Chapter 13

~A month later~

The time since leaving Asgard was peaceful and relatively uneventful compared to the chaos Loki had brought in his wake. 

Aliens, Gods, and ultimate power crystallized into stones that fit in my palm. 

It was all a lot to take in a short time. So, I went back to Kathmandu to digest it all, helping the people who fell sick or injured as I did before the Loki incident.

Occasionally, I would go to Kamar-Taj and speak with the Ancient One. She brought me up to speed on what is out there and what kind of threats the Masters deal with. Talk of real devils and a host of interdimensional terrors brought it home that I needed to step up my training on how to use my abilities fully. So, that's what I did.

Admittedly, it took over a week for me to realize that my ability was limited solely by my imagination and that I hadn't been thinking 'big' enough about its possible uses. Turning back the metaphorical clock on one person or object to heal/fix them was just scratching the surface. The eureka moment came during a moment of personal frustration and tiredness.

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There had been a rockslide at a nearby village that had hurt a large amount of people. Many were so severely wounded that they would typically have been written off as imminent fatalities. But the word of a miracle healer here in Kathmandu had them loading even the critically injured into flatbed trucks and driving miles back and forth ferrying them to me.

When the first truck arrived, they were directed to my home on the city's outskirts, and as soon as they arrived, I began healing them. The problem for me came when they KEPT arriving so quickly. It became a situation where I couldn't focus on one patient at a time, with multiple having life-threatening injuries. It was during my hectic effort to save two men and a young woman from all bleeding out in front of my house that, in an act of frazzled frustration, I encompassed the entire area filled with patients in my power and pushed my will out to heal everyone that my power touched.

It was later, after testing, that I found I had created a 'rule' for the entire area under my power. I had commanded everything under my influence to be healed; even those who walked into the area were healed of long-standing health problems and injuries. I could make any 'rule' I wanted over the area, and it would be imposed on anyone and anything that came inside the boundaries of my power, and it would stay in effect even after leaving it.

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I'm currently talking with the Ancient One again, explaining what I found out,

"I've been having a few mixed feelings about my powers now. If I wanted to, I could warp every mind here into thinking I was their god, and they would go on believing it, not brainwashing them but changing their very perception of reality that it had always been that way. That amount of power... " I trail off in thought, looking down into the steaming cup of tea she set before me.

She lets the silence stretch a little before speaking,

"The temptation, yes. I know better than most that it can silently poison the mind, having it constantly whisper in your ear. But it changes very little. You are who you are deep down inside. The saying 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' is true. Absolute power brings out what is hidden beneath the venire of polite society, that part of us that is bound by rules, law, and morals. I myself broke an important rule of the Masters by using Dark Energy to sustain myself. But a person who gives into that temptation would not question whether they should in the first place." She finishes saying with a smile and a nod.

"Hmmm." I nod back, taking in her words.

I was broken from my introspection by my senses going wild.

 Since working on my control, I've been able to sense what is happening around me and changes in the space within my reach. What I'm feeling now is something truly out of the norm.

Short, erratic bursts of what I can only compare to vertigo. Distance and location of objects feel as if they are constantly changing, then snapping back a moment later. But what grabbed my attention most was my medallion wildly vibrating during each burst.

Pulling it out from under my shirt catches the Ancient One's attention, but she remains quiet as I take it into my hand and focus my sense of space through it.

The almost omnipresent feeling of using the Space Stone's power lets me extend my senses afar and try to find out what is causing this. What I feel is something extraordinary. Space itself was overlapping and separating rapidly in locations worldwide, sometimes for only a few milliseconds, others causing portals to open and linger.

The scope of this event was mindboggling; for some strange reason, most of these rapid events were happening all over Great Britain, specifically London. The Space Stone focused my attention on one in particular, giving me a feeling of insistence and urging me to go immediately.

Pulling myself back to the here and now,

"I'm sorry for being abrupt, Ancient One. But this situation seems to be reacting with the Space Stone. I got the sense it wants me to investigate quickly for some reason." I say to her apologetically before opening a portal to London.

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I had intended the portal to open near the spatial anomaly, but there was another burst just as I stepped through the portal. The portal's exit shifted, and I found myself falling through the air, down towards the city.

The momentary disorientation wore off, and I caught myself, slowing my fall until I floated in the air over the city before orientating towards the anomaly and flying over to its location.

Upon arriving at a rather dilapidated factory building in the industrial district, I found that the anomaly was playing havoc on the surroundings.

Six large shipping containers filling the parking lot stood up on their ends, with another container balanced on top of them in a 'T' shape. A large cement mixing truck was turned over on its side and I also noticed a car parked near the containers, so someone else had come to see what was happening. 

Heading into the building, it's just as run-down as the outside. Everything has been stripped from the structure, leaving open rooms and corridors where the wind whips through broken windows and water dripping from the roof.

I am trying to focus my senses, but it's a slight struggle as the anomaly continues to mess with my sense of space around me. So, I used the medallion to guide me through the building to where it wanted me to go. Eventually, as I get to the heart of the building, I start hearing the echo of several voices. As I get closer, I notice that a few sounded quite young, maybe children, and two others sound older.

I find the group standing around a railing overlooking multiple levels of the building, tossing random objects into the open air. The things fall towards the ground and then disappear mid-air, only to reappear several floors up and drop again, over and over. A man, maybe in his twenties, throws what sounds like keys into the anomaly, and as they disappear, the group looks up, expecting them to fall back down, but they never do.

A young woman standing next to him amongst the group of children stares into the air,

"Were those the car keys?" She asks dumbfoundedly. 

His answer is a long, guilty silence.

"It's not a wise idea to mess around here, people. The anomaly is messing with space, as you've seen. You could inadvertently walk right through one of those portals and end up like those keys." I say as I walk up to them. The last thing I want is for them to get lost with no way back.

They all turn suddenly, just now noticing my presence.

"We're not messing around. We are... uh, conducting research, yeah. My boss, Jane Foster, is currently taking readings. Who are you?" The young woman says.

"Jane Foster, The astrophysicist?" I ask her, sidestepping the questions of who I am for now. If she is who I think she is,

"Yeaahh? You going to answer my question now?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"My name is Dante. I'm a friend of Thor's." I answer her, getting a shocked look in return.

"Really?! Are you, like, a super guy too? You're pretty handsome like Thor, but kinda... normal-ish." She asks, tilting her head slightly.

I chuckle,

"Thank you, but not all 'super guys' wear armor and capes. More importantly, where is Dr. Foster right now?"

"Oh, she went that way with one of her scanners, trying to get data on the anomaly." She points down a hallway to the side. The very same direction that the Space Stone is leading me toward.

"Thank you..."

"Darcy." She answers my unasked question

"Thank you, Darcy," I smile and head down the hallway. Hopefully, I find her before she finds whatever the Space Stone is directing me to.