The rainbow bridge didn't just open—it screamed.
Color and sound tore the sky apart as Victor Drake's atoms learned what divine turbulence really meant. Every molecule howled, vibrating between existence and regret.
He clung to consciousness.
"AETHER—are we dying or—"
> "Depends. If you consider molecular disassembly 'dying,' then yes."
Thor's laughter boomed through the chaos. "Relax, mortal! The Bifrost merely shakes you apart before rebuilding you elsewhere!"
"Comforting!" Victor yelled. "Real spa treatment love it!"
Light shattered—then silence.
They stood on Asgard.
Golden towers stabbed clouds; waterfalls plunged into infinity. The air glittered like it had been distilled from thunder itself. For a breath, Victor forgot to breathe.
"Holy…" He stared. "Heaven with better architects."
Thor grinned. "Welcome to Asgard, Realm Eternal! Try not to faint."
> "Overwhelmed by the oxygen density, maybe," AETHER muttered. "Your biology isn't optimized for divine realms."
Victor sighed. "Didn't exactly book a flight here."
Thor's arm crashed around him like a bear-trap hug. "You volunteered when you saved Wakanda's rift! Asgard honors courage—and chaos!"
"Reassuring," Victor wheezed.
They passed golden gates lined with guards whose armor sang softly with lightning.
"No wonder these guys think they're gods," Victor murmured. "Their buildings literally flex."
> "Technically, they are gods," AETHER replied. "And they know it."
---
Inside the palace, Odin waited—eyes ancient enough to remember silence. Beside him lounged Loki, smile sharp as a dagger in moonlight.
"So this is the mortal who tampered with reality," Odin rumbled.
Victor bowed awkwardly. "Tampered's harsh. I prefer creative physics adjustment."
Loki's smirk widened. "Bold tongue for fragile bones."
Victor shot back, "Lot of talk for a guy who keeps losing teeth."
Thor's laughter cracked the hall. Loki's grin froze mid-way.
> "Efficient," AETHER noted. "Making enemies on day one."
Odin's raised hand hushed the room. "The fragments you close—what do you know of their birth?"
Victor hesitated. "Only that they appear and hate being closed."
Odin's gaze darkened. "They are scars from the Fracture War—older than Asgard itself. Each wound bleeds into Yggdrasil."
"Wait," Victor blinked. "The world tree? That Yggdrasil?"
Loki's voice slithered in. "Indeed. And every scar you seal wakes something sleeping beneath its roots."
Thor stiffened. "The World Serpent?"
"Not yet," Odin warned. "But it dreams."
> "Confirmed," AETHER whispered. "The fragments are evolving. Something vast directs them."
"So I'm patching cosmic arteries with duct tape," Victor muttered.
Odin nodded gravely. "And every patch weakens the chains that bind the beast."
Thor clapped him on the back. "Then we reforged the chains! A quest worthy of heroes!"
Loki rolled his eyes. "Or idiots. Depends who's alive at the end."
---
Night draped Asgard in auroras. Thor sat on a balcony, tankard in hand; Victor joined, the two silhouettes framed by starlight.
"Still can't believe this place," Victor whispered. "Like living inside a myth."
Thor smiled. "Even myths must face change."
"You're starting to sound philosophical," Victor teased.
"I've learned," Thor said, eyes on the horizon. "Mortals burn bright and brief. Gods burn slow until they fade. You remind me to live."
Victor laughed softly. "Deep talk from a man who headbutts frost giants."
"And you, Victor Drake?" Thor asked. "Why toy with forces beyond men?"
"Because if I don't, no one will," Victor said. "And because someone has to stop what's coming."
> "You forgot self-preservation," AETHER chimed. "He's also stupidly stubborn."
"Shut up, AETHER."
---
Thunder split the night. Loki appeared upside-down in midair, grinning.
"You mortals never sleep. Always plotting destiny. Boring."
Victor groaned. "What now?"
"Entertainment," Loki said, landing lightly. "And a warning."
"That's new."
Loki's smirk dimmed. "The rifts you seal—they're opened on purpose. Someone feeds from the chaos."
> "Confirmed," AETHER hissed. "External interference."
"Who?" Victor demanded.
"Nullus," Loki whispered. "A god even Odin fears. He dwells between timelines, feeding on collapse. Every rift you close starves him—every open one feeds him."
Thor bristled. "You lie!"
"I rarely waste lies on mortals." Loki's gaze flicked to Victor's arm. "Your system's signal—he's tracking it."
Victor froze. "Tracked?"
> "Impossible," AETHER breathed. "Unless—"
"Unless?" Victor snapped.
> "Unless another system is awake."
Ravens shrieked overhead. Magic thickened like storm-pressure. Loki vanished in green smoke.
Thor gripped his hammer. "Then we hunt tomorrow."
Victor met his gaze. "Then I'd better learn to swing back."
> "Tutorial complete," AETHER said. "Welcome to survival mode."
---
Hours later, moonlight washed the marble halls.
Victor sat alone, Wakandan shard hovering above his palm. It pulsed—soft, then stronger—like a second heartbeat.
> "It's merging," AETHER whispered. "Your DNA's adapting. You're not just wielding the fragment. You are one."
Blue cracks crawled across his skin, fading with each breath.
"So that's it," he murmured. "Fix the universe long enough, and you become its disease."
> "No," AETHER said gently. "You become its cure. Cures have side effects."
Victor laughed under his breath, eyes fierce. "Then let's see how bad they get."
Lightning ripped the sky open.
Thunder rolled through Asgard's bones.
And far beneath the golden mountains, something ancient stirred—and, for the first time, it stirred back.