John wore a strange expression, but placed it on anyway.
"Look at this. How I wish I could stretch this moment out forever."
The Ancient One held on to the two men who had helped her make up her mind. Her eyes saw only the night over New York and the lightning.
Lightning streaked across the sky, slowed countless times, like a stem slowly unfurling. You could not tell what sort of flower would bloom upon it.
"The future is in your hands, John."
This time, she stepped down as the Sorcerer Supreme and became simply the Ancient One.
John watched her slowly fade away and said, "Then have a pleasant journey, Ancient One."
The Ancient One's life came to an end.
The fluctuations on the monitor leveled out into a straight line.
Death was always so abrupt, yet so inevitable.
Stephen could not recover for a long time.
His teacher had just died.
John glanced at him, then at the Book of the Vishanti in his hand.
"I think I just lost a friend and an elder."
Suddenly, John frowned.
He took the Bicorn amulet out of his pocket.
The blackness upon it deepened, and dark energy flowed endlessly into John's body.
The Bicorn amulet, originally meant to draw in dark energy, began to buckle under the power.
Cracks appeared across it, and dark energy spilled out.
It erupted in a raging explosion of energy that engulfed John.
John's arm turned pale, then returned to normal a mere second later.
The dark forces scrambled to pour into his body.
Yet they could not affect him.
"A familiar feeling."
John paused. His magic power was growing.
He rolled his neck, the growing power soothing both body and mind. Raising an eyebrow, he said, "Not bad, actually."
The dark energy descended,