2 Keep Calm and Create

'What the fuck just happened?' Jon said as he tried to rationalize something, anything to make sense of what had just occurred. One minute he was at the NYCC about to ask Stan Lee himself about the most enigmatic of characters in Marvel. And then the next he was, well, he didn't exactly know where he was. It seemed as though he was... everywhere?

Well, maybe not everywhere. He could feel the boundaries of his existence, but within that boundary... it seemed as though EVERYTHING existed. He couldn't wrap his mind over such a concept. So much information, every particle, every atom, quark even.

Every subatomic reaction going through their natural processes was felt and understood by him. So then, he thought, if he can understand them and they're a part of him, than could he manipulate them?

He first started with something small, bonding hydrogen and oxygen with a little of the excess energy he found inside himself as well. Soon his whole... 'body' was filled with water. That made him feel, well, for lack of a better term, saturated. So he gradually increased the energy of the molecules and produced steam, and that made him feel bloated. Frustrated, he broke down the individual molecules into their base parts and just let the matter 'exist' for a while. He took the opportunity to relax and think over what he just learned.

So, as long as he can understand a chemical reaction, he can make it happen inside of himself. That's cool, but still what the hell happened to make this possible!?

'Calm down, calm down, it's ok, let's just take stock of the situation some more and see if I can figure things out.'

This time, instead of finding himself looking inward, Jon observed his surroundings. And what he found made him figuratively cock his head to the side. It kind of reminded him of a mixture of the Skyrim loading screen and the Vincent Van Gogh painting "The Starry Night". Darkness and what seemed like white mist swirling around together endlessly. 'Hmm, no... that's not quite right is it?'

Seemingly by instinct, he knew that this wasn't darkness or mist, but instead concepts of Nothing and Existence. The literal manifestations of the concepts of the numbers 0 and 1 were right before his...'eyes'? And he started to get lost in them.

It raised so many questions. The forefront of which being, if 0 and 1 are in fact representations of Nothingness and Existence, than is all reality nothing more than universal-grade binary running pre-established algorithms?

Other questions were less pressing, even downright ridiculous. 'Is this the Matrix? Am I Neo? Is Jack Morpheus?' And as fast as the questions were raised they were just as quickly dismissed as an impossibility.

However, there was one possibility that he had overlooked until, 'Wait... Jack, Stan Lee... They acted like friends... no way... Jack Kirby!? No, even more incredible, is he the Creator?! It's all real!? A-and right now... am I... One-Above-All?' Stunned at these thoughts he loses himself in the implications.

Excited about the prospect of meeting his heroes, seeing the sights of the multiverse, with adventure and discovery around every corner. But the excitement quickly died down, replaced with questions. The most important question on his mind was,

'Why me?'

Indeed, he didn't consider himself anything special. So why would a being as powerful as the comics claim, choose him to take up the same role? What did it all mean?

After what felt like hours of pondering and reflection, something started changing. 'Something' was moving inside him as his concentration lapsed during his musings. After looking inside, he found slimy black tar like beings just writhing and oozing about. Pulsing and growing every second, threatening to overwhelm and consume him. He felt sick to his 'stomach'. But they were alive, and technically he did create them, at least, that's what he felt to be true. So he decided to bear it for now, only blocking their attempts to expand beyond himself. But he underestimated just how volatile and abhorrent this 'creation' of his was.

They consumed each other as well as ambient energy and mass in order to propagate. They were the very definition of life violently exploding without a care in the world. Barely even considered to be sentient. No emotions or morals to govern their actions. They just seemed driven by a need to 'exist.' And the more Jon watched, the more disgusted he felt.

'I'm going to be sick!' Jon, after many hours of observation, felt like he was at the proverbial brink.

'That's it! I don't care if you are alive, this is my body and I want you GONE!!'

In his fury, he started breaking down this slimy nastiness into its base components until matter and energy were back to their base forms again. Except, compared to the steam, this time it was much more difficult to accomplish. Because that ooze fought back. And it fought back hard.

Hours he fought, weeks, years. Time seemed to flow differently here, if it even flowed at all. But he fought for what felt like eons, bringing his being back under his complete control right as he was about to collapse and lapse into what he presumed to be returning to nothingness. Is that what entropy is?

Exhausted, he tried to rest. However, after a while it became obvious that instead of recovering energy with rest he just... stagnated, and ...hungered.

'This level of Cosmic Entity can feel hunger? But what the hell am I supposed to even EAT!?' Confused, he looked again to the black and white swirls surrounding him when an idea struck him. It didn't exactly look appetizing but, for lack of better options what choice did he have?

'Well, there's nothing else here. Might as well try.' He thought as he extended himself and tried a few things to go about consuming it.

It was hard at first, but eventually he came to realize that just as he could will creation and destruction within himself, he could extend that 'will' outside of himself to grab and take into himself the nothingness and existence. And as he did so, he felt the nature of the outside substance fundamentally change into mass and energy, as well as seeping into what was already there. It was as if the energy and particulates within himself felt rejuvenated just by the duality's presence. After another few hours he felt sated. It was with that satisfaction that he began to relax. But with a start, remembered that it was him not concentrating that allowed the proliferation of those... things.

So, he kept up his concentration to keep the energy within himself from reacting with the mass of particles that also made up his new existence. He didn't know how long he could hold it though. It was as if the reactions were begging to happen, as if it was inevitable. He could will it to do it himself, but if he let it run its course without his input, he knew those things would be back.

"Not bad. Stan and I took a few relative trillion years each to figure that out. You figured it out after only a few relative billion, color me impressed."

'What the FHQWHGADS?!' Jon screamed in his 'mind.' He started frantically searching his surroundings.

"Relax young man, over here." Said the increasingly familiar voice, chuckling he added, "By the way, nice reference, but I doubt many will get it these days."

Feeling a presence above him. Jon turned his perception up and beheld a large entity, completely dwarfing him in size by a whole order of magnitude. Within the being's body countless orbs filled with galaxies, nebulas, and cosmic events were all interconnected in a golden web that seemed to radiate life. 'Amazing' Jon thought to himself. Moving backwards to try and behold this entity in its full, he found that this entity was vaguely human shaped. 'That's right... what do I even look like right now?'

"Rather than that, the thing you should concern yourself with is stabilizing your existence."

Said the booming voice, that for some reason made Jon think of his encounter with a guy cosplaying as Tha-

"Stop! Don't imagine it. Instead, eat more. While doing so, think of manifestations or personifications of concepts like Eternity, Infinity, Order, Chaos, Life, and Death."

'But why?'

"Trust me, it's necessary. We all have to do it at one point or other. The sooner you do, the more stable you are."

'Well, alright.' Jon turned once again to the swirling mass of his 'food' and started thing about eternity and what it means. Eternity to Jon meant... something timeless, going on forever and existing in all points of time. As he thought about it he also thought about what would be a representation of it. 'Timelessness, longevity, frozen in time, but flowing ever onward, water, solid, but flowing.' That line of thinking brought him to thinking about eastern mythology a bit. If he remembered correctly, the Chinese deity that represented water, winter, and the northern direction was...

"Xuanwu"

At the utterance of the name, Jon felt a shift in the concepts he had consumed. These concepts had not yet affected the energy and mass that were already a part of him. They swirled, separate from the rest. At first it was amorphous, just a large swirling blob of existence and nothingness until it arranged itself and slowly, a whole new being came into view.

A gigantic entity, with four scaly legs, an angular head and a dome like shell covered in hexagonal plates. Instead of a tail, a snake flowed out from behind it and began to wrap around the shell. Each scale on both the snake and the tortoise looked as if the Big Bang was occurring continuously within them.

As Jon looked upon him, he inwardly smiled. It looked to him like a giant snapping turtle made up of the cosmos with a snake for a tail. At the same time, it reminded him of the giant lion turtles in Avatar: Last Airbender.

As if he could feel his creator's thoughts, Xuanwu looked out into the chaos of creation he found himself in, eyes glowing and radiating cosmic power and roared.

"Huh, this is new, definitely non-canon." The entity, Jon started to assume to be Jack, muttered to no one in particular. "Continue, quickly!"

But Jon didn't really need the urging. Even without it, he felt like he had begun a process that cannot be stopped. Even with just the inclusion of Eternity within himself, although Jon felt just a bit more complete, a bit more solid, but it was not enough. He pushed off those thoughts and their implications for a later time and began to comprehend Infinity.

'Infinity is possibility, potential, probability, the unreachable apex. Infinity knows know bounds, across universes, timelines, makes up the multiverse, strives for higher heights, breaking boundaries, all encompassing, all embracing, a mother to possibility, nurturing potential.'

Again this line of thought brought Jon to eastern mythology. A woman known as the mother of humanity, a race said to have infinite potential across time and space. However, the difference between that and Jon's vision was that this particular manifestation will acknowledge the potential of all sapient life rather than just homo sapiens.

"Nuwa"

The Primordial Chaos, as Jon decided to term it, swirled and compressed once again as a female figure emerged to stand next to Xuanwu, her full height reached the top of his shell. She wore a dress of stars and cosmic dust and had a mature, motherly figure. Eyes glowing red and skin of gold with black hair decorated with nebulous clouds of potential energy. She places a hand on Xuanwu and he begins to rapidly change shape into a man her equal in height. With a body and flowing robe both seemingly made of the cosmos, the man looks upon his new form and nods to his sister and returns to the form of a giant tortoise. Jon inwardly remarks that she's already doing her job helping others realize their infinite potential.

Both beings stand beside one another, seemingly waiting for something.

Jon, seeing this begins to think of what Order and Chaos means to him. Chaos means change, violence, an absence of rational thinking, disorder, confusion, flux. It precedes creation, yet is necessary for it. Chaos strives to bring about itself ever more in order to bring about evolution and change, it is free as the wind, ferocious, feral, never yielding in its pursuits like an unsheathed sword.

Chaos' eventuality is Order. As much as Order eventually begets Chaos. When the destruction and dust settles, what rises is uniformity, rigidity, laws. However, Order must also be able to bend and sway, in order to stay rooted and survive the inevitable chaos that tries to destroy it. It is majestic, towering, a symbol of civilization and is its patron, filled with wisdom.

"Baihu. Qinglong."

From out of the ether, two forms emerge. One a personification of the energy Jon is still consuming. In the form of a ferocious and beautiful white and black tiger whose stripes are always changing and in flux like the energy outside. She roars upon fully forming and moves to stand besides her siblings. Grinning malevolently in anticipation for the future.

The other is a flash of azure as an immensely long dragon steps out. Every scale perfectly symmetrical and shining with a bright glow, horns like branches or antlers coming out of the top of his head. Seven claws adorn each foot and a majestic mane erupts from behind his head and extends all the way down his spine to the end of his tail.

Rather than roar the dragon floats before his siblings exuding the natural aura of a wise, rational, and just elder. He looks to Baihu and snorts derisively. At this the lady tiger snarls, but with a glare from Xuanwu and Nuwa, the two fall silent.

Jon chuckles, which seems to reverberate throughout himself as the four suddenly shiver and bow to no one in particular. He looks upon them with love and affection before turning his mind to the last step (?) in this process. His confidence now soaring to new heights as he ruminates over life and death.

'Life is a spark, a flame, that burns and brings about both destruction and creation. It is the fire of destruction and rebirth. It actualizes the potential of energy.'

'Death is cold, calculating, inevitable. It has no element in nature other than decay and brings about the deconstruction of matter into reusable elements so that anything can be reused for creation once more. Death comes to all and welcomes all into her embrace.'

"Zhuque. Siwang."

A clarion cry bursts from the mist of existence. Heat pervades the region as a gargantuan red and golden flaming bird of prey soars around her brothers and sisters. The epitome of vibrancy, she lands among them and begins to preen. Joyful and happy to be born.

Unfortunately, that joy is short lived and her eyes narrow towards the swirling nothingness. Coldness undercuts all other feelings in the area. Even Xuanwu, a representation of not just time but winter, ice, and water in general, shivers at the coming presence.

Somehow, a bell with a deep cold tone sounds in the region and, as if walking on a hard surface, the sound of heels clacking on stone echoes slowly. Then, from out of the darkness a black gloved hand appears and swipes it all away, converting it into a cloak that wraps around an obviously beautiful feminine figure. She is the embodiment of death. Within her hood resides a human skull whose sockets glow with an eerie blue flame that, rather than heat, emit a chill. Somehow, even with that, her figure undeniably shows that there is beauty in even death.

Stopping in front of her new 'family,' she regards them for a moment, and then steps off to the side and leans against nothing. She looks to Zhuque, who tenses up. Both of them feeling each other out, before both nod in begrudging but mutual respect for one another. Crossing her arms under her chest, Siwang looks away from them.

Jon continues to look over them all with affection and love until the sound of a person clearing their throat breaks him from his revelry. Once again looking outward, and feeling more himself and satisfied than anytime previously while in this form, Jon looks upon Jack Kirby, the One-Above-All, in all his glory, who begins to speak.

"I have to say, that was certainly a unique approach. As a Marvel fan I was assuming you'd create copies of the Living Tribunal, Infinity, Eternity, Death, the Phoenix Force, Master Order, and Lord Chaos. But what you've done is create something all your own, even if based on a different mythology. Which, in retrospect, is probably for the best. Something different should shake things up. So congratulations. You've created your Primordial Deities. Now-" Jon took this chance to interrupt.

'Oh! That reminds me, thanks Jack. Give me a minute.'

"Huh? Uh, ok."

Jon then gorges himself on the Primordial Chaos to prepare. And after feeling suitably stuffed, he begins to envision something new.

'Above all but me, my representative when I'm unavailable or for matters beneath my notice, who reports to me and me alone the goings on in the coming multiverse, the personification of balance, law, justice, perfect arbitration, and ombudsman. Decidedly neutral in all things, but brings judgement on any who stray too far from the balance. Strives only for equality in all dualities of nature and the protection of each universe. Good versus evil, light versus dark, creation versus destruction, chaos versus order. All Shall Have Equilibrium.'

"Archon"

As the words sound, before he even says the name, space inside of Jon starts to rumble, startling the newly born gods, and they watch as perfectly equal parts mist of existence and nothingness form into a man twice the size of the Primordials, as Jon decided to call them. Wearing what looks like a Greek toga intricately embroidered with gold and sapphire. A sash flows over his left arm and a gladius made of what seems to be, but most decidedly is not, gold rests within a loop on his right hip, Greek military krepis (sandals) cover his feet. He has a large grey beard and a bald scalp with a circlet of stars resting above his brows.

As he approached, all the Primordials quake in realization that this being, while not able to kill them, can reset them to their base states at the time of their creation, and there's nothing they can do to him, even while cooperating. They knew what his purpose was, and that was to make sure they each never went too far in any given direction. They knew he was a representative of their Father.