Marvel-ous Ninjutsu

00006. First birthday.

It had been almost a year since the future had become cloudy and uncertain for the current Sorcerer Supreme. All of the current masters of the mystic arts have been searching for any hint of what could have caused the issue, but so far they have found nothing at all. It has become a pressing concern for all of them, the longer it’s gone on.

Currently seated in her room was the Sorcerer Supreme, holding the Eye of Agamotto. A green glow was radiating around her as she looked through possible futures. Although most of it was clouded up and hard to see, she could still see glimpses of what might happen. So she would persist and spend a few hours a day looking for any clue she could get.

All around her were quick flashes of what might happen, obscured mostly by thick clouds of dark fog. As she looked from one image to the next, she kept looking for anything that she hadn’t seen before her visions of the future were clouded over. It was a long and tiring task and so far she had found nothing again today and was getting close to giving up when she found something new. A man with his back to her was holding up someone by the throat with one hand, there were other people on the ground surrounding the man. The thing that made the Sorcerer Supreme pause was something seemed off about the image she found. The longer she was looking at it the more wrong it felt. As she tried to memorize every detail she could about the image the man turned around to look at her. When the man looked at the Sorcerer Supreme she flinched back in shock and the man smirked before the image disappeared.

Canceling her spell she sat there for a few minutes trying to compose herself. Despite the impossibility, she was positive that the man with those red and black eyes had seen her as she had been observing him. Unsure if it was a good thing she had found a clue, or bad that someone had the power to see her as she browsed possible futures was up in the air. But now that she had a clue she had work that needed to be done. Getting up and walking to her door she opened it and looked to the left at the man sitting there reading a tome.

“Mister Pangborn, I need you to go to each of the Sanctum Masters, Wong, Kaecilius, Mordo, and Hamir. Please ask them to join me tonight around seven for a meeting. I would also ask that you join us.”

The man stood up slowly with the help of the wall and set his tome down on the chair he was using. After grabbing a set of crutches he had to the side he said, “It will be done soon Master.”

“Thank you very much.” She stepped back into her room and the man started to walk down the hallway. Letting out a sigh she walked to her desk and pulled out some writing supplies and started to write down everything she could remember about what she had seen. Once finished with that, she took out some art supplies and made a perfect copy of the man's eyes. When finished she put everything extra away and began to set up a meeting table with cushions and cups placed for all the people she expected to come. Afterwards she sat down, beginning to go over everything she had found and trying to figure out how to compose what she wanted to tell everyone.

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To say my first birthday was memorable would be an understatement. It was a few days after my mother had a talk with Mary and May. The conversation didn't go over that well, at least from the defiant look the three men at my party were wearing. My mother and her friends on the other hand looked to be downright hostile. This little “family” birthday party for me had just started and no one was talking, just staring at each other. Only me and Peter were the only ones enjoying ourselves as far as I could tell.

Peter was sitting next to me looking at a picture book with me. I would say the name of whatever was on the page and he would copy me. Once he said it correctly I would point to each letter and say them, he would copy me afterwards. Once finished we would go to the next page and start over again. It might be simple stuff like apple, bee, and cat. It might also sound boring to someone else, but seeing how quickly he picks up on things is just amazing. I was also using this as a way to distract him from all of our parents acting like brooding teenagers. It took a while, but once we finished the book. I looked up and noticed that everyone had somehow stopped brooding and were looking at me and Peter while smiling.

May was the first to speak as she said, “You know what, I think everything will be alright.”

She looked at the two women next to her and they both nodded back in agreement. Afterward she looked over at her husband and the other two men and said, “I still think it’s a stupid idea, but I think it might work out fine with these two.”

My mother and Mary both shook their heads in agreement, but most of the tension in the room had already faded. Me and Peter were looking at the adults in the room, when my father said, “This is supposed to be a party, let's put some music on and enjoy ourselves.”

Reaching over, my father turned on the radio and the last song just finished. The announcer comes on and says, “Still not sure why that is the current number one song, but the next song is a favorite that everyone is gonna love. This came out as a single about two months ago and will be featured on his debut album coming out in the next week. You should know this as soon as you hear it, so I won’t introduce it.”

The radio cuts out for a second like it was being tuned to a new station, then a beat kicks on, “Hello? I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had a girl who looked good, I would call her.”

As the music began to play, my father reached down and picked me up. Peter was picked up by his father and they took us into the kitchen to check out the birthday cake my father had made. Setting us both down in some high chairs, my father pulled out a decent sized cake from the oven. It was already decked out with a chocolate frosting and a big #1 candle on it. Setting it on the table he looked over at me and said, “Theo, this is your first birthday and we have a tradition. We will sing you happy birthday and once we are done you need to blow out this candle that I will light. But make sure you make a wish and don’t tell anyone what it is, okay?”

I shake my head yes in reply and he lights the candle and everyone but Peter begins to sing, happy birthday. As they get closer to the end of the song I make a silent wish in my heart, “I wish that my son and daughter have a good life.”

After the song finished I blew out the candle and my father began to slice the cake into pieces for everyone. Me and Peter were given the cake with nothing to eat it with. While Peter tried to pretty much ham-fist the whole thing into his mouth in one shot. I took my time and pulled pieces off one at a time until I was done. Peter looked like he had shoved his face and hands into the cake when he was done and I only had a couple of fingers dirty. My father and mother looked a little depressed that I didn’t look like Peter when I was done, but they were happy to get a picture of me and Peter together. From the picture you would never guess I was the birthday boy.

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The current Sorcerer Supreme looked at the people she had gathered together. It was some of the most powerful sorcerers currently alive and a few people who she would need to deal with now that the future was so uncertain.

Looking at her first issue she addressed everyone at the table and said, “I would like to thank you all for coming to this meeting. I know you have questions, but I need to take care of a few things first. Mister Pangborn, how are your studies coming along? How much longer do you think before you can walk or run unassisted?”

The man looked a little shocked at being addressed so suddenly but replied, “I think I will have it mastered in about a year or so.”

“Good, once you have it completely mastered you can go back to your old life. That is what you planned to do, correct?”

Before Pangborn could speak, Mordo started to stand up and speak up when the Ancient One raised a hand and said, “I will answer all of your questions later. Mister Pangborn, if you would.”

“You are correct, once I can walk properly again I was going to leave the order.” He bows his head slightly in shame.

“Head up Mister Pangborn, I already knew you would and I never planned to stop you. I do have a task for you after you leave. It is a simple task that should take time but it won’t interfere with your normal life and you can refuse to accept it if you like.”

Without taking any time to think, Pangborn replied, “I would gladly complete the task for you, if it’s something I can do while I live my normal life.”

The Ancient One smiled and then said, “I thought as much, here I wish for you to let me know if you ever hear about a man with these eyes.”

She raises up the picture she drew of the red eyes with the three black tomes and shows it to everyone before sending it to Pangborn. Once he had it in his hands, she said, “This is not something you need to go out of your way to look for, just while you are out in the world doing your daily life. That will be all for tonight and I thank you for your time Mister Pangborn.”

Pangborn bowed slightly and then said, “Thank you for your time Master.” He looked at everyone else and performed another slight bow and said, “Have a good night everyone.”

It took a minute for him to get up and leave the room but after he had left, Mordo was the first to speak and said, “We just let him leave the order with what he knows Master?”

“Yes we do. I already saw what he was going to do long before he was even born. While I know how you feel about natural balance and what I have taught you about it. I plan to change some things with how the natural order was planned. This is one of them.”

Mordo has a look of shock on his face along with pretty much everyone else in the room. The Ancient One raised her hands before anyone could speak and said, “This will be a long conversation and once I am done I will gladly answer any and all questions. But I need everyone to listen first and hopefully when I am finished you will all understand my decisions that I am going to take moving forward.”

Everyone settled down a little and decided to listen to what their teacher had to say. It was a very long night that didn’t end till well into the next day.