Drax and Uxas began their heavy discussion right around the time the sun set on the horizon. One was distraught, waiting and guessing what his brother wanted to talk about. The other one was determined, ready to take all the necessary actions to get what he wanted.
"Abdicate the throne, brother", Uxas began. Gruff and solemn, he tightened his fists, prepared to leap into action.
"And what if I won't?" Despite Drax's nervousness, he was ready for this conversation. He has been preparing himself for a long time now. No matter how strong and terrifying his little brother was, Drax was still of royal blood and wouldn't come down without a fight.
"You know what will happen, brother." Uxas remained unchanged in his resolve to achieve his goals.
"Yes, I do." Drax sighed, reaching out to a small paper crane toy. The only thing on the small coffee table was separating two rival princes. He started unfolding the crane and then folding it back. Somehow, this inconsequential activity helped ease his nerves. "So, where does that leave us?"
"I could kill you right here, right now, just like I killed Granny Goodness today. And no one, ever, will bat an eye at that." Uxas made a dramatic pause to make an impression on his weak-willed elder brother.
"Or... I can offer you a position of power in my Empire."
Drax, for all his shortcomings and weaknesses, looked unfazed at these words. His stone face and neutral expression could have fooled anybody if not for one minute detail. He stopped folding his crane.
"What would that entail, Uxas?" Drax put down his paper crane, half unfinished. Now the conversation was not going as he envisioned it. Unconsciously, he even sat closer to the edge of the chair, hoping to come out alive out of this situation. Maybe, just maybe, his brother would offer him something that wouldn't sully Drax's honour, something that he could take and endure through.
"I wouldn't kill or torture people, I hope you know that, Uxas."
The second prince only chuckled in response. This was all Drax, no bite and no bark. Pacifist to the bone. His resolve to remain unbloodied would be worth admiring if only he weren't the first in line to inherit the strongest empire in the whole universe.
"I wouldn't ask you to do that, brother. After all, I want competent people at their jobs." He couldn't hold himself back from twisting the knife in the wound of the useless pride that his brother held. "No, I ask you to become the administrator of this planet. This trash pile of a planet needs saving."
This was the offer that he wanted Drax to take. His brother, who excelled at studying, whose expertise laid in economy, finances and industry development, of course, with that knowledge he would be perfect for the job. Managing people and being an administrator were skills of their own, and Drax still needed to prove himself capable of them. But even if he failed, Uxas could always give his brother a position as an adviser. A less desirable and less important role, but something that his brother could still be of use in.
Appointing Drax would eliminate two threats. The first one was obvious: Drax was a threat that was capable of becoming the Infinity-Man, a dangerous adversary that would prove to be a huge obstacle in his path. The second one...
It would eliminate the need for De'saad. Currently, there were no talented administrators or bureaucrats in his employ. There were none in the whole Empire, really. Yuga Khan saw civil development as unimportant, and during thousands of years of his rule, the sector fell through; reviving it would require a considerable effort and time. Time that Uxas didn't have.
De'saad, while very capable and talented, was a rat comparable to Granny Goodness. Treacherous, cowardly, weak... The list could be continued for a better part of the night.
At least Drax was never treacherous and cowardly. At least Drax had the courage to take Uxas head on, even if he had no chance of winning the encounter with his brother.
"I..." Drax almost didn't dare to have his hopes up. He almost refused the offer. He didn't trust his brother whatsoever; he was a bloodthirsty blockhead, and the only thing he did well was fighting. Drax despised people like that... But he also understood, like no other, how overwhelmingly strong Uxas was. No assassins sent by his mother, no poison, no magic... Nothing was capable of defeating the freak of nature that was Uxas.
"Yes, brother, I would like that." But he wanted to live more than ever. Now that he had a chance to make the lives of people living on this godforsaken planet better, even if by a little, he couldn't just give up and die without trying. Maybe... Maybe his brother wasn't as bad as he thought he was.
"Perfect." Uxas took off from his seat.
He was almost there. He almost had his throne. The only thing left... yes. Yes, it was time to deal with her, too.
"Brother," he said, turning around for a moment to say his piece before heading out. "Don't leave your chambers tonight if you want to live."
An audible gulp was the only thing Uxas heard on his way to the door. The small smile on his face grew into a full-on jackal grin. Blood would be spilt today after all.
***
It was done. He killed his mother. Somehow, it was an easy job. He didn't even feel any remorse after killing his power-hungry mother. Of course, she made sure that he would hold no good feelings for her. Multiple assassination attempts she orchestrated on him, the lonely childhood with absent parents, years of sneering remarks.
He made it to her private chambers easily; no guard dared to stop him on his way there. Only her personal guard, who was stationed right beside her door, tried to stop him. The attempt that he killed before it even began. He broke their necks before they could even raise their weapons.
He entered her chambers swiftly, a weapon in hand that he picked up from the floor. A quick strike to the neck, a tossed candle to burn the body and the room.
Once he was outside his mother's private chambers, he found a couple of patrolling guards and stopped them.
"There is fire in my mother's chambers. Deal with it." He said to them before heading his own way.
"Yes, sir." He heard both of the guards screaming out behind his back.
Uxas didn't care if they actually did their job. He didn't care for the palace or for most people who were situated here. Furies weren't here, still finishing at the newly renamed Academy. While his brother was cautioned about the imminent danger. If he were to fall to such a thing as a fire, it would be his fault. Most of all, Uxas wanted to get rid of any trace of Heggra's existence; he wanted to erase her legacy from this world.
He couldn't wait. Now that there were no obstacles on his way to the throne… He wanted to claim what was his by birthright.
Omega Realm. His dimension of power, his conquest, something that in the original timeline he denied his brother from claiming, the thing that he (attempted to) killed his brother for. This plane of existence would allow him to use Omega Beams, Omega Effect and Omega Sanction, the basis of his powers.
Now, he needed to finish the ritual that he had been preparing for the last year. Ritual wasn't complicated; it required several sacrifices and items of power, but the problem was to gather all of them stealthily, without his brother knowing. He wanted to spare his brother from his unfortunate fate for a long time, and Omega Realm wasn't something that Uxas would have allowed to slip through and get into Drax's hands. No, this was his.
Uxas entered his private chambers, which were situated in the dungeons of the palace, the most secluded place in the whole building. There, in one of the rooms, was an altar, where all the things required for the ritual were. Fire from the deepest pits of Apokolips, feather of the fallen angel, blood of an Old god, and finally, a crown of a mortal king killed with bare hands.
He took his intended place by the altar, checked all the sacrifices once again, and began the ritual.
"I, Uxas, lay my claim to the name Darkseid". With the sound of his voice, every single light in the room extinguished except for the one on the altar.
"I ask Apokolips to support my claim", Uxas put his hand into the fire. If the realm of Apokolips were to deny him his claim, the fire would burn his hand down to the bone in a matter of seconds. But the fire accepted his hand, not daring to harm the new master of Apokolips.
"I ask the ruler of Hell to support my claim", Uxas picked up the feather from the cold surface of the altar. The ruler of Hell was Lucifer himself, the only fallen angel there was. Lucifer was once the heir to the throne of the Heavens, the eldest son of the Presence, the Lightbringer. Until he fell into the deeps of hell, where he was cursed to rule the demons and carry out the punishments of the damned.
A minute passed, and nothing of note happened. That meant that Lucifer accepted Uxas's claim; otherwise, the feather would have pierced the eyes of the claimant, rendering them blind, plunging their world into the cold embrace of eternal darkness.
"I ask the Gods of the old to support my claim", Uxas once again picked up an item from the altar. This time it was a flask of blood. Old God's blood wasn't spilt in this universe for aeons, ever since the Godwave washed ashore an era of the New Gods. He had managed to find this flask in his father's coffers that he accessed once he had disappeared.
Uxas proceeded to empty out the flask, pouring the blood onto the altar. The dark maroon colored blood bubbled sizzling on the stone-cold altar as if it were the surface of the hottest volcano.
The blood then evaporated, leaving nothing behind, as if it had never been there in the first place. Old Gods accepted his claim.
"Thus, under the witness of Gods, both New and Old, I declare myself the Darkseid. I swear my eternal loyalty to Apokolips, and in turn ask its eternal service to me".
He picked up the last item from the altar. A beautiful golden crown inlaid with gems and ornamented with designs made of precious metals. A pretty toy with little to no power, somehow representing a status for mortals. Useless and pretentious, like most mortals were. He killed the wearer of his crown during one of the conquests in the last couple of years.
Darkseid crushed the crown in his hands, like he crushed the neck of its last wearer.
At long last, he was Darkseid, ruler of the Apokoliptian Empire, future conqueror of the universe.