Night over Omega Earth was never truly dark.Cities glowed with shared technology — Asgardian lightstones, Stark reactors, Atlantean crystals. But tonight, every light flickered. Every street, every tower, dimmed… as though the planet itself was holding its breath.
In the Watchtower, Batman stood before a holographic image of Doctor Strange. His tone was flat.
"His spell fractured, not failed. The energy signatures match his essence."
Iron Man's voice came through the comm, weary but sharp.
"You're saying Strange didn't die?"
Bruce's gaze hardened.
"I'm saying something wearing his soul didn't."
Across the chamber, Superman clenched his fists. "If he's alive, we can reach him. If he's not—then something else used his death as a doorway."
At that moment, the air shimmered. A golden spark appeared midair, spinning like a dying star. Doctor Fate materialized, clutching his cracked helmet. His voice was hoarse, almost human.
"He's both," Fate rasped. "Doctor Strange's essence split the moment he sealed the rift. The light restored our world… but the shadow—his shadow—was cast into the void."
Wonder Woman stepped forward, sword in hand. "You mean there's another Strange?"Fate shook his head slowly. "Not another. The part of him that held the fear, the arrogance, the hunger for mastery. Everything he suppressed… became something else."
Iron Man frowned. "Let me guess — it's not sending thank-you notes."
Fate turned his eyes upward. "No. It's rewriting creation."
Suddenly, alarms screamed through the Watchtower. The holographic map flared red — energy surging across the planet's core.Superman blurred to the window. His eyes widened. "The stars—"
Above Omega Earth, the constellations themselves began to move — shifting like living things.In the sky, a single symbol formed — the Eye of Agamotto, dark and twisted, burning black flame.
Batman whispered, "He's reshaping the laws of magic."Fate answered, voice grim. "He's not reshaping it. He's undoing it — returning the multiverse to the chaos before order."
And then the voice came, echoing through every communicator, every mind:
"They called me sorcerer supreme.They were wrong.""I am the reflection that even gods refused to see.""I am what remains when salvation becomes sin."
From the clouds, a figure descended — robed in shadows, the Cloak of Levitation torn and blackened, his eyes void of color.Shadow Strange.
He raised a hand, and the sky cracked like glass.
Superman and Thor lunged, colliding with him midair — lightning and heat vision clashing against magic born from entropy itself. The explosion rippled through the stratosphere, tearing holes in space.
Below, Wonder Woman shouted, "He's feeding on their power!"Iron Man's sensors confirmed it. "He's adapting—he's rewriting their attacks as fuel!"
Shadow Strange's voice filled the air:
"You rebuilt reality in light.I am its shadow."
He vanished in a storm of black fire, leaving only his laughter echoing across the heavens.
Batman stared into the sky. "He's not trying to conquer this world."Thor landed beside him, jaw tight. "Then what does he seek?"
Bruce turned to the team.
"He's trying to unmake both universes — to return everything to the moment before creation. To become the god of nothing."
And as the dawn broke over Omega Earth, the sun bled crimson.
The war for existence had begun again —and this time, it was against one of their own.