A dead silent place of absolute darkness.
As the red space, flowing like blood as if it had life, suddenly appeared, Jane Foster, who was caught off guard and pulled in, was once again unexpectedly pushed out, stumbling forward.
Ahead was a bottomless cliff.
Jane's eyes were filled with terror.
The next second.
An arm landed on her shoulder, instantly stopping her body, which had already stepped halfway over the cliff.
"Be careful."
"…"
Jane instinctively turned around, looking at Hawke who appeared before her, her face filled with terror, and she subconsciously retreated.
Then…
With a scream as her right foot missed a step, Hawke could only reach out again to grab Jane, who had almost fallen into the bottomless abyss for the second time.
Hawke was a bit speechless: "Again, be careful. I've saved you twice; I can't save you a third time."
Once, twice, but not thrice.
If Jane Foster were to repeat it again, he definitely wouldn't intervene.
After all, no matter how much he saved, he couldn't stop someone from seeking death, could he?
After Hawke finished speaking, he ignored Jane Foster and instead looked around the space, then walked along the stone path to a large platform.
The space where this platform was located seemed to be in a state of weightlessness.
Countless broken, colossal black steles floated upside down in every corner of the platform.
But what caught Hawke's attention most was a huge, inverted, torn Gothic spire church wreckage in the distance on the platform.
The wreckage wasn't the main point.
The main point was a black geometric device at the bottom of the church, emitting a deep and ominous aura.
Within this geometric device, a liquid like viscous blood seemed to flow, jump, and sway.
The Reality Stone!
Also known as—
The Aether Particle!
Among the six Infinity Stones, the other five appeared in solid form, but only the Reality Stone manifested as a strange, flowing red liquid.
But that wasn't important.
What was important was that the Reality Stone was the Aether Particle, and the Aether Particle was the Reality Stone.
That was enough.
Hawke looked at the Reality Stone, flowing within the strange geometric device, close at hand, and stepped towards it.
The next second.
Crack!
The strange geometric device was covered with electric arcs in the dark space, and then a thick electric arc, like an arm, instantly struck Hawke.
Hawke raised an eyebrow, and his figure instantly vanished from his original spot.
Boom!
The electric arc passed through Hawke's afterimage, striking a large rock behind him. With a violent explosion, the rock instantly turned to dust, not even a fingernail-sized piece of debris splattering out.
The strange geometric device was covered with countless electric arcs, like silver snakes dancing wildly.
In an instant, the silver, flickering electric arcs almost illuminated the entire sealing place. The wildly dancing electric arcs turned into a violent storm, covering Hawke head-on.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
What's going on?
Hawke's figure constantly shifted and changed in the air, dodging the electric arcs that his intuition told him would injure him if they struck, feeling very puzzled.
In the original plot, Jane Foster didn't seem to encounter such a situation.
Hawke's thoughts raced, and then, as if he remembered something, he looked at the electric arcs that almost covered the entire sealing place. After maneuvering in the air, his figure retreated to his original standing position.
As he retreated, the geometric device sealing the Aether Particle flickered with electric arcs, but it did not fire electric arcs again.
Indeed!
Seeing this, Hawke thought to himself.
It was as he had thought.
Rather than saying Jane Foster found the Aether Particle, it was more accurate to say the Aether Particle specifically sought out Jane Foster and pulled her here.
The reason was simple.
The Aether Particle needed Jane Foster to leave this sealed place.
As for why it could only be Jane.
Because she was Thor's girlfriend and carried Thor's aura.
Long ago, when Bor, Thor's Grandpa, was the King of Asgard, the Aether Particle was in the hands of the Dark Elves.
After Bor defeated the Dark Elves and seized the Aether Particle, he originally intended to destroy it.
But…
If Infinity Stones could be destroyed, would they still be called Infinity Stones?
So Bor could only settle for the next best thing and built a device to seal the Aether Particle, which was the geometric device sealing the Aether Particle before him.
Because this device was created by Bor, Thor's Grandpa, naturally, its attack mode also varied depending on the person.
Jane Foster was the girlfriend of Bor's grandson, Thor. From a certain perspective, if Thor insisted, Jane Foster would be the Queen of Asgard in the future, so this device naturally had no effect on Jane.
As for others?
No need to say more, just blast them.
Like Hawke.
Hawke currently had no way to approach the sealing device.
After all, this thing was built by Bor, the previous King of Asgard, during his prime.
Hawke needed the Aether Particle.
Bor ignored and sealed the Aether Particle.
Who was stronger and who was weaker was clear at a glance, no comparison needed.
So…
Hawke looked at the geometric device sealing the Aether Particle, which had gradually calmed down and whose electric arc light had disappeared after his retreat, his eyes flickering.
Just then.
Jane's voice sounded from the side.
"Who exactly are you?"
"Where is this place?"
Jane, who had not yet recovered from the strange surroundings, then saw the crackling, flickering geometric device nearby with a hint of familiar electric arcs. She reacted from her shock and asked Hawke, who was standing in front of her.
She had just been flustered, but now she had recovered. Clearly, Hawke had no ill intentions towards her.
After all…
Actions spoke louder than words. With Hawke's quick reaction and dodging of the electric arcs just now, if he had any designs on her, she would have had no chance to resist.
Hawke listened to Jane's voice, turned his head to glance at Jane, then redirected his gaze back to the geometric device sealing the Aether Particle nearby.
Jane frowned, looking at Hawke, who showed no response.
"Hello?"
"Don't rush, I'm thinking about whether to lie to you."
"…"
Jane's mouth twitched at his words.
"What?"
"I'm thinking whether to tell you the truth or lie to you."
Hawke turned to look at Jane.
Jane looked at Hawke's serious expression, which showed no sign of joking, and opened her mouth. Her gaze swept over the eerie and silent surroundings again: "What exactly is this place?"
Hawke shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Is that a lie?"
"No, that's the truth."
Hawke shook his head again: "I speculate this might be Svartalfheim, one of the Nine Realms."
He recalled the original plot.
After King Bor obtained the Aether Particle back then, he seemed to have sealed it in Svartalfheim.
But he wasn't entirely sure.
After all, that was a movie, and this was reality. Svartalfheim was the Dark Elves' Planet. If one thought about it with conventional logic, it was unlikely to seal the Aether Particle, which was taken from the Dark Elves, on the Dark Elves' Planet.
That made no sense.
Jane was slightly stunned at his words, then blurted out: "Dark Elves?"
Hawke came back to his senses, looked at Jane, and with a thought, chuckled: "I almost forgot, when Thor came to Earth back then, he gave you a basic introduction to the Nine Realms."
Jane's expression became a bit excited when she heard Hawke mention Thor's name. She looked at Hawke.
"You know Thor?"
"No."
"…"
Jane's expression froze again. As she opened her mouth, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and forcibly swallowed the national curse that was almost blurted out.
After all, this place was very strange.
Although she felt that Hawke had no ill intentions towards her.
But what if?
Hawke looked at this scene and chuckled: "That's also the truth. I know Thor, but I haven't seen him, and he hasn't seen me."
Jane calmed her inner turmoil, reopened her eyes, and said nothing. Following Hawke's gaze, she also looked at the strange geometric device that had just emitted familiar electric arcs like Thor's lightning.
She also saw the Aether Particle flowing within the strange geometric device, emitting an ominous aura, like viscous blood.
Jane then looked at Hawke again: "You want the thing inside, right?"
Again.
She wasn't a fool; a fool couldn't become a Dr.
Hawke didn't look at Jane. He looked at the Aether Particle, which was close at hand, and nodded.
"Yes, but with King Bor's seal, I can't get it."
"Bor?"
"Thor's Grandpa."
"Hiss!"
Jane gasped, her gaze also falling on the strange geometric device, then she reacted: "You mean this thing was made by Thor's Grandpa? No wonder, the lightning just now gave me a familiar feeling."
Hawke said nothing.
Jane frowned again.
"Um, you want this thing, I don't. Can you send me back first?"
"No."
"Why?"
"I only got in by following you."
Hawke chuckled, looking at Jane: "Do you think I pulled you in?"
Jane frowned.
"Then it's…"
"Look."
Hawke raised his hand, pointing at the sealed Aether Particle, and said to Jane: "That thing pulled you in. It wants you to help unseal it, and I want to get it. So the truth is, I only got in here by following you."
"Me?"
Jane looked a bit incredulous, pointing to herself.
"Why?"
"Because you're Thor's girlfriend."
Hawke shrugged: "Only when you get close to this thing will it not strike you, after all, this thing was built by Thor's Grandpa."
Jane's mind replayed the scene of the strange device flashing electric arcs and relentlessly attacking Hawke, and her mouth twitched.
"Is that true or false?"
"Don't believe it? Then try it yourself."
"I'll try it, I'll try it."
"…"
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