Odin's Bargain

Music blared aboard the Milano. Quill had put on seventies rock and cranked up the volume.

His father had just died—a Celestial who had wanted to use him as a battery. But Quill didn't look sad. If anything, he looked as though a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Chu Hang ignored him.

He sat cross-legged in the cargo hold, eyes closed, his awareness sinking into his body.

Ego's core fragment had been a prize. It had pushed the energy within him to a new level. With the Celestials' form of life, manipulating matter felt as natural as breathing.

But he wasn't satisfied.

He wanted to try something deeper.

The Law of Force raged in violet, carrying the overwhelming might of the heavens. Tyrannical. Direct. It destroyed everything.

The Law of Space glowed icy blue. Calm and intricate, it built everything.

He wanted to twist them together.

Even he thought the idea was insane. Odin had never done it. But great rewards came with great risks. How would he know it was impossible unless he tried?

He summoned a thread of scarlet Law of Force and drew in a wisp of blue Law of Space.

The two threads of law, each finer than a hair, slowly drew closer under his control.

Then they touched, ever so lightly.

They exploded.

Not with a sound. Reality collapsed at the Rule Layer.

In the Milano's cargo hold, space suddenly crumpled like a sheet of paper. A rift tore open out of nowhere.

It was black and reflected no light, like the deepest void in the universe.

A tremendous pull erupted from it. Spare parts and energy canisters stored in the hold were yanked inside. Without a sound, they broke down into elementary particles.

"Hey! What the fuck are you doing?"

The alarms