The Valiant (The Seventh Avenger)

Chapter 67

Most of the Asgardians are on the ship, but the army keeps coming. Bodies of theirs lie burned with purple and stabbed but they keep coming. My arms and legs burn and I can feel my energy diminishing with each punch and kick I make but they keep coming. Five come at me at once and I muster the energy and create a ball of flame and release it to the center of them, but I miss one.

My leg sears with pain as a spear pierces its way into its side and I cry out before losing my balance and falling. My body hits the ground and I grab onto my leg to close the gash. My vision moves in and out but... but I... but I need to muster the energy to protect them. Green glow surrounds my fingertips and I direct it to the wound and turn it counter-clockwise.

My vision slowly returns and the ringing in my ears lessen, the view returns and quickly disappears with light and a loud crack of thunder. I look up to find Thor flying down towards us, lightning bursting from his arms and his eye glowing. The army redirects their attention to Thor and arms pull me up. With my leg not fully back to normal yet, I limp towards Thor and continue to undo the spear.

A voice twiddles into my mind and I focus onto it. I've always ignored it, but something just feels right about listening to it now. I slow down time and reach out to the voice in my mind. Soon it becomes whispers and grows into a voice repeating one sentence.

Time is a delicate that is not to be messed with.

These words echo in and out of my mind in a man's voice, I reach further out to it. Finding barriers that try to block me, but I plow right through them. I find myself at the last one, millions of thoughts fill my mind like what would happen if I break through it and what if I'm killed? The thoughts get pushed away and I reach out and touch the wall.

Winds surround me and I find myself in a new scene. Bookshelves and artifacts replace the bridge and the creatures.

"Agerathea Almoradea." I twist around to find the silhouette of a man over the circular window in the back of the room. The man floats towards me until I find myself face to face with him. A long red cloak flows off his shoulders and goes well with the blue of his costume, but that's not what catches my eye. The necklace around his neck does though, I can't help but not move my attention away from it.

"Ah, I see the Eye of Agamotto has caught your attention, it does, of course, make sense since you have the ability of what lies inside it." How does he know about the Infinity Stones? What is the Eye of Agamotto? All these questions replace the thoughts I had previously, but one really sticks out.

"How do you know I have the ability of the Infinity Stones and who are you?" This man knows too much about me. My maiden name was released to the public two years ago, but it did not go into this much detail. It never explained what my abilities were nor did it show I clear picture of me.

"I am Dr. Strange, Sorcerer Supreme and I am the holder of the artifact Eye of Agamotto. By holding this rank, I have the ability to keep an eye on threats throughout the universe," Strange says to me. "And I have been wanting to meet you for a long time."

"Wait, so I'm a threat now?" I ask and Strange just nods his head. Millions of memories flow through my mind trying to figure out what I had done to make him think like this.

"Ever since you first manipulated time, you have been a threat," he continues, "time is an essence that should never be controlled or manipulated unless it is absolutely necessary. It could create branches in time, unstable dimensional openings, spacial paradoxes, loops. It could allow creatures from other dimensions to take over the world."

"Okay," the word hangs in the air for a moment before I make eye contact with him again. "Is that why you have been wanting to meet with me?"

With this, Strange just shakes his head. My heart drops into thinking he was here to really kill me, to take care of me so I won't manipulate time. Strange looks up at me, his eyes wide and begins to shake his head more intensely.