[2009 – August]
Arriving in an underground stone chamber that had runes and formations carved on all surfaces of the room, the Ancient One turned towards the two extraordinary teenagers following behind her.
"I can open the portal for you here but even with the enchantments and seals placed around the room, the Darkforce that will come through it can not be restrained for long.", the Sorcerer Supreme informed calmly.
The Ancient One knew that there existed no truly dangerous creature in the Darkforce Dimension that she could not restrain, but the danger the Darkforce itself represented was enough to make her cautious.
She understood that she could not allow the Darkforce to spread out carelessly as normal humans were powerless when encountering its corrupting influence, while even many of her students would not fare better.
Even with magic, withstanding the corruption of Darkforce was no easy feat, and while she herself would be unaffected due to her strength, the same could not be said for weaker sorcerers.
“How long can you keep the portal open safely?”, Elijah inquired with a pondering look on his face.
"An hour, at best. These formations are not targetted at Darkforce so they will not be able to restrain it as effectively as others might.", the Ancient One replied, her brows slightly raised in a questioning manner.
As old as she was, she couldn't help but be curious about what the young man before her wanted from the Darkforce Dimension. She didn't try to force an answer though, as she had lived long enough to know when her efforts were futile, not to mention that she was not obsessive about getting an answer.
If the Eye of Agamotto had taught her one thing then that would be that knowing something was often much more painful than not knowing. Indeed, ignorance could be bliss in some cases.
"If you need more time Elijah, then you will have to wait a few weeks so that I can prepare more adequate defenses in Kamar-Taj.", she added.
“An hour … It should be enough.”, the young man nodded slowly, a slight frown on his face.
"Then let's begin, though I suggest you leave this little one behind.", the Ancient One advised with a slight smile while gesturing to the tiny owl that gazed at her with vigilant and incredibly intelligent, amber-coloured eyes.
She could see that the young Frost shared a special bond with the small avian, which did not come as a surprise as she vaguely remembered it from some of the past visions the Time Stone had shown her.
The visions that the Eye had shown her before Elijah had shielded himself from its influence, had been much too numerous to remember them all, as even her extraordinary cognitive abilities could not recall millions of different timelines.
The bits and pieces that she could remember though told her that the black-feathered owl had an unusual future ahead of it, considering that it had been born as a normal animal.
Her lips also couldn't help but quirk up as she saw the tiny avian protest and hoot pleadingly as Elijah followed her advice and placed it on his lover's palm, pacifying it with a few gentle head rubs and pats.
'Such a strong character for such a tiny owl. I am starting to understand how it could grow into such a fearsome creature while staying by Elijah's side in so many different timelines.', the Ancient One mused.
Placing a soft kiss on his lover's cheek while gently brushing over her cheek with his fingers, Elijah whispered some reassuring words into the young Miss Grey's ears before turning back toward her: "I am ready. Please begin, Ancient One."
Nodding calmly, the Sorcerer Supreme made a dozen different signs with her fingers in the blink of an eye, knowing exactly what kind of spell was needed to open a portal to the Darkforce Dimension, even though she had not done so in decades.
Drawing on extra-dimensional energy to power her spell constructs, the Ancient One finished her magic quickly as a complex magic circle several feet in diameter appeared before.
With a quick movement of her hand, she shrunk the magic circle before pressing it onto the Sling Ring that she had already slipped on her right hand. Making a rotating gesture, she invoked her magic and saw a small glowing portal open before her.
The portal though was entirely different than the one used by mystics to travel around Earth as it didn't throw off bright sparks of light, instead, it glowed with a sinister dark colour in the deepest shades of black, a malevolent aura spreading from it.
A calm look on her face, the Ancient flipped her left hand over as she infused incredible amounts of dimensional energy into the formations beneath her feet, causing the seals and runes on the ground and walls to shine in bright orange colours. Chains shot out from different runes, holding the portal in place and forcing any Darkforce that threatened to spill into this dimension back.
Magic pulsed and raged through the room as she felt the Darkforce try to corrupt the bindings around the portal, though the Ancient One's expression did not change a single bit as she forced the dark energy to comply through pure strength.
As if a dam had broken, her magic funneled into the formations placed around the room like a raging river, causing a few dozen more chains to form and latch onto the portal, stabilizing its corruptive influence while she kept it active.
“You can enter now.”, the Ancient One voiced out calmly as she turned toward the young Frost, though immediately astonishment bloomed in her heart.
Elijah stood beside her, wearing his grey slacks and black button-down shirt, and his incredibly-muscled physique, wild black locks, as well as handsome facial feature made him look like a charming young man. And yet, the look in his piercing green eyes nearly made her gasp out loud.
The Ancient One had lived hundreds of years and she had seen more pairs of eyes than anybody could probably imagine.
She knew what the fire of ambition and the shadows of evil looked like in the eyes of a man, not to mention love, determination, sorrow, despair, or hate. She had seen it all, some of it even in her own students and friends.
But even she had never seen a pair of eyes like Elijah's.
His green eyes were burning but not with ambition, they were shadowed but without evil.
There was something incredibly dark and untameable in his gaze as if he was an ancient dragon staring down at his prey without mercy or compassion, the sheer force of will he expressed with a single look simply breathtaking.
As she quietly watched the young man before her, the Ancient One knew that whatever it was that Elijah wanted from the Darkforce Dimension, she sincerely hoped he would get it, as his eyes told her that failure was not something he would accept.
Flipping over his palm, a small transparent-blackish barrier appeared in the air, though Elijah simply left it behind without a word and walked towards the portal which still glowed with a malevolent dark light.
And then he stepped into the dark void beyond it without hesitation, his tall figure simply swallowed up by the dense fog of Darkforce.
[2009 – August]
Arriving in an underground stone chamber that had runes and formations carved on all surfaces of the room, the Ancient One turned towards the two extraordinary teenagers following behind her.
"I can open the portal for you here but even with the enchantments and seals placed around the room, the Darkforce that will come through it can not be restrained for long.", the Sorcerer Supreme informed calmly.
The Ancient One knew that there existed no truly dangerous creature in the Darkforce Dimension that she could not restrain, but the danger the Darkforce itself represented was enough to make her cautious.
She understood that she could not allow the Darkforce to spread out carelessly as normal humans were powerless when encountering its corrupting influence, while even many of her students would not fare better.
Even with magic, withstanding the corruption of Darkforce was no easy feat, and while she herself would be unaffected due to her strength, the same could not be said for weaker sorcerers.
“How long can you keep the portal open safely?”, Elijah inquired with a pondering look on his face.
"An hour, at best. These formations are not targetted at Darkforce so they will not be able to restrain it as effectively as others might.", the Ancient One replied, her brows slightly raised in a questioning manner.
As old as she was, she couldn't help but be curious about what the young man before her wanted from the Darkforce Dimension. She didn't try to force an answer though, as she had lived long enough to know when her efforts were futile, not to mention that she was not obsessive about getting an answer.
If the Eye of Agamotto had taught her one thing then that would be that knowing something was often much more painful than not knowing. Indeed, ignorance could be bliss in some cases.
"If you need more time Elijah, then you will have to wait a few weeks so that I can prepare more adequate defenses in Kamar-Taj.", she added.
“An hour … It should be enough.”, the young man nodded slowly, a slight frown on his face.
"Then let's begin, though I suggest you leave this little one behind.", the Ancient One advised with a slight smile while gesturing to the tiny owl that gazed at her with vigilant and incredibly intelligent, amber-coloured eyes.
She could see that the young Frost shared a special bond with the small avian, which did not come as a surprise as she vaguely remembered it from some of the past visions the Time Stone had shown her.
The visions that the Eye had shown her before Elijah had shielded himself from its influence, had been much too numerous to remember them all, as even her extraordinary cognitive abilities could not recall millions of different timelines.
The bits and pieces that she could remember though told her that the black-feathered owl had an unusual future ahead of it, considering that it had been born as a normal animal.
Her lips also couldn't help but quirk up as she saw the tiny avian protest and hoot pleadingly as Elijah followed her advice and placed it on his lover's palm, pacifying it with a few gentle head rubs and pats.
'Such a strong character for such a tiny owl. I am starting to understand how it could grow into such a fearsome creature while staying by Elijah's side in so many different timelines.', the Ancient One mused.
Placing a soft kiss on his lover's cheek while gently brushing over her cheek with his fingers, Elijah whispered some reassuring words into the young Miss Grey's ears before turning back toward her: "I am ready. Please begin, Ancient One."
Nodding calmly, the Sorcerer Supreme made a dozen different signs with her fingers in the blink of an eye, knowing exactly what kind of spell was needed to open a portal to the Darkforce Dimension, even though she had not done so in decades.
Drawing on extra-dimensional energy to power her spell constructs, the Ancient One finished her magic quickly as a complex magic circle several feet in diameter appeared before.
With a quick movement of her hand, she shrunk the magic circle before pressing it onto the Sling Ring that she had already slipped on her right hand. Making a rotating gesture, she invoked her magic and saw a small glowing portal open before her.
The portal though was entirely different than the one used by mystics to travel around Earth as it didn't throw off bright sparks of light, instead, it glowed with a sinister dark colour in the deepest shades of black, a malevolent aura spreading from it.
A calm look on her face, the Ancient flipped her left hand over as she infused incredible amounts of dimensional energy into the formations beneath her feet, causing the seals and runes on the ground and walls to shine in bright orange colours. Chains shot out from different runes, holding the portal in place and forcing any Darkforce that threatened to spill into this dimension back.
Magic pulsed and raged through the room as she felt the Darkforce try to corrupt the bindings around the portal, though the Ancient One's expression did not change a single bit as she forced the dark energy to comply through pure strength.
As if a dam had broken, her magic funneled into the formations placed around the room like a raging river, causing a few dozen more chains to form and latch onto the portal, stabilizing its corruptive influence while she kept it active.
“You can enter now.”, the Ancient One voiced out calmly as she turned toward the young Frost, though immediately astonishment bloomed in her heart.
Elijah stood beside her, wearing his grey slacks and black button-down shirt, and his incredibly-muscled physique, wild black locks, as well as handsome facial feature made him look like a charming young man. And yet, the look in his piercing green eyes nearly made her gasp out loud.
The Ancient One had lived hundreds of years and she had seen more pairs of eyes than anybody could probably imagine.
She knew what the fire of ambition and the shadows of evil looked like in the eyes of a man, not to mention love, determination, sorrow, despair, or hate. She had seen it all, some of it even in her own students and friends.
But even she had never seen a pair of eyes like Elijah's.
His green eyes were burning but not with ambition, they were shadowed but without evil.
There was something incredibly dark and untameable in his gaze as if he was an ancient dragon staring down at his prey without mercy or compassion, the sheer force of will he expressed with a single look simply breathtaking.
As she quietly watched the young man before her, the Ancient One knew that whatever it was that Elijah wanted from the Darkforce Dimension, she sincerely hoped he would get it, as his eyes told her that failure was not something he would accept.
Flipping over his palm, a small transparent-blackish barrier appeared in the air, though Elijah simply left it behind without a word and walked towards the portal which still glowed with a malevolent dark light.
And then he stepped into the dark void beyond it without hesitation, his tall figure simply swallowed up by the dense fog of Darkforce.
