The Sage of the Mind

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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 136[June 2012]

KamarTaj

–Axle Riddle–

A corona of blue surrounded his body, the stone pavement cracking beneath him in circles, a heavy pressure, both mental and physical was cast all around him, making all the people save for the Ancient One hunch down a bit, and in the case of Wong, make him draw his Eldritch energy to form weapons and point them against him.

After all this show and tell, he replied, "--I would very much love the answers to them, right now!'

He looked the Ancient ONe dead in her eyes, daring her to say No to his face right now. Sure, he was sure that despite his power up, he was sure that she could still seal him away or blast him away from Kamar Taj but he would not, could not be dealt with so easily. No, this was important and he needed the answers.

Hundreds of thousands of people died because he had the idea in his mind that the invasion would only occur in Manhattan, with just a single portal, just like canon. Not this…tragedy.

Moments seemed like minutes as the ancient ONe finally sighed and twitched her fingers. His eyes twitched as he saw her effortlessly cut through the pressure he had generated, relieving the people behind her from bearing the full brunt of his powers, which was unfair but needed to drive home his point.

"Return to your duties," She said nonchalantly to the people behind her, most of whom were already sporting eldritch weaponry, then turned to him, "Follow me,"

The crowd parted for her, as he followed through the path as well, keeping the corona of energy active around him, wary of any sneak attacks. While he was confident in dealing with them before they could even think of making a move on him, it was still good to be cautious.

Being Masters, he could not yet read their surface thoughts but he could thoroughly read their bodies which meant that even the slightest muscle twitch was observed, recorded, analysed to provide the optimum response.

His brows furrowed as he realised that he couldn't do the same to the Ancient One. There was something, a veil of some sort blocking his powers from doing anything. Everyone else was fair game though. Damn, Wong was ripped underneath all those robes.

They passed through multiple corridors, some of which were surely there only to confuse any would-be intruder, as they entered what seemed like a reception room of some sort, clad with comfortable sofas and a coffee table.

She sat in one of them and gestured for him to sit in one of them. He huffed, dispelled his aura, and sat his ass down.

"Did you know?" He had to ask, because that kind of death, being in the hands of one person did not sit well with him. Even if she was the Sorcerer Supreme.

"I assume you are familiar with the phrase 'The Hardest Choices Required the Strongest Wills'?"

His eyes widened as a chill ran down his spine, the Ancient One reciting the creed of the fucking Thanos to him, with a nonchalant look on her face as she sipped her tea.

He barely managed to choke out, "What?!"

She took a long sip while maintaining eye contact, set down the cup, and replied, "That is true, Mr.Riddle, the hardest choices do require the strongest wills. Your mere existence has changed the fabric of reality around the multiverse. You couldn't expect the universe to just roll over and accept any changes, no, the universe fights back, and in your case, the only reason Earth is not a wasteland is because the Vishanti fought on your behalf, reducing the–"

"Reducing? Is this reducing the damage?" He whispered, deathly calm as his enhanced mind ran everything she said hundreds of times internally before replying. Once he began using his powers to enhance his thinking, the rage just went away, dissolving into blocks of irrational emotions before being flushed away by his conscious mind. He was sure that it would remain in his subconscious somewhere but for now, he was calm for this conversation.

The Ancient One nodded, a look of pity crossing her face, "Yes. This is by far the best scenario they could create for you. I realise that loss of life on this scale is new to you but to me–"

"It is just another tragedy, a part of the job, huh?" He said, more to himself than to her. He realised then and there that he could never respect the Ancient One as a person, never respect who she had become in all her years being the Sorcerer Supreme. Along the way, the path she had chosen to protect all of Humanity, she had lost the one thing that made her human.

Empathy.

Sure, it was not her fault, not completely. The situation was to blame as well. After all, witnessing dozens of events with catastrophic loss of life, being powerless to do anything simply because a magic Rock told her that this was probably the path of least loss, would turn anyone into an unfeeling monster.

Oh, she tried. He could tell that she tried. To be more humane in her dealings, and to display more emotions but it was all forced. The second her attention is shifted, she turns back into the emotionless, attack dog of the Vishanti.

Supreme in power and yet, lost in all the ways that mattered.

"Do you regret it?" his mouth moved on its own before he could decide on anything. He was about to explain what he meant when the Ancient One spoke on her own with a soft smile on her face.

"No. Not even for a moment. I realise that I must move on soon because I have become something that my younger self would not bear to look at but the horrors I have seen, the horrors I have personally inflicted, and the horrors I let happen simply because it was the path of least damage, has taken its toll on me."

He leaned back in his chair, slumped as he realised that there was simply no reason for him to come here. He had more important things to do. Besides, Strange should be coming in soon anyway. He had more than enough things on his plate, he should not be here wasting time on things that had already happened.

HE stood up, looking down at her surprised face, "Look, I get it. I don't like it but I understand. It was foolish of me to think that getting a cozy life in one of the best cities on the planet with powers beyond anyone was a punishment. Something had to give and other people had to pay the price for that. I have a lot of other work to do and this…this is not the way to do so,"

HAving said his piece, he was back in his corona of energy as he walked out of the place, the wards of this place breaking as they tried to latch onto him. He could tell their function as well, simple location as well as warning systems just in case he entered places he was not supposed to.

'Huh. Nifty' he thought to himself before blinking in surprise as the door to exit Kamar Taj was somehow right in front of him. It further proved his suspicions, it was all a maze that could be controlled at will.

Damn, what a nightmare for people who can't blast through everything. Shaking his head, he flew through the door, finding himself in the middle of nowhere.

Literally nowhere as he was suspected mid air. He looked back and saw the fading form of a door as it too dissipated soon after. Letting his telepathy go after he had restrained in Kamar Taj, he picked up on a few stray thoughts from the people down below.

He had an effective range of 1000 miles now. An absurdly large number which also generated an absurdly large amount of information, so much so that even after having his second mind, he could not keep the entire thing active at all times.

No, that was going to take a lot of work, even more work than defeating Thanos himself, he supposed.

He could still cover more than ten times the area of Manhattan with ease but that was nowhere near his full range if he concentrated and was looking for something specific. The problem lay in the amount of information entering his mind.

It had to deal with the spatial scans, giving him the exact material details, and also with the now telepathic thoughts from all the people that lived in that range. He could also do animals but that was mostly just feelings and a bunch of images instead of complex thoughts.

Plus, most animals had very short memories so that was a plus.

"Well, time to return home," He shrugged and disappeared. It would only take a couple of jumps before he was back in Manhattan, something that didn't even phase him in terms of energy expenditure.

He was so going to bust every single criminal in all of New York now.

He couldn't wait!