When the dust cleared from the landing of the Bifrost, the travelers emerged into the darkness of the planet, Unnamed. Thor, Loki and Jennica observed their surroundings, looking to see if they had landed where expected. Even, the Elvish soldier and their trusted friend, had been instructed to go with them after Kvasir had given final instructions and guidance. He was to help them navigate the temple and offer an extra set of firepower in case there was someone looking for a fight once they got inside.

The sky was a blanket of black and dark gray, the clouds swirling together in an ugly mess, rumbling with thunder. They produced no lightning or rain, as if the sky was groaning in anger. Thor was unbothered by the thunder, leading the group across the dry gravel that surrounded them. The small forest they entered was made up of dead and dying trees. No animals or other signs of life could be seen.

"Where do we go from here, Even?" Thor asked as they continued to walk. "There is no moon for us to follow."

"As long as we keep going straight, the woods should clear." Even answered from the back of the group. "Right on the outskirts should be a village, and below the mansion that housed these villagers' leader should be the temple, according to your book."

"Let's hope they're welcoming." Loki whispered to himself. If any of them are still alive.

The assumed village appeared after a moment's trek, dark and quiet. Within the village sat crumbling homes with clearly no sign of recent life. The wood on the homes were spotted with mold, moss was growing over the cobblestone, and most of the roofs were caved in.

"I wonder what happened here." Jennica said, looking around at the broken homes while they walked into the village center. "You would think the place that holds a literal temple to the Infinity Fractals would not be unnamed, and now abandoned."

Thor nodded. "I agree. The books spoke nothing of the details of this planet, they only offered coordinates."

"I would assume that maybe it was a better hiding place." Loki added. "I don't think these temples were made to bring any attention."

The mansion was just up ahead, resting on a hill. The destruction of its architecture was evidence of a fire that had burned its frame sometime in the past. As they entered through its broken doors, the floorboards squeaked beneath their feet. There were holes in the ceiling above them and the smell of smoke still lingered in the walls.

"Keep a lookout." Thor spoke, his voice low. "There could be someone hiding in here."

Even drew his sword to guard the other end of the group as Thor continued to lead. Loki was at the ready with his daggers and Jennica hoped she would be ready to use her fractals if need be. There wasn't any offered information on what life may have lived on this unnamed planet, but they weren't about to be caught by surprise. Based on the looks of the mansion, however, the previous owners didn't appear to be giants at least.

"Thor, we need to find a way to get below this ground floor." Even spoke up. "The temple is below us."

"I say we just smash through this floor." Thor replied, looking at an area that appeared to be sinking into the ground.

Loki chimed in. "That's always your default, isn't it? To break things, like the Hulk."

"Don't speak ill of my friend." Thor knew Banner's absence was a remaining wound for the team of Avengers back on earth, and he too wondered if the Hulk was still out there, alive.

"What? It's true, all he does is smash things."

"But you said it like it was a negative thing."

"Thor, Loki," Jennica interrupted them, her hands holding an orb of glowing light. "I can create an opening if you both are willing to step aside." She felt good being able to draw power from her fractals without them acting out. It gave her some confidence.

Loki raised his eyebrows, both proud and impressed. He hadn't seen her use her powers in quite some time. "By all means." He stepped to the side and Thor did the same.

Focusing on the sinking floorboards, Jennica heated the orb between her palms. She wouldn't destroy the floor, but she would remove the boards and create an open space through. By the way it was sinking, it looked as if someone had been below them before and covered it back up. She would control her power and use it only for what was needed. It wouldn't fight back, it would obey her. It had to.

She continued to mentally urge herself on as the energy of her fractals spread to the floorboards and removed them in one swift move, tossing them aside to reveal the crumbling ground below. There was only one layer of stone that had been blocking a set of stairs, purposefully hidden, and they knew they had what they were looking for.

The energy retreated back into Jennica's palm and she held it up. "I'll use this as a light for us," she said. The four of them began descending the stairs.

Jennica was thankful for the guidance of her parents. Since having returned to Alfheim, they had both helped her regulate the energy of the artifact that held her fractals, returning some light magic to its frame. She could feel it had already been helping restore her control over the power she held, and wondered if things would have gotten worse had they not ever returned to Alfheim.

"My lady, is it possible you could add another light?" Even asked, nearly stumbling.

"Oh yes, of course." Jennica was quick to reply, adding another burst of energy to the orb she was holding.

The bottom of the stairs was blocked with a stone entrance, decorated in old carvings. Jennica approached the stone and placed a hand on its cool surface.

"I won't be able to move this stone, even with the fractals," she said. "It's too deep and thick."

Loki's eyes narrowed. "I also sense magic coating this entrance. It isn't your inability, Jennica. Not even your fractals can break this bind. Mjolnir won't be able to even make a dent."

Thor tried not to show his disappointment.

"These must be the carvings our king told us about," Even said, pointing to the carvings on the stone. Kvasir had told them of how the ancients and sorcerers of old would carve symbols into their architecture, telling tales of their civilization.

Indeed, the carvings portrayed the village, the people who had once inhabited it, and a large image of three of the Infinity Fractals in the midst of those who dwelled. The carvings displayed the fractals having been important to those who had once lived on Unnamed, and it was a clear indication that the only way forward was beyond this stone.

"May I draw your attention to something?" Even spoke up again, having strayed over to the edge of the stone wall, holding a piece of old, crinkled paper in

his hand. "I saw this in the corner just now."

Thor immediately took possession and smoothed out the crinkled paper. It was tarnished to the point where hardly any written words could be made out, but in the center was the drawing of a key. Loki noticed immediately that any words available to make out were written in the same ancient language as the old books they had been using. In fact, he remembered one of their books having a missing page as well.

"Let me see…" Loki reached to grab the page from Thor. He read over the runes.

"What does it say?" Jennica asked.

"This page isn't just its image. It's the key to getting to the other side of this wall, and it came from one of the books. Brother, remember when we found a book with a missing page?"

Thor looked surprised. "Why, yes. Is this it?"

"It has to be. The runes are the same ancient language and the tears are on the same side."

Jennica sank. "So someone has already been here."

This realization quieted the group. Someone else had already found the books, someone else had already discovered the first key to the first temple. More than likely, someone else already had these fractals.

"We need to try and get in, regardless." Even spoke. "Someone may have beat us to the temple, but there's no guarantee they were able to successfully remove the fractals. With power so strong, it may have destroyed them instead."

Thor breathed deep. "I guess there's no knowing unless we go inside. How do we use this key?"

"Over here," Even motioned to a rectangle indent in the stone, the exact shape of the page. "As soon as I found the page, I knew it had to match with this."

"Genius…" Loki said, surprised. "They must have bound magic to the page, activating this stone gate when pressed to it. But I assume Jennica may need to add some of her own power to it. I didn't feel too much magic on that paper."

"This will work?" Jennica took the page in her hands, frowning. No one answered her question. They just knew it had to work or they weren't getting through at all. Feeling discouraged, despite having a way in, she opened the stone entrance and the temple was revealed.

In unison, they all breathed. The temple was a void of darkness, deep within the ground of the Unnamed, welcoming the travelers with its deafening silence and its labyrinth of halls. The four of them stepped inside, Jennica holding up her magic again to offer what light she could. The deeper they went, the further the darkness swallowed them.

Finding an old, flameless torch hanging on the wall, Jennica took it from its anchor and lit the stick aflame with the heat of her magic. A purple flame came to life and was used to light three more torch sticks, one for each member of the group. Now, there was a ring of light bright enough to navigate the temple, and its magnitude became more obvious once they could see its design.

"Why such a large temple for these small fractals?" Jennica asked, holding her torch up to see the carvings that decorated the walls as they walked.

"This temple wasn't just built for securing the fractals," Even replied. "It was also built to honor them." They took in the walls, the hallways, the images that the carvings portrayed, already feeling lost; all except for Even. "Come along, there should be a holding place in the center of the temple. The labyrinth of halls around us is only for decoration." He led them straight on.

The hallway did indeed lead to a central expanse that was open and tall. In the center of the room sat a stone table, runes carved around its edge and images carved on its top. Thor, Loki, Jennica and Even, all crowded around the table. Loki read the runes immediately.

"We have to push the top off." Loki said, setting his hands on the table. Only then did the carved images register. It was a scene of the villagers using the fractals, their power giving youth, health, and prosperity to the people. Fractals that could reverse age, reverse sickness… it had to be the fractals of the Time Stone. What a gift of power. Complete immortality could be anyone's with these gems. Loki's mouth ran dry.

The rest of the group joined Loki by gripping the sides of the table's top and shoving it off, Thor taking the bulk of the load. Within the crevice of the table lay three gold boxes, the welded copper edges looking green from years of oxidation. What struck their hearts was to see the lids removed, empty as the boxes lay in their bed of stone, ash and dust. These Time Fractals were gone, removed from their safekeeping. Every hope they had in this moment began to dwindle away.

"Someone else has them," Thor growled, the frustration beginning to burn.

"What about the clues to the next location that my father told us about?" Jennica asked, beginning to sift through the dust and ash to see if there was anything hidden.

"Split up," Even said. "Explore the halls to see if you find anything. We'll meet back here."

The group agreed, and in one accord began to make their way through the various halls, observing carved images, runes, looking for hidden doors, anything that would guide them on what to do next. Some were even hopeful that the stone table was just a decoy, that the real fractals were still hiding somewhere. It just couldn't end in disappointment. They didn't have enough time to wait if there was someone else collecting the fractals sooner.

Loki was soon far enough from the others that he could no longer hear their echoing footsteps. Exploring the hallways, he tried to find something, anything, but each hall was the same. They were narrow, covered in intricately carved images and leading to a dead end. He wondered if the others were having better luck.

After tirelessly searching for minutes on end, he noticed that his torch was beginning to lose light. He decided to make his way back to the others so as not to get lost in the darkness. The purple flame continued to die. He rushed into the cold corridor and towards the central room.

Loki…

He paused, thinking he heard a voice whisper his name. Had he? Or was it all in his head? He turned towards a darkened opening to a hallway he hadn't seen yet. He could barely see past the entrance, but a whispering voice could be heard. It called him, persuading him inside. The dying torch dropped from his hand as his steps slowly wandered in…

…"Who calls?" He responded to the whispering voice. Without his torch, it was impossible to see. There was movement in the shadows, that much he knew. "Who are you?"

There was no response, but the hallway seemed to grow the further he walked. At times, he could have sworn he saw a figure standing, but it would join the darkness a moment after. As the hallway grew, golden light began to appear, morphing the walls into another place, a place familiar to Loki. His feet felt heavy when the realization struck him.

The figure he had been seeing became clear in his sight. It resembled him, a younger him, standing before the Casket of Ancient Winters below the Asgardian palace. A lump caught in Loki's throat seeing the image before him. He felt that his legs were getting heavier, keeping him from getting any closer.

This younger person, this boy that appeared so similar to Loki, placed his trembling hands on the Casket. The frost grew through his fingertips and began to melt away the Æsir form. Loki remembered this day, the moment he realized the lie he had lived. He waited to see if Odin would enter, just as he had before, to tell him the daunting truth. To tell him of the monster he was. He heard another figure approaching. This had to be it.

Expecting to see Odin, the father that betrayed him, Loki's glossy eyes met with one that was evil. It was not the Allfather. This was a figure hiding beneath a dark cloak, a wave of darkness following him, swallowing everything in its path. Loki took a step back in shock, watching as the golden light began to dwindle. From beneath the cloak reached a hand to place on the shoulder of the boy, and soon the person beneath the cloak was towering over him from behind.

Loki could see it all, and the moment the ugly hand placed itself on the boy, a rage began to burn within Loki's chest. No, whoever this person was did not belong, and he felt a need to protect the boy who seemed to be oblivious. The anger, despite coming out of nowhere, continued to rise.

"Leave him alone!" Loki shouted. His voice echoed off of the walls.

The figure stiffened, slowly turning. Loki swallowed the lump in his throat, watching as two yellowed eyes peered from beneath the cloak's hood. Who was under the shadow? He could not make out any features besides the eyes.

"It's too late for you." This figure hissed, the voice haunting. "They are already mine."

Loki's face was paler than ever, but he stood his ground. "I meant what I said."

The figure mocked him, dissolving into a puddle of darkness that began to swallow away the rest of Loki's surroundings, bringing him back to the temple on Unnamed. Now, he could feel a heaviness in his chest, all of his body feeling weighed down by the darkness surrounding him. He looked ahead at the stone wall.

An image began to etch its way into the stone, looking similar to the other carvings Loki had seen decorating the temple. His eyes grew wide as he watched art create itself without an artist. This image began to tell the rest of the villagers' tale, how the Infinity Fractals became their undoing. They worshiped themselves when finding how to maintain their youth and health. This pride became their undoing when the enemy came and snatched away their most prized possession, cursing them and their planet to succumb to darkness. Inevitable age, sickness, and death ended their civilization.

Loki held himself up on the wall as the heaviness grew heavier, crushing him, nearly strangling him. His eyes watered.

Loki…

…"Loki!"

He turned to see Jennica, her hand on his shoulder, startling him out of the vision. He looked back to the wall to see that the carving had vanished. But it felt so real.

"Brother, we were deeply worried," Thor spoke, approaching Loki. "You were gone for quite some time."

"And something isn't right," Jennica added. "We aren't feeling well."

Loki looked at them, sharply. "It's dark magic. We need to leave this place, it's everywhere, and it's only growing. It's consuming this planet."

Even, who was noticeably ill from the surrounding dark magic, nodded. "Make your way for the stairs. There's nothing more to find here and we haven't a moment to waste."

The group, now reunited, began to run towards the stone gate, retreating through the mansion and back into the open where they could see the clouds had grown darker. While running, Even reached into his pocket and pulled out a bottle. Filled inside was a concentration of light magic. A rare trinket, but a gift from the king. Even popped the cork and light seeped from the bottle, binding to each member as they retreated to the open where Heimdall could reach them.

The light that encompassed them filled air into their lungs and willed away the heaviness the dark magic worked to bring. It wasn't long before Thor was shouting to the sky and a rush of the rainbow Bifrost whisked them away. The view of Unnamed disappeared, and there was no probability of them ever returning again.