Clara spent several hours in the Royal Archives. By the time she returned to her room, she was hugging a small stack of books to her chest.
Thor's victory celebration was still going strong. Even from far away, bursts of laughter and revelry drifted through the halls.
She looked up at the enormous stars hanging over Asgard. No matter how long she stared—until her eyes ached—the spectacle of the Celestial Convergence refused to appear again.
Shaking her head, Clara lowered her gaze and began writing on a sheet of blank paper. She recorded everything she had seen, along with the knowledge she had gathered in the Royal Archives about the many races scattered across the cosmos.
For Earth as it was now, this information was priceless.
----
Every night, Thor came to the Rainbow Bridge.
He would ask Heimdall to show him Earth—its skies, its cities, its people. Ever since Odin had stripped him of his divine power and cast him down to Earth, his heart had remained there as well.
"You're late tonight," Heimdall said without turning around.
"I suppose celebrating can be more exhausting than battle," Thor replied, arriving later than usual.
"Then you did something wrong."
"Haha—perhaps."
Heimdall plunged his sword into the control socket, and the Rainbow Bridge slowly powered down.
"The Celestial Convergence is about to begin," Heimdall said calmly. "Very few can sense it, fewer still can see it. It may bring danger… but the sight itself is breathtaking."
Flowing starlight shimmered within Heimdall's orange eyes—the reflection of the Convergence.
Once, Clara had been able to see it as well. Now, she could not.
"I see nothing," Thor said quietly, gazing up at the ordinary stars.
"Perhaps," Heimdall replied meaningfully, "because that is not the beauty you seek."
Thor smiled, a little embarrassed. What he longed to see was never the sky—but her.
"How is she?" he asked.
"That mortal of yours is exceptionally intelligent," Heimdall said. "Though she doesn't realize it yet, she is already researching the Celestial Convergence. And even—"
He stopped abruptly.
Thor's heart jumped. "What is it?"
"I can no longer see her."
Jane Foster and her team followed their instruments to an abandoned factory. Inside, a group of teenagers lingered—they were the first to notice something strange happening there.
"Are you cops?" one of the kids asked warily.
Even abandoned, the factory was still private property.
"No," Jane replied. "We're scientists."
Relieved, the kids led them deeper inside, to the site of the anomaly.
What Jane witnessed defied every known law of physics.
A small boy lifted his hand casually—and a massive truck rose into the air, slowly spinning in place. Jane stared, mouth agape. It felt like a dream.
Upstairs, the kids demonstrated something else. They tossed a bottle over the railing. Midair, it vanished—only to reappear moments later at a higher level, falling again.
Disappear. Reappear. Over and over—until someone caught it.
"This is incredible!" Darcy exclaimed.
Her curiosity exploded. She began tossing anything she could find. Some objects bounced endlessly between two points; others vanished completely.
Jane's device began to scream.
The readings were identical to those recorded years ago in New Mexico—when Thor had descended to Earth via the Rainbow Bridge.
Jane's heart pounded.
It had been so long since Thor left. Her relentless study of celestial phenomena had always been driven by one goal: to find the Rainbow Bridge again… to find him.
Darcy, her intern, and the kids began fooling around on the stairs, while Jane followed the instrument's pull deeper inside. The closer she got, the faster it beeped.
She felt it—she was getting closer to Thor.
Then, at a corner, an invisible force seized her and dragged her into another dimension.
...
The space was vast and empty. Beneath her feet yawned an endless abyss. Behind her stood a strange pillar, split down the center. Within the rift, red liquid flowed—alive.
Jane bent closer, curiosity overpowering caution.
The crimson substance churned violently, emitting an eerie glow that illuminated the void.
Sensing life, it surged—
And suddenly leapt onto Jane, seeping through her hand and into her body.
She stared at her palm. Nothing looked different.
Yet a deep unease crept into her heart.
What just entered me?
…..
At the same moment—
A warship that had drifted silently through space for thousands of years stirred.
A Dark Elf awoke.
He felt it.
Their sacred relic—the Aether—had been activated.
The Aether called to him… and to the remnants of his people.
The Celestial Convergence had begun.
Darkness was coming.
…..
Heimdall could no longer see Jane because she had slipped into another dimension.
The moment he realized it, Thor opened the Rainbow Bridge and descended to Earth.
Jane had been gone for five hours.
She experienced it all unconscious. Darcy, terrified, had called the police—something Jane was furious about when she came to.
"The moment you call the cops, they'll call in federal agents!" Jane snapped. "Then S.H.I.E.L.D. will turn this place into Area 51! We discovered a stable gravitational anomaly—we could've studied it freely! Our only competition was a bunch of teenagers! Now it's ruined!"
"Jane," Darcy shot back, "you disappeared for five hours."
"What?" Jane froze. It felt like only minutes had passed.
Rain suddenly poured from the sky.
Yet within a five-meter radius around Jane, not a single drop fell.
Before she could process it, Thor appeared.
The shock stole Jane's ability to think. It felt unreal. To make sure she wasn't dreaming, she slapped him—hard.
The blow stunned Thor.
"Sorry," Jane said breathlessly. "I had to be sure. Too many strange things happened today."
"I'm real, Jane—"
Smack! Another slap.
Thor was completely dazed.
"Where did you go?!" Jane shouted, tears spilling out. "I waited for you! I cried! Then I came looking for you! You promised you'd come back!"
"I know," Thor said urgently. "But the Rainbow Bridge was destroyed. The Nine Realms fell into chaos—wars, raiders, endless bloodshed. I had to stop it."
Jane exhaled sharply.
That… she could accept.
But she had seen Thor on television—fighting alongside the Avengers in New York.
"Jane," Thor said softly, stepping closer, "I tried to keep you safe from my world. I was wrong. I believe fate brought us together—"
Separated for so long, their words naturally turned tender. They drew closer—
Until Darcy appeared again, utterly ruining the moment.
"Uh… Jane?" she said. "Did you do this?"
Only then did Jane and Thor notice the strange rainless circle around them—as if something unseen was repelling the downpour.
"What… is happening?"
--------------
T/N:
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