Cosmic Cube
The Cosmic Cube has been at the center of much of Earth's history, and is one of the most powerful artifacts in the universe.
50,000 years ago, a [[[Kree]]] bioweapons research colony was stationed on Earth. Considering it a backwards, savage planet, the Kree experimented readily on her natives.
Much of the Kree research involved augmentation using [[[Skrull]]] biogenetic information, in an attempt to unlock dormant [[[Celestial]]] DNA encoding.
They also experimented on a dangerously unstable new energy matrix-- the Cosmic Cube. In a sense, the Kree did not fully understand what they had created. In their hands was a latent sentience, a dormant intelligence derived from the fabric of the universe around Earth.
The Cube consolidated the power of the pre-sapient [[[Demiurge]]] into a single machine, a crystal construct filled with immense energy. Lacking awareness, the Cube fulfills the wishes of the bearer. Simply directing willpower leverages the vast, incalculable might of the Demiurge itself to change reality-- but only once can each individual do so.
The Kree were annihilated en masse by the power unleashed in developing the Cube. Weather patterns changed and Siberia enveloped their colony ship. A century later, a dying, wounded [[[Vandal Savage]]] would discover the abandoned vessel and the Cube within. His wish: 'To Survive'.
During his war with the early [[[Inhumans]]], the Cube disappeared again. Sages and mystics would periodically try to hide or bury it, but such things are inevitably found again and used. The Cube, strangely alive, would reappear intermittently, then disappear once a single wish was granted. Calamity always followed.
In 42,000 BCE, The Cube would be discovered by a young sorcerer of [[[Atlantis]]] named [[[Merlyn]]]. Instead of power or wealth, he wished only for wisdom. The Demiurge granted his wish, and Merlyn became the first [[[Sorcerer Supreme]]].
Curating guardianship of the Cube, Merlyn protected it from abuse for thousands of years. It would be used once more on Earth by his former protege, [[[Morgana Le Fay]]]. In a moment when Morgana could have done much to protect humanity from [[[Ragnarok]]], she gave in to anger and cruelty. Her wish was for 'Vengeance' against Atlantis, with all the potent fury and centuries of scorn she could put behind the demand. The Cube cracked wide a hole in the universe, giving insane Atlantean cultists access to the [[[Realm Between Worlds]]] and the dread entity [[[C'thulu]]].
Lost again for millennia, the Cube would be recovered and used again. The wish this time: To restore the Demiurge. With the return of the Demiurge's awareness, the [[[New Gods]]] returned to the world as well.
When [[[Wakanda]]] went to war with the [[[Inhumans]]] some 5,000 years later, the Cosmic Cube reappeared. The rebel-king of Wakanda, [[[C'muro]]], wished for metal for weapons that could harm the mighty Inhumans, creating vast deposits of [[[Vibranium]]] under their capital city. The aftermath of his war blasted the Kree science ship apart, spreading debris thousands of miles away and burying the cube in the ice floes of the Arctic Circle.
The last known location of the Cosmic Cube came at the height of World War II. Captain [[[Steve Rogers]]] and his allies, the Defenders, entered into a race with Col. [[[Johann Schmidt]]] to reclaim the lost Cube from the wreckage of the original Kree science vessel. The Kree ship was sunk deep into the Arctic Ocean, lost forever, and the Cube-- un-used-- along with it.
