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 #68
Ta-Lo [February 16, 2008]
–Colin Baxter–
He took in deep breaths in and out, as he floated on top of the lake that the Water Dragon resided in, flanked by both the Red Matron and Jin'Ya on both sides, a little distance behind him, ready for any mishap to happen.
In and Out.
In and Out.
In and Out.
After a while, he finally felt stable enough to open the Lightning Gate for the first time, the one that had appeared in his systems out of the bleu, when he had come close to the Arc Reactor, the same Arc Reactor that was now in the process of being decommissioned because Stark Industries was going to replace it with a newer and better model, or that is what Stane was telling the public but he knew the real reason as to why that was happening.
He opened his eyes and then found himself in his mindscape, overlooking the Eight trees that held his Eight Doors, and found himself reminiscing about his previous Doors.
It was never a dull moment when he opened any Door for the first time. His powers, while easy to master once practiced, were not beginner friendly. He had needed outside assistance to properly mitigate the effects of the Doors being opened the first time, for all the Seven Doors that he had in his arsenal right now.
The Water one just created a ball of water around him and continued to pump water into that small space, increasing the density and almost crushing him under all that pressure.
The Fire one just pumped fire all around him, almost igniting his room instantaneously. Funnily enough, the Water Door helped in that regard.
The sand one was the same as the Water one, trying to crush him under heaps of sand, some of which definitely entered his nose and mouth. That was a bad day, in general because he had to remove sand from places he had never expected to. It was bad, not just for him, but for Wong as well, who had to deal with similar sand cleaning hassle that he did.
The light one was relatively tame, simply because it did nothing of interest. Wong had actually summoned and trapped a small Imp, a very weak animal like a denizen of Hell, who just flinched upon seeing his white light and once it became clear to the creature that his light couldn't hurt him since it was not imbued with the holy attribute, the demon mocked him. Safe to say, the Demon was turned into ashes on the spot, not for any particular reason, mind you.
The CHI one was disastrous to say the least. Not because the opening was bad but because he was in over his head and wanted to open the CHI door permanently, which resulted in some very bad choices that led to his body experiencing third degree burns that he most certainly would not have survived had he not actually succeeded in opening the CHI door permanently, leading to a near constant flow of pure Lifeforce in his system that allowed him to survive as the Healers in Kamar Taj did their work.
For the last two ones, i.e, the Air and the Kinetic Laser dimensions, he had finally gotten smart enough to ask for guidance from the Ancient One and Kamar Taj as a whole, leading to a big ass ritual room reserved for him.
He was very fortunate for that, because the first time Door opening of both the Air and the Kinetic Laser dimension resulted in so much damage that the ritual room had to be broken down to be remade because there was nothing left of it after he was done with them.
The Air one just released a tornado of charged energy that it interfered with the enchantments woven into the room, and the Kinetic Laser Door resulted in a cube manifesting around him that sent full power Lasers in all directions, resulting in the enchantments overloading due to the energy being absorbed into them.
So, one might ask, why not do the same this time? Why not go to Kamar Taj, meditate in the ritual room for a couple of hours and then do the dangerous act in a semi-secured space, under the supervision of the all seeing and all powerful Ancient One?
The answer to that would be the Water Dragon and the presence of Jin'ya and the Red Matron. The Water Dragon was the de-facto owner of this pocket dimension, not much could happen in this place without his say-so, except the seal. What happened inside the seal, the Water Dragon could not sense.
He could only sense if the seal is being tampered with or being destroyed, and even that capability he only received recently. He wagered that, in canon, that the Water Dragon was asleep most of the time and only woke up at the last moment because of all the disturbance that Xu Wenwu created during his invasion.
So, the Water Dragon was now vastly stronger and as a result of that, any danger could easily be mitigated by controlling the space around him. Secondly, Jin'Ya and the Red Matron, combined, were a force to reckon with, and more than enough to act as a substitute for the non Vishanti empowered Ancient One. Once the Vishanti gave her free rein though? None on the planet could match her.
So, with that in mind, he took a step forward, and reached his hand towards the trunk of the tree, where the lightning symbol was etched, still crackling with blue arcs of energy. Honestly, he was still worried and maybe he could have chosen a better time, a time where he did not have to host a guest in a couple of hours but he had been pushing it back for quite a while now and the itch to get it done finally couldn't be tolerated anymore.
So, with just a tiny bit of hesitation, he covered the last inch and touched the lightning symbol on the trunk. He was confused when nothing happened for a second before his vision went white.
____xx____
Outside, Ta-Lo
–Ying Nan–
She trudged along the path, her spear attached to her back as she effortlessly climbed the steep incline, something she knew most people in the village would struggle to do, while kicking a rock up the path.
"Stupid Colin," She grumbled as she kicked the rock particularly hard, resulting in the rock splitting in two, and both of its pieces splitting in different directions. SHe slumped and then began walking forward once again, doing her training, even though she did not feel like taking a single step forward.
The beloved, they all called her.
Someone favoured by their Guardian himself, resulting in advanced powers that she trained, day in and day out, without fail, so as to reach the high expectations placed on her at birth.
Her sister, she was different. Not blessed and yet stronger than anyone in the village had been. Never interacted with their Guardian and yet, elected to become the wall between the gate to Ta-Lo and Ta-Lo. Never wavering in her duty, she defeated all the candidates who wanted to challenge her.
And then….
She shook her head as she thought of the detestable man her sister went with. She couldn't even imagine why her sister, the all powerful warrior who could best anyone, would abandon her post and consequently, her powers as well, just so she could be with a man she knew had done terrible things.
Even as young as she was back then, she could feel things, emotions. If you kill people, do bad stuff, get cursed at by people, it leaves a mark on you and she could sense that mark. That man, she shivered at the memory even now. He had killed more people than there were trees in the entirety of Ta-Lo.
Once her sister left, the expectations and pressure on her increased twofold, resulting in her father having to be the one to guard the entrance whenever it opened, just to ward off any pressure on her to take the post before she was ready. But now she was ready, according to her own father. The next time the gateway to Ta-Lo opened up, she would be there, ready to guard Ta-Lo with all her life.
The thought helped with her mood a bit before it was all let down by the man known as Colin, also given the title of the Lifegiver, by their Guardian himself.
The man was arrogant, snobbish, disrespectful towards her grandpa, the Village Chief, and defeated her in every single spar they had in the past year, and that too, effortlessly.
Obviously, she recognised the effect he was having on Ta-Lo as a whole, and could acknowledge that he was obviously beneficial for them but she just couldn't stomach someone, younger than her, not blessed by their Guardian, outclassing her by so much.
Just earlier today, he stopped her attack with a single finger, in front of everyone. That level of power, even her grandpa couldn't do that anymore. He stopped her beloved Spear, soaked in her blood for years, just so she could get it to recognise her, and it was stopped by a single finger.
Obviously, she knew that he was using his powers to do so but that did not make it any less disheartening.
She was told by grandpa not to make any moves on Colin anymore because he was bringing in someone as a guest to see Ta-Lo tomorrow, which further increased her resentment.
They were a hidden settlement, residing in a pocket dimension, empowered by a Mythical Dragon, with their life's goal being to stop a hidden evil that could engulf the entire outer world, not some tourist attraction.
Shaking her head, she resumed climbing the mountain until she heard a loud crackling sound.
"That's odd," She muttered to herself as she hastened her climb, jumping with all her might, to reach the peak faster because the sky had never thundered like that in all the time she could remember.
There was yet another crack, and her eyes widened as a giant blue lightning bolt struck Ta-Lo, leaving behind a series of black lines that soon healed on their own.
Alarmed at the commotion, she took out her spear and began using it to just jump her way to the top, fearing the worst, like an attack on Ta-Lo by the entity.
She was ready to sacrifice her life for the cause as she reached the peak with her spear pointed forward, mid air, when she saw a blue ball of energy with a single person clad in red, floating near it. She could also see a purple ball of energy near the person.
Her eyes widened in more than a little bit of fear as she realised that the blue bolts of energy were not lightning striking down on Ta-Lo but something that was coming from the blue ball of energy.
Before she could take a step back to climb down and regroup with the others, she froze as she felt something, something foreign and dark, and resentful, speak to her.
"Hmmm, yes, yes, y-you will do nicely"
If you guys would like to support me, or just want to read up to 15 chapters ahead, you can head on to my P*treon. It is the same name as my username.