Saying goodbye to his grandpa, Liam left his house and headed to the nearby train station. The cool air calmed him down a little, but his mind was focused on the future. 'Would she attack me for being a threat to the timeline?' he wondered again. 'I doubt she can see my past life, but what if she could?'
Liam didn't believe The Ancient One was evil. She might have been drawing power from the Dark Dimension to extend her life, but from what he remembered, her goal wasn't just to live longer. It was to wait for a proper successor.
'Even if it's dangerous, I have to go,' he thought. 'I need to grow stronger, or I could be killed in the future battles. I can only keep Incursio active for about five minutes and five seconds while 5 seconds is a good improvement for a week of barely training —that's nowhere near enough.' Liam frowned. 'There will be literal wars in the future that last for hours. What am I going to do when Incursio wears off? Just sit there and pray? Or worse, run away while others put their lives on the line?'
Liam didn't want that. 'I don't want to be a neighborhood Spider-Man, stopping petty crimes. But in a war with thousands of lives at risk, my moral compass won't let me sit by.' There was also the undeniable fact that real growth happened in life-or-death battles.
His thoughts shifted to Incursio. 'If I remember correctly, Incursio absorbs energy from its opponents to evolve. But how does that work exactly?' He gazed out of the train window at the passing buildings. 'Is it regular energy, or something specific like the Imperial Arts? And what would that mean for me? Could I unlock new abilities?'
More questions kept popping up, but he had no answers. His mind then shifted to the events of the future. 'In about two and a half months, Tony Stark will escape with the Mark 1 suit. That will start the rise of Iron Man. After that, Obadiah will steal the arc reactor, and Tony will kill him. But that's just the beginning…'
Liam's heartbeat quickened as he mapped out the key events. 'The Hulk and Abomination will fight in Harlem in about a year and a half. That'll be the first major disaster. But after that…' He paused. 'After that comes Thor. That might actually be a good thing. If I befriend Thor and his people, maybe I could even train my spear skills under Sif's guidance.'
After getting off the train, Liam had to walk a few more minutes to reach 177A Bleecker Street—the New York Sanctum. As the building came into view, Liam's heart raced. 'This is it,' he thought, stopping in front of the doors.
For a moment, Liam hesitated. This was The Ancient One he was about to meet. A being hundreds of years old, one of the strongest in the universe. Someone who had kept Multiversal threats at bay. The Ancient One is rumored to be one of the reasons why Thanos didn't come down to Earth earlier.
Before he could answer his own doubts, a voice sent shivers down his spine. "Aren't you going to come in, Liam?" it said softly, yet the sudden voice made his blood freeze.
Startled, Liam instinctively summoned Incursio. The armor wrapped around him and he summoned Neontote, but something was wrong. He glanced around and realized the streets had become eerily empty. 'Wait… this is… the Mirror Dimension,' he realized.
"Ancient One?" Liam called out cautiously, still unable to locate the source of the voice. His heart pounded as his eyes scanned the altered surroundings, but he could see no one. "Are you the Ancient One?" he asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt.
A soft chuckle echoed through the air. "You've come seeking answers, haven't you? But first, I wonder… what do you think you are capable of, young Liam?" The voice was calm, almost playful.
Before Liam could respond, his instincts screamed at him—MOVE! He attempted to dodge, but it was too late. A blow struck him so hard that it sent him reeling. But something was off. His body continued moving, defending itself with almost perfect precision, even without his direct control. His vision blurred, and then suddenly, he realized he was outside of his own body, watching it fight.
'What the…?' Liam thought, stunned, as his soul observed his own body fighting The Ancient One. His strikes were faster, more powerful than he had ever managed on his own.
However, as Liam observed the fight more closely, he noticed something. His movements were strong, but lacked precision—there was no real technique, no control, just raw, unrefined power being thrown around. 'It's like a beast is fighting,' he thought, as his body clashed with the Ancient One.
Distracted by the sight of the fight, Liam's attention wandered to the strange surroundings of the Mirror Dimension. It looked delicate, as if made from paper-thin glass, yet he instinctively felt that it was unbreakable. The surreal landscape made him feel as if reality itself was twisted.
Suddenly, the Ancient One's voice pulled him back to the battle.
"Interesting," The Ancient One mused. Liam could hear her amusement, but also a deep, calculating tone behind her words. "Your soul, separate from your body, and yet it still fights… this armor, it's fascinating."
Before Liam could respond or process what was happening, he felt a pull—his soul was being sucked back into his body. There was a brief, intense flash of pain, and then everything went black.
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Thank you for reading so far, quick question>
Do you want a single love interest, more or none?
P.S. You can also suggest other characters, I would have to see if it fits with what I have in mind.