Anya not only enjoyed the company of her friends, and their sparing matches here and there, but even holed herself up in the royal library. Their historian assisted the young woman in the search through all materials Asgard possessed on the Aether. And even did a little digging into the archives to see if there was anything missed. Some of their texts were so old the parchment became delicate to the touch. She allowed the Asgardian historian to handle that documentation as she read over the contents.
The six Infinity Stones came from the creation of the universe. The Big Bang, as scientists called it on Midgard, and each possessed unique abilities. All immensely powerful. There was only a handful of documented cases where an individual or individuals tried to control their solo power. Use it for their own agenda. Once ahold of the list, Anya stayed in the library late into the night. Well past the historian, who merely requested she close up before leaving.
"I must admit that no one has been this adamant about a subject for some time," the Asgardian had stated one day. "I was beginning to think that my services were no longer needed."
"I appreciate all the efforts you've put forth to help me understand this subject," Anya thanked. "Since the incident on the Dark World... well, I still haven't fully recovered mentally in a sense."
"Which is understandable. The Aether is not a power to be taken lightly. My father and I performed extensive research on the subject when Bor returned with it."
Anya already knew about the Aether, the Reality Stone's, existence through Odin's history lesson. The first known case of a user was the Dark Elves. Malekith. They wished to plunge the universe into a state of primordial darkness. Thor's grandfather, Bor, defeated them and took the stone to hide it away. To make sure that it never fell into another else's hands. Though something surprised Anya greatly. Her name had been added to their ancient texts. To be documented as a host before the Convergence. She dug a little further and was relieved to find that there was no further information about the Aether in regards to her. Which meant that Thor and her had done their job by keeping a piece of it safe. And out of the watchful eye of Odin. The young woman finally learned where the rest of the Reality Stone was being held. On a place called Knowhere at one of the farthest reaches of the galaxy.
The Power Stone, the one Thor tracked to Xandar had been wielded by quite a handful of individuals. And the two most recent notes interested her further. Eson the Searcher was the first notable user of the stone. Though that wasn't to say they were the first. The Celestial being managed to wipe out an entire planet. There was no reason behind this action. The texts merely stated that Eson possessed a god complex and enjoyed being ruthless, destructive. After the obliteration of the planet, he didn't strike again. The Celestial somehow lost possession of the stone, didn't try to regain it, and continued to roam the far reaches of the galaxy.
The next names on the list went by, The Cosmic Beings. No one knew their names or of what planet or realm they came from. They were nine individuals who tried to wield the power of the purple stone for their own use. Whatever that was. Yet the strength of it proved to be too great. And the nine disintegrated on the spot once the Power Stone was activated.
Somehow, the stone came to be on Morag. Whether that was where the nine initially sought to control the power or someone else collected it up and transported it to the planet, no one knew. But the inhabitants of Morag erected a temple around it, before their own demise from a global warming catastrophe. It remained unclaimed and buried. Until stolen. In the span of a few days it came into the possession of two different groups: Ronan the Accuser and the Guardians of the Galaxy.
The latter group piqued her interest greatly. Irani Rael never told Thor how the stone came into the Nova Corps possession. A Ravager, an assassin, and two criminals. Four individuals banded together to control the stones power before Ronan annihilated the inhabitants on Xandar. They miraculously managed to harnessed the power and killed the invader. Once the battle was won, the Guardians of the Galaxy turned the stone over to the Nova Corps. And it had been there ever since.
The Space Stone, which came from the Tesseract, seemed to be the most active stone of them all. It moved through quite a few planets throughout the Nine Realms. Due to one of its capabilities being able to teleport its wielder anywhere they wished in the universe. When it came into the possession of the Asgardians, Odin brought the Tesseract to Earth for safe keeping. Though it became uncovered in 1942, during WWII. Fell into the hands of HYDRA and became lost in the ocean alongside Steve Rogers. Anya knew the rest from first-hand experience.
The Mind Stone's whereabouts were unknown in the universe. Up until Loki arrived on Earth wielding his scepter. And none of them realized exactly what it was until Ultron broke the stone out of its confinement to place in his very own android.
Which left the final two stone unaccounted for. As if they were merely myths themselves. No locations. No list of powers or capabilities. Not even their colors. Just their names: the Soul Stone and the Time Stone. The historian went far back into the archives to unearth something, but came up empty handed.
Anya didn't retire till late that evening. She became so engrossed in the presented information the agent dragged herself to bed just as the first rays of the sun began to peek over the horizon.
This was good. This was the kind of information Anya needed to find to help their extensive search. And despite coming to the end of what the historian had to offer, the young woman found herself combing over old information. Just to make sure nothing was missed.
"Thought we might find you here," Hogun said.
Anya picked her head up from the pile of books. A smile stretched across her lips from the sight of the Warriors Three and Sif entering the library.
"It's a beautiful day out," Fandral stated. "Too beautiful to spend it cooped up in here."
"I've been busy," the agent said.
"Doing what?" Volstagg wondered.
"Reading."
"About the Aether?" Hogun wondered. His eyes scanned over the covers of the books and the texts that were open. "Why?"
Sif and her shared a discrete look. "Curiosity. I'm been... having nightmares at times. Sometimes I find myself pulled back to my memories of Malekith... My teammates on Midgard believe it's a form of PTSD."
"What's that?" Volstagg asked.
"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's where someone has difficulty recovering after experiencing or witnessing a terrifying event. Triggers can bring back memories of the trauma. They suffer from nightmares of unwanted memories and can experience intense emotional and physical reactions."
The comment worried the three male warriors. "Are you alright?" Hogun wondered.
"I've had my good and bad days. But the worse one came during the Ultron incident. An Enhanced human from the opposing side dug up memories of my past." She fell silent for a moment. "The Aether isn't the only trauma I've dealt with on Midgard."
"What other trouble has befallen you?" Fandral wondered.
Sif knew. But they were memories she didn't like to go into too much detail about. No matter how many years passed since then.
"My archeological team was kidnapped by the Taliban. And I was the only survivor to come out of it. Not only was there the carnage and blood from their deaths... but then I nearly died of dehydration wandering the desert until my country's army found me."
"We never realized..." Volstagg trailed off.
"Because I try to not let the incident dictate my life. I'm a survivor. I lived through those horrors the first time I came into contact with Loki. He invaded my dreams too. But when it came to the Enhancement... she combined both the incident in the desert and the Aether's attempt to overpower me. It brought back a lot at once. While here on Asgard, I just want to try and understand the dark matter more." A sigh escaped her lips. "But there's not much more to go through it seems. There's not a lot of facts since it's an enigma compared to some of the other more well-known stones."
"Because Bor hid it away for so long," Sif said. "And from how parasitic it acts, it's impossible to study. Not without consequences."
"You nearly died yourself for being in contact for too long," Hogun pointed out.
"I know," the young woman said. "But it doesn't hurt to look through what you have. I want to try and understand. I've come across three of the six Infinity Stones already face-to-face... something tells me the Avengers will have to deal with what remains soon enough."
"You'll be in here for weeks if you keep this up," Volstagg stated.
Anya nodded, not mentioning that she'd already covered the core of the material.
"Come on then," Fandral said. The warrior closed the book in front of the young woman. "No more reading. Since you can't do all of this tonight."
"Yes, for tonight, we drink!" Volstagg proclaimed.
"And this time we know you have nowhere to be."
"Which means you get to try our wonderful brew."
Anya smiled, "You all make a pretty compelling argument. Very well, lead me to the pub."
"Yes! Follow me."
She watched Fandral and Volstagg take up the lead, while the books were left behind.
"I'll try to reign them in as best I can," Hogun said.
"I appreciate it," the agent said. Then a little lower towards Sif, added, "Please don't leave my side."
"Promise," the female warrior answered. "You're safe with me."
"Just make sure I don't do anything stupid. Or die from alcohol poisoning."
Sif's head threw back in a laugh.