[Feat Achieved! Slayer of Kulan Grath]
[+1 Gold Ticket]
I looked back toward the center of the clearing. The devouring hole that had chewed through reality was gone, the crushing pressure on my skull fading with it.
Where it had been, there was only scorched earth and the faint afterimage of darkness burned into the air.
I let out a long breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Dormammu dropping in uninvited hadn't been on my bucket list, and I was deeply grateful the Ancient One had sent him packing. My legs finally gave out and I dropped onto my ass, relief washing through me as I looked inward.
I ripped the ticket.
[Novice Blacksmithing]
|Common Skill|
You are about as skilled as a blacksmith's apprentice. You can make basic weapons and tools, though you cannot guarantee quality. You can, however, accurately judge the craftsmanship of metalwork you encounter.
Knowledge flooded in. I clicked my tongue.
All that panic, all that near-death chaos, and I got basic blacksmithing.
Damn.
The ground shifted behind me. A rough grunt followed, and I turned to see Logan—much smaller than he'd been moments ago—hunched over with his hands braced on his knees. He looked wrecked. Sweat cut clean lines through the dirt on his face as he forced himself upright.
"We win, kid?" His voice was gravelly as he rubbed the side of his head.
"We did," I said, scooting closer and sitting beside him. My legs finally remembered how tired they were.
Somehow, impossibly, the world hadn't ended.
I looked farther out across the clearing. The Ancient One stood apart from the others, shoulders slumped in a way that felt wrong on her frame. She was still composed, still upright, but the exhaustion ran bone-deep.
Around her, her students watched with three very different expressions.
Yeah. The timeline's well and truly fucked.
"Hypocrite!"
Mordo's voice cut through the quiet. He stepped forward, finger stabbing the air as if he could pin the accusation to her chest. His face twisted between anger, betrayal, and something uncomfortably close to despair.
"All these years. Every lesson. A lie. You used the Dark Dimension to extend your life. You violated natural law!"
Kaecilius frowned as well, but without the fury I'd expected. That was… interesting.
Wong just looked lost. He stared at her like he was afraid the ground might give out beneath him. "Master? It can't be true."
The Ancient One didn't flinch. She nodded once, slow and heavy.
"It is."
The admission seemed to drain what little strength she had left. She leaned back against a tree, eyes closing for a brief heartbeat.
Mordo stared at her in open disgust. Kaecilius and Wong stood frozen, conflicted. Tellingly, neither of them moved to help her.
Honestly, I didn't care much about the hypocrisy. I cared a lot more about keeping an ancient, immortal sorcerer on the side of good.
I stood, slipped the Sun Princess's ring from my finger, and walked over. I slid it onto her hand.
The Ancient One straightened slightly as the regeneration kicked in. She gave me a brief, grateful nod before turning back to her students.
"You have questions," she said quietly. "Many, without doubt. I swear on my name that all will be answered. But our duty as sorcerers comes first."
Mordo looked like he might actually explode.
Logan's claws slid out with a metallic growl. "You can sort your crap out later. First, you're gonna use your magic hocus-pocus to help me find the kids."
Mordo stiffened, clearly ready to fight, but Wong's hand settled on his shoulder. The moment stretched.
Then Mordo shook him off and turned toward the trees. "There will be a reckoning for this."
Kaecilius said nothing. He simply walked away into the woods.
I lingered near the Ancient One as the clearing slowly emptied. "You know those two are going to be a problem, right?"
"They will," she said. The weariness was still there, but there was steel beneath it now. "I do not know what knowledge you possess. But they remain Masters of Kamar-Taj, under my auspices and my protection."
I raised my hands in surrender. "Got it."
She turned and began to walk away.
Yeah, this is totally not going to bite us in the ass later—absolutely zero chance.
—
Finding the civilians turned out to be easier than I'd expected. With Chamabra dead, sling rings were back on the table. Portals snapped open across the woods one after another, and we moved fast, gathering people and shepherding them out of the pocket dimension before anything else could go wrong.
Thankfully, the freakish monsters were gone. Dormammu eating their boss had apparently wiped out the rest, which I was deeply grateful for. Aside from bruises and a lot of shaken nerves, most of the civilians were physically fine.
Mentally was another story.
I grimaced as I watched sorcerers from Kamar-Taj guide them away with careful hands and quiet voices. There were only about a dozen of them, yet every single one had the same haunted look in their eyes. Dirt-smudged faces. Clothes hanging loose on thin frames. Being imprisoned by something straight out of a horror movie would do that to a person.
"Will they be taken care of?" I asked.
"Of course." The Ancient One stood beside me, mostly back in her serene, ancient-teacher mode. Mostly. There was still a weariness in her posture that she couldn't quite smooth away, even after returning my ring. No visible injuries, but I doubted that meant much. There were reasons one didn't casually use the Time Stone, I imagined. "We extend an open hand to those who suffer under the dark arts. Most of the abductees were, unfortunately, homeless. We will take them in."
I nodded. That eased something tight in my chest. Dumping them back into the world without support would've felt wrong.
"You have my thanks," she continued. "Had you not accompanied us, it is likely they would not have survived. The Masters would have prioritized stopping the sorcerer." She turned fully toward me and gave a small bow. "So again, thank you."
I shifted, uncomfortable, but accepted it. The thought that had been poking at me slipped out anyway. "You don't blame me for the reveal? I don't know how this was supposed to go originally, but…"
I trailed off. Part of me suspected Logan and Selene would've pulled some X-Men nonsense escape while the sorcerers handled Kulan Grath. Or maybe not. I might've just been reaching.
"Blame?" She smiled softly. "For what reason would I blame you? Those were my actions, willingly taken centuries ago. I will bear their consequences."
She let out a quiet chuckle as another sorcerer approached and murmured something in her ear. A single nod. "The evacuation is nearly complete. Will you be returning with us, or staying with your wayward friend?"
Logan stood off to the side, keeping a wide berth from the sorcerers and acting like a living barricade for the students. A few of them kept staring, clearly trying to sneak around him, but he shut that down with a look.
"A quick goodbye," I said, "then I'll join you, if that's alright. I'd rather not fly all the way back to Nepal."
"I will leave a door open." She smiled and turned to go.
"What'll happen to you?" I blurted. "After all the… revelations."
She stopped. For a moment, she said nothing. Then, "Who knows? But… I think I would like to find out." Her shoulders shook as she laughed quietly.
I watched her walk away. For a moment, I considered repeating my warning about those two, pressing the issue while I still could. In the end, I kept my mouth shut. My own existence was proof that nothing was ironclad. Futures changed. People changed. Who was I to say they were doomed to walk the same road into villainy?
Besides, dying on that hill now would only torch whatever goodwill I had with the Ancient One. So I let it lie and hoped for the best.
I shook my head and pushed thoughts of the future aside. There was someone else I needed to say goodbye to.
Logan stood off to the side with his arms crossed, keeping a loose perimeter. I spotted a few of the kids I thought I recognized, but I never got the chance to say anything. Logan caught them looking, shot them a warning glare, and headed toward me instead. One girl—who I was pretty sure was Kitty Pryde—made a face as he passed. He ignored it.
"What?" I said when he stopped a few feet away. "Don't wanna let your students get corrupted by a delinquent?"
Logan scoffed. "I'd worry for the world's safety if you and those idiots actually met. Damn fools got themselves caught lookin' for Bigfoot."
"Hm. Guess they take after you, then." I smiled.
He shot me a dirty look. I raised a hand. "But seriously. They okay?"
"…Yeah. Little banged up. Scared. Nothin' permanent." The tension finally bled out of his shoulders. "Thank God they were only in there a few hours."
The relief on his face was obvious.
"Thanks, kid," he added. "Might've gotten a bit crazy, but you saved me a whole lotta hassle."
He reached into his jacket, pulled out the tarot card, and handed it back. "I won't forget it."
"It was my displeasure working with you, Logan," I said, bowing exaggeratedly as I took it.
That earned a snort. "Come by the school sometime. Xavier and Ororo would probably like to meet you. They could help you more than I ever could, if you needed it."
"Help with what, exactly?"
He studied me for a moment. "Kid, I've known you less than a day, and I went through more shit with you than I usually do in a decade. I don't know your life, but I'm guessin' that wasn't exactly out of character."
I laughed, a little too tight.
Logan shook his head, a faint smile tugging at his mouth. "Just give us a call if you ever get in too deep. Least I can do." His expression hardened. "And word of warning. You seem to know a lotta things you shouldn't. Be careful about Selene. Stay the hell away from anything called the Hellfire Club, and don't trust the government."
He leaned in, voice dropping. "There are people who'd put you in a cage without blinking."
I nodded, the weight of it settling in. "I'll be careful."
A black car rolled up along the road.
"Looks like my ride's here." Logan glanced back, then turned to me. "See you around, kid."
He raised his fist.
I bumped it. "See you around, Logan."
***
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