41 Chapter 41: The World After part 1.
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~History of Magical Shrines~
A magical shrine is a ceremonial structure erected above a Leyline Node. A leyline is a system of magical circuits symbolizing Gaia's veins running across the entire planet.
It is a place of immense power where sacrifices and pacts can be performed.
(General P.O.V)
The Watcher.
An apt name for his race. For Uatu's whole existence was devoted to a single purpose. To bear witness.
To record events and see the past transition into the present and then into the future. He had sat on his lonely perch on the moon for millenia, dedicated to this singular goal.
His anonymity was aided by the fact he was virtually invisible to normal detection.
The local star system civilization wasn't advanced technologically enough to detect his presence if he didn't want them to. They were a few centuries shy.
And yet, what a fascinating species they were.
While the bio-matter contained on the third planet from the local star was diverse and exceptional, this species stood out.
Among all these different animal and plant life pushed by evolution to their most efficient forms, this single species reigned supreme.
Humanity. The very definition of potential. A complex d.n.a strand that could allow easy altering.
They were also the definition of min-maxing. Their intellect was unmatched and yet their bones were easily broken, their flesh easily bruised, their skins easily punctured...
They couldn't run fast. Not enough to outrun most animals. They had no claws, no spikes, no shells, no fangs, no innate evolutionary advantage.
And yet this race had dominated every facet of the globe. They had conquered the entire planet.
With that dominance came technological advancements which made their lives easier. Pursuing the limits of what science could do had seen even more progress.
They battled nature and won, they battled diseases and won.
But with all this progress, came disaster. For humanity had reached the threshold.
Something called the Great Filter. An extinction event that would determine whether the species would continue existing or not.
It was a pruning. Something inescapable.
And by all indications, they hadn't. Earth was wounded. Bad enough that nothing could survive. Or even should.
Rocks and other debris floated around the Earth's orbit, thrown up by the impact from the Nuclear missiles that had destroyed the modern world.
A cloud of dust was already obstructing the view of the damaged surface of the planet.
However, Uatu on his perch, could see everything. His white cloudy eyes would never blink. Lest he missed something.
And with these eyes, he had seen the billions of lives snuffed by the actions of a Rogue artificial intelligence, Ultron.
The AI was now building an army using a defeated Wakanda's Vibranium Ores and the technology used to create the Mutant hunting Sentinels.
A truly terrifying future was soon to unfold for the human pockets left alive in the aftermath following the Nuclear fall.
He could save...
Uatu could not only see far, but his gaze was expansive as well. He didn't need to focus on any one thing. Instead, he could focus on everything
For example, the important meeting about to unfold on the tallest point of the planet, mount everest, registered the same time as a colony of ants that was burrowing deeper into the earth to escape the radiation on the surface.
No lag. No discrepancies.
He could witness it all, process it all but never act on it.
Why couldn't he save them...
A terrible responsible.
And yet, someone had to do it. Someone had to chronicle the Marvels.
******
(True Highest Point on The planet)
(Mount Everest)
(Shrine of Tyr, the god of Fairness.)
The blizzard raged around the mountaintop, swirling white gusts of snow and biting winds buffeting the lone structure around.
A simple shrine constructed like a Doric temple, consisting of four gray columns with no bases. The columns jutted straight up towards the sky.
Trays of burning flames were placed atop each column, the fire within the trays burning evenly, powered by Tyr's unwavering flames of justice.
The Shrine had been built by a previous Sorcerer Supreme after Tyr, Thor and the Warriors four had helped the Sorcerer Supreme to defeat a rogue necromancer.
At the center of this shrine was a lone woman.
She was meditating, remaining unmoved despite the intense winds that made it past the columns to buffet her body.
Cloaked in ancient yellow robes that ruffled in the open air, her form remained stable in stubborn defiance.
Her breaths were steady and her face calm.
But soon her meditation was broken by the appearance of something treading through the snow. Barely audible steps grew more and more apparent as the stench of sulphur and brimstone reached her nostrils, permeating the surroundings.
She opened her eyes, revealing a cool gaze.
The creature that approached her was a nightmarish sight—a wolf with twisted, obsidian horns protruding from its skull, its fur aflame with hellish fires that danced and crackled like the Ghost Rider's inferno.
As the wolf drew closer, it seemed as though the very snow beneath its feet withered and blackened.
It stopped before the shrine's boundaries. Then stepped through easily, moving forward unhurriedly.
The Ancient One gave no indication of what she was thinking.
She simply regarded the wolf, her gaze unchanging.
"I've been waiting for you, Mephisto,"
She said, her voice carrying the Wisdom of centuries.
"Though did you have to put this poor creature through such misery?"
The Ancient One shook her head, feeling pity for the possessed Wolf.
The wolf huffed, pushing breath out of it's nostrils before sitting on its haunches, its half flesh/ half skeletal burning maw opening into an eerie, chilling laughter.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Sorcerer,"
Mephisto replied, his voice a haunting resonance in the dreary landscape.
The wolf licked it's teeth, revealing them to be long blackened and dripping with an inky substance.
Some of it fell to the floor, causing the stone below the two of them to hiss as the saliva ate through it.
A hole the size of golf ball was left behind.
The Ancient one narrowed her eyes at the blatant disrespect. Yet she said nothing.
The Wolf rubbed it's ears, almost playfully.
"It's why you're ready to have an amiable conversation with me, when if it were another time, you would attack me without a second thought."
The Ancient One said nothing except for the slight tightening of her lips. The tense mood intensified as The Wolf grinned, taunting her.
"I know why you are here,"
The AO stated, her expression unreadable.
"And my answer is yes."
This unexpected response surprised Mephisto, breaking the tense moment from before.
The wolf tilted it's head.
"Why? Why agree to a proposal you are yet to hear—oh."
Realization dawned on him as he noticed the Time Stone hanging from her neck.
"Unless you've already heard it. In fact, you know how this conversation is going to go already, don't you?"
The Hell-Lord guessed with another chuckle
"Billy Batson's soul for the Ring of Solomon," the Ancient One affirmed, further convincing him that she had used the Time stone to see how their meeting would go.
How else did she know about the boy or the ring of Solomon?
Still, this made things easier.
"I'm listening."
Mephisto said, interested.
"I will help you extract the ring of Solomon from his soul, then you shall do everything in your power to bring him back to the Surface World, I believe you know what I'm taking about?"
Mephisto grinned...Weapon S. A program designed to create a mutant x demon supersoldier. One of his pet projects on Earth. Of course he wasn't going to admit it.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
The Ancient One took it in stride.
"Regardless, his fate is not to remain in your realm."
The Ancient One replied.
Now, Mephisto was no fool. You don't get to where he was and maintain that position simply by luck or power.
It also took trickery and deception. He was a demon after all. So he knew when someone was trying to finesse him.
That said, he had finally met a worthy opponent. The Ancient One gave no clue onto what was she thinking. And it was annoying him that he couldn't get a read on her.
Thus, he remained skeptical of her intentions.
"I don't know what you're playing at, but I have a question. Why let it reach this point? Surely with the Time Stone, you foresaw the destruction of the world. Why did you not stop it?"
The Ancient One offered no immediate answer, her eyes reflecting the storm that raged within her thoughts.
Her reason for living this long was not only to hand over the job to Stephen Strange. There was another one.
A secret she had carried for a long time.
The end of the world had been an absolute point in time, an event that couldn't be stopped but could be corrected, and the only way it could be corrected was if Billy Batson met his end and then came back to life.
However, she chose not to disclose this to Mephisto. Instead, she remained silent, her gaze fixated upon him.
"Fine. Keep your secrets."
Mephisto growled, waving it off.
"So instead I'll give you a warning. I am not someone to be crossed lightly, Ancient One."
His presence spread out...a cloying aura of demonic influence.
And in a display of unmatched power he made the whole Earth stand still as time slowed to a sudden stop.
The time stone hanging off the Ancient One's neck begun to pulse with emerald light.
The wolf then stood up to it's feet, straightening to it's full height.
Then without saying anything, it walked out of the shrine, only stopping outside the boundary when it's feet were on the snow.
The Wolf looked back, finding the ancient one's black eyes staring into its own.
"I hope for your sake, you will keep your end of the bargain. You might have nothing else to give but you can still forfeit your soul."
Mephisto told her.
The demonic wolf then turned around and begun to walk away, disappearing into the snowy landscape just like it had appeared.
Time resumed. The air howled as sharp and fast winds slapped upon the rocky sides of the mountains.
The crackling from the flames above the shrine flickered beautifully in the waning light. The sun's light was just now getting obscured by the heavy dust clouds in the atmosphere.
The Ancient One looked on until Mephisto was gone before she returned to her meditation.
