Chapter 100: Finding Out
2nd September 2005, New York City
(Jean POV)
Dr. Strange hummed thoughtfully, “The Wadjet. An old Egyptian Goddess, if I remember correctly. The Goddess of serpents and Magic. Here let me check for a second. My master, the Ancient One, has notes dating back to Atlantis. There should be one about Wadjet somewhere.”
He raised his hand and an orange portal appeared. He put his hand in and got a book from inside. He closed the portal and opened it. He rifled through the book until he found the page, “Ah, here it is, the Wadjet.”
Suddenly, the man paled in fear and his scarred hands started to shake, he muttered a single word in a terrified tone, “Morrigan.”
Jean could somehow sense his fear. Not by looking at him but there was something coming off him that she instinctively recognized as fear. Huh, she didn’t know she was an empath. Seems like her powers are a lot more than telekinesis and telepathy. Or was Empathy a subsection of telepathy. Not the time, Jean. Back to the Doctor, Jean didn’t need her newfound empathetic abilities to know how much Dr. Strange wants to shit his pants about this Morrigan thing. He was trembling and his face lost color.
He wasn’t the only one that was affected by that name; the room seemed to get colder the moment Dr. Strange uttered that name. The lights flickered, there was a slight breeze. It was as if the world itself recognized that word.
The Professor seemed to arrive to the same conclusion, so he asked, “As in the Celtic Deity of Death? That Morrigan?”
The former neurosurgeon shook his head, “No. Well, yes but also no, at the same time.”
Logan growled, “You better explain, Bub.”
Dr. Strange sighed, “The Morrigan is something that has existed since recorded history, maybe even before. All we know that she has been alive since Atlantis itself. We don’t know much about her, except that wherever she goes, Death follows. Her name became known when she defeated what I presume is the Norse Goddess of Death, Hela. We don’t know if the Celtics named her Morrigan or that it was her name to begin with. Whatever the case, that name stuck around. That’s the woman you saw fighting Apocalypse. That’s the woman who put these runes on Jean.”
“But why haven’t you done anything about her?” asked the Professor.
Strange chuckled bitterly, “The Morrigan is not just any old woman. She is unseen, silent, unpredictable. She is one with the shadows themselves. She is the living embodiment Death, or at least, the closest thing to Death there can be on a planet.”
“If you can’t kill her, then imprison her…” Logan grunted.
“Imprison who, exactly. She changes faces like you would change the clothes on your back. She is one of the main reasons humans are where they are now. She has guided humanity, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, doing her best to preserve the fragile balance that is our reality. She has gone by many names, most of which you’ll recognize as they changed the world. Wadjet, Medusa, Morgan Le Fey and so many more. She was even part of our order for centuries without anyone knowing it. She went by the name ‘Hecate’ then and to make it worse, she became the Sorcerer Supreme for a while before abdicating her position. And while she has mostly killed horrible people who definitely deserve it, she tends to completely eradicate the problem if she chooses to fight. And even by some miracle, we found her, what are we supposed to do? We do nothing because we can do nothing against someone of that caliber.”
Jean didn’t understand what he was talking about. It was confusing, “So is she a good person or not?”
“We have no idea. That’s the worst part.” At her confused look he continued, “Let me give you an example, a couple of centuries ago, some group of idiots tried to summon demons to take over the world. Standard stuff for us Sorcerers. Except this time, one of them got possessed by a Realm Lord. I won’t go into specifics but Realm Lords are immensely powerful demons who rule over regular demons. This happened in a small village in central Africa. It could have been disastrous and almost our entire order readied itself to fight a battle where they knew many of them wouldn’t survive. But when they came to confront the demons, they found nothing. And I mean nothing. The breach was sealed, and the village was standing but there wasn’t a single soul alive. Not the summoners nor the villagers. There were no signs of Demons. There was nothing but ash and sand. This is the Morrigan. It’s an entity that has committed genocides to protect mankind.”
Jean looked horrified by the tale, “That thing touched me? It talked to me?”
Dr. Strange’s eyes widened, “She spoke to you? Like with a voice? What did she say?”
“I don’t remember really. Something about me being too young, I think. I’m not sure. I have trouble remembering anything when I went berserk.”
“This is astounding! There have been no reports of the Morrigan speaking. Though I wonder why she directly confronted Apocalypse. As far as I know, she prefers to manipulate people into destroying themselves, choosing to directly fight only when she thinks it’s necessary. Apocalypse shouldn’t be enough for her to come by herself and directly fight him. I’m not being arrogant when I say that I might have been able to hold him off, and with a good team of sorcerers, we could easily take care of him. By all means, this should be under the Morrigan’s radar but for some reason, she was there. The only thing I can think off that would interest her would be Jean. It’s already a miracle that the Morrigan didn’t kill any of you off but the fact that she has interest in Jean is worrying.”
The Professor spoke up, “Is there a possibility that Jean’s bindings could be sabotaged by someone like that?”
The former neurosurgeon shook his head, “Trust me, if she wants something, there’s very little you and I could do to stop her. But the runes are not hidden so I could understand their purpose. They are not to harm Jean in any way.”
“Perhaps it would be prudent to remove the runes and put back my bindings on Jean.” The Professor suggested.
The redhead almost snarled at the
Dr. Strange chuckled, “Believe me when I say that removing the runes is riskier than just leaving them. The runes are more than just physical words, Charles. They have been intertwining with her powers. To forcibly remove them, is to remove the girl’s powers which would kill her immediately.”
Jean sighed in relief and the Doctor hummed for a second, then righted himself, “Wait a minute, did you just say that you put up bindings on her. How did you do that?”
“I just put some mental blocks on her powers as to avoid overwhelming her.”
The former neurosurgeon roared in anger, “YOU DID WHAT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, CHARLES? THIS ISN’T A GAME. YOU NEVER PUT MENTAL BINDINGS ON A TELEPATH. YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER; YOU COULD HAVE CAUSED HER MIND TO BREAK. FOR FUCK’S SAKE CHARLES, IT’S A MIRACLE SHE’S NOT BRAIN DEAD.”
“But…” The Professor protested.
“No buts Charles. A telepath is deeply connected to their mind. For you to manipulate it, especially during their development years is twisting their own mind against them. The fact that she didn’t go insane is fucking miraculous. You’re very lucky, Charles. Someone as powerful as her could cause a lot of harm if they go crazy.”
“I didn’t know…” The Professor whispered.
“EXACTLY! YOU DIDN’T KNOW. SO, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS? TO DESTROY THE LIFE OF A GIRL OVER NOTHING.” The Doctor sighed, “You could have asked me for help. You know that some of our sorcerers specialize in Psionic Energy manipulation. But you chose to do something that could have endangered so many lives.”
The Professor looked like he wanted to argue but he stayed silent after a vicious look from Dr. Strange. The Doctor turned around and face Jean, “Can I take a look at you. To make sure that you’re alright.”
Jean nodded stupefied. This was the first time anyone took her side on an argument with the Professor. Everyone always supported him. It was as if he could do no wrong and it pissed her off. She was proof that the man could mess up massively.
The Doctor put his hand on her chest and suddenly, Jean was outside her body. She was there yet not. She looked around her and found her body falling into the ground but the Doctor had his arms around her, as if he’s in the middle of catching her. Time moved slowly, as if the world around her was a movie playing in slow motion. The redhead looked on the ground and found out that she was floating. She raised her hand and found out that she could see through them. What was happening? Before she could make up any theories, she was pulled towards her body and time returned to normal.
“What the hell was that?” Jean exclaimed.
The Doctor chuckled, “I pulled your astral form out of your physical form. You’ll be able to do it yourself when you properly learn to control your powers. Your identity itself is represented in your astral form. I can see any damages to your psyche by getting a good look at it.”
“And?”
“There are some scars but they’re rapidly healing. It’s probably the runes giving you a boost. You had problems with your self identity, right?”
Jean nodded, “I sort of subconsciously picked up all the thoughts around me and tried to do them.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I can say for certain that your mind is in fact yours now. The only worrying thing is the repressed emotions. You’ll have to deal with it yourself.”
Jean sighed in relief, “Anything else?”
“Actually yes. There’s something inside of you. Something outside your powers. It’s extremely powerful. I have no idea what it was but it’s properly why the Morrigan was interested in you. The runes act as some sort of barrier between you and that power so she definitely knows what it is.”
Jean smiled at the doctor, “About the Morrigan, Doctor, is there a way you could contact her for me?”
“I have no idea how to do that but I’ll ask the sorcerer supreme if she could.”
“Thank you for your help, Doctor.”
The former neurosurgeon smiled kindly at her, “Don’t worry about it, kiddo. If you ever need help to train your powers, let me know.” He then looked at the Professor, “Charles, if you ever do something like that again, we will have problems.”
The Professor nodded sadly, “Goodbye, Stephen.”
The ride back to the mansion was silent and Jean was deep in thought. The Morrigan occupied her mind. She was seeing flashes of the battle back in Egypt. Everything was still fuzzy but one thing was for certain, the Morrigan left an impression. She remembered the voice. She remembered that it was kind. Not at all the image of the ruthless monster that the Doctor alluded into. But what was weird was the fact that the voice was familiar somehow. Like she had heard it before. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
Then suddenly, she remembered the conversation with Ms. Sayre. The woman had been terrifying in the end but she had helped her discover what had happened to her. The redhead’s history teacher seemed to know far more about Jean’s condition than she should. Even more than one of the most knowledgeable sorcerers in the world. And her voice was almost similar to the one she heard in Egypt.
Could it be? Could Ms. Sayre have been the Morrigan all along?
Chapter 100: Finding Out
2nd September 2005, New York City
(Jean POV)
Dr. Strange hummed thoughtfully, “The Wadjet. An old Egyptian Goddess, if I remember correctly. The Goddess of serpents and Magic. Here let me check for a second. My master, the Ancient One, has notes dating back to Atlantis. There should be one about Wadjet somewhere.”
He raised his hand and an orange portal appeared. He put his hand in and got a book from inside. He closed the portal and opened it. He rifled through the book until he found the page, “Ah, here it is, the Wadjet.”
Suddenly, the man paled in fear and his scarred hands started to shake, he muttered a single word in a terrified tone, “Morrigan.”
Jean could somehow sense his fear. Not by looking at him but there was something coming off him that she instinctively recognized as fear. Huh, she didn’t know she was an empath. Seems like her powers are a lot more than telekinesis and telepathy. Or was Empathy a subsection of telepathy. Not the time, Jean. Back to the Doctor, Jean didn’t need her newfound empathetic abilities to know how much Dr. Strange wants to shit his pants about this Morrigan thing. He was trembling and his face lost color.
He wasn’t the only one that was affected by that name; the room seemed to get colder the moment Dr. Strange uttered that name. The lights flickered, there was a slight breeze. It was as if the world itself recognized that word.
The Professor seemed to arrive to the same conclusion, so he asked, “As in the Celtic Deity of Death? That Morrigan?”
The former neurosurgeon shook his head, “No. Well, yes but also no, at the same time.”
Logan growled, “You better explain, Bub.”
Dr. Strange sighed, “The Morrigan is something that has existed since recorded history, maybe even before. All we know that she has been alive since Atlantis itself. We don’t know much about her, except that wherever she goes, Death follows. Her name became known when she defeated what I presume is the Norse Goddess of Death, Hela. We don’t know if the Celtics named her Morrigan or that it was her name to begin with. Whatever the case, that name stuck around. That’s the woman you saw fighting Apocalypse. That’s the woman who put these runes on Jean.”
“But why haven’t you done anything about her?” asked the Professor.
Strange chuckled bitterly, “The Morrigan is not just any old woman. She is unseen, silent, unpredictable. She is one with the shadows themselves. She is the living embodiment Death, or at least, the closest thing to Death there can be on a planet.”
“If you can’t kill her, then imprison her…” Logan grunted.
“Imprison who, exactly. She changes faces like you would change the clothes on your back. She is one of the main reasons humans are where they are now. She has guided humanity, sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly, doing her best to preserve the fragile balance that is our reality. She has gone by many names, most of which you’ll recognize as they changed the world. Wadjet, Medusa, Morgan Le Fey and so many more. She was even part of our order for centuries without anyone knowing it. She went by the name ‘Hecate’ then and to make it worse, she became the Sorcerer Supreme for a while before abdicating her position. And while she has mostly killed horrible people who definitely deserve it, she tends to completely eradicate the problem if she chooses to fight. And even by some miracle, we found her, what are we supposed to do? We do nothing because we can do nothing against someone of that caliber.”
Jean didn’t understand what he was talking about. It was confusing, “So is she a good person or not?”
“We have no idea. That’s the worst part.” At her confused look he continued, “Let me give you an example, a couple of centuries ago, some group of idiots tried to summon demons to take over the world. Standard stuff for us Sorcerers. Except this time, one of them got possessed by a Realm Lord. I won’t go into specifics but Realm Lords are immensely powerful demons who rule over regular demons. This happened in a small village in central Africa. It could have been disastrous and almost our entire order readied itself to fight a battle where they knew many of them wouldn’t survive. But when they came to confront the demons, they found nothing. And I mean nothing. The breach was sealed, and the village was standing but there wasn’t a single soul alive. Not the summoners nor the villagers. There were no signs of Demons. There was nothing but ash and sand. This is the Morrigan. It’s an entity that has committed genocides to protect mankind.”
Jean looked horrified by the tale, “That thing touched me? It talked to me?”
Dr. Strange’s eyes widened, “She spoke to you? Like with a voice? What did she say?”
“I don’t remember really. Something about me being too young, I think. I’m not sure. I have trouble remembering anything when I went berserk.”
“This is astounding! There have been no reports of the Morrigan speaking. Though I wonder why she directly confronted Apocalypse. As far as I know, she prefers to manipulate people into destroying themselves, choosing to directly fight only when she thinks it’s necessary. Apocalypse shouldn’t be enough for her to come by herself and directly fight him. I’m not being arrogant when I say that I might have been able to hold him off, and with a good team of sorcerers, we could easily take care of him. By all means, this should be under the Morrigan’s radar but for some reason, she was there. The only thing I can think off that would interest her would be Jean. It’s already a miracle that the Morrigan didn’t kill any of you off but the fact that she has interest in Jean is worrying.”
The Professor spoke up, “Is there a possibility that Jean’s bindings could be sabotaged by someone like that?”
The former neurosurgeon shook his head, “Trust me, if she wants something, there’s very little you and I could do to stop her. But the runes are not hidden so I could understand their purpose. They are not to harm Jean in any way.”
“Perhaps it would be prudent to remove the runes and put back my bindings on Jean.” The Professor suggested.
The redhead almost snarled at the
Dr. Strange chuckled, “Believe me when I say that removing the runes is riskier than just leaving them. The runes are more than just physical words, Charles. They have been intertwining with her powers. To forcibly remove them, is to remove the girl’s powers which would kill her immediately.”
Jean sighed in relief and the Doctor hummed for a second, then righted himself, “Wait a minute, did you just say that you put up bindings on her. How did you do that?”
“I just put some mental blocks on her powers as to avoid overwhelming her.”
The former neurosurgeon roared in anger, “YOU DID WHAT? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND, CHARLES? THIS ISN’T A GAME. YOU NEVER PUT MENTAL BINDINGS ON A TELEPATH. YOU COULD HAVE KILLED HER; YOU COULD HAVE CAUSED HER MIND TO BREAK. FOR FUCK’S SAKE CHARLES, IT’S A MIRACLE SHE’S NOT BRAIN DEAD.”
“But…” The Professor protested.
“No buts Charles. A telepath is deeply connected to their mind. For you to manipulate it, especially during their development years is twisting their own mind against them. The fact that she didn’t go insane is fucking miraculous. You’re very lucky, Charles. Someone as powerful as her could cause a lot of harm if they go crazy.”
“I didn’t know…” The Professor whispered.
“EXACTLY! YOU DIDN’T KNOW. SO, WHAT GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS? TO DESTROY THE LIFE OF A GIRL OVER NOTHING.” The Doctor sighed, “You could have asked me for help. You know that some of our sorcerers specialize in Psionic Energy manipulation. But you chose to do something that could have endangered so many lives.”
The Professor looked like he wanted to argue but he stayed silent after a vicious look from Dr. Strange. The Doctor turned around and face Jean, “Can I take a look at you. To make sure that you’re alright.”
Jean nodded stupefied. This was the first time anyone took her side on an argument with the Professor. Everyone always supported him. It was as if he could do no wrong and it pissed her off. She was proof that the man could mess up massively.
The Doctor put his hand on her chest and suddenly, Jean was outside her body. She was there yet not. She looked around her and found her body falling into the ground but the Doctor had his arms around her, as if he’s in the middle of catching her. Time moved slowly, as if the world around her was a movie playing in slow motion. The redhead looked on the ground and found out that she was floating. She raised her hand and found out that she could see through them. What was happening? Before she could make up any theories, she was pulled towards her body and time returned to normal.
“What the hell was that?” Jean exclaimed.
The Doctor chuckled, “I pulled your astral form out of your physical form. You’ll be able to do it yourself when you properly learn to control your powers. Your identity itself is represented in your astral form. I can see any damages to your psyche by getting a good look at it.”
“And?”
“There are some scars but they’re rapidly healing. It’s probably the runes giving you a boost. You had problems with your self identity, right?”
Jean nodded, “I sort of subconsciously picked up all the thoughts around me and tried to do them.”
“You don’t have to worry about that anymore. I can say for certain that your mind is in fact yours now. The only worrying thing is the repressed emotions. You’ll have to deal with it yourself.”
Jean sighed in relief, “Anything else?”
“Actually yes. There’s something inside of you. Something outside your powers. It’s extremely powerful. I have no idea what it was but it’s properly why the Morrigan was interested in you. The runes act as some sort of barrier between you and that power so she definitely knows what it is.”
Jean smiled at the doctor, “About the Morrigan, Doctor, is there a way you could contact her for me?”
“I have no idea how to do that but I’ll ask the sorcerer supreme if she could.”
“Thank you for your help, Doctor.”
The former neurosurgeon smiled kindly at her, “Don’t worry about it, kiddo. If you ever need help to train your powers, let me know.” He then looked at the Professor, “Charles, if you ever do something like that again, we will have problems.”
The Professor nodded sadly, “Goodbye, Stephen.”
The ride back to the mansion was silent and Jean was deep in thought. The Morrigan occupied her mind. She was seeing flashes of the battle back in Egypt. Everything was still fuzzy but one thing was for certain, the Morrigan left an impression. She remembered the voice. She remembered that it was kind. Not at all the image of the ruthless monster that the Doctor alluded into. But what was weird was the fact that the voice was familiar somehow. Like she had heard it before. She couldn’t put her finger on it.
Then suddenly, she remembered the conversation with Ms. Sayre. The woman had been terrifying in the end but she had helped her discover what had happened to her. The redhead’s history teacher seemed to know far more about Jean’s condition than she should. Even more than one of the most knowledgeable sorcerers in the world. And her voice was almost similar to the one she heard in Egypt.
Could it be? Could Ms. Sayre have been the Morrigan all along?
