[A/N]: The second goal for this week is 400 PowerStones. Comment, vote, and share if you're enjoying the chapter.
Jay materialized back in Kamar-Taj's ritual chamber to find the Ancient One sitting in meditation. Her eyes opened the moment he arrived, and the faintest smile crossed her face.
"Please tell me you didn't antagonize Odin too much."
Jay grinned, pulling out Tether from his pocket. The silver Uru band gleamed even in the dim chamber light. "Master, please have some belief in me! I even made a friend. Look, this was made by Eitri, the King of Dwarves himself. He named it Tether."
The Ancient One took the band carefully, examining it with the practiced eye of someone who'd seen countless mystical artifacts across her centuries of life. Her fingers traced the runes etched along its surface. Then she paused, and her expression shifted from casual interest to something more knowing. Almost amused.
"This looks more like a proposal ring than a weapon fit for a king." She held it up to the light, reading the binding vow aloud. "Whosoever I bind to this band, if they face mortal danger and I cannot reach them in time, bring them to safety. Protect them from harm. Return them to me whole. Let my love be the anchor. Let my will be the shield. Let this band be the tether that ensures no one I cherish will ever be beyond my reach when they need me most."
She turned to Jay, one eyebrow raised. "This sounds more like a proposal than a weapon. Am I reading this correctly, my student?"
Jay's face turned bright red. The color spread from his neck to his ears, impossible to hide. He coughed, looked away, and desperately tried to change the subject.
"Will this be enough to channel the Space Stone's energy?"
The Ancient One's smile widened, but she mercifully let it drop. "Never doubt the quality of a dwarf's craftsmanship, much less their king's. This will do perfectly."
She moved to a corner of the chamber and produced a metal box. The container was simple, unadorned, but Jay could feel the power radiating from within even before she opened it. When the lid lifted, the Space Stone sat nestled in protective cushioning, thrumming with barely contained cosmic energy. Blue light pulsed from its core in rhythm with something vast and incomprehensible.
Jay took the stone carefully, wrapping his hand in a thick layer of his reality warping. Black energy speckled with stars coated his palm like a glove. Even through that protection, he felt the burn of raw power. The Stone fought containment, spatial energy trying to tear free, to warp and fold and reshape everything around it.
It reminded him just how strong Franklin's powers had been. How easily the baby's cosmic reality warping had let him handle these kinds of forces without breaking a sweat.
He slotted the Space Stone into the empty bezel at Tether's center.
Tremendous energy lashed out immediately. The ritual chamber's walls cracked as reality itself buckled. Space stone tried to tear free, unwilling to be bound, unwilling to accept limitation. The Stone's power exploded outward in waves that made the air scream.
But the runes on Tether blazed to life.
Rainbow energy erupted from the band. Lines of light, each one a different color, representing Tether's connection to the Bifrost itself. The dwarf-forged Uru had been made to channel that power, and now it activated fully. Streams of rainbow light lashed out like living things, wrapping around the Space Stone, containing its fury, binding it through sheer force of will and craftsmanship.
The chamber filled with light. Blinding, rainbow-hued brilliance that made both Jay and the Ancient One shield their eyes.
Then, slowly, the light calmed.
When their vision cleared, Tether had transformed completely.
What had been a simple silver band was now the most beautiful ring either of them had ever seen. Pure silver with rainbow light flowing through etched lines like rivers of liquid color. The Space Stone sat in the center, a blue gem containing entire galaxies. Stars swirled in its depths, visible even to the naked eye. And along the band's surface, the binding vow glowed with soft golden light.
Love and protection made manifest in metal and magic and cosmic power.
The Ancient One closed her eyes, her smile soft and knowing. "She's a lucky one, isn't she?"
Jay could only smile, feeling his face heat up again. But he reached for the ring quickly. The moment his fingers touched it, Tether recognized him, and the rainbow light show calmed immediately, though the ring's beauty remained undiminished. It pulsed with contained power, waiting to be used.
"Well then," the Ancient One said, standing. "When do we begin?"
Jay opened his mouth. "I think there's no time better than now..."
His phone rang.
The sound cut through the moment like a knife. Jay pulled it out, irritation clear on his face. The caller ID showed Fury's encrypted line.
"Now what?" Jay answered, not bothering to hide his annoyance.
Fury's voice came through calm and professional. "It's time. We're all prepared and about to move out. Just wanted to inform you to be ready in case something goes way off."
Jay's mind raced. The timing was suspicious. Just as he was about to enter Gaea's domain, Fury decides to launch his Hydra raid? That couldn't be coincidence.
"Hold on a second," Jay said, putting Fury on hold before the director could protest.
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