The Book Keeper
by TimeAndLife21
Chapter 8
"You fool!" Mordo said harshly before cuffing Stephen upside the head.
He supposed he deserved that. It had been two weeks since he had been banned from the library and only then did Mordo wonder why Stephen wasn't at the library at his usual times was when he found out that Anaiah banned him from the Library for the time being.
"After three years of being here, you should know better than you bringing up a sensitive subject with Anaiah." Mordo glared at the doctor.
"I know. And I'm sorry...i'm just frustrated." Stephen said as he looked down at a scroll (mind you it was a scroll that Mordo gave him to look at the types of elements one can imbue into magics).
"Its that kind of arrogance that gets you into trouble. That and she was right. You have been pushing yourself too hard to learn everything. Yes, we can admit that you have rose through the ranks well, and you have a natural aptitude for the Mystic Arts, but you must understand the consequences of using them too much." Mordo shook his head.
"I don't see what the problem is." Stephen said annoyed.
"Think like a doctor. You have a patient who works too much. You advise said patient to take it easy, but the patient refuses to do so, and suffers physically. He becomes sick more often, taking many antibiotics so that he can keep working, then finally he injures himself performing the duties of work and you order bed rest. But the consequences of the patient pushing themselves too hard, they have health problems." Mordo explained.
That made sense. From a health perspective, the human body can only take so much.
"That is why we Masters of the Mystic Arts take meditation daily to give us relief from the physical, mental, and spiritual exercises that we put ourselves through. You have done well since you have arrived Stephen, but you also have to take care of yourself as well. Which is also why Anaiah and The Ancient one forced you to take a meditative break." Mordo glared.
Stephen felt chastised. He felt like he was back in College again. He could vaguely remember days when he studied his ass off and forgot to eat for days on end until he passed out from exhaustion. Of course, he graduated with highest honors and his career took off splendidly, but if it wasn't for some people who cared for him (Christine and his family, as much as it pains him to think about it) he would never have gotten to where he was.
Here in the other hand, he was acting like he once was in College. Except...the stakes are slightly higher. It was a sobering thought. Here, the Mystic Arts not only takes a toll on one's self physically, but spiritually. As strange as it sounds, he should probably take the advice of his friends and mentor to heart.
After keeping to his thoughts for a while, he spoke out loud.
"I should probably apologize." He said softly.
"That would be the best thing for you. Anaiah can hold a grudge, but if you're sincere in your apology, she may accept it." Mordo sighed. "Come along, She must be at one of the training grounds with Wong at the moment."
Stephen nodded before following Mordo out to the training grounds. After a few minutes of walking, he heard something. It sounded like...screaming?
"Do you hear that?" Stephen asked looking at Mordo with a concerned look.
"I do...its coming from that direction." Mordo spoke as they both picked up the pace.
The screaming and shouting was frantic. They had arrived at the training ground and saw chaos. Many young and old students, novices and masters alike were running to safety. Save for three who was in the middle of all the commotion. There was a giant shield spell that was Anaiah's signature green. The Spell was the size of a small house with a kaleidoscope of alchemic circles inside and symbols that is keeping someone, or something, out of Kamar-Taj.
There was a strong and evil wind that was bellowing from the Shield; Stephen could smell rotting, burning, and decaying flesh along with...brimstone?
Wong and the Elderly Master Hamir were on either side of her with their arms and hands out stretched. Giving support to her so that the spell can hold.
Anaiah had only one arm and hand outstretched to keep her barrier up, but in her other hand was a large gleaming white cross. She was shouting out words of an old language to keep the shield up, but something kept ramming on the other side, making the shield crack.
Anaiah shouted orders to Wong and Hamir and Wong gave her a startled look of ' Don't Do It.'.
"What is she doing?" Mordo shouted over the commotion.
Anaiah threw her hand down and ran at the cracking shield. She raised the hand that had the white cross and slammed it into the green shield. Something...unnatural roared in pain on the other side. The Green Shield was slowly turning white from Anaiah's cross. The bright light coming from Anaiah was pushing back something that was on the other side of that shield. And It was trying to push back.
Stephen could see it. And it was something that he knew that wouldn't be erased from his memory anytime soon. He saw a demonic red eye looking through the shield. It chilled him to the core.
"What...what is that?" Stephen couldn't help but wonder.
He heard Anaiah scream and slammed her shining cross into the shield again and the eye disappeared.
"CLOSE IT! DAMN IT CLOSE IT!" She cried out and used her free hand once more to hold up the new white shield.
Wong and Hamir sweeped their arms in circular gestures, the portal gradually shrinking smaller and smaller. But just as the portal was about to close something from the other side shot a dark mass at Anaiah.
Stephen felt like he was watching her in slow-motion. She was blasted backwards as her body bent back into an arc, flying through the air. She hit the ground in a deafening crack before she slid to a stop.
The chaotic wind and noise was suddenly stopped and Stephen took action. He ran towards Anaiah's prone body and kneeled down. She was on her side in a semi-fetal position, her eyes were closed and her glasses were nowhere to be seen. He placed a hand to her pulse point on her neck and felt that she was alive...but only barely. Then he gently rolled her to her back and saw it. On her side, was a wide, deep, and bleeding gash that reached from the bottom of her left rib cage down to her left hip. The worse part was that the wound was turning from grey to black.
"Oh God…" Stephen breathed.
Wong, Hamir, and Mordo reach them and Hamir spoke.
"I will fetch the Ancient One." He spoke softly before turning away.
"We have to get her to a hospital. She's bleeding out." Stephen said as he took off the top part of his robe and ripped it into pieces to staunch the bleeding.
"We can't take her to a Hospital, Doctor. Not with injuries like this." Wong spoke as he kneeled on the other side of Anaiah.
He lifted his hand over the wound, which seemed to be turning from red to a black and red glow that came from his hands. He placed the hand on the rapidly blood drenched fabric that was coming from Anaiah's injuries.
He continued to put pressure on the wound to make sure that she won't bleed out.
"We don't have the technology here to even help her." Stephen spoke as his mind switched to his Doctor Mode. "We need blood for her, a sterile environment, something that can help her…"
"It won't help her." He heard the voice of the Ancient One.
Stephen looked up and saw the woman walking briskly to where they were at. She looked down at Anaiah and Stephen swore that he saw worry and sadness flit across her face.
"I have stopped the bleeding, but we have to get her to the healing chambers. I can't do anything more for her." Wong spoke as he stood up.
Stephen didn't need to be told twice. He picked up Anaiah, who seemed to weigh very little to him, and The Ancient One ordered him to follow her.
The Healing Chambers were not far from where the Training Grounds were. But the Healers (Stephen prefered the term Doctor, it sounded more professional), were already in a flurry of activity when they entered.
There were a few novices who had come her from the incident to have minor injuries looked at. But one Healer took a look at Anaiah and shouted for them to follow her.
"Come! Bring her to the back." The female healer spoke briskly and turned away. The Ancient One and Stephen followed.
"Place her here…" The healer spoke as she pointed to the wood and stone bed in front of them.
Stephen placed her there and was then gently nudged back from the bed. The Ancient one took her place at the side of the bed and spoke orders to the orderlies that followed them.
"I need healing salves, bandages, and my spell book." The Ancient one spoke as she waved her hand over Anaiah's body.
Golden waves of light surrounded Anaiah, but many of them were focused on the area where her injury was transfixed on the sight until he was taken by the arm and guided out of the room by Mordo.
"What are you doing? I have to stay in there." Stephen said as he struggled against Mordo.
"No you don't. I understand that you are a Doctor, my friend, but the Ancient One knows what she is doing." Mordo spoke as he guided him outside of the healing chambers.
"You don't understand, she has to be taken to a hospital. She lost a lot of blood, those injuries, she could die!" Stephen turned to him with a worried look on his face.
Stephen may be a Doctor, but his patients would always come to him after something happened to them. This was new to him. Seeing Anaiah being hit by whatever energy that was shot out at her, her body crumpling onto the ground, not moving...it shook him. And it shames him that he can't do anything about it.
"The Ancient One will be able to heal her. This isn't the first time Anaiah has been severely injured, and it certainly won't be the last." Mordo spoke putting a comforting hand on Stephen's shoulder before turning away and leaving.
Stephen didn't leave the Healing Quarters since then. He would stay there until Anaiah woke up. He still needed to give her an apology. He hoped that she would be alive by then.
TAL21: If i could be honest, I'm not entirely sure about this chapter. Personally, I could've done better, but Let's just say that i wanted this up as soon as possible. So you see the consequences of Stephen's ego and arrogance, but before he could apologize to Anaiah, she could possibly die before he can do so. And he starting to pay attention to her a little bit more too. So yes, Anaiah is injured and I also introduced a demon into this world (not one from the Marvel Universe, but a demon neverthanless) And just so you guys know, yes the last chapter was a time skip to get to the point where Stephen could use magic more carefully and more diligently. And Thus, bringing him to under the Ancient One's mentorship as well. Just so you guys know, we are almost to the point where Stephen will get to the point of using the eye of agamotto. just a few more 'Years' and we'll be getting into the meat of the story. XD Which means a few more chapters of Anaiah and Stephen interacting a bit more as well. Yosh! Also, Thank you guys for following this story those far. I'm happy to know that this story is getting notice and you guys are enjoying it. :) ON TO THE SHOUT OUTS!
bethleham945: Thank you for enjoying this story. And i'm glad to hear that you liked Anaiah's awesome relics. XD
ShannonTheAwesomeOne: I liked Christine as a good character , but not as a love interest. She was a pretty decent one overall, but as a love interest not so much. Jackie Chan as an Ancient One...I LIKE IT!
JinxWriter: Nope. Sorry. You lost the game. XD But I love your enthusiasm.
HeartOfSorrow: And we have a winner! Yes. Anaiah is Hel's daughter and in retrospect she is Loki's granddaughter. XD The Scythe should have given it away and in this chapter, the cross (often used as purifying souls and sins) was also a slight reference of Anaiah's religion (She is a Christian) and a symbolism of Life as well. I just figured that even with her strange (no pun intended) heritage and forgotten past, she would turn to a religion to help her through such a troubling trial in her life.
Superdani4Ever: Jon Snow? You know nothing! XD LOL. And Yes, Stephen really needed to learn how to be a bit more kinder and less arrogant. XD So Anaiah is willing to put him in his place. XD
TAL21: Okay, That's it for the Shout Outs, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I'm off to bed! The next chapter may come up either tomorrow morning or night depending on how long the next chapter is. But I hope you guys leave DETAILED REVIEWS! I really enjoy interacting with my readers because it helps me figure out what you guys would like to see in this story. Plus, I enjoy challenging you guys to think and give you opinions on things as well. So, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and i'll see you in the next one! :D
Question Time: If you were part of the marvel universe, what would you be? And Whose Love interest would you be and why?
KEEP ON READING AND WRITING! :D