(Billy's P.O.V)

I made it back to my apartment quickly.

It didn't sit well with me that I'd cut my patrol short but I promised myself that it was necessary.

I would make up for it the next day by going on a longer patrol.

Right then and there, I was too excited for anything else.

I removed my mask, dismissing my costume into my hammer space with my mind.(It worked on anything my body was in contact with. I couldn't help but imagine how I could munchkin the hell out of this ability. The only limitation was the size of the hammer space.)

Then I pulled it out. The object of my fascination. My apartment was instantly bathed in a torquoise glow. The crystal in my hand seemed to produce even more light now that it was nighttime.

I didn't waste time, I probed it's magnetic field with my psionic energy...

Immediately, I felt my Psionic reserves get drained into the crystal, almost bottoming them out before I retracted my hands. The light coming off the crystal seemed to increase even more.

"It can suck in energy."

I muttered in surprise.

Initially, I'd thought my Psionic reserves were limitless and that my body's weakness was what kept me from channeling infinite Psionic energy.

However, recent incidents proved I had been wrong. Having never sensed Psionic energy and it's potency before, I'd mistaken judicious amounts of Psionic energy for infinite reserves.

And I'd only realized that fact when I was left empty and bereft of any mental power. The trade off being I had saved lives during Giganto's initial rampage.

I blinked, turning the crystal over in my hand while feeding more energy into it.

It wasn't with the intention of probing it's Magnetic field like I usually would on something that caught my attention. No, the motive was to see what would happen.

The result was interesting.

It was like I was feeding a bucket of water into a bottomless pit. The crystal guzzled my Psionic energy greedily.

I was getting excited now. A crystal that could store energy. How effing cool.

I wonder if it was only Psionic energy that it could siphon?

Wait, that didn't make sense. It would have been too much of a coincidence, so I was running with the theory that it could feed on any exotic energy.

To test this theory, I brought out Neptune's Trident, placing the weapon right on the work table.

I brought the crystal to hover above the Trident and holy fucking hell... nothing happened.

I frowned.

Was my theory wrong and the crystal could only absorb a specific kind of energy, one that I just so happened to possess?

Disheartened, I dropped the crystal back onto the desk. It tipped onto one of it's sides, managing to bump upon the Trident's shaft.

There was a spark where the contact happened. Then right before my eyes, streams of yellow energy launched off the Trident and into the crystal with crackling intensity.

The light coming off the crystal increased to the point where every nook and cranny of my apartment was cast into visibility.

I shielded my eyes while monitoring the process through fluctuations in the air.

My eyes narrowed as I sensed the build up of something and immediately, I set up a shield as an explosion went off within my apartment.

My shield flared up as it received the impact of the energy discharge like a pro. I opened my eyes to the sight of my desk burning, table overturned, a vase shattered into pieces and my mattress hanging out by the window.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Not to mention, the trident had shot off and pierced through the door that led to my bathroom.

The crystal on the other hand, was innocently lying on the floor at the foot of my bed.

I breathed out in relief, enclosed within a TK sphere.

Then my eyes lit up as realization dawned on me. My theory hadn't been wrong. The Crystal could absorb any type of exotic energy!

That explosion had been caused by a discharge of raw magical power.

The fact that the crystal could siphon magic from the Trident of Neptune was an indication of just how useful it was.

In my eyes, it had just shot up in value. The only thing left to do was to figure out how I could use it to my benefit. And off the bat I could think of a few ways.

For instance, maybe I could store power within and then access it when I needed the boost in a fight?

Okay, let's see if that will work. I descended from my perch at the corner of the ceiling (Don't blame me for trying not to die).

The next few minutes turned into an hour as I simply tried to figure out a way to pull out the psionic energy contained within the Crystal.

That's where I hit the first snag. Everytime psionic energy came into contact with the crystal, it would be instantly sucked in.

Eventually, I elected to leave it be, at least for some time while I directed my focus elsewhere. If I couldn't probe the crystal's field then what I could do was some good old fashioned research.

Once again my Stark phone helped immensely. I found out just how much a single 45.52 carat diamond was worth. Tens, possibly hundreds of million of dollars.

Whoa.

That was crazy. And the crystal diamond I had was even bigger than the one showed online.

I was holding a fortune in my hands without even knowing it.

The value aside, what could I really do with this thing? I mean the probing had failed and google only talked about its price. The latter was useless to me because I wasn't going to sell it.

"Magic."

I slapped my forehead for my forgetfulness.

The only way I was going to learn more about the crystal was if I changed tactics. Tech hadn't worked, my powers had also failed. So that only left the most illogical energy in all of existence. Magic.

It alone could tell me everything I needed to know. And it just so happened, I knew where I could find some sorcerers. More like I knew where the New York Sanctum was but we won't stress the small stuff.

I only needed to go check it out tomorrow. I mean, how hard could it be to get a hold of the Ancient One?

******

Turns out, it was very easy. I just walked up to the building and even before I knocked, the door had swung open.

On the entry way, a middle aged man dressed in yellow robes had appeared.

The master had given me a cursory glance before stepping out of the way.

"She has been expecting you."

He had said in a sonorous voice.

And now barely 1 minute later, I was seated before arguably the most dangerous human on the planet.

The Sorcerer Supreme could command mystical might and fight eldritch monsters and magical beings with nefarious designs on the planet.

Sounds like the synopsis of an epic fantasy book, until you realize those Eldritch abominations actually exist and the only thing standing before them and us was...her.

A normal looking, unassuming, slim woman with an amiable smile on her face. Her mind was blank. I couldn't even detect her presence telepathically despite the fact she sat before me.

Solomon's Wisdom was very adamant that I would lose 11 times out of 10 if I decided to fight her at my current strength. It was sobering to think just how powerful she had to be for my chances to be practically zero.

All these thoughts went through my head as I considered how to start the conversation. I took a tentative sip of the tea I had been offered, then opened my mouth.

Only for her to beat me to the punch.

"I've been waiting for you Mr.Batson."

The Sorcerer Supreme said.

"Oh. You have?"

I muttered, hoping that in all the different ways she'd seen this conversation play out, I never disclosed information about my Meta knowledge.

"Yes. Our last meeting had to be cut off abruptly. Too many eyes on me ensure the risk of a few beings knowing of you before you were ready."

She explained.

"And that's not a problem anymore?"

I questioned.

She shook her head.

"Not after you met the Earth Mother."

"Earth Mother? You mean -_#$?"

Huh? Why couldn't I say her name?

"Kamar Taj's new magical formation."

The Sorcerer Supreme answered.

"A mental suggestion that stops anyone from calling out or invoking the name of a higher being. Recent events have caused us to be more careful."

She said pointedly.

"What recent events?"

I questioned with suspicion.

Was she implying I was at fault? That my Presence was the reason for all these 'recent events' I wasn't privy to?

Instead of answering, the Sorcerer Supreme changed tactics.

"How's the tea?"

She asked.

"I know you're more of a coffee lover but you've had Chai in the past correct?"

My fingers tightened on the cup.

She knew. It was in the certainty in her tone.

There was no other explanation at how she could know something like that. Or say it with that much confidence.

Yes, my Grandma had been a Chai lover and that meant growing up drinking it, though I never really got into the taste.

And after arriving here, I'd never once had a cup of tea. This was the first time actually. So she knew.

I don't know how much, but she knew something about my past.

"What makes you say that?"

I asked as calmly as possible. Her knowing of my secret could result in two different outcomes.

The Sorcerer Supreme was charged with protecting the Earth from outside influence. I was an outside influence.

The first outcome would be she would treat me like an outside influence. Which meant attack me/ imprison me/ banish me or kill me.

The second and hopefully the outcome she would choose was letting me be.

"Tell me something Mr.Batson. How do you kill a god?"

The Sorcerer Supreme asked.

Oh crap.