Mirror ∞ Marvel ∞ bk. 1

Chapter Twenty-Two

They climbed the last hundred yards to the perched cathedral. The stonework amazed the Avengers; like Greek almost, and yet more foreign. Carven trees mimicked living ones that threatened to split and skew the building. The archway inside the domed room stood fifteen feet high and ten across. The room inside was cloaked in darkness from the stone and the trees blocking out the twin suns. The few rays that did escape the barricade glistened off polished stone.

The Asgardian warriors hesitated at the entrance with Sif. The woman undid her double sword paused. She glanced back at her warriors, instructing them to wait. Paige watched curiously as Sif raised her sword blade and slowly moved it through the archway. It stuck at the entrance and Sif grunted, trying to push it forward.

"It's no use," commented one of the soldiers. "The magic is still in place."

"Magic?" Steve looked at them in concern.

Sif nodded. "The Vanir are the greatest sorcerers in the Nine Realms. At the height of their power, they sealed all their places of worship with spells."

Paige smirked. She walked past Sif to the place before the open archway and raised her hand. Hesitantly she moved her palm forward towards the area that had stopped Sif's sword. At the presence of her hand, the invisible field began to shimmer and pulse. It became visible like the film of a bubble in summer sun, waving ever so slightly at her pressure. Where her skin met the barrier glowed gold.

"Stand back," Paige demanded. "I don't know what it's doing!"

Sif urged her men back, and Steve and Clint positioned themselves defensively. The Asgardians murmured and held their shields up as the field buckled further. Paige made one more push and walked through it, but it snapped back into place immediately upon her intrusion.

"Are you alright?" Clint asked in concern. He walked up to the barrier with Steve and Sif beside him. "Injuries?"

Paige looked herself up and down. "None." She took a deep breath and looked around. "Should I describe it to you guys?"

"Or come back out," Steve cautioned. "We don't know what's in there."

"Then I better find out, right? That's why we're here, isn't it!"

Sif frowned. "Be careful, Lady Paige. Magic is a dangerous thing."

Paige looked back at Sif. She didn't say anything in response. Paige was already far too familiar with how dangerous magic could be. She lived with it. Every day she reminded herself of her dangerous nature. But this place didn't feel dangerous. This place felt powerful. It felt unique.

"There's a lot of marble here," She described for them.

The ground moved up in gradual steps of sometimes cracked white marble until the center stood about four feet off the entrance level. A white statue of a woman holding a rayed sun sat in the center. Her hair had been crafted of gold which matched the sun. Eyes of azure looked out at Paige. She stopped talking and walked over to the statue. In the pedestal it sat on, a handprint had been carved.

"I'm going to touch this!"

"Careful," Sif cautioned immediately. "You-"

But Paige didn't wait. She laid her hand in the space and to her amazement, the handprint fit exactly. As she stared down at it, the ground began to groan. The area she had put her hand began to glow, and Paige glanced around. The entire place changed hue, beginning to shimmer from the sun in the statue. But not just the statue.

Paige's skin began to transform. Golden light burst forth from her chest and then all along her skin, seeming to disregard her clothes. Beams of luminescence blinded those watching. She heard them cry out in dismay from behind. But still she couldn't move her hand.

She noted moments later that three people stood beside her as she coughed and sputtered, the light fading. She tingled from the hairs on her head to her toes and fingertips even as the golden light went away.

"What the hell," she said, coughing. "How did you get in?"

Clint explained that the barrier had dropped. He watched her carefully, not touching her though Steve helped her stand. "Are you okay?"

"I feel amazing." She grinned and looked around. Thanking Steve for his help, she turned to Sif. "What happened?"

Sif backed up. "I don't know. The Vanir are known for their foresight and ability to see the future. Perhaps this place was made for you?"

A clamor arose from the entrance. Shields and swords banged against each other. Sif turned and ran towards her warriors. When they all reached the open air, they found a group of black and white elven like warriors dropping from a black ship.

"Are you ready for a fight, Avengers?" Sif barked.

They didn't have time to answer. Though still recovering from whatever power had been triggered by the statue, Paige wanted in on the fight as well. She rushed forward and focused all her thought on the ship. Throwing several balls of fire at it, it began to dodge. Finally it flew off.

Steve and Clint worked together to take down several of the dark elves but Paige went on her own. She summoned a rough crystalline black shard and drove it into the neck of a dark elf that got too close. She wished she could use the trick Loki had demonstrated, splitting into multiple. The dark elves came thick. They threatened to overwhelm the Asgardians by sheer numbers.

Suddenly a huge monster of a dark elf crashed into Paige, knocking her to the ground. She hit her head and lay dazed. But as the mega beast went to grab her neck, she reached up and held his face. Her hand glowed gold again, and suddenly the creature wailed as it began to glow gold from her grip. It shrieked in agony as Paige scrambled up and held on. His very skin came peeling off, disintegrating. With a scream, Paige slammed him to the ground, her arm shimmering gold, and he died twitching.

The battlefield calmed as the Asgardians took the distraction to finish off the dark elves. Paige just grinned and knelt on the ground near the scalded body of the monster. Her skin faded back to normal. Steve went to her side.

"You okay?"

Paige huffed. "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine."

Sif backed up away from her, wiping blood off her own forehead. "What did you do to him?"

"I killed him. I don't know. I just... I was angry because he hit me, and so I grabbed him." Paige looked around, and then down at the corpse. "I've never had that happen so quickly before."

Clint frowned. "But it has happened before?"

"Sometimes my fingers start glowing, but it always fades before that."

"We've got to find out what is happened," Steve muttered. "Lady Sif, how do we find Thor?"

But even as he spoke, the red cape of Thor flashed overhead and Mjolnir pulled him in. Tony Stark landed next to him.

"We saw a lightshow," Tony commented. "Did we miss a party?"

They all exchanged glances. What were they supposed to say to that?

"Yeah, one hell of a party," Clint agreed.