Book 3: Chimera [Thor]

Chapter 12

"I can still save you!" the god managed out.

That didn't seem to matter to Heimdall, gripping harder, "We're all dead! Can you not see?"

There were voices in the prince's ear now. Whispers he didn't understand. Thor managed to shove the gatekeeper off. Heimdall didn't approach again, standing at the edge of the crowd that formed around them. Thor needed to leave. A spark of lightning danced between the palms before splitting across the chest plate. It grew in power without his control. It alarmed the prince.

"You are a destroyer, Odinson," Heimdall stated.

His grin was wicked. A blast of lightning shot off his figure towards the crowd. It blew a bystander into ashes in a matter of seconds, horrifying Thor. He looked to his longtime friend for help, but received none.

"See where your power leads."

The room disappeared in a flash, his mind plagued by a vision. A bright yellow light of energy exploded and gave way to four circular stones. They were lined up alongside each other: yellow, purple, red, and blue. Immediately, one caught Thor's attention. The red one, the Aether in solid form. He'd seen it in texts before it took on the form of dark matter to possess a host. But before the prince could process the vision further a set of eyes took the place of the stones. Ones that didn't look entirely human.

Something hit the god. Hard. It felt like a punch made contact with a cheek, and seemed to break his train of thought. Head shaking, the vision disappeared. However, the Asgardian still felt disoriented when a familiar voice broke through the haze. Clint quickly discovered the rest of the team couldn't be reached over the earpiece. Wanda managed to manipulate them before he incapacitated her. The Asgardian was the first teammate he came across and took a page out of Natasha's book from when she broke Loki's control over him. Brute force to knock some sense into the puppet.

"... or... hor... THOR!" The god snapped his attention to the archer. "Are you with me?"

"I think so..."

The prince's unease didn't instill confidence in the man, but he needed to find the others. "Hey," he called when the god's attention began to wander again. "Stay with me, focus. Do you remember where you saw the others last?"

No, he couldn't at the moment. They separated before the Enhancement got into his mind, but all he could think about was the glowing stones he'd witnessed. And wonder what the Aether had to do with it all.

"I can't..."

"That's alright, just stay with me," Clint said. "We have to find everyone. Snap out of it."

Anya stood at the mouth of the cave that led into the mountain. She could hear the chatter of the archeological team further in. The dark cave was lit by large lights, every one of them facing a dead end. But the fact that none of them seemed to be able to move forward didn't deter the excitement of the group. Everyone was there. Maria, their linguist, multiple researchers, even Justin, and the sight of them caused Anya to pause. A part of her said that this felt wrong. But why? The professor noticed her hesitation and beckoned her forward.

"We're just about to open it," he stated. "And you will be the one to help me."

"Why?" she wondered.

Wouldn't he want Justin to assist? After all they were family. This was their dig.

"You're the one that led us to this point. Your research. The honor is yours."

Moving past the group and the lights, the young woman's eyes scanned the surface. The surface looked odd. The object seemed like a doorway that opened outward. And made of stone, but the carvings on the face didn't appear to be ancient Arabic. This region wasn't known for any other dialect, yet the symbols looked... familiar somehow. She'd seen them before but couldn't quite place where–