Malrick followed Doctor Strange Supreme toward his collapsed universe. Frog Thor stayed just behind, observing silently as always, ready to soak up every moment with keen interest.
The three of them traveled through endless darkness. This was the void outside all universes. Surrounding them were cosmic bubbles stretching farther than the eye could see, each sphere a separate universe. The light from trillions of stars within those realities appeared here only as tiny pinpricks of firefly-like starlight.
In such a vast place, it was incredibly difficult to precisely locate a normal universe. What made this journey even harder was that Strange's world had already collapsed into a tiny pocket of space.
"This is it. This is my universe," Strange said, pointing toward a small purple void.
At first glance Malrick couldn't blame him for feeling overwhelmed. The space was astonishingly small. Its outer layer was held together by countless purple, rhomboid fragments of space, loosely pieced together. Inside, the dimension was no bigger than a football field.
Once, this universe had sprawled across trillions of light-years, but after the timeline collapsed, all that remained was this fragile pocket. Even Doctor Strange's magic had only prevented its total disappearance.
"Your Excellency, look. What should we do now?" Strange asked eagerly.
Half of him burned with hope for rebuilding the universe and bringing back Christine. The other half trembled with anxiety, fearful that even cosmic entities might be powerless to help.
The Observer frog watched quietly, his large eyes glowing bright white with unspoken curiosity.
"Reconstructing a universe is not difficult," Malrick said calmly as his super-vision analyzed every detail of the tiny space.
Strange blinked at him, unsure where this was going.
"In fact, you already know the basics," Malrick continued. "Unlike the comic multiverse or the Spider-Man multiverse next door, all universes here emerged from six singularities. Your universe collapsed, but its origin point remains intact."
"As long as there is enough energy — enough to trigger something like a Big Bang — and it's released in the right way, your universe can be restored to its previous structure."
Strange's eyes widened. "I noticed this from Ultron's event. Actually…" He hesitated, then confessed, "If I hadn't met you, I was planning to capture powerful beings from the multiverse to use as the source of that energy."
"What?!" Frog Thor, who had been listening silently beside them, exclaimed with disbelief. "Strange, you can't have seriously planned that!"
If he had acted on that plan, it might have sparked another multiversal crisis.
Strange bowed his head, regretful. "I couldn't give up Christine, and I couldn't let my universe suffer because of me."
He then glanced hesitantly at Malrick. "Your Excellency, if we restore the universe this way, will Christine come back and remember me?"
Malrick gave a slight smile. "You want everything. But isn't restoring your universe enough?"
Strange trembled, desperation in his voice. "Is there any other way? I am willing to give everything."
He had already lost everything else — his home, his friends, his family. Across the multiverse there was nowhere he truly belonged anymore. If he could not rebuild the universe and bring back those he lost, what would give his life meaning?
Everyone had desires. After seeing a glimpse of hope, Strange could not help but cling to it, especially the hope of Christine remembering him.
"There is no perfection in the world, Doctor Strange," Malrick said gently as Strange's hope faltered. "But what you've asked for is not impossible to achieve."
Strange's chest tightened, his hope flickering once more.
"Now remember, you said you'd pay any price," Malrick continued. "From this moment on, you are my messenger."
Across the cosmos, Galactus had his Devourers of Worlds and their messengers. It was reasonable, then, that Malrick and the forces of justice should also have a messenger. Though this one's role skated close to darkness.
As Malrick's words fell through the void, space beside them tore open. A massive spatial passage opened wide, and a towering being stepped through — the Rege Duo Clone, ninety thousand kilometers tall. Each step seemed as though he walked down real stairs made of nothing but void.
He walked straight into the tiny pocket universe. The enormous form transformed into a beam of pure light as soon as it touched the small space, merging into it instantly.
Then, Strange watched in awe as the collapsed universe began to expand. The edges of the dimension blurred, and space stretched outward from the size of a football field — then to one light-year, then ten, and beyond.
Strange stared, speechless. He had expected Malrick to collapse everything into a singularity and build the universe from scratch. Instead, Malrick was restoring the universe exactly as it had been before.
Recreating a universe was far more difficult than creating one from nothing. It required restoring every planet, star, and galaxy along with their gravitational forces, physical constants, timelines, and life patterns. It was a marvel of cosmic engineering that even magic could barely grasp.
Within moments, the universe was restored. Frogs, stars, galaxies, all returned as though nothing had ever been lost.
Even the Observer Frog Thor trembled with awe at the transformation.
Outside the restored universe, Strange watched as scenes he had thought gone forever flickered back into existence. Except for himself and Christine, everything else was as it had been. Familiar magicians like Wong, Hamir, and Danny were alive again, walking the lands of this reborn reality.
Strange's body shook. His heart thudded in wonder and disbelief.
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Throw your stones my way 😭
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