(TL NOTE: I have just decided to use both Wizard King and Witch King for MC.)
Thor watched in awe as a silver-white mist emerged from Jane's body, swirling around her sleeping form until it coalesced into a translucent, glowing figure. It was Jane's soul, drawn from her physical body. She stared blankly at her own sleeping form, feeling lost, helpless, and utterly disoriented by the impossible experience.
Before Thor could voice another question, John produced a small vial from his pocket. Inside, a liquid glowed with a soft, silvery-white light. "Give her this."
Thor uncorked the vial and carefully poured the liquid into the mouth of Jane's physical body. A moment later, her ethereal, translucent soul stabilized, its form becoming more solid and defined.
John then raised his right hand, and the silver ring on his finger flared, sending intricate metallic patterns spreading across his arm. He produced one of the scroll-like extractors and sent it hovering above Jane's body. The device emitted a low hum, generating a powerful suction that levitated her physical form off the bed.
From her soul's perspective, watching her own treatment was a miraculous and terrifying ordeal. Like a crimson tide, the dark red Aether began to flow from the mouth and nose of her sleeping form. Suddenly, Jane cried out, a silent scream tearing from her spiritual form as she felt an agonizing pull. Tendrils of the Aether had latched onto her very soul.
In response, John raised his right hand, and tens of thousands of shimmering silver threads shot from his fingertips, piercing the Aether clinging to her spirit. The threads began to sever the connection, a sensation like thousands of insects gnawing at her very being.
"Jane!" Thor cried out, anxious but powerless to intervene.
John produced a second extractor, aiming it at Jane's soul to siphon off the parasitic energy. It drew out the last vestiges of the Aether, which converged into a roiling sphere of intertwined silver and crimson. Using the energy from her soul as a lure, John amplified the first extractor's power, pulling the main mass of Aether from Jane's body. The gem on his ring flared with power. The Aether, sensing a force of the same cosmic origin, surged violently into the container.
The extractor swelled, vibrating dangerously as it filled.
"It's going to explode," John said, his voice grim. "It seems two extractors are not enough to completely contain it."
He glanced at Jane's physical form; her skin had taken on a deathly pallor as the Aether was stripped away. If she hadn't taken the healing capsule, she would be no different from a corpse by now.
John turned to Thor. "If something goes wrong, how long will it take Odin to get here?"
"Father?" Thor thought for a moment. "About ten minutes."
"That's enough." With his answer, John flicked his wand, sending the two dangerously swollen extractors flying into Thor's arms. In the same motion, he thrust his hands forward. As the remaining Aether began to seep from Jane's body, a deep blue, ornate casket materialized in his hands.
"The Casket of Ancient Winters?" Thor gasped, having no time to process his shock. He watched as John unleashed the Casket's power, engulfing Jane's body and the escaping Aether in a current of absolute cold, freezing them solid in an instant.
The moment John used the Casket, two individuals in Asgard sensed its power.
One was Odin.
The other was Loki, imprisoned deep within the dungeons. His eyes snapped open. A flicker of uncertainty crossed his features as he looked down at his own palm, where a faint blue light was beginning to glow. The Casket of Ancient Winters… here in Asgard? Loki's pupils constricted. Had the Frost Giants invaded?
Odin arrived moments later, his fury palpable, flanked by his royal guard. He threw open the chamber doors to find John calmly putting away the Casket. John crushed a residual shard of ice in his palm, the gesture casual and defiant.
Odin stared at Jane, who was now encased in ice like a sculpture. "Thor," he said, his voice a low growl. "What has happened here?"
Thor hesitated. "We were treating Jane, Father."
Beneath the ice, the restless Aether stirred. A flicker of understanding crossed Odin's face, but his expression remained hard. He pressed no further, let out a cold snort, and departed with his guards.
As soon as he was gone, Thor rushed to the frozen figure. "How is she?"
John waved his wand, pulling Jane's soul closer. "The Aether within her has been split into three parts. The fragments will naturally try to reunite, but the ice will temporarily keep them isolated."
"What do we do now?" Thor asked, his questions tumbling out.
John gestured to the two extractors Thor was holding, then glanced at the Aether trapped beneath the ice. "Does Asgard... have a cauldron?"
A cauldron? It was a strange request, but Asgard, after all, had its own system of magic. Thor's mother, Frigga, had been raised by witches. He returned shortly with a large, slightly aged cauldron from his mother's chambers. John noted its age; for Asgardians who lived for millennia, "slightly aged" could mean centuries old.
He extended his wand beneath the cauldron, and golden flames ignited. He tossed a few rare ingredients from his pocket into the pot, and the water within quickly turned an inky black.
John had Thor hold the cauldron steady while he stood to the side, his wand aimed at the frozen Jane.
"This won't shatter me, will it?" Jane's soul-form asked Thor worriedly.
Thor hesitated. "We have to trust John."
With a sharp downward motion of John's wand, the ice layer around Jane's body suddenly exploded. The opening became an outlet for the Aether, which vented outward in a crimson cloud. John raised his wand and pointed it at the cauldron. The black liquid inside shot out, forming a large sphere of water that enveloped the escaping Aether, trapping it in a magical prison. With a gesture of his right hand, he forced the captured Aether into the cauldron.
Golden flames flared, enveloping the pot. As the Aether spun restlessly within, John stirred the mixture with his wand, chanting in an ancient, obscure tongue—a language that seemed to resonate with the Aether, making it heed the call of a new master.
Thor's expression tightened. It was the language of the Elves.
The liquid in the cauldron gradually cleared, then slowly turned a deep, dark red. John took out a brilliant, supercharged magic crystal and tossed it in. The magic made contact with the Aether, and the two energies began to fuse. The Aether, with its ability to manipulate reality, was not so different from magic itself, and the fusion was smoother than John had anticipated. Finally, John dripped a single drop of his own blood into the mixture.
A new, scarlet gem began to form within the swirling liquid, coalescing from the raw power. The restless energy was condensed and stabilized as John used the Casket of Ancient Winters one last time to cool the creation. Thor witnessed the entire process, staring at the birth of the gem.
A flicker of something unusual crossed John's eyes. This was the first time he had forged an Infinity Stone from its raw, chaotic form. He quietly put the new gem away.
He glanced at the still-frozen Jane and squeezed her hand. The ice layer shattered into a thousand pieces. Jane's soul flowed back into her body, which was now merely cold and weak, but free.
"Jane, how are you feeling?" Thor rushed to her side, his voice full of concern.
"She needs rest," John said, setting down a bottle containing a familiar silver-white potion. "Have her drink this tomorrow."
"Thank you, John," Thor said, his gratitude sincere.
John waved a hand dismissively. He glanced at the two extractors, still swollen to the point of bursting, and mused, "Does Asgard have any other containers?" The ones he had crafted were still limited by their materials.
The fact that the Aether had been divided into three parts was a secret known only to those present. He wondered if Thanos, when he finally assembled his gauntlet, would find that the snap simply didn't work. The thought of that scene brought a faint chuckle to his lips, leaving Thor puzzled.
Then, he remembered something else. The Tesseract—the Cosmic Cube—was also here in Asgard. John's eyes narrowed. Should he take this opportunity to collect the fourth gem as well?
He did not, however, encounter the gem first. He encountered another person.
A child raised by a witch.
Thor's mother, the Queen of Asgard.
Frigga.
[Chapter Complete]
***
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