Tomb Raider - Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel

28 ~ More Magic

There was no stopping her from reading the journal now. She had already uncovered the extent of its deep, dark secrets.  What more harm could it cause? She hoped nothing more.

She made herself sit down and read it, slowly, taking in everything and every little detail, even re-reading sections if she felt the need to do so. 

Since she had been frantically skimming most of the final entries of the journal before, during her first fateful read, she had missed a lot of information, hadn't fully registered it.

She had actually missed quite a lot in her first initial skim through of the entries, so reading it though again a second time - at least twice, sometimes more - was beneficial, as she soon discovered. 

 In the entry timeline, she was now eleven - the year before her parents disappeared.

In this entry, her mother spoke of visiting someone called the Ancient One here in London, at somewhere called a sanctum. It was almost as though Jenny had written this somehow knowing Nora would need to know it later. Her mother was still helping her from wherever she was.

A quick internet search gave her the exact address. 

Her next stop was the London Sanctum. She had no idea of what she would find there, but at least she knew where she had to go. 

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The Sanctum was just an old building at the centre of a street, easy to miss. There was no sign outside reading LONDON SANCTUM or anything. Maybe they didn't want just anyone popping in.  

Nora checked the address again, which she had written down, for good measure before heading up the front steps of the building. Here it was. 

The door opened before she even had the chance to knock. "Oh - um, hello, I'm looking for the-" But no one was there. She was speaking to an empty hall. But then who had opened the door for her? She had thought someone had seen her out front.  How had it opened?

"Hello?" she called, her own voice echoing back to her as though she were calling into a vast cavern, not a hallway.

"Come on in, Eleanora Bane.  I've been expecting you."

She jumped at the sudden voice, whirling around to find its source. 

A bald woman in long, golden-yellow robes sat at a small round table which had a tea set arranged for two atop it. The woman sipped from her teacup and smiled at her guest. "Welcome."

Nora stared back, utterly confused.  "How did you-" She broke off, trying to figure it out - the woman hadn't been sitting there just moments ago when her eyes had swept the room, and neither had the table or tea set. 

What was going on here? She was getting strange vibes from this place. Maybe coming here had been a mistake...

The woman waved her over.  "Come, sit. Tea?"

"Um..." Nora wasn't so sure. The woman was already pouring the tea and so she sat down slowly and cautiously. "You were expecting me?"

"Yes, I knew you were coming."

"Dare I ask how?"

The woman grinned.  "If I told you magic, how would you respond?"

"I wouldn't think you're totally crazy." The woman chuckled at this.  "I'm Nora, but I guess you already know that. Who are you?"

"I am the Ancient One."

"Okay."

"Master of the Mystic Arts."

"Okay..."

"You're here about your parents' visit, many years ago."

"Okay, now you're starting to freak me out..."

"I am correct though, yes?"

"Yeah..."

"And now here you are."

"Yeah..."

"Continuing in their search."

"My parents came here searching for answers as to what happened to me."

"What happened to you?"

"I-I don't know... Well, I mean, I kind of do now. I know more now than I did before, but I'm still miles away from understanding it."

"Some things we don't end up understanding.  Some things are better left not understood."

"Um, thanks for the wisdom..."

"But that is what you came for, yes?"

"They came here searching for answers. About this." Nora held up a hand, displaying the pink energy of the space-magic.

"Ah, yes.  The ancient powers. Answers to which I, unfortunately, couldn't give them."

"Oh..."

"Yes. They came here desperately searching for any form of hope. But, I'm afraid, the magic you know and the magic I know are entirely different."

"I wouldn't say I 'know it', necessarily, but..."

"But, I'm always happy to talk about magic, any kind that is." The Ancient One smiled. "But that was what they  came to me in search of. What brings you here, Eleanora Bane."

"Nora is just fine, really... Um, well, I came for the same reason-"

"But did you?"

"Um, yeah, I mean I think so. Though you now have me questioning that..."

Before she could continue, the Ancient One, now on her feet, struck Nora in the shoulder and when she looked down she saw her own body behind her, her own self transparent though glowing a deep pink colour. 

"Gah - what the bloody hell did you do?!"

"I removed your astral form from your physical form.  See, look at your aura: it's fuchsia.  You have pure magic running through your veins, and have since before you were born."

"So something within me has been lying dormant? Until now, it would seem..."

"Yes, it would seem so. You are magic, Eleanora Bane."

The same as Carol had said to her before she left, her final words to Nora. "I'm sorry?"

Suddenly, she was back in her body - her astral and physical forms reunited. That had been extremely weird. 

The table and tea set were gone.  The Ancient One smiled at her. "Oh, and I would recommend tending to that staff of yours - I think it will prove very helpful."

"Right..." Nora's eyes didn't leave her host until she made herself look away.  "Well, thanks anyways then... Thanks for the tea."

"Goodbye, Eleanora Bane."

"Bye - Ancient One."

The Ancient One watched as the young woman left the sanctum. With a little nudge from some magic, the door closed behind her with an echoing bang!

She didn't feel the need to mention to Miss Bane that she had an apprentice back in Nepal, Master Ekaterina, who looked almost identical to her.

(More connections to my other Marvel stories! ;) Love the interconnectedness of this whole universe! It was all so cleverly done in the movies!  

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :))