A Marvelous Devil.
Chapter 14: The Unseen Variable.
Dante Andromalius.
Kamar-Taj.
I wasn't sure what to make of this mortal human. Was she still considered mortal after what she had done? I wasn't prying too deep to avoid offending her, but it was quite clear that the taint of Dormammu's power was lengthening her lifespan a fair bit.
Apart from that, the silence as we walked through the building was both amusing and upsetting.
I knew why she did it, but I wasn't happy with her treating me as if I were some kind of no one.
Even if I currently was, being in my original universe for the first time in almost seven decades was strange. I wasn't exactly Seere. I didn't expect to return to my previous peak or be treated like that. But being seen as an unimportant demon made my irritation rise.
She knew she was making me angry. Every time she turned to look at me, she wore an amused expression and slurped her weird drink, which only annoyed me further.
"You have a wonderful domain, my lady," I spoke after some minutes of following in silence.
I lost nothing by being polite.
I wasn't nervous. I doubted she meant me harm after passing through some… impressive magical wards. Hell, she didn't even need them if she wanted to smite me. She was a monster; I couldn't do anything against her. She knew that, and she knew I understood.
Not that I intended anything bad with her and hers, I didn't even know who they were.
Not a single time in my previous visits to Earth had I seen her or anyone dressed like them.
I was completely in the dark when it came to this order.
"Why, thank you," she smiled plainly, her eyes sharp despite her calm act. She was still trying to see through me. "This is Kamar-Taj, home of sorcerers and mystics that defend Earth from magical threats."
"And this includes demons, I suppose," I laughed lightly, "Tell me about your order, I'm afraid I haven't heard of it. Or you, for that matter. I can't say I focused too much on mortals, but someone like you must be known. Who are you?"
Her eyebrow rose as she studied me, then she nodded.
"You may call me the ancient one. I'm the leader of this place, and I'm tasked with the protection of Earth, as I said. And yes, the demonic incursions do fall under my tasks, even if they have decreased a couple of decades ago. Last I heard, many of the Lords of Hell have their own conflicts after the death of one of the strongest of your kind."
I stopped in my tracks, not caring that she watched, and a deep frown creased my face. Anger and frustration surged through me at the thought of all those fools fighting for what was once mine.
Even after pushing my people away from the fallout, I still had important and strong souls in my domain. I knew bastards like Mephisto, Belasco, and Satannish always watched the Ashen Court inhabitants.
And my treasure room, obviously. I made sure to keep them under lock, strong enough to stop even someone like Mephisto for decades if not centuries, but who knew if someone managed to break through my spells.
But the one who I feared would take advantage of it the most was that blasted Blackheart, Mephy's brother.
The idiot didn't like me because I refused to help him with his daddy issues. Things got worse when I took Mephy as my woman centuries ago… the fucking siscon.
Who would want to be with him, he was as ugly as sin.
The worst part was that I didn't know what pissed him off more, me taking his sister or not helping him against Mephisto.
But I knew the idiot would absolutely cry to his daddy dearest that he wanted to control the Ashen Court since I wasn't there anymore, and Mephisto wasn't going to absorb my dimension, I made sure of that.
Mephisto was a bastard, but he wasn't an idiot. Having the Ashen Court under his command only had positives.
"I have heard of that, yes," I nodded after regaining my composure, "You can say I was deeply affected by them."
"You don't say," she hummed, slurping her drink again. My irritation peaked, and I felt an involuntary twitch of my eyebrow.
"Here." She made some runes with a turn of her hand; she snorted amusedly as she did so.
A similar cup appeared; some red colored ice, and the first thing I noticed was the smell of cherries as they pricked my nose. "Try it. I can see you're curious."
Sighing, I grabbed the cup, knowing better than saying no to someone like her, especially when she was being so forthcoming. People like her, or I in the past, didn't have a need to play tricks, unless it was for our own amusement. Like I told Sona back home, if I wanted to kill her, I have much better methods than something like poison.
And I was currently in the same situation as the adorable devil.
Slurping, the taste hit my mouth like a train. Cold, flavory and sweet.
"What is this?" I asked between slurps, earning a loud laugh from my host.
"A slushy," she said simply, "I had been waiting for when they were created, such a marvelous invention."
"It's delicious," I nodded excitedly after her, "I can feel there's nothing special about them, no interesting ingredients, but it's so good."
"That's mortals for you," she barked a fond laugh. "If you give them the chance, they will always find a way to surprise even someone like you."
"Ancient one, you said?" I asked after finishing my drink, looking around the yard, where we were walking. My presence was ignored by most sorcerers training, but two of them managed to catch a whiff of my presence even with my trait hiding me from most senses, an older man with dark skin and another sorcerer who also smelled like Dormammu's dogs.
Interesting. It was strange; the longer we walked, the less I was sure this place belonged to Dormammu. If it were like that, more humans would have fragments of his dimension.
But there was a faint difference between the ancient one and the other Dormammu follower.
The rest were different, too. Most of these sorcerers utilized magic in fascinating ways. They pulled power from other entities; their magic wasn't theirs by birth. The main power source, in fact, belonged to some strange holy being.
I felt as if I should recognize it, but I couldn't name it. It had something familiar but muddled.
"How peculiar," I stopped to focus on the sorcerers, and seeing that the ancient one wasn't against it, I tried to peer through it.
Which failed, obviously. The headache that happened next was almost expected, but I kept watching them.
"Who is that?" I asked her seriously.
"That's our magic," she nodded, "It comes from the Vishanti."
"Never heard of them… a new pantheon, perhaps?" I asked her back, "But there's something weird about it."
"They protected Earth for twenty-five thousand years, demon," she said drily.
"Woman, I'm nineteen," I deadpanned.
I enjoyed perhaps more than I should have when her mouth opened in surprise. "I can tell it's an amalgamation of powerful beings, not a singular one. Who were they, originally?" I asked.
"Oshtur, Hoggoth, and Oshtur's son, Agamotto," she explained, "You have good eyes, demon."
Oshtur, Oshtur, where had I heard that name?
Then my eyes widened, "Wasn't she one of the elder Gods of this planet? She was quite something."
"Not many know of her past," the ancient one noted shrewdly, but I just rolled my eyes.
"You can say I'm a student at heart; there's not much I don't know from this universe, at least the important beings."
It was true, I always made sure to know the most I could from the shakers of the universe. Very few people truly rose to that level, but as soon as someone matched my power, I kept a tab on them. Not a firm one, since I didn't have many enemies, but enough to know how they were doing.
"Is that why you are here?" Her eyes sharpened just a tad, and I sighed.
Now for the hard part.
"Is there somewhere private where we can speak without anyone listening?"
I didn't like how her smile widened. I could only widen my eyes as she blurred from my sight. Her hand pressed against my chest. The world turned distorted, and there was absolutely no sign of life apart from us.
I knew we were in the same 'place', just a different dimension altogether.
I hadn't heard of this place in all my years. How curious.
Seeing that the woman wasn't planning on obliterating me, I focused on my senses and studied the dimension.
"Interesting, this dimension is only present on this planet, am I right? You can mold it to your desires, but the real world won't be affected in the slightest. How… malleable."
I stayed silent for a second, nodding at what I was sensing. "Surprisingly stable for a chaotic dimension, is it because it only affects a single world?"
Her expression was making me bite down a laugh, "It's neutral, too. You can use it for training, big fights, and use almost any single power source without affecting the world with its corruption."
The more I spoke, the more impressed the Ancient One became.
I huffed out a laugh, "Was this place where you absorbed Dormammu's power?"
Her face fell. "Who are you, demon?" she asked.
"What do you want? Why can't I see your future, or past, with this?" The Ancient One poked her necklace.
The gem in her neck glowed with power. I could see her straining to look through me, but for some reason, the energy passed through my body.
Heh, the problems of mortals thinking they deserved to know everything. She was used to knowing the future, probably all the possibilities her mind could comprehend, but a single unknown, and she was rattled.
The sheer arrogance of this woman.
I wasn't a native of this world anymore. The infinity stones didn't even work outside their own timelines and universes, and even if part of my soul was coded to this place, I wasn't. Not after Red made a mess out of it to hide me.
"My name is Dante Andromalius," I made a show of my greeting, enjoying her eyebrow twitch.
If only her students could see her, I doubted they had ever seen her acting this way with them. They probably saw her as an omniscient leader who knew no wrong.
"I want strength. I want to learn, I want to get what is mine," I scowled briefly, but honestly, "I want to protect my family."
"I have no bad intentions against you or yours, not even the people from this world as long as they don't deserve it."
Also true, I wasn't planning on acting like a demon. I simply wasn't like that. Would there be a little chaos? Absolutely, but nothing too problematic.
"Excuse me if I don't believe that," she deadpanned.
I smiled, "You want to know a secret?"
She stayed silent, her eyes locked with mine, then she nodded.
"Seere the Fair One is my role model."
Of course I saw myself as a role model. I was the best demon across all timelines and iterations.
"He was still a demon," she said simply.
"Were his 'victims' against being under him? Did he ever do anything out of line? Did he conquer worlds? What would the Vishanti think of him? Oshtur knew of Seere. Did she ever move against him?"
She couldn't answer, because she knew I was right.
"I know he visited this planet regularly before his death."
And this was the last piece of the puzzle I needed. When I had been Seere, I visited this planet every once in a while, and not a single time did I face this order of Sorcerers. No one gave me trouble, and I didn't cause more than necessary.
And in a way, I understood why. I was the best kind of ally to have, if you needed a demon for something. There wasn't any better option than me.
"And you want to be like him?" she asked distrustfully. "Demons are known for their silver tongue, boy."
"Do not call me that," I looked at her, a sliver of my pathetic cosmic power bleeding through my eyes, making the dimension tremble from its weight. I didn't have the amount necessary to break it if I wanted to, but the pure cosmic weight was enough to make my potential known.
It wasn't for jokes; this was the power that belonged to Galactus and his kind, and it showed.
"I have no desire to be your enemy, Ancient One. I have no desire to cause more chaos than is typical for my kind. I just want what is mine, and that is far from here. I aim to become stronger, and I will do it, whether you help me or not." I let the cosmic weight fade, meeting her eyes evenly. "But I think we both know... this would go better if we worked together. Don't you?"
"I vow on my name to not corrupt your students, I won't even bother them, I just wish to learn. I can work with you, I can help against your enemies when needed, if I receive the teaching of this place to the best of your ability. No one has to know what I am, as they don't know you and that other sorcerer is using Dormammu's power."
"Cosmic power? How can a demon have something like that? It belongs to the devourer of worlds himself."
"It is, and I can use it in an ever more versatile way than him, but I need more, something I'm sure my stay here would help. What do you think, Ancient One? Do you fancy having a Demon as your student? For the greater good of the earth, I suppose?"
Her eyes widened just a fraction, and I laughed loudly.
"Woman, I might be young, but I'm still a demon. I can see through you, and I know that, despite everything you've done, it's been to protect this place from something. Even going as far as stealing from Dormammu," I laughed darkly, "Foolish, but it might be understandable…"
"Especially since you have a piece of Nemesis with you. What did you see? What are you preparing for?"
"I can't see past my death," she admitted.
"Then accept, and look again," I grinned as the weight of my power returned for our pact. "Who knows, something might change."
She hesitated, staying silent for a long time. I could see the war in her eyes.
Duty versus curiosity, caution versus hope.
Then she sighed, and it sounded like defeat and determination all at once.
"This is madness," she said quietly. "I should kill you where you stand."
"But you won't." I smirked.
"No." Her eyes met mine, something I didn't quite catch passing through her eyes. "Because if I accept... perhaps I can see what I've been unable to."
She drew a deep breath. "You can study here, Dante Andromalius. But if you break your word a single time, you will pray to whatever God might save you from my wrath."
Just what I wanted. I couldn't help the growing smile on my face as I felt our pact settle under my power.
"Then look, Ancient One. Look past your limit." Her necklace shone with power as she activated it, and I saw tears welling in her eyes as they widened.
I stayed silent, letting her process whatever she saw. I didn't mention the tears streaming down her face even as we returned to earth.
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