Chapter 13: What Do You Want?

"I see you had fun." said the Ancient One once Isaiah finished telling his tale, "And it was a good decision to leave when you did."

Isaiah nodded swaying a little.

The woman noticed it and smiled a little,

"Get some rest, Isaiah. You look like you'll fall over," she said.

"Oh, okay. Good night, teacher."

"You should say good afternoon, but that's okay." the Ancient One said with a smirk before leaving the room.

Isaiah then went to his bed and placed his glasses on his nightstand before collapsing.

The next day, stirred from his sleep as his biological clock adjusted itself to Tibet's time. Yawning, he went to the bathroom and cleaned himself up before putting his clothes back and leaving his room to get breakfast. He arrived in the common room and found that a large and bulky man of Asian origins was behind the stove stirring something in a pot. Isaiah smiled when he saw who it was.

"Good morning Mr. Wong!"

The man looked away from his pot and towards the voice.

"Good morning to you too, Isaiah" he replied in his gruff voice, "I heard that you returned yesterday. Where did you go?"

"I went to meet the Greeks. Did you know that they are real?"

"I personally never met them, but Master told me that they were real."

"Yeah, I even met the gods!"

Wong raised an eyebrow,

"Really?"

"Yeah! I met Artemis, Apollo, Dionysus and Hestia."

"That's good."

The man then gave him a plate full of food,

"Here's your breakfast."

"Thank you, Wong. Bye!"

"Bye, Isaiah."

The boy then left to go to his room and eat breakfast.

In the middle of his meal, a small portal opened and a slip of paper fell through.

[Come see me in our classroom after your breakfast. -The Ancient One]

Reading it, he quickly finished his food and left to go to his classroom.

He opened the door and saw the usual scene of his teacher sitting behind a table with two sets of tea.

"Good morning teacher!" Isaiah greeted her,

"Good morning, Isaiah. Have you slept well?"

"Yes, I did."

"That's good. Come sit."

Isaiah sat in front of his teacher,

"Tea?"

"No, thank you. I just ate."

"Alright then."

The woman then made the tea set in front of him disappear and spoke.

"Now that you have returned from your trip, we have something to discuss."

"About what?" the boy asked a little confused.

Raising an eyebrow, the woman then said before pointing at the ring on the boy's hand,

"Did you forget? I'm talking about your ring,"

Isaiah looked at his hand,

"Oh. Right."

The woman deadpanned at him,

"You forgot didn't you?"

"Hehehe." Isaiah could only chuckle awkwardly.

The sorceress sighed,

"Well, it doesn't matter. Anyways, have you cast (Structural Grasp) on it."

Isaiah shook his head,

"I didn't do it yet because I wanted to wait for you."

His teacher nodded,

"Then you may cast your spell."

As soon as he did, he knew what the ring was and who it belonged to.

"So?" the teacher asked.

"This ring is a dimensional storage ring with a space of about 200m*200m*200m. It allows storing anything except living beings. The user is also able to send his consciousness in the ring to see his inventory or he could simply think of an object and it would appear in his mind before extracting it from the ring. The pocket dimension does not allow the passage of time. It is only usable by a user of mana and becomes bound to them until they die." Isaiah then looked at the Ancient One with excitement, "The creator and previous user of this ring was King Solomon who was also a Sorcerer Supreme in his time using the Eye of Agamotto!"

The teacher also looked awed by the information.

"This is truly unexpected news. Who knew such an unassuming artifact belonged to such a person. In hindsight, I guess it was my fault for assuming such. Do you have more information on it?" the woman was also getting excited although she didn't show it.

Isaiah shook his head,

"Nope."

"I see. Now, you told me that there are books in the rings that are written in a language that you don't understand. Since the previous owner of the ring is King Solomon, I assume that it is written in Hebrew."

"Hebrew?"

The woman nodded,

"Yea, but why don't you show me a book first to make sure that I'm right."

The boy nodded and picked a random book from his ring.

The woman picked up the book and examined it.

"I see. After all these centuries, it's still in good condition. In fact, it's like it has been recently written," she analyzes while touching the parchment.

She then read the letters and nodded to herself,

"I was right this is Hebrew."

Isaiah was excited,

"Will you teach me?"

The woman gave the book back to the boy who put it back into his ring and shook her head.

"No."

"Huh? Why?" Isaiah asked in disbelief.

"Because that's your task. You will learn this language on your own," she replied with a grin.

"But, do we even have a book for Hebrew?"

"You can ask the librarian. I'm pretty sure that we have one because I remember a student working on a book to learn ancient Hebrew."

"Okay, then can I go?"

The woman saw that Isaiah was practically vibrating in his place and nodded,

"Of course, you can go start now if you want."

The boy practically bolted out of the room and to the library. The Ancient One released a chuckle at the sight. Because of his inhuman capacity to learn almost anything at a single glance, Isaiah had always had a passion for learning. Therefore, learning an entirely new language or in this case, an old one had set him off. If she were to guess, the boy would be so absorbed in learning that he would forget the world around him.

And so, the boy headed to the Library of Kamar-Taj, he soon arrived in front of a young woman of Japanese origin. He saw that she was reading a book on the librarian's desk.

"Hi, Mrs. Hinata!"

The woman looked at the new arrival and pouted,

"Isaiah! What did I tell you to call me?" the woman said looking up from her books and pouting.

"Huh? Big sis Hinata?"

"And what did you call me?"

"Mrs. Hinata?"

"That's right," she said putting her fist on her waist.

the boy scratched the back of his head,

"Sorry Big sis Hinata."

Hinata put the book she was reading back on the shelf and asked,

"So what do you need Isaiah?"

"I need to learn a new language and the Teacher told me that there is a book that can help me."

"Really? Which language are you trying to learn?"

"Hebrew."

The woman placed a hand under her chin and thought,

"I see. I think we have a book regarding that language."

She said and went through the shelves to see. After five minutes, the woman returned with a book.

"Here you go, Isaiah"

The boy took the book,

"Thank you Big sis Hinata." the boy said as he walked towards a table.

"No problem. Have a good study!"

And so Isaiah went to a table and looked at the book. When he read the title of the book, he realized that there were two titles: one in Sanskrit and one in Hebrew.

"Dictionary," he read.

'Oh, so this is a translation dictionary between Sanskrit and Hebrew. Alright! Let's get to work!' he thought and started reading his book.

As he read, he learnt its alphabet and its phonetical pronunciation.

He continued to read for a day even at night by using the astral form. Usually, one cannot interact with objects in the physical dimension while the person's soul is in the astral dimension. However, using the same principle as using telekinesis and telepathy, one can use magic to force their soul to interact with the physical realm. This is how mutants with telepathic abilities use their powers.

A day and a half later, he was still in the library. Isaiah had already gotten the basics of Hebrew down using his ability. He still didn't know if it was a mutant ability or it's an ability granted by his connection with the Root, but it's not like it's going to change anything if it was one or the other.

He set the book down and picked a random book from his ring. This time it was a small black book. He opened it and read.

'Wait! This is a journal! A journal written by Solomon himself!' he thought in awe.

He was about to continue reading when he felt someone approaching him. He looked up and saw his teacher walk up to his table.

"Hello, Isaiah." She said.

"Good morning, teacher." the boy replied.

"Have you made progress?"

The boy got up and was about to answer her when suddenly his eyes rolled back. His teacher seeing this quickly caught him and placed him back on his chair. She then pulled another chair and waited for him.

Meanwhile, Isaiah was experiencing another vision. The boy opened his eyes and looked around. The sky was dark indicating that the vision was taking place during sunset. Isaiah then lowered his eyes and saw that he was in an area with lots of sand. There was a two-lane road in front of him with some buildings on the side of the road. He saw a sign that says Gila Claw, Arizona.

'Isn't that a state in the USA?' he thought.

He then looked at the hills behind the buildings.

Isaiah squinted his eyes and saw that the hills were in fact mounds of thrown-away cars, appliances and other scraps.

'That's what they call a junkyard. I saw it once on the internet.'

Suddenly, he heard loud stomping. He quickly turned around and saw a. weird sight. A giant boar was running towards him.

"What on earth?" he couldn't help but say.

However, the weirder thing is the fact that five people were riding on it. It soon came to a stop in front of Isaiah, but it couldn't see him since the boy was not physically there. He soon identified the five people who got off from the boar's back. They were Zoe, Percy, Thalia, Grover, and Bianca.

'What are they doing here?' he thought.

"Ugh, my butt is sore from riding that boar," said Percy while rubbing his backside.

They then looked around,

"Something tells me we are not going to find a rental car here," Thalia said before turning to Grover, "I don't suppose you have another giant boar up your sleeve," she asked.

Grover didn't answer before sniffing the air nervously. He then took some accorns from his pockets and tossed them on the floor. Instead of going everywhere, they arranged themselves in an intricate pattern. Isaiah wanted to walk over to the, but he couldn't.

As they talked and the satyr finally finished the conversation,

"According to this, our next challenge is going to be over there."

He then pointed at the junkyard.

Isaiah narrowed his eyes, if the water pointed at the junkyard that means it was no ordinary junkyard.

The vision suddenly changed. It was now nighttime. He looked around and he was now surrounded by metallic trash. He looked around and saw thrown-away cars, appliances, ovens, golden bows...

Wait, what?

Isaiah turned back and spotted a golden bow in the heaps of trash. He then spotted a small broken robot that looked like it was made with the same metal as Percy's sword. A little further he spotted a half-finished sword.

"What?"

*BANG* CRASH*

He suddenly heard loud noises from behind him and saw the biggest robot he had ever seen in his life. Not like he had ever seen one in person. It was so tall easily taller than every building he had ever seen. Its face was deformed and its left side was a little melted with an insane amount of rust all over its body. It's like someone didn't finish building it and threw it away mid-process. It also had a sword that was over thirty meters in its hand.

"Watch out!"

'What?' Isaiah thought.

He looked at the source and saw Percy, Grover, Thalia and Zoe all running in different directions.

The robot was about to move when it suddenly froze. It then started moving weirdly making weird chicken movements before making a fist and repeatedly punching itself in the face.

"Go Bianca!" cheered Percy.

"She's inside!?" asked/shouted Zoe.

'She's inside that robot?' Isaiah thought looking at the malfunctioning robot.

'Is she doing that?'

Suddenly, the robot started to stagger,

"Wait. How will she get out?" Thalia asked.

The robot then started running towards the highway and the questers chased it. However, the giant's ankle got caught in the electricity lines and crackling blue arcs of electricity ran up the robot's body stiffening it. Pieces of metal started falling off as its limb started detaching itself and falling into the junkyard with loud clangs. Everything detached until, finally, the head fell on the new mound of metallic rubble.

"BIANCAAA!"

They all started to search for her, while Isaiah could only observe. They searched for so long that they could see the sunrise on the horizon. Zoe fell to her knees and wept. Percy couldn't speak, too stunned to do anything. Thalia yelled in rage as she started bashing her spear at the destroyed robot's face.

'What happened?'

Isaiah looked at their faces. He never could've imagined such expressions, such raw emotions. It was so foreign, yet he couldn't tear his eyes from the scene.

"C-Come on, w-we can still search a-around." stuttered Percy as he moved the pieces of rubble.

"It's useless," Grover said miserably. "It happened like it was supposed to happen.

Percy's head snapped towards Grover tears began to spill out of his face.

"What do you mean!?"

"The prophecy said it, One shall be lost in the land without rain."

The son of Poseidon dropped the metal pieces in his hands when it dawned on him what Grover was talking about.

'Will Bianca die?' thought Isaiah before the vision went black.

The Ancient One looked at her student who stirred and opened her eyes. However, she was surprised by the face he was making. For the first time since she had taken him under her wing, the boy was frowning. It was the frown of a person who thought too much, but the frown of a person who saw something unpleasant.

Seeing him like that made her also uncomfortable. Even if she wanted to see him experience emotions, she didn't like seeing them on his face. The Ancient One placed her hand on the boy's hand before asking,

"Are you okay, Isaiah?" she gently asked.

The boy continued to frown. He opened his mouth as if wanting to say something before closing it.

"Why don't we go somewhere more private?" his teacher asked and he slowly nodded.

The woman opened a portal and they both stepped through it and entered their classroom.

"Tea?"

The boy nodded and she conjured two sets of tea. The duo then sat in silence while drinking tea.

"Teacher?" the bit asked when he finished his cup.

"Yes, Isaiah?"

"When is sunset in Arizona?"

The teacher thought for a bit before answering.

"It should be around 6:00 PM"

"And what time is it over there, right now?"

The teacher looked at her student before flicking her hand in the air. The table containing the computer suddenly rolled itself beside them. She googled the time before answering,

"It is currently 5:16 PM. Is something going on, Isaiah?" she asked in concern before sending the computer back to its place.

Isaiah didn't have a single trace of a smile now. It was more like that time when he first woke up. Emotionless like an empty husk instead of a human.

"Teacher, have you lost someone?"

Hearing his question, she could guess what was going on and adopted a sad smile,

"I have lost a lot of people. It comes with being immortal or bearing the title of Sorcerer Supreme."

"Then, what did you feel when that happened?"

*Ting*

She placed her cup down and sighed.

"The first couple of deaths were hard on me. I had lost some friends to demons when we were mere apprentices of the Order. Losing them was like losing a piece of myself. Because when we become friends, we all give that person a piece of ourselves and receive a piece from them in a metaphorical sense. So when they die, it's like a part of ourselves dies with them. It's an agonizing feeling that no one should experience. The grief, the sadness, the emptiness one feels can sometimes become unbearable, especially for a lonely person. But, that feeling also reminds us of how short and fragile life is. It reminds us how we must protect it and make the most out of it. It's also why humanity adapts and evolves so fast. However, in my long life, I have lost more people as time passed and it never gets easier. You simply learn to let go and move on," she finished and Isaiah could see that her eyes were slightly more red than normal.

The boy stood silent when he heard her answer as he tried to process it.

"Then... what do you feel about death?"

"Shouldn't you know about it more than me?"

Isaiah shook his head,

"I may have an understanding of the concept of Death, but I want to know how you feel about it." the boy replied with the same blank look.

"For me... death is like a checkpoint. It is simply a stop everyone has to go through someday. It is not the end nor the beginning."

"I see."

"In my vision, a... friend is going to die. What do you think am I supposed to do?"

The woman smiled at his question,

'He's made progress.'

"That's not a question you should be asking me."

"Then who?"

The Ancient One pointed at the boy.

"Me?" the boy asked.

"That's right. What do you want to do?"

'What do I want to do?' thought Isaiah as he looked down in thoughts.

{No problem, Isaiah. Your spells also helped create a lot of new things. You're our friend now, Isaiah.}

{We're friends, right?}

Isaiah took out the pendant that he always wore and read the back of it.

[I will always love you. -Mom]

In the vast and empty void known as Isaiah Sharpe where nothing is supposed to exist, a single spark appeared. However, that single spark had brought the first warmth to the cold and empty space. It can and disappeared like it was never there, but the feeling lingered in the boy's being.

The Ancient one looked at the boy and for a split second saw another emotion on his face. It was so quick, but she saw it. It was like the boy was... angry? She couldn't quite place it. The boy then looked up. She saw him wear his usual smile, but she saw a slight going of determination in his face.

"I... don't want her to die. I don't think... I would like that." the boy finally said.

"Who?"

The boy explained his vision. His teacher nodded when he finished,

"Do you understand the consequences it will have? The fact that the Fates themselves weaved that future shows how much impact you will have if you change it. The Greeks have a saying, " Never work around a prophecy, for it is a moot point." What you will be doing will forever change that." The woman asked her student with a serious expression.

Isaiah smirked,

"The Fates never had a hand in my destiny."

The sorceress opened her eyes wide,

"You knew?"

"That I'm a wildcard? Yes, I realized that ever since I realized that I was connected to the Root"

"I see. Then I assume you understand the power you hold?"

The boy nodded. She looked into her student's eyes and didn't see the usual child she sees every day. Right now, she saw a boy with a mind way too old for his age. Nonetheless, she was happy,

'He's starting to heal.'

She smiled and, instinctively, placed a hand on the boy's hand and gently rubbed his hair. The boy flinched before relaxing under the touch of her hand.

"Then what are you waiting for?"