In MCU with One for All -Chapter 6

Disclaimer - All the usual Yada Yada Yada. I don’t own any rights to any characters in this fic save for my OCs. Marvel owns them. Don’t sue me

Earth - 16969 [MCU AU]

The Forest of Perseverance, Kamar Taj [2008]

–Master Wong–

“Who is he?” Master Hamir questioned the Ancient One, who had joined both of them once all the Masters in Kamar Taj realized that there was someone taking the test of the Forest of Perseverance without an audience. By now, he was used to the mute Master using his exceptional control over dimensional energy to create sound using subtle vibrations made in the air by expelling Dimensional energy in controlled bursts.

He couldn’t even begin to fathom about the level of precise control required for that and the ease with which he does it, to do it as a second nature. It was beyond him and he suspected most Masters of Kamar Taj. Speaking of the other Masters, he expected many of them to come join them soon enough, for the first test in the Forest of Perseverance of this decade.

Normally, it was reserved for individuals who wanted to join Kamar Taj as a penance, a way of weeding out the unmotivated individuals who were better suited elsewhere or in some rare cases, to shine a light on the exceptional individuals who would go on to become pillars of Kamar Taj.

No matter the reason for the test, it was usually overseen by two or more Masters because of its dangerous nature. The Forest of Perseverance targeted not just the mind and body of the person being tested but also their very soul. It pulled out their deepest desires, fears, and nightmares and made them real.

It forced them to either flee them or face them, just that there was only so much running one could do before they had to stop, and that was when the Forest of Perseverance jumped on them. It was a cursed relic, forcibly taken from one of the Dark Sorcerers of the Old, millenia old, and had been collecting dust in the Relics Archive when the Ancient One pulled it out, seeing a use for something that was just withering away with time.

With a little tinkering here and there, the Ancient One had turned something whose sole purpose was to trap intruders and attack them mentally in the most gruesome of ways into a test, of willpower, of grit, and of the soul, to see if an individual had the potential to become one of the strongest Masters.

Every single Sanctum Master of Kamar Taj, all three of them, had passed the test of the Forest of Perseverance, as a way of gaining credibility, to silence any voice that could have spoken against them as their appointment at the incredibly honored post as the Sanctum Master, as Sanctum Masters get priority resources and teaching from the Ancient One herself, which is invaluable for anyone who has reached a plateau and wanted to advance further in either their studies or in strength. Either way, getting personal guidance from the Ancient One was literally the key to reaching one’s full potential.

After almost a minute of silence as they watched Jamie Bell, the newest recruit of Kamar Taj, bought in personally by the Ancient One, continue to run in a straight line, the Ancient One spoke. 

“He is someone different. Someone chosen and yet, not blessed. Not cursed or judged. Someone out of the realms of fate and yet, beholden to something infinitely weaker.”

He knew, they all knew really that someone bought in personally by the Ancient One would be someone special but over the course of the week that Jamie has been in Kamar Taj, he did not show anything special when it came to Sorcery so most of them gave up and resumed their duties.

There was silence in the chamber as they all watched Jamie finally stumble and come to a stop, after a whopping 7 hours of continuous running, since the Forest of Perseverance ran at a time dilation of 7:1 with the real world.

The moment that happened, he could feel the collective interest in the room sharpen as the first test finally began. The nightmare situation, with a guaranteed loss scenario.

The projection changed to show….New York?

His eyes widened as he saw a portal in the sky, spewing out aliens?

“What are those? Not Demons. Not the Dark Ones.” He heard the whispering from some of the younger Masters as flying Whales came out of the sky, bearing down death and destruction on an already destroyed city.

Before he could question anything, he saw Jamie look at something. A family, looking for help.

Jamie froze for a bit before he ran towards them with all his might. He closed his eyes as the haunting sound reverbed in the room, which was now filled with more and more Masters, all of whom were already available in Kamar Taj.

Then came the anger. The Forest also acted as an insidious enchantment that brought forth the negative emotions of anger, rage, despair, and hopelessness. 

“Is that?” Master Hamir whispered, which was heard by everyone. He looked where Master Hamir was pointing and his eyes narrowed as he recognised something.

“Yes, that is the Chi Reaper, something that I thought to be the best fit for him.” The Ancient One commented and his gaze snapped to the projection as he watched Jamie unconsciously channel CHI into it and then use that for a mad dash at the nearest alien.

“But!” There was the predictable outrage, “That artifact was deemed dangerous due to its tendency to overdraw on a single person’s CHI reserves, making it unsuitable for battle.” Someone commented from the back and he nodded.

He read about it in the Relic Archives section. The Chi Reaper, aptly named, was one of the many artifacts deemed too dangerous to be used by Masters and was stored safely in the long term storage section. It had a tendency to dull the user’s senses, leading to many cases of CHI overdraw which was not pretty.

One could not really recover from CHI overdraw, only mitigate some of the worse symptoms. More often than not, it led to the Masters being retired from active duty, hence the dangerous tag on it, because Masters inherently had more CHI than normal humans and he read about a recorded incident about the relic draining a Master Dry in exchange for allowing him to kill every single one of his enemies after he was trapped in an anti Dimensional Energy trap.

All of that chatter was cut through with a single question by Master Hamir, “How is he still alive?”

Suddenly, there was silence in the room as everyone looked back at the Projection which showed Jamie still standing and attacking the alien without any noticeable damage. Instead, he was somehow attacking the alien with electricity?

What was going on here?

Sadly, those questions were left unanswered as nobody was courageous enough to ask the Ancient One, not when she was laser focused on the test.