Solomon in Marvel

With Lara Croft's help, Solomon secured the riverside estate in Oxfordshire for a mere 15 million pounds, completing all the necessary paperwork. However, even after the ownership transfer, the estate wasn't immediately move-in ready. He needed to hire professionals for a thorough cleaning—ideally to the point of a "just bring your bags and move in" standard—since the furniture was still in decent condition.

The previous owner had only performed basic maintenance, allowing weeds to overgrow and small wild animals to roam freely across the property. The company Solomon hired for the cleanup was also recommended by Lara Croft. The Croft family had used the same service for another one of their estates, and Lara occasionally had her butler hire them for garden maintenance.

Solomon specifically chose an estate with a stable so that Pegasus could run freely, and the witches could have space to ride motorcycles. This meant he also needed to spend extra on road repairs—both the M4 and A40 highways provided direct routes from Oxfordshire to London in just an hour. The witches would sometimes drive to London for shopping, and Solomon knew a Middle Eastern jewelry designer in the city who could offer them the best service.

Just storing all the motorcycles Bayonetta had purchased required Solomon to find two more garages in New York. That wasn't even considering the planned renovations to his apartment—turning one room into a yoga studio and another into a walk-in closet. Even Cheshire Cat didn't have a proper little room of its own.

[Cheshire Cat does have its own bed, but it prefers cardboard boxes. As for scratching posts—nothing beats the sofa.]

Because of this, everyone in the apartment supported the move. By the time Solomon's birthday banquet was over, they would be ready to relocate.

"You're leaving New York? Moving to Oxfordshire? You're abandoning New York pizza?"

Tony Stark was visibly shocked when he received the news.

"Before or after your birthday, man?" he asked. "Look, I feel bad that your birthday falls on Christmas, but I still got you a gift. I know you don't celebrate Christmas, so let's just call it a birthday present, alright?"

"No problem. You weren't invited to the party anyway," Solomon said with a smile. "It's a magical gathering."

"Ouch! That stings," Stark clutched his chest in mock agony. "If I still had shrapnel in there, you might've just killed me."

"Sir, do you still have shrapnel that needs removal?" J.A.R.V.I.S. asked. "Shall I schedule another surgery?"

"It's a figure of speech! I really need to update your vocabulary and logical inference algorithms." Stark rolled his eyes. "The deep-learning chips were my own design. I could give you a few if you need them—maybe even install a graphics card for you."

After that rant, Stark beckoned Solomon to follow him into the garage, where he unveiled his latest purchase—a snowmobile.

"I made a few modifications." Stark winked. "By my… somewhat loose calculations, it can hit 100 km/h in five seconds. Pepper and I are heading to South America for vacation, so I won't be using this. I figured it'd perform better in the Scottish Highlands."

"My estate is in Oxfordshire, not Scotland."

"Eh, close enough," Stark dismissed the detail without a care. "Even though you won't let me crash your birthday party, you are invited to my wedding."

"Wait, what? When?"

Now that surprised Solomon—he had no idea when Pepper Potts and Stark were planning to tie the knot. He even suspected that it was his comment about Stark having a daughter in the future that had pushed him toward this decision.

"Well, that depends on what you say," Stark admitted, looking slightly nervous. "I just think… if I mistime the wedding, maybe Pepper won't give birth to that daughter."

He hesitated before continuing, "You know I don't really believe in fate or prophecy… but I do kinda like the idea of having a daughter. You get what I mean?"

"Let things unfold naturally, Stark. Fate is a strange thing—some events are inevitable, no matter what you do. All you can do is accept them and figure out what can be changed."

"Did you come up with that yourself?"

"No, my teacher told me." Solomon shook his head. "I know it sounds a bit fatalistic, but the multiverse is real. Anything can happen. What I saw was just one possibility from the multiverse. Whether it actually happens to you—I can't say for sure. But it is a possibility."

"So what's the statistical probability?"

"I have no idea. The multiverse is infinite. New ones are born every second, while others collapse. Within this endless expanse, some events have a 100% probability of occurring. The way these random events combine can create entirely new universes."

"So, it's like LEGO?"

"Yes. The difference between two LEGO structures might just be the color of a single brick, but that's enough to create a new universe."

"What about my daughter, then?"

"I don't know." Solomon shrugged. "I'm not an omniscient god. If you really want an answer, you'd have to ask this universe's abstract entities. But meeting one of them comes at a steep price. Their enforcers—the Celestials—are essentially true gods of the physical universe. They're not something humans can stand against."

"What about Asgard, then?"

Hearing all these cosmic secrets, Stark's curiosity flared.

"Could Asgardians fight those… gods?"

"The All-Father once united all the gods of Earth to resist the Celestials' invasion," Solomon explained. "Even with that combined might, they only barely managed to fight them to a standstill."

"That's one of the reasons the gods left Earth—partly because of the Celestials, and partly because of Kamar-Taj. The first Sorcerer Supreme had dealings with this universe's abstract entities, which is how the title Sorcerer Supreme came to be. I wouldn't say the Celestials helped humanity drive out the gods, because to them, humans are just an experiment."

"Holy shit."

"You once speculated that even Christ might have to submit to the cosmic order. I can't confirm that, because Heaven is full of secrets." Solomon narrowed his eyes, his expression turning sinister. "My teacher told me that some layers of Heaven have been sealed by Metatron. No one knows what Heaven is really planning."

"So, basically, everything beyond Earth is terrifying?"

Stark frowned, his good mood suddenly soured.

"Why do you always have bad news for me? You do this on purpose, don't you?"

"I'm just stating facts," the magus replied. "Humans are a very insignificant species. Now you can understand why the Ancient One chose to keep magic hidden. If people knew that Heaven actually existed, science and technology wouldn't have developed—everyone would've just flocked to churches, reading scripture, with all knowledge controlled by the clergy."

"Don't tell me things are good now. Even after S.H.I.E.L.D. revealed that Asgardians are just aliens, you still have people worshipping Thor, even welcoming Asgardian rule over Earth. You, too, are worshipped by some people, Stark. The weak need something to believe in. For some, the Avengers are their spiritual pillar."

"Are you calling me out?"

"I'm merely pointing out humanity's inherent flaws through its smartest member." Solomon smirked. "Having a belief system isn't bad, but subjugating yourself to extradimensional beings is just stupid."

"Killing extradimensional entities and ensuring humanity's independence is one of Kamar-Taj's primary missions. So yes, Stark—you are important. You're one of the few barriers standing between Earth and the cosmic horrors beyond."

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