Rise of the Champions - Chapter Eighty-Nine
Author: Milady Dragon
Phil managed to get Crystal to eat two more pieces of toast and some bacon, but after that she stopped.
He wasn't any better, although the boiled egg he'd added to his breakfast was more than what his little girl had had.
As they ate, Phil talked. He answered the Director's pointed questions about where they'd come from, about magic, and how they'd gotten onto the base. It appeared that some sort of alarm had gone off when he'd opened that door without the proper code – which, really, Phil didn't understand but thought it must have had something to do with the box that had the numbers on it – and that the Director had sent some of his people to check out the incursion. They'd all been surprised to see both Phil and Crystal, to say the least.
Phil couldn't bring himself to call the man by name. It was just too bizarre.
As they spoke, the Wizard's headache grew. Oh, not too badly at first but, by the time he'd decided he was finished eating, it had developed into a steady thumping right behind his eyes. He understood what it was: he was suffering from withdrawal, from the Void that had always been running through him, blood and bone, and that Void had been depleted and not replenished. His body was practically craving it, and there wasn't anything he could do.
Crystal dozed against him almost the entire time, except when she had been picking at the breakfast they'd been provided. He realized it must have been worse for her, since she didn't have the reserves that Phil had; also, she hadn't just managed to suck a lot of Void out of someone, and that extra bit of Void was keeping him going. Still, he was growing exhausted, and it was only going to get worse.
Gods, he hoped Ianto or Stephen or someone found them quickly. He had no idea how long Crystal would last. Let alone Phil himself.
After eating the chicken legs that another agent brought in, the two dragons curled up on the couch together. Lockjaw must have been feeling Crystal's own fatigue, because he slept deeply; Lola was worried, Phil could tell, as she tucked herself around the younger and smaller dragon, her protective instincts on full alert. She was also trying to soothe Phil himself, until he sent to her to stop. It was making him drowsy, and he couldn't afford that at the moment. Perhaps, once they were locked into the room they'd been given, but not now, not when he was out amongst strangers with the faces of loved ones.
In return for stories of his own world, the Director shared a few things about his own. Truth to tell, the Wizard found them outlandish, and yet there was no reason for the man to lie. All he really needed to do was turn and look at the enormous magical mirror on the wall behind him, the one that confused him so much and made his mind boggle, to know that any wonders his host spoke of were most likely real. Devices that flew, that rode along the ground without horses, of otherworldly beings that had come to this place – the world called Earth, which he thought didn't make sense; why name your world after the ground? – to either invade or to explore. It made him curious to know if there were other such worlds with life upon them nearby his own, and was determined to finish the observatory when he got home.
And yet, there was hardly any magic at all to explain these miracles. It was all science and technology.
After one such tale, Phil found himself shaking his head in disbelief. "Baron Tony should have been the one to be sent here. He'd love it."
"Baron Tony?" the Director inquired.
"Tony Stark, Baron Ferrous. He's always trying to invent things that mirror what magic can do. He's had some pretty impressive successes so far."
"Stark is a Baron on your world?" his counterpart was incredulous.
Phil found himself bristling a little at the tone. "He's an excellent leader. He's always trying to make things better for his Barony."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be insulting." He did, indeed, look apologetic. "It's just that, here, Tony Stark might be a hero and a genius, but he's also a pain in the ass."
Phil barked a laugh which, worriedly, didn't wake Crystal. "That's fair." It was good to know that Baron Tony wasn't much changed on any world.
Suddenly, the door burst open, and a young man dashed into the office, face pale and very familiar to Phil…it was a Leo Fitz doppelganger, about ten years older than the person who was a friend of Daisy's, and only not an Elf, either. Elves must not have existed on this world, as well as dragons.
"Director!" he exclaimed, his voice strident. It startled Crystal awake, and she clutched as his tunic as she eyed the new arrival. However, she didn't make a scene, so he guessed his daughter must have noticed the differences in the Leo lookalike and realized it wasn't the young man she knew. His arms tightened around her, cradling her close, and she sniffled around the handkerchief that the Director had provided after her last brush with weeping.
The young man didn't even react to the fact that his Director had a double in the room, with a child in his arms. Which meant, whatever had upset him, was so distracting he wasn't paying any attention.
"Fitz." The Director stood. "What's going on?"
"That monolith we discovered in the hold of that fake SHIELD's ship," he was breathing hard. "It took Jemma…"
"What?" the man was frowning in confusion.
"It's better if I show you."
Fitz reached for something on the desk; it was a box of some sort, with buttons on it. He aimed the box toward that moving mirror wall, pressing one of the buttons on it.
Intrigued and worried in equal measure, Phil turned to brave the slight nausea-inducing wall, to find that all the moving pictures had been replaced by a single, wall-sized image of a large room with a clear box in the center.
In the box was a large stone.
Phil squinted a little, but he couldn't make out that many details. Instead, he focused on the two people in the mirror…one was the human Jemma Simmons, and she was talking to what looked like the human Leo Fitz.
He glanced back at the young man with the box, then back to the mirror. How could Fitz be in two places at once? Was it some sort of illusion magic?
But no, there was no magical signature involved, and it was obvious that this Fitz wasn't a Wizard. But how could someone perform that sort of illusion without the use of magic? Perhaps he had a twin on this world?
He looked back at the mirror image. As he watched, the Fitz in the moving picture left the frame, leaving Agent Simmons alone with the odd rock.
Suddenly, to Phil's utter surprise, the rock melted. It flowed out of the clear box, swept up and over Jemma Simmons, and then was sucked back into that box, reforming itself with a swiftness that almost left the Wizard breathless.
Jemma Simmons had vanished.
Phil blinked. He blinked again.
That was unexpected.
And there still was no magical signature anywhere nearby.
Behind him, he could hear the Director and Fitz arguing, something about protocol and why the box had come open, but Phil ignored it. What he'd seen…it was not anything he'd ever seen before. Stone didn't simply melt like that and then reform itself, and wracking his brain he simply couldn't come up with any sort of spell that would accomplish it.
"Can I see that again?" he interrupted the argument.
Dead silence met his request.
The Wizard swiveled back around to regard the two men at the desk. Crystal grumbled a little at the movement, but she settled back down easily when he stroked along her back.
The two were staring at him. Phil wanted to roll his eyes, but didn't because he didn't want to exacerbate his headache anymore. "Is it possible to see the event again?" he asked once more. He wasn't at all familiar with what went into the mirror images, but he guessed it could be started all over. There were certain spells that could replay entire mirror conversations, after all. And, now that he considered the possibilities, it would explain how Fitz could be in the same room now, and in that room speaking with Agent Simmons as well…it was some sort of recording or replay.
It was amazing for not being magical.
Fitz fiddled with the box again, and Phil turned to watch the pictures once more. His eyes narrowed as the stone liquefied and swallowed Agent Simmons.
"I need to see it," he murmured.
"I just showed it to you again," Fitz answered hectically, and the Wizard finally figured out that it was upsetting him. If he was as close to this version of Jemma Simmons as he was the one on Phil's world, then he could understand why.
"No," he corrected gently, "I need to see the stone. Do you know what caused it to do that?"
"No idea, and I've scanned it with everything I know to." Fitz looked haggard, and worse than how Phil felt.
"Do you think you can figure it out?" the Director's expression was hopeful.
"I won't know until I see it in person."
With that, Phil stood, cradling Crystal in his arms. She was limp against him, and that scared him more than anything. Still, he had to help in some way, even if he could rule out magic involved. Honestly, if it was magic, these people would never know, because they were all about the technology and the lack of magical knowledge was disturbing.
He followed the Director and Agent Fitz away from the office and down a hallway and some metal stairs – really, these people used metal for everything – and through a common area, where they got some stares but Phil ignored them all in favor of trying to work out just what had caused a supposedly solid rock to turn into a fluid state and make a grown person vanish. Unless Jemma Simmons was inside the rock, but that would have meant a change in mass, and he hadn't noticed that on the moving images he'd seen.
Crystal mumbled something into his chest, and he clung to her more tightly. There was a part of him that was hoping that the rock was some sort of portal that could get them back home, that he could figure out a way to use it himself in some way. Yes, if he could, he'd do his best to retrieve the Director's agent from wherever she'd been taken…unless, of course, the rock had actually eaten her, then of course there would only be mourning.
Phil glanced backward, and watched as Lola pushed Lockjaw along, the little dragon feeling the effects of Crystal's lethargy. The Director must have noticed; his eyes worried, he motioned to one of the people they were passing in the corridor, a thickset man wearing clothes like the Director was, calling, "Agent Koenig, pick up the little dragon, please."
The man – Koenig must have been his name – started, his face suddenly blooming with excitement. "Of course, Director Coulson," he practically chirped. He reached down toward Lockjaw, but looked at Lola and said, "May I?"
Lola trilled at him, nudging Lockjaw with her snout toward the agent's waiting arms. Obviously, this Koenig was alright, if Lola was encouraging Lockjaw to go with him. It certainly didn't hurt that the agent had such a look of wonder on his features as he lifted Lockjaw up carefully, the little dragon nestling himself down into the man's arms.
"Thank you," Phil said gratefully. "This place is affecting Crystal badly, and because Lockjaw is connected to her, it's affecting him as well."
"You did say something about that earlier." The Director started walking once more, Koenig bringing up the rear with Lola hovering at his side, very worried about the younger dragon.
"There are three Orders of Wizards: Cardinal, Great, and Void. Crystal and I are Void, and we depend upon the Void to power our spells. It's a part of us, like our own life's blood, and without it we'll slowly die. There's very little Void here, and it's not enough to sustain us. Crystal is feeling it worse because she doesn't have the reserves I do. And it's only going to get worse the longer we're here."
The Director glanced at him knowingly. "You're hoping the monolith that swallowed my agent is some sort of way to get back to your own dimension."
It took Phil a few moments to interpret what the man was saying, and it was because he'd used the term 'dimension' to describe this world he and Crystal had landed on. He hadn't ever heard it used in that context before. "I don't know," he admitted, "but we're slowly dying here, and I'll do anything I need to if it would get us home."
"We'll do whatever we can to help," his double promised, and Phil appreciated that.
Honestly, Phil would have loved exploring this world, to see what these people have achieved with their science and how such a lack of magic had molded these people into something different than what he was used to. However, that very lack of magic was going to make that impossible.
Oh, there was magic. It was vague, and it was Great magic, and it wouldn't sustain either himself or Crystal at all. Phil was existing off of his own personal reserves, and that wouldn't last forever.
It occurred to him that he could stay in this world and die a natural death. That he could choose to repudiate the Void and refuse to go back to the eternity of loneliness that was waiting for him.
But he couldn't do it.
Clint was waiting, and Daisy, and this place would kill Crystal before him. He wasn't about to die in a strange place, lost to his loved ones, and take his youngest daughter down with him. None of that was an option, even if it meant going back to being Void Champion and immortality. Phil was selfish, and he wanted to go back to the people who loved him, even though he'd lose them all one day. He wasn't about to trade a chance at a final death for losing Clint and Daisy and Crystal. And he would also be condemning both Lola and Lockjaw to death as well.
He could feel Lola's concern through their link, and yet she wasn't judging him for his thoughts. She would support him in whatever decision he would make, even though she might give him the hells for making it. His dragon could be very opinionated, and Phil loved her to bits for it.
So lost in his thoughts, Phil didn't realize they'd reached the room from the moving images until he stepped into it, and was facing what the Director had called a monolith.
It was a very appropriate word to use.
Even on its raised dais and in its clear box, the stone was taller than Phil was. It didn't look like much; just a tall stone, like one of the blocks that had once been used in the circles that still existed in all their broken majesty in the United Kingdom and other countries of the world. It was smooth, except for at the top, where it looked as if it had been broken in some way. There were five perfectly square holes drilled into it, as if someone had taken bits of it for some other purpose that was only known to those who'd done the drilling.
And yet, there was something ominous about it. Something that loomed in Phil's mind, an almost superstitious fear of the thing, and he took an involuntary step toward it, drawn by something that he couldn't identify.
There was a large man in the room, and Phil didn't manage to start when he recognized him as the double of Master Alphonso Mackenzie, the teaching Master to his daughter's Elven friends, Jemma and Leo. He'd seen enough since arriving that this didn't even surprise him anymore.
Deciding to trust this man, he asked, "Can you hold her please?"
The Master Mack double looked a little surprised at the request, but he took Crystal from Phil's arms with such an expression of tenderness he had to wonder if this version had a child of his own.
"Thank you," he said sincerely. "She's not feeling well, so don't be surprised if she doesn't react to you."
"She going to be okay?" the man asked worriedly.
"If we can get home, then yes." He had to assume that there had been enough rumors about the man who looked like their Director and that there were dragons in the castle because this man wasn't reacting to any of them being there.
He then turned on his heel, walking determinedly toward the monolith. A shiver ran down his spine, but he ignored it, needing to figure this thing out and see if it's a way for them to get home again. He was desperately worried for his little girl and her dragon, and the longer they were trapped here, the worse off she would become…and himself, as well, only it would take longer with him.
However, the Void within him wouldn't last much longer. It was only a matter of time before he'd become sick like Crystal was, and then it would be a short time before the end. He might have once thought that dying would be a relief, but if he did die here he might not end up where Clint and Daisy would when they eventually did pass on.
That was unacceptable.
Lola went with him, his constant companion, supporting him while not being afraid to tell him off when it was necessary. She would be at his side no matter what happened, and being in this world also condemned her to death as well; dragons didn't live beyond their Wizard's own lifespan. He wasn't about to do that to her, as well.
The box that the monolith was in wasn't made of glass, like he'd believed from the images of the room he'd seen back in the Director's office. Instead, it was an odd material, slick and cool under his fingertips, but not with the sharp presence that glass had. This world truly was a world of wonders, to be able to make something like this, sturdier than glass and yet as clear. He would have to mention it to Baron Tony when he got home.
Phil knew he would have to scan the monolith magically, which would deplete his stores of Void, but he had no choice. He blinked, bringing his magical sight to bear, eyes tracking along the smooth planes of the stone, looking for any sort of clue as to what it was.
"This is…odd," he admitted, palms flat against the material that separated him from the monolith.
"What is it?" the Director asked.
"It's magic…and yet it's not. It's certainly not Void, because there isn't enough Void on this world to do any sort of spells, and it's not Cardinal, either, for the same reason. It's a strange sort of Great magic, but it's been twisted somehow…I'm not a Catalyst by any stretch of the imagination –"
"A what?" Fitz wanted to know.
Phil turned to regard the men standing there, watching him, not bothering to blink away his magical sight. He could tell that all four of them were startled by his eyes, knowing that they would be black with Void. "A Catalyst is someone who can touch a magical Artifact and, not only know what it did, but could also use it."
"Magic isn't real," the Leo doppelganger refuted.
"And that's why there isn't any here." Of course, that made sense. These people didn't believe in magic, but if that was the reason for the near-lack of it, or if it not being there had led to the disbelief, Phil couldn't say.
With his sight, he could see that none of the men were in the least bit magical. There was an odd shadow on the Director's chest, the taint of old and twisted magic, but that was it. He could also see Crystal, see the fading of the Void within her, and a tear slipped from his eye to trail down his cheek. He'd hoped for more time, but even he could tell she wouldn't last past the next couple of days.
With grim determination, he went back to his perusal of the monolith. "Magic is very real," he explained. "Great magic is the fundamental magic of the multiverse, and there are rules that govern it just as there were physical rules that allow our realities to exist. In my world, the Voids and the Cardinals balance each other, and the Greats stand on the sharp edge of that balance, keeping that balance from tipping into chaos. Here…the Void and the Deep Ways have no way of entering, and so there's only Great magic, and even that's not all that strong here. Without the Void, my daughter and I will both die." He put his hand back on the surface of the box. It was as devoid of magic as everything else in this place. "I could attempt to open a Void Point, bring some of the Void here; but one, I don't know how your world would react to the sudden influx of Void, even if it wouldn't be much in the grand scheme of things; and two, I don't even know if it would work. And, even if I could, I wouldn't be able to close it again. I'm too weak now."
He knew he was rambling, but Phil couldn't stop himself. Knew that these strangers wouldn't be capable of understanding what he was even talking about.
The monolith glittered with magic and something else. He could see it, but he couldn't identify it.
The front of the box was a door, fastened with a simple latch that Phil opened easily. He had the door pulled open and was stepping inside the box even as the people watching him were shouting in warning.
He slapped both hands against the stone.
It was warm to the touch, as if it had been sitting in the sun. The magic that had been used in its creation tingled under his palms, and the moment he touched it he knew he'd be unable to use it to get home. Oh, the monolith was indeed a portal…
"It's a portal," he said aloud. "It's linked to one particular place, but I can't tell you where that place is. Your Agent Simmons was taken there."
"Can you open it and get her back?" the man who looked like Master Mack demanded.
Phil shook his head. "No. It's not that easy. It…" He frowned, wishing he had Stephen's innate sense of time. "It's…been created to open at specific times. I think those times coincide to where it's been linked to. You're going to have to wait for it to open again; I can't tell you when that will be."
His disappointment was as sharp as the frustration he was feeling. He couldn't even get their agent back, let alone use this to get him and Crystal and the dragons home.
Phil let his hands slip from the rock. He went to take a step out of the box, but he stumbled, weak with the use of magic he couldn't really have afforded to use on something that hadn't worked. Someone put a hand under his elbow, holding him steady on his feet; he looked up, seeing the Director standing there, his eyes kind in their concern. "Come back," he urged almost silently.
Blinking the magic from his eyes, Phil allowed the other man to guide him away from the monolith, letting Fitz shut and latch the door once more. "I'm sorry I couldn't help."
"I get the feeling you shouldn't have even tried."
"I had to." Phil felt a little light-headed, but it was clearing. Still, the hollowness within him had grown, and he mourned the loss of the Void he'd used. "Your agent could be in danger, and I know what it's like to be trapped somewhere you don't know." He didn't have to add that he'd hoped to use the portal to get home; but then, he thought he didn't need to. The Director already knew and understood.
"Did you manage to find out anything else?" Fitz pressed, his worry for Agent Simmons evident.
"No, I'm sorry. I tried."
"Don't be sorry," the Director said, "we know more now than we did a few minutes ago."
"And at least we know the bloody stone didn't actually eat Simmons," Fitz sighed. "She could very well be alive out there, somewhere." He straightened. "Director, requesting permission to begin the investigation."
The Director smiled at him fondly. "Get to it, Agent."
As Fitz bustled out, Phil said, "I hope you find her."
"So do I. Simmons has been with the team from the beginning, and the last thing I want to do is lose anyone. There's been enough of that already."
The man's eyes went dark with loss, and Phil reached out and rested a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him, as the Director had tried to do with him.
Suddenly, Phil felt…the Void. It came rushing back into the places he'd lost it from, strengthening his body, soul, and magic in an almighty rush that had him feeling weak in the knees, although in a good way.
He threw his senses outward, looking for the source. He couldn't see it, so it wasn't in the same room, but it was certainly within the castle, somewhere near enough. He could practically taste it on his tongue, smell it in the air…Void, and it didn't belong there. They would need to close whatever Void Point had opened, he had no idea what the Void coming into a world without it would do in the long run.
Crystal grumbled as she awoke, snuffled a little, said, "Hello, Master Mack," then straightened up in the man's arms. "Oh, I'm sorry. You're not Master Mack. You don't have any magic." She blinked her eyes at him, then yawned, and in his magical sight Phil could see the Void reenergizing her, as well.
"Afraid not," the stranger with the familiar face smiled down at the little girl, obviously charmed. Honestly, Phil was going to have to curse her dates when it was that time, wasn't he, if she could charm people already.
Gods, he was going to be one of those overprotective fathers…oh, he was already. He just approved of Daisy's boyfriend, Lincoln, which was why he was so easy on the young man.
Clint, though…that could very well be another matter entirely.
"Dad!" she wriggled, wanting to be let down. "I'm feeling much better now!"
She was obliged, and Crystal ran toward Phil, throwing her arms around his legs. He hugged her, so very glad that she was much more herself. He'd been incredibly worried about his little girl; she'd been fading fast.
Lockjaw chirped from where he was being carried by Agent Koenig. The little dragon had managed to twist a little, so he could lick the man holding him, making the man laugh. He set Lockjaw on the ground, where he was promptly nuzzled by Lola, her way of making certain the young dragon was also fine.
The Director stiffened, which Phil didn't notice until he ordered, "Get a team down there right away. I'm on my way."
It took the Wizard a heartbeat to realize that he must have been speaking to someone over that speaking device in his ear. He knew what whoever it was who'd spoken to the Director was reporting something, and he knew what it was.
"We have another intruder," the Director rapped. "Down in the same area you appeared in."
"And they're here for us, for Crystal and me." He grinned. "It looks like we're going home."
