With a roar, Heimdall plunged his sword into the cold, gray chest of his attacker. It screeched, its glowing red eyes burning brighter than ever. Heimdall was nearly flung to the ground as the human-like creature twisted and writhed with the sword still wrenched in its torso. He'd never seen anything like in all his years as an Asgard warrior. Narrowly avoiding the creature's axe, he yanked the sword from its chest and skirted to the side. The creature continued its scream, wailing and wielding its axe as vehemently as before it was wounded, apparently unfazed by this injury.
Beside him, Thor gritted his teeth and engaged in combat with the creature, swinging his hammer and trying to push it backward and out of the golden hallway in Asgard's palace. His palace. Thor would not tolerate intruders in his own home, where he grew up so happy and safe. Especially since he pledged to keep what it was after just as safe.
The creature was not alone: dozens of gray bodies with glowing eyes trudged down the golden hall waving weapons wildly. Thor and his fellow warriors fought with vigor, but the creatures were not falling as they were hurt. What should have been fatal wounds did not hinder them at all, and they pressed toward the giant door at the end of the hall. A faint blue light shone through the bottom of the door. Thor couldn't let them get that far, and with a war cry, he renewed his fight, swinging his hammer with ten times the vigor he had before.
But blue light burst into the scene—someone had opened the door. Thor turned with a start to see a silver shadow pick up a glowing, pulsating Tesseract. At its touch the cube shrank into a small stone. Thor roared and charged toward the door. The shadow looked up, and Thor was surprised to see shocking blue eyes rather than the eerie red ones he'd seen from his foes thus far. And then the shadow was gone, along with the stone. The stone—one of six infinity gems—was one of the most powerful forces to ever exist. In the wrong hands, unspeakable horrors could occur, disrupting the fate of the entire universe. And Thor just watched it disappear with a shadow.
The creatures began to fall back, their intended object retrieved, and the Asgard warriors chased them out of the hall. Heimdall stayed behind, looked back at the vulnerable open doorway, and then back at Thor, his enraged leader. Thor's chest was heaving and his knuckles were white as he gripped his hammer tightly. Heimdall recognized his ruler was about to leave the realm and jumped out of the way. With a roar, Thor raised his hammer into the air. His voice was drowned out by a clap of thunder, and a lightning bolt struck the hammer, engulfing Thor in a flash of light. In a moment, he was gone, leaving an old Norse pattern on the golden marble behind.
When the blinding light faded, Thor found himself surrounded by broken glass and a vast array of items and furniture tossed all around him. The white fluorescent lights cast an eerie glow over the collection of objects of all sizes, shapes, and colors that surrounded him. Thor felt the panic rise in his chest when he saw the state of the place, especially when he saw a man with bleached spiked hair holding his head in his hands on the other side of the room. Thor stomped his way through the debris toward the Collector, who looked up miserably at his approach.
"Don't," the Collector held up a hand. "I don't want to hear it."
"Then it's been stolen?" Thor's fury rose like bile in his throat.
"Yes, yes," the Collector moaned. "My collection… ruined…"
"Enough," Thor roared. "Who did this?"
"You don't know?" The Collector was suddenly amused. "Was your gem not also taken from right under your nose? And you still don't know?"
He cackled, and Thor remained stone-faced. "He wants to rule the universe. And he'll do it too. He's almost got all six."
"Who does?" Thor snarled with impatience.
The Collector smirked, but his eyes clouded. "Thanos."
Thor's jaw clenched, but he knew there was no time to hesitate. "We need help. We need the Avengers." He thrust his hammer into the air and disappeared with another flash of lightning.
The Collector stared at the burned Norse insignia on the polished floors. "Great," he muttered. "More damages. Just what I needed."