Chapter Text
Ch.27 The Seven Wonders– Pt.I
3rd July 2008
Classified Location, United States Army
Moonlight fell across the ruins of the broken building. Debris lay scattered across the vast grounds, while electrical fixtures hung low from the ruined ceilings, sparking with electricity. Military personnel milled around, alongside a team in hazmat suits, devices beeping, drowned out by the constant ringing alarm that blared across the area.
The roar of vehicles approached, and a man drove up to the ruins and stepped out of the jeep. Bright light fell across his wide mustache and pained expression as he walked closer. Footsteps echoed through the debris as a soldier marched forward and saluted him.
"General Ross, it is not safe to go in there. Gamma levels are off the charts, sir. Even being here is risky."
"What happened here…" Ross' eyes flicked to the badge. "Commander?"
"We're still gathering the footage of the incident, sir. But the reports said that they saw a big, green humanoid monster tear through the compound and tank bullets like it was nothing. A scientist and two personnel have been found dead, and it was said that the monster escaped."
"What about my daughter? Betty?"
"She is being treated, sir. She sustained a few injuries, but nothing threatening. Perhaps a concussion at worst. She kept saying something about Bruce though, which we figured was Dr. Banner, who is presumed missing at the moment."
"Missing?"
"As per logs, there were three scientists in the lab at the time of the explosion… or the monster being unleashed. Dr. Banner, Dr. Ross, and Dr. Smythe. We found Dr. Smythe dead and Dr. Ross injured in the lab. Dr. Banner is missing."
"Then find him, goddamnit," Ross growled. "He is one of the smartest men on the planet, and he cannot just be missing. And he has the secrets of the US military with him. Find him now. And everything, I mean everything, from this lab, goes through me. This is a top-secret project, and nothing, I mean nothing, gets out."
"Yes, sir!"
"Then lockdown the base. And take me to my daughter."
7th August 2008
Stark Industries
Leaf-green eyes stared back at her through the mirror, as she fluffed her blood-red hair, plastering a slight smile on her face.
It had swayed many men and quite a few women into spilling things that they shouldn't have. Things that she had wanted from them. And if that hadn't worked, she had used other methods. Done things that none would've thought her remotely capable of. Things that would make all but the worst souls tremble. And yet, she had done it all, without flinching or shedding a tear, once for Russia, and now, for SHIELD.
She picked a small golden badge, running her thumb over the etched name. "Natalie Rushman."
It wasn't her true name, just one of many she had taken up in her handful of years of existence. She didn't even know her true name, as her name changed as her purpose demanded of her. Once, she had been Natalia Romanova. And now, she knew herself as Natasha Romanoff.
She had always changed as her mission asked her to. Yet, despite the many names, facades, and masks, deep down, her identity remained the same.
The Black Widow.
Once, she had been the jewel of the infamous Red Room. Their finest. Their pride. Their joy. Their most lethal. And as of a few years ago, their downfall.
She had been with them for as long as she could remember— her earliest memories were in the Red Room Academy— the place where she had been trained in ways of espionage, combat, and infiltration, from the time she could probably speak. Trained by the masters of the masters to do anything that she needed to do. Be it seduction, espionage, infiltration, torture, murder, or friendship. She had learned it all as a young agent of the Red Room.
Her first kill was before she was six— or what she assumed was her sixth birthday. Natalia Romanova didn't have a birthday until her first mission. At that time, she was told that she was six years old, and had a new family— fellow red room agents on a mission to infiltrate a high-security SHIELD facility in Ohio.
Since then, the birthday on the cover was what she had adopted as her own, in remembrance of the ones they had celebrated to keep up appearances for nearly three years until the mission had been completed. Then, she had returned to the Red Room.
Older and slightly experienced, the training and the missions continued. In the following years, she undertook dozens of missions, in which she assassinated scores of targets, including SHIELD agents, military personnel, scientists, and even two heads of state— one Prime Minister and a King for the Red Room. She infiltrated the Kremlin when she was fourteen and then the KGB when she was sixteen.
And then, on her eighteenth birthday, she received the Red Ceremony— meant for the best of the best. It was that day that she gained the name of the Black Widow. The greatest agent that had come from the Red Room since the Winter Soldier. And the first recipient of the recreated Infinity Formula.
She became their best and their deadliest. None of the other recruits could've taken her on. Even the other agents feared her.
For someone who became their downfall, Natasha mused, they weren't quite off the mark.
Her attention was drawn to the door as it burst open and a woman rushed past her, into one of the stalls, and retched.
Natasha smirked for the tiniest moments and turned, watching as the woman who was meant to handle the papers for Stark hurled her guts out.
A few drops of the special chemical in her morning coffee were all it had taken to get her ill.
"Are you quite alright, Jen?" Natasha gave her a sympathetic look. "You don't look good."
Jennifer stumbled back from the stall and heaved, stumbling to the sink and washing her mouth. Natasha inched closer, putting a hand against her forehead and widening her eyes.
"God, you're burning up."
"I'm not… feeling well." She massaged her forehead.
A part of Natasha thought that she was lucky to be in SHIELD's way and not the Red Rooms. While SHIELD had just made her sick, the Red Room would've had her poisoned to take her out of the way.
"Don't you have the Stark Industries Handover deal today?" Natasha patted her back. "You should rest. If you want, I can do it for you instead. It is just a couple of signatures, right?"
"Yes, but…"
"No buts, Jen. Look at you. Health comes first. And if you are sick and go anywhere near Stark, he'll kick you out. The guy's a germaphobe."
"Are you—" Jen stumbled and Natasha caught her with lightning-quick reflexes. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah. If there's anything, I'll give you a call. You should go home. Or better yet, the Hospital," Natasha said.
"Thanks, Natalie." Jen sighed. "I owe you one."
27th August 2008
Central Park, Mirror Dimension
The grass across the ground writhed and shone a brilliant purple as Harry caught a blast of raw, purple power from the Ancient One and poured the power into the ground. Purple lightning flitted around his body for a moment before he looked up, redirecting a burst of crimson power to the side.
The crimson energy smashed through a giant oak, splintering it to dust as leaves fluttered over them.
"Don't waste all the power, Mr. Potter." The Ancient One flicked her fingers, and eldritch blue serpents burst from her hands, lunging at Harry.
With a sharp pull of Harry's hand, purple power rose from the ground, coalescing into two massive blades, severing through the incoming snakes.
"See? I am not." Harry grinned at her.
The Ancient One took a look at the blades and stepped back, her lips quirking, as amusement shone in her eyes. Harry felt the magic wobble, and the hairs on his arms rose.
"Oh, bloody hell." Harry tried to seize the magic, but it refused to obey.
The next second, the blades burst into an explosion of purple lightning with a thunderous crack, reducing leaves to ashes. Harry barely had time to raise a shield as a stray bolt slammed into him, driving the air from his lungs and sending him skittering across the park.
The hairs on his arms were singed while his bones tingled unpleasantly as he rolled on the ground. The power of the Soul stone swept over him, and the brief pain faded away, disappearing as he breathed a sigh of relief. He lay there, basking in the warmth of the sun that shone on his face.
"That was as amusing as it looked painful." The Ancient One's face blocked the sky, a wide grin on her lips. "Yet, I am impressed you tried the technique at all. To summon back the power you grounded isn't easy. And I speak at my level."
"You made it look easy when you showed it to me last week." Harry groaned, propping himself up, before staggering to his feet. "And I figured I had the grounding and the redirecting down. So, it was the next logical step. I could feel the power, and I just had to pull it up, with a bit of Earth magic." Harry eyed the scorched ground beyond the Ancient One's shoulder with a grimace. "But I've no clue as to why it exploded."
The Ancient One chuckled. "Because you just employed Earth magic to push the power back out, without considering the changes the energy went through. When you ground any power, the energy, it merges with the Earth, so to speak, changing slightly."
"Oh. It is what led to the instability of the spell." Harry winced. "I didn't take that into account."
"You didn't because you didn't know. What you should've done, Mr. Potter, was to merge some Earth magic with the power, and then shape it, instead of forcing it into a mold." She paused. "Alternatively, if you had the correct knowledge and skill, you could've just reversed the change the energy went through when you grounded it. Yet it is a tricky skill, and the Earth magic trick is infinitely easier."
"Interesting," Harry muttered. "I'll keep it in mind next time."
"I'd rather advise you to not pull such tricks next time without learning about them thoroughly first, Mr. Potter," she said dryly. "While I do not disparage the initiative, handling raw energy is a difficult task. Summoning it back and mixing it with elemental magics, even more so."
"I figured. Had it not been for my armor spell— and the stone, I would've been badly hurt." Harry rubbed his arms and scratched his skin. "Which does remind me that I should work more on the bracelet of protection. Take it from ideation and actually implement it."
The Ancient One hummed idly. "You would need a good metal to hold the power if you're creating a bracelet. I'd rather recommend creating a gauntlet instead— something akin to a forearm vambrace." Her lips twitched. "And if you're creating a vambrace, the relic could be open to a variety of wider applications than just the instant replication of a shield spell, and the anchorage of the armor spell of Cagliostro."
"Why do I feel like you're hinting at something specific?" Harry narrowed his eyes. "Something along the lines of what I thought yesterday, and you've no way of knowing."
The Ancient One shrugged, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
"Right," Harry muttered. "So, I should create a relic that can quickly shape energies into whatever I think of, instead of having to create it line by line. It would be quicker than traditional energy molding. Weapons take time, and having them ready on the go would be useful if I am pulled into an unexpected tussle." Harry eyed her. "But I've no clue how to even begin with it."
"I'm certain you'll figure it out. Just remember to think beyond dimensional energy." The Ancient One waved a hand, and the mirror dimension set itself right, the oak tree reforming while the grass grew back in seconds. "Now, onto other matters. I heard you found yourself in quite a spot of trouble a few days back."
"Ah," Harry turned the words over his tongue. "Okay, I don't know what you've heard—"
"I heard you interfered in an active Arena match in the realm of Giizhigong, forcefully bringing it to a stop," she said. "A match where Manidoog were present."
Harry winced, remembering the slight horror he had felt when Archie had told him that the Manidoog were, in fact, native American gods that once resided in the mortal plane.
"In my defense, I didn't know that they were technically gods, with a skyfather in their ranks to boot," Harry said. "And the arena match of theirs was causing an astral disturbance. I felt it at the outer gates and went to investigate. When it became apparent that the disturbance would be felt in the physical plane, I went to put an end to it."
The Ancient One inclined her head, her brown eyes digging into his.
"Then you did the right thing," she said, smiling briefly as Harry looked up in surprise. "I also heard that you schooled Hotamintanio, the god of warriors, in front of his people and told him, 'to keep it down or there'd be consequences'." She smoothly slid quotes around the sentence. "Then, you proceeded to subdue three Hobomokkos as a demonstration of your power."
"I did confront him, but it wasn't a demonstration," Harry ran a hand through his hair with a frustrated sigh. "That Hota—minto, whatever his name was, summoned those dragons to attack me. I just defended myself. When I took the three of them down in less than a minute, it somehow impressed and entertained him enough to 'let me go'."
She raised an amused eyebrow, nodding briefly. "It sounds like something Hotamintanio would do. Though I'd wager that if he had confronted you in a fight, it would've ended rather badly for him. Giizhigong is a spiritual realm, where you'd be most versatile."
Her eyes dropped to the Eye of Power around Harry's neck, and he followed her gaze. "I rather doubt I would've needed to use the stone. And I wouldn't unless absolutely necessary, and in a place like that, it'd be like throwing a car in a swimming pool. Not as bad as unleashing it in the astral plane, but still."
"It may be worse, perhaps. The Astral plane is near infinite and can distribute the impact of such power being unleashed. Even if the effects are visible on the plane, it won't be a direct spill." She grimaced. "Giizhigong is limited, and the power would spill into the physical plane. It'd be akin to dropping a car in a vast lake as compared to dropping the same car in a swimming pool."
"The effect in the pool would be more prominent and drastic."
"Precisely. I'm glad, though, that you handled the situation well. Impressed even. You confronted a potentially volatile situation, and instead of reacting the easy way, which would've been to just kill the Hobomokkos, you chose to subdue them and spare their lives."
Harry shrugged. "I've faced scarier dragons when I was fourteen. I flew circles around one on my broom, and that one breathed fire. Comparatively, these were a cakewalk." Harry paused, a slight knife twisting beneath his heart. "Also, I had a friend who loved dragons. He tried to raise one in his hut once. I think he would've been very upset if I killed three of them when I didn't need to."
The Ancient One smiled. "It was a good call, Mr. Potter. They were innocents, following the orders of a god. You differentiated. You thought before acting when most would have responded with the deadliest spells they could when face to face with a dragon, let alone three." Her tone turned wry. "For most cases, they wouldn't be off the mark."
"These weren't cosmic dragons. I got a feeling of sorts from them." Harry shrugged. "They didn't want to devour me for their sake. They didn't have any sympathy either, but they didn't just wish to devour anything for their primal hunger like most dragons in the Universe. They were more like… lions and tigers. Hunting for only what they need and no more."
"That is correct. Did you get this information through the stone?"
Harry nodded, running his finger around the edge of the amulet. "I guess that I am now getting a… sense of intuition with the Stone. A feeling. And it is easier to get its power to respond to me."
Harry held up his hand, and motes of orange-golden energy gathered in his palm, coalescing into a ball, the size of a ping-pong. A moment later, Harry let the ball flow into the ground. The grass around him grew merrily, as flowers blossomed in bushes in the distance.
"It is good as it is scary." Harry grimaced. "If I slip up with this thing… Even with the Eye's control and my restraint, I could end up accidentally leveling a city block. And that is a conservative estimate. Infinity stones can level planets with only a fraction of their power."
"They can. Though I've confidence in you that you wouldn't level a city block unless you want to, Mr. Potter." She smiled. "But caution is good. So, is the nerve to confront gods— even if you didn't know he was one. And the ability to differentiate between… well, innocents and those who would harm life as it is, for nothing more than their want and will. Which allows me to infer that you, Mr. Potter, are prepared for… more."
"More?"
She looked up at the sky and held her arms wide. Harry felt the world shift around him, and the next second, he stood in the inner sanctum of Kamar Taj, at the nexus of Sanctums.
"Before I began teaching these advanced techniques, I told you about what sets the Sorcerer Supreme apart from a usual Sorcerer. It is our techniques, our knowledge, our methods, and even a set of powers that comes alongside the title." She removed the eye of Agamotto from her hand and placed it in its resting place in the center of the room. "I've begun teaching you defensive techniques. And in the past few lessons, you've progressed admirably."
Harry beamed. "Thank you."
"Which is the reason why I feel you are ready to be taught to go on the offensive too. Amongst other things, if you so agree."
"Other things?" Harry questioned.
"Things that sorcerers are prohibited from practicing." She gave him a severe look. "You have a fair idea of what havoc forbidden practices can wreck and why they should be prohibited. Your moral compass is far better than even mine, and you've seen the horrors that dark magic can wreak in your old world."
"Dark wizards weren't exactly sane, and that was just the start of it." Harry grimaced. "And Voldemort dwelled so deep he didn't even look human." He looked up at the Ancient One. "Why do you want me to learn those practices? To learn dark magic?"
"Handling darker energies of the Universe is a necessary part that comes with being a Sorcerer Supreme, Mr. Potter. The ability to handle them without being changed is vital if we intend to face threats that we do. Not to mention, handling such magics also gives you an immunity of sorts against it, if you remain unchanged."
"That's a big if," Harry said. "But dark magic corrupts, and corrupts absolutely, doesn't it?"
"If you aren't prepared for it, or willing to accept it freely, dark magic does indeed corrupt. Some more so than others." She tilted her head. "Yet, if you're prepared for it, you won't be corrupted. I've been handling dark magic for the better part of my tenure as the Sorceress Supreme. And even Master Hamir had experience with some of the spells. So does Master Rama. Would you peg any of us as practitioners of dark magic?"
Harry shook his head slowly. "I won't. But none of you used it often or as your first go-to, did you?"
"Not usually. Sometimes, it is necessary to either cast dark spells or even handle raw, dark magic." She agreed.
"And you want me to do it too. To be ready to practice the things— the spell that I've dreaded, by only reading about them."
She quirked an eyebrow. "How do you think you'll redirect a burst of energy that someone like, say, Dormammu sends your way if you can't stand the magic itself? Or worse, someone like the Elder God of Chaos? None of your shielding spells or tricks would be enough against one like them."
Harry opened his mouth before closing it, and she waited until he sighed and looked away.
"I suppose it is better to have practice than do it on the go," Harry acquiesced.
"Indeed." She inclined her head. "You have the knowledge, thanks to the books I've had you read and the library of Cagliostro at your disposal. I would say that you know more than most other masters, save Master Perez or Master Rama."
Harry's head snapped toward her and he goggled. "Perez is into dark magic?"
"He is an expert in demonology and their practices, Mr. Potter. While he seldom uses any of it, he knows a lot about it and has, in the past, put the knowledge to use in order to defend Earth. Master Rama, on the other hand, is a Master at shadow manipulation."
"I didn't know that."
"Not many do. But he learned as you'll learn now… given you agree, of course."
Harry remained silent for a moment while the Ancient One waited patiently, tracing runes along the edge of the platform, which Harry recognized as the spells to strengthen the world shield. The runes glowed green as the rings in the amulet turned, and power poured through the stand like a tidal wave through the shore.
The mirror dimension took a green tinge as she smiled, and a moment later, the amulet spun shut.
"Much safer to do it here," she said, removing the Amulet and hanging it back around her neck. "What do you say, Mr. Potter?"
Harry bit his lip. "Is it going to be necessary?"
"Necessary? No. Helpful? Definitely," she said. "I do not intend for you to use dark magic, Mr. Potter. Rather, know it and get a grasp on handling it without being changed. As I've said before, you're a kind soul. I do not think you'd ever use any of the spells I teach you with the wrong intention. To protect is another matter, of course."
"You'll promise to keep an eye on me when you teach me the spells?"
"Of course, I will, regardless of you asking, Mr. Potter," she assured. "Though I suspect you might not need to be kept an eye on, even if you start using such magics freely."
"Excuse me?"
"You've the Eye of Agamotto and the Soul Stone with you, which are two rather powerful objects, the latter infinitely so. I suspect that regardless of what you wield, what magics and energies you use, the Stone and the Eye will protect you against the ill effects."
"But how?" Harry asked.
She cast an assessing look at the amulet. "The Eye of Power is a very powerful focus, and the one thing focuses do is reduce the backlash of the magics, dark or light, on the caster. And the Eye is rather adept at that, as I've learned."
"But it won't shield me completely, will it? It reduces the effects, which is good. But they'll still happen."
"Indeed, they will. That's where I think the Soul Stone would come in. To put it simply, the Stone is the representation of life. We've only begun to comprehend the sheer magnitude of its abilities. I think that, owing to what it is, the Stone would heal any ill effects of dark magic on you immediately."
"That's… something." Harry frowned. "Yet I did rather not risk it."
"I will keep an eye on you as I do on all, Mr. Potter." She chuckled. "I'm merely speculating. Forgive the ramblings of an old lady."
Harry snorted, and she smiled at him.
"Of course, there are other things that I must teach you, beyond giving you a familiarity with handling dark magic," the Ancient One continued. "Handling dark magic is still a part of the defensive curriculum in my eyes. You need to learn to go on the offense too."
"I have learned plenty of offensive spells, though." Harry blinked in confusion. "I've practiced spells that can reliably injure gods. And with the N'Gabthot debacle, I have."
She gave him an amused look as if he had made a particularly funny comment before inclining her head. "I won't deny that you have a rather respectable arsenal of spells, Mr. Potter. An arsenal that even I would respect. And I won't deny that those spells are good. They are even useful. But the standards of offense for a Sorcerer Supreme are much higher."
"Spells which can level Earth in one blow, I'm guessing?"
She shook her head. "You're thinking too directly, Mr. Potter. The destructive capabilities of a spell aren't its only measure of power. The Mystic Arts have some powerful spells that won't even put a crack in a brick. Yet, they are powerful and incredibly dangerous. Some spells can lay waste to civilizations and bring down the mightiest of gods, all without even turning a leaf in the vicinity.
"Merlin," Harry breathed.
"It is what makes me, what makes us so important in the grand scheme of things." She shrugged.
"Important enough to ignore a summons from Skyfathers if you wish," Harry commented.
"Precisely," she said. "The thing is, when you've lived for as long as I have and know the things that I do, everything falls into the realm of possibility. It is like what the famous Archimedes said. Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world."
"And you can arrange for both." Harry nodded. "Like divinity is the trait of gods, adaptability is the trait of mankind. It is why humanity is both fragile and versatile. Why we've no powers, and yet, the greatest power of them all. We can be nothing and everything at once. We are… humanity. We are what we choose to be."
She froze for a brief moment, her eyebrows rising with each phrase. "You've been reading the Scrolls of Agamotto. How?"
"No, this was what I found in the Compendium of Mystic Defense," Harry said. "It was written on the front page. The words stuck."
She remained silent, walking around the table, absently brushing off some dust from the stand and cleaning her fingers. After a few moments, she looked back at him.
"Those are the words of Agamotto, Mr. Potter. Some of the first words a Sorcerer Supreme reads upon completely assuming the position," she said quietly. "But yes, it conveys perfectly what I intend to say. There are spells far more powerful, subtle, and dangerous than those that can sink a city. And as it so happens, you're perfectly suited to some of those spells, that too without the need to bear their burden."
"What do you mean?"
"There is a selection of spells— rituals and curses, mainly that require the sacrifice of a life force. These spells… are unique and all equally dangerous, both to the caster and the target. And they have changed the course of history in the past."
"Something like the Death Curse," Harry muttered. "I read about it. One of the Sorcerers once injured Dormammu with it, and it is said that another such use forced the slumbering one back to sleep eons ago."
"Indeed. The Death Curse would be an example of such a spell, yes. One of the less powerful ones at that," she said, and Harry's gaze snapped toward her. "The curse uses all the energies that a sorcerer is in sync with alongside their lifeforce of the Sorcerer, to create a colossal burst of energy that can be shaped with a sole purpose. It is useful as a last resort. But there are other spells equal or greater in power that do not require self-sacrifice."
"You mean using the life force of other people by killing them?" Trepidation filled Harry's heart. "A life for a life kind of thing?"
"Perhaps in parts," she said slowly. "It is not exactly that simple if we're talking in usual terms. The power required to fuel such spells or rituals is immense. These spells do not operate on the small scale, Mr. Potter. Once lifeforce comes into play, we deal big and desperate."
"How bad can the spells get?"
"There are spells which can wipe out an entire species, take away a particular set of powers, curse them, and cripple gods. But for such… widespread acts, a life as simple as human life isn't enough. Any mortal life isn't enough, bar perhaps someone like you or me."
"You need the lifeforce of a god… or an eternal or a celestial. Cosmically powerful beings."
"Yes."
Harry's eyes narrowed. "You've done this before, haven't you?"
"I have." The Ancient One closed her eyes. "There is a species of vampires from the realm of Nippon. The Yiki Onna. Vampires who were adept at ice magic. They were said to have been created from the first frost giants." Her lips thinned. "A handful of decades ago, they were some of the more powerful and dangerous species in the Universe. Quick, strong, with the power to freeze all they touched." She let out a breath. "And they were planning to take over the Earth by force. Not a small group, but the species as a whole planned it. To convert every human into their kind and take it for their own."
"You took away their powers," Harry said quietly, and her gaze flicked to him in surprise. "Archie told me."
"That is true. But what she… What none of them know is how I did it. How I took a species from being one of the most dangerous ones, set to dominate Earth, to quivering in their boots in a matter of a few hours once I knew their plan."
"You cursed them all with the ritual."
"I did." She smiled sharply, but there was a hint of bitterness on her face. "Once you've lived for as long as I have, everything falls into the realm of possibilities. For the Yiki Ona, my lever to move them was the Greek goddess of Ice."
"You killed her?"
"Yes. Her life force fueled my spell, and I took away their powers forever. I didn't negotiate. I didn't ask. I just took them all down because I had to. Had I not, they would've, even with our intervention, succeeded in most realities."
"So, you stopped them by taking away their powers, basically de-weaponizing them," Harry said, eyeing her. "And you think I can do something similar, but without the sacrifice, don't you?" Harry frowned. "The power of the life force could be given by the Soul Stone instead to do the same thing."
"The Soul Stone is life, Mr. Potter. You have the unique ability to manipulate the very life force of the Universe. Why sacrifice the life force of a god when you can summon the power on a whim and achieve the same result?"
Harry grimaced. "Yet with such a spell, I would be dooming a whole species, regardless of them being at fault."
"Well, there are versions that work in a limited radius. And manipulating spells is one of your specialties." She smiled. "I'm hoping that you'd put such spells to the right use to combat threats in a way where there are minimal casualties. The way where innocents don't have to get hurt and heroes, like Master Hamir, don't need to sacrifice their lives."
Harry gave her a slow nod as his heart twisted. "I'm willing to learn then. If for nothing else than having the option for myself in case I need it someday."
The Ancient One smiled wider in response. "Then we better get started."
3rd September 2008
Greenland
Icy winds buffeted through the desolate landscape, fluttering through her yellow robes as she stepped through the portal that collapsed behind her. She looked around, lowering her hood before trudging up the snow, her feet sinking with every step.
She closed her eyes and moved her hands. A second later, the rings on her amulet spun and she opened her eyes which glowed a fierce golden and searched through the snow before smiling.
The Eye shut off as she ambled forward, fiery orange lines crisscrossing upon her palm. She tested the snow below her before dropping the disc, feeling the magic run through the snow like a wave over a beach.
"You've been sleeping for far too long, Steven. But very soon, it'll be time to wake up." She knelt by the snow. "Be seeing you soon, Captain. And for all it is worth, I am sorry for having kept you hidden all these years."
She stood and opened a portal, stepping back through it and vanishing, leaving no trace of her presence.
But if one with mystical senses looked closely, very closely, they'd have sensed the enchantment. The enchantment that was fastening the melting of snow. The snow below which the world's first superhero slumbered.