Location: Deep Space - Coordinates Unknown
The void screamed.
The Silver Surfer hurtled backward through the star-strewn darkness, his metallic form leaving a streak of cosmic energy across the black canvas of space. His board spun away, tumbling end over end into the infinite. Pain—something he rarely felt—lanced through his entire being.
He stabilized himself with effort, silver skin crackling with residual power, and turned to face what had struck him.
It hung there in the void like a contradiction made manifest. A being of impossible geometry—neither fully corporeal nor entirely ethereal. Its form seemed to shift between states of existence: one moment appearing as an equine figure wreathed in golden wheels and barriers of light, the next as pure radiance that hurt to perceive. A thousand crystalline shards orbited its body like a crown of creation itself, each one reflecting not starlight but something deeper—the very fabric of reality.
The entity's eyes—if they could be called that—were ancient beyond measure. They had witnessed the birth of galaxies, the death of universes, the endless cycle of creation and destruction. When it regarded the Silver Surfer, it was with the detached interest of a god observing an insect.
"You do not belong in this sphere," the Surfer said, his voice carrying through the vacuum via cosmic energy. "What are you?"
The being did not answer with words. Instead, reality itself shuddered. The space between them warped, and suddenly the Surfer felt it—a pressure unlike anything he'd encountered, even in the presence of Galactus. This was creation energy. Raw. Primal. The fundamental force from which all things emerged.
A ring of golden light materialized around the creature, spinning faster and faster. The Surfer raised his hands, calling upon the Power Cosmic, but he knew—somehow, instinctively—that he was not meant to stop this being.
The entity pulsed once, and the shockwave expanded in all directions. The Silver Surfer was thrown backward again, faster this time, hurtling through space like a meteor. As consciousness began to fade, his last thought was simple:
Galactus must be warned.
Behind him, the ancient being hung motionless in the void for a long moment. Then, without sound or ceremony, it simply... stepped... and vanished, leaving only a faint shimmer in space where it had been—a ripple spreading outward through dimensions unseen.
The ripple moved.
It passed through asteroid belts and nebulae, through solar winds and cosmic storms, bending through the fabric of spacetime itself. And as it traveled, other things began to stir. Ancient eggs long dormant in the hearts of dead stars. Crystalline structures hidden in pocket dimensions. Beings of legend sealed away eons ago.
The ripple reached Earth.
And something responded.