Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #58
Local Starbucks, LA[February 11, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
The arrival of Jin'Ya was immediately felt by him as an overwhelming corona of energy surged into his mind and pushed away the fog that had been clinging to his mind. Sure, it couldn't breach his mind yet but that was what made the Mistress of the Blood Veil so much more dangerous than anyone of her kind.
Her mind arts. The reality warping aspect of her powers came from her mind, the sheer strength of her mind and soul made it so that even people with the highest level of attainments in the mind arts could feel the weight of the so-called Veil that she carried around herself.
Hearing about it was one thing but experiencing it in real life was something that made him almost piss his pants and he was hardier than most Masters at Kamar Taj. he couldn't even begin to fathom what the end result of such a monster roaming freely around the world would be.
The next second, the world around him slowed down as Jin'Ya quite literally descended on this place, with all the wrath his giant monstrosity of a soul could muster, or at least that's what it looked like from his point of view as he was pulled into the Astral Realm, along with Varvara, the strongest Elder Vampire alive, as the massive Draconic silhouette of Jin'Ya was made visible to both of them.
He could feel the strain on his soul as time was accelerated here a thousand fold to make sure that their conversation was wrapped up early, before Jin'Ya's pressure in the Astral Realm started affecting all the humans on the planet. He could actually feel the strain as his thoughts refused to flow as fluidly as before. Man, Jin'Ya could be really badass when he wanted to be.
"What are you doing, Varvara Koscheyenka?" Jin'Ya's voice boomed in the space. Oooh, he was starting with true names this early in the match. The pressure in the Realm was starting to feel a little uncomfortable to him now, with her power counteracting Jin'Ya's in the Astral Realm.
Theoretically, there was no equal to Jin'Ya in the matters of the Astral Realm, at least in the observable galaxy and the space around it. Still, the Red Matron was not a feared figure for nothing, as she effortlessly glared up at the giant Draconic body looming over her, with not a hint of fear on her face.
"Oi! Ancient Dragon, no need to throw a hissy fit! I was not harming your Partner, on this, I swear on my magic!"
His eyes widened as a swirling vortex of red magic appeared around her Astral Form before settling down as a chain on her body, signifying the binding vow taking hold of her. Something like that was serious talk, with the consequence of breaking the vow being severe damage to the soul, and for someone of her level, any time she spent indisposed might as well be a death sentence.
"Fine, you can speak your mind. Just know that I will take great pleasure in devouring your injured soul if you break your own vow." With those words, they were back in the Starbucks, with the only difference being the existence of Jin'Ya, now floating by his side, looking at the Red Matron in contempt.
He didn't really feel like calling out her name because, for beings on her level, names meant power and also a way to mark someone. She might just learn something new about him if he tried to speak her name. Not her true name, no, that was a secret known to probably herself but her pseudo true name, something that she used to create infamy in her time.
See, True Names were not something assigned at birth. No, the names were just something that truly strong souls adopted as their own, changing the very meaning of those words in the fabric of the universe. It was like weaving your own name in the supermassive river of fabric that was the Universe. Through that, one could do a variety of stuff by borrowing the power of that river.
Now, for most beings, a single True Name was all they would get, but for some special exceptions, like mental disorders or with exceptionally old beings, like her, it was possible to gain yet another True Name. He didn't know the true extent of the possibilities but having two True Names gave them a massive advantage over methods that could hurt beings by learning their True Names.
The name that Jin'ya uttered was her second True Name, something that wouldn't harm her as much if used as a weapon but could still be used to signify the seriousness of the situation, as Jin'Ya just did.
"So, Mr.Baxter, the Life Giver, how is life treating you? I heard you have recently come into possession of something my entire race would tear itself apart for, and not only are you not actively hiding it, but you are also offering it as a service for dirt cheap rates." She smirked at him as she languidly sipped on her coffee.
"Get on with your point. We all know you were going to find out all along, which is why the conditions were added in the treaty." Jin'Ya spat out. He had a hunch that Jin'Ya absolutely abhorred this woman, and not for the same reasons as he did.
She pointed her straw at him, "Ugh, Paper Straw, melted so easily. I missed the days when you humans used stuff that would not wither for thousands of years. Made buying stuff a lot easier for someone of my age, especially since I do not have thralls to wait on me." She muttered as her eyes flashed red before the straw turned into a plastic one, with two glowing eyes on top of it.
More than the casual use of magic, it was her easygoing, carefree attitude that worried him. Just like every other significant magical powerhouse on the planet, she had signed the treaty that the Ancient One had imposed on both him as well as the other mystical powerhouses on the planet.
It was slightly his fault as well because he was young and hot headed, and the Ancient One, being the wise elder she is, saw right through his intentions and rightfully predicted that he would end up dead in a ditch with the number of fights he would end up picking in his quest to "cleanse" the planet of the multiple blights that had been allowed to survive for far too long.
He could understand the reasoning for Ancient One's inaction because her actions were dictated more by the Time Stone and the Vishanti than her own mind but he was free. In his mind, he was a free agent, with the power to back it up, or at least he would have that power one day.
Which was part of the reason why the treaty was brought forward. Normally a regular periodic signing, a treaty brokered by the overwhelming power of the Vishanti, there was quite a significant outroar when there were new terms added in the treaty, forbidding going after enhanced humans who were underage in mystic terms, where a century was considered underage.
In return, the Ancient One, Kamar Taj, and the VIshanti themselves would step in to pull back any human mystic who was a minor from harming the interests of any mystical enclave on the planet.
Kun'Lun, Ta-Lo, Atlantis, Transilvania, Romania, and more, along with individuals like the Red Matron were signies of the treaty, which all but guaranteed his survival up to the age of 100, granted that he was not offed by Thanos.
That treaty was the reason why he had to ask for permission every damn time to enter Ta-Lo, despite his stellar relations with them. It was also why he could not just raid the vampires' strongholds he knew the location of, despite having an inbuilt glorified flashlight that would work on most thralls, which were the majority of the workforce of these vampires.
It was also why Jin'Ya, someone who mostly ignored all the laws of all the civilisations he ever met in his long long life, abided by the treaty, because he too, was a signee of the scroll.
That scroll was part of why he had been very lackadaisical with his mystical training because he knew he had time and had set aside decades of his life, once the Thanos situation was resolved and he could let the world try to destroy it for a while before the heroes inevitably had to step in once more to save it, from itself or from some outside threat, only time would tell.
Now, she was here and telling them that the threat was being subverted somehow? The same one that had been used for over a thousand years by the strongest Sorcerer Supreme in generations, was being bent?
It was a cause of massive concern, maybe more so because of the bearer of the bad news being her, one of the last people he expected to come here to warn him.
Something was wrong with the whole thing here and he did not like it, not one bit.
Jin'Ya must have felt it as well, because the dragon growled at the woman, "Get on with it, you parasitic scum. I have other matters to tend to."
She just raised an eyebrow at Jin'Ya, "Look who's calling me a parasite? What do the humans say about situations like these? Ah, yes. Pot calling the kettle black, you understand?
He groaned at that. Get to the point, woman!
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