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A dead-silent realm of absolute darkness.
Suddenly, a crimson dimension tore through the void—a space that seemed to writhe with a life of its own, pulsing like a river of blood.
Jane Foster, who had been yanked inside without warning, was just as abruptly thrown forward, stumbling blindly into the unknown.
Right in front of her was a bottomless cliff.
Terror flared in Jane's eyes.
The next second, a hand clamped down on her shoulder, stopping her cold just as her foot stepped out over the edge.
"Careful."
"..."
Jane spun around, her eyes wide with fear as she saw Hawk. She instinctively scrambled backward.
And then, with a terrified shriek, her right foot found only empty air. Hawk shot his hand out again, grabbing her arm and hauling her back from the abyss a second time.
Hawk was speechless. "Again, be careful. I've saved you twice. I'm not doing it a third time."
Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, but three times is a choice. If Jane Foster tried for a hat-trick, he was letting her fall. He couldn't save someone who was determined to die.
With that, Hawk turned away from her, his attention focused on their new surroundings. He followed a narrow stone path to a large, open platform.
The platform seemed to exist in a state of zero gravity.
Countless massive, shattered black monoliths floated in the void, hanging upside down in every direction.
But the thing that truly captured Hawk's attention was in the distance: the shattered remains of a colossal, inverted Gothic cathedral.
The ruin itself wasn't the focus.
It was the black, geometric device suspended at the cathedral's base, radiating an aura of profound, ancient malice.
Within the device, a viscous, blood-like liquid swirled and pulsed.
The Reality Stone.
Also known as—
The Aether.
Of the six Infinity Stones, five were solid gems. Only the Reality Stone existed in this strange, fluid state.
But that didn't matter. What mattered was that the Reality Stone was the Aether, and the Aether was the Reality Stone.
That was enough.
Hawk's eyes locked onto the prize and started walking toward it.
CRACKLE!
Arcs of raw energy began to writhe across the surface of the strange device. A thick, writhing tendril of lightning shot out, aimed directly at Hawk.
He raised an eyebrow, and his figure blurred, vanishing from the spot.
BOOOOM!!!
The lightning bolt tore through the afterimage he'd left behind and slammed into a massive stone monolith, which instantly disintegrated into fine dust. Not a single pebble remained.
The device was now alive with a storm of silver serpents, arcs of electricity dancing wildly across its surface.
In an instant, the entire sealed dimension was illuminated by the strobing, silver light. The storm of energy gathered itself into a torrential downpour and unleashed hell, blanketing the area where Hawk stood.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
What the hell is going on?
Hawk weaved through the air, dodging the bolts of energy that his instincts screamed would do serious damage.
This didn't happen to Jane Foster in the movie...
His mind raced. He thought for a moment, then, after dodging another volley, he retreated to his original position near Jane.
As he moved back, the storm of lightning subsided, the arcs of energy receding back into the geometric device.
Knew it.
It was just as he'd thought.
It wasn't that Jane Foster had found the Aether. It was that the Aether had found her.
The reason was simple.
The Aether needed Jane to escape its prison.
And why only Jane?
Because she was Thor's girlfriend. She carried the scent of Asgard, the scent of Odin's bloodline.
Long ago, when Thor's grandfather, Bor, was the All-Father of Asgard, the Aether had been in the hands of the Dark Elves.
Bor had defeated them and taken the Aether, intending to destroy it.
But…
If an Infinity Stone could be destroyed, it wouldn't be called an Infinity Stone.
So Bor had settled for the next best thing. He had built this device to seal it away for eternity. And since the device was built by Thor's grandfather, its targeting system was… selective.
Jane Foster was the girlfriend of Bor's grandson.
From a certain point of view, if Thor had his way, she would one day be the Queen of Asgard. So, the device recognized her as an ally.
As for everyone else??
Kill them.
Right now, there was no way for him to get near the device. This thing was built by the All-Father of Asgard in his prime. Hawk needed the Aether, Bor had sealed it. The difference in their power levels was laughable.
Hawk stared at the now-calm device, his mind racing.
Just then, Jane's voice cut through the silence.
"Who are you?"
"Where are we?"
She had finally recovered from the initial shock, her eyes now fixed on the strange, crackling device that hummed with a power she vaguely recognized. She looked at Hawk.
She had been terrified at first, but now, she was calm. It was clear that this man meant her no harm.
After all, based on the speed he'd just displayed, if he had wanted to hurt her, she would already be dead.
Hawk heard her voice and glanced at her, then his gaze returned to the sealing device.
"Hello?" Jane frowned.
"Hold on. I'm thinking about whether I should tell you the truth, or just make something up."
"..."
A muscle in Jane's jaw twitched.
Hawk turned to face her.
Jane looked from his deadpan face to the bizarre, silent landscape around them and took a deep breath. "Where are we?"
Hawk shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Is that the lie?"
"No, that's the truth."
He shook his head again. "My best guess is that we're in one of the Nine Realms. Svartalfheim."
He was trying to remember the movie.
It seemed that after Bor had captured the Aether, he had sealed it away in Svartalfheim.
But he wasn't sure.
This was reality, not a movie. Svartalfheim was the home of the Dark Elves. Logically, it made no sense to imprison the very thing you had just taken from them on their own planet.
That didn't make any sense.
Jane's eyes widened. "The Dark Elves?"
Hawk turned to her, a slow smile spreading across his face. "I almost forgot. Thor gave you the beginner's course on the Nine Realms when he was on Earth."
At the mention of Thor's name, Jane's expression became animated.
"You know Thor?"
"Nope."
"..."
Jane's face froze. She closed her eyes, took a deep, steadying breath, and fought back the urge to scream a string of curses at him.
This place was too strange.
And while she didn't think this man was a threat…
What if he was?
Hawk just chuckled. "That's also the truth. I know of Thor. But I've never met him."
Jane composed herself and opened her eyes. She said nothing, her gaze following his to the geometric device, which still hummed with the familiar energy of Thor's lightning.
She saw the swirling, malevolent liquid inside it, the thing that looked like living, viscous blood.
She looked back at Hawk. "You want the thing inside that device, don't you?"
Again, she wasn't an idiot. You don't get a Ph.D. in astrophysics by being slow on the uptake.
Hawk didn't look at her. His eyes were fixed on the Aether. He nodded.
"I do. But with Bor's seal on it, I can't get to it."
"Bor?"
"Thor's grandfather."
"..." Jane drew in a sharp breath. Her eyes darted back to the device. "You're saying Thor's grandfather built that thing? No wonder the lightning felt so familiar."
Hawk said nothing.
Jane frowned again. "So… you want this thing, and I don't. Can you please send me back now?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I followed you to get in here." Hawk laughed and finally looked at her. "You didn't think I was the one who brought you here, did you?"
Jane's brow furrowed.
"Then…"
"Look—" Hawk pointed at the sealed Aether. "That thing dragged you in. It wants you to help it escape. And I want to get my hands on it. So, the truth is, I'm only here because of you."
"Me?"
Jane pointed at herself.
"Why?"
"Because you're Thor's girlfriend."
Hawk shrugged. "You're the only one who can get close to that thing without being vaporized. Because his grandfather built it."
Jane thought back to the storm of lightning that had just been unleashed on Hawk. A corner of her mouth twitched.
"Are you serious?"
"Don't believe me? Go on. Try it yourself."
"Fine, I will."
"..."
...
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