ALL NOVEL Chapter 357: Drums of War
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I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
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Chapter 357: Drums of War
13th June 2013, Sayre Manor
(Wanda Maximoff POV)
Wanda's thoughts were interrupted by a loud sound. She ran out of Sayre Manor to see what was going on, until she saw a familiar egg shaped ship get inside the wards with a sonic boom, before stopping a few meters over the ground and slowly levitating down, until it landed entirely.
This was Jasmine's ship. Wanda remembered it flying up when her mother left the planet. The door slowly opened up, revealing a staircase. The familiar black-haired and green-eyed woman walked forwards, followed by Hela who looked far more relaxed than she was when they left weeks before. Surprisingly, she was followed by another man that was wearing a red jacket, a woman with green skin, a topless grey man with red marks on his skin, a raccoon holding some kind of high-tech rifle, and a fucking walking tree of all things.
Jasmine noticed her and smiled, "Hello there Wanda. Meet my companions, this is Peter Quill, Gamora, Drax, Rocket, and Groot. They're part of a team called the Guardians of the Galaxy. Guys, this is Wanda Maximoff, my daughter."
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24th March 2015, Sayre Manor
(Jasmine Sayre POV)
I had to admit that returning to Earth was slightly anti-climactic. Honestly, I didn't expect Wanda and Jean to succeed in their mission, and yet they did. I guess I was so used to the disappointment that Rose ended up being, that I failed to see how much they have flourished in the roles that I had assigned to them.
I expected them to rebel slightly, I expected more trouble, especially with my apathetic behavior, but they sucked it up and did what I asked of them. The mutant race was now technically saved from the enslavement that the Accords represented, and while the girls weren't really subtle about it, they did achieve the main purpose.
To be frank, I didn't expect Ross to be that much of a nutjob that he'd attack a public figure in broad daylight. Well, that's a lesson on how unpredictable humanity could be. And while I would have liked for the Accords to be amended and put in place, it was me being too optimistic. Still, all things considered, mutant kind was on its way to being integrated into normal society, and after the coming conflict, they should be practically united with humanity. In a few decades, I could see the Statute of Secrecy finally being abolished, and mages joining the rest of the residents of Earth.
So, with my heirs performing above and beyond what I had expected, I was free to let them deal with humanity's mess while I prepare for my inevitable final clash with Entropy. Most of it consisted of training Peter Quill and Loki who had woken up a few months after my return.
Quill's training was straight forward. Cosmic energy really was instinctive to manipulate, and the Celestial hybrid really was a natural at it. It was mostly based on imagination and control. Imagination he had plenty of it, but control was something that he lacked. Still, almost two years later, Quill was a fearsome opponent to practically anyone.
Loki on the other hand, was surprisingly silent considering the silver-tongued man he used to be before his injury. He had physically recovered from his injuries, but mentally, it was questionable. Being older than Jean, he had grasped quickly enough his role in the grand scheme of things. He was quick to study his powers, but was always solemn when he was by himself. I think that Thor would have probably helped him somehow, but the God of Thunder was too busy ruling Asgard, since Odin still hasn't woken up. The Necrosword really was overpowered.
While Quill's powers are based on creation and manipulation, Loki's are just on another level. Reality is his illusion, his dream, his story. In a way, Loki could use his new powers like his old illusions, by momentarily altering reality on that scale. It wasn't permanent by any means, but it was absolute. It easily trumped mine and Wanda's reality magic, but he could only do it on a limited scale.
Still, I had formed an adequate team to fight Entropy. It wasn't what I hoped for, but it was better than nothing. Jean, Loki, Quill, and I, will lead the fight against the endless being, while the Avengers, the rest of the Guardians, the Wakandans, the Asgardians, the Sorcerers, and the mutant soldiers of Genosha would protect the planet from Thanos, and prevent him from getting the stones and snapping his fingers.
I spent months making sure that this alliance was even possible. It took some time, but everyone was now onboard. After all, fighting for mankind was a good way to unite the planet. The Wakandan government, in corroboration with Stark, were able to replicate the Sentinels using Vibranium to act as foot soldiers against Thanos, which would be deployed at a moments' notice using the mutant called Doormaker, who was a critical asset for Genosha in general.
Honestly, these past two years were the calm before the storm, the constant preparation against the inevitable enemy. This was work decades in the making, perhaps even more so. It was a shame that Dr. Doom chose not to involve himself, and funnily enough, so did Reed Richards and his team.
Yeah, Reed's reputation suffered a lot because of his involvement with the Accords. He locked himself in his lab, stopped trying to explore the multiverse – thankfully – and kept his head down while making scientific discoveries. He chose to have nothing to do with the hero life, and his team must have come to the same conclusion, since they stopped going out and flaunting their powers like they used to. Well, Ben Grimm still showed his rock skin – he had no choice after all – but he stopped going out of his way to fight people. Doom took Reed's actions as some kind of surrender, since he chose not to attack the Fantastic Four ever since. Without the constant attacks on the Baxter building, it was rare to see the superhero team fighting, and when they did, it was only because they were attacked.
As for the magical world, oddly enough, Rose seemed to pick up the slack after she had forgotten me. Without me there to solve all of her problems, my former sister had thrived, and I was all the more happy for it. She practically took over Britain, as Dumbledore did after defeating Grindelwald, and started making laws to turn her country into a more equal magical society. With Muggleborns pitching in to help save the wizarding world's economy, there was an appropriate plan to create a thriving society. Other magical nations followed her example, and while they weren't out of the woods, the road to recovery was there.
It seemed like Rose had always had it in her to fulfill the role that I had planned for her, but was only resisting it because it wasn't something that she had chosen. I had pushed her to being my heir in the magical world, and she fought me every step of the way. But the moment that she saw that her nation was crumbling, and didn't have anyone to blame, she stepped up and took matters into her own hands. I was proud of her, but I will keep my distance. All our relationship ever brought her was pain and suffering, and now, she was finally happy. Perhaps, one day, she will have a family of her own, and the Potter line wouldn't die out with her. Still, I was glad that she had found a small share of happiness in this miserable world.
Oh, back to the wizarding world, they weren't ready for any sort of fight. Honestly, in terms of fighting power, they weren't all that impressive, with practically every mage except for Rose, being completely hopeless in an actual fight. I wasn't planning on calling them for the fight anytime soon. They were still recovering and revealing their existence now while the mutant issue was still being contended would cause a disaster in the long run. Mages were prideful and humans were fearful of what they couldn't understand. War would be inevitable, but in a generation, it wouldn't have to be.
That meant that outside of Fantastic Four and the magical world, practically every superhuman faction was united against the coming threat, and I could only hope that it would be enough. This was the calm before the storm, and I could feel it approaching.
I'll be completely frank here and say that I don't really care about the outcome. If the multiverse is destroyed, then I'll be too dead to care anyway, and if it isn't then everything would go back to normal, and I will continue to live an empty life as the pawn of a cosmic entity.
The only reason I was fighting was because of Death's threat, but also because I didn't want my life to be in vain. Everything I had lost, every heartbreak, every second of agony of this cursed life was designed for this moment, and I hated it with all my core. And yet, if I just gave up, then it would have all been in vain. Every ounce of pain I ever felt would have been for nothing, and that was worse than being some pawn.
What a miserable life I had lead, filled with loneliness and suffering, with small fragments of happiness so that I wouldn't break. I cannot love without losing them, I cannot trust without being betrayed, I cannot give up because I wasn't allowed to. I realize that now. I was never free to make my own choices, even after the time loop was over. I was bound with one crisis after another, all of them leading me to this moment, this instance in time where I was supposed to do something critical for the survival of the multiverse.
Yet, I had to wonder why it seemed to hate me so much, if I was to be its savior. Was I anything more than a sacrificial lamb that was forced to suffer until I had nothing left to lose? Why was I the one that had to suffer so much for no reason?
And for what? To still be enslaved to an uncaring cosmic entity that relished in my suffering? Death is often fair and merciful, and yet why did she relish in watching my grief and sorrow?
Did I believe for one second that this thing would ever let me go? No, I didn't. She has lied before, she has betrayed me before, and there was no guarantee that she wouldn't do so again.
No more!
She may control my life, but I will not allow my soul to be beholden by such a being. I might be a slave in life, no matter how Death likes to deny it, but I will not be one in Death. I refuse on principal to let that being have any hold over my immortal soul. She could reincarnate me once more, forcing me to fight endless battles for an eternity.
No more!
I am the Avatar of Death, but I will not always be. I was born to light yet forced to darkness. I have lost and suffered more than any being on this cursed planet. I have withstood loss after loss, pain after pain, with a heart of glass that is slowly shattering with every single one. I decree no more. I have given my entire life to Death; she will not get a drop of what comes after.
To prevent Death itself from getting my soul, I will have to gift it to someone else, someone that she can't touch, and I have the perfect candidate. After all, the Queen of Olympus was invisible to her, and I would rather trust my soul to her, and live out my time in her realm after my death, than allow my patron to have it.
And Death did have a blind spot when Hestia is involved, didn't she?
A sinister smile appeared on my face when the barebones of a plan started to get put together.
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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.