An hour after he finished sharing his day, Satoru remained on the grass as he gazed up at the shifting clouds. His mind drifted back to his first decade in this world.
What he had told Illyana about wanting a normal life hadn't been a lie to comfort her. For the first eight or nine years, he tried to live it. He lived leisurely in one of the controlled small villages around Kamar-Taj, blending in as just another face in the crowd.
But eventually, the quiet and the feeling of something missing got to him. Boredom had always been his greatest enemy, and on a whim, he decided to look into the Mystic Arts by approaching the Ancient One.
He had treated it like a hobby — a way to pass the time between meals.
If Masters like Mordo, Hamir, Wong, or Sol Rama ever heard him describe their life's work as a 'hobby', they would likely have a collective stroke.
Most sorcerers would struggle to become a master; Satoru had become one in a matter of months and that was when he treated it as a 'hobby'.
But one thing led to another. A passing interest turned into a genuine fascination, which eventually led to him shouldering the responsibility of protecting Kamar-Taj through an oath, which the Ancient One kind of forced upon him.
The hardest part so far for Satoru back then hadn't been the spells, but the integration.
Through years of trial and repetition, he had learned to weave various dimensional energies into his existing Cursed Energy techniques. He had even managed to evolve his Domain Expansion into something new. But that evolution came with a price.
He still wasn't certain of the full extent of the drawbacks. Every time he used the technique, the throb in his brain felt less like a headache and more like his mind was being squeezed through a wringer.
Satoru slowly lifted his hand to his forehead.
With a silent thought, a dark, crackling symbol with a winged, horned design bled through his skin. It was the mark of Dormammu.
He traced his fingers over the lines, feeling the oily thrum of the Dark Dimension against his fingertips. It was the same energy he had sensed within the Ancient One when he first arrived in this world.
Years ago, while hunting through the forbidden sections of the Inner Archives, he had stumbled upon the Mark in the Book of Cagliostro. Driven by a manic excitement on the prospects of evolving his domain, he branded himself with it in secret.
He hadn't told anyone — not because he was hiding a dark agenda, but simply because that thought kind of slipped off his mind and didn't bother.
However, after mapping out the concept of Nihility, he realized the Dark Dimension alone wasn't enough. It lacked the specific 'nothingness' element of it.
So, he pivoted and looked for a secondary anchor. Eventually, finding it in the Darkforce Dimension, a realm of absolute, crushing negative matter.
By using his own Cursed Energy as the base and weaving the energies of the Dark Dimension and the Darkforce together as a medium, he finally achieved it.
When he expanded that cocktail of forces from his inner world into reality, Unlimited Void: Nihility was born.
The first time he had brought it to life, it almost made him retarded or worse, killed him. RCT doesn't work; he tried and learned the hard way that, instead of healing his brain, it worsened it due to the nature of the dimensional energies he mixed in. He doesn't have a choice; the only thing he can do whenever he uses it is simply letting his brain heal naturally.
He stared at the sky, the mark on his forehead fading back into his skin.
He knew he was playing with fire. He reached into his pocket and felt the Mind Stone.
'Luckily, this somehow ended up on my lap,' he thought. 'If I can't find a remedy with this, I don't know what will.'
"Captain America would probably have a heart attack if he knew I'm going to use the Mind Stone for self-medication." Satoru muttered to the quiet hillside.
He looked at the whiskey bottle next to Nihility's grave. "I'll let you know if it works, Nihilie."
He sat there for a few more minutes, soaking in the silence. Eventually, he stood up, brushed the dirt from his black trousers and picked up his blindfold from the grass.
He took one last look at the graves, his expression softening.
"Keep an eye on things here while I'm away," he said quietly.
"Time to go. I promised Wanda a chat."
…
By the time he walked back into Kamar-Taj through the gateway, the sun in the sky was just beginning to set.
He made his way toward the guest quarters, his footsteps echoing softly in the torch-lit hallway. He found Wanda sitting on a stone bench in a small courtyard, some apprentices are also close by.
She was still wearing the grey apprentice robes, staring at the small fountain in the center.
"Yo!"
Wanda flinched slightly, her head snapping up as Satoru strolled into the courtyard. One hand holding a bag of pastries, the other in his pocket, and the blindfold was once again firmly in place.
"You're back... Master Gojo," Wanda greeted. It came out a bit awkwardly as she intended, still getting used to calling a teenager 'master'.
"So, how's the stay been so far?" Satoru leaned on his side against a stone pillar near her bench. "I heard from one of Wong's kids that you made it in yesterday. Food's okay? Bed not too hard?"
"It's peaceful," Wanda said. "Much more peaceful than Sokovia."
"Do you like peaceful?" Satoru asked while handing out the paperbag with pastries. "Want some?"
Wanda glanced at what's inside then shook her head while saying 'I'm good', preferring cookies than donuts, and answered.
"I think I'm still trying to figure that out," Wanda admitted, her eyes returning to gaze at the fountain.
Satoru hummed in understanding, popping a donut into his mouth like its candy.
"That's fine, you'll eventually get used to it," he said around a mouthful of dough. He swallowed and straightened up. "Since we're here, let's talk about that magic of yours."
Wanda tensed, her fingers curling slightly against the stone bench. "Is there a problem with it?"
"Not a problem, exactly. Just... a curiosity," Satoru said, his head tilting behind the blindfold. "I've seen some weird stuff, Wanda. But your power? It's a type of magic even I have to be wary of."
He was telling the truth. Whenever his Six Eyes analyzed the red-misty energy within her, he couldn't help but be wary of its nature every time.
Wanda's eyes widened with shock and skepticism. "Even you? You're joking... You're the strongest person I've ever met. It's hard to believe you'd be wary of anything I can do."
Satoru gave a serious nod.
"Yeah, even me," he confirmed. He paused, before continuing. "You have as much potential as potential goes. Which makes me very curious. Where did you attain such magic? Magic like that doesn't just sprout from thin air."
Wanda looked down at her hands. A faint wispy trail of red energy danced between her fingers, looking like flickering embers.
It's hard to believe if he truly meant what he said, but what would he gain from saying these things to her? She has nothing. So, she supposed she can believe for now.
"It was the scepter," she said softly. "Strucker... Hydra... they used it on us. My brother and I were the only ones who survived the experiments. They said the stone inside the scepter unlocked something. It gave me this power."
Satoru frowned slightly behind his blindfold. 'The scepter? The Mind Stone?' he thought.
He considered the possibility for a second, but then shook his head mentally. 'It seems like I need to further broaden my knowledge regarding this brainlet stone in my pocket. Why do I have to do a lot just for this stone? Jeez…'
"The Stone, huh?" Satoru finally said aloud, breaking the silence. He pushed off the pillar and sat next to her. "Well, whatever it did, it left you with something. That's actually why I gave you that card so you can learn to control it, it's your magic's nature that prompted me."
Wanda looked up at him, her expression a mix of hope and uncertainty. "You think I can control it?"
"Look, here's the deal," Satoru said as he looked back at her in her eye. "Even though what we mostly do here is sorcery, Kamar-Taj has been around since forever. There are books in the library that go way beyond basic sorcery. They can teach you about the nature of magic itself, how to tie it to your will instead of your emotions."
He gestured vaguely toward the massive stone structure of the library in the distance. "It's not just about drawing circles in the air. It's about understanding the 'why' behind the 'how'. If you can do that, you won't have to be wary of your own hands anymore."
Wanda followed his gesture, her gaze lingering on the library.
"You make it sound... simple," she whispered.
"It is simple," Satoru smirked, popping the last bit of his donut. "Now, go find Hamir. Tell him 'the handsome master' said to give you books pertaining to magic. I personally recommend starting with the 'Book of the Invincible Sun'."
Wanda nodded, mentally taking note of that for her to do later.
Satoru stood up from the bench, brushing a few stray donut crumbs off his trousers. "Well, I gotta go." he said, patting the pocket where the Mind Stone sat. "I'll see you tomorrow at the training grounds. Oh, and don't forget to help Illyana with learning how to use that phone."
Wanda gave a small, hesitant nod. "I will. Thank you... Master Gojo."
Wanda wasn't really looking forward to doing that though. The first impression Illyana gave her earlier the day was still fresh on her mind, despite them being in a group together with Rintrah, they haven't really talked much so far with each other.
Satoru waved a hand over his shoulder as he walked off.
As he rounded the corner leading out of the guest quarters, he almost walked straight into someone. He stopped just in time, tilting his head back to see Mordo standing there.
"Oh, hey Mordo. Didn't see you there," Satoru chirped, stepping to the right to go around him.
Mordo stepped to the right, blocking him. Satoru shifted to the left; Mordo mirrored him again.
Satoru raised a brow. "What's up? Do you need something?"
Mordo didn't answer immediately. He just continued to stare, his eyes unfocused yet piercing. Then, slowly, a wide grin began to stretch across his face.
"Nothing," Mordo said, his voice a low rasp. "I was just playing with you."
Mordo stepped aside, finally clearing the path. But Satoru didn't move. He stood rooted to the spot, his Six Eyes flaring behind his blindfold.
There was an energy clinging to Mordo's skin, but his Six Eyes seemed to not recognize what it was, the nature was concealed or something hid it from his Six Eyes, this wasn't the first time this occurred though. Moreover, it was something Satoru had never seen or read before.
"You're acting strange, Mordo," Satoru said. "Did you finally go cuckoo on your noggin?"
Mordo didn't say a word. He just stood there.
"Whatever. You're giving me the creeps," Satoru muttered, annoyed. He walked past him, not wanting to deal with the guy any longer. He had a headache to fix and a stone to study; Mordo's whatever problem could wait.
Mordo remained in the hallway alone. He reached into his robes, his fingers brushing against the cold, pulsing leather of the book he had stolen from the archives. The grin on his face widened until it looked painful.
"The bill always comes due," he whispered to the empty stone walls.
...
[Author's Notes]:
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