2 2. Encountering the Reality Stone

Mark fell on hard ground, the fall wasn't from a large height but he still felt his foot being twisted. Endorphins and Adrenaline helped mask the pain in his foot, as his brain worked at its peak to comprehend the current situation. 

It looked like he got teleported to a dark cave-like place. On looking around he found that he was lying on a stone bridge and in front of him was a large rectangular stone that looked manmade. 

With his only choice being to move forward or backward, Mark decided to move towards the giant rock. So he slowly stood up and walked towards it. Reaching near the giant rock he saw that the rock had a creak in the middle of it and something red was glowing in its fissure.

'It may be some kind of luminous crystals or maybe a cluster of luminous microbes.' he thought as he decided to look more closely. Mark came near the rock and looked at the red thing but what he saw was completely different from his imagination as he some dark red liquid moving in between two rocks one of which was suspended in the air. 

He suddenly remembered what that thing was and where he was. "That is Reality Stone." Mark reeled back in panic.

Mark shuddered at the thought of the implications of his realization. He looked around and everything looked real, his surroundings, his Pain, all was real, he was sure of it.

'Did I transmigrate?' Mark became nervous as he again looked toward the Infinity Stone only to see it rushing towards him.

"NO!!!", he screamed as tried running backward but his sprained foot failed him and he fell. He could only look in horror as the red liquid entered his body.

The scene of The Collector's assistant blasting into numerous pieces when she touched the Power Stone played in his mind. He was horrified but he quickly reeled in his emotions.

'Jane Foster did not die instantly, I still have time, I could still do something, I have Reality Stone in me and maybe I can use it.' Mark started thinking of the ways he could escape this predicament but as if the world wanted his demise, the Power Stone started to devour his body.

Mark looked in shock as his fingers started turning into red smoke, he could see the same red smoke emanating from all his body. "Why!! this was not supposed to happen, it was not like this in the movie Jane was fine for a long time after Aether entered her body."

On looking closely at his arm he could see Aether move furiously under his skin akin to a parasite wanting to devour its host. He could do nothing but only look as his body dissipated into smoke.

What Mark didn't know was that if he was a native of this universe he may have lived a little longer as Reality Stone would not have affected him this way. But his being from a different Universe led to this Universe Identifying him as a threat and would have slowly erased him from existence. And as the Reality Stone representing the aspect of the Reality of this Universe it inadvertently hastened this process. 

'Is this the end, Am I going to die?' Mark didn't feel afraid or angry, the only thing he felt now was disappointment, he was disappointed that his life had to come to an end so early.

'It's not a bad end thought, my death certainly is unique.' he chuckled as he thought this. 

He regretted many things but touching that black curtain wasn't one of them, he knew he would live his life doing the work he hated and then one day die and then be forgotten by everyone after some time just like any other ordinary person who lived before him.

'At least now I can say that I traveled to a different Universe, I transverse reality before dying. I've experienced something no person on Earth had ever experienced before and maybe nobody would ever will.' He thought with a smile on his face while his hands and legs were nowhere to be seen.

Mark lay on the cold ground as he reminisced about his life on Earth, he remembered his family, his friends, all the movies he had watched all the novels he'd read, and all the delicious food he had eaten. Although his life was not the very best still, he was thankful for all he had.

He thanked his parents and friends and bode them the final goodbye as he waited for his demise.

He did not have to wait long as he lay there in complete silence where the only sound he could hear was his heartbeat which was gradually dying down as his body was almost transparent and the Aeither roaming inside his body was visible even from outside.

His hands, legs, and abdomen were already gone, the only thing left were his chest and head which at this point looked like a hologram. Mark was unsure how he was alive at this point. 

As time passed Mark kept on thinking about his parents and previous life and just as he was about to completely dissipate into smoke, realization hit him that even if it was a good ending he still could not bear to pass away like this, away from his family where no one would know what happened to him.

'My family would search for me worrying about where I went while I would have already been dead for a long time and would be universes apart from them.

I should have spent more time with them, I should have thanked them at least once. I Don't Want To Die Here.' Mark thought as tears fell from his eyes.

"I Want To Live", were the words that left his mouth as he took his last breath. and his body vanished into smoke.

In the spot where Mark's body lay, now remained only The Reality Stone in its Aether form, gathered in a puddle it was shining brightly, brighter than ever but soon its shine gradually dimmed down returning to its original glow.