Chapter 208

The power of the Aether was immense, and no ordinary means could destroy it. Ultimately, it was buried deep underground, essentially sealed away due to its overwhelming strength.

However, where exactly it was buried, Syd was unsure. He only knew that the Aether resided in a hidden space, accessible through a spatial rift located somewhere on Earth during the convergence of the Nine Realms.

As he pondered this, Syd began his search for Jane.

Thanks to his previous observations, it didn't take long for him to find her, busy at work.

Instead of approaching directly, Syd used Jane's friend, Darcy, to guide her toward the next step.

In the workspace:

"What's this?" Jane asked, puzzled as she stared at the device Darcy handed her.

It was a palm-sized monitor, emitting a steady beeping noise while displaying some strange data.

"Is it broken?" Jane asked as she tapped it against the desk, trying to get it working properly.

"I already tried that, but it didn't work. I thought you'd try something a bit more scientific..." Darcy shrugged.

A few hours later, Jane, Darcy, and an intern were out in the field, equipped with their instruments. They found themselves at an expansive, long-abandoned shipping company's facility.

The area was overgrown with weeds and damp, seemingly untouched for years.

"Is this the place...?"

Watching from several meters above, Syd hovered, completely invisible. His curiosity was piqued as he followed the trio.

Without hesitation, he moved silently, flying after them into the facility. Thanks to his optical cloaking, neither Jane nor Darcy could sense his presence.

Syd observed quietly as they wandered through the abandoned site, searching for something.

Soon, they stumbled upon something strange—gravity seemed to be acting abnormally.

An old, discarded car sat in the dimly lit warehouse, and when Darcy accidentally touched it, the car began to float.

"God…"

The astonishing sight left them speechless.

Syd glanced at them briefly before turning his attention elsewhere. After a moment of thought, he left the trio and headed toward a staircase.

He didn't fly up this time but instead walked up slowly.

Upon reaching the third floor, Syd casually picked up a stone and tossed it downward.

The gray stone fell with a whoosh, but instead of hearing the sound of it hitting the floor, the stone vanished, only to reappear above him moments later, falling again.

The stone was caught in a loop—falling, disappearing, then reappearing overhead in a continuous cycle.

"The space here is definitely unstable…"

Syd keenly sensed the strange spatial fluctuations.

However, the spatial disturbance seemed weaker than he had anticipated, likely because he had arrived too early. Objects he threw now only reappeared above, rather than being transported to another place through the rift.

A slight concern crossed his mind—had he come too soon to access the space where the Aether resided?

After a moment, he shook his head.

"If I can't access it now, I'll use spatial manipulation or the Tesseract later. One way or another, I'll reach that place."

As this thought crossed his mind, he heard footsteps approaching—it was Jane and the others.

A while later, Jane noticed the readings on her instruments fluctuating wildly, the device beeping incessantly.

She had seen something like this before—the same phenomenon had occurred when Thor arrived through the Bifrost.

Instinctively, she followed the data, searching for the source of the disturbance.

Syd, observing Jane closely, mused, "I remember the entrance to the Aether's dimension being somewhere else…"

Following Jane should lead to the right place.

However...

As he trailed behind her, a question arose in his mind.

Syd recalled that Jane had been pulled into the dimensional rift by a mysterious gust of wind.

But this place wasn't particularly windy. How could there be a gust strong enough to move a full-grown woman?

There had to be some other force at play—something hidden, exerting power behind the scenes.

"Was it a Dark Elf… or the Aether itself?"

Syd frowned, leaning more toward the idea that it was the Aether's doing.

He had long suspected that the Infinity Stones had some level of sentience, choosing their wielders and, in some cases, even resisting them.

Of course, even if the Stones had some form of intelligence, they couldn't fully activate their power without a user to channel it…

As Syd pondered this, he suddenly noticed that Jane had reached the location.

The device in her hand beeped louder and faster than ever, and then a strange gust of wind appeared.

Despite the surrounding windows being closed, an unnatural force pushed Jane forward into the rift.

In just a few seconds, she passed through an invisible barrier and vanished from sight.

Seeing this, Syd's suspicions were confirmed.

Without wasting time, he followed her, attempting to pass through the same invisible rift.

However, something unexpected happened.

Though he could sense the spatial anomaly with his hands, he found himself unable to pass through.

Syd let out a cold chuckle.

Unfazed, he reached to his waist and retrieved the Tesseract, which was wrapped in cloth.

In an instant, the Tesseract emitted a radiant blue light.

The small spatial rift before him rippled violently under the immense power of the Tesseract.

With the might of the Tesseract's spatial manipulation, the barrier parted like water, revealing a darkened scene beyond.

It was clear—the Tesseract had forcefully torn open the rift.

After scanning the dim environment on the other side, Syd quietly stepped through.

Inside the dark space, Jane was panicking, calling out Darcy's name as she stood lost and confused.

At that moment, something caught her eye—a tall, rectangular stone with a glowing red light emanating from a crack in its center. Flowing red liquid pulsed within the crack, moving as if it were alive.

Unable to resist her curiosity, Jane approached the stone.

As soon as she got close, she was abruptly pulled against the stone's surface. The red liquid within the crack began to surge toward her, attempting to enter her body.

Jane's face twisted in fear.

Just when she thought things were about to go terribly wrong, a layer of red energy appeared between her and the Aether.

"What… is this?" she whispered.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps approaching.

Instinctively, she turned around, and what she saw left her utterly shocked.

A mysterious figure, dressed in black, was calmly walking toward her.

Jane's eyes widened in disbelief.

(End of Chapter)

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