Changing tides Part 1

-New York Sanctum-

The ancient one set patiently on a mat on the roof of the building that served as the strong hold for the sorcerers in New York. In front of her was a small table with an ancient set of Chinese teacups and a brewing tea pot.

She sat in a meditative posture with her eyes close enjoying her peace after the battle that was now coined the Battle for New York.

Her peace was disturbed by the sound of footsteps approaching her. Without breaking her meditation or acknowledging the person walking towards her she spoke with a hint of amusement in her tone.

"Mordo, care for some tea?" She smiled lightly.

Karl Mordo ignored the ancient one's request as he slowed to a stop behind her. He was a physically fit and tall man who wore brown traditional sorcerer robes. He carried himself with an air of quit confidence and seriousness.

He was one of the Ancient one's most skilled disciples and most loyal follower who's stern deminer the Ancient One often found amusing to poke fun at.

"Kaecilius is on the move again." He took an intentional step forward as he continued. " His acolytes were spotted near the London Sanctum. He must have thought to use the Chitauri invasion as distraction. We cannot continue to allow him to run free. His dangerous."

The Ancient one opened a single eye, sparing him a glance before closing it and resuming her meditation. " We are practitioners of the mystic arts; we are all dangerous."

"He is no longer one of us. He is a murderer and I fear he is more dangerous than you-then we know. I think he's planning something with the scriptures he stole. Something worse."

 "And I suppose you are here for the same reason as before." The ancient let out sigh and broke out of her mediation motioning for him to sit with her hand as she picked up the teapot to serve him a cup of tea.

Mordo did as he was asked and took a sit beside the ancient one. " Please, I'll ask again, let me take a few of the acolytes and track him down. I don't understand why we choose to remain silent on such matters. Even now, when the Chitauri attacked we could have helped saved lives." 

The Ancient One poured him a cup for tea, stirring it lightly with a teaspoon as she answered him. " As I've told you before, our time in the light will come. The world as it isn't ready for us to reveal ourselves yet. The line between knowing that there is a possibility for something to exist and knowing that something definitively exists is often thin but once it's crossed the impossible becomes possible for even the worst of humanity."

Mordo contemplated her words.

" So, everything is within your vision. The time is simply not right for us to help." Mordo was becoming disillusioned with the secretive ways of the mystic arts as of late, with the powers they wield he knew the masters of the mystic arts could do much more the protect the world from the shadows. The Ancient One's words brought a little bit of clarity to his thoughts.

"Yes." The Ancient one smiled and slid Mordo's teacup over for him to enjoy. " Imagine how different it would have been for you if you knew beforehand that the mystic arts were real with definitive proof. I'd wager your path would be very different from who you are know."

Mordo twitched lightly as the Ancient one spoke of his past but chose to sip his tea and contemplate on the Ancient one's words as she continued.

"I understand your concern regarding Kaecilius and to that end I've decided to personally hold him accountable for his actions. He is my student after all. If that is all, I have another appointment just around the corner. "

" Are you expecting someone?" Mordo asked.

"Yes and no, his rather challenging to deal with but in most possible scenarios he meets me here in a few minutes. I can only wait to find out which one this is." The Ancient one mused.

"I see." Mordo took one last sip from the teacup before standing up and giving the Ancient One a bow." Thank you for the tea and for your words of wisdom Ancient One. I apologies for disturbing your meditation."

The Ancient One simply nodded at him as he took is leave speaking up one last time as he walked past her. " By the way, how is our blind guest doing?"

"His healing much faster than most and taken quite a liking to our teachings. His particularly gifted with the eldritch branch of the mystic arts though I doubt he'll stick around for much longer. I would have taken him as an acolyte if he did."

"He must be quite gifted."

Modor left after a short while leaving the ancient one to her peace and quite once again but sadly it wasn't bound to last because a moments Peter Parker came crashing onto the roof with a bleeding girl in his arms.

"Well, aren't you full of surprises." The Ancient One expected Peter but the girl in his arms, in all her visions of the future regarding Peter she had never once seen that girl in any of them. Another One. She wasn't sure, the girl didn't seem like to be the same kind as Peter but there was something strange about her, the Ancient One could sense it.

Peter walked forward with the girl in his arms and pleaded with the Ancient Sorceress. " Please, help me save her."

As he got closer the Ancient One suddenly stood up in shock and rushed to towards Peter and the girl. She hastily weaved her hands in the air, the world around them fractured and light refracted off from countless glass like shards.

The girl and Peter were instantly pulled into the ancient once mirror-verse.

With an almost exasperated sigh she moved quickly conjured numerous magic circus the sparked to life around Peter. Her eye's twitched in annoyance as she carefully observed the girl in Peter's arms. Squinting cautiously at the black cloth in Peter left hand she couldn't help but pinch her the bridge of her nose to nurse a coming headache.

"Child, has anyone ever told that a mortal shouldn't walk around the living world with a piece of Death in their hands."

….

-Within the halls of Kamar-taj a few hours later-

Peter sat in one of the many waiting room within the halls of Kamar-taj waiting for ancient one to finish working her magic on Kelly to hopefully save her life. The Ancient One spent a good few minutes berating him about walking around with a literal piece of death in arms like an idiot before she left with Kelly.

She knew of the spell he needed her to do but in return for doing the spell the Ancient One asked Peter a favor. A favor she would ask him on a later date and Peter agreed to her conditions.

Just like the last time they met the Ancient One still had and air of mysticism around her, like she knew more then she should, more about him and his abilities. He didn't ask for the spell she was performing too, she seemed to already know what she was required to do the moment she saw the cloth in his hands.

He was told he couldn't join them or remain anywhere near them because the innate nature of his ability stood against magic and his presence in proximity to them would be detrimental to the spell, she was going to perform so all he could do now was wait.

Contrary to his outward appearance which seemed calm and collected to anyone passing by he was feeling restless. He knew nothing about magic and his abilities made it impossible for him to use it, for now. That might change in the future given the ever-evolving nature of his powers

Even though his lack of understanding of the mystic arts made him nervous, he trusted Moira's (his Aijin's) instructions over his lack of understanding, it confused him somewhat that he trusted her to this extent.

But Moira couldn't answer all his questions due to the limits of her manifestation in the real world. Since he was here with the Ancient One helping him, he realized he could ask the ancient one about some of the things regarding his powers.

Maybe she could answer some of them.

A few hours went by before the Ancient One came out again to meet him, she didn't say much only that Kelly would live but she needed a few days to rest and recover her strength before guiding him to different room so they could talk in private.

….

Peter and the Ancient One sat on opposite ends of a small wooden table between them. The Ancient One poured Peter a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.

"You can stop worrying. Kelly is fully healed. She will just need's some time to recover and adapt to her new circumstances. You can leave her with me for a few weeks, I'd be happy to help you out. Kamar-Taj is a place where all lost souls can learn to rediscover themselves and their purpose and their purpose in life." She assured Peter.

" I'll think about it." Peter glanced around the room noting the décor of the room. The place had that ancient Tibetan temple feel to it reflecting a mixture of multiple cultures from Nordic wood to Chinse murals. "And Thanks for helping her."

The Ancient One only hummed softly and nodded as she poured herself a warm cup of tea. There was an awkward air between them as she stirred her cup mixing the varies ingredients inside with silent focus.

 Peter wasn't sure how to start and the Ancient One didn't look like she was in a hurry to begin the conversation. She seemed perfectly serene as she took a sip from her on cup savoring the taste of the tea with her eyes closed.

Peter had the striking suspicions that she knew what he was going to say before he could even say it. She always seems to know things.

 The silence extended for a few more seconds before she spoke. " Go on, how is it?"

"What?" Her question startled Peter, pulling him form his thoughts.

"The tea Peter, you better drink it before it gets cold, it's brewed from Rishi mushrooms to relieve stress and calm the mind, Jujube, an herbal fruit for sweetness and a hint of lavender for the rich aroma." She took a sip." It's quite delicious and nourishing both the body and mind. Try it."

"Oh, don't mind if do," Peter took a sip of tea. Cypher was quick to note down the ingredients as she spoke. They were a few Chinese herbs used in tea brewing. Peter took a sip and blinked in surprise; she was right it was pretty sweet. "It's good."

" Thank you, brewing tea is one of my many hobbies. It therapeutic in its own way." She took another slow sip from her teacup. " Now you can ask your questions, I'm not sure I can answer all of them, but I'll tell you what I can."

Peter took a moment to think things over before he asked." What do you know about me? About what I am?"

"Hmm, that's a rather difficult question to answer." The Ancient One folded her arms into her sleeve and watched Peter carefully. " I have a vague idea of what you may be. Very few beings possess an aura of death as potent as you, but you are much to different from any of them. There's something in you, something with unimaginable power but for reasons I can't comprehend its subservient to you as its host."

She knows about IT. The thought surprised Peter. " Do you know what it is, that thing inside me?"

The ancient one stifled a laugh. " No, and I'm not foolish enough to try to find out. Somethings a better left unknown. I'm sure in time you will learn all you need to know."

"I actually get that feeling a lot. Like I'll know what I need to know when I need to know it. It sounds weird when I say it out loud."

 "I've heard stranger things." The Ancient One quipped before her tone turned serious." You shouldn't trust those feeling too much. Don't rely on them for guidance. Often with powers like yours the host mistaken the feelings and intention of the entity within them for their own. It drives them to act in ways they normally wouldn't."

Hmm…So that's what happened. Peter suddenly remembered his actions on the roof when he met Kelly. The sudden urge he had to kill her when he shook her hands. It was overpowering in that instant, less then a second was all it took for it to drive him to Kill her.

That wasn't all, he felt it when they shook hands, an estrange sense of kinship, as if they were related or rather as if they were the same kind of being and that despite being the same, she should die and return to him the part of him that was missing?... No, not missing. It was so that I could be complete, so that I could be whole again.

Did that even make sense. Peter wasn't sure, but he was starting to understand a few things about his powers which left him with more questions then answers.

"Oh." The Ancient One noted Peter's reaction. " It seems you already have some experience with that."

" Yeah, Kelly McGrath, the girl I brought. When we met, something took over me, it still felt like me though. I just couldn't control myself; it was only for a moment, but it was enough and before I knew it, she was already bleeding in my arms." Peter confessed with a somber tone, he looked at his hands clenching and unclenching his fist as he spoke. "There was something in her too. Something like me except it's not the same as me. It felt like a missing part of me, a part of me that I desperately wanted back. It's confusing…I don't really what happened on that roof, all I know is that whatever was in Kelly left the moment I tried to kill her, it was possessing her to get to me, somehow."

 " Interesting. So, there are two of you now." That explains why the young girl wasn't in any of my visions. The old sorceress tapped her chin with her pointer as if she was trying to recall something. " Hmm…the way you describe it, it sounds familiar. I can't help you find what was possessing that poor girl, much like you they also have the uncanny ability to evade my sights. I can however help you better master your abilities; I can help you control the urges and overwhelming intent of the being within you. It may not be much so soon, but it will be an important skill to possess as you grow."

" That's right, you did say you'd help that time." Peter recalled.

" Yes, and I intend to do just that. I know many things about you Peter, and I intend to help you to the best of my ability if you'll let me." The Ancient One turned to the door just in time to watch it slide open as Mordo made his way inside. Upon seeing the ancient one with Peter he closed the door behind him and stood by patiently waiting for them to conclude their discussion. " It seems this is all we can talk about for today. As I've told you our doors are always open for you Peter."

The Ancient One slowly stood up to take her leave. " Think about it for now and come visit me when you've made your decision and as for girl, she will remain with me for the next few weeks until I'm certain she is ready for the outside well."

With her piece said, the Ancient One left with Mordo leaving Peter to his thoughts. Peter looked around one more time before pouring himself another cup of tea.

She was right, it really was delicious, and he did feel a lot calmer now compared to moments ago. Maybe the training could help, he needed some training with the new abilities anyway.

Not far from Peter in the halls of Kamar-Taj Kelly McGrath twitched in her sleep, the sin shard in her chest faded from its purple glow into a dark black before returning back to the dark purple it was before. A 

{Kelly McGrath 

New Traits added to shard 

Touch by Death- Knowledge regarding this ability is sealed by higher Entity Designation Death

Mystic Arts Hollowed Soul- host of the shard possess the capacity to learn the mystic art with increased proficiency if she chooses to with an innate gift for necromancy and soul magic. 

} 

-Chapter End-