Compared with Peter Quill, who had excitedly drawn his Element Gun, Kraft was far calmer. He took two steps forward, leaned toward Red Skull, and studied his face closely.
"Are you really Schmidt?"
"Yes. I never imagined I would meet fellow Earthlings here."
Red Skull continued to answer Kraft in that ethereal voice.
"I was banished here by the Space Stone, to guide others to a treasure I cannot possess."
As Red Skull spoke, he led Kraft and the others forward.
They arrived beneath two enormous stone pillars. Below them stood a cliff that had clearly been fashioned by human hands.
Red Skull stopped at the cliff's edge, turned around, and pointed toward it as he addressed Kraft and the others. "What you seek lies ahead... as does what you fear."
Kraft approached the edge and craned his neck to look down. Below the cliff was an enormous circular stone platform, with intricate patterns faintly visible around its perimeter.
He took out the Infinity Stone Radar and checked it, but it still showed nothing. Kraft switched to other types of detectors, only to discover that the energy readings throughout the mountain, including the clouds above it, were chaotic and disordered. He could obtain no useful information at all.
"The Soul Stone holds a special place among the Infinity Stones," Red Skull explained from beside him. "You could say it possesses a certain intelligence. To obtain it, you must pay... a price."
"Pay a price?" Kraft frowned and ventured a guess. "Don't tell me that price is a soul?"
He instinctively thought of the thing called the Philosopher's Stone in the Dream Realm. In some respects, it was rather similar to the Infinity Stones.
"Exactly. A soul." Red Skull glanced at Kraft before continuing, "To ensure its wielder understands its power,