Inside the New York Sanctum, Kurogai stood silently in the grand hall, waiting for the arrival of the Ancient One.
To be honest, he wasn't entirely confident she would agree to teach him magic. There was no bond between them—no reason for her to take him in. Kurogai didn't believe in those fairy-tale scenarios where simply being the protagonist made legends line up to beco your ntors.
But he wasn't without a backup plan.
"If she refuses... I'll just control a few lower-ranked sorcerers and learn from them directly."
He muttered the thought under his breath. It wasn't ideal—learning from a novice was a pale substitute for being trained by the Sorcerer Supre—but if that was his only path forward, he'd take it.
Kurogai had always been one to act, not wait.
Suddenly, a golden portal swirled open in the air before him, at least two ters in diater. From its radiant edges stepped a bald woman dressed in flowing white robes, exuding a quiet, otherworldly power.
The Ancient One.
Behind her followed the man Kurogai had briefly controlled—now clearly freed from his influence. As the portal closed behind them, Kurogai gave a calm nod of acknowledgnt.
"Kurogai greets the Ancient One."
Though it was his first ti seeing her in person, he could imdiately sense the imnse power hidden within her seemingly fragile fra. She wasn't just a sorcerer—she was the Sorcerer Supre, the protector of Earth's dinsion. She commanded a respect few others could earn.
The Ancient One studied him closely.
"Kurogai, is it? You haven't learned any magic... and yet you were able to control Mordo?" she asked with evident curiosity. "That's not sothing a child should be capable of."
Kurogai remained composed.
"Just a small ability of mine. Nothing worth fussing over," he replied.
He hadn't expected the person he'd controlled to be Mordo, a na that carried significant weight in the future of the magical world. But that detail wasn't important right now. He was here for one reason.
"Ancient One, I ca to learn. I want you to teach magic."
He looked directly at her, eyes unwavering. He wasn't trying to manipulate her or beg—he believed she had already sensed his sincerity.
The Ancient One's expression shifted, her gaze deepening. For a long mont, she didn't speak. It was clear she was probing him—not physically, but taphysically. Trying to unravel the mystery of who—or what—he really was.
"Your origin... I can't fully see it," she said finally. "But your future? Now that is even more intriguing."
Kurogai's expression tightened. He wasn't surprised the Ancient One couldn't trace his origin—his presence in this world transcended the rules of the Marvel Universe. But her last sentence caught his full attention.
"What do you an, my future is 'more interesting'?"
She turned, slowly pacing in a half-circle around him.
"I see many futures, Kurogai," she said. "Countless paths. Countless decisions. Usually, a single person's future branches into many outcos. But you... no matter the path, no matter the variables—your future always loops back to the sa point."
She paused.
"You beco sothing... inevitable."
That declaration startled even Kurogai.
"Whether as the world's salvation or its ruin, you are tied to the fate of this planet in every tiline I've glimpsed," she continued. "Even when the events of your life change—when the details shift—your impact does not. I have never seen anything like it."
Ti, she explained, was fluid. A small shift in a person's life—an apple falling, a word unspoken—could ripple into completely different destinies. The rise or fall of a hero often hinged on sothing as simple as timing or chance.
Yet Kurogai's fate wasn't like that.
"You're a fixed point," she whispered, more to herself than to him. "No matter which current of ti touches you, you remain the sa storm."
Even in paths where Kurogai beca a tyrant, or a savior, or sothing in between—his existence always led to world-changing consequences.
This wasn't normal. It wasn't even possible under natural laws of ti and fate.
It was destiny—or sothing far beyond it.
For the first ti in many years, the Ancient One was genuinely stunned.
"You're not just extraordinary," she said. "You're unprecedented."
And Kurogai, standing calmly in the center of the sanctum, said nothing.
But deep inside, he smiled.
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