Chapter 67: The Ancient One Is Stunned
The Ancient One had been on her way out, but Ethan's question caught her interest.
She closed her eyes lightly, as if listening for the rhythm of time itself. The Eye of Agamotto at her throat began to glow faintly purple.
Ethan figured she was scanning the futures — looking through the various branches of what could happen.
She didn't seem to be coming back any time soon, so Ethan wandered over, grabbed two ice-cold sodas off a nearby table, and started chugging.
He'd just finished the second one when the Ancient One opened her eyes.
There was something newly weighted in her gaze. Like she'd just walked through a great many lifetimes and come back.
"Looks like you've got an answer. Care to share?"
Ethan was, genuinely, curious about the Peter-Parker-without-Spider-Man question.
The Ancient One studied him for a beat, her own thoughts visible behind her eyes.
What she had just seen was an uncountable number of Peter Parkers, every life arc different — scientists, businessmen, even villains.
But no matter what version of himself a Peter Parker became across those timelines, the endings were never good.
Some were killed by the criminal element. Some died in random accidents. Some lived long lonely lives and died alone.
A few, here and there, became other heroes — different ones, not Spider-Man.
"Maybe you should look for yourself." She made a small gesture.
The space around Ethan rippled and reshaped. He suddenly felt as if he'd stepped into the river of time itself. Light-screens hung suspended around him, countless and shimmering.
"Maybe you ought to see this with your own eyes." Her voice followed him in. With another wave, the world around him bent and warped further, opening into something dreamlike.
A thin haze settled over everything. Through it, screens flared into view — too many to count — each one a stage. Each one a different universe. Each one tracking the life of someone named Peter Parker.
He saw the early years. They looked, in most cases, almost identical to any other ordinary life.
He saw Peter as a child, getting up to mischief in school. He saw Peter falling in love with Mary Jane. He saw Uncle Ben die.
Then came the divergence — the spider bite. In some timelines, the spider found him, and Peter became Spider-Man.
In others, the spider missed him. And in those — Peter died. By accident, by violence, by something stupid and small. And then his entire universe came apart and was erased.
In other timelines, the path branched stranger. Peter became a different hero entirely.
Ethan watched, fascinated, as different versions played out. There was a Peter who joined a new Fantastic Four lineup. There was a Peter who became the Human Torch. There was a Peter who became the Hulk. There was a Peter who, somehow, somewhere, became Captain America. That last one almost broke him.
And then there were the dark branches. Peter as Green Goblin. Peter as the Horseman of Pestilence in Apocalypse's Four. Peter as the Lizard.
But the more he watched, the more one cold pattern rose to the surface.
It didn't matter which hero Peter became, didn't matter how dramatic or victorious his life looked from the outside — the universe he lived in still ended. Every time.
Only one road came up clean. Only one. Become Spider-Man. Carry the weight. Stand against evil.
Ethan closed his eyes when the visions ended, and for a long moment he just sat with it.
He was thinking about whether he was, like Peter Parker, someone else's character — a part written into someone else's script.
The Ancient One had been watching him the whole time. Seeing his face tighten, she nodded inwardly. Good.
This had been the entire point of the demonstration. She had gone to all this trouble specifically to warn Ethan against meddling in other people's lives.
Specifically — specifically — the life of her future student. Stephen Strange. Ethan's college roommate.
She could not, under any circumstances, allow Ethan to alter Stephen Strange's path.
That was actually why she was sending Ethan into another universe at all. By the time Ethan finished the job and got home, Strange would — if everything went to plan — already be at Kamar-Taj.
Then Ethan opened his eyes, looked at the Ancient One, and — to her surprise — smiled.
"Thanks. I get it."
He thought he'd grasped what she was driving at. I'm an anomaly too. The Ancient One is telling me — work hard to change the tragic fates of the people around me.
Which would mean: change the fates of his friends. And as it turned out, Stephen Strange happened to be his old college roommate.
Stephen was a little bit of a prick. A little arrogant. But years of friendship were years of friendship. If Stephen got into trouble — yeah, Ethan figured he'd probably help.
Especially given that if Stephen's girlfriend died, Ethan was reasonably sure this universe was getting blown up by a vengeful sorcerer.
If the Ancient One had any idea Ethan had taken exactly the opposite lesson from what she'd intended, she would have deeply regretted dropping by today.
A golden ring of light unfurled into existence behind her, rotating slowly, opening onto Kamar-Taj.
"Come, then. Walk through with me. I'll teach you portals."
But Ethan didn't move.
The Ancient One frowned, puzzled. "You don't want to learn?"
Ethan smiled faintly, slipped the Sling Ring onto his right hand, and traced a small circle in the air.
A second golden ring opened in front of him. Through it, just as clearly: Kamar-Taj.
"Already learned it. I've got things to wrap up here first. When I'm done, I'll come pay you a visit in person. Then I'll head into the parallel universes."
The Ancient One's calm eyes went wide. She was, visibly, thrown.
"You — you learned it watching it once? Or have you done this before?"
She had been mentally budgeting months for Ethan to learn portal magic. Portals weren't beginner stuff. Even the prodigy students at Kamar-Taj needed at least a month.
For a brief moment she seriously considered the possibility that some other-universe version of her had taught Ethan first.
What he'd just done in front of her was, frankly, ridiculous.
"How about this," she said slowly. "Come stay at Kamar-Taj. Train with me. I'll groom you to be the next Sorcerer Supreme."
She had reason to believe that, given a little time, Ethan could become the strongest Sorcerer Supreme in history. As for who Stephen Strange was — well, suddenly the Ancient One was a little hazy on the details.
Ethan waved her off. "Pass. Save that one for Stephen."
Ethan knew his own ceiling. Without the System, he had no idea how long it would take him to actually learn magic the proper way. Probably by the time he came down off the mountain, Thanos would have already snapped.
Why bother? Faster to just make more friends.
The Ancient One didn't push. She stepped through the portal back to Kamar-Taj and was gone.
As for Ethan — he had Hell's Kitchen logistics to put in order before he could leave for the Spider-Verse.
He had to admit, he was kind of curious which version of Spider-Man he was going to meet.
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