Marvel : Omniversal Clones

The primitive Earth, filled with towering trees and dangerous predators, was also host to the ancestors of humanity. 

The Homo erectus, the species that would evolve to become Homo sapiens in a million years, represented the pre-evolutionary forms of modern humans. 

One such tribe of wanderers was dwelling in one of the ancient jungles of Earth. 

The Homo erectus resembled apes in form, using their lower limbs for walking and upper limbs for delicate tool-making. 

The tribe of primitive men was going on with its daily life, unknown to them that Earth had welcomed visitors from outer space. 

Outside the orbit of Earth, floating in space, stood four towering giants larger than the planet. 

The arrival of the cosmic gods turned day into night in an instant, due to the shadows cast by their giant bodies. 

The disappearance of the sun caused panic among the tribe of Homo erectus. Before they could make sense of the situation, the members of the tribe took off from the ground and floated toward the sky. 

Four Celestials hovered around Earth, dwarfing the planet. A massive structure materialized out of the vacuum. 

The tribes of Homo erectus and other varying species entered the massive structure through an opening and disappeared into the giant futuristic ship. 

The Celestials are ancient gods that seed planets with life; they protect the balance of the universe. 

The Celestials were on one such mission of protecting the balance of the universe. 

Gamon the Gatherer collected a plethora of specimens; the other Celestials were tasked with other roles. 

In the halls of the ship, the different species that were captured were suspended in animation. 

The three Celestials experimented on the species, altering their biology in different ways. 

Ziran the Tester finished his modification of the species first. The group of Homo erectus Ziran worked on turned into green beasts with different appearances. 

Right after, Nezzar the Calculator finished his experimentation. The species of Homo erectus were transformed drastically from their previous forms; their bodies were sculpted to perfection, with cosmic energy flowing through their veins. 

Finally, Oneg the Prober completed his alteration of the species of Earth. The species he worked on didn't look much different than before, but his alterations imbued the species with potential that may be realized in the far future. 

The biological alteration of the species by the three Celestials gave birth to three distinct branches of Homo erectus: the Deviants (Homo descendus), Eternals (Homo immortalis), and Mutants (Homo superior), respectively. 

The Celestials released the beastly Deviants, intelligent Eternals, and the primitive humans back to Earth and disappeared into thin air. 

The tribe of Homo erectus, who were in a state of panic—flying in the sky one moment and unconscious the next—calmed down after being back in their usual habitat. 

The simple minds of the Homo erectus forgot the whole incident and carried on with their usual lives of hunting and foraging. 

But this momentary peace was disturbed by a small group of newly created Deviants who attacked the tribe. 

The Deviants, who were far superior in strength and size compared to Homo erectus, overcame the disadvantage of small numbers and killed the group of ape-men who defended the tribe. 

All the effort of the Homo erectus could only reduce the number of Deviants by one. 

The Deviants left none of the tribe alive; the place where the tribe lived was covered with mangled corpses, limbs, stone tools, and fur. 

Among the corpses was one female Homo erectus, lying dead with a bulging stomach, pregnant with an unborn baby. 

The primitive human baby lay curled up in the placenta; the death of the mother cut off the supply of nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. 

If one could see the shape of souls, one would find, upon observing the fetus, a creature that resembled nothing like an ape. It looked like a mangled flesh of human, stitched together into a hodgepodge of a soul monstrosity. 

Adjacent to the material world, in the astral world, a purple spectral being was fighting with the soul of the ape fetus for domination of its physical body. 

The purple spectral beings are Mummudrai. A Mummudrai is born alongside every living being without any physical form. They fight their twin for dominance of the body; most of the Mummudrai die in this battle or are cast into the pits of the psychic underworld. 

But a few Mummudrai who are powerful enough to possess the mind of their twin are reborn anew. 

One such Mummudrai was fighting the mangled soul of the dying fetus; the Mummudrai resembled the fetus in its physical form. This battle between the soul of the ape and Mummudrai continued for a while. 

Adam's Perspective 

"How long will I be stuck in this darkness? Can I ever wake up and see the world, feel the sun shining on my face?" questioned Adam. 

Adam was struck in the endless darkness for who knows how long. The huge amount of time blurred his memories. He was stuck with only the awareness of his own thoughts. 

With no other soul to talk to, Adam spent most of the time in bouts of mad ravings, with an occasional short period of clarity. Now was one such period of clarity. 

This agony was a new sensation, an unpleasant sensation, a new sensation nonetheless. Oblivious, the source of the agony was the Mummudrai that was attacking his soul. 

In the physical world, the Mummudrai took the upper hand in the battle with Adam's mangled soul. The physical body of Adam, the ape fetus, was close to death as the last of the oxygen from the bloodstream of the mother was running out. 

The corpse of the mother Homo erectus was strewn across the grass, for the scavengers of the forest to consume. 

The heartbeat of the fetus slowed down and came to a halt; the Mummudrai won the fight with Adam's soul and took control of the body. 

Adam's consciousness sank into the endless depths of the unknown, moments before the Mummudrai could dominate his mind.