Yesterday at 12:30 AM
New
Add bookmark
#112
I carefully tuck the reminder of my home into my bag, making sure its safe and secure, then stand up and turn to Yi Hye-Ri. In the time I spent listening to Twos and looking at the photo, she's managed to free herself. A grave look shows in her eyes as she stares at the frozen scene in front of us. She glances at me then lifts her arms and starts to use the Eye, trying to manipulate time.
The magic circles around her arms rotate as she attempts to regain control, only for the frozen time to flicker back and forth, a single second replaying endlessly. A sigh of frustration leaves her as she lower her arms, seeming to give up. She crosses her hands over the Eye and closes it, causing the events of the past to blur and disappear, leaving us standing in the black stone room, the globe restarting its spin. Yi Hye-Ri casts a series of spells, lighting up the room and causing the seals on the doors to glow.
Lifting her arms to the orb above, she creates and fires off a single rune, causing three magic circles to appear around it. She focuses on them, her expression serious, looking for something I don't understand, before letting out a breath of relief. Once she's finished her actions, she looks over to me, who's stayed standing in the same spot, watching her with curiosity. There's a frown on her face as she stares at me, making my pulse race.
With a sudden click of her finger, I find myself standing in a decent sized, wooden square room, teleported here by the Sorceress Supreme. After my previous experience, the abrupt change in location isn't as disorienting as the first time, my enhanced physique compensating for any instability. Looking around, I see that the room is divided into two sections, a lower part set in the floor, and an upper part that wraps around it.
The lower parts floor is tiled with square brick, copper and black, with seating and low tables, covered in books, plates and lit incense, set around the edge. On the floor, in the centre of the section, are two cushions, a table between them, with a steaming pot and two cups placed upon it. The upper part circles the room, elevated from the lower part by a step that borders it, its flooring made of dark, polished wood. The walls of the room are made of wooden pillars and latticed windows, through which one can see a series of snow-topped mountains.
My examination of the room is interrupted by the arrival of two people entering the room, a woman, Yi Hye-Ri, and a bald man, dark-skinned and clothed in a dark blue robe. Yi Hye-Ri gestures for me to sit, as the man moves to the side of the room and takes a seat, his hands folded in his lap as he looks at me. I glance at the man curiously, then do as she indicated, sitting down on the cushion with my legs folded under me. She walks around me and sits down on her own cushion, then begins to speak, her face solemn,
"To be honest with you..." She pauses here, inviting me to offer my name. Once I do, she continues, "Sarah, I'm not entirely sure what to do with you." She says, causing my heart to drop, "Whatever brought you to this time is powerful beyond anything I've personally ever encountered, and is greater than almost any being recorded by the Masters of the Mystic Arts." Yi Hye-Ri stops here and pours us out some tea, then takes a sip as she gathers her thoughts.
Finally, "The fact that it could overpower the influence of the Eye of Agamotto has put a deep pit of worry in my stomach." Her statement causes the man off to the side to inhale sharply, loud enough to get our attention. Yi Hye-Ri ignores him while I glance at him in worry, seeing his eyes widen before he regains his composure. The reaction of the unnamed man leads me to understand that he knows the power of the Eye, and maybe the fact that it contains an Infinity Stone.
I put my sight back on Yi Hye-Ri as she carries on, a serious look in her eyes, "The potential danger you pose has left a dangerous thought in the back of my mind, one that says to eliminate you, here and now." Her eyes squint into a glare as she stares into my own, causing a bead of cold sweat to drip down the back of neck, before she sighs and closes her eyes. By the time she reopens them, her expression has softened, "But there a greater thought that rings out to me, that points out your potential aid."
"If, instead, you join the sorcerers, to what heights could you grow, should I guide you in the ways of magic? If you are put to use in defending the earth?" She asks, her questions hypothetical. "That thought, above all others, has swayed me, leading me to my decision." She looks over the man, who stands and conjures a set of folded, white clothes. Yi Hye-Ri turns back to me and places her cup down on the table, then asks, "So, Sarah from the future, how would you like join the Masters of the Mystic Arts?"
With a smile on my face and joy in my heart, I stand and cup my hands, then bow deeply to the Sorceress Supreme, half-shouting at her, "It would be my honour!"
The master sorceress looks at me deeply, her dark eyes hiding any of her thoughts, then gives me a small smile and a nod of her head, "Good."
...
The dark-skinned man is silent as he leads me to where I'll be staying, giving me a chance to think. After almost four months, I've finally joined the sorcerers, completing my second step in my quest for eternity. Once I become an actual master sorceress myself, however long that takes, all the knowledge of the Masters of the Mystic Arts will be available to me, greatly increasing my chances.
That's not to say I'm only her to take advantage of them. The sorcerers are earth's greatest line of defence, who risk their lives on a daily basis, putting themselves between the forces of darkness who threaten this dimension and those they seek to destroy. It's a noble cause that aligns with my morality, so if I can aid that defence in any way, I will. With the power of sorcery combined with my innate powers, I know that I can be a great addition to the Masters.
We stop before a wooden door, its frame slightly shorter then me, its body engraved with mystical symbolism, as the man turns to me and speaks for the first time, his voice deep and accented, "This is to be your bedroom." He pushes open the door and enters the small room, stepping over the raised threshold and opening the single window, "Rest for now, eat if you brought food. Tomorrow, the first of your lessons will begin, taught directly by the Sorceress Supreme."
"Is that usual?" I question. This whole situation feels similar to the treatment Doctor Strange received when he was accepted as a novice here, at Kamar-Taj. But, the only reason he was treated special by the Ancient One was because she had foreseen that he was to be her successor; the man who would go onto become the greatest Sorcerer Supreme. Could Twos have spooked Yi Hye-Ri that much? To the extent that she feels the need to personally train me?
The unnamed man speaks from the doorway, getting me to look to him, "Sleep well tonight, Sarah. The Sorceress Supreme is a strict teacher." He gives me a nod of his head, then turns and leaves before I can reply. Sighing, I start to look around my future home; finding a single bed, long enough to fit my frame, pressed up against the right wall, with a tied up curtain hanging just above it. A wooden desk with a single chair is placed left of the entrance, just to the side of the window, while at the end of the room stands an empty bookshelf.
I move over the desk and sit in the chair, then place my bag down and start to remove its contents; some clothing and utilities, the last of my food, a few mementos from the temple, the photo of Mep, and the mouse. Checking on it, I think that it's still sleeping, though it doesn't seem to breath. A quick Spirit Read tells me that it's dreaming, so I adjust the cloth around it and place it to the side, deciding to deal with it later.
Picking up the photo, I pinch its bottom corners with both hands and give it a little kiss, then place it to the side, out of the harm's way. That done, I get up from the chair and move over to the window, looking out at the world around Kamar-Taj. If I remember correctly, in the movies Kamar-Taj is located in Kathmandu, Nepal, instead of its comic origins of Tibet. I'm almost certain that the movie-makers made this change after giving in to pressure from my worlds China to not show Tibet in a good light.
From what I can see, that difference is not reflected in my new reality. Beyond the grounds of Kamar-Taj are distant, snow covered mountains that surround the sorcerers home, in place of the dark, forested mountains from the first movie. As I run my eyes along the mountain range, I come to believe that the location of the grounds is more inline with the second movie, with Kamar-Taj situated on, and hidden within, a forested plateau. If I'm correct about that, then the mountains around me must be the Himalayas.
Pulling my head back in and cycling my Chi to warm myself up, I began to feel how dirty I am as the heat works under my skin, the grime of the day making me irritable. Grabbing a washing cloth from the stuff on my new desk, I exit the room and set about finding somewhere to wash. As I walk through the halls of Kamar-Taj, I can see the sun starting to set over the mountains, lighting the sky in hues of orange and pink. I stop to observe it, then close my eyes, allowing its calming illumination to fall on my skin and clears away the stress of the day.
After a couple of turns, following the sounds of people, I find myself back in the courtyard I arrived in, the voices I heard coming from the few people scattered about, talking to each other and reading on stone benches. A lone boy sitting against one of the wooden pillars that supports the eaves, a teenager going by his height and babyish face, get my attention. But it's not his age that causes me to focus on him, no... It's the fact that he has shoulder-length, dark red hair, the colour of blood.
My great knowledge of the tropes of literature tells me that this boy is no simple being, for he has protagonist hair. Though, as this is the marvel universe, that simply means that the boy is either from some kind of branch of humanity, or a mixed-species, such as an alien? Or perhaps a demon? If he was a demon spawn, I doubt the sorcerers would be ignorant of that fact, so he should be safe to talk to, you know, without him trying to corrupt me.
The boy must've felt my gaze, as he looks up at me, his matching, blood red eyes causing me to break free from my prejudice thoughts. He gives me a suspicious look, probably because of the fact that I'm not in the robes of the sorcerers, before giving me a smile. As I start to walk over to him, he quickly straighten from his slouching posture, and stares up at me.
Stopping before him, I use my acting to try and lower his guard, then ask, "Excuse me, young man." I start, my hint at his maturity causing his smile to widen, "Today is my first day, and I've just settled into my room after a long journey, so I was hoping to find somewhere to wash. But, my guide left me no directions, leaving me no choice but ask someone..." I trail off, hoping he catches my meaning.
As I talked, I had the thought that if this was the modern world, I would've been accused of being some kind of pervert. An older women approaching an alone, young boy, asking him to lead her to the washroom? That's potential nonce behaviour. Thankfully, this a school for orphans and lost souls, so my question raises no eyebrows among those eavesdropping.
The boy sighs as he listens, but stands and replies to me, "Was there not an area to wash in your room?" He asks. I shake my head negatively as I look down at him. There's supposed to be something like that? My small room certainly has no such thing. The boy sighs again, this time with clear annoyance, as teenagers want to do, I suppose. He looks up at me from under his hair and rolls his eyes, then says, "Follow me then."
He turns and starts to walk away at a quick pace, not checking to see if I'm following. I mutter something impolite under my breath, and move after him. This type of behaviour may be cute on Wu Cai, but coming from a child it's just annoying. Staying back from the boy, I shadow him as he leads me to where I can wash, memorising the route as I move. Eventually, after a couple of minutes, he leads me to a large room without a doorless entryway, through which I can see a series of closed off stalls lining the left and right walls.
The boy swings an arm out with a flourish, showing off the room, then walks past me without a word, going back the way we came. Tutting at the boy, the action making me pause and contemplate my age for a second, I enter the room and check the closest stall on the left. Opening its wooden door, I find a decent amount of room, with a drain in the floor and a copper-looking ring in the ceiling. On the far wall are two knobs; hot and cold? This place has indoor plumbing?
Exiting and disrobing, I place my robe on the shelf next to the stall, then enter and begin to shower, an action that I was starting to think was worlds away from.
…
Waking up the next day, clean and rested, I perform my morning cultivation, slightly increasing the quantity of my Chi, then put on my new robes. As a Novice, the rank granted to those who've just joined the sorcerers, I'm assigned white robes, which I'm to wear until I become an Apprentice. Once I'm dressed, I check on the mouse, finding it still sleeping, then grab some food and sit in my chair, waiting to be summoned for my first lesson.
An hour of silent meditation later, a knock at my door causes me to stand and open it, finding the unnamed man from yesterday. He looks me over and sees that I'm ready, causing him to give me a nod of approval, then turns and starts to walk away. I move over to the desk and grab the mouse, putting into a side pocket, then exit the room and close the door, quickly catching up to him. The man is his usual silent self as we walk, focused on his task. Glancing at him from the corner of eye, I start to speak, "So, do you have a name?" I ask.
The man doesn't look at me, but still answers, his voice deep, "N'kosana." I don't know enough about the world to directly know where that name comes from, or even what it means, but I can at least work out that N'kosana it African. The only thing I know about that continent in relation to this universe is that it's the birth place of a bunch of dangerous, ancient mutants, such as Apocalypse, and that its home to Wakanda, the most advanced country on this world. Probably.
Seeing as I've already run into a mutant even though they seemed not to exist on the Sacred Timeline, there's always the chance that other hidden nations exist around the world, like Atlantis, or Attlilan, the city of the Inhumans. That's not even taking in to account the mystical cities and Inner Planes that are closely tied to the Earth; with K'un Lun, Asgard, the Crossroads, and other such realms dotted around, hanging near the planet.
N'kosana leads me to the sectioned room from the day before, the lower space cleared of any and all items. As we pass the entrance, I find Yi Hye-Ri standing at the back of the room, the Sorceress Supreme looking out at the mountains beyond, the usual latticed window absent. Before we can even announce our presence, she turns to us and looks at me, a smile on her lips but not in her eyes.
She moves towards us, then sits down in the centre of the room and indicates for me to do the same, while thanking N'kosana, causing him to nod and leave. As I join her, sitting in front of her with my hands in my lap, I can't help but feel that the Sorceress Supreme doesn't particularly like me. While that would usually worry me, what with her being a powerful reality warper and all, today, the majority of my focus is stolen by the fact that I'm going to learn magic.
As Yi Hye-Ri starts to speak, I listen with rapt attention, butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
--AN--
On today's episode of Seeking Eternity, Sarah discovers that Kamar-Taj has hot water on demand, through the use of magic showers. This leads her to wonder, 'Is this place secretly heaven?'
To be honest, I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get this chapter out today, as for some reason my shitty internet has been cutting out every two minutes for the last 13 hours. I blame the weather, but I suppose that's what I get for being born in a country where it rains near everyday.
As always, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Be sure to point out any grammatical mistakes, and leave any criticisms you have.