Disclaimer - I don't, and have never claimed to, own Marvel or its Intellectual Property. This is all just so that I can take my maladaptive daydreaming and turn it into something so that it does not ruin the rest of my day.
DoorMan #28
Earthen Bachelor Pad, Seattle [January 19, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He calmly walked into the designated alley for Portal travel in and around Seattle. If he remembered correctly, there were seven of such perfectly camouflaged areas in his city that would allow him to use them for his tedious portal procedures. Something of a courtesy from the Ancient One since she foresaw a lot of travel for him, from this city oddly, as if he would make this city his long term base.
No, he had the Red Hearth for that but he could not really dismiss even a small gesture from the Ancient One because that woman was so seeped into the future that each and every single one of her actions was probably premeditated, steering the future towards what she thought was a better future.
He considered the Time Stone one of the biggest follies of the position of the Sorcerer Supreme. Not as the thing being used as a weapon, no, that's what its primary purpose was. What he disliked was the Sorcerer Supremes relying heavily on the Time Stone for their decision making.
The Ancient One went far beyond what the majority of the Sorcerer Supremes did, mostly because of her talent as well as her sheer age. But, in his opinion, it also shackled her to the timeline she believed to be the best. She was, despite her vast powers, still a human, and ascertaining which timeline was supposed to be the best was a very difficult task, even at the best of times.
Not to mention the fact that the Time Stone did not show anyone the future beyond their deaths. So, who knows what this path might lead to? As far as his understanding went, that was a limit instilled in the Eye of Agamotto instead of the Time Stone since it was supposed to be absolute in seeing variable futures.
His head swam as he struggled to even comprehend the amount of time the Ancient One must have spent in those timelines. She was, functionally, millions of years old with a mentality to match. To think she has not gone insane yet. For that alone, she has his eternal respect.
Sighing, he opened a portal, after only three tries, leading to a cold storage unit he built in the Arctic. Seeing the pile of processed food drop out of the portal, weighing a total of a ton, he smiled. The people living in Ta-Lo ate some of the best food on the planet, food that Billionaires would come running for, especially once news spread that the food actually made them live longer, but alas, humans loved sweets, even if they were artificially sweetened.
Summoning a door beneath the whole stuff, he lifted the stuff with his mind and waved his hand multiple times in the air, keeping solace in the fact that this alley was completely isolated from the rest of the world. He smiled as the portal opened a tiny bit and he immediately let go as he felt the Water Dragon, he still hadn't received a name for them, took hold of the portal and widened it with ease.
Dragons, of all shapes and sizes could perform magic of various attributes with varying levels of proficiency, generally dictated by their age. Some dragons, like Jin'Ya, could perform one type of magic really really well, like anything related to Psionics, Some dragons like Ta-Lo's guardian, would generally be categorized as a support type Pokemon.
They could empower other people to act on their behalf and also, control magic on a very fundamental level, allowing the Dragon to take control of the portal away from him whilst maintaining the portal integrity.
He nodded once the portal was large enough for the Door to fit as he walked into it, the tones of sugary stuff following behind.
As soon as he crossed the threshold to Ta-lo and took in a deep breath of the absolute fresh, clean air that was actually longevity inducing, he heard a deep voice speak directly into his mind, "Greetings, lifegiver."
Smiling at the air, he waved his hand, as the Door went flying in the direction of the storage depot, "Greetings to you too, Guardian. You know, you still haven't told me what to call you. I know you can't tell me your True Name but come on, some sort of nickname will do,"
He casually said as he began walking towards the center of the village, the admin center, if you will. It housed the Village chief, the weapons depot, the records, along with any magical artifact they gathered.
"I'm afraid I am still undecided about that. Once I've decided, you, lifegiver will be the first to know," He sighed and nodded at thin air, knowing that the Dragon could perceive every single thing happening in the pocket dimension, as if it was a part of his body.
The rest of the people lived in scattered settlements, based on their preferences, in a vast 50 mile radius, according to what the Ancient One told him. The pocket dimension was incredibly vast and that too was one of the many magics that the Guardian of Ta-Lo could perform. Tying the pocket dimension to his draconic lifeforce, the Guardian was able to sustain this large pocket dimension, simply to seal an evil entity, whose influence was growing weaker and weaker every year as the Dragon regained its lost vitality.
Hell, every time he channeled his CHI in any other person in Ta-Lo, he could immediately spot the similarities between the Guardian and the humans, as their bodies were literally adapting to the dragon essence in the air of the pocket dimension, as the Ancient One called it.
He couldn't help but think of the consequences of thousands of people bearing diluted dragon bloodlines suddenly appearing on the planet. Well, that was a long time in the future, especially since Dragons lived for a long long time.
...
…..
"Yay! The lifegiver is back! Quick, tell Grandpa Chief!"
"The lifegiver!"
"The lifegiver!"
"The lifegiver!"
"The lifegiver!"
He awkwardly smiled, waved, and bowed wherever necessary which took a lot of his time as the people seemed to take it as a competition to stall him for as long as possible. First off, he did not like that name, it made him seem like a god, not good for his ego.
Secondly, he did not have either Jin'Ya, Wong, or even the Ancient One here to humble him, hence, his caution in dealing with people. After all, beneath all the power, he was still a teenager with limited life experiences.
Lack of opportunity and resources in the first life and lack of time in the second one.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, he reached the giant square made up of buildings of wood, and stone. The wood here was stronger than steel from back home so structural integrity was not a problem.
Flammability certainly was, but then again, they lived surrounding a giant water body that housed a giant Water Dragon so firefighting was probably the least important certification they needed to build their houses.
He smiled at the village chief, an elderly hunched over man who had to walk with a stick. Despite that, he knew that there was no one in this damned village that he could underestimate.
So, he smirked and spread his arms wide, mentally commanding the Door that housed all the treats to come flying from far away in his direction, or rather, in the direction of the village chief, "I come bearing gifts!"
The giant Door cast a giant shadow over the entire square before it plummeted straight down. He saw, from the corner of his eyes, everyone either tense, panicked, or outright resigned, as the Door stopped just a foot or two away from the buildings.
"Are you done?" The village Chief asked as the Chief waved his hand and the Door floated to the side and created a dust cloud as it was safely deposited in a prepared clearing, with flocks of people ranging from children to the elderly rushing at the Door as if it contained divine elixirs capable of prolonging life and giving youth.
He allowed his Door to be controlled, else no one in the world could wrestle control of his innate power away from him, as far as he knew.
These people had that kind of stuff growing around in the wild. Man, the difference in perspectives was truly jarring.
"Are you coming?" Something pushed him or atleast tried to as he turned around to see the chief's granddaughter, Ying Nan, the future village chief, grumbling as he refused to budge from his place.
She eventually gave up and after hitting him in the leg with one of her wooden sticks, followed behind the village chief.
He smiled, shook his head, and followed suit, all the while his feet released minute amounts of CHI into the soil at regular intervals.
That was how he gave the Water Dragon his CHI. It was not as if he was touching the Dragon and then giving him absurd amounts of CHI to replenish their lost lifeforce. No, since the pocket dimension itself was an extension of their body, he spent every minute in this place giving CHI to the ground, to the water, to the plants, etc.
So that when the CHI is fully stabilised and seeped into the ground, it can be absorbed by the Dragon in whatever quantities they might need it. The Dragon was a master of various magics and one of them was draconic healing magic, one of the rarest kinds, according to Jin'Ya, which allowed them to perform surgery on every type of dragon provided they had the resources for it.
Normally, those resources would have been items but due to his unlimited CHI, the Dragon could forgo every other thing and simply heal all wounds. His decision, in part, was influenced by the fact that the Water Dragon was the only being in the galaxy who could heal Jin'Ya if anything did happen to the old fuck.
That was how he became a snack vendor for an ancient Dragon.
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