Chapter 44

Chapter 44

(General P.O.V)

Ash plowed straight through the thin walls of the room, breaking the tea table under his weight. A chunk of metal similarly left lacerations across the mat laid down on the floor of the small room. Then they rolled away into more separate pieces, that hit the concrete walls on the end of the room.

The ancient one took a sip of her cup before placing it down by her side and shaking her head.

"Really Mr.Phelps, fighting with the Avengers over an issue that could be resolved by trusting in the effects of a civil conversation? Not to mention, all your efforts were ultimately futile."

She spoke up just as the teen came to his senses.

Ash groaned, placing his palm flat on the floor before getting up unsteadily.

"Where...am I?"

He looked around. The first thing he noticed was the Ultron Unit in several smashed pieces.

"No no no..."

He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the head of the unit. It's optical lenses were dark. He turned it over before placing it down and grabbing for it's chest piece. The Arc reactor was drained of all it's power.

Nothing. Ultron was dead. And with him, the voice he had been hearing before was deathly silent.

"All that for nothing." Ash ran a palm down his face. He had fought against Tony, Cap, Thor and the rest. God, what would they think of him now. Ash sighed, he needed to find a way to fix their relationship after ruining it like he did. And to think, he'd been so convinced to follow his gut.

The only good thing his gut was for, seemed to be making trouble. Really, he leaned his back on the wall of the room, holding onto the Unit's metallic hand.

"Mmmh." A voice cleared it's throat, making the teen look up in surprise before hurriedly getting to his feet.

His plasma sword came alive in a sudden blaze of purple.

"That weapon, where did you get it?"

The Ancient One asked in curiousity. She had never seen anything quite like it. Maybe the Ebony Sword came close but even that did not possess the kind of connection between weapon and wielder as the plasma sword in the teen's hands.

"How did I get here?"

Ash asked, then he remembered there was no way to explain how he knew the Ancient One, so he followed up his first question with another.

"And who are you?!"

He held his sword at the ready and pointed at the Sorcerer Supreme. The last thing he remembered was clicking on the Ouroboros Interface to initiate the next Loop and get out of the fight with the Avengers. The only reason he had even succeeded in getting away was his timely use of Spiritual Pressure to suppress their spirits. It hadn't worked on Vision and Thor however, so maybe an element of luck was also involved.

Scratch that, luck was most definitely involved.

"Calm down Mr.Phelps, I mean you no harm. You can call me the Ancient One."

The Sorcerer Supreme calmly assured. Ash held her gaze for a short time before lowering his weapon.

There was a sizzle once the blade managed to accidentally touch the torso of the destroyed robot. Right before their eyes, the whole metallic torso was turned into strings of purple energy that flowed into the plasma sword. Ash stepped back in shock as the rest of the metal parts dispersed across the room, also broke apart into tiny streams of energy that were devoured by his Plasma Sword.

Reiryoku pulsed inside the weapon as a torrential amount washed out through the room. The Ancient One stood up and started making seals with her hands. Mystical symbols appeared infront of her in a formation and then the world broke apart into shards.

Ash blinked and noticed the change almost immediately.

"The mirror dimension."

He muttered in realization, recalling his first loop and the fight with Kaecilious. Ash tightened his hands on the Sword just as the last of the Ultron Unit's remains were devoured. His quirk activated.

"Why did you bring us here?"

He demanded. Ash had no fond memories of this place. In a way it was almost claustrophobic.

"A precautionally measure. I sensed an incredible power inside you, if you were to lose control of yourself, Kathmandu would be gone."

Ash reluctantly deactivated his quirk. However, the plasma sword was still blazing with power.

"We might have gotten off to a rough start, first of all, allow me to apologize for the uncomfortable landing."

"That was you?"

Ash questioned. Had she hijacked his teleportation?

She walked closer to him, pacing around his form.

"You see Mr.Phelps, you are an enigma. I felt a time distortion while meditating and was curious. The first time, I was understandably cautious. You cannot imagine just how many entities try to mess with concepts that govern existence. It's my job to find and take care of the problem in case they are out to hurt our world."

She stopped before him.

"But you...you slipped past my veil, past my sorcery without trying too hard. If I didn't channel power from the Time Stone itself, I would not have been able to pinpoint your exact location." She smiled, eyes stuck on the weapon in his right hand. Ash concealed it behind his back.

"And even after knowing exactly where you were, stopping you from leaving almost didn't work."

She reached into the long sleeves of her robe and brought out a cracked mirror.

"I had to use a relic to redirect you here. The mirror of dreams, an artifact from the lost era. Now broken, rendered unusable"

She slid it back inside the sleeve and turned her back to him.

"Tell me why I shouldn't deal with you, Mr.Phelps."

The question alarmed Ash.

"Wait, deal...with me? I didn't do anything bad!"

"Not intentionally yes, but continuously messing with time is very very dangerous. You could tear apart the fabric of space time."

She turned around and spread out her hands. The whole Mirror dimension begun to move and Ash crouched down as he looked on in wariness. The segment he was standing on detached, leaving him standing on top of a square platform floating in midair.

The ground seemed to move far away as the floor of the room peeled away and revealed a perfectly round pool of glowing green water. The Ancient One stood on a sparking yellow magical platform. She held up a small stone, showing it to Aden before dropping it.

"Each time you loop back, the future is undone, or rather time is split as a divergent timeline springs forth from the alterations caused."

The stone landed in the middle of the pool. The exact area it landed, the pool of water separated into two differently colored segments. One side was green the other was Torquise. Ripples spread out across both halves.

"But it doesn't stop there. There are shockwaves caused by altering the past, such shockwaves can cause anomalies that can materialize in both past, present and the future."

Another piece of stone floated to her hands.

"And then you loop again."

She dropped the second stone and Ash watched as it landed on the Torquise side. Another split occured as a blue color occupied half of the Torquise. Now the pool was split into 3 distinct colors, green, blue and torquise.

Ash was speechless.

"Then there's the matter of your abilities."

The Ancient One continued.

"That sword, is a soul weapon. The strongest soul weapon I have ever seen in my long life. It seems to be forged from your very own spirit, an act that is very risky and abominable. The soul is sacred. Your weapon is a direct insult to one of the core lessons we teach here in Kathmandu."

"Regardless, it's mine." Ash spoke with conviction.

"And I have only ever used it to defend myself. I would never hurt anyone who didn't deserve it."

The Ancient One nodded.

"So you say." Then she waved a hand and the mirror dimension broke apart, they were back in the real world. Ash wondered how she had done it. He'd thought Sorcerers needed the Sling Ring to move through space like that.

"It's magic."

The Ancient One answered, noticing the strange questioning look on his face.

"I know that."

Ash rolled his eyes.

The Ancient One simply smiled, taking her previous seat and grabbing the still steaming cup of tea. Ash stood awkwardly in place, a million thoughts going through his mind. For starters his sword had seemingly devoured the Ultron Unit, which was counterproductive to what it had wanted him to do, right? There was a lot to unpack there.

The immediate concern however was what intentions the Ancient One had. Ash was not going to let his guard down before the centuries old Sorcerer. He was prepared to fight but understood that he couldn't keep on making enemies with the good guys. Shield was probably scouring the whole planet for him after his blunder. It stressed him greatly.

"I have a proposal, if you're willing to listen."

The Ancient One addressed him.

"That depends on what the proposal is."

Ash answered.

"I know you don't trust me and the feeling is mutual. But I also understand that there's more to you than what I can see on the surface. So my proposal is this, Mr Phelps. How would you like to learn how to control your abilities in a safe environment?"

The suggestion made Ash blink in confusion.

"I thought..."

"That I hate you?" The Ancient One laughed, waving off the notion.

"Far from it, I know what you did in New York. The world could not stop talking about it. You might not know this, but you are a celebrity. You're not a bad person, that much I know. If you decide to stay here until we minimize the effects your time manipulation has on the timeline, then I would be willing to overlook a few things."