[2009 – August]
She had miscalculated, gravely so, though the worst part was that she didn't know where.
Looking at the black-haired teen and sensing the subtle pressure his mind exerted on the psionic energy surrounding his form, his gaze deep and dark, Selene fought hard to stop herself from showing even the tiniest hint of the fear she felt creeping towards her heart.
Not only had Elijah just cut off her magic seemingly without effort, stripping her from her greatest source of power with a flip of his palm, something she had no explanation for. But what was truly terrifying was that he knew about her identity as an External, something that should not be possible.
There were only two Externals left, herself included, and she had never told a living soul about her identity as one of them.
The other External though may have confided in the powerful mutant before her, which was exactly the possibility that terrified her to her core, considering that she had spent the last few thousand years plotting that External's death to regain her freedom.
Selene knew that as long as En Sabah Nur, also known as Apocalypse, lived, she would never be free as he could find her no matter where she went. And even worse, he had power over her through the innate connection the Externals shared with each other.
"Who are you?", Selene questioned coldly, ignoring the fact that Emma had turned into her Diamond-Form, as she seemed to have sensed Selene's hostility.
Selene had already readied the life force within her for one devastating strike that would hopefully give her enough time to escape.
She knew that she would probably have to make new plans on how to kill Apocalypse, the work of a few decades, maybe centuries, ruined by her carelessness in approaching Elijah when all her magic and divinations had already failed to provide her with anything substantial.
She had thought that this might have been caused by his ability to create barriers, which shielded him from magical divinations instinctively, but she now realized that she might have been wrong.
If Elijah had a connection to Apocalypse, who should still be in hibernation at this point according to her calculations then maybe it was he who had interfered with her attempts to use scrying magic on the young mutant. And that truly terrified her.
Apocalypse was the only one that made her feel despair, as she knew that her power meant nothing when facing him. It wasn't that he was necessarily stronger than her, but Selene simply could not free herself from his control, which made it impossible for her to attack him in the first place.
"Me? I am just a mutant that aspires to be free, the freest of them all.", Elijah simply replied, the shadows vanishing from his eyes as a light smile emerged on his lips and a different kind of fire started to burn in his gaze.
The depth of his eyes now shined with a longing so deep that Selene had no doubt about the sincerity of his words, Elijah's emotions bleeding into the ambient psionic energy enabling her to get a glimpse of his quiet determination, his desire near-overwhelming.
Yes, Selene had miscalculated, greatly so, she realized once again.
Elijah wasn't just the powerful newly-awakened mutant teenager that she had hoped he would be, nor was he one of Apocalypse's apostles as she was sure that nobody with such a longing for freedom would ever consider submitting to someone like En Sabbah Nur.
No, Elijah was like her, a survivor that yearned to be unbound in the truest sense.
Her instincts and experience told her so as she looked into his bright green eyes and felt his emotions rousing the psionic energy into movement.
Some of her tension slowly fading, Selene questioned calmly: “How do you know about the Externals?”
…
"How do you know about the Externals?", the ancient sorceress asked calmly, her expression still impassive, though I picked up on the minute shift in her tone and the tiniest hints in her demeanor which told me she seemed to have regained her calm.
Noticing the tension between Selene and myself slowly fading, my Extrasensory Perception telling me that the danger seemed to have passed for the moment, I realized that my knowledge of the Externals seemed to have shocked her more than I had expected.
I didn't know if that was a good thing or not for now, but my instincts were telling me that it could be both according to how I handled this.
"I learned about them in my visions of the past and the future, as my barriers are not my only power. ", I replied calmly, "I have glimpsed at many events, though often these visions were from parallel timelines, showing me different outcomes and different beginnings."
"So you knew about me?", Selene questioned with a raised brow, and I could sense her becoming even less tense, my answer seemingly causing her to be relieved.
My mind shifted into overdrive as I rapidly analyzed every instant of this encounter, as well as each and every word and motion of Selene and her reactions until now, especially her relief, leading me to believe that she was terrified of something.
And if someone like her was fearful of something, I should be too.
It took me mere fractions of a second for my enhanced mind to find what I had been missing – Selene wasn't afraid of something, but someone. Specifically, she had been afraid that I had been sent here by someone, someone that may have told me about her being an External.
I didn't know who but the Externals themselves were aware of their identities, besides a few very powerful nigh-omnipotent existences I wasn't even sure existed at this point, though someone amongst that group scared the ancient immortal mutant before me.
“I did.”, I answered calmly, my inner thoughts hidden from the outside world by an ethereal barrier that deliberately interfered with the effect my emotions had on the surrounding psions.
Emma had told me a few days before that my temporary lack of control could be a weakness when facing those sensitive enough to notice such shifts in the psionic energy, while also offering to teach me how to control it.
Knowing that Selene was one of the most powerful sorceresses and definitely amongst the most ancient existences on Earth, I had naturally modified my mental barrier to selectively keep my emotions hidden, showing only what I wanted others to see and not a tiny bit more.
“I see.”, Selene nodded lightly with a thoughtful look on her enchanting face, “Maybe we should take a seat so that we can talk about your visions and the reason I invited you here in the first place?”
Gesturing to a small table to the side where some tea and biscuits were already prepared for us, she invited us to sit, an invitation Emma and I accepted in silent agreement.
[2009 – August]
She had miscalculated, gravely so, though the worst part was that she didn't know where.
Looking at the black-haired teen and sensing the subtle pressure his mind exerted on the psionic energy surrounding his form, his gaze deep and dark, Selene fought hard to stop herself from showing even the tiniest hint of the fear she felt creeping towards her heart.
Not only had Elijah just cut off her magic seemingly without effort, stripping her from her greatest source of power with a flip of his palm, something she had no explanation for. But what was truly terrifying was that he knew about her identity as an External, something that should not be possible.
There were only two Externals left, herself included, and she had never told a living soul about her identity as one of them.
The other External though may have confided in the powerful mutant before her, which was exactly the possibility that terrified her to her core, considering that she had spent the last few thousand years plotting that External's death to regain her freedom.
Selene knew that as long as En Sabah Nur, also known as Apocalypse, lived, she would never be free as he could find her no matter where she went. And even worse, he had power over her through the innate connection the Externals shared with each other.
"Who are you?", Selene questioned coldly, ignoring the fact that Emma had turned into her Diamond-Form, as she seemed to have sensed Selene's hostility.
Selene had already readied the life force within her for one devastating strike that would hopefully give her enough time to escape.
She knew that she would probably have to make new plans on how to kill Apocalypse, the work of a few decades, maybe centuries, ruined by her carelessness in approaching Elijah when all her magic and divinations had already failed to provide her with anything substantial.
She had thought that this might have been caused by his ability to create barriers, which shielded him from magical divinations instinctively, but she now realized that she might have been wrong.
If Elijah had a connection to Apocalypse, who should still be in hibernation at this point according to her calculations then maybe it was he who had interfered with her attempts to use scrying magic on the young mutant. And that truly terrified her.
Apocalypse was the only one that made her feel despair, as she knew that her power meant nothing when facing him. It wasn't that he was necessarily stronger than her, but Selene simply could not free herself from his control, which made it impossible for her to attack him in the first place.
"Me? I am just a mutant that aspires to be free, the freest of them all.", Elijah simply replied, the shadows vanishing from his eyes as a light smile emerged on his lips and a different kind of fire started to burn in his gaze.
The depth of his eyes now shined with a longing so deep that Selene had no doubt about the sincerity of his words, Elijah's emotions bleeding into the ambient psionic energy enabling her to get a glimpse of his quiet determination, his desire near-overwhelming.
Yes, Selene had miscalculated, greatly so, she realized once again.
Elijah wasn't just the powerful newly-awakened mutant teenager that she had hoped he would be, nor was he one of Apocalypse's apostles as she was sure that nobody with such a longing for freedom would ever consider submitting to someone like En Sabbah Nur.
No, Elijah was like her, a survivor that yearned to be unbound in the truest sense.
Her instincts and experience told her so as she looked into his bright green eyes and felt his emotions rousing the psionic energy into movement.
Some of her tension slowly fading, Selene questioned calmly: “How do you know about the Externals?”
…
"How do you know about the Externals?", the ancient sorceress asked calmly, her expression still impassive, though I picked up on the minute shift in her tone and the tiniest hints in her demeanor which told me she seemed to have regained her calm.
Noticing the tension between Selene and myself slowly fading, my Extrasensory Perception telling me that the danger seemed to have passed for the moment, I realized that my knowledge of the Externals seemed to have shocked her more than I had expected.
I didn't know if that was a good thing or not for now, but my instincts were telling me that it could be both according to how I handled this.
"I learned about them in my visions of the past and the future, as my barriers are not my only power. ", I replied calmly, "I have glimpsed at many events, though often these visions were from parallel timelines, showing me different outcomes and different beginnings."
"So you knew about me?", Selene questioned with a raised brow, and I could sense her becoming even less tense, my answer seemingly causing her to be relieved.
My mind shifted into overdrive as I rapidly analyzed every instant of this encounter, as well as each and every word and motion of Selene and her reactions until now, especially her relief, leading me to believe that she was terrified of something.
And if someone like her was fearful of something, I should be too.
It took me mere fractions of a second for my enhanced mind to find what I had been missing – Selene wasn't afraid of something, but someone. Specifically, she had been afraid that I had been sent here by someone, someone that may have told me about her being an External.
I didn't know who but the Externals themselves were aware of their identities, besides a few very powerful nigh-omnipotent existences I wasn't even sure existed at this point, though someone amongst that group scared the ancient immortal mutant before me.
“I did.”, I answered calmly, my inner thoughts hidden from the outside world by an ethereal barrier that deliberately interfered with the effect my emotions had on the surrounding psions.
Emma had told me a few days before that my temporary lack of control could be a weakness when facing those sensitive enough to notice such shifts in the psionic energy, while also offering to teach me how to control it.
Knowing that Selene was one of the most powerful sorceresses and definitely amongst the most ancient existences on Earth, I had naturally modified my mental barrier to selectively keep my emotions hidden, showing only what I wanted others to see and not a tiny bit more.
“I see.”, Selene nodded lightly with a thoughtful look on her enchanting face, “Maybe we should take a seat so that we can talk about your visions and the reason I invited you here in the first place?”
Gesturing to a small table to the side where some tea and biscuits were already prepared for us, she invited us to sit, an invitation Emma and I accepted in silent agreement.
