Where They Are: A Wanda Maximoff and Vision Story

In Fire and Darkness, There Will be Opportunity

Just over 200 miles away, in a castle outside the town of Tintagel, Morgan was resting in an abandoned catacomb beneath the great halls of the once busy stone keep. There were flaming torches along the walls, bringing light to where there was darkness. Further down was a series of dungeons where captured enemies would await their fate at the gallows. Very 3rd Century in the ripped tapestries and corroded brass work. Something that could make Morgan feel at home in a world that little knowledge of her.

In her rest, she gained a more youthful look, looking almost beautiful if one were to admire her. She woke naturally, observing her surroundings before remembering that she was now in a different time than she once lived. In some aspect, she felt some bit of isolation. She remembered how she would be surrounded by many apprentices under Merlin's care, or the surrogate sister's she had gained when she flipped to the dark side. On either side, she had some kind of support group to keep her company. Now, she had no one, no immediate human contact that she could connect with, no one to guide her through this new reality where human technology has vastly improved.

"I shouldn't be here" she thought to herself, "I shouldn't be this far into the future. The world has improved so much so that it would be impossible for me to achieve my destiny." Her thoughts halted her focus, creating no sense of focus for the Arthurian sorceress. Until..., a strange feeling that a voice inside her head was telling her she had to push through. That it was her right to punish the world for leaving her so alone.

Morgan knew it wasn't her thoughts, but a dark and sinister voice she knew all to well, even after spending thousands of centuries without thinking. This gave her a bit of optimism that she wasn't completely alone.

With her mind racing, she went to work conjuring a large flame in the nearby fireplace using the light of the torches. Her arms swirled and reached, pulling all the energy of the room to a singular point in the dark hall. The fire grew above Morgan's head, raging tamely enough to work with, and with an eager expression, Morgan exposed her palms to the warm glaze. A few seconds of silence passed, with only the crackling sound of the fire for noise to distract her, she firmly annunciated a hailing request in Latin.

"Magister meus. Dolores inferni circumdederunt. Ignis sanguinis quaeram duce. In tenebris meum et vocavi te Chthon (My Master. I call upon you. Through fire and blood, I seek your guidance. In darkness, I summon thee, Chthon)."

She repeated the words, and the fire started to surge up from the bottom. The blue parts of the flame rising from the base to engulf the oranges and reds, creating an almost dark flame. A few streaks of bright blue gave some light to the room, but the darkness had control of the hall, as Morgan continued speaking aimlessly into the dark void. Suddenly, it went dark with a loud whoosh of the flame dying down to it's embers. The silence returned with only Morgan's exhausted breathing to fill the void, as she expectantly waited for what she hoped to summon. A wave of heat flew past her face, making her sweat some, and a bit nervous that what she did didn't work. Until it happened...

The fire thundered back to life in a hue of blacks, blues, and oranges, filling the entire fireplace. Morgan stumbled back, giving space to what she knew was to be given space. The flame seemed to swirl into a constrained figure, seeming like it could reach out at any point to grab you. As the raging inferno swelled, the constraints formed into strong legs, arms, and head. Fingers soon formed as the figure reached for the fireplace mantle above him, helping it take it's first step out. The figure's body generalized into a rough surface of some texture resembling charcoal and small bits of blue flames to keep it together. The figure stepped out, striding out of the fireplace proudly. Morgan stood in a complexity of feelings as the figure stopped right in front of her. The head looked down at her, as she smiled nervously.