The Gods' Quarry was feared throughout creation.
It was a place controlled by the Infinite Witches, a forbidden land where even cosmic beings walked on the edge of oblivion.
A universe-spanning deity could enter its depths and never return.
Because this place was, quite literally, a graveyard for gods.
Yet hidden within that danger was an equally extraordinary opportunity.
Those who had lost their power could reclaim it here.
Those with enough strength and resolve could go even further, inheriting fragnts of power left behind by fallen divinities.
The Gods' Quarry existed outside conventional reality.
It lay beyond parallel dinsions, hyperspatial realms, and neutral planes of existence.
No one had created it.
No ancient architect had built it.
Instead, it had erged naturally over the course of countless ages, ford by the accumulation of broken destinies and discarded possibilities.
In a sense, it was the Multiverse's refuse pit.
A place where failed fates gathered and solidified.
Drex knew enough cosmic history to understand the difference between worlds.
In DC's greater cosmology, destiny was overseen by beings of such overwhelming authority that no one dared challenge the system. Entire worlds could be guided with the turn of a page.
Marvel's reality was far less orderly.
There was no supre power constantly enforcing destiny's design.
As a result, even relatively modest gods of fate could manipulate their own destinies and twist probability in their favor.
The current custodians of fate in this universe were the Three Witches of Destiny.
Only by working together and remaining forever bound to the Gods' Quarry could they exert even a limited influence over the laws of fate.
Their authority was imnse.
Their personal power was not.
From Drex's perspective, they occupied a peculiar position in the cosmic hierarchy.
Similar to Chronos, the God of Ti.
Similar to Nightmare, ruler of the Dream Dinsion.
They held dominion over fundantal concepts yet lacked the overwhelming force normally associated with such responsibilities.
Naturally, that made them targets.
Powerful gods routinely sought to exploit or suppress them.
The Three Witches of Destiny understood this reality better than anyone.
Chronos understood it.
Nightmare understood it.
None of them could afford to grow too strong.
Whenever they showed signs of advancent, other powers inevitably moved to keep them in check.
Their solution had been simple.
Stay inside their domains.
Remain hidden.
Avoid becoming a threat.
Within their own territory, however, they were far from helpless.
At the center of the realm stood a castle.
Its architecture resembled that of dieval Europe.
The outer walls were painted a soft pink, lending the structure an oddly whimsical appearance that felt strangely out of place in such a terrifying location.
There were no gardens surrounding it.
Instead, beside the castle yawned a massive abyss.
A pit so deep that its bottom vanished into darkness.
That abyss was the Gods' Quarry.
The Infinite Witches hovered above it, watching Drex in silence.
The trio looked exactly as legends described them.
Three elderly won draped in gray robes.
Their skin was withered and wrinkled.
Their faces seed ancient beyond asure.
Every detail of their appearance carried an unsettling sense of decay.
Most disturbing of all was how identical they were.
Not rely similar.
Identical.
Three copies of the sa ancient figure.
Heavy chains wrapped around their arms and bodies, binding them together like eternal prisoners.
Drex couldn't help noticing a pattern.
In Marvel's cosmology, anything associated with the word "Infinite" tended to be extraordinarily dangerous.
Below them, the quarry stretched into darkness.
Its walls were covered with countless stone figures.
So stood upright.
So had fallen.
Each possessed a different expression and posture.
The only thing they shared was that they had beco stone.
Every one of them had once been a Celestial.
Or sothing equally powerful.
"If your will is insufficient, and you attempt to forcefully change your destiny..."
One of the witches spoke.
"This is the result."
Drex understood imdiately.
He still had no idea why the Infinite Witches had brought him here.
But he knew what this place represented.
Opportunity.
Perhaps the greatest opportunity he had ever encountered.
Maybe even the path toward becoming Multiversal.
The true heart of the Gods' Quarry was the abyss itself.
A unique region ford naturally by the Multiverse.
Entering it ant entering the Mist of Fate.
Within that mist, power ant nothing.
Divinity ant nothing.
Only will remained.
Only conviction.
Anyone seeking to understand their destiny first had to understand themselves.
Not every god possessed mastery over fate.
Most would never stumble across a magical artifact capable of revealing their future.
For those who wished to challenge destiny directly, the Gods' Quarry offered another path.
One far more dangerous.
Reliving one's old life was aningless.
Only when placed within a completely different environnt could soone truly see themselves for what they were.
The quarry offered that chance.
Or perhaps it offered punishnt.
Depending on the outco.
Within distorted lives and broken destinies, challengers were forced to discover their true selves.
Only then could they find their fate.
Drex's gaze drifted across the smooth quarry walls.
The stone figures appeared frozen in the act of climbing upward.
Their hands clawed desperately at the rock.
Their faces twisted with determination, terror, and despair.
Many seed only monts away from reaching freedom.
None had succeeded.
The implication was obvious.
They had failed the trial.
Then the voices of the Infinite Witches echoed once more.
"The Gods' Quarry is the graveyard of gods."
"The dead and forgotten rest here forever."
"Their divine power remains."
"Their authority remains."
"Their energy remains."
"Anyone who seeks that power must first endure the trial."
"And should you fail..."
"You will join them."
"Forever."
"You will beco part of the Eternal Wall."
The Eternal Wall.
The smooth stone surface surrounding the abyss.
Drex studied the countless petrified faces embedded within it.
Every one of them had once possessed enough confidence to challenge fate itself.
Every one of them had failed.
Even Drex hesitated.
He wasn't reckless enough to assu sheer determination would carry him through.
This was the Gods' Quarry.
One of the highest manifestations of cosmic law.
A rule older and more fundantal than many cosmic entities.
Even the Phoenix could not alter it.
Within this place, the Phoenix held no special authority.
That realization prevented Drex from underestimating the challenge.
He didn't believe he was inherently superior to the countless cosmic beings already trapped here.
The petrified figures surrounding him served as a warning.
An entire monunt to failure.
And yet...
When he looked deeper into the abyss, he saw sothing else.
Sothing magnificent.
Sothing terrifying.
At the bottom of the quarry surged unimaginable cosmic energy.
Not rely power.
Ti.
Space.
Dinsions.
Fundantal principles beyond mortal comprehension.
Countless laws intertwined within a single vast reservoir.
The deeper Drex looked, the more unbelievable it beca.
If soone truly mastered the power hidden within that pit, they could potentially control the entire universe with a thought.
Compared to that, the Infinity Stones seed almost insignificant.
Collecting all six Infinity Stones granted power approaching the Multiversal level.
But that power was borrowed.
External.
Never truly one's own.
Drex had never been interested in relying on borrowed strength.
His instincts warned him that absorbing everything below was impossible.
No being should be capable of containing such power.
But even a fraction...
Even a tiny fraction...
Would be enough to challenge the Five Cosmic Entities.
Enough to rival the combined might of all six Infinity Stones.
And most importantly...
Enough to grant him the power to stand against the Thought Robot.
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