A YJA Moment - The Space Stone

The Space Stone was formed out of the essence of the New God known as Lightray.  The high-spirited denizen of the Fourth World was fast enough to travel to anywhere in the Known Universe in the blink of an eye.  Likewise, the Space Stone could open portals to any region within its home dimension.

Like many of the Infinity Stones, the Space Stone fell to Earth and was passed from tribe to tribe.  While some were able to tap its power and travel the cosmos, most of it simply worshiped it as a gift from the spirits or their gods.

It fell briefly into the hands of the great painter and architect Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni who became enraptured by Stone's beauty.  Exposure to the power of the Space Stone changed Michaelangelo, allowing him to exist and perceive all points in the universe, becoming the Forever Man. Understanding what would happen if it fell into the wrong hands, he hid it away.

It would not appear again until the 20th Century, when Johann Schmidt, the infamous Red Skull, discovered the Space Stone and attempted to use it to open a gateway to Niffelheim and bring forth an army of the dead to defeat the Allies in World War 2.  He was defeated by The Invaders and the Stone would be confiscated by the Strategic Science Reserve.

Weapons Plus would inherit the Stone after the War conducted a host of experiments on the artifact, developing radical new theories about space and time in the process.  Advanced technologies were created, including teleportation systems and prototypical hyperdrives.  When a disasterous accident with the Stone turned Nathaniel Adam into Captain Atom and nearly destroyed the North American continent, no further human trials were permitted.

The Space Stone would be stolen from a secure Weapons Plus storage facility by an alien known as Leo.  He was the commander of anthropomorphic animals called ThunderCats, an elite force from the planet Triterra.  They had been tasked by their master the Enshrouded One to seek out the Infinity Stones so that he might rule the universe.

While Leo did acquire the Space Stone, he had no plans for giving it to undead Mumm-Ra.  Instead, he gathered a powerful group of individuals that he named the Infinity Watch, who returned to Triterra with the Stones, defeated the Enshrouded One, and entombed him in his own Black Pyramid fortress.

Each member of the Infinity Watch was given a Stone to protect, with Leo himself taking possession of the Space Stone.  While most of the others hid their Stones away, the ThunderCat instead grafted his artifact into the hilt of his blade for safekeeping, calling the weapon the Sword of Omens.  Over the many years, the stone altered the property of the sword, granting it the ability to change its blade length, cut through most objects, project powerful energy blasts, and grant the ability to see anywhere through the Sight Beyond Sight.