Clara's sudden sprint caught Taneleer Tivan completely off guard. He froze for a good half minute before finally reacting and ordering his subordinates to retrieve the runaway girl.
Leaning back comfortably on a chaise lounge, Tivan leisurely peeled fruit and took slow bites, perfectly at ease. He was confident they would bring Clara back soon. After all, the child was dreadfully ill-mannered—how could she run off before he'd finished speaking? Someone clearly needed to teach her proper etiquette.
Half an hour later, his subordinates returned—empty-handed.
"Where is she?" Tivan's expression darkened instantly. "You lost a child? What use are you? Keep searching. Send word throughout Knowhere—a bounty of one hundred thousand units. I want her back alive and unharmed. Understood?"
"Yes, Lord Tivan!"
One hour passed. Nothing.
Two hours passed. Still nothing.
When Tivan raised the bounty to five million, and the entirety of Knowhere was turned upside down, Clara remained nowhere to be found.
Tivan's face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. He could not comprehend how the girl had simply vanished into thin air.
Knowhere was a haven for criminals—a cesspool where murderers, smugglers, and mercenaries gathered. In a place like this, arguments quickly turned into bloodshed; knives and guns were commonplace.
Right next to Tivan's museum stood an Orloni Casino. The Orloni were carnivorous, lizard-like creatures, naturally aggressive. Exploiting that nature, the casino ran brutal betting events similar to cockfighting or dogfighting on Earth—except far more savage. The losing Orloni were often torn apart or devoured on the spot.
When Clara fled the museum, two groups of gamblers erupted into a fight right outside. Burly men tangled together in a chaotic brawl, fists flying everywhere. Clara hugged the wall, inching along carefully, terrified of being dragged into the violence.
Just as she escaped the brawl and began nervously observing the bizarre aliens around her, a blue-skinned alien with a red, fin-like mechanical implant on his head suddenly leaned toward her and roared.
Clara shrieked in terror and darted into a narrow, shadowy alley.
"Hahaha! That kid scares easy!" the alien laughed loudly. "She reminds me of Quill when he was little!"
Yondu burst into laughter at his own prank.
His lieutenant, Ravager Retch, stared at him with a headache-inducing expression. "Boss, the delivery's done. We should go."
"Yeah, yeah. Been a while since I saw that little bastard," Yondu grunted. "Hope he hasn't stirred up trouble again."
Yondu left Knowhere moments before Tivan issued the five-million bounty—completely unaware that he'd just scared off a fortune.
…..
Clara sprinted to the end of the dark alley, gasping for breath. She leaned back against the wall, desperate to rest—
—and fell straight through it.
The wall was nothing more than a projection.
She landed hard on the cold floor. Adhering to the principle of if you fall, lie there for a bit, Clara decided she was absolutely done moving.
The room was pitch-black, save for a single energy field enclosing a metallic sphere.
The moment Clara looked up and saw it, she couldn't tear her gaze away.
The sensation was unmistakable—exactly the same pull she had felt near Loki's scepter and the Tesseract.
No one stopped her.
She reached out.
Inside the metal casing lay a purple gemstone, noble, radiant, breathtakingly beautiful.
The energy field reacted instantly.
A violent shockwave blasted outward.
Unprepared, Clara was hurled across the room, slamming down in a dizzy heap.
"That's enough!" she shouted hoarsely. "Whoever's messing with me—COME OUT! Is this funny to you?!"
The endless chain of sudden transports had shattered her nerves.
Before she could even catch her breath, an icy wind cut through her clothes. She shuddered violently—
—and the dark room vanished.
All around her was ice.
"Oh no… I'm going to freeze to—death—"
Her teeth began chattering uncontrollably.
A chunk of ice fell from above.
Clara looked up.
A colossal beast with enormous fangs was tearing its way out of the frozen ground.
"No… no no no no—this isn't real!"
Driven by sheer terror, Clara ran across the ice plain. The monstrous creature roared and gave chase, shattering ice beneath its weight.
Her screams awakened the Frost Giants dwelling in the frozen wastes. They watched as the frost beast pursued a human child—but made no move to help. To them, it was mere entertainment.
Ahead lay a bottomless abyss.
Clara scrambled desperately, claws of panic digging into the slick ice to avoid slipping—but the frost beast did not stop.
Girl and monster plunged together into the void.
Clara screamed—
—and swallowed a mouthful of water.
She and the beast crashed into the ocean.
Crystal-clear water surrounded her, vibrant schools of fish darting past. Visibility was so perfect it felt no different from land.
From the depths emerged a massive creature, dinosaur-like in shape. Jagged teeth bared—it was no hunter of small prey.
Its target was the frost beast.
A feast from the heavens.
Caught in the chaos, Clara was struck by something—perhaps a tail—and flung upward. She burst through the surface, gulped a desperate breath of air—
—and vanished again.
-----
On a desolate planet no human would ever willingly visit, an elderly man with snow-white hair—but bright, lively eyes—was playing chess with a bald-headed Watcher, whose skull was absurdly oversized.
A scream echoed from the sky behind them.
The old man turned. "Oh! That girl again! I still have fifty dollars she owes me. She should be on Earth—shouldn't she?"
"The Convergence of the Nine Realms is approaching," the Watcher replied calmly. "As celestial bodies align, spatial fluctuations increase across the universe—especially around high-energy clusters."
"She looks like she could use some help," the old man said, pointing as Clara fell through the sky again before vanishing.
"We are Watchers," came the serene response. "We observe. We do not interfere. Her fate is already set—where she will land is predetermined."
The Watcher studied the board. "Your move."
"Oh… right. Where was I?" the old man muttered.
-----
Asgard. The Realm Eternal.
The Bifrost, once destroyed by Thor, had been fully rebuilt. Heimdall, ever-vigilant, stood watch at its entrance, his gaze sweeping across the Nine Realms.
As he observed the approaching cosmic convergence, Heimdall detected something wrong.
Spatial distortions were appearing—and disappearing—far too frequently.
This was not natural.
In a flash, Heimdall sprinted forward.
As a final wormhole spat Clara out like a tossed ball, Heimdall lunged—
—and caught her midair.
She was a mess.
Seaweed tangled in her hair. Mud and leaves smeared her clothes. Blood streaked her face. She looked like a child pulled straight from a ditch.
"Are you all right?" Heimdall asked gently.
That single question shattered her last defense.
Clara's nose twitched. Her mouth trembled.
She burst into tears.
Heimdall said nothing more. He understood—after all she had endured, the child needed to cry. As her sobs echoed, ripples of spatial energy flared around the Bifrost, only calming once her cries finally subsided.
"Can you walk?" Heimdall asked softly.
"I… I'm not going… anywhere…"
She was truly terrified now. Standing still felt safer than taking even one more step. And in truth—her legs had completely given out.
When Heimdall tried to help her up, he realized she was utterly exhausted.
Without hesitation, he bent down and lifted her onto his back, heedless of the dirt and grime, and carried her toward the golden palace of Asgard.
--------------
T/N:
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