Discimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don’t worry, I am pletely sober).

  Kathmandu [10 months ter (March 2011)]

  –Jack Sullivan–

  So peaceful.

  The procession that the family took when one of their loved ones died in Kathmandu was very peaceful and serene in a way. They are ed in a white cloth and then a mourner would light the funeral pyre. It oeti a way.

  There were texts written in the various non sorcery tomes in Kamar Taj’s library which depicted the way through which life came to be oh. As he had read about in his previous life, the Celestials were the reason that humans came to be. But not in the way that he had thought. Somehow, out of 5 species that Celestials had made out of the early primates, only the modern Homo Sapiens had ied the malleability, the sheer adaptability of DNA that they had expected from lifeforms that were born on a phat was ohed in the lifeblood of a dyiial. There was only a single differen the way Homo sapiens were built, different from the other 4 experiments and that was the use of Phoenix fire. The Celestials, in their bid to create intelligent lifeforms, exceptionally intelligent lifeforms, by using the remains of one of their fallehren, had used a small amount of Phoenix fire they had in their possession.

  Phoenix fire, coupled with remnaial DNA was the reason humans were born so adaptable. The very DNA that humans shared made it so that some humans had the potential to surpass even the very celestials that birthed their entire species. It was the reason humans, when entering some exotiergy sourutagen, turned into monsters ained powers all of a sudden because the default initial rea of human DNA was to adapt. Adapt, adapt, and evolve, was the motto of human DNA and that was the reason they were the most sought-after experimental odity in the universe, at least to the people in the know. The High Evolutionary, for example, worked extensively on human and animal DNA to try to create his perfect utopia. The Sn, the race famed for their advanced researto biology, also found their inspiration for their perfect creation from an empowered human.

  Fire was what brought humans to life and fire was what they used to say goodbye.

  “Ready?” He gnced back at Mordo who was silently waiting for him. He nodded and then looked back at the mostly empty funeral home.

  “Yeah, I’m ready,” They floated on top of one of his barriers and rocketed towards the snow-filled mountains where the meeting of the Masters of the Mystic Arts was going to happen. He was finally going to bee a Master of the Mystic Arts and he was excited for it.

  “What is the procedure to bee one anyway? Care to share?” He asked Mordo as they sat in the co he had built for themselves using his barriers. He had grown closer to Mordo and the others iime he had been in Kamar Taj but he was mindful of the future versions he knew of them and thus, had made sure to maintain distan case shit hit the fan early.

  “Everybody has to gh this without any guidance. I had to and you have to too,” Mordo replied calmly. A little too calm.

  He was ly worried because gaining the Master title would just be that, a title. It was not as if he was looking to climb up the dder of Kamar Taj. He had already succeeded in pleting two of the three goals he had set for himself when he had first arrived at Kamar Taj.

  He could now summon hundreds of different barriers and then pilot them remotely while each of those barriers was strong enough to withstand direct bsts from the Leviathan with ease. Well, he had not tested them against the Chitauri but the A One was certain that not evero armies of the gaxy had a on that could break through his barriers. Granted, Infinity Stones and ons powered by them were the exception but for most of the things out there, he was golden.

  The third goal that he had set for himself was being able to create a hive mind of sorts with his barriers and that was what roving to be exceptionally difficult to do. You see, the brain has a limited number of could use for different multitasking purposes. He er soldier so he had more “han normal people anyway but even he had a limit. He was not an Asgardian, those people sure had all the good luck when it came to geics. He had trained as much as he could to reduce the number of “nes” required to operate a barrier while getting sensory feedback from it but there was just so much to process that his brain just isn’t capable of handling. He barely do a dozen barriers if he wants to have prehensive sensory output from those barriers straight to him. He doesn’t know how the link works but at this point in his training, he jure those barriers ahem 10 miles away from him and still, he would be able to get a somewhat clear picture from that barrier. The range and the number of barriers actively in use are inversely proportional so he has to keep that in mind.

  In addition to that, he has also fulfilled his small dream of being able to create a mid-sized Gundam that was taller than a 10-storey building, which was his current limit if he wao sustain that form for a long fight.

  Other than that, he had also discovered another very useful aspect of his powers. Kaecilius was actually the one who had discovered that when his energy spells hit his barriers, a portion of that was actually being absorbed by the barriers themselves. He had then ducted numerous other experiments with all his sparring partners and had discovered that his barriers were capable of abs any type of energy with ease. It was just that it could not absorb all of it. Most of it was sustained by the barrier and then the rest was deflected. Only some amount of it was absorbed but even small quantities add up in case of a fight. And in the case of the Chitauri Invasion, the hundreds of bsts that would hit his barriers gee enough energy for him to hit them back with a huge energy beam of his own.

  Ah yes, that was also something he was surprised to know about. Wong was the mastermind who had suggested it because he was of the opinion that all that absorbed energy had to go somewhere and since he himself was not ballooning out of proportion, it robably going to some alternate dimension. They had put meditation as a mandatory task for him in his daily timetable and voi, ihan a month, he had figured out how to use the absorbed energy.

  The trick was that he had to jure multiple barriers at the same time ahem active if he wao use that absorbed energy. They had ducted an experiment in which Mordo and Kaeciulius had hit one of his jured barriers with an energy spell that they could sustain for long periods of time. It was mostly just an overplicated portal spell that opened a gateway to a realm that tained nothing but energy beams that tained just kiiergy. It took a while but soon enough, he felt an alieion from the other barrier that he had jured. There was the feeling of something bursting out from the barrier and lo and behold, a simir energy beam exited his barrier, bsting through the barrier straight into the wall of a nearby hut. He had hastily shut down the barrier but the wall was still left glowing as the protes on it had activated at the st moment. Ever sihen, he had made generous use of the mirror dimension to practice the energy-abs ability of his barriers. In one of the incursions that he had been a part of, he had even absorbed hellfire of some sort, sg the demons who had tried to attack him and the apprentices under his prote, thinking him weak. As it turned out, hellfire was not just fire, it was an energy attack that his barriers easily deflected. Also, that hellfire was somehow enough to satisfy whatever criteria it was that his barriers had to be able to reflect that energy so he had used their own atta them, startling some of them. He used that moment to jure dozens of small notebook-sized sharp barriers ahem at their necks, killing over a dozen demons in a sirike. That was the day he had taken his first life and he had never looked back sin the three different demon invasions he had repelled single-handedly.

  Sensory output from his barriers brought him out of his retrospe as the peak of the mountain came into viewing distance. Both of them slowly nded on the snow-den path. Once he dismissed the co, he leasantly surprised by a warm atmosphere. He dismissed it as a creature fort using runes as a medium and followed Mordo as they entered an a-looking cave.

  Mordo stood at the end of the cave aured for him to go ahead. He Mordo in gratitude and stepped into the light that was there at the end of the tunnel. His vision almost immediately adjusted to the rapid ges in brightness as he found himself standing in the middle of a huge circle. There were raised ptforms on which dozens of different people sat. Most of them were very old, some of them were familiar faces like Mordo, Kaecilius, and Wong. He raised an eyebrow as it seemed he had o speak of, other than a vote as he could feel nothing in the room. No spells being activated, no traps, nothing.

  “Jack Sullivan,” One of the oldest Masters who seemed to have no difficulty standing, stood upright and said, his voiing in the small enclosed space they were in.

  “The syer of demons, Shield of Kamar Taj, and now, the you Master of the Mystic Arts, wele to the hallowed rank of being a Master of Kamar Taj,” The old man then tinued in a surprisingly geone.

  He raised his eyebrows in fusion. Wasn’t there supposed to be an exam before he was officially decred a Master?

  “I know what you are thinking. The reason there was no exam for you was because there was no reason to. Your bat ability alone pces you far above all of us present here. The only reason your promotion was deyed was because your ability to cast sorcerer spells was iion aerday, when you cast your huh spell, you satisfied those ditions. gratutions,” Mordo stood up and bowed at him. All of the others stood up and did the same with him mirr their as as well.

  ____xx___

  Later, at his aodations, Kamar Taj

  “Leaving, Master Sullivan?” He turned around from his activity of pag all of his meager belongings into a depressingly small bag to see the A Oanding at the entrance of his hut. He hastily closed the bag and bowed to her.

  “A One. And yes, I am leaving. I believe I have achieved everything I at this pd going out and doing things will be more beneficial for me at this stage,”

  She smiled at him and then waved her hand, pg both of them in the mirror dimension.

  “What?” He smiled and asked her as they found themselves floating above the open o as far as he could see.

  She took a bat stand he smiled iement as he did the same, a green armour appearing above his skin. It was a far cry from the sed skin that used to appear on his skin whenever his body’s fight or flight instinct was activated. Now, it resembled more like dragon scales in their appearand thiess and ironically, he had taken inspiration for them from a dead dragon that had been sin by him during one of the demon incursions.

  “Here I e,” He decred before creating a small Gundam around himself and rocketing straight at her with his first outstretched, leaving a soni behind him.

  He didn’t know what happened. One moment his fist was about to hit the A ht in her face, the he was looking at a vast expanse of blue as the pting on his barriers had been broken from whatever the A One had doo them. He willed more ptes to appear and created an even bigger Gundam around himself a even faster toward the shining bea that was the A One.

  She was wielding what seemed to be a burning Hammer that looked ically rge in parison to her slender frame a, she wielded it with ease all the same. He cocked his fist, ready to hit her as she twirled the hammer around her small frame, leading to the situation where a small hammer absolutely broke through his rge Gundam and hit him straight on his chest pte which broke down and actually transmitted the for, causing him to spurt blood. In that small instance, he could see her actually smile at his rea. His eyes goggled in amazement as he looked at the burning hammer.

  The moment which seemed to stretch far lohan the split sed it actually was, creating a shockwave so big that even as far as he was from the o surface, he could see the literal Tsunami that had formed because of their csh.

  Just what the hell was that hammer?

  He willed his barriers to e to a stop and absentmindedly rubbed the spot on his chest that was being healed due to his sturdy stitution. He had definitely felt his bones being rattled along with at least one rib breaking. He set the rib ba pce with a pained grunt and slowly floated down to the A One.

  “What the hell was that hammer?” He asked her iween coughs. That was the sihing that was able to break through all of his barriers and then make him feel pain.

  “That, Master Sullivan, is one of the many tools we have that have been infused with a shard of Eternity that allows it to el a fra of a fra of Eternity’s power. That power is what allowed me to breach your barriers and injure you. Be at ease though, there are few of these in the universe and even they are long lost to the annals of time. Also, it took more energy than it was worth it to hurt you. I could have just as easily transmuted a portion of your blood into lead, poisoning you with ease. It would have taken the same level of energy as well,” The A One said to him, almost mogly.

  “You do that?!” He excimed and she just ughed it off and opened a portal baar Taj.

  He came out of the portal only to see himself at the door of Kamar-Taj with his packed bag dropped at the door already. He cackled out loud at the prank as there was a note on the bag which read - “With Eternal Love, Kaecilius,”

  Knowing what was to e iure, that note made for a very practical joke.

  With a snap of his fingers, his attire ged into a T-shirt and Jeans as he picked up his bags and opened a portal straight to Manhattan.

  He exited the portal into a shady alley and took in a deep breath, reminding him of the filth that existed iy.

  The sounds of cars zipping by, people talking and swearing, hit his enhanced senses as he was finally exposed to the cacophony of modern cities. He had hoped to avoid this but as, fate was not kind and he had to face his fears in some way. It was good that his fear was just a bad living enviro in general. Not some deep-seated childhood trauma. No sir. His fears could be easily solved by a wave of hand as a portal to Antarctica was just that far away for him.

  He hoisted the bag on his shoulder aed the alley. He looked up to see a huge building being structed that, onpleted, would take the for being the tallest building on the New York Skyline.

  Holy, overpensating much, Stark?

  He then whistled as he set out to look for aodations in the Big Apple. After all, he was sure that New York was the pce where all the major shit in Marvel went down. There must be something he could do in the meantime, instead of just sitting on his hands, waiting for someone from SHIELD to show up at Stark Tower so that they get Tony Stark for their Aveeam. He would have to look for somethiher very close to Stark Tower or very high so that he could spy on the building from far away. Getting access to the building would be a blessing as he could the up surveilnce spells but Jarvis probably knew his fad would instantly alert Stark about it and he did not have the transformation spell handy because it was ridiculously hard. No other spell was as hard as the transformation spell and that was why, everyone preferred wearing magical masks to hide themselves, instead of using that stupidly overplicated spell.

  Also, it was very easy for Masters of the Mystic Arts to just flee using portals instead of hiding their faces.

  He would have to make a name for himself in the meantime as some vigih powers so that SHIELD could approach him as well. Somepce where there was someone who would know about his powers and would not discriminate based on that. Someone who could be trusted. Someone ell-ected enough that he would not have many problems, at least in the beginning. Once his power was showcased suffitly, the voices would die down anyway. Now, how would one go about doing that, he wondered.

  As he ate the signature 1 New York Pizza slice, his brain lit up.

  That was how he found himself in Harlem. The pce that had been battered by the battle between the Hulk and the Abomination. The pce where there was a lot of crime that could be stopped by him. The perfect pce for him to set up shop.

  “e on in, young man,” A middle-aged bck guy greeted him as he knocked on the gss doors of the shop. To be fair, it retty early in the m to have ers.

  That pce op’s barber shop in Harlem.

  Word t - 3227

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  A/N - Dayummm. I was in some sort of trance as I just wrote this absolute behemoth of a chapter in just 2 hours whereas before, it used to take me that much time to write barely 2k words. I am pumped!