I know the weapon you desire. Take the stone and you shall have it. I shall give you a purpose with which to wield it. 
Appearing in 1st story
Featured Characters:
- Venom (Eddie Brock) (Bonds to the Dreamstone Symbiote)
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Unnamed Fire Goblin
- Dark Elves
- Dark Elf army
- Unnamed Rock Troll (First appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Venom symbiote (Mentioned)
- Carl Brock (Referenced)
- "Rex Strickland" (Mentioned)
- Numerous unnamed New Yorkers
- Avengers (Mentioned)
- Malekith the Accursed (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Symbiotes (Mentioned)
Locations:
- Ten Realms
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- Asgard (Mentioned)
-
- Hell (Invoked)
Items:
- Dreamstones (First appearance)
- Magic Venom Costume (First appearance)
Synopsis for 1st story
Eddie Brock runs down an empty Manhattan street with his son Dylan in tow, reminding himself to stay focused since he no longer has the Venom symbiote to empower him. He notes that not too long ago he would have been overcome with despair at being alone, but that he's not alone anymore. Dylan asks Eddie where they're going, Eddie replying that he's taking Dylan somewhere safe - noting that he chose to let Dylan believe they're half-brothers for the time being in light of the world falling apart. As a Fire Demon rounds a corner and heads towards them, Eddie yanks Dylan into an alley and they wait for the monster to pass - Eddie shushing Dylan and thinking to himself that he has to be a better parent than his father.
Taking shelter in a warehouse, Dylan notes that the news said that Asgard invaded Earth, and Eddie tells him they don't know for sure what's going on but that they need to lay low until it blows over. Eddie tells Dylan that they're going to a safehouse that belonged to a friend named Rex Strickland, but is interrupted by screams coming from outside. Seeing a group of civilians being chased by a trio of dark elves, Eddie tells Dylan to keep himself hidden while he intervenes. Dylan begs Eddie not to, saying he's not Venom anymore; but Eddie says that Venom or not he has to do something and is ten kinds of stupid. Approaching the trio of dark elves, Eddie yells at them to go away, the elves mocking his bravado as they surround him. Eddie manages to get a few good blows in - buying time for the elves' would-be victims to flee - but is slashed and impaled for his trouble. The dark elves mock Eddie for thinking he - a mere human - could be a hero and stand against them, leaving him to bleed out as they depart to pursue the fleeing civilians. Dylan peeks out of his hiding space and is spotted by one of the elves. Dylan surrenders, but the dark elf gleefully replies that he doesn't take prisoners; Eddie grabbing him from behind and snapping his neck, to Dylan's discomfort. As Dylan supports Eddie, they are observed by Malekith's trio of War Witches, the tall and thin witch noting that Eddie has a warrior's bloodlust and rage but lacks the armor and weapons to unleash it. Her sisters caution her against meddling, but she ignores them.
Arriving at Rex's safehouse, Dylan notes that it doesn't look like much. In response, Eddie opens one of the hidden armories, Dylan marveling at the number of firearms. The tall war witch appears, remarking that mortal weapons are useless against her kind. Grabbing a pistol, Eddie aims it at her but she casually melts the gun with magic as a demonstration. Smiling sadistically, the war witch states she knows that a firearm isn't the weapon Eddie wants, conjuring a tall blue-white crystal and saying that it is. In response to Eddie's incredulity, the witch explains that the crystal is a dreamstone - a rare mystical object that becomes whatever its user desires - attuned to become a weapon. Dylan cautions Eddie against trusting her, but the witch tells Eddie that if he takes the dreamstone he will obtain the weapon he desires. Eddie reaches out and the dreamstone transforms into a Venom-like symbiote inscribed with Nordic runes and studded with crystal spikes; Eddie remarking that his new costume feels similar to yet different from the Venom symbiote. Dylan hesitantly asks if he's still himself, Eddie assuring him that he's alright. The war witch addresses Eddie, saying that the artificial symbiote is healing his wounds and that he now has the power to protect his loved ones, and in exchange he is to serve Malekith. As she reaches towards him, Eddie pretends to be obedient until she draws too close and then bites off her arm, the witch stammering that she never foresaw this and hurriedly teleporting away. As Eddie licks the blood from his fangs, he turns to Dylan - who is staring at him in disgust - and says that in order to fight monsters he had to become one again. Eddie gloats that the witch wanted him to serve Malekith but that he's going to use the power she gave him in order to fight the invasion, passing Dylan a submachine gun and telling him to wait in the safehouse. Dylan incredulously asks if Eddie is abandoning him, but Eddie replies that he has a duty to protect the innocent. Shutting the safehouse door, Eddie rips the controls out and sets out into the night, noting that in lying to Dylan he might have more parental instincts than he thought.
Eddie comes across a troll and some dark elves torturing captured civilians, noting that the dreamstone-symbiote is filling him with a familiar overwhelming bloodlust but that it's somehow different from the Venom symbiote's ravenous corrupted state. Recognizing the dark elves as the same ones who'd wounded him, Eddie snarls that he's back for revenge and rips them apart, taking one of their swords for himself. As he fights, Eddie realizes that the dreamstone-symbiote lacks a voice and that the rage and hatred that he feels are his own dialed up to eleven. The troll eagerly attacks, wondering what Eddie's blood tastes like, but is decapitated mid-leap by a tendril. Grabbing the troll's battle-axe, Eddie lets out a victorious roar; inwardly admitting that he's scared by the fact that what he's feeling isn't the predatory urges of his symbiote but his own dark emotions; that the dreamstone-symbiote is a physical manifestation of his own hatred, rage, and bloodlust. When a frightened civilian asks who he is, Eddie states that he is Venom - chastising himself for initially using his customary "we" before changing to "I."
Elsewhere, the maimed war witch teleports into a dark apartment, lamenting that she should have anticipated that Venom would have betrayed her and that she cannot return to her sisters so humiliated - especially after they warned her. A voice interrupts, sarcastically commenting on her sob story before asking what she's doing in his apartment. The war witch states she can offer the speaker a gift, but the tenant sneers that he doesn't accept gifts from creepy old women with eyes in their hair. The war witch smirks and says that his world is coming to an end, and that Venom needs to either be turned into a force for chaos and evil or killed. Conjuring another dreamstone, the witch states she knows that the tenant has a dark history with Venom and desires revenge, offering the power to seek it if he agrees to serve her. Eagerly accepting her offer, Jack O'Lantern steps out of the shadows and reaches for the dreamstone crystal.
Solicit Synopsis
WAR OF THE REALMS TIE-IN!
• The Marvel Comics event of the year makes landfall in the world of the wicked web-slinger as Venom gets swept up in Malekith’s campaign to take over the Ten Realms!
• But Malekith has designs for the sinister symbiote…and they may prove fatal!
