章節 3: Story 1 : Multiplication Table - #2
Disclaimer - I don't own any rights to the characters appearing in this story. They belong to their respective owners.
Story 1 : Multiplication Table
Chapter 2 : Little Aeon
Wakanda, Birnin Zana (1998)
Bangam Nudubano
Life had been good for the past few years as they had now finally settled down in their routine.
It has been over 2 years since their marriage but he still hadn't gathered the courage to tell her about his true identity.
In his defence, though, she too hasn't told him about her work that she did for the King. It was understandable as both of them were under oath from their King to not disclose anything.
He had been thinking of broaching the subject but just didn;t have the heart to disturb her now peaceful life as they just did simple manual labour, which was not much since almost all of modern farming in Wakanda was automated.
That was why it was all the more frustrating that the King had summoned her with a royal edict, not giving her any chance of refusing since doing so would mean Treason.
Though, looking at the haphazard way his beloved was getting ready and at the same time checking the structural integrity of the house by stomping her feet everywhere, he was pretty sure that she was about to go to the Royal Council and do something inadvisable, once again.
"Honey?" he called her as he finished frying the last of the pancakes, her favourite breakfast, "Breakfast's done."
The thudding sounds abruptly stopped once he called her and then almost silently she appeared right behind him.
"Boo!"
"Ah!" He had to act shocked since she was his wife and by default, the one who wore the pants in the house. "You scared me! And here I was, making your favourite breakfast since your mood was oh so good today."
She rolled her eyes at him, "Don't act coy. Although, the pancakes look delicious and while I am angry at the situation, I can never stay mad at you for too long."
"Awww!" He voiced out at the adorable situation. These were becoming more and more commonplace as days went by and both of them settled into their respective roles of husband and wife.
"Ugh, I could gag here," came the voice of their resident third wheeler in the house.
"Nobody told you to come here, old man M'Kathu" he said as he kissed his wife.
More gagging noises ensued as the old man hobbled out of the kitchen, the sound of his walking stick fading away as their tribe elder sat himself on the sofa, a traditional newspaper in his hand, showcasing latest World News.
"You know, it feels nice to read from this paper sometimes. Much more interactive." M'Kathu said as he flipped through the newspaper that was 3D printed by one of the fabricators in the house.
Yes, the irony was not lost on him.
He rolled his eyes at their overly protective and inquisitive elder and placed his share of pancakes and tea on the table.
"Here, since you are here anyway, why not have our food as well."
"Bah, youngsters these days have no respect for their elders." Came the grumbling reply from their elder who, nevertheless, took the snacks anyway.
"Oh, come off the high horses, old man. I still haven't forgiven you for not giving me prior warning about the decisions you had taken." K'Mehne said as she leaned on him while eating the pancakes that were made the exact way she loved them.
That was the least he could do after being told that his wife would once again have to go on active duty, even if only for a few days.
M'Kathu sighed and put down the cup of tea after folding away the newspaper.
"Sigh Look, it was not my decision. I did the best I could but the King was adamant and once you meet him, you'll realise why. I am the reason you got over twenty four hours to prepare. All the other foggies on the council were ready to drag you out of retirement the second the edict was issued."
He scoffed internally at that impossibility but his wife did not mince her words as she said.
"Huh, they wish. Have they forgotten what I did to the last person they sent to strong arm me into doing what they wanted? Or do I need to do a repeat of that? You know, to send a message since I've heard that people in their old age do forget things sometimes."
He choked on his tea as she just threatened the Royal Council of Wakanda, something that has an automatic treason punishment.
She kept on talking while rubbing his back, as if that could help his exasperation with her steadfast attitude, even when it came to taking orders from her superiors.
All he could do was smile helplessly, something that was mirrored by their tribe elder.
"My love, please, for my sake, promise me you won't cripple people if they talk to you in the wrong way?" he asked, no, pleaded to her.
She just kept eating the pancake while looking away from him. That did not bode well.
"Alright, I'm done and I have done my duties. Now, if you want, I can escort you but when have you ever needed permission to enter the Palace, right?" M'Kathu said as he stood up on his walking stick, newspaper folded under his arms.
"Damn right I don't. Though, wait a minute as he needs the car today. Right, Honey?" she asked me in one of her "sweet" tone of voice.
He could only comply as he nodded hurriedly.
The Old Man openly shook his head at him and hobbled out of the hallway, his lovely wife following behind.
Honestly, the old man should just drop the act of being old and feeble, at least for him and his wife since both of them knew just how strong the old man actually was.
Though, he was not one to speak since he himself had never told his wife about his true strength and position inside the Kingdom.
His face smoothed out into a blank look as he turned around to look at the kneeling person dressed in all black, such that the light of the room was being sucked into the room, giving him complete camouflage in dim lit surroundings.
"What happened? Why did the King contact her now?" He ordered the person kneeling before him as he took the dishes back to the kitchen, put on his apron and began cleaning them.
Under normal circumstances, with the cutthroat nature of the organisation where it was encouraged to take down any unsuspecting superior with cunning and stealth, showing his back to someone would have ended in a fight that he, admittedly would have won, but would have been troublesome nonetheless.
But the person that he tasked with the job was someone who knew what he did to the people who tried to order him around and try and run the organisation as per their say so. They knew what their previous leader did when somebody tried to damage his organisation. His people.
Wakanda found itself short of two tribe elders and an injured Black Panther along with a host of severely to mildly injured Dora Milaje when he found out that the elders were trying to interfere in the workings of his organization and that too by goading the candidates into attacking their allies at the drop of a hat, creating an extremely toxic and hostile atmosphere that he had to spend months changing after coming back from the European Raven situation.
When the person behind him didn't speak at all. "Speak!"
He could feel them flinch and hurriedly take out something from their pockets. Without turning around, he extended his hand behind him and took hold of the scroll they had put in his hands and then waved at him to leave.
They left a moment later and after confirming they were gone, his shoulders slumped as he sighed in resignation.
He looked at the scroll in his hand with a complicated look for it was adorned by the same Royal Seal of the King that K'Mehne received yesterday.
Sighing once more, he sealed the house and sat on the dining table, staring at the scroll for what seemed like an eternity.
Then, slowly, he unfurled the scroll and read the extended version of events that had happened in the Royal Palace.
The meetings, the council meetings, meetings between the King and Queen, their attempts to navigate the outside world to gather intelligence, their utter failure in finding anything in the world of Magic without the help of the organisation and then the credible news of imminent attacks being delivered to them just a few days prior.
That was odd. Thala Zaba should have had this for weeks, if not months. Why give the King this only a few days prior to the birth of the Princess. It reeked of schemes.
He tapped his foot on the ground as he thought of any new angles his replacement had that led him to do something that was tantamount to Treason.
He was sorely tempted to give him a visit and see what he was up to but sigh it was not his job anymore.
He had given up that life for a reason. And that very reason was being pulled back in the cesspit that was the Wakandan Politics.
Burning up the scroll in his hands, he leaned back in his chair and said, "You have an awful habit of stalking people, King T'Chaka."
The next moment, there was a sound of chuckles coming from behind him with a distinct lack of sound of footsteps as the King himself had arrived in their humble abode and then took a seat in front of him, all adorned in his Black Panther Suit.
"Weird, I had thought the current Black Panther was T'Challa and from what I had heard, he was above even you in terms of physical stats, so pray tell me, why is the King in my home with his battle suit? Should I be expecting a cabal of Dora Milaje emerging from every corner of my house, ready to give up their lives to capture me?" He asked the King while leaning back even more in his chair, giving off a completely relaxed and laid back appearance.
While he was strong. Extremely so. He had no delusions as to what would happen should the King wish to kill him.
He would die. Plain and simple.
The death count on the other side would be much higher, that much he could promise.
But he was sure that the King was not here to kill him. He knew it was futile. Without him, there would be no one in the Kingdom capable of holding back the likes of Dumbledore from simply waltzing in their Kingdom and taking anything they wanted.
That was his true power. His true strength. His freakish power since birth was to resist the flow of magic. The power to just ignore spells that would affect one's body.
That made him the foremost Wizard hunter in the world, better than even his wife. It was just that she was much more bloodier when it came to hunting them, hence her being called the "Wizard Killer".
His wife was the same. She had her powers manifested in the form of enhanced physical attributes to the same level as him at such a young age. He was sure that once she reached her peak, she would be stronger than even him and the person standing in front of him.
"Don't be ridiculous. I might not like the way you do things, doesn't mean I am blind to the value of an asset such as you to the Kingdom." T'Chaka said as he set his helmet on the desk, in front of him.
"Why are you here then? On second thoughts, mind explaining why my wife was called first and I was not? I am sure you are aware of her mindset when it comes to Wizards, let alone the fact that I am the better of the both of us when it comes to taking command and destroying enemy combatants." He asked while taking the Black Panther helmet in his hand, examining it closely. In his defense, he never had the opportunity to do so before.
The King sighed as if he had aged a decade and said, "Look, it was not my intention to call for your wife. I wanted to call you back temporarily but the council overrode me with the power I had to grant them as concessions when you went ahead and reduced the count of my council by 2."
He then gave me the stink eye, "Thank for that, by the way, they are still afraid of you and have made sure to educate the new members of your evil and bloodthirsty nature. Due to that, I had to call her back, knowing that you would be right behind her anyway."
"Still doesn't explain why the wizarding community members would target the Princess specifically. Also doesn't explain how they got the location of Wakanda, rough location at least." He spoke as one of the robots in the house brought him his black coffee.
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Any idea why Thala Zaba would keep this from me until the last moment?" The King asked him, concern clearly etched on his face.
He hummed and drummed his fingers on the table, stretching the moment.
"Frankly, I don't know. I could find out but that would mean me breaking my oath and the cascading consequences of that is not something I or you for that matter, would want to deal with. Me staying in Wakanda was what the deal was when Dumbledore brokered it with the ICW in exchange for Wakandan wizards to come back from all the other international schools."
"Ye, yes, I am aware of the deal I made when Klaue attacked and killed one of our wizards. I am aware of how that might look like an overreaction in hindsight but that is not why I am here. I want you to make sure that the exact location of Wakanda is not leaked. I am in talks with the Shamans to conduct a ritual, further bolstering our mystical defenses. Until then and until my daughter is safely born, I want your word that Wakanda will have no hostile wizards entering." King T'chaka asked him and he was very much aware that it was a request rather than an order.
A request from a father and as much as he didn't agree with his policies, he could understand his position.
So, "Very well. I agree but in return, I want something. I'll tell you when we get through this but until then, stay out of my way. Now, you know your way out."
He could almost imagine the Dora Milaje leaping at him with their spears if they had heard him ordering their King like that.
King T'Chaka rolled his eyes at him exasperatedly and left the house.
As soon as the door closed, he slumped on the table with a groan.
Why did it have to fall into his lap at this time? Just when he was about to ask K'Mehne to come with him to the outside world. He had a whole itinerary planned for an entire month's trip.
The harvest for the season was also done. He had even filed the paperwork for their extended leave and was about to broach that topic to the King's representative next month.
"Dear Bast, why must you test me so much?" he moaned while keeping his head down.
Then as if a switch had been lifted, he lifted his head and left towards the basement. His "man-cave" as it were.
What K'Mehne didn't know was that it also functioned as his weapons depo where he kept all the "souvenirs" he took from the organisation when he left it,
Some Things truly couldn't be trusted with anybody.
As he performed the authentication, he thought of how the night would go.
He has to perform his duty for another couple of days, then they can finally take that vacation she has been dreaming about ever since she started watching those Korean dramas.
Honestly, women and their fantasies from their loved ones.
Opening up the old workstation he hadn't used for two whole years, he was greeted with a veritable storm of notifications. He offhandedly noticed the fact that all information stopped coming after six months of him leaving.
'Thala Zaba must have found the gap and closed it. Took him long enough' he thought while opening and going through all the backdoor chat that was happening in the Royal Military, along with the Border Tribe.
Apparently, all reserve members had been called back by the Border Tribe for the Princess' birth today.
Good, so the King has given this some thought but in the end, in front of a capable wizard, even a hundred Border Tribe members would fall short.
No, they would need the Jabari for that and he was sure that M'Baku would not be allowing any of his tribe members to leave their homes, at least not until the entire tribe finishes their training to fight Wizards, especially wand-waving wizards.
So, with nothing else to do, he sat in the basement, looking at screens throughout the day, monitoring the progress.
His inability to tap his old contacts came from the contract that Wakanda had signed with Dumbledore who had come dangerously close to uncovering the secrets behind Wakanda's strength.
He had been the one who was sent to stop (read: kill) him and while he was aware of how hard that was, orders were orders and at that point, it was not as if he had anything to lose.
But on the way, he was intercepted by the Mystics. He still didn't know who it was but the way Dumbledore had been shaken by her just being present in the meeting, she must have been pretty high up on the command chain.
According to the pact, which he had to accept since the lack of consent needed from him was made absolutely clear at the beginning itself, he was supposed to retire from his Wizard hunting duties and retire within Wakanda itself for as long as he wanted Dumbledore to stay away from Wakanda.
The moment the pact is broken by either side, she would know and inform the other parties. He had not been thrilled about that but a single vision from the Ancient One about a possible future where he could have a family, stopped his hand and he signed the deal, sealing it with blood.
It was Dumbledore's responsibility to make sure that Wakanda's location was not leaked to anyone in the Wizarding World and with how well connected he was in the wand waving community, he had believed that it would be in his power to do so.
Instead, they had credible intel of a bunch of stupid wizards, dangerous ones, from the so called dark faction on their way to Wakanda, its rough location in their hands.
It was only a matter of time before they found out about the right location if somebody didn't put a stop to them and he knew of only one such person in their turf who could do so.
Unfortunately, he could not do that without going out of Wakanda and making some noise.
It was a good thing then, that he had just scheduled a trip with his lovely wife.
Xxxxxx
It was after midnight.
He had been sitting in front of a screen, unmoving for over 12 hours now.
In the meantime, he had figured out the series of events that propelled Thala Zaba to become his replacement and become the Head of the M-department. It was honestly confusing how that man managed to evade each and every pitfall to become the youngest person to reach his position, without being something "more" than normal.
It was honestly commendable and he would have been happy with his candidature if not for a single thing.
The suspicious fact that the wizards managed to get a pretty accurate location of the entry to Birnin Zana.
Not just any entry, the oldest entry point that was kept active as an ode to the olden times where they still used roads to travel out of Wakanda. The sole entry point which they cannot simply close off or destroy, in the case of an emergency, is because that is located right near one of the oldest holo stations.
The reason for that holo station was the fact that it was said by their ancestors that Bast herself had made that road to reach the rich flat lands inside Wakanda and for that reason, that area had been filled with stuff that was vital, not for Wakanda's survival but for optimal operation.
He was sure that the King would give the order to bomb that place to kingdom come, if the need arose, anyway but Wizards, especially smart Wizards, were an unpredictable bunch.
So, his wife had the brilliant plan to use their tribesmen as bait to lure the wizards to the exact point, fooling them into thinking that they were on the right way without being detected by anyone.
He could not see the feed on the old road since the Wizards were emitting some sort of EMP wave that even their advanced security cameras could not shield from.
They couldn't exactly advertise their anti magic tech to the common populace so Magic shielding tech was not available for consumer tech. Only advanced military assets had the permission to be outfitted with that tech.
Slurping down his noodles, he was looking at the screen when he choked on them when he heard what his wife was doing.
Setting down his bowl, he switched the feeds to the command centre as K'Mehne let loose the Fog on the intruders.
Hijacking the feed from the Fog, he could see the Fog descending on the wizards like ravenous insects, leaving behind nothing, not even ash.
He shuddered when he imagined that weapon being turned against Wakandans.
He shook his head exasperatedly at K'Mehne's direct brutal actions.
Honestly, there was a reason why he had expressly forbidden that weapon's use when he was the Head of the department. It was way too dangerous and easy to turn against the country and its people.
Years ahead of any tech that the outside world could even think of, there was a reason why no one from the tech department could make heads or tails about the Fog. It was found by him during one of their regular incursions to the realm of the Techno-Magics, a ruined civilisation they had found deep in the Arctic.
Back then, it was just another trip they had chosen to undertake after there was a rare lull in any criminal activities on the African continent. It was just him and two of his lieutenants.
He still regretted his actions of then to this day as he lost two of the most skilled agents under him, only because he was careless and ended up activating the Fog, the single most dangerous artifact he had ever encountered in his life and he had seen the Elder Wand in real life and had gone through multiple memories that depicted it being used by its two recent wielders.
After devouring everything in front of him in a ten metre radius, the Fog, made up of millions of microscopic metallic insectoids, receded back into a small sphere that was glowing with purple glyphs.
That sphere had two keys, one of which he still held in his body. To this day, only he knows that there were two keys, indicating two functions of the Fog - Devour and disintegrate, something that the King knows about and now Thala does too, and the next function was what terrified him the most, so much so that he removed the key and chose to permanently fuse that into his body, carved directly into his bones.
The ability to ingest any and all material to increase the mass of the Fog. Essentially, being able to multiply their mass over and over until nothing is left or until someone is able to switch it off using the keys. He had been so traumatised by that event that he had put the idea of his resignation to T'Chaka immediately upon return and destroyed all the pathways that led to Techno-Magics civilisation.
T'Chaka had been suspicious at first and had even sent two teams of his own people to the ruins but after getting the reports of the pathway collapsing and the next stable pathway being decades away, he had relented and agreed to accept my resignation after a period of 5 years, provided that in the meantime, he train his replacement to an acceptable level.
He did, and she was above acceptable but she herself rejected the offer.
And that same woman was now interrogating the sole survivor of the intrusion attempt by the Wizards.
It was smart of her to capture the one who had the highest concentration of magic, as was customary during one of these raids.
"Subject T-1" as he was called was brought in by the agents of the organisation inside the torture chamber that had been under the Royal Palace for generations.
The prisoner, courtesy of special injections of the organisation, could not access the conscious functions of his nervous system and was barely breathing as he was dropped unceremoniously on the chair through which straps automatically came on and latched the prisoner back to the seat, trapping him tightly.
His magic was inaccessible due to the existence of the magic binding bands that were snapped on his wrist. The bands looked ancient because they were. They were made from one of the older crude alloys made from high percentages of Vibranium.
One particular metal that was made was found to be highly compatible with Runic applications that the ancient Wakandan Shamands employed. The alloy was now lost to time but there was plenty for them to create these magic blocking manacles that every military department in the country had access to.
On another one of the screens, he could see his wife gearing up to question (read: interrogate) the prisoner. He was still unconscious, all tied up.
His wife entered the room and the expression on her face made him stand up from his station.
Calling King T'Chaka, he transferred the feed to his Kimoyo beads and started his vehicle. It began floating and soon, he had to take hold of the manual controls because it was denying taking his desired route as the area around the Royal Palace had been declared a no fly zone and since all the vehicles in Wakanda were mandated to be connected, there was no way he would be able to legally get to his wife.
As the speeds kicked in, he could see all the patrolling aircrafts turn towards his vehicle only to resume their usual patrol route once they realised who was in the vehicle.
He had to get to the palace before things went too far. It had been far too long since he had seen that face, that sadistic side of her.
If things truly went too far, he could arrive only to see the broken husk of his wife's mind. He didn't know if he could control himself after that and the kingdom would not be able to handle the loss of both him and his wife for the anti-muggle activities in the Wizarding world were only increasing.
He shook his head to get rid of all the bad thoughts as the Royal Palace came into view. Some of the automated defense features began activating before they too were deactivated using some of the back doors in that system that he knew of.
He floated above the Royal Garden which parted to reveal the hangar underneath it. Slowly landing in the designated area which was now being encircled with a swarm of officers from the Navy and a bunch of Dora Milaje, he took in the amount of people who were swarming the hangar along with the closing amounts of exit he now had access to.
It would seem that some people still had not learnt their lesson and were trying to stop him from reaching his wife, granted they did not know who he was.
"I guess it's time they remembered who I was then," he said while getting out of the flying car, equipping his combat mask and attire.
He landed on the ground with nary a sound, the entire team surrounding him taking a collective step back as his stoic demeanour intimidated them.
"Well, hello boys! I am sorry to interrupt you all but as you can clearly see, I am in a slight hurry and would be grateful if you didn't come in my way," He said as he took a step forward only to stop as a forcefield sprang up around him.
He sighed, "Look, I get that you have your orders but unfortunately, I have somewhere to be and I'm not in the mood for games right now."
He could see everybody gripping their weapons tightly at his words, the Dora Milaje furiously talking with someone over the comms.
With a thought, he gave the command for his suit to recede, exposing his skin to the outside world. He lifted his hand and placed his palm on the forcefield and pushed.
The force field generators that were probably in the ceiling began sparking as pure energy gave way only for more and more to pour into the shield only for it to slide right off his skin like oil on water.
Soon, the entire barrier buckled as its structural integrity was compromised as he emerged out of a shattering barrier. The entire force in front of him took a collective stop back while simultaneously raising their respective weaponry.
Smirking, he looked at the people surrounding him and instead of doing something stupid and reckless like trying to fight about 50 people and hurting his own allies, he instead tapped his watch, initiating a direct link between him and T'Chaka.
After multiple rings, during which the people encircling him kept looking at each other in fear and hesitation and he could even see most of them hesitating to keep going once the person they probably were told was a terrorist, was only standing there and making a call.
"What is it? I'm kind of busy ri-"
"You might want to take a close look at this situation and call them off, King T'Chaka or we might just find ourselves short some soldiers and even some Dora Milaje," He said while cutting him off mid sentence and showing him the scene in front of him.
The face of King T'Chaka, projected through his beads for everyone to see, went through a range of emotions - confusion, realisation, anger and then determination.
"What are you doing? Who gave you the orders? Cease this immediately. Escort him to me now." The King barked at his soldiers who scrambled out of his way, some literally running away from their King's wrath.
The situation would have been funny if not for his wife being on the verge of relapsing again.
Soon, he was escorted by the visibly confused Dora Milaje to King T'Chaka. They must have been new additions to the team since they had zero recollection of him or his deeds. Okoye probably failed to educate them about him.
xxxxx
Interrogation Chamber, Royal Palace, Wakanda (2 hours after Shuri's birth)
–T'Chaka–
Watching K'Mehne in action, especially against wizards, was always fascinating and he wouldn't admit this to anyone but also disturbing. In his opinion, Bangam did a very good job on training his replacement. The way she expertly manipulated that wizard, breaking him down mentally, even while knowing the way her powers worked, was very impressive.
Sure, the power to influence magic associated neurological zones might not sound impressive on paper, especially since all she could do right now was exacerbate emotional responses, but coupling that with an expertly trained assassin that was deadly even without using an ounce of her powers, you get the wizard killer.
He was getting a bit worried about her though. There was a reason he allowed her to resign despite facing stiff resistance from virtually every single person whose vote mattered. The way her powers worked were a bit wonky, especially since she manifested her secondary power set.
Her primary ability of passive enhancement to all of her physical stats was something that propelled her to become as strong as the Black Panther. Her secondary power, on the other hand, deteriorates her mind's balance as much as she uses them.
That, along with her unhealthy fixation with killing Wizards, was the reason why he allowed her to retire.
Even now, as she was done with her interrogation, he could see the subtle signs of strain her mind was under due to the overapplication of her powers. She tried her best to suppress it but the faint twitches, the frequent movement of her eyes, the way her gaze frequently went towards the door, it all showed the stress of using her powers.
Just as she was done with the prisoner and went into the sterilisation chamber to remove the scent of chemicals that intoxicated the prisoners, he heard his Kimoyo beads ring with a tone that was reserved for an unique collective of individuals.
Only one of whom was not in his sight right now.
Accepting it, he said. "What is it?..."
xxxxx
Interrogation Chamber, Royal Palace, Wakanda (1 hour after Shuri's birth)
–K'Mehne–
It had been a long time since she had used her powers. Truly used them on the likes of wizards and Vampires.
It was truly bizarre how her trauma and disgust for the wizards operating in Africa helped her manifest her secondary powers.
A phenomenon that has never happened in the history of Wakanda.
The ability to tap into and manipulate special neurological zones that every single being born with Magic possessed. Ever since then, it had become insultingly easy to break any wizard she came across, at least the ones they needed information out of.
The others she disposed of as soon as she got the green signal.
Dear Bast, she sounded like she was just an attack dog waiting to let loose upon an enemy at the sign of their handler.
This was why she hated doing clandestine work for the kingdom.
When one of the people came to inform her that the prisoner had been prepped for interrogation, she sighed and then stood up.
Coming to the door, she steeled her nerves and "activated" her powers, for the lack of a better term because the way her powers worked, they never really turn off.
That was why she can easily sense if someone is a wizard or not, as long as they were not doing anything special to hide themselves.
Sensing the wizard inside the room, a pretty strong one too if the sheer concentration of magic within him was any indication. The disgusting stench of darkness clinging to his very magic was also extremely familiar to her.
The only people who had that level of overpowering darkness within them were practitioners of the Dark Arts who had completely surrendered to the temptation.
There were people who practiced the Dark Arts with restraint and while the stench of darkness did cling on to their magic as well, the rest of it balanced it out, making them a non-issue.
Imagining the vile disgusting things the animal inside must have done to Bast knows how many innocents made what she was about to do slightly easier.
Opening the door, she went inside and sat silently on the chair in front of the wizard.
From a cursory examination, she could see and almost feel the various amalgamation of rituals that the wizard had performed on himself. Dark rituals no doubt.
Flinching minutely at the double deep from her Kimoyo beads that served as a reminder for her to hurry up and go home, she took hold of the Wizard's neurological pathways and lit up the one that was the most pain sensitive.
Immediately, the wizard's eyes shot open as his mouth opened wide in a soundless scream. He began thrashing around in his mangles, doing nothing but injuring himself further.
Seeing the violent reaction, she toned down the pain and he immediately slumped down, taking deep breaths.
"Wh-What have you done to me?" the wizard rasped out.
In response, she twisted his pain pathways and watched him struggle with an impassive face.
"Just in case it is not already clear, I will be the one who is going to be asking the questions. Understood?"
When she didn't receive a reply, she slowly began upping the pain and while the wizard did try to bear with it, at a certain level,he gave up.
"Okay! OKAY! I'll tell you what you want. Just stop with the pain. And who the fuck are you?"
That was the moment she chose to come into the light with her signature mask on.
Seeing her face, the wizard began hyperventilating and tried to back away from her but he was in a bolted chair so iit was futile.
Taking joy in his apparent fear of her, she slowly placed both of her arms on the table and said, "So you do know who I am. That should make things significantly easier, right? I mean, wouldn't want you to get cut up and thrown on the side of the road where your family lives, right? Mr…?"
"Gr-Greengrass, J-Jamison Greengrass," The man replied, stuttering in fear.
"Oh, one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight then. Today must be my lucky day. Now, do tell me, Lord Greengrass, what were you doing out in the woods in the middle of nowhere."
The man chuckled bitterly, "Well, we found you so it could not have been that middle of nowhere."
Before she could teach him a lesson, he began speaking rapidly, "We were given a mission,-" Once he realised she was waiting for him to continue, he began spewing out the details of their plans immediately. Coward.
Apparently, Lord Voldemort, the self-proclaimed leader of the Darkness, had gotten credible information from someone about her, not Wakanda. Looking towards the one way mirror, she was sure that King T'Chaka must also be sporting similar looks of confusion.
They were told that the wizards were looking for Wakanda, not her. Something must have happened to the intel mid way then.
In the meanwhile, "Oh, what does your Lord want with little ole me?" she asked him while driving in the point by upping the pain by a single level.
His face grimacing in pain, he replied, "H-He wants to do a ritual. For that, he has need of a certain item that only you can provide."
The words sent alarm bells ringing in her head.
"What," she ground out, "Does he want?"
When the wizard didn't reply, she increased his pain response while simultaneously numbing his senses, making him panic.
She had to admit, the wizard did try admirably but ultimately, against her, unless they were the same level of wizards of Dumbledore or Voldemort or Lily Potter, they would not be able to resist her prowess with magic alone.
"F-Fuck! Alright, I'll tell you. On one condition,"
"Speak, what is it? I do hope, for your sanity's sake, that you are not wishing to get out of this alive?"
"N-No, I know I'm not leaving this place alive. Just, can you do me a favour? For a dying man?"
"....I'm listening."
"My d-daughter, she was born with a generational disease that I have no cure for. Voldemort promised to cure her but as far as I can tell, he can't do it either otherwise he would have done it by now. P-Please, I know you can cure almost all diseases, just, can you help her once you are done with me? That's my last request."
She hummed outside, showing how she was considering his deal when in reality, she had already accepted.
Children were always her soft spot and especially the ones who were suffering through no fault of their own. While she could not go out and help every other child, she could at least save the ones from terminal diseases if she ever came across one. So, that's what she did. Whenever she went out for a mission, she tried to heal the surrounding people.
Somehow, she gained a global reputation of being a healer as well, in the magical community. Wizards who had purchased "broken" stock for ritual purposes found themselves becoming fit and healthy, well, as much as Wakandan science could permit them to be.
She sighed internally and replied, "Very well, after this, I promise to go and take a look at her condition but I can't make any promises."
The wizard sighed in relief, "Thank you so much for that. Now, the reason Voldemort wants you is because for his ritual, a key ingredient is needed. I don't think he wants anyone to know but he is afraid of dying in his current body and wants a new one. The thing is that now that he has a choice, he wont settle for just any vessel for his nasty soul. He wants the best of the best."
He looked at her, gauging her reaction for the news that followed.
"He came across a ritual that allows him to transfer his consciousness to that of a baby, his baby. In doing so, he would kill whatever mind was there in the baby. For the ritual to work, he also has to sacrifice the mother of the child."
He went on but she was barely listening anymore.
She felt sick to the stomach once she realised what Voldemort wanted. He wanted her.
Not for revenge or for some stupid plot to help kill Dumbledore.
No, he wanted to have a child with her and then kill both her and the child.
She felt nauseous at the mere thought of that monster touching her, let alone having a child with him.
Jamison had the audacity to look at her with pity. HER!
Before she could even process it, her hands were wrapped around Jamison's neck and the next thing she knew, she heard a cracking noise as Jamison died with his neck broken.
Immediately, the manacles on the seat opened up once they realised that there was no living person on it and Jamison's body slid forward and his head banged on the table, flopping helplessly.
Immediately she emptied the contents of her stomach in the dustbin of the room. Even after her stomach was emptied, she kept dry retching as the disturbing thoughts kept swimming around in her head, made worse by the recent use of her powers.
She should not have accepted the King's invitation.
–Bangam–
When he made it to the interrogation chamber, he went past King T'Chaka and went directly to the room where the interrogation was going on.
All the people outside the room were rooted for some reason and when he went inside, he realised why.
His wife was dry retching for some reason and the dead body of the wizard was laying on the table with Dark Miasma coming out of his body, presumably due to the Dark mark that Voldemort stamped on every one of his followers.
"Hey, Don't worry, I am here now," he hugged her as she immediately latched on to him.
"We'll be leaving now," he glared at the mirror where he knew T'Chaka was standing.
He then left the room with K'Mehne in his arms and while wrapping her up with his jacket, reached the Hangar which had been emptied beforehand.
'T'Chaka', he realised why the Hangar was empty. T'Chaka could use his brain sometimes then.
Boarding their skycar, he set the destination to the one place he knew would help K'Mehne cope with whatever had happened in the interrogation chamber.
"What happened?" he asked her softly once the only thing in view was a vast expanse of green tinged with the blue of the nearby criss-crossing rivers. This was the place where they trained for the majority of the time once both of them retired. Ofcourse, she doesn't know about his true capabilities but it was a good way to relax and get a good workout in, especially out of range of the round the clock surveillance both of them are under.
"I just…. Don't know what took over me. One second he was telling his plan, the next my hands were wrapped around his. I-I feel awful." She looked so vulnerable as she looked at him for support and comfort. She never looked this fragile in all the years he had known her.
"Hey," he immediately let go of the controls and hugged her, "Don't blame yourself. That wizard was going to die anyway, you and I both know that. Now, let's get you to your favorite place, shall we?"
She sniffed, "Yes."
He would have to find out exactly what that bastard told her to trigger her this much. She was usually much more level headed, at least when it came to professional matters and especially once she was using her powers.
For now, though, all that mattered to him was making sure that his wife regained the peace and calm they had achieved painstakingly after two years of non interference in the lives of the Royal Family.
He would also have to talk to T'Chaka about the entire ordeal and make sure that somebody manned the farm when they were out.
Soon, they reached their designated spot and the skycar stopped and began floating in a single spot. It then began lowering itself down slowly.
After a while, they passed through the hologram and came face to face with a partially carved out mountain along with a huge fenced yard facing endless old growth forests. It was in a word, paradise.
Sensing their entry, the gates opened up and they entered the condo that was built into the side of the mountain.
Once inside, he made sure to give her a warm beverage. She must have been pretty exhausted from the ordeal because within a couple of minutes, she was dead asleep in the bedroom.
After making sure that she was fast asleep, he carefully extricated himself from her arms and got out of the bedroom, the door closing itself after him automatically.
Once outside the house itself, he called T'Chaka.
"Hello? Yes, she is with me and you better explain to me what the fuck just happened there. Why was she even allowed to use her powers? We had a fucking deal, you bastard. What did that wizard even say to her for all of this to happen? What? I want recordings of all of that yesterday and T'Chaka, pray that nothing happens to her due to this fiasco."
Xxxxx
Deep in the Wakandan Forests, [12 hours after Shuri's birth]
–K'Mehne–
She slowly opened her eyes as she felt something nudging her from the back.
She looked over only to be greeted by a huge congregation of animals surrounding her in a place with a purple sky. Her instincts kicked in immediately as sleep left her in an instant and she assumed a combat stance.
Looking at each and every animal surrounding her, she realized that most of the outlines were blurry along with them covering all routes of escape for her.
'Where would I even escape to?' she asked herself in her mind as she looked at the purple landscape because as far as she knew and she knew a lot, there had been no places with a purple sky on the entirety of Earth.
Last she remembered, Bangam had taken her to her favourtie place in Wakanda and on Earth where she had fallen asleep after the traumatic events of the day had taken their toll on her psyche.
She should be there. Not here, wherever this is.
As she was contemplating charging at one of the animals to see if anything changed, the winds began howling.
The land she was standing on began turning into fine mist and even that began disintegrating and was blown away by the speeding winds.
Soon, all she was standing on was an everflowing green river of fine particles of sand that occasionally glowed with blue streaks of lightning adorned with dark green accents.
"K'Mehne Ambuba", a voice boomed as her gaze was torn away from the riveting flow of the river. Startled, she looked over at one of the animals only to see that out of all the animals, only the outlines of the Elephant was now clear to her.
She still could not see it in its entirety but she was intimidated by the glowing green eyes that felt as if they were gazing directly at her soul, judging and evaluating her worth.
Before she could formulate any kind of response, the voice boomed again, "The council has bestowed upon you the honor of raising the avatar of the sands. Do not disappoint us for it shall spell the end of everything you know."
Then, as if it had been launched from a rocket, a glowing green grain of sand shot out of the flowing river and hit her forehead. She staggered back in shock as she held and inspected her forehead for any injury from the sudden attack.
Finding none, she was about to ask what the hell was going on when her eyes glazed over, glowing a faint green colour.
She was then assaulted with numerous visions of Planetary and galactic battles. Battles that she herself had taken part in.
All led by the same person, born with a green sand shaped marking on his forehead.
In the visions, she was shown the worlds of gods and the worlds of mortals, the world where both gods and mortals mingle, the bloodshed it took for that to happen, the people they had to lose and the allies they gained, everything.
Her mind was too slow to meaningfully capture any of that besides the fact that she knew that the person with the sand tattoo was related to her in some way because of the intense familial love she felt for that person. Even in the visions, she could see herself interacting with that boy as if they were family.
Who was that?
"His name is Aeon and he shall be your salvation," The voice boomed again and the next thing she knew, she woke up with a gasp, all sweaty from that experience.
Taking deep calming breaths, she closed her eyes and tried to think of why she would have a bizarre dream like that.
"Honey?" she called out as she stepped into the kitchen.
"Hey, why are you up?" Bangam said as he put down his coffee and his tablet quickly before pulling a seat for her.
"I-I just had a bad dream. Anyway, what were you doing? Anything happening on the farm?" she asked him, quickly brushing away the topic of her dream.
He looked at her for a second, knowing that she was being evasive but chose to ignore that.
"Nothing on the farm. I was just going through our quarterly reports, getting some work done. I-I couldnt exactly sleep."
"Should we go back? I miss the farm." she asked him.
He sighed and nodded, "I'll go pack up the stuff. You get ready, there is a change of clothes in the closet."
"I know, honey. We built this place together, remember?"
By the time she was done, the entire house had been prepped for another long term sealing and her husband had packed everything back up in the Skycar.
Hopping in the passenger seat, they began driving off back to their home, the place she loved, the place that gave her the peace and quiet she so desperately wanted right now.
Halfway through, though, the entire sky surrounding Wakanda turned dark and cloudy.
"Uh, why is it dark in the early morning?" she asked as she looked at the weather reports of the country only to see that they had lost all signal to the servers.
How was that even possible? Not even Radio was working.
Before her husband could answer, the entire Skycar swerved to one side as a literal bolt of lightning struck the place they were before, turning the ground under them into a crater and starting a forest fire.
She again braced herself as the car began taking evasive maneuvers to avoid getting hit by the lightning bolts as the Skycar was just a giant lightning rod floating in the sky, the easiest target for lightning to hit.
Looking towards Birnin Zana, she could see the entirety of the city being bombarded with lightning, the barriers working overtime to stop it from reaching the citizens.
Even from afar, she could spot the cracks on the blue barrier that were forming after being under a relentless barrage of lightning.
Despite her husband's best efforts, one of the lightning bolts struck the car and even with the vibranium capacitors working overtime to absorb all that energy, the car systems failed and they crash landed near one of the creeks.
Getting out of the car was easy enough, thanks to its sturdy construction, only the electronics were fried. The rest of the car had performed its job admirable, absorbing almost all of the shock from crash landing.
They didn't even have a single scratch on their bodies. It would have been a relief if only they couldn't see Birnin Zana's barriers being struck by lightning over and over, as if the God of Thunder himself was there to smite them.
Exchanging glances, she was about to tell him to call for emergency transport because if there ever was any time their country needed them the most, it was now.
But before he could do something about the frozen networks, she heard something.
It was faint at first but for reasons unknown to her, her feet began moving on their own and soon, she was zooming past the trees towards the source of the sound.
As she came closer to the source, it became clearer and by the time her husband caught up to her, it was clear that it was the sound of a baby crying.
Exchanging a glance, both of them sped up towards the sound, no words required to describe the emergency both ahead of them and back in their Kingdom.
After running past a particularly big weed, both of them came to a frozen standstill as they saw what was in front of them.
A glowing green crater. A crater with a ball of green light in the center of it.
For some reason, at that exact moment, her dream came back to her.
As soon as she took a step forward to the crater, the ball of green light, as if it was an egg, began cracking and moving around.
"K'Mehne!" the words of her husband fell on deaf ears as she began walking towards the green light, as if possessed.
The line around the crater parted as she approached and closed right up as Bangam tried to follow behind her.
It seemed as if that green line was hot lava itself as the very air around it was distorting from the heat, warning Bangam to stay away.
Soon, she reached the ball of light floating in the center of the crater, bathing her in an oddly soothing green glow.
Her eyes were glazed over as she recalled the contents of her dream from last night, over and over again.
The green sands of time.
The words of that elephant whose stare still chilled her to the bone.
The duty she was given.
As these thoughts were running through her head, her hand slowly rose up and pressed against the shaking ball of green light.
As if given a command, the shaking intensified and as if a curtain had been raised from her mind, her mind cleared and she immediately took rapid jumps back.
".....mehne K'Mehne! Come back!" She could hear her husband shouting for her and she wanted nothing more than to go back to him but her feet seemed rooted in the ground for some reason.
So, she had no choice but to watch the ball of light shake ominously until the very first crack appeared that spilled bright green light on the surrounding ground.
Her eyes widened in horror as the area where the light was incident on, withered away in seconds.
No, not withered. Upon taking a second look, she could see the grass dying, the rocks hardening and gaining a metallic tinge. It was as if..
As if time itself was accelerating for that area.
One such crack opened up right in front of her and green light spilled all over her. She braced herself even though she knew that realistically, there was nothing that she could have ever done to avoid the erosion of time but the feeling of death never came.
As she opened her eyes, she saw that the ball of light had disappeared and in its place was a basket floating which slowly lowered itself right in front of her.
Inside, she could see an adorable baby sleeping with green light on his forehead that was still receding.
The light revealed a tattoo shaped identical to the singular grain of sand she had seen in her dream.
She could hear her husband jumping and running towards her once the green light was cleared.
"What was that?" he asked, breathing heavily.
"Aeon," she whispered almost reverently as she held the baby for Bangam to see, "It was Aeon."
Her husband just looked at her, confused so she began telling him about her dreams.
The more he heard, the more his face changed that to one of determination.
"K'Mehne, look, are you sure you want to do this? It seems like such a tall task to do. If you are not up for it, we can always find someone else to do it for us. Most of them would gladly take up on the opportunity to do so."
She scowled furiously at him as she held Aeon close to her chest, "No! I was given the mission and I will see it done."
Bangam sighed and resigned himself to her whims, "Very well. The communications have been restored and the lightning barrage has stopped. Thankfully, aside from minor damage to the shield generators along with a forest fire that will be stopped soon, there wasn't any critical damage to Wakanda as a whole. The King seems to think that it was a ploy from somebody on the wizard's side and a bad omen for Shuri's birthday so he has called for all reserve personnel back for duty, including us."
She looked back at him, stone-faced, "I will not be going anywhere without Aeon. I have decided to adopt him and you don't have a say in that matter. As for the matter with the lightning,-" here, she scoffed, "-if the wizards had that level of firepower at their disposal, why would they bother hiding. Don't worry, not even Dumbledore could have done that without extensive preparation and luck on his side, even with that fancy stick of his."
He looked at her, exasperated, "Ofcourse, I know that ,dear. But the King just had a daughter and he is allowed to have some fears so I'll go and check in just in case and you can go back home. I'll be back soon, I promise."
Soon, the distinct sound of the beacons on the emergency vehicle entered her ears. Bangam's face turned solemn as he held her shoulders and said, "Look, whatever the situation is, we have to hide it until we have it all sorted out. There's no telling what the King or the council might do once they realise who Aeon is. So, I'll commission one of their vehicles and let it drop you home, safe and secure. Once home, activate ALL defensive protocols and don't leave the house until I come back. Understood?"
She found herself nodding as her husband went to the emergency team and brought over a smaller version of their Skycar.
Carefully loading her back in the seat, he told her, "I'll see you soon, alright."
Overlooking the vast green expanse of the forest that was now tinged with the oranges of the fire, she thought of all that happened to her and couldn't help but think all of it was in preparation for something.
As if somebody had orchestrated it all for this very exact moment.
Even then, "Don't worry, Little Aeon," she said as she looked at the sleeping form of Aeon, "I'll protect you with my life."
Even though she meant it at that time, she had no idea how true her words were going to turn out in a short few years.
.
.
.
.
This is the story of Aeon Ambuba, Time Incarnate, the ruler of Wakanda and the saviour of the multiverse.
But if you were ever to ask him his most proud identity, it would be being the son of K'Mehne Ambuba and Bangam Nudubano, of the Border Tribe of Wakanda.
Word Count - 10317 (!)
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