I kind of forgot just how god damn cold it was up on this mountain.
I mean, it was obvious, but I just didn't think about it.
"Quick, we need to huddle together for warmth." I said as I pulled Jeanne into my arms.
She never fails to make that cute little noise when I surprise her.
Servants are naturally resistant to temperatures, but even so, they can feel them. As evidence, I was staring very blatantly at Jeanne's chest.
Maybe a revealing top and booty shorts aren't the best combination to trek into the frozen mountains, but I'm not complaining.
"Will, it's cold." She shivered in my arms, pouting at me.
Cute.
"Ta Dah." I let my arms light up with fire. "Feel the warmth."
Yeah, we could just go inside where the spells of the place have a constant source of warmth over the temple and whatever.
But that's the easy method.
Also, I noticed a particularity.
Why is it that the fire in my hands is warming us up, yet holding it in my hands isn't burning me? The same would be said for anyone, not just me and my chaotic metaphysical biology.
There is an actual answer, but I didn't feel like mentally articulating it.
There was an actual reason we didn't just head inside.
There was someone else out here.
Sort of at the edge of the entrance, like maybe ten meters away, there was a large old bell. It has very clearly seen some years. It was held up by a moderately sized scaffolding made of stone.
I think it was for someone to announce their arrival?
Whatever the case, there was something sitting on top of it, cross-legged, eyes closed, and covered in snow.
A certain goddess of death without her powers.
I grabbed a handful of snow, patted it down into the shape of a ball, and threw it.
Childish?
Perhaps.
But my aim was impeccable.
I hit her square in the face and startled her enough that it knocked her off the seat and into the snow below.
"You bastard." Hela shot back up to her feet. She was scowling, practically fuming with anger. I think the fact that she knew she couldn't do anything to me is what made her angry, not that I actually just hit her with a snowball.
After a moment of glaring, she grabbed her own snow and packed it tight and threw it at me.
Next thing I know, we were throwing—rather aggressively, I might add—snowballs at each other.
I noticed Jeanne just smiling as she watched us.
I hit her in the face again, and she let out a scream and charged at me. I was expecting her to either tackle me or try and throw a punch or a kick, but instead, she grabbed my arm, wrapped her legs around my throat, and put me in a chokehold.
"Apologize!" She hissed.
"Never." I gargled it out.
Jeanne squats next to us. "Hello."
Hela looked up. "...hello."
"Mmphgh," I added.
"Did we interrupt you? Sorry, Wilhelm can be naughty sometimes."
Hela let out a huff and released me, wiping the snow off herself as she stood back up. "I was simply…meditating."
"Didn't look like it was going well." I brushed myself off as well. "Bit of a trigger on you." She got angry pretty fast; I think she was already pissed about something.
"The Magic here is annoying, and it's been difficult. It was suggested that I find a quiet place to meditate and center myself." She crossed her arms. "The Cold is…familiar."
"My oh my, I remember someone being so cocky, saying they'd learn everything so quickly, something about it only being 'mortal magic.'"
Hela rolled her eyes and smirked slightly. "Who said I didn't learn? I just haven't mastered it. And I don't do things by halves."
I responded maturely and stuck my tongue out.
"Wilhelm and I came to visit; I hope we're not bothering you." Jeanne smiled.
Hela studied her for a moment. I think it's because Jeanne is being completely sincere without an ounce of deceit that it made Hela have a hard time sort of dismissing her or being snide or rude like she would with me.
"A distraction is not remiss." She settled on.
"We just got back from Asgard." I said very plainly.
Hela snorted. "I care not for your meandering at Asgard."
"Odin deployed a fleet of ships and conquered a planet."
That immediately grabbed her attention. "I beg your pardon?"
"Yeah, it was…something. I was in an accident, actually…may as well go find the Ancient One because it somewhat involves her too."
Hela had a strange expression on her face before furrowing her brow. Her interest was now piqued.
In contrast, Jeanne grabbed my hand, looking at me with her warm smile.
Was she trying to reassure me? Well, maybe she picked up on the hate in my voice when I mentioned that little debacle.
Hela was annoyed that she didn't immediately get an answer, but that seemed more like her current irritation was still boiling over.
She just stomped over to the gates and walked inside as we followed behind her.
Kamar-Taj was the same as before, though I didn't expect it to change randomly overnight.
It really did have a nice atmosphere.
The sorcerers here didn't balk at our arrival or treat us strangely. Plenty noticed us, but it was confusion or uncertainty that held their gazes anymore.
Jeanne and I have been here plenty of times now, and Hela basically lives here currently.
"Mr. Schweinorg, Miss D'Arc." Karl Mordo greeted us at the top of the stairs that led into the inner temple.
"Hello Mr. Mordo!" Jeanne smiled brightly, greeting him.
It really was fascinating to see the degree at which her whole attitude was contagious. The stoic and expressionless sorcerer seemingly had a sharp light fill his eyes, like he wanted to respond in kind.
Is this what they call charisma?
That just by existing, everyone around them is just better for it?
"Do you seek the Ancient One, or is it simply a visit?" He asked politely.
"Ancient One, Please. Had something I should probably talk about, ran into your little runaway sorcerer, and things happened." I certainly did not forget that asshole that set everything in motion.
His eyes widened. "You encountered Kaecilius as well?"
"The way you say that makes me think there's a story."
He nodded. "There was a recent attack and move made by him. It would be best if the Ancient One explained, Come with me."
He waved his robe and produced a portal.
It really is convenient that everyone is here and just makes portals wherever they want to go.
"Mordo." The Ancient One was in a room, talking to someone. He bowed as she gestured to him, and he quickly vacated as we stepped in. "And Guests."
"You don't sound happy to see me." I feigned faux hurt. "I thought we had something special."
"Don't confuse your dreams for reality, Mr. Schweinorg." She shot back without missing a beat, a small smirk playing at her lips. "What can I do for you today?"
Well, we very clearly came to her, so she knew we had something to say.
"He says that he met Kaecilius," Mordo states.
Her expression changed slightly. "Let me guess, did you happen upon a creature of demonic variety and met my former student as he attempted to retrieve it?"
"Pretty much one to one." I nodded.
"Is this not the first time?" Jeanne asked, knowing the story as well.
"Ah, let me explain what we've been dealing with the past… week or so." She tilted her head as she calculated the time frame. "There were several breaches across the world that we responded to. At a few, we were able to catch the Mindless Ones."
"That's a name."
"Quite." She responded. "They're the minions of Dormammu, the Ruler of the Dark Dimension."
"Dormammu?" Hela interjected. She had seemingly no care about these parts right now, impatiently waiting for things that interested her, but now her expression changed too. "That thing is trying to reach Midgard?"
"It has been for awhile. We often prevent its attempts to breach our world." The Ancient One spoke casually.
Hela looked genuinely surprised.
Clearly, she wasn't involved with the normal 'jobs' they take around here.
"By Dormammu, do you mean some massive Eldritch Demon thing that was difficult to even look at?" I asked.
The Ancient One snapped her head to me. "Please don't tell me you met him?"
"Blame your dumbass student."
She scrunched her nose before waving her hands, producing her Magic Circles, and a few vivid scenes began to play in front of us. It showed her sorcerers battling some demonic entities, others of them fighting other sorcerers. A few that showed them trying to take care of possessed people.
"Roughly a week ago, as I said, we had quite a few breaches through the world's boundaries. We responded, as we always do. It was minions of the Dark Dimension, and we acted. Some of them, we were able to banish easily. Others, they possessed people to hide, and it took more effort to remove them. And a handful, our Sorcerers were confronted with Kaelicius."
"In person or projection?" I asked.
She tilted her head. "I see you noticed one of his favorite spells. The Steps through Sand. It's quite a neat spell to utilize 'echoes' of one's past to create a temporary copy of oneself. It has its disadvantages, of course. But Kaelicious is nothing if not…talented."
Steps Through Sand?
Ah, I get it.
The footprints we leave in sands are echos of ourselves.
Poetic, I suppose.
"Luckily, we were able to repel him and stop his plans. From what we were able to gather, his goal was to use the Mindless Ones as a…" She paused for a moment.
"Trojan Horse?"
Her eyes lit up. "Yes, I believe that would be an apt description."
"It's the one he used."
She frowned at that. "A beacon, a bridge, someone opening the gate from behind the walls." She waved her hand, dismissing the scenes playing out. "The exact details, we don't know."
"He used one of them to tear a hole in time and space, and I got sucked into it with an agent of SHIELD. Fell right into the Dark Dimension."
"That is concerning." She looked at me like she was making sure I was okay. "...and you met him."
"More like, I saw him and ran away immediately. Just a hand wave of his caused my attempt to run away to shatter the space around us, and it flung us to some corner of the universe." I turned to Hela. "Heard of the Grandmaster?"
She perked up. "That ancient being? I know the name. He had a planet somewhere that he kept to himself."
"Landed there, wasn't doing so hot. Got forced into being a gladiator slave for a few days. But then Odin popped over with a fleet, and we fought him together. Don't know if he's dead or not; Odin wasn't confident in claiming so. But Sakaar had been conquered."
Hela pursed her lips. "Hmph, if he couldn't do that much at least, I would have lost all respect for him."
"By 'Grandmaster,' do you mean one of the Elders of the Universe? "The Ancient One spoke up.
Hela shot her a look. "You know them?"
"I know their names. The moniker 'Grandmaster' isn't one so easily forgotten when it comes to a title. There were records left by the first Sorcerer Supreme, Agamotto himself. He gave a brief description of the powers in the universe." The Ancient One explained.
"Odin didn't give me a straight answer. Who exactly are they?" I asked.
"If you want a better answer from me, you'll be disappointed. I've never left this planet, and our records are…humble. They simply state that there is a group of ancient beings known as the 'Elders of the Universe,' citing them as some of the oldest living beings since the Universe's creation."
Well, that's unfortunate, but what can you do?
I doubt I'll meet any others in the future.
"You wouldn't happen to know where your former student currently is, do you? I have some unfinished business with him." I smiled politely.
"If I knew, then he wouldn't have been causing trouble." She gave the same polite smile.
"So all those demonic things were dealt with?" I asked. "Because the one I was dealing with went unnoticed until I arrived."
"It was a chaotic few days. If you hadn't dealt with it, we would have found it eventually." She replied.
I couldn't fault her there.
Their job really isn't easy.
Hela sniffed. "I was wondering what was different about you. It seems your divinity is more predominant. Did you have a difficult time under the Grandmaster's thumb?"
Was that concern I heard in her voice?
And that's the second time someone told me my divinity is more noticeable.
Actually, now that I had a clear mind and was able to think without distractions, it made sense.
I was a Campione, not a demigod.
Our strength increased through conflict. My divine power had become stronger because I was using it with a purpose. That's not to say I wasn't doing so before, but I pushed it to the limits, and my physiology responded in kind.
Campione exists to kill gods; we are warriors.
Warriors get stronger through fighting.
However, I was more than a Campione; I had a great many other tricks, so my Divine Power had never been stressed so aggressively before.
Something I'll need to consider.
"Did you come just to check in and learn about my former student, or did you come because of the festivities?" The Ancient One's words snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Festivities?" I blinked. "The former, but now I'm curious. I didn't hear about any festivities. Nor did it look like there was a festival going on?"
"Mr. Mordo, would you kindly explain?"
I forgot he was here for a moment.
He bowed politely. "We don't hold festivals like you would imagine. We are a…simple society. We don't scorn decadence and pleasure, but if you want such things, you must seek them outside the temple in your own time. The extent of our 'celebrations' are the exchanges of knowledge and wisdom with, perhaps, extended meals as a treat."
I looked between them. "So basically an open forum for everyone to exchange knowledge while you guys make some special meals?"
"More or less." She didn't deny it.
"Isn't that what you normally do, though? Bar, maybe, special meals or whatever." I was confused.
"The nature of our studies makes it insular out of habit. The seeking of knowledge has one often wrapped up in their own world, reading old tomes, practicing in private. We hold classes and such, but it's far from what one would call…socializing. So, some time ago, we decided to hold these 'open forum discussions,' as you put it. It allows everyone a specific time to come out, discuss their own findings, exchange understandings, and bond over shared interests."
Okay, that made more sense.
Honestly, it sounded better than the Clock Tower.
"In light of the recent events, I thought it would be a nice opportunity to lighten the mood around the Temples," she added.
"Sounds fun." I was being serious.
Despite everything about me, I was, at my core, a researcher.
I enjoyed discovering new things, creating spells, and understanding magic.
"How droll." Hela rolled her eyes.
I leaned in towards the Ancient One. "Tell me honestly, she's the worse student you've ever had, right?"
"I am most certainly not." Hela quickly defended.
The Ancient One's lips curled up. "I wouldn't call her my best student…."
[Line Break]
"You don't have to follow me around. You can go back home; I know this isn't exactly your idea of a good time."
Jeanne looked at me. She wasn't speaking much, not because she was upset, I think. But she just didn't have much to add. She wasn't the type to insert herself somewhere if she didn't feel like it was appropriate.
However, she quickly shook her head. "I like spending time with you regardless of what we're doing. I'm here to keep an eye on you, so it's okay."
How easily she makes my heart flutter.
"Besides, I know this is something you want to do. And I like seeing you happy."
Oof
Right in my heart.
"Are you two going to flirt in front of me this entire time?" Hela was with us as well.
"Yes."
"Neh!" Jeanne puffed up at me.
She always gets cutely embarrassed when someone calls her out on it.
"I don't know why I'm being dragged along with you." Hela huffed. "I have very little I could learn from the mortals here."
"The Ancient One is technically mortal," I pointed out.
"That is far different."
"You were probably the most difficult student for your teachers, weren't you?"
"I was a phenomenal student. All my teachers had nothing but praise for me when I did my studies."
"I'm sure it had nothing to do with you being the princess."
There was a big room open with many sorcerers coming and going.
I pulled Jeanne in with me and snuck into the back because I heard a lecture going on.
Hela stomped in, eliciting a small reaction, but otherwise, she was mostly ignored by everyone.
If she's been here this long, most of them were probably used to her.
The person standing at the front barely missed a beat.
"…which brings us to the issue of Arcane Momentum." The lecturer continued, pacing slowly before a floating diagram composed of glowing blue lines. "Most sorcerers understand that a spell can possess force. Fewer understand that a spell may possess momentum independent of force."
He waved his hand, and a glowing sphere appeared.
"A fireball travels because it is propelled. A portal remains stationary because it possesses no momentum. Yet a Binding Circle may continue expanding despite receiving no additional energy from the caster."
I immediately perked up.
That's interesting; he's talking about the metaphysics of spellwork and how they interact with the underlying physics of the universe that exists in the 'physical' spectrum.
"Another example is why a portal we create doesn't move despite the planet's rotation. Is it gravity affecting it? If so, then that must mean that a portal has weight?"
The answer was facetious, obviously wrong.
"If you opened a portal in a plane and it flew from one point to another, why does the portal remain within the plan's interior?"
He listed off several examples that made many of them thoughtful.
I think there were plenty of the apprentices' ranks within the room.
"Is the answer not obvious?" Hela scoffed, though she was polite enough to keep her voice down to almost a whisper so no one else heard her.
"They're beginners; give them a break." I ignored her haughty attitude.
"Why does it work like that?" Jeanne asked curiously.
"It's because many spells don't always look at 'Space' the same way we do. Distance isn't a matter of walking from point A to point B. Why does a Fireball we hold in our hands not burn us but explode on contact and melt something else?" I added that last one because I mentioned it before. "It's the intertwining of what we call 'Physics' and what we call 'Magic.'"
I interlocked my fingers together. "Magic at its core is using higher-dimensional energy to effect the lower dimension—our physical reality. Opening a portal on a plane lets it stay there because the spell structure holding it together isn't abiding by gravity. It's conceptually attached to a point in space, in which case it would be the surrounding plane, rather than a fixed point on the spatial axis of the world."
"Why does the fireball thing work then? If it's not hot in your hand, but it's hot and burns, then when it shoots someone or something?" She asked.
I unconsciously took out my wand to give a visible example to Jeanne as I made an image of a box appear.
"Inside the Box is what we call 'Physics.'" I've used this example a lot of times actually, but it's one of my favorites. "When we cast spells, what we're doing is stepping outside of the box for the process; however, the end results have us ending back up in the box. I cast a fireball; it's hot in my hand, but it doesn't burn me or make me uncomfortable. However, when the casting is finished, when I throw it, the world and magic intertwine, and the rules assert themselves properly. Fire is hot, fire burns; therefore, the fireball I created now has these properties because it's the logic of the universe."
That was a vast oversimplification, but it would do to help Jeanne understand.
I looked up and realized everyone else in the room was quiet.
Oops, I forgot where I was for a moment and sort of...rudely interrupted and stole attention.
"I apologize; I didn't mean to interrupt," I said quickly, realizing how it must have come off as I all but usurped his lesson.
However, the sorcerer at the front only smiled. "Everyone, take notes; that was a very good explanation."
There wasn't an ounce of discontent from him.
Purely happy about an explanation that fit the criteria of what he was talking about.
Ah… It's been awhile since I've been in an academic environment, hasn't it?
I almost forgot what it was like.
Regardless, I noticed Jeanne's thong peeking out, so I pulled on it.
She let out a slight squeak, doing her best to keep quiet as she sent me an 'angry glare.'
But it was cuter than anything.
[Line Break]
I let out a yawn and stretched my arms after we left another 'open lesson' or whatever it is they were called.
Jeanne was looking tired, so I figured that was enough for now.
As much as she made it clear she was here just to 'support' me, I wasn't going to keep dragging her into things she very clearly had no interest in.
I wasn't that mean or uncaring.
Though, I did heavily appreciate the fact that she was spending time with me doing something we both knew only I was enjoying.
I needed to take her out on another date soon.
Something fun.
People began filing out of the room, and Hela opened her eyes as if she were just sleeping before.
"Are we finally done?"
"You know you don't have to hang around, right? No one is forcing you." I pointed out.
She scoffed but didn't rebuke it.
I think…somewhere, she didn't have very many people she talked to, so she was doing this because she wanted to just be around other people who understood her?
As in, 'not mortals' in the normal sense of the term.
Jeanne and I were far from 'normal.'
"How far off are you on being able to leave without causing problems?" I asked her.
Hela didn't immediately answer the question.
"...you can leave whenever you want, can't you?"
"So what if I can?" She grunted.
"You haven't felt like exploring the world? It's much better than being cooped up at this temple."
"I've explored many mortal worlds; what makes this one any different? I have nothing in common with mortals; I may as well stay here where I don't have to hide who I am."
Truthfully, I didn't know what her thoughts were.
I think there was something else, but I didn't know her enough to make any real guesses.
I decided to change the subject. "There was someone else on Sakaar."
She raised an eyebrow. "Some I would care about, I presume, since you're bringing it up."
"A Valkyrie." I said pointedly, and there was the quickest flicker of recognition in her eyes. "The last Valkyrie, from what I heard."
Hela was silent for several moments.
"I wasn't aware one of them survived; I thought I killed them all."
And there it is.
Right.
After helping Brunnhilde, it turns out, I also released the one responsible for killing all her sisters.
Well, isn't this a fucked-up situation?
"You don't even feel bad about it, do you?" I asked her.
She scowled deeply. "Why would I feel bad? Do you expect me to show mercy on my enemies?" She stood up, all but slapping the table. "The Valkyries were Odin's personal warriors, but I was the one who marched into battle with them. I trained with them, fought with them, and bled with them. And when Odin ordered it, they turned on me without a second's hesitation."
She looked me right in the eyes.
"I didn't betray them; they betrayed me." She hissed before turning around and walking away.
God, why are things always so fucking complicated?
[Line Break]
A/N
Things aren't always cut and dry.
To Hela, she feels they betrayed her; to them, it feels like she betrayed them.
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
I also have a boosty if you can't use the above under the same name
We've on to the next world arc if you're interested.