AnnouncementSo my new years has not started out well. my pc's hard drive is starting to die, and several files have been corrupted, including my final chapters of this book. So once i get a new hard drive (hopefully early next week) i will have to rewrite chapters 61-70 from scratch, until they are complete i will unfortunately need to keep to the 1 chapter a week release, sorry.Chapter 59- Messenger

  Chinese Southern Mountain range–-Kamar-Taj 2008- 10- 29 (Early Afternoon)

  Exodus-

  The rge stone walls surrounding the school, or monastery, were actually both impressive to the knight but also very durable to his eye, Exodus very much doubted that even a modern army could take the pce without incurring major losses. And that was excluding the fact that the pce's defenders could also wield the power of magic.

  Not wanting to cause a fight, he stayed well outside the walls, while his extra sights scouted the school grounds. He estimated that there were well over two hundred disciples either learning general martial arts, or attempting to attract the mystical energy that would allow them to cast their magic.

  Not finding who he sought in the outer courtyards, he willed his sights into some of the building's interiors. However, as they crossed the thresholds his organic eyes noticed that all of the students suddenly stopped what they were doing. This made him will his extra sights, into secluded areas of the rooms that they were currently in.

  And not too, soon either, as armed members of the order stormed the rooms, looking high and low for something. His sights could see them talking, but he was far too far away to make out anything that they were saying. Then some of them started gesturing, while they did this, the students were corralled and pushed into rge barracks-like structures. Once their gestures were done, a pulse of light and magic washed over the room, yet whatever their spell was supposed to do didn't give them the results that they expected as they seemed to get even more frustrated.

  Eventually, some of the armed members looked up and spotted him floating in the sky. Soon after two of them cast a spell on themselves and they flew up towards him. One was of Asian descent, Chinese if he had to guess, while the bck woman beside him bore markings identifying her as a member of Wakanda, what with blue bird markings all on her robes and face.

  “You are in the air space of Kamar-Taj, identify yourself stranger." The thin china man ordered.

  Exodus frowned, but replied with his prepared answer, initially ignoring the man, he crossed his arms towards the bck woman stating. “Glory to the Inheiritors… I am Exodus, from the Brotherhood of Mutants. I bear a message from Nath'aniel, son of Path’aniel for the Ancient One.”

  The woman returned the gesture but her reply was different from what he expected when she said. “Wakanda Forever.” When she lowered her arms she admitted. “It has been some times since I have seen an outsider knowing our ways.”

  "You pick up a few things from time spent with Magi and Asgardians.” The knight admitted.

  Hearing who he was associated with got him mixed reactions from the two sorcerers. While the woman seemed to warm up to him, the china-man seemed more guarded now, as he asked. "Were those your spirits that tripped our arms?"

  ‘Spirits?’ Exodus repeated. He could still see through his two extra sights, as they watched most of the other armed sorcerers fall out into the outer courtyards, meanwhile a pair of them still tried to locate his invisible eyes.

  "I will admit to using my mutant powers to probe your defenses, but if there are spirits inside of your territory, that is not my doing." The knight said to be truthful, without expining exactly what it was that he had done.

  As he expined that, another pair of sorcerers flew up to join them, one of which Exodus recalled meeting before during a previous Entreatment Days. So he nodded and greeted the fitter china-man. "Master Wong."

  "Sir Exodus, here for that spar that I asked for?" Wong asked wanting to know his business.

  The Wakandan woman answered for him, saying. “He cims to have a message for the Ancient One from the Magi.”

  “Then he should pass it along so that we can go about our own business.” The first thinner china-man stated with a tone.

  But before any of the sorcerers could debate the man’s attitude or tone, the knight refused. “No. I gave my word that I would fulfill my duty. I don’t know about you sorcerer, but my word has value.”

  “And the Ancient One’s time is more precious than yours, mutant.” China-man A snapped back.

  Since they couldn’t seem to locate his extra sights, he willed them on, as he realized what was wrong with the first man. “Ah, you’re a racist. Now it makes sense.” Exodus calmly stated his realization.

  That made all four sorcerers blink in surprise, but what was more surprising to Exodus, was that the men looking for his extra sights seemed to be able to track them, not so much as where in a room, but at least knew when they left a room.

  ‘I should really let Master Nath’aniel take a better look at them to figure out what it is that I am making with my powers.’ Exodus thought but quickly brought his attention back to the four people basically guarding him.

  “I am not!” China man A argued.

  However, he wasn't finding any love from his fellows, as the Caucasian man who flew up with Wong argued. "You kind of are, Tao."

  “China being one of the most productive countries in the world is a fact, not a bias.” ‘Tao’ said in his defense.

  A sudden influx of light, warned him of the portal’s creation before it appeared and started to open behind the floating sorcerers. First, just a ball of yellow or orange energy, spinning and spreading till a man-sized hole appeared in the air. On the other side, a stone sitting room was visible with the bald Ancient One standing in front of a backless sofa.

  “Barring messengers are we now?” She asked the four members of her order.

  “He is a mundane…” Tao started to say, but she cut him off.

  "Yet, he speaks for a Founder. Tell me, Master Tao, if the Ambassador of Heaven were to come by with a warning, or the Guardian of K’un-Lun, or a representative of the Seelie court were here to request our aid would you bar them too?” The ancient druid asked her fellow magic user.

  “No, Ancient One, I would not.” The scolded sorcerer admitted.

  Then she gestured for him to approach, but held up her hand when the sorcerers moved. “Just the messenger.” She said in crification. So Exodus flew towards and then through the portal. Once he was through, she waved her hand and the light he felt off of the portal winked away a moment after it closed.

  As it did, his vision was reduced to only one-eighty degrees, and one of his extra sights went away with his loss of light. The other he willed towards him unsure of the path it would take, but certain that he would get a better idea of the schools yout from it.

  “Can I interest you in some tea? Sir…” The druid offered before asking for his name.

  “The name is Exodus. And honestly, ale if you have it.” Exodus admitted, his nerves a little shaken being this close to her.

  She smiled an oddly familiar smile, before waving her hand, and an empty mug appeared on the table between the two of them. It slowly filled with a dark brown drink as they waited. Yet as it neared full she asked. “The message?”

  “I am the message, Gwen.” The knight again admitted to his deception.

  She sighed, before muttering. “I had hoped those two would have kept my real name to themselves.”

  “They did. But you told it to me over nine hundred years ago, when I went by the name Sir Bennet of Paris.” The knight expined. When she looked like she didn’t believe him, he asked. “Look at my face Gwen, not the red skin I have now, but what I was back in your fields swinging my sword.”

  Gwynevere gasped after a moment as the recognition hit her. “You got taller Benny.”

  He chuckled, before pointing out. “Among other changes.” Then he reached down and took a sip from the drink she conjured for him. It had a deep earthy taste, and something about it made him again feel like he forgot something.

  He honestly didn’t remember agreeing to being called Benny, and yet something about it felt right when she said it.

  She fell back onto her sofa and began just letting out her confusion, saying. “How? How are you still alive, what happened? I have so many questions.”

  “And I doubt that we have time for all of them, at least not today.” He admitted. His extra sight had made it to outside this room if his feelings were right, and there were over a dozen members of her order standing out there probably waiting for his departure. “The short version is that sometime after I left your vilge, I was attacked and captured by a mutant going by the name of Apocalypse. He locked me in a golden box, which changed me after several hundreds of years. Magneto and Psylocke eventually found my tomb and released me. I swore my sword to him for freeing me.”

  “And he found and freed Nath’aniel from a simir sarcophagus.” The Ancient One guessed.

  He nodded and added. “Which eventually led to us meeting again. He has been trying to remove the seal on my memories of our time together, but it’s been so long that…”

  “That there is little for him to lock on to, to unravel.” Gwynevere guessed. He nodded that she was right before taking another pull from the mug.

  When he put it back on the table he asked. “And, what happened to you and your vilge?”

  Sadness covered her face, before she answered. “Father heard of another vilge of our people. I was part of the team that was sent to investigate it. But it was a trap. I got away, but the English soldiers followed the trail we made leaving to look into it, and overwhelmed my people before I could return and to warn them.’

  "A witch coven saved me, they hoped to recruit me, but I was too angry. Eventually, they told me about this pce, and I made my way here. And by the time I got here and saw what it was that they fought against, I realized how petty my revenge would be in the grand scheme of things."

  “And eventually after fighting for your pce here, ascended to the highest rank of your order.” Exodus filled in what he already knew. It was her turn to nod in agreement. With his extra sight, he could see that her fellow members were getting eager outside of her quarters for him to leave. So he stood up to leave, but then a thought of what he saw before being discovered gave him a thought. So he suggested. “A training exchange.”

  “What?” Gwen asked confused.

  "That was the message you can pass to your Order, that we would exchange trainers, to better expose our junior members to different styles of combat. I could come here and help train some of your fighters, and you could send a member of your people. Wong maybe, to help our train our young teens to fight against a magic user." The knight proposed.

  The Ancient One smiled at the offer, before saying. “You’ve gotten more devious with age.”

  Exodus shrugged before saying. "Bme this modern world. Either way, I should get going. But I will be back." Then he moved to leave, he knew that they could portal him home, but he felt like flying, and clearing his mind and feelings. Yet before he opened the door, he said. "After all, I want to confirm if you still have that mole just above your butt."

  That caused her to gasp in embarrassment, and a trown pillow at him as he opened the door. The gathered members of her Order tried to look like they were supposed to be there, yet only the one standing near the back of the pack made it natural. So he called out to him. “Wong, walk with me. It will let me talk with you about the message.”

  “Oh?” The seasoned sorcerer muttered.

  The knight expined the basics of what he proposed to the Ancient One about the trainer exchange. If nothing else, it would give the Brotherhood members another point of view on combat. And he was sure that by the time he reached the edge of the school and its main gates, the Master was on board with the concept. They would just need the Order's approval in the end.

  Still, Exodus waved goodbye to the few disciples training in the courtyard and shook Wong's hand before taking to the air and starting his flight home.

  Once he hit his cursing speed he kind of zoned out the world around him, after all, he was too low for most conventional radar, and his speed was fast enough that most things wouldn't be able to keep up with him. Yet something did, the sound of a cp, was missed by his ears thanks to the wind, but the beam of green light gave him all the warning that he needed.

  He both dodged and materialized a tower shield of hard light to block the attack. Then he willed his extra sights out and away to locate his attacker. It took him little effort to locate them, a pair of men. The first was a man with blue skin and metal wings casually standing on a rocky outcropping, watching him. While the other had lime green skin and purple hair, he wore a red suit of scale mail and rode a mechanical horse. Said horse seemed able to fly despite its ck of wings or thrusters.

  "You have my attention strangers. Due to my good mood, I let that attack slide and let you leave. But do so now!" Exodus shouted at them in warning. As he did, he materialized a trio of arming swords of light to float near and beside him.

  The winged man ignored him, while the horseman growled at him. Then he cpped his hands together and it created another beam of green fire which shot out towards the knight.

  Exodus willed his shield into pce long before the attack nded, but kept his swords nearby as he fired beams of heat and light from the palms of his hands at his attacker. His attacker snapped his fingers, causing small explosions that drowned out his own beams of light.

  Seeing that neither of them could really harm the other, the winged man gave his college some motivation, saying. “Remember acolyte, you cannot be a true Horseman of Apocalypse without completing this trial. Kill him, and take the name of War.”

  Hearing them, Exodus no longer held back. He fired another pair of beams at the rider, while willing two of his swords with them, and sending the third at the winged man. The green-skinned man repeated his previous strategy, snapping to counter his attack, but this time Exodus was ready, and used the man's own attack against him. He reached out with his powers and took hold of the light from the micro explosions, twisting and shaping them into daggers that he then willed to impale the rider's eyes.

  Meanwhile the winged man reached into his wings and pulled a metal sword out of them and bashed away his distraction, in the form of the single sword of light. When the rider started screaming that he couldn’t see, the winged man fpped his left wing towards the man. Half a dozen metal feathers impaled the rider’s back, killing him quickly.

  “Well done War. When the call comes, you too will ride.” The winged man said before touching his belt buckle. He felt the fsh of light coming, yet was still somehow blinded by the winged man teleporting away. A moment ter, the mechanical horse exploded shredding its rider into a bloody mess.

  "Only when Hell freezes over will I work for that monster," Exodus said before flying towards the corpse, once he contained the dead man in a cocoon of light, only then did he continue his flight home.

  DLRhanna