The training grounds of Kamar-Taj were filled with two types of students.
First, there was the 'Inducted'. These were students born from sorcerer parents, or families, who had sworn oaths to protect the temple and the Eye of Agamotto.
While their parents knew the full weight of their duty, these apprentices wouldn't learn the true secrets of the Mystic Arts until they became Masters.
Then, there's the 'Accepted'. People like Rintrah, Wanda, Illyana fall into this category. Kamar-Taj was known for taking in those who were lost or had suffered great loss, giving them a way to cope with their past through magic and patient teaching.
This group had been assigned to Master Gojo. While Master Hamir, Master Mordo, and a few others also taught the foundational arts, Gojo was infamous for his own unconventional way of handling new students assigned to him.
As they waited for him to arrive, Wanda stood in her simple gray apprentice robes. She couldn't help but stare at Rintrah. Standing beside her at eight feet tall with his bull-like appearance, he stuck out like a sore thumb among the other humans.
In front of her was Illyana, she glanced at her, and couldn't help but notice her calloused and scar filled arms.
As if sensing a gaze behind her, Illyana inclined her head at her back and looked at Wanda directly in the eye.
Wanda paused for a moment, not breaking eye contact, she lifted a hand and waved it lightly. "Hi."
Illyana ignored Wanda and returned her focus to the front, not before saying. "Don't stare at me."
Wanda stared speechless, her hand she used to wave froze as the awkwardness prickled her skin.
She stared at the back of Illyana's head for a moment longer before a cough! sounded off at her side.
"Don't mind her," Rintrah said softly. His voice was surprisingly gentle as Wanda turned her attention to Rintrah. "She has had a very rough time before she arrived here."
'The bull can talk?' Wanda blinked. She shook her head out of the thought. "I don't mind, I understand."
Despite saying that, there was a wry smile on her lips. But, on another note, her curiosity got the better of her as she gestured vaguely at his horns. "Are you...?"
Rintrah smiled softly, showing his flat teeth. "I am an R'Vaalian. You humans, however, seem quite fond of the term 'minotaur'. My name's Rintrah."
"Wanda," she introduced herself back, feeling a bit more at ease.
Wanda turned her gaze away, finally taking in the surroundings of the training grounds. When she had knocked on that door in New York, it was in the middle of the morning. But after stepping through an open double door, she had been greeted by the Himalayan evening.
Left with nothing to do, she stayed and rested on the room Wong had led her to.
Now, under the crisp morning light, Kamar-Taj felt like a dream. Coming from the city of Novi Grad and having been to the Avengers Tower, this place felt old… and new.
"Have you been here long?" Wanda asked.
Rintrah hummed in thought, his large ears twitching. "Not too long. I arrived on Earth a month or so ago. I was formally exposed to the arts as a student just a few days ago and was assigned under Master Gojo."
"Master Gojo..." Wanda repeated the name, her mind drifting back to the white-haired boy and his unbelievable power. "What is he like? As a teacher, I mean."
"I don't know much about him, honestly," Rintrah's expression became uncertain. "I've only ever been in one of his lectures, had a brief trip to a faraway place under his supervision by chance…" Not wanting to talk about that, he looked at her.
"However, within those limited experiences, all I can say is; there's certainly much more pros to the cons." Rintrah assumed that Wanda had heard some rumors about Master Gojo, most of the ones circulating around were terrible and unfounded. Knowing that, he said those with an intention of assuring her.
He looked ahead and his gaze became unfocused, he thought about their 'trip' last night. "He might be younger than both of us, but he's much more capable."
Wanda opened her mouth to ask more, but the words died in her throat as with a pop! A figure appeared out of thin air in front of the apprentices.
"Yo!"
It was Satoru. While every other Master she had seen wore their robes proudly, he was wearing a designer black attire that looked more fitting outside then in a temple.
"Master Gojo!" the gathered apprentices chimed in unison, immediately dropping into bows.
Illyana and Rintrah followed suit. Wanda glanced around at them before thinking 'When in Rome, do what Romans do,' then lowered herself into a bow as well.
"You guys don't have to always bow whenever you meet me," Satoru said, waving a hand dismissively.
He strolled towards his assigned disciples, he stopped just in front of Illyana and looked over at Wanda.
"You guys look good in those robes!" he chirped, flashing a thumbs-up toward Wanda and Illyana. 'The gray really brings out the 'inner sorcerer' in you."
He let out a short laugh before continuing. "Your fellow apprentices were assigned under me a few days ago, but don't worry, you haven't missed much. I've only given one lecture before I had to go and do that mission you're both familiar with."
Satoru suddenly paused as if he'd forgotten something important. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two small, brown cards. He walked up to the two girls and handed one to each.
Wanda and Illyana took the cards, staring at the single word printed in neat and stylized front: SHAMBALLA.
"What is this?" Wanda asked, turning the card over.
"Our mantra?" Illyana guessed, skeptical.
Satoru raised an eyebrow at them, his lips an amused grin. "It's the Wi-Fi password. Mantra? Where'd you think of that?"
Wanda stared at him, utterly speechless.
Satoru reached into his pocket again and pulled out a sleek, latest-model smartphone, tossing it casually toward Illyana.
"Since you probably don't know how to use that," Satoru said and looked at Wanda. "Teach her, whenever you both get the time."
Illyana caught the phone with one hand. She stared down at the glass slab with a look of profound distrust, as if it might bite her.
Satoru turned away from them and faced the rest of the apprentices. "Alright! Now that the administrative stuff is out of the way, let's get to the fun part."
Satoru strolled to the center. He then turned back to face his crowd.
"Since we've got two newbies with us today, I'm gonna start off by saying something that'll accommodate them as well," Satoru began, his voice carrying effortlessly. "The language of the mystic arts."
He purposely paused.
The apprentices, including Rintrah, Illyana, and Wanda, stood attentively, eyes fixed on him.
"The language of the mystic arts is as old as civilization, or so I've been told and read," he continued, stepping in a slow circle. "The sorcerers of antiquity called the use of this language, 'spells'."
As he spoke, he waved his right hand through the air. Sharp and vibrant orange sparks ignited in his wake.
"We harness energy..." he said, his fingers dancing as glowing lines began to interweave in front of him, "drawn from other dimensions of the Multiverse..."
The air began to hum a low-frequency vibration that the apprentices felt in their teeth.
"...to cast spells... to conjure shields... and weapons..."
The complexity of the lines grew, forming a dense, rotating mandala of orange light.
"...to make magic."
The moment he uttered the word 'magic', he thrust both palms forward.
Vwooom!
He released the pattern.
A massive wave of force erupted from the mandala. The grass and dust beneath the apprentices' feet were instantly scoured away, and a heavy artificial wind slammed into the group. Wanda and Illyana instinctively threw their arms up as their robes whipped violently around them and their hair flew back.
The wind lasted only a second.
Satoru stood there, the orange sparks and light fading from the air in front of them. He clapped. "Now then, group yourselves into five and I'll teach you how to sense that particular dimensional energy and do the foundational mandala one group at a time. Hopefully…"
He pinched his chin with his finger and thought for a moment, before continuing. "A month should be fair," He nodded to himself. "After a month, or more, if even one of you can do that, we're going to move to basic spells afterwards; the eldritch whip, eldritch shield, eldritch bow and arrow,etc."
Satoru's deadline of a month caused a ripple of murmurs to pass through the apprentices.
The apprentices heard from the other apprentices that were ahead of them in learning the foundational arts from the other masters said that the foundational mandala often took a few months, not a single one.
Before anyone could voice their concern, however, Satoru had clapped his palms once again. "What are you waiting for? Group yourselves into five!"
"Better move fast. If you dilly-dally and end up without a group of five, that's on you. There's twenty-eight of you here, so do the math. Don't come crying to me when you're the odd ones out. A bit of a hint on why: there's strength in numbers."
The apprentices began to scramble, putting the deadline on the back of their mind for now, they began to call out to those who they're familiar with, or simply the ones closest to them.
In the end… Wanda, Illyana, and Rintra became the odd ones out.
…
Meanwhile,
[ The Inner Archives of Kamar-Taj ]
Mordo sat alone in a room of darkness in the archives with the only light coming from a flickering candle on the wooden table.
In his hands, he clutched a heavy, dark leather-bound book. It was unlike any other text in Kamar-Taj; the cover featured an intricate, metallic ambigram that shifted and writhed under his touch.
An ominous, almost oily energy was wisping around the book, staining the air around his fingers.
For hours, Mordo had been whispering. His lips moved unceasingly in a feverish flow with a low and rasp voice that filled the empty room.
It sounded as if he were engaged in a deep and desperate argument with someone, yet the room remained empty but himself.
Suddenly, he stopped. The silence that followed was heavy and deafening.
Mordo closed the book slowly, thud. An unsettling grin spread across Mordo's face. Gone was the disciplined Master of the Mystic Arts, what replaced was a man whose eyes flashed with a burst of lunacy.
He looked at the book as if it were a long-lost lover, his fingers trembling with a mix of awe and dark triumph.
"Finally," Mordo whispered into the dark, his voice trembling. "I've found it. I've found what I want."
"I have to… I have to plan. Everything will be in order, everything will be as it should be. Eventually, in time, no more laws will be tampered with, the bills come due…" He clutched the book to his chest, the ominous energy beginning to seep into his very skin. "Satoru Gojo… and the Ancient One, the hypocrite… both of them will… no, they shall be gone."
...
[Author's Notes]: Chills! Watched two movies of The Conjuring to write the conclusion of this chapter.
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