Godhood: for Dummies - Chapter 27

They didn’t laugh for long. Nathan’s was more a bout of insanity, rather than relief or humor, and Galacta’s was more awkward than anything. They weren’t friends, and Nathan didn’t have to remind himself of that fact. 

She was the equivalent of a wild tiger, and he was acting as the stressed out zookeeper trying not to die. 

It definitely didn’t help his sanity that she had basically just Hulked out. The only thing keeping him from running was the fact that he could read her conceptual core. 

The hunger was still there, but where it was previously a ravenous mass that overshadowed everything else, a raging inferno that threatened to consume everything else - it was now just a candle. Flickering and calm, giving way to the usual discord of a mortal.   

It was giving him whiplash.  

He could see the connection she had to the cosmos. Locked up tight behind a layer of determination, vigilance, and fear. As if she held her own power at bay, like he did with her a few minutes prior. Under Godeye, he could see her hesitance, hope, and most importantly, her guilt.

It didn’t show on her face. Not really. She reminded him of Hestia and Odin in that they held themselves as better. A base level of pride that reflected their stance in the universal hierarchy. 

She was, for all intents and purposes, a goddess. Of a different kind than the three that he had met previously, for sure, but still on that level. She held no tangible divinity that he could tell. Just that cosmic connection. 

Still, though. That was probably enough to put herself above a regular mortal’s values and morals. Like other gods, she didn’t live by mortal rules, so why would their laws and ethics apply to her? She was fundamentally different. 

It was a frustrating realization for humanity throughout history - that the gods lived by their own rules. They saw humanity as pets, at best. Like a large group of cats and dogs that resembled themselves. Sure, there were a large number of gods that cherished their mortal communities. Would love nothing more than to see them flourish and grow, but the gods had just as much variation as humanity.

Some were as cruel as a child with a magnifying glass, burning ants to pass the time. Some liked to keep the colonies in glass cases, and provide for every need, just to watch the drama of their society unfold.

Nathan knew of Galactus, but he had never heard of him having a daughter. He was having a very hard time separating her from what he knew of her father - the somewhat reasonable force of nature that consumed worlds like a hunter in the wild looking for his next meal.

According to his memories of the comics, the Earth was just a particularly feisty buck in the universal forest, as far as the world eater was concerned. 

His impression of Galacta was still that of a hunter, but one that had found a community of deer in the forest, and decided to protect it from other predators. After all, she had apparently been on Earth for a time, and hadn’t eaten it. He wasn’t sure how long that time was. It could have been minutes, or years for all he knew - but Kamar-Taj would have reacted instantly if they detected her.

Why hadn’t the Ancient One caught her yet? Was she allowed to just… roam around? Did they even know she was there? If not, how had she evaded the Sanctum shields?

Regardless, even if it didn’t show on her face, Nathan distinctly saw the colors of guilt in her core. She recognized that she failed to keep her hunger at bay, and truly - to the foundation of her being - hated that failure. 

That is what kept Nathan from doing anything further. From trying his damndest to remove her as a problem. 

“I’m sorry.”

Nathan blinked, brought out of his musing. “What?” 

“I’m sorry.” She repeated, and promptly shattered his understanding of her. The pride of a goddess thrown to the wayside in a distinctly human show of remorse. Her pride was not gone, the sour scent and stiffness still lingered under his gaze, but it was ignored. Much like she had been pushing down her hunger when she showed up in Tony’s tower.

Nathan didn’t even think Ahsonnutli was capable of that, and she was the closest to understanding mortal emotions among the gods he had met. Even over Hestia, and leagues better than Odin. 

She frowned at him. “Why are you looking at me like I grew another head?”

He snorted, and shook the unconscious expression off his face. “Just my worldview dying an abrupt death.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” he smiled. A bit of his anxiety melted away.

“I feel like you’re insulting me,” she pouted. 

“Who’s to say?” He chuckled. “But you really do regret the past few minutes, don’t you?” 

Galacta gave him a hesitant look, then moved her gaze to the only other thing in their current environment - that being the star. Nathan supposed she wouldn’t be susceptible to burning out her retinas. The childhood mantra of “don’t look directly at the sun” apparently meant little to her square irises. 

“I haven’t…” she frowned, “lost control like that in a long time. Earth has been good for my diet, with how many extraterrestrial infractions you guys have. I’ve been able to keep the hunger down for years.” She looked at the newly formed apple on his waist. “The prospect of that, though…”

“Sent you overboard?” He finished for her, then squinted at her as she nodded. “How long have you been on Earth?” 

She tilted her head in question. “About thirty years, I think. Why?” 

Nathan closed his eyes and breathed, forgetting that there was technically no air to accommodate it - but that still didn’t appear to matter. “And nobody noticed? Someone of your caliber has just been hanging around for that long and nobody noticed?” He repeated. 

“Was someone supposed to?” She gave him a look of genuine confusion.

“Fucking hell.”

Her lips tugged down at his swearing, but her eyes widened a moment later. “Oh! You mean the magicians?” 

“Magicians?” Now he was confused, but only for a split second before annoyance took over. 

“Yeah!” Galacta nodded. “Those hand-wavy guys that practice Eldritch phenomena. They have that global array set up, which has been pretty fun to sneak around.” She put a finger on her lips in thought. “They’re pretty much the only ones I had to be careful of, though. Can’t think of anyone else who might have noticed.”

Nathan sighed. “No, it’s them. The Ancient One’s going to have a lot of questions about this.”

Her head tilted. “Is that like, their leader?”

He nodded in answer.

It was her turn to sigh. “Ah. Crapbaskets. And I was doing so well, too.”

“You-” he gave her a deadpan stare, “you do realize that I’m one of them, right?” 

“You are?” She asked. “Why? You’re a Celestial though, aren’t you?” 

“That’s a whole can of worms that I’m not opening right now,” his half-lidded stare didn’t let up, “but I was born on Earth, and was essentially a totally normal guy until I found this.” He held up the locket that held the Power Stone.

“A locket?” She asked. “Wait,” she looked closer, “is that a fudging Infinity Stone?!” 

“I-” What? How does she not- “I literally punched you with it like five minutes ago, how do you not remember that?”

“Everything’s a total blank,” she shrugged. “The only thing I could think about when I… succumbed was the hunger.” A renewed flash of regret sparked in her core. “Are you saying you became a Celestial when you found that?”

“What? No. My father is- that’s besides the point,” he shook off the question, not entirely comfortable spilling all his secrets to this girl. He was already kicking himself for showing off the stone when she apparently had no memory of it. 

Speaking of, “You’re saying you don’t remember that whole thing? Not even like,” he paused, “a fuzzy hindsight, or something?” 

She shook her head. “Nope.” 

“Huh,” he intoned. Just digested that for a second. “Well-”

A portal opened up, and a large burst of atmosphere was shunted into their corner of empty space. 

Out of the portal, came a battle-ready Ancient One. Utterly decked out in the most enchanted gear he had ever seen - most of which he had never actually seen before, and he had been put on catalogue duty a few times. 

It was full wargear. Tight-fitting robes with Orichalcum fibers woven in geometric patterns. Sashes and ties that glowed under the power of extradimensional entities. Rings, bangles, and bracelets all humming with explosive intent. The Eye of Agamotto, even, hung open and radiating the promise of fuck around and find out. The most eye-catching, however, was the millions of tiny, golden, Eldritch mandalas circling her hooded head in a floating halo.

She looked fucking terrifying, holy hell.

The Ancient One took the time to glance between the two of them, before giving Nathan a look - hidden as it was behind the shadow of her hood. He knew she was giving him one of her stern, no-nonsense glares, but all he saw in her core was apprehension.

“Nathan.” She said simply - also ignoring the lack of air, since whatever came through the portal quickly dispersed into the vacuum on her arrival. 

“Heyo,” he waved back meekly.

She stared at him a moment longer, before turning to Galacta.

“Um…” the girl looked distinctly nervous. Eyes wide, and just as affected by how terrifying Nathan’s pseudo mother looked at the moment. “Hi?” 

“You’re not Galactus.”

“Nuh-uh.” She shook her head, as if reduced to a child’s vocabulary and minimal syllable responses. 

“Well?” The super scary lady began. “Who are you, and why was a hole punched in the New York Shield?”

Nathan raised a hesitant hand. “That last might have been me. Had to get us away pretty quick.”

The Ancient One’s head turned to him methodically. “And why did you need to do that?”

“Well…” he turned to Galacta, who looked like she wanted to disappear entirely. “You wanna take that one?”

“No thank you.”

“Oh come on, you big baby.” Nathan complained at her.

The girl’s eye twitched, and her gaze darted his way. “She’s super scary!”

“You’re a freaking cosmic entity!” He shot back.

“Not one of the big ones!” She flung her arms to the sides. 

“Children.” The Ancient One interjected, bringing them both to a halt. “I would appreciate an answer.”

Nathan and Galacta glanced at each other, and he gave her a go on motion.

She took a short breath and pouted. “Well I… I got a little too hungry, and…” She trailed off.

The Sorcerer Supreme gave the impression of an expectant, raised eyebrow - unseen under her hood. 

“Well I- uh, I mean… I tried to eat him, and then I think he teleported us away from Earth so that we wouldn’t blow it up?”

Everything was silent for a beat, only broken by Nathan snorting. She looked at him in betrayal. 

“I see,” the mystic responded, her only threat in the moment being her presence.  

“She’s been on Earth for thirty years.” Nathan said.

His teacher’s head turned to him at that. Confusion first, but a quick flash of understanding sparked in her core as she took in his implication.

Most of the tension seemed to bleed from her. She didn’t relax - not fully. Not when she didn’t really understand who Galacta was, or the threat she posed. Neither had explained the details yet, after all.

Still though, she needed some form of assurance, apparently. 

Her head turned back to Galacta. “Do you pose a danger to Earth?”

The daughter of Galactus frowned. “I don’t want to. I’ve even helped out a bunch too,” she said. A spark of annoyance flickered in her core. As if she was offended for some reason, but it was squashed by the memory of recent events. 

The Ancient One didn’t move for a moment, interest in the girl’s last comment filtering through her head, but gave a slight, decisive nod.

All three of them suddenly found themselves in the Sorcerer Supreme’s office. Nathan didn’t have much trouble adjusting to the forced change in scenery, since he had used that same spell a number of times, but Galacta stumbled a bit. 

Nathan found himself frowning at her for that. The Power Cosmic most definitely allowed her to do something similar by itself, but it could easily be utilized to learn that exact spell without much effort. The Cosmic Awareness that came with the ability should allow her to tap into any living knowledge that existed, after all.

She didn’t appear overly surprised with the move, so she wasn’t exactly inexperienced, but Nathan really felt he was missing something. 

The Ancient One didn’t miss a beat as they landed. She crossed her arms behind her back and stepped around to her desk as if they had always been in the room. Her garb seemed to fizzle to Nathan’s eye. Her robes… unfolded, for lack of a better term, revealing her normal beige and yellow get-up. Her accessories - the sashes, and most of her rings and bracelets - appeared to fold away with the rest. 

Her hands reached up to pull her hood down as she sat behind her desk, the corona of Eldritch mandalas fading away into nothing with it. The only thing that really kept the threat of her presence alive was the Eye of Agamotto that still hung around her neck, even with the sphincter closed around-

Nathan felt a slight slap against the back of his head.

“Don’t call it a sphincter. That’s gross.” His teacher said lazily.

“Oh come on! Since when could you read minds?!” 

She ignored him, though he could taste her amusement. He also knew that this room was warded to hell, and that was just a power play to head off any deception from their guest.

… Probably. Or it could just be the lady’s weird sense of humor. He could never really- he felt another slap on the back of his head.

“Oi.”

The ghost of a smile touched her lips, but it was quickly covered by crossed fingers as she rested her elbows on her desk. “So, Galacta, was it? Tell me about yourself.”

Nathan watched the girl in question realize that she had never introduced herself. 

This would either be a very funny, or very threatening conversation, and Nathan found himself wanting to be anywhere else for it.

__________

OK, so hopefully I addressed a lot of concerns you guys had in this chapter. Please tell me how you feel about their interactions, and thoughts. Nathan will not be rolling over for Galacta. They are not friends. Not yet, at least. And it's all subject to change. I may have a plan, but it evolves as the words get put down. Feedback is appreciated, no matter what the opinion is.