Book 4: Arcane [Thor]

Chapter 5

Anya not only enjoyed the company of her friends, and their sparing matches here and there, but even holed herself up in the royal library. Their historian assisted the young woman in the search through all materials Asgard possessed on the Aether. And even did a little digging into the archives to see if there was anything missed. Some of their texts were so old the parchment became delicate to the touch. She allowed the Asgardian historian to handle that documentation as she read over the contents.

The six Infinity Stones came from the creation of the universe. The Big Bang, as scientists called it on Midgard, and each possessed unique abilities. All immensely powerful. There was only a handful of documented cases where an individual or individuals tried to control their solo power. Use it for their own agenda. Once ahold of the list, Anya stayed in the library late into the night. Well past the historian, who merely requested she close up before leaving.

"I must admit that no one has been this adamant about a subject for some time," the Asgardian had stated one day. "I was beginning to think that my services were no longer needed."

"I appreciate all the efforts you've put forth to help me understand this subject," Anya thanked. "Since the incident on the Dark World... well, I still haven't fully recovered mentally in a sense."

"Which is understandable. The Aether is not a power to be taken lightly. My father and I performed extensive research on the subject when Bor returned with it."

Anya already knew about the Aether, the Reality Stone's, existence through Odin's history lesson. The first known case of a user was the Dark Elves. Malekith. They wished to plunge the universe into a state of primordial darkness. Thor's grandfather, Bor, defeated them and took the stone to hide it away. To make sure that it never fell into another else's hands. Though something surprised Anya greatly. Her name had been added to their ancient texts. To be documented as a host before the Convergence. She dug a little further and was relieved to find that there was no further information about the Aether in regards to her. Which meant that Thor and her had done their job by keeping a piece of it safe. And out of the watchful eye of Odin. The young woman finally learned where the rest of the Reality Stone was being held. On a place called Knowhere at one of the farthest reaches of the galaxy.

The Power Stone, the one Thor tracked to Xandar had been wielded by quite a handful of individuals. And the two most recent notes interested her further. Eson the Searcher was the first notable user of the stone. Though that wasn't to say they were the first. The Celestial being managed to wipe out an entire planet. There was no reason behind this action. The texts merely stated that Eson possessed a god complex and enjoyed being ruthless, destructive. After the obliteration of the planet, he didn't strike again. The Celestial somehow lost possession of the stone, didn't try to regain it, and continued to roam the far reaches of the galaxy.

The next names on the list went by, The Cosmic Beings. No one knew their names or of what planet or realm they came from. They were nine individuals who tried to wield the power of the purple stone for their own use. Whatever that was. Yet the strength of it proved to be too great. And the nine disintegrated on the spot once the Power Stone was activated.

Somehow, the stone came to be on Morag. Whether that was where the nine initially sought to control the power or someone else collected it up and transported it to the planet, no one knew. But the inhabitants of Morag erected a temple around it, before their own demise from a global warming catastrophe. It remained unclaimed and buried. Until stolen. In the span of a few days it came into the possession of two different groups: Ronan the Accuser and the Guardians of the Galaxy.

The latter group piqued her interest greatly. Irani Rael never told Thor how the stone came into the Nova Corps possession. A Ravager, an assassin, and two criminals. Four individuals banded together to control the stones power before Ronan annihilated the inhabitants on Xandar. They miraculously managed to harnessed the power and killed the invader. Once the battle was won, the Guardians of the Galaxy turned the stone over to the Nova Corps. And it had been there ever since.