, Uxas could start to look into gathering his own power block, gathering his people and amassing resources.
Surprisingly, there were not many talented people on Apokolips. The planet was a massive, fiery desert that was empty not only of resources but also of good, capable people. The best you could expect was mediocrity; the potential of people was utterly and completely squashed by the regime, no education, no support, no healthcare. Yes, of course, ruling this… sheep was easy enough, as was finding any insurgents and foreign agents. But finding good, capable people for your own was almost impossible.
This was the first defeat that Uxas had suffered, and it came outside of the battlefield. He was incapable of gathering his base of power here; this lifeless space rock of a planet was not only hopeless, but almost felt futureless. He needed powerful people. Numbers were powerful. And despite the feelings of desperation and powerlessness that took root deep at the bottom of his heart, he hadn't given up on his dreams.
And someday an idea sprang up in his mind. The omniverse. It was not only a source of endless personal power. It could be a source of personnel as well.
And now he began to build a gate to other worlds. Knowledge on how to build one came to his mind with ease, as if someone had put it there. In the end, deciding not to dwell on such things, he proceeded with his plan to build a gate to the new worlds. With this, the New God dared to look past the Source Wall into the endless possibilities of the infinite worlds, into the new era.