Kamar-Taj
The Ancient One had been deep in meditation since yesterday evening.
After witnessing Jay's broadcast, after watching Domino orchestrate a global resurrection using a stone that resembled the Time Stone but felt fundamentally wrong, after sensing cosmic disturbances that rippled across dimensional barriers with the force of reality itself screaming...
She'd tried to center herself through meditation.
But the wrongness persisted, an itch beneath her astral skin that refused to be scratched.
First, the suspicious timing of the Sentinel attacks, perfectly coordinated to occur precisely when Jay had been meeting with Gaea, as if someone had been watching and waiting for that exact moment of vulnerability.
Then, Domino reviving 41,000 people simultaneously across the globe using what looked like concentrated death itself shaped into a stone, wielding an artifact that shouldn't exist in this reality.
The Ancient One had attempted contact with the Vishanti multiple times, sending out calls through the mystic currents that connected all sorcerers to the trinity of cosmic entities that empowered their magic.
Silence answered every attempt, absolute and terrifying in its completeness.
That silence spoke volumes. Something major was happening in the cosmic planes, something significant enough that even the Vishanti couldn't spare attention for The Sorcerer Supreme's concerns.
And she couldn't ask Jay directly. The boy deserved rest, time to process and recover after everything he'd been through. Disturbing him felt wrong.
So she'd meditated, seeking answers in the mystic currents, finding only more questions.
Suddenly, a gentle knock interrupted her contemplation.
The Ancient One's eyes opened, and despite the cosmic dread weighing on her consciousness, a tiny smile crossed her face as she sensed the familiar presence on the other side of her door.
"Enter."
The door opened to reveal Jay in casual clothes with a beanie over his head and a thick bag slung over his shoulder.
He set the bag aside carefully and moved to sit across from her, positioning himself at her eye level in a gesture of respect she appreciated.
"Greetings, Master," he said formally, hands coming together in a respectful gesture.
The Ancient One nodded, pleased by his manners. She produced a tea set with casual magic, two cups filling with her famous herbal blend. Steam rose in delicate spirals, carrying the scent of chamomile and honey.
She offered one cup to Jay, who took it with both hands and brought it to his lips. He sipped slowly with none of his usual irreverence.
That set off alarm bells immediately.
The Ancient One's expression shifted, maternal concern replacing her usual serenity. "What troubles you, Jay? This formality, this careful respect, this is not your typical approach. No sudden revelations delivered with inappropriate humor, no teasing about my age, no arriving with ridiculous plans that somehow work despite violating every law of probability. Did something serious happen?"
Jay put his cup down carefully, the porcelain clicking against the low table between them. He nodded once. "Yes, actually. Quite a lot."
The Ancient One's hands moved in practiced patterns, mystic energy flowing outward to create a ward around them. The air shimmered as privacy spells activated, layering protections against scrying, eavesdropping, dimensional observation, and every other form of surveillance she'd learned to defend against during her tenure.
"I'm all ears, child."
What followed was the most absurd story the Ancient One had heard in hundreds of years that tested her carefully cultivated ability to maintain composure in the face of absurdity.
Jay began with his meeting with Gaea, explaining the Elder Goddess's domain, their negotiation, her acceptance of his request but in return for a promise. His voice remained steady as he outlined the deal: Gaea would help humanity become independent of heroes, but in exchange, Jay would deal with Tiamut and stop the Celestials from destroying Earth.
The Ancient One's teacup paused halfway to her lips, her carefully cultivated ability to maintain composure in the face of absurdity. "You really promised an Elder Goddess that you'll deal with a Celestial?" Her voice rose slightly with her composure cracking. "Jay, I sincerely hope you comprehend the magnitude of such a vow, especially given to a being of Gaea's nature."
Jay nodded seriously. "Of course. Mother Gaea was willing to go against abstracts for my request. Of course I'm taking the promise seriously."
"Abstracts?" The Ancient One's cup lowered completely. "What do you mean, Jay? Be specific about what you encountered."
Jay's hand moved to rub his ring unconsciously, the Space Stone glimmering in Tether's setting like the most normal thing in the world. "Well, After leaving Gaea's domain, Tether activated on its own, pulling me toward Domino, who was fighting something called FURY. A cybernetic organism with adaptive capabilities."
He said it so casually, like discussing the weather.
"Turns out it wasn't just a super-adaptive robot. It was being possessed by the soul of Jim Jaspers."
The Ancient One's cup clattered against the table. "You mean the mutant you resurrected after my battle with Mephisto? How?"
Jay continued, his voice taking on a storytelling quality as he explained the fight across multiple universes, the breach into the fourth wall, the blank verse where reality manipulation became impossible.
The Ancient One listened with growing shock, each revelation more absurd than the last.
But then Jay said something that made her physically recoil.
"And after finishing FURY, after using everything I had to destroy Jaspers' soul permanently so it couldn't be used against us again..." He paused, and his next words came out quiet. "I began fighting Lady Death herself."
The Ancient One choked mid-sip on tea she'd automatically raised to her lips, spraying tea across the table in a most undignified manner. "What do you mean Lady Death?" Her voice came out strangled. "You fought what? Please tell me you mean some local death deity you mistook for the personification of death, right? Right?"
Jay smiled at her reaction, but it was a wan expression that didn't reach his eyes, producing a napkin from his bag and offering it to her. "No, Master. I mean Lady Death. The multiversal abstract who claims dominion over all endings in our cosmology. The one who sent FURY after us because I resurrected 1,200 people without her permission, and even more because I resurrected Jim Japers to steal his powers."
The Ancient One took the napkin with trembling hands, wiping tea from her face while her mind tried to process the sheer absurdity of a mortal, even one as powerful as Jay, engaging in combat with a fundamental force of the universe.
Jay continued narrating, and the Ancient One found herself leaning forward despite her shock, drawn in by the story despite its impossibility. He explained the desperate flight to the Amalgam Universe, his voice painting pictures of a reality where Marvel and DC had merged, where heroes from both cosmologies existed as fused entities.
And described wielding the Life Equation with reverence that suggested he understood the magnitude of what he'd touched that gave him power to match a multiversal abstract.
"Wait, wait, wait!" The Ancient One raised both hands, stopping him mid-sentence. "What the hell are you talking about?" Her voice carried genuine distress. "Otherworlds I can't understand? DC? Marvel? Amalgam? Life Equation? What's that, and how does it give you power to be on par with a multiversal abstract?"
Jay put it all to his outsider nature, trying his best to explain without revealing the true nature of his original world. He described the DC multiverse, the Life Equation representing life and free will, the fundamental opposition to Death's ending.
Then he explained Death of the Endless, another abstract of death from DC who'd stopped him from doing something catastrophically stupid.
The Ancient One's expression cycled through disbelief, horror, fascination, and back to disbelief.
Jay continued. The Living Tribunal's appearance. The Spectre's judgment. Doctor Strangefate's authority. The cosmic trial that had decided his fate. And finally, his compensation: the Death Stone, taken directly from Lady Death's skull and modified by Death of the Endless to be corruption-free.
The Ancient One sat in stunned silence, digesting everything.
Her hands trembled slightly as she reached out, placing them on Jay's shoulders with more force than necessary, gripping hard enough to make him wince. "Have some mercy on this old woman's sanity, child. From this moment forward, if you have such catastrophically absurd adventures, consider just not telling me about them. My heart can't take it, even with Selene's life force extending my lifespan." She took a shaky breath. "At least tell me the worst has passed."
Jay scratched his cheek, an unconscious gesture that made the Ancient One's blood run cold. "Well, actually, I have one more thing I need to tell you about, but before..."
The hall's door burst open despite the multiple layers of mystical protection that should have made entry impossible for anyone below a sorcerer supreme.
The protective spell shattered like glass, mystic energy scattering harmlessly as a small figure came running through with complete disregard for barriers that would have stopped armies.
Both Mordo and Wong sprinted behind the child with expressions of panic and awe.
A five-year-old boy with brown hair falling in soft waves across his forehead and blue eyes falling in soft waves across his forehead, wearing denim overalls over a black-and-white shirt.
In his small hands, he spun the Staff of the Living Tribunal with ease that should have been impossible for a child, the artifact blazing with golden light that filled the chamber.
Three faces of judgment appeared at the staff's head, Equity, Necessity, and Vengeance all glowing brighter than they had ever shone for Mordo in fifteen years of dedicated service, each face distinct and terrible and radiant with cosmic authority that recognized something in this child.
"Dad! Dad, look!" The boy's voice carried pure excitement as he waved the staff around with surprising control. "I can use magic! Aren't I cool?"
He leaped into Jay's arms without hesitation, the staff still spinning, still blazing with power that should have been impossible for a child to channel.
The Ancient One stared while her mind, tried to process what she was witnessing.
A five-year-old channelling the Staff of the Living Tribunal. This naturally and with more raw output than Master Mordo had ever achieved, an artifact that required absolute dedication to cosmic law to even touch without being destroyed by its judgment.
Calling Jay "Dad."
The Ancient One's vision went dark at the edges.
Her last coherent thought before her eyes rolled back was:
'What in the name of the Vishanti has this boy gotten himself into now?'
Then her eyes rolled back, and the Sorcerer Supreme fainted dead away.
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