----Kaecilius' POV----
It's been too long. This mission is taking way longer than it needs to be. It's been over four days now when it should have been a simple mission that took no more than two. What the hell is this anxiety I'm feeling? Me? Kaecilius feeling anxious? I've mastered the ways of the mystic arts years ago. These feelings are nothing but a relic of the past. A ghost of when I could not control my own life and fate. A reminder of when I did not possess the power to help and protect those I care about…. So why? Why do I feel such dread and anxiety about my student learning how to walk on his own? Mhmm. No. No this is normal. The fear of loss over something one can't control. This should be the way things are when you grow to care for someone else... Master! I should go and consult with my master on this.
I don't know how long it's been since I had stood outside of her room with my mind racing with unrest and questions about the uncertainty. I slowly raise my knuckles to knock on the door.
Knock. Knock. Knoc- The double doors of the Ancient One's room slowly open up as the aroma of tea slowly seeps out of the room and rolls into the courtyard. Taking a deep breath, I soon found myself in a chair next to my master as we sat by her office window, watching the sun slowly set on the courtyard of the dispersing students who were just finishing up their late evening practices. "Well you seem more tired and restless than usual. Is there something on your mind that you wish to speak with me about?" The Ancient One gently stirred the drop of honey into her tea as she calmly awaits my questions about the unknown. "Teacher, my student Ned…SīChóu. He… I am beginning to have doubts about this mission. I fear that I had made a mistake in allowing him to attend a mission that he was not ready for."
"Was he not ready for the mission or are you not ready to let him go? Keacilius, do you remember why you came to Kamar-Taj all those years ago?"
"There is not a day that goes by where I am not haunted by the memories of my family. Everyday for the last decade of my life I had spent here at Kamar-Taj. I had worked tirelessly to hone my skills and master my craft to bring my family back. How can I not remember the reason why I came to Kamar-Taj?" I took a sip from my cup and as soon as I did, the heavy weights on my chest seemed to ease a little.
"Then you should be very well aware of the reason why I had chosen you to be the personal master of Ned. It was you who had brought him in and it will be you who is to guide him down the path of mysticism. But now."
"Now just like when you allowed me to help myself from my demons. I must allow him to grow and stand on his own. As the answers we seek in Kamar-Taj can only be found by ourselves and from within." I narrowed my eyes a little as this was such a simple answer yet it was one that I could not grasp until talking with my master. All she did was give me a little smirk of a smile before finishing her tea and pouring out another cup for herself. "Well there is another question that has been itching in the back of my mind for a while now but I could not find the words or time to ask you about. But now I think I know what it is."
"Before you ask me that question. Let me ask you one myself. Would you like another cup of tea?" She lifts up the pot of brewed tea as she offered me another cup.
"Oh no. Thank you but I am very much still working on my first cup. I can't believe that even after all these years I still can't compare to you when it comes to tea consumption." A little laughter broke out between us. "No uh the question I've been meaning to ask you was why me? Hold on, let me restate the question since you just gave me an answer to those words. No, what I meant to say was, how did you know he would work? I know that you paired me with Ned to help me heal from my past and it has helped me make a tremendous and unmeasurable progress. But why do we work so well? I had tried to take on students in the past before but they could never match the way that Ned and I did."
"...." The Sorcerer Supreme remained silent for a moment as we watched the sun slowly dip below the horizon. The sky one stained with beautiful shades of pink and orange soon fades into a dark blue as darkness encroaches and blanket the sky. Soon the courtyard of Kamar-Taj became pitch black with the structures of the school barely visible in the low lighting from far away candles. "Here in Kamar-Taj no knowledge is forbidden but only certain practices and I suppose I should tell you about a secret of your student before you come to the discovery yourself." She lets out a sigh before continuing. "Edward. No, SīChóu. He is a special child and a curious case study for me personally. As you are aware, the Sorcerer Supreme is the guardian of the 'Eye of Agomotto' and as its current holder I am given the ability to peer into the future. Your student he… Well everyone possesses potential for change and holds many strings of fate and destiny, with some strings being stronger than others which leads to our current world and the multiverse of infinite choices and possibilities. Every single day I watch over my students as the Sorcerer Supreme, I am not just defending the world from the mystic threats of the multiverse and beyond but also the threats each student can become. And every single glimpse of the future I saw a possibility. A potential for good and evil. A threat and a savior. Every student that has passed through the doors of Kamar-Taj has had their future unfold and laid out to me. Even with that knowledge, whatever the outcome of those visions are is not mine to make. As that is a violation of the very laws I had sworn to protect. No, my child. What I am trying to say is that you and I have a very well connected future together. One that I do not wish to see come to fruition. As the Sorcerer Supreme I will not directly intervene and change fate. But as your master I hope that the healing you had received from Ned can guide you out of our entangled fate and help you regain a family. For your student Ned, is a person who's fate I can not peer into. Who's potential I can not fathom and that terrified me at first. But now as he slowly grew over the year, that fear of mine vanished. Even at his lowest, he still chose to help those that he could and look where he's at now."
"On his first mission to help even more people while he still can't even use magic yet." I can't help but chuckle a little as I finish up the last of my tea cup. "If what you said about his fate is true then I certainly hope that you are correct as always. I feared that I had grown too attached to this child and had overstepped my boundaries as a master but now I see. In the relationship of student and master I had forged a father and son bound with this child. One that is not to replace my family but as an addition to my family. A solution to the answers I had searched for for so long." A mysterious smile slowly forms on the corner of the Ancient One's lip as she takes another sip of her tea. Even after watching over Kamar-Taj for centuries and dealing with the problems of countless generations of students, she still finds ways to guide us to the answer ourselves without directly handing the solution. My master is truly amazing and wise beyond my understanding.
Woooshhh!
Suddenly the dark courtyard begins to illuminate from the creation of a portal as someone rushed out and tripped on to the stone flooring. "SOMEBODY HELLPPP!" A cry of fear and plea can be heard from the individual as I jump over the window and drop down onto the courtyard. "Ned! Ned, is that you?" I rush over to the bleeding student and as I got closer my heart starts to beat faster and faster. This isn't Ned but one of the other students he was supposed to be with. "Where the hell is he!" I grab onto the shoulders of the student who's only a couple years my junior as I try to get him to spit out the answer. Terrified and in shock all they could do was point their trembling finger towards the glow of the orange portal. Staring into the other side of the portal that is just as dark as our courtyard, I hesitate for a moment on whether to jump through and save my disciple or save the current student whose bleeding out in my hands. However my answer was already decided once I heard the many echoing footsteps of help rushing into the courtyard. Without looking back, I drop the student in my hands and sprint at my highest speed to rescue my pupil.
I pull out the twin scythe daggers behind my waist and charge blindly into the void. The smell of rot and death instantly violated my senses as I ran deeper and deeper into what feels like a cave tunnel. CRKKKK ZAAAP! A bright familiar flash illuminates the tunnel as I try to cover my eyes from running towards the sources. "NED!" I shout at the top of my lungs as I finally reach the end of the tunnel and breach into the source of the light. I find myself in a large open area of the cave and in the middle are two amalgamations of flesh and bones being burned away by a stream of lightning from a student. My Student.