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Aether.
Thor had called it that in the second film, but its true name was the Reality Stone— one of the six Infinity Stones.
Arthur was momentarily speechless. If he could acquire the Aether, he would possess three of the six Infinity Stones.
Could he find a dwarf from Nidavellir to forge an Infinity Gauntlet? With three Infinity Stones embedded in it, its power would be formidable enough to overwhelm most forces in the universe.
"But no matter how powerful the Infinity Gauntlet is, it can still be taken. Thanos could not be stopped because of Star-Lord's impulsiveness, preventing him from losing the Gauntlet entirely. I can't count on that kind of luck."
Arthur shook his head. Simply put, some things aren't truly yours— possessing them only makes you a target. However, if he could fully integrate their power into his own being, the situation would be entirely different.
Moreover, the Aether felt different from the Tesseract and the Power Stone he had encountered before.
It radiated a sense of chaos and instability.
Following his instincts, locating the Aether wasn't particularly difficult.
Especially in the building before him, where spatial distortions were rampant. Though invisible to the naked eye, the connection to other dimensions here was incredibly strong.
Arthur pinpointed a spatial fracture emitting the strongest resonance and stepped through it.
In an instant, he found himself in a different realm.
Black monolithic stones were scattered across a vast expanse, surrounded by a dark red, infinite cosmos.
He stood atop a massive, slowly rotating stone, and as it tilted beneath him, he felt an eerie sense of imbalance.
"It's not a planet, yet it has gravity." Arthur surveyed his surroundings. "And there's even oxygen… Is this the Dark World from the film?"
His connection to the Eye of Horus had been completely severed.
With a thought, Arthur summoned another Eye of Horus. After scanning the area, he finally spotted a platform at the center of the floating stones.
On that platform, nestled between two colossal slabs that didn't quite align, dark red energy pulsed and swirled.
''Aether.''
Arthur took a deep breath, spread the wings of the Raven God, and soared toward it.
However, midway there, he caught sight of an unexpected figure through the Eye of Horus.
"Jane?!" Arthur's expression darkened instantly. "This woman…!"
How was it that she had ended up at the center while he was still on the outskirts? That made no sense.
"This is just… illogical!"
Not everything in this universe could be explained by science. By the time Arthur landed on the platform, the Aether had already disappeared. Jane lay unconscious, but a familiar dark red energy pulsed faintly from within her.
Arthur crouched beside her, momentarily at a loss.
According to her, Thor had stopped contacting her a year ago. In her search for answers, she had inadvertently stumbled into this situation— becoming the vessel for the Aether, just as she had in the film.
However, none of that mattered to Arthur right now. What mattered was how to handle this situation.
He wanted to call for backup, but there was no way a signal would reach here. Even Stark's best communication tech wouldn't function in a realm like this.
After a moment of hesitation, Arthur reached out and placed his hand on Jane's forehead.
Instantly, a surge of energy erupted, and in a flash of dark red light, a golden glow flickered across Arthur's body. The energy dissipated harmlessly around him.
Only Jane's body continued to pulse with dark red light before she finally settled into an eerie calm.
"That was… intense."
Arthur frowned. He wasn't an expert in this field. He had no idea how to extract the Aether from someone else's body.
Malekith, the Dark Elf leader, had done it effortlessly in the film.
"Then again, he spent five thousand years studying the Aether. It makes sense that he mastered the process."
Arthur sat down, feeling uncharacteristically lost.
He had the distinct impression that he had arrived too late.
He had set off the night before, but a reckless driver had thrown him off course. In hindsight, simply dumping that driver in New Mexico had been too kind— he should have hurled them here instead. Let's see if they'd dare take someone off course again.
With nothing else to do, Arthur sat there and drifted into thought.
A stunning woman lay beside him, infused with an Infinity Stone's power, yet he didn't even spare her a second glance. In this regard, Arthur had remarkable self-restraint.
One lay there absorbing the Aether, while the other sat in deep contemplation.
However, when Arthur snapped back to reality, he found himself sitting back in the hall of the original building. At that same moment, a sudden gasp broke the silence as Jane abruptly sat up.
The two locked eyes and Jane blurted out, "How did you get here?!"
Arthur gave her an unimpressed look. "That's really your first question?"
"Why didn't you stay put? I told you to wait in the car."
"Why should I listen to you?" Jane shot back, crossing her arms. 'Who did he think he was? Just because he said something, she had to obey?'
"Fair point." Arthur dusted himself off and stood up.
"You still haven't answered me. Why are you here? Why are we together? What did you… do to me?" Jane's expression grew wary, though she soon noticed something strange. She looked down at her hands. "Why do I feel… different?"
Arthur ignored her and pulled out a Stark-modified phone from his inventory, dialing a number. After a few rings, he hung up and switched to the communicator.
"I'm here," Natasha's voice came through.
"Is Dr. Erik Selvig still at the Scottish site?" Arthur asked.
"Yes, but he's awaiting psychiatric evaluation."
"Tell them to cancel that. Just take him off any medication, and the issue should resolve itself. We need him lucid— his research is about to become very relevant."
"You've identified the problem?" Natasha inquired.
Arthur glanced at Jane, exhaling a deep sigh. "No… the problem has shifted."
(End of Chapter)