After the first defeat came the second. It was like the saying goes, misfortunes never come singly.
The gate that Uxas was building, the beautiful state-of-the-art machine that he had been pouring his blood, tears and soul into, was not working. All the resources, time and efforts put into it were for nothing. The stupid machine just refused to work; it was refusing to transfer him to another world. An error message was plastered on a small screen on the side of the gates with the text:
"Error. Anchor being detected. Transfer attempt aborted".
Uxas just stood there before the giant gate that resembled a huge cosmic ship, but with a giant hole drilled into the base of it. His face was vacant of emotions; he had long learned not to show such things, as it displayed weakness. Every time he showed even a modicum of emotion, be it joy, sorrow or even disgust or tiredness… he would get ridiculed and belittled by his father, Yuga Khan, while his mother stood aside and gleefully watched. There was no soft spot left in his heart for either of his parents. And even more than that, he became as strong as he was to push past them, to usurp them, to utterly and completely defeat both of them and then erase every single mention of them in the history books. The hatred in him ran that deep.
Uxas knew that in the grand scheme of things, those two would be almost inconsequential once he stepped onto the throne as the single most famous and powerful ruler of the Apokolips Empire, but he couldn't just leave the past behind him. He wasn't a good person; he wouldn't be merciful to the transgressions those two allowed themselves.
This setback… the broken machine would put his plans into jeopardy, rendering most of his immediate plans useless. Still, there was a pang of joy of creation; he built this machine. Yes, it wasn't working at all, but he had still built something that no one ever thought of. Maybe it wasn't a complete defeat, not yet. Maybe he could modify the machine, change it, repair it. Make it work properly.
"It works, Seidy", a quiet high pitched voice spoke into the silence of his lab. The empty walls of a huge room resonated with the sound, reflecting it, creating an echo of the unpleasant voice.
Uxas turned back to look at the being that materialised in the middle of the gates. A small girl dressed in a tasteless, colourful dress was touching the walls of the inside of the gates. She was pushing, pulling and probing around the tunnel that was the heart of the machine.
He wasn't surprised, but her arrival was sudden as she didn't come from the door; she just appeared in the middle of the machine. Somehow, the New God knew that before him stood something that was more than a god, something that was bigger than life, something elder, and the power behind it was as such.
"Seidy, you are a lil dum dum. Of course, you wouldn't fit through these gates, you are too big for them! That mouse hole of a portal wouldn't survive you."
The child spoke with the innocence behind its (hers?) voice, as if she was explaining why the sky was blue to a teddy bear sitting at her toy tea party.
Uxas stood there silently. He was cautious not to warrant anger from the being that even he, the strongest being in this corner of the universe, couldn't fathom winning. He wasn't even sure she was physically here; her body had that magical falseness that those experienced in the art could discern from illusions, projections. But she was a paradox; she was definitely here, at least her presence was. He could feel it. Yet at the same time she wasn't.
"You know, Seidy, when I put all that knowledge of the other worlds into your brain, I was very interested in what you would do". The child was now facing him head-on, looking straight into his face up from his knee level; the height difference was only physical, in reality, the power difference was opposite.
"It was you", Uxas finally spoke out, his voice sounded gruff and hoarse from the lack of use. He hadn't spoken to a single person ever since he took upon himself to build this machine. "You messed with my brain, you put all those strange ideas and visions into it. Were they true? Was my delusion a worthy entertainment to you?"
"You are boring as fuck, Seidy. Training, training, training. Fighting, fighting, fighting. Enough of that. No pool parties with neighbours from another world, no being a top student in a magic school for magical school girls, no sky duelling parrot riding pirates. Bo-Ring."
The sweet smile she had on her face was irritating, rage-inducing. Oh, how he wished to be strong enough to smash her little face into the walls, smearing her blood (if she even had blood) on the stone surface.
"You're upset, Seidy. Well, it doesn't matter, really." The child walked up to him and patted his kneecap.
"Why do you think this gate works only one way?" The kind smile on her face grew into a maniacal grin; the inside of her mouth, full of sharp white fangs, was now on full display, giddily taunting Uxas in his helplessness.
"You see, Seidy, that knowledge I gave you is true; you could go and conquer other worlds, kill and murder all to your heart's content. You just need to…" Her body elongated like she was from a children's colouring book, defying the laws of physics, her small head now reached his ear level. All for her to quietly whisper into his red, humiliated and enraged ear.
"Kill your father. He should be stuck in the Source Wall by now". She then loudly wheezed with laughter. Uxas stumbled back and held onto his ear; the eardrums inside his head were almost exploding from the volume of her laughter.
The news of his father's imprisonment has not reached even his ears by now. So it should have just happened. Of course, a powerful and ungodly person like this child would have that information. But it was nonetheless concerning that their Empire garnered attention of a being more powerful than the gods.
The child, still uncontrollably laughing, extended her body even more, coiling around his neck and shoulders. After reaching a desirable height, she shrank down to sit on his shoulder like it was a bench or a swing. Her two little feet started wiggling in excitement in the air, hitting his shoulder with each backswing of her legs.
"You see, Seidy, you are too weak right now, but too strong to fit through a mouse hole." She started talking normally again. At least what Uxas perceived as normal at this point. "I can't believe I have to explain this to you. I thought you were smarter than that."
Uxas huffed from the helpless rage he felt at that moment. With every single fibre of his being, he wanted to kill this girl. But he knew that he couldn't. He never felt so weak in his life, never felt so hopeless and meagre. And he was also sure that this girl… wasn't the strongest being in the universe. She was too unserious to be that. Surely. He started plotting her demise only for...
"Nuh-uh, Seidy. None of this murder shit. Cmon. I gave you knowledge to save yourself from your eventual doom. Think."
He stopped. He knew her words to be true. Rage inside him started disippating, reducing from a ragin inferno to small cinders. He did know that the knowledge he had received was true. He watched and followed for any signs of their truthfullness. Krypton was dying, Lords of Order and Chaos battled on a small planet called Terra, and now his father was stuck in the Source Wall, imprisoned for his endless ambition. He had no doubt that he was, it would take a day or two to confirm. But for now, he needed to calm himself down. Perhaps she was an ally, not an enemy. Perhaps with her twisted gift he had received a second chance in life.
"Say, instead of going to another world, why won't you get something or someone to come here?" She put her small hand on his neck, caressing it a bit and feeling up his neck muscles. Her hand felt smooth to the touch, warm, nice, and the intent behind it was... loving?
Of course, all of that flew right past his mind. He doubted what he felt, she was a magical being, capable of altering minds and feelings. There was no trust that he could put in her.
His mind went into overdrive. The endless possibilities that he felt disappearing from his reach when the machine refused to send him to another world… Somehow they came back. Now, filled with thoughts and plans on things and people that he could bring from the other world. Uxas allowed his rage to subside inside of him. This girl came here to help him, even if for her own entertainment and goals.
He had his own goals and greed to satisfy. It was time to plot and think again. What would he do with his machine? But first thing first, he needed to know if his father was truly gone or not.
Darkseid silently took off, exiting his own chambers where he had built the gates. The child stood there, silently watching him. THis conversation was far from over. But they would continue it the other day.
She flicked her fingers. A giant tear in the space right behind her combusted into the reality. It was akin to surface of the mirror breaking suddenly, cracking and twisting. For her, space was just that, a fragile glass. Her small figure disappeared into the colorful void of the tear in the space. But she knew, their story had just begun.