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 and developed many unique technologies with a reckless disregard for safety. 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, a multidimensional enfolding of superreality. 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 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 was 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, Morgan 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 Nullspace 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 in 1800 BCE, 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 Inhuman's science ship apart, spreading debris thousands of miles away and burying the cube in the ice flows 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 Justce 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.
