3rd Person POV
"I'm sure most of you already know this but at the dawn of time there was nothing but six singularities and when the universe exploded into being, those singularities were refined down into six gems, one for each critical aspect of existence; Space, Reality, Power, Soul, Mind, and Time." Strange made holograms of the Infinity Stones manifest in the center of his galaxy setting.
"I swear at this point ever'one should know this story…" JJ muttered a bit critically before she was shushed as Strange continued,
"But from each Stone, a small fragment broke off and gathered together to coalesce into a new creation…"
"The Orinix…" All the Chrysintheans in the room breathed at once as small pieces from each Infinity Stone chipped away and came together to form a large crystal-like structure that was a combination of all the Stone shards that eventually became sheltered in space debris that formed the planet's structure around it.
"This entity was sentient and soon it began creating generations of beings over the millennia, each endowed with special abilities to protect themselves and their creator as some left the planet to discover and learn about other worlds containing life as peaceful explorers, unfortunately not everyone saw them as such..."
Smaller beings were seen being formed on the surface with some of them flying off to stop and visit other planets with other small beings before some of the other beings turned red and started chasing the Chrysintheans off their planet as Strange explained,
"Many species considered Chrysintheans to be a virus," Ash and JJ stiffened at that, "claiming that they were spreading to the rest of the universe to conquer it and only learning of a culture's weaknesses in order to do so."
A hologram of Earth formed as a small blue being was seen landing on its surface,
"It was many years ago that the Ancient One, the former Sorcerer Supreme, met one of these beings, your mother Lorinia…"
Ash and JJ's eyes widened at this piece of information and Ash looked to Zaruk for confirmation to which they shrugged, signaling they hadn't known about it.
"She had been sent off planet to search for her mentor when she happened upon Earth and Kamar-Taj and became fascinated with this world…"
"So that's why she tried to send me here…" JJ whispered and Ash thought back to how fondly she had spoken of "a planet so different from their own but still wondrous" and thought maybe it wasn't a coincidence she ended up crashing on Earth.
"Sadly, we could not teach her our ways since it was deemed they were powerful enough on their own," Strange added before a familiar voice chimed in,
"That's when my grandfather left the Masters of the Mystic Arts and became one of the first unannounced human Jaodevs to help Chrysintheans for generations."
From around a corner of the room a man stepped out that Ash immediately recognized as she exclaimed,
"Dylan!"
"OK is there anyone here who doesn't know about us?" JJ asked as she raised an eyebrow before Strange pulled them back on topic yet again with,
"And yet despite the rejection, that didn't stop Lorinia from returning home and telling her people of Earth and the 'wonderful life it contained.'"
"She implanted a large-scale Ehraia on this planet, a beacon of sorts, that's why so many of us survivors came to this planet after the planet's destruction." Zaruk added and they remembered how they had come to bring all the survivors they could to Earth.
"But the place wan't destroyed." Rocket brought up and Strange nodded before showing the invasion on Chrysinthea, pods being ejected off-world before the planet's surface was bombarded with explosions from the Sanctuary II as he further explained,
"The planet still remains, as does the Orinix, it's merely hidden where only the Perceiver and the Accessor can find and access it."
"Let me guess, me an' Ash?" JJ pointed a thumb at herself and her sister and Strange nodded,
"Correct."
"But which of them is which?" Bruce questioned.
"Ash is the power while JJ is the perception."
"Then why's my mark on my arm?" JJ questioned holding out her arm with her marks on them as Ash pointed to hers while asking,
"And why is mine over my eye?"
"That I can't answer." Strange made the hologram vanish as the lights came back on.
"Can't or won't?" Rocket asked critically with his arms crossed.
"There was only so much that was told to me by the Ancient One so I'm afraid I can't answer all your questions." Strange answered calmly unaffected by Rocket's passive-aggressive tone.
"OK, 'side from the whole 'our mom was here at some point' and 'there's a secret human society sp'sed to help us' most of this stuff we already knew 'bout so why are we really here?" JJ wondered aloud.
"Myself and other 'Blazars' as we're called have managed to locate a wormhole that might be able to take you all back to Chrysinthea." Dylan looked to Ash as he added the next part, "I think you might already be familiar with it Ash."
Ash's eyes widened before grimacing and asking,
"Please tell me it's not the one in the Bermuda Triangle?"
"OK, it's not the one in the Bermuda Triangle." Dylan answered with a straight face before cracking a smile at Ash's look of realization as she figured out,
"There's more than one in there?!"
"Yep." Dylan answered, stretching out the y and popping the p.
"Hold up, you expect us to believe that a portal or whatever to home's been here on this planet this whole time?" JJ questioned skeptically.
"Unfortunately at all other times of the year, planetary alignments aren't exact and if you had tried to go through you'd 've ended up lightyears away from home."
"Are they exact now?" Ash questioned.
"Not enough to get to the planet itself but definitely enough to get to the planet's quadrant within the galaxy."
"Looks like long shots're how we're rollin' so far." JJ cocked an eyebrow before she turned and asked,
"Anyone seen my brother?"
Right before they heard a *CLANG!* and they all turned their heads to see Groot rising up from a pile of relics with a few gold coins and strings of beads hanging from his head as he shrugged and spoke sheepishly,
"I.. am Groot?" (I tripped?)
"Groot if yer gonna be nicking crap.. do it ta where no one sees or hears!" Rocket scolded him with his arms crossed and Strange gave a long sigh through his nose as he closed his eyes in a wearing-patience expression as he told him,
"Please put the chaplet of Bivasfey back…"
Groot did so and was brushing other stuff off him before Zaruk noticed a thin silver chain with a large ring on it that had a Chrysinthean symbol for 'promise' on it hanging from a ridge on his head.
"What is that?" Zaruk asked Strange as they took the chain off Groot's head and traced the symbol with their thumb.
"Oh a few decades after Lorinia visited Earth, an official Chryionan, Zaynia Mizavi, had arrived to survey Earth and the former Master of the London Sanctum had greeted her and she had given him this as an insight into your culture."
"Wait so you can learn about them but they can't learn from you?" Bruce questioned indignantly before Ash lightly side-bumped him with a 'don't' look.
"As much as I'd love to continue this conversation on cultural exchanges, the planetary alignment that will get you the closest to Chrysinthea will line up in less than an hour and you all need to get to Florida as soon as possible to get through."
"I'll send a heads up to some of the Blazars there to ready a vessel that has a shot at getting us to the rift more or less intact." Dylan informed them as he pulled out a phone and started calling someone and the others started talking amongst themselves.
"You can take that by the way." Strange told Zaruk pointing to the ring, "I know you were close with one of her descendants."
"Because you seem to know much about us…" Zaruk mumbled, slightly miffed, as they put the ring and chain in one of the inner pockets of their cloak.
With Ash and JJ, they had started talking with JJ asking Ash,
"You really think the secret humie society can pull this off?"
"Dylan's helped us before and Shawna trusted him so I think so."
"Let's j'st hope this doen't go to scrap…"
"I'm just hoping it isn't anything like.. the Anus…"
"Oh yeah!" JJ chortled as she remembered Ash's story about her whole "adventure" on Sakaar until she saw her sister's 'not the time' look and stopped laughing by biting her lip to barely contain her laughs as Ash lightheartedly rolled her eyes and Groot commented from where he was standing by them,
"I am Grooot…" (Reeeaaaal mature…)
"Oh shut up."
At the same time Bruce was talking with Rocket, Xay, and Zaruk,
"Looks like what we've feared is coming to pass…"
"Well now I know why yer kid sounds like a walkin' dictionary…" Rocket snarked but Zaruk mildly scolded him by saying,
"Be serious. Whatever happens on our way home, we have to make sure the girls are safe."
"Ok I'm for chivalry about as much as the next person in this day and age," Xay started to say, and really only Bruce understood the true meaning of that statement, before he continued with, "but in any case Ash and JJ are tough, they can handle whatever we face next no problem."
"I agree." Rocket spoke and Xay tried to hold his hand up for a high five but Rocket just gave him a 'I don't think so' look before he asked Zaruk,
"Why're you here again?"
"I don't understand your question."
"I'm mean me, Groot and Slim here are their found dads and family, Scruffy's the redhead's boyfriend or other-"
"Just to be clear; we're just friends."
"So why're you here?"
"Other than it's one of my responsibilities as Clan Leader to ensure the safety of all Chrysintheans who call Earth home, because I genuinely care about Ash and JJ and I promised Lorinia and Shawna I'd watch over them."
"Alright that's valid…" Rocket begrudgingly relented just as Dylan had gotten back from his call to tell them all,
"OK so we've managed to secure a boat that'll get us close enough to the rift but we'll need to figure out a way to get through it once we get under it."
"Great." JJ noted before asking Strange, "D'ya think you can use your ring thingy to get us to Florida?"
"I could…"
"Would you?"
"Would I what?"
JJ looked like she was about to punch him out of impatience before Ash cut in with,
"Dr. Strange would you please teleport us to Florida with your.. ring thingy I know it has an official title but I can't remember it right now…"
"Why thank you for asking so politely." Strange told Ash in an overly gracious tone before mildly quipping, "Ever since I got demoted from Sorcerer Supreme, I need a laugh every once in a while."
Ash didn't get to question what that meant before Strange used his Sling Ring to open a portal that led to a sunny beach where, in the distance, they could see a building made of the typical wood and straw thatched roof where a few people wearing matching plain shirts were walking out in a loose formation.
"Hmm subtle." JJ noted but Ash couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or genuine as they let everyone else step through first.
JJ stepped through but just before Ash could, she stopped to tell Strange,
"Thank you… for the history lesson.."
"The past can teach us a lot; mistakes to not repeat, possible futures to build toward… but one of the most important things to remember about the past.. is that it only affects our present as much as we allow it to…"
Ash nodded in understanding before she walked through the portal as well to join back up with the others and Strange closed the portal before commenting to himself,
"I like those kids… hope this is the outcome where they come back…"
AN- Happy New Year! First post (and cliffhanger) of 2023!
I'm really sorry for posting this two weeks late but I'd forgotten how much of a creativity and writing time killer being home with four younger siblings was, especially during the holiday weekends
Plus, it didn't really help that I was having a little bit of writer's block with this section since part of the info dump I'd mentioned in one of the previous chapters was written here in addition to the villain monologue that's gonna happened later on for sure so I had to sort what's going to be revealed here and what can wait to be revealed and explained til later
Here's to hoping 2023 is slightly better than 2022, Bye!