CHAPTER 147

[Draul St. Cross POV]

After what felt like an eternity later, I finally was able to deposit the last of all the accumulated energy into the endless well. 

The only thing left with me was the mental representation of all the cosmic spatial energy which was the Space Stone.

The moment it entered the black hole, I felt my body being filled to the brim and over with power. All I needed was a grasp of my hand and I could destroy the earth, was the sensation that was flowing through my body. 

I felt powerful. Like 'I can do anything' powerful. This must be the reason why megalomaniacs were the way they were after every power up. 

After my power trip subsided, I was finally able to open my eyes and the first thing I felt was everything around me. 

The unstable space that shrouded my form, the three sorcerers a few meters away from me, and power. Endless power.

"Would you mind putting on some pants? You constantly flashing us isn't doing much good for our mental health." Strange's voice brought me out from immersing in the all-encompassing feeling I was experiencing which was looking like it would take some getting used to, which was something I was good at. 

I finally looked at myself, standing there and flashing the world. I conjured a pair of pants and a white shirt. 

The space around me stabilized itself as soon as I took a step forward which startled the sorcerers in front of me. Actually it was just Strange and Wong. The Ancient One remained unfazed, even managing to show a soft smile.

"Welcome back, Mr. Cross."

"You are saying that as if I was long gone."

"Well, not that long. You were only gone for three days."

Well that's… not surprising. 

"How do you feel?" She came forward and asked me. 

"I feel… different." There was something fundamentally different about me that I couldn't quite figure out. 

I waved my hands and it emitted a dark blue glow as the space in front of me cracked. 

"We should leave before we draw anymore unwanted attention." She said and beckoned to me. 

Heeding her words, the space around us changed and we were back in Kamar-Taj. 

"I believe there are some things we need to talk about, Mr. Cross, now that you have completed your evolution." She said and signaled both Strange and Wong to leave us. "I would start first as I believe congratulations are in accordance."

"Don't worry, I know what you are talking about. It's not as if I am going to start going on a personal mission to possess all six Infinity Stones." I waved off her concern. 

"But you will go for them, am I right?" She asked. 

"Yes, I will. But believe me, while I will try and gain all six, I am not about to start a conquering contest of the universe. You should know me better than that." She chuckled as I said that before nodding. 

"I will take your word for it. Now onto other matters, what did you see?" She finally asked the main question that she wanted. 

"I don't think I can explain all what I saw, but I think I saw the Bing Bang, or at least what caused it. It's all in flashes that I could not understand what they meant." I told her honestly. 

She sighed at that and didn't press the issue further. "I take it, you know where the other stones are?"

"I know where the Power Stone is and also have a few clues on where the others might be." I did not see the reason to hide this from her since she was one of my supporters, and when you are in a world like Marvel, you don't want to lose your supporters. 

"I assume you will be retrieving them soon enough, do I assume correctly?"

"No, you're not. I do plan to start stone mining very soon but I first have to know what I am at least capable of doing." I said. 

"Then I won't hold you back any longer."

Finished with my talk with the Ancient One, I teleported back to my house. 

Inside the living room was Steve and Yelena, watching TV while Bucky and Natasha were out in the city. 

"Welcome back, Draul. How did your evolution go?" Yelena was the first one to  hit me with the questions. They had learned about my abilities last year and also about the Infinity Stones. 

"Thanks Yelena, and yes it was successful." I said and sat down which made her scoot over to my side. 

"So? Are you like uber strong now? You fused with the Space Stone right? So can you breathe in outer space? Or what about going to other planets?"

"Give the man some breathing space, Yelena. He's barely sat down and you're already bothering him with the questions." Steve gave a lighthearted chuckle as he chided the young girl. 

"What? Tell me you don't want to go to outer space." Yelena gave him an exasperated look. "So, Draul, are we?"

"Are we what?"

"Are we going to space? Maybe see some aliens?" She was adamant about seeing anything other than humans. Maybe that was why she wanted to shoot a god. 

"What's this about some aliens? Oh quack, you're back." Just then Bucky and Nat came back with groceries. 

"Just came back. Man, everything still feels trippy." It still felt as if I was everywhere and nowhere at the same time. 

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah. It's just that I'm still acclimating to the new sensation. Even my sense of direction is all out of order." It felt like one of those weed trips, the ones that you mix cocaine with. 

"How so?" Nat asked. 

"Well, for starters. Are we in the living room or in the kitchen?" The question seemed to confuse them but Yelena did answer. "The living room."

"But we are not." Before they could ask what was wrong with me, we all found ourselves in the kitchen with tea already brewing. 

"What the…."

Yeah that's the reaction. 

"It's like the concept of distance is just a misconception of the mind. My mind. God! It feels like that time in school when I took my first puff of weed."

"Dude, that's not what being okay means!"

Faster than they could react, we all found ourselves back in the living room. "Okay, that's trippy as fuck. Can you please stop doing that?"

"So now that you've fused yourself to a piece of the universe, what now? You just raised the bar, so I'm guessing whatever comes next won't be the regular troublemakers meta, right?" Bucky asked. 

"You're right. Hopefully we have time on our hands. Worst case scenario is that we are caught unawares."

"So what's the plan going forward?"

"I'll be finding the other stones scattered out there in the universe. Shouldn't be that hard since I know where most of them are."

The Time Stone wasn't going anywhere except being kept on a pedestal inside Kamar-Taj. 

The Power Stone was in Morag. 

I already had the Space Stone. 

The Soul Stone is hopefully in Vormir. 

The Mind Stone is the only one that I don't know where it could be. Maybe Thanos does, he did give it to Loki in the movies after all. 

The Reality Stone is hidden in a forgotten realm. Odin definitely knows where it is. So do I. 

But since I had the Space Stone, there was nowhere in this universe that I couldn't go. In fact in any universe. 

"So that means you'll be traveling to outer space right?" Guess that little tidbit didn't escape her notice. 

"Yes, I will."

"Then I'm coming with."

"You can't breathe in space, not to mention other planets. Well, you could breathe in some but that is besides the point."

"So which stone are you going after first?" Steve asked. 

"The Power Stone. It's on a dead planet called Morag. But I won't be immediately going for it. Maybe in a week's time." I shrugged. 

"So I know that the Space Stone grants your power over the universal space for as much as you can handle, but what does the Power Stone do? There's nothing tied to power anyhow I think about it." Nat said. 

"That's because you are thinking of it in basic terms. From my point of view, the Power Stone is the most crucial of the Infinity Stones as it can act as a multiplier to anything. You can use it in ways that would require you to use specific stones."

Nat still seemed unconvinced. 

"But it takes the most strain doesn't it? And being a multiplier isn't all that special compared to the others."

"Well think of it this way. You could consider Charles as the strongest telepath on the planet. If someone like him was to wield the Power Stone, then he'll be able to control everyone's mind on the planet. He could even stretch it to the entire solar system. With the Mind Stone? A galaxy at his whims would be the least he could do. If he can handle it that is."

"Oh…" She finally realized the stones weren't just stones of power.

And not to mention the hypothesis I had of the Power Stone. 

Bestowal. 

The ability to impart an ability in someone. The Mind Stone gave Wanda and Piotr their powers, or rather boosted it in Wanda's case, in the MCU, I saw no reason why the Power Stone couldn't do the same. 

It was also why I was going for the Power Stone next, apart from the reason for it being the easiest of the stones to get. 

If I fused with the Power Stone, which I think I could, I should be able to give them the abilities I had in mind for them. 

The problem though was that I had to be quick. Having the stones meant nothing if I couldn't fuse with them. Fusing with the Power Stone was already pushing the limits of what my current body could handle, if I wanted to fuse with another stone, which was not even factoring the complexity of its nature, like the Reality Stone for example, I would need to assimilate it's cosmic energies for a while before I could fully adapt to it. 

There were bound to be some powers in the universe that already knew that someone was already hunting for the stones and if word gets out that earth has one, then this little blue ball would be ground zero for a calamity that would make the Infinity Saga look like child's play. 

Looking at the people that I could easily call family, there was nothing that I would not do to preserve this picture. But in order for me to do that, they had to fight too. 

There was no way for me to do it alone. I was bound to die if I did. 

That was the reason why I wanted to give them what I think would be best and had a vast potential for growth, and what best to achieve that than the Power Stone itself. 

"Enough about whether or not are there really stones that can grant omnipotent powers." Nat stepped in the middle of the conversation that was ongoing. "I'm hungry. What's up for lunch."

"We could do Italian."

"Takeouts?"

"I didn't go out for groceries just so we could order takeouts." And here I was craving some pizza. 

"Why is it so hard to decide what someone should eat?" I didn't know who asked that but I wholly agreed. 

"Anyone up for stew?"

"I could go for stew."

"Don't see a problem with that either. Barbecue to go with it would be nice." I guess. 

"Oh shit."

"What?"

"I forgot the drinks."

"I'll get it." And with that I warped myself to the nearest mall, and went shopping for drinks and a few other things all the while maintaining an invisibility cloak. I'll think about the troubles tomorrow. 

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