Ace was suddenly in a chair in a room that seemed much more Eastern than New York. He looked around and saw the bald woman from a few years ago! It was hard to forget her, she was the only magical bald woman Ace knew!
He cleared his throat and said "Hello?" the woman smiled at him and said "Yes, Ace Brand, how have you been since we last met?" as she handed him tea. Ace held the tea and replied "Uh, well, good! I'm here to study magic."
The woman smiled and sat down "Surely, otherwise you wouldn't be here. How was Hogwarts?" Ace froze as the woman sipped her tea while looking at him. He asked in wonder "How did you-" the woman waved and replied "A friend told me, at any rate, we can teach you magic, but these powers come with responsibilities."
Ace looked around at the mages walking around and asked incredulously "It's not… celibacy?!" The woman nearly spit out her tea and cleared her throat, "No… Mr. Brand the responsibility is protecting our reality from Mystic threats."
Ace was dumbfounded and asked "Excuse me… what?" The woman pursed her lips and muttered to herself "Maybe I should just show you…" before pressing her thumb on Ace's forehead.
Ace felt himself getting blasted out of his body and before he knew it he was floating around in space while the woman spoke in his mind, "This is only one of an infinite number of realities."
Ace was dazzled and he asked "Does that mean magic is infinite?" The woman paused and Ace returned from his universal journey to his body. She smiled gently at him, saying "I'm starting to like you."
Ace was breathing quickly with a flushed face of excitement as he was blasted into the universe again.
He traveled through multiple dimensions, realms, and galaxies.
He saw dozens of civilizations full of technology and magic.
He was enthralled, there was no fear in his eyes, only the excitement at the revelation that magic never ends!
When Ace returned to his body, he was more than excited, asking "When do we start!" The woman smiled at him and said "For now, you'll practice with Wong." Ace turned his head and saw a husky asian man, say "Yes, Ancient One." before turning to Ace and saying flatly "Come with me."
Ace grabbed his duffle bag and chased after Wong, forgetting to even say thanks to the Ancient One.
Ancient One chuckled to herself and wondered how long it had been since someone this loving of magic itself was at Kamar-Taj.
Wong brought Ace to his room, explaining on the way "Your robes are placed on the bed and practice starts early in the morning, around 5:30." Ace looked at the small room and dropped his duffle bag, turning back to Wong as he asked excitedly "Where's the library?"
Wong looked at him strangely and asked "You want to be a librarian? Who would want to be a librarian?" Ace blinked at him replying "Huh? I just want to see…" Wong shook his head and said "Well, you'll figure it out, Mr. Librarian. Good Luck." before walking away.
Ace felt a breeze hit his face as he was dumbfounded by Wong's casual attitude.
Just because he wanted to know where the library was…
The next morning
Ace was standing in a courtyard wearing normal clothes, looking around in confusion as people stood in rows making circles with their hands. He didn't quite understand anything that was going on and he didn't really know where he was supposed to be!
Wong sort of just left him!
As Ace was wandering Kamar-Taj mindlessly, he bumped into a handsome man with a ponytail. The man looked at him and asked "Can I help you?" Ace patted his shirt and looked at the man, saying "Erm… Sorry about that. I'm new here, do you know where Wong is?"
The man looked Ace up and down before asking "You're the new apprentice from the outside world?" Ace nodded happily and started talking "Well originally I was a performing magician! Although the job went belly up after I exposed corporate secrets to the world and siphoned money from a rich man's bank account…"
The man looked at Ace with a straight face as Ace chatted on endlessly until finally the man said "Wong is in Courtyard B." before walking away with hurried steps. Ace paused and turned his head shouting "Hey wait! I didn't get to the part where I fought a ghost!"
The man sped up a bit and disappeared behind a corner, making Ace sigh. He muttered "People nowadays…" as he turned around, the Ancient One was smiling at him, fanning herself.
Ace jolted his body and gasped before patting his chest and saying "You almost gave me a heart attack!" the Ancient One snorted gently, saying "You truly never stop talking, it's quite incredible!" Ace looked at the Ancient One with a hurt face, asking "You're very rude."
The Ancient One hummed with her mouth closed before asking "Shouldn't you be with Wong?" Ace was distracted and replied "That's the thing! He never told me where and I can't find him. I never even got a tour so I'm a bit lost…" The Ancient One snapped her fan shut and smiled "Come with me."
Ace followed the Ancient One as they walked through Kamar-Taj, eventually reaching a room with glass cases.
Ace's eyes lit up and he looked around at everything, saying incredulously "These are all Magical Artifacts!? Who made them!?" The Ancient One looked at him and responded "Various Mages have created the Artifacts you see before you. Some are from other dimensions, some are from the vastest out reaches of space, some are even from the infinite multiverse."
She fanned herself and stood next to Ace as he inspected an Urn with faces on it, "Most Artifacts can grant one the power to eradicate even the most powerful of foes in an instant. Should someone need revenge they can be a tool to achieve that goal as fast as possible…"
She side eyed Ace as his movements paused for a moment. He looked at the Urn, asking "What does this do?" The Ancient One looked at the Urn before explaining "The Urn of Souls can siphon the soul of any being granted that they are not strong enough to stop it. The Souls are then burned inside the Urn, it's a demonic item."
She paused for a moment before smiling "We teach tranquility of the mind to strengthen the soul here at Kamar-Taj because of this Urn. It once made quite the mess!" Ace looked at the Urn and thought about what he could do with it.
Nevermind the Eye, even Voldemort wouldn't be a problem at that point…
The Ancient One glanced at him, asking with a tempting tone, "Do you desire revenge on the Eye, Ace? Any Artifact here could make you a god to the people of this world…"
Ace stared at the Urn in a trance thinking of his revenge against the Eye that betrayed him… Even 'Kate' who turned on him…
But the more he thought of it, the sadder he got…
He thought of the fun times he and Kate had, the year that they had been together was one of the best moments in his life, even now he still had her at the back of his mind.
As for revenge on the Eye…
Ace sighed and shook his head, the Ancient One raised her brows and asked "You don't wish for revenge?" Ace looked at the Urn and replied in a quiet voice "There's no point in revenge anymore. The Eye helped me when I was an orphan on the streets only because of a father I never knew. Plus…" he closed his mouth and fell silent.
The Ancient One fanned herself and smiled gently, "Seems like love is indeed a great motivator to change for the better." Ace furrowed his brows and the Ancient One changed the topic, walking through the cases, "I've thought about it, it seems that putting Wong in charge of your training was a bit premature. Follow me."
Ace followed the Ancient One while looking at the Artifacts all around the room. His eyes glanced past a cloak and landed on a stack of papers along with a box and a loom.
He stopped and looked at the papers curiously, asking "What are these?"
The Ancient One stopped and tilted her head, looking at Ace as she asked "Why?" Ace looked at the papers and replied "They look strange and feel strange…" the Ancient One walked over and explained "These are the Pages of Fate."
Ace turned his head to the Ancient One and pointed to the box and loom as she explained simply "The Box of Darkness and the Loom of Fate." Ace turned back and muttered "So weird! What do they do?"
The Ancient One didn't reply this time, only walking away, saying "Come along now, Ace. Show me what you've learned in this past year." Ace looked at the Ancient One's back before turning back to the 3 Artifacts until he finally followed after her reluctantly.
As he left the room, the pages fluttered, the box jolted, and the loom whirred before quickly calming down. Interestingly, the cloak turned to the 3 artifacts before turning to the door and calming back down again…