Chapter 21
I woke up to find myself facing the familiar ceiling of my room at Kamar Taj. I breathed a sigh of relief once I realised that I was safe. I tried to get up only for the pain to assault me and I groaned in response. I then felt movement next to me. I saw Madam Han seemingly wake up while rubbing her eyes. Her eyes brightened as she saw me awake.
"Thank God you're awake," she said before giving me a crushing hug. Pain flared once more as she did. More than such a hug had in the past.
"Ow, ow ow ow ow." I groaned weakly, causing Madam Han to let go of me with a sheepish smile.
"Sorry about that. You had us worried," she said.
"What happened?" I asked.
"I should be asking you that." Madam Han said with a small huff. I shrugged in agreement before I began recounting the events leading up to me, defeating Kozra.
"You knew my grandparents. Do you know who this Kozra was?" I asked and Madam Han scoffed in return.
"Unfortunately, yes. He was one of the elves who came with your grandmother. He liked to think of himself as some sort of a prodigy but honestly, his potential was mediocre at best and instead, he relied on magical artefacts he inherited from his family to give off the illusion that he was strong. Or maybe he never realised that his power was the result of the said artefacts. I honestly couldn't tell.
I personally never liked that man but your grandmother couldn't risk sending him back since his family might have seen it as an insult and used it as a casus belli to attack us. It honestly doesn't surprise me that he chose to join the enemy."
"So what happened while I was out?" I asked.
"Well, neither I nor strange knew that you had been kidnapped until one of the Koibata children ran up to me and told me what happened. I and Strange then tried to sling ring to you but we were blocked by a ward. We were trying to bypass it when it was dispelled by itself. Most likely when you killed him. "
Her words were like someone pouring cold water over me. That's true. I had killed someone. It was in self-defence but it didn't change the fact that I did. It wasn't like killing the shade beasts who were just mindless beasts. Madam Han must have seen the expression on my face as she placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.
"Harriet, I understand what you're going through. But please, keep in mind that you did what you had to do. Who knows what could have happened to you if you hadn't taken his life". she said.
" What happened after that?". I asked, hoping to change the subject. Madam Han looked like she wanted to say something more but thankfully, understood my intentions and continued her recount.
"When we came out of the portal, we saw you lying in a puddle of miasma. It gave us quite a scare but thankfully, it's still curable. However, it managed to infect a large portion of your body including the broken bones before we were able to purge it from your body and it is counteracting all of our healing spells and potions.
" Guess that explains the pain. So now what?" I asked with a serious expression.
"Now, you focus on healing. Me and Strange will make sure Kozra didn't bring any friends with him." Madam Han replied.
"These things are coming here for me. Let me help." I begged but Madam Han shook her head in response.
"No. As you are right now, you can barely walk. Besides, it looks like you need to catch up on your readings." Madam Han said with a smile before picking up my grandfather's Grimoire... which was glowing.
I reached out for it, ignoring the pang of pain from my ribs and practically snatched it out of Madam Hans's hand. I then began flipping through the pages seemingly forgetting our previous conversations. I briefly heard Madam Han chuckle before leaving the room, leaving me to see what had happened.
It seems that somehow, my fight with Kozra had triggered the release of the final seal and all of the chapters were now available for me. These included the creation of magical arrays, ritual types magics, advanced mental magics and pathomancy otherwise known as magic that manipulates peoples emotions. It also revealed a chapter on how to dispel others magics, either by the use of hexes or runes or even certain spells.
I spent around two weeks, recuperating while Madam Han created a magical clone of me which I telepathically used to attend school. I also spent that time, reading the grimoire and taking in its knowledge even after I recovered.
And then, finally, it was winter break. With the help of my newly learned spells, I manipulated the memories of my foster family into thinking that I was going away on a trip and I used the same excuse on my friends minus Gwen, covering my tracks as according to Madam Han, we may be going off the grid for weeks.
Once it was time for the trip to begin she opened a portal and I found myself in Salem, Massachusetts. She then began to walk, leading to a densely wooded area. The moment I stepped foot into the woods, I felt the air around it change. The magic around it was extremely potent even more so than the Sanctums or even Kamar Taj.
"Umm. Where exactly are we going?" I asked.
"An ancient ritual site. One that was built over a leyline. On the night you first fought the shadebeast and during your battle with Kozra, you felt something didn't you? Something tugging your very soul. One that granted you with a boost of power." Madam Han said and I nodded.
"That it the power stored inside dimension made by your grandparents. It is trying to bond with you since it senses that you are the progeny of your grandparents. Ideally, it would be better to let you make a connection to it naturally but the past few months have made it clear that you would end up in trouble one way or the other. So, I want to, in a sense, jumpstart your connection to that dimension using the leyline." she continued.
We suddenly found ourselves near what looked like dilapidated Mayan ruins and Madam Han looked at it fondly.
"You know this was where both me and your mother ended up on when we first came to this universe. The spell that transported us locked onto the leyline and brought us here. We practically alerted all mystics in the area and even beyond it like the Ancient One the previous Sorcerer Supreme. He had fight off about a hundred mystics before everyone managed to calm down and talk things through."
"What did they talk about?"
"About who had the rights to the leyline. Mystics desired leylines like countries vied oil. In the end, it was decided that they would share it. They even placed wards around the border of the woods so that other groups wouldn't be able to detect it."
"So that's why the magic in the surroundings fluctuated when we entered the woods."
"After the whole debacle, I took your mother to Kamar Taj and raised her amongst the other sorcerers. That was until she wanted to go and see the world. But I refused to let her because of my fear of losing her like I lost your grandfather. This devolved into a fight and your mother ran away." Madam Han continued with sadness as I was now fully paying attention to her words at the mention of my mother.
"I didn't see her until she arrived back at Kamar Taj almost a decade later with you cradled on her arms trying to escape your father's clutches. But we never did reconcile things between us, or rather neither of us knew how to start. It was at that time the Vishanti tasked both Strange and your mother to participate in the War of the Seven Spheres. They left, leaving you in my care. The war took place in a realm outside of time. For them, the war lasted for a millennia though it was barely a few seconds for us. However, all was said and done, Strange was the only one who returned and Vishanti told us that your mother perished during that war.
Her death broke me. So much so that I cursed the Vishanti in my heart who was the reason why she participated in the war in the first place. I felt responsible for failing your grandfather and felt unworthy to raise to you. So I took far away from Kamar Taj, far away from the Vishanti. Far away from me. Far away from magic. I gave you away to my good friend Agatha Harkness who took you to an orphanage and looked after you under the guise of the matron. Until the orphanage was closed down. And you ended up adopted by your current family." Madam Han said while starting at the ground.
To say that I was shocked by the revelation would have been an understatement. I pondered her words before coming to a realization.
"That's why you didn't want me drawing power from the Vishanti. Or why you didn't even bring me to Kamar Taj in the first place." I said and Madam Han nodded.
"Drawing power from the Vishanti means that they hold a certain power over you and I wasn't about to leave your life in their hands."
"Ok but if didn't want me learning magic, why did you send the Grimoire with me ?" I asked.
"I didn't want you to go through what your mother and grandparents did and I wanted you to have a normal life. But it was not my decision to make. As such, I decided to leave it up to fate. And I spent the last 13 years thinking that you would indeed be able to have a normal life. Right up until you entered my store with scent of magic around you. I'll be honest, part of me was happy. I had missed you deeply over the years and I had to force myself to keep it distance. But the other part of me was afraid that I would lose you just as I lost your mother."
Silence filled our surroundings and until I briskly walked towards her and gave her a hug from behind.
"Its Ok. I don't blame you. And I'm sure neither does mom." I said softly while trying to stop myself from crying.
Madam Han gently squeezed one of my hand while softly sobbing and we both stayed like that for what seemed like minutes. I eventually ended the hug and madam Han turned around and looked at me with a smile, which I reciprocated until I remembered a certain part of her story.
"Wait what was that about my Dad? Why was Mom trying escape from him?" I asked.
Madam Han looked a little uncomfortable and scratched her face as she answered. "Well you see, your father is a complicated man. While I have doubt that he loved your mother from the bottom of his heart. He had an unquenchable thirst for power and he wanted the power in your grandfather's realm for himself. And your mother couldn't stand by him no matter how much she loved him back."
"Ok so who is he?" I asked.
Madam Han began fidgeting and laughed nervously causing me to feel uneasy.
"Well, who is he?" I pressed once more.
"Here's the thing, you have already met him once." she said sheepishly before revealing the name of my father.
I could only stare wide eyed at her as said his name and all I could do in response was to yell as loud as I could causing the birds and animals in the vicinity to away.
"What the Fuck?!!!!!!!!!!!"