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Life had spiraled out of control so quickly in this world. Even to this day, no one knew how the world ended as quickly and as disastrously as it did, but when it happened, the thunder that signaled the end boomed with an eerie finality. Every major city collapsed in an instant, one after the other, falling like flies. Most of the world’s heroes and villains fell the same way, gone without fanfare and wiped away by the rising tide. Not even the mighty Doctor Doom was immune to such a fate.
Fate itself had different plans for Matt Murdock.
The man once known as Daredevil let out an even exhale as his senses returned to his body. He was still new to astral projection, the ability to send your soul from your body out into the world, but it was a skill he had been working to master diligently.
Especially since there was now more than one world out there.
Word arrived quickly to Matt when it happened. A shattering of time and space that led to the fusions of several realities all at once, with more worlds colliding with each passing day. It was dubbed the Timestream Entanglement in a reality that still had New York in one piece, albeit under a curse of Eternal Night.
(And for the record, Matt did not miss Dracula.)
As of now, there were four distinct realities at the heart of the Entanglement, and Matt’s world was one of those four. Fate wasn’t done with the wasteland that this reality had become, not yet, and Matt knew for certain that it wasn’t done with him yet.
And he wasn’t done with fate yet either.
Not with his new role in the world.
His descent into Hell had changed him in many ways. He learned to fight harsher, judge more ruthlessly, embrace the divine beyond his original faith, even with how he still kept those teachings near to his heart. And when he conquered The Beast, taking its power into his own body, he gained a new identity, one gifted to him by the divine creature that The Beast had held captive for so long.
Dizang, guardian and Immortal Weapon of the Eighth City, champion of Yinglong.
He knew of the Seven Heavenly Cities, thanks in part to what Danny had told him a lifetime ago. What neither he nor Danny knew was that there was a secret city, a land stricken from its place in the Heart of Heaven to serve as a prison for the greatest of evils. His rising to the role of Dizang meant he learned of its role, its prisoners, and the harsher realities that the original founders of the Cities of Heaven kept hidden from its succeeding generations. Sentences too egregious for their crimes. Lack of fair trials across the board. No chance for a retrial when evidence that proved innocence came to light.
Even if today’s generation of the Heavenly Cities was guilt-free, their elders still stained their home with the blood of innocents regardless, all thanks to how they managed the Eighth City.
That was why he remained in the Eighth City, even as the chaos of the Entanglement kept growing. The city needed him there, protecting it with his now divinely appointed sense of justice. But it was also why he wanted to learn astral projecting in the first place. Even if he couldn’t be alongside his old allies physically, he could watch over them in spirit… literally.
It was at that moment that his radar sense pinged, its outlines of the area forming the friendly face that taught him the technique. “Good to know you’re back on your feet, Doc. I’m sorry we couldn’t save your eye in time.”
Doctor Stephen Strange, Sorcerer Supreme of what remained of Earth, let out a resigned huff. “A loss such as this was bound to happen eventually, Matthew. Besides, it was a fair trade for keeping the Eye of Agamotto out of Maestro’s hands.”
And wasn’t that little detail an unfortunate turn of events? The Maestro had been a mysterious force known across the western half of the world. Discovering that he was none other than the Hulk gone rogue, with Banner no longer a factor in the big green’s mind, was unsettling. Knowing of his own contributions to the world’s end made it far, far worse. Reed had warned Ross not to mess with Hulk after the discovery of the Green Doors, but doing so created a far, far worse beast, one that ultimately paid evil unto evil before moving on to civilization.
“Were you able to help our other-dimensional allies in Krakoa, old friend?” Strange asked as he sat down next to Matt.
“I was able to lead Adam Warlock to them,” Matt confirmed, “he’ll be able to help them better than us right now. How’s the new kid holding up?”
A while back, a yellow (according to Strange) mecha had strolled into the Eighth City, carrying in its arms a child with a mangled leg. The good doc had to dust off his old scalpel to help as best he could, but he ultimately had to amputate her leg. It didn’t take long for Matt to hear the banging of hammers and the whirl of a drill, and he found the young girl building a prosthetic the exact day after the surgery.
“She’s a fighter, that’s for sure,” Strange admitted, and Matt swore he heard the tiniest of chuckles, “but she needs to learn how to rest.”
“The wasteland taught us all that resting meant dying, doc. It’s gonna be hard letting go of that instinct. Did you ever get her name?”
“I did, actually. Peni Parker.”
Shit.
He knew about the deal that Peter made back when he was still alive. A deal with Mephisto meant to keep his wife and daughter alive as the world ended around them. But even he knew that a literal deal with a devil would always end in disaster, and in Peter’s case, it ended with a ruinous encounter with Maestro. Spider-Man was gone, that much Matt knew, and if his kid was the only one who made it here, then that most likely meant Mary Jane met the same fate.
A deal that ultimately meant nothing in the end. Just like the one that did his dad in.
“We’re gonna help the kid out,” Matt stated, a steely firmness in his voice, “it’s the least we can do for Peter.”
Strange nodded his head in affirmation. “Agreed. We owe him that much.”
Before anything more could be said, the distinct ring of a gong echoed out across the city, repeating thrice after the initial impact. Matt had grown increasingly familiar with that gong in the coming days, as it signaled his most important job in the Eighth City:
Judge for the trials.
He supposed it was bound to happen eventually. Someday he would hang up his law practice as a defense attorney and take up the almighty gavel. It happened sooner than expected, but the Eighth City needed a fair and proper trial system, and its people elected him to be the new judge. It was the first fair choice they had been able to make in literal centuries, and they chose to trust him with continuing that fairness.
He wasn’t going to let them down. Not now, not ever.
“I’ll check in on Peni after the trial. You make sure she’s not overexerting herself on that new leg of hers, okay?”
“No promises. She has her father’s fighting spirit.”
Matt couldn’t help but chuckle, remembering the old days of fighting alongside Spidey back in New York. “Then that means Peter lives on in her. I’ll see you in a few, Doc… and thanks again. For helping us out. All of us.”
Strange smiled warmly. “If anything, I should be thanking you for making all of this possible. Now then, the trial awaits.”
It always did, whether he was defense or judge. With a nod, Matt Murdock, the Daredevil of old and the Dizang of new, journeyed forth into his new home, ready to deliver the justice that it truly needed. It would be a long time before he’d be able to join the fight for the Entanglement, but when the call would eventually reach him, he’d be ready.