Chapter 241: Symbiote 0241: Temporary Fix

Symbiote 0241: Temporary Fix

“It’s going to be difficult,” Wong said with a frown, “to an unimaginable degree.”

“What do I need to do?” Wanda asked as the monk put the tome in his hand back on its stand. They had spent another hour in the library browsing as Wanda patiently waited for Wong to finish.

“There is a special ritual that must be cast to rid your power from the unique brand of Cthon — the ruler of the Chaos Dimension,” Wong said. “The problem is that that ritual must be cast from within the Chaos Dimension, and at the center itself, the location where the ruler of the dimension is most powerful and in control. To even reach that location, one must battle through hordes of dimensional chaotic creatures. Or strike a deal with the ruler of the dimension.”

“You have all that information about the Chaos Dimension?” Wanda asked with a raised brow.

“We are dimensional protectors, Ms. Maximoff. While we keep much of the information public and accessible, some things are better left unknown, if only for the peace of mind of our sorcerers,” Wong said. “If the knowledge infusion process had gone without a hitch, then you would naturally know all these things and more about all of the dimensions whose influences we defend the Earth from.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“You’re telling me that I need to fight hordes of Chaos Energy demons with this splitting headache? I feel like I would be better suited to lop my head off myself,” Wanda said, making Wong raise a brow.

“Your headache must truly be getting to you,” He said, feeling that Wanda wouldn’t use such a tone naturally.

“Astute observation,” Wanda said with gritted teeth, mostly to express the pain, but somewhat to suppress the annoyance that was the result of Wong’s unhurried actions as well.

“Let me search, there has to be something that could allow you to suppress the rejection of the authority, even if temporarily,” Wong gulped, turning to the tomes once again.

It took the monk another hour of searching despite being deeply familiar with the books before he finally looked back at Wanda. “Did you find something?”

“There is a ritual …” Wong said hesitantly, “The Ancient One herself created it. With the purpose of traveling to another dimension while being the Sorcerer Supreme. The ritual allowed her to completely mask her unique presence as the Sorcerer Supreme, allowing her to traverse the dimensions as necessary.”

“There a catch in all that?” Wanda asked, “I have to travel to the Chaos Dimension anyway.”

“The catch is that it is a suppression ritual,” Wong said. “Its entire purpose is to completely suppress any magical abilities, and block yourself from channeling any kind of eldrich energies. The ritual will suppress your headache, yes. But if you are to travel to the Chaos Dimension, then you will completely lose access to the Mystic Arts. And while the suppression is active, you won’t be able to use any magical means at all since it blocks any energy from channeling through you.”

“So either I give up all of my powers or be subjected to this crippling headache that already isn’t allowing me to use any of my powers …” Wanda’s expression was ugly. “Find another way, Wong.”

“The ritual is not permanent if that’s what you’re worried about,” Wong said. “You can reverse its effects at will, but your headache will return as soon as you allow yourself access to eldrich energies. The only viable solution is to go to the Chaos Dimension and take over the brand that the dimensional ruler has planted on you.”

“Great …” Wanda said with the least amount of joy possible. “So I’m to go in enemy territory without any powers. Fine, I’ll figure something out. Tell me the directions for the ritual, I’ll cast it on myself when the time comes.”

“As you wish, Ms. Maximoff,” Wong nodded politely before opening the book that he found the ritual in. He started explaining the ritual to Wanda.

…

“It’s all going to be okay,” Alex hugged Wanda, “Promise.”

“Did you find something?” She asked him, looking up at him with a pained expression.

“It’s only been a second …” Alex said helplessly.

“Don’t lie to me,” She said, “I saw you creating the time domain. Now invoke whatever ritual it is that you’re preparing. Get me free from this goddamn headache.”

“Can’t ever hide anything from you, can I?” Alex smiled as he kept hugging Wanda while preparing the ritual. It took him a few seconds before an intricate magic circle covered the floor of the room with him and Wanda at the center. Moments later, it started glowing, causing Wanda to feel a suffocating feeling. She tightened her arms that were around Alex without resisting or even asking what was going on with the circle. All she felt was the piercing pain in her head lessening as the suppressive feeling got stronger and more prominent.

The ritual was quick to do its deed, leaving a suppressed Wanda without any powers other than what she got from Alex. All that mattered, however, was her headache, which was now completely gone.

“I love you …” She whispered in his ear before fainting. She was completely done with everything and just wanted to rest and relax for some time.

‘She’s going to wake up in a panic in a few minutes,’ Alex thought to himself with a sigh. He picked up Wanda in his arms and brought her to the couch, placing her over his lap and allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder. He didn’t want her to have an outburst the moment she woke up.

Wanda was extremely dependent on her powers, even if she didn’t realize it. She was especially dependent on her powers’ ability to constantly allow her to sense and feel his presence within her. Suddenly, unable to feel that presence she was most likely going to have a panic attack if he wasn’t there to comfort her.

“Alex!” Alex’s prediction came true moments later as Wanda’s eyes shot open in a panic.

“I’m here … shh,” He said, rubbing her back and rubbing his nose on her cheek, “You’re fine.”

“Why–why is your presence so faint?” She asked him. “It’s like you’re so far away from me …” She buried her face in his neck, tightly hugging him as if she wanted to meld into him.

“That ritual,” Alex said, rubbing his fingers through Wanda’s hair, “suppressed your connection to all dimensions other than the material plane and made it impossible for the backlash of the Sorcerer Supreme authority to affect you.”

[And it also blocked my connection to the Chaos Dimension … preventing me from using my power.]

“Yeah,” Alex nodded. “I can remove it at any time you want, but the pain will return, very quickly in that case.”

“You have a solution, right?” Wanda asked. “I can feel it. Although our connection is fainter than before, I can still read and understand you.”

“The solution is to go to the Chaos Dimension, where you should theoretically be powerful enough to completely block the influence of any external energies. As long as you don’t attempt to channel any eldrich energy or try to use the mystic arts, you should be fine.” Alex said. Wong hadn’t said anything about this, but Alex was confident in his conjecture. If the influence of the Vishanti could reach inside the dimensions as well, then they wouldn’t have needed a shield, it would’ve been the other way around where the dimensions were forced to defend themselves against the sorcerers.

“I read hesitance,” Wanda said. “Are you sure?”

“Not completely, but we don’t really have a choice,” Alex said. “I don’t think you’re comfortable without access to your powers anyway.”

“No, it feels like shit,” Wanda said. “I hate not feeling connected to you … Can we go to the Chaos Dimension now?”

Her question prompted a helpless smile on Alex’s face. “Rest for a while,” He said. “We’ll leave tomorrow.”

“I don’t feel that weak anymore,” She said, looking at him unblinkingly, “The suppression ritual made it so that I don’t have any of that knowledge infused into my head that I was supposed to have.”

“Rest,” Alex said, standing up with her in his arms. “You were crying in pain for the past hour. We’ll have to go to Kamar Taj anyway to get Wong to open the portal to the Chaos Dimension for us.”

“Fine …” She pouted, snuggling closer to him. “I miss you …”

“I’m right here.”

“No,” She said, placing her hand over her chest, “You’re right here, but I can’t feel you as well as I used to … I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep like this.”

“Stop acting like a baby,” Alex said. “I’m right beside you.”

“You don’t get it!” She puffed her cheeks pretending to be angry, but he could tell that she was more sad than angry.