A YJA Moment - The New Gods and the Crisis

In a timeline long since erased, the godwave had created a Fourth World very much as our own.  In that domain were the forces of order, the New Gods, and the forces of chaos, the residents of Apokalips.  Although the Lord of Apokalips, Darkseid, attempted to conquer all of reality, he was always stopped by the New Gods and their leader Highfather.

In that timeline's future, Darkseid made contact with the time travelers Chronos, Per Degaton, and the Time Trapper.  It's unclear how they came into his attention but whatever they did greatly angered the Lord of Apocalips.  After disabling their technology with his Omega Beams, his Parademons swiftly overwhelmed the chrononauts and subdued them.

After days of agony in the Torture Pits of Apokalips, the trio were dragged before his throne of Darkseid to be executed.  Per Degaton pleaded for mercy but Darkseid toyed with them, asking what they could possibly offer in exchange for their lives.

So Per Degaton told him.  The words spoken between them would never be known but Darkseid had them released immediately. 

In the far past, just after the godwave created the Fourth World, the form of the planet of New Genesis was stabilizing.  A Hellseed suddenly appeared, planted underneath the capital of Celestial City.  The resulting Firepit engulfed the City and all the New Gods which dwelled within.

Time forever changed.  Without the New Gods, no one was there to challenge Darkseid, allowing his forces to infiltrate the cosmos.  In the cosmological realm, the essences of the slain New Gods were too nescient to transition to the afterlife, coalescing into jewel-like ingots known as the Infinity Stones.

And the force-which-cannot-be, the Anti-Life Equation, began to seep into reality.
The Universe is in an imbalance but the end has not come.  For though there have been accidental avatars of the Anti-Life Equation, the individual who could wield its full power, Darkseid himself, is unable to access it.  He still searches the Known and Unknown Universe to seeking his goal to supplant reality with his own.

Yet Per Degaton knew how this story ends.  His last words spoken as Rip Hunter twisted the blade in his stomach declared the terrible truth.  That Darkseid does not access the Anti-Life because he has not realized his power and his role.  For deep within the God of Apocalypse lies the Seventh Stone, the Entropy Stone.  And by harnessing the power of Entropy, Darkseid will have the power to tear down the barriers and turn the universe into one of servitude and slavery.

Its a future Rip Hunter gave his life to rewrite.