Marvel: The Encroachment

In a dark alleyway in Queens, New York City, a young man of about sixteen lay face down in a pool of his own blood. His outstretched hands were still, inches away from a cracked and damaged phone. 

Suddenly, the body twitched and groaned. The hands moved first, then the arms, until the figure pushed itself off the ground with a strained gasp. 

"Fuuuckkkk—my head's killing me," Eli muttered, his voice raspy and raw. 

He frowned, glancing around the alley, his gaze darting to the shadows before the headache intensified. Like a dam breaking, memories crashed over him, overwhelming and chaotic. 

"Eli Grant? Midtown High? What the fuck?" he muttered, clutching his head. A sudden cough racked his body, and his hand instinctively covered his mouth. When he pulled it back, his palm was smeared with blood. 

Panic surged as his chest burned. His hands darted to the source of the pain, brushing over the bullet holes littering his torso. His breath caught as he felt something—no, saw something. The wounds squirmed, closing up as bullets were expelled with faint metallic dings against the pavement. 

Eli staggered back, his mind reeling. "Nope. Nope. That's too much—creepy as hell." His legs gave out, and he slumped back against the wall. 

'Marvel world?' The thought struck like lightning. 'I transmigrated? No—this makes no sense! I went to sleep in my bed; I wasn't hit by a truck or stabbed or anything.' His frown deepened. 'And this healing…' He shuddered. 

As the light flared, a low murmur filled his ears. It was distant but maddening, like a chorus of whispers clawing at his sanity. He groaned, fists clenching as he pressed them against his temples. Something felt like it was fusing with his essence like he was advancing. 

And then it came: an image. A clock—no, not a clock. Something infinitely folding upon itself, its gears and hands twisting in ways that defied reality. It was encased in a shining Door and tendrils of worm-like tentacles writhing out of it. The sight burned into his mind but dulled the roaring whispers until they faded. 

Eli opened his eyes, now gleaming with an unnatural light as information flooded his mind. "The Marauder, Seer, and Apprentice potions? Lord of the Mysteries? What the actual hell is going on?" His heart raced, panic threatening to overwhelm him. He forced himself to take deep breaths, in and out, until his mind steadied. 

"Okay," he muttered, leaning back against the wall. "Let's test something." Closing his eyes, he reached out instinctively, following a pull he didn't fully understand. 

Grey fog filled his vision, an oppressive vastness that seemed to envelop his very being. He floated in the expanse, dull roars echoing in his ears. And then, in an instant, it was gone. 

He stood above it all, in an endless sea of shifting fog. 

"Fuck," Eli whispered, the word heavy with awe. 

He glanced around, taking it all in. "Alright. Let's summarize: I transmigrated for unknown reasons, check. My body healed because of this: the Sephirah Castle. Double check. I am now a triple Beyonder of the Seer, Apprentice, and Marauder Pathways. Triple check." 

Eli began pacing, a habit he'd picked up from his father, who couldn't sit still even while brushing his teeth. His mind churned with possibilities. "So, I kill myself and escape this mess? Or double down like Dumbledore?" A faint smirk tugged at his lips. "Would that even work? Klein thought he could die three times, once at the start and twice more—unless his body was mutilated. Then it was just one more." 

'Okay so let's think logically, I must have been reincarnated here purposefully. Either by an evil Lord of Mysteries that wants to awaken in me and enter this new world, or by a Lord of Mysteries that sent me here for some other reason, like to protect this world.' Eli thought as he walked in circles. 

'Since I have the Sephirah Castle of this Universe or Multiverse. It stands to reason that there are other Sephirot that exist, therefore other beings with Sequence abilities. Do the Outer Deities exist in this universe? Are they trying to encroach?' Eli sighed. 

'I can think all I want, there's no way to prove any of my thoughts for now.' 

He stopped walking and went to dismiss himself from the grey fog but stopped, red lights in the distance catching his attention. '… I shouldn't... like really shouldn't... or should I?' A smirk crossed his lips. 

"Fuck it." He smiled and extended his senses to three of the glowing lights in the distance, 'I should be able to handle three people right?' Eli smiled. 

... 

Wakanda, a laboratory. 

In a pristine lab, surrounded by holographic displays and shimmering vibranium, a young girl of about ten worked furiously. Her braids swayed as she moved, muttering to herself. 

"A vibranium capacitor should stabilize the energy flow," Shuri mumbled, her voice laced with frustration. "But what if I—no, no, that'd overload the circuits." 

She sighed, tapping her chin as she stared at the hologram. Her latest project—a crystalline device—pulsed faintly. It was glass crystal-like and was held suspended by a force due to the vibranium tech. "Why can't I understand you!" The young girl huffed and frowned. 

Suddenly something beeped and the young girl looked excited, then the beeping got more and more intense. Shuri looked slightly nervous and took a step back, then the glass orb shattered and a wave of red light dominated the laboratory. 

… 

SHIELD base headquarters. 

Nick Fury frowned, "This is what gave you so much trouble?" 

Across the desk was Agent Coulson. "Yes sir, this is the 0-8-4, we still don't understand anything about it. Lab did a few tests, it's like it's an ordinary book. But if taken out of this non-reflective container the people around will start to lose control of their bodies and then fall under its control." The agent reported. 

"How long does the process take?" Fury asked as he leaned back in his chair. 

"The process is exponential sir, the body slows to the owner's orders, and it's hard to move and think. The situation doesn't get better from there sir." 

Fury pursed his lips and frowned, "Thank you, Coulson, that'll be all. Send someone to pick it up." 

Coulson nodded and left the office. Fury sighed and stood up and walked to the window overlooking the view. "Magic?" He muttered scornfully, he rubbed his face and touched the eyepatch before returning to his seat and pulling up some work. 

Then the box shook. Fury tensed and shot to his feet, but light spread from the box and overtook him in a wave of red. 

… 

Ororo Munroe, aka Storm, stood in front of her class and smiled as the bell went. "Okay that will be all, please make sure you take a look at the assigned reading on Mutant History, chapters 10 through 13. You will be behind if you don't do so." She called out as her students rushed to gather their things and leave for supper. 

She smiled at their noise and excitement and went around her desk and sat in her chair. She had some work to do before she would be able to escape to eat. 'No rest for the wicked,' Storm smiled. 

Her hand went to her necklace, a crystal embedded in a stone, she had picked it up after leaving university and traveling in Africa for a year. After that, she came right back here and had only just started teaching. 

She played with the necklace sometimes, the elder of the village said it came from the sky, like her. A smile flickered over her lips as the memories fluttered past her eyes. 

Unknown to her the crystal flickered red and started to glow, and then the light exploded out of the stone-encased crystal startling Storm and washing over her. 

… 

Eli watched as three figures appeared before him in the fog, he had seen their situations in the real world when pulling them in. Thus recognising two of them immediately, Shuri was a little harder to place. She had been around 18 when first introduced in the movies, so it was a little harder to recognize her. 

Eli tilted his head and surveyed them, taking the silent mysterious persona that was needed here. "Woah! Where am I?" The young voice of Shuri asked quizzically. 

Fury's hand went to his gun at the side but it was no longer there. He frowned, "Who are you?" His eye already scanning the surroundings, he determined that the man opposite them was the one that brought them here. 

Storm went to summon the weather to try to give herself some confidence but nothing responded, her powers didn't work here. "What is this? Where are we?" She demanded. 

Eli smiled, 'Perfect.' 

"Hmmm, you can think of this... as a first attempt." He said uncaringly. 

Fury's eye narrowed. "A first attempt at what?" 

Eli smiled but didn't answer. 

"Hey! Did you do something to that orb? I was trying to figure it out but I couldn't! Then there was that red light and whoosh. Here I am." Shuri asked curiously. 

Eli smiled, "Yes the orb was an anchor that allowed me to pull you here." He said turning his attention to the young girl. 

"Woah, and what is this place?" Shuri asked looking around into the deep fog. 

Eli chuckled "That's hidden knowledge that could harm you. I'm sorry little one, that being said, shall we change our environment?" Eli asked as he waved a hand, wishing for a meeting place to form. 

As soon as this thought surfaced, the gray fog started to churn, giving both the three a shock. 

In an instant, they saw a number of towering stone pillars around them. Above them was a vast dome that encapsulated them. This entire edifice looked magnificent, grand, and lofty, just like a legendary palace for giants. 

Directly under the dome where the gray fog gathered, a long, bronze table appeared with ten high-back chairs on either side in a symmetrical arrangement. The back of each chair dazzled and shone faintly with crimson red, drawing the outlines of weird constellations that differed from reality. 

Fury sat to the left of Eli and Shuri to his right, with Storm next to Shuri. Obviously, Eli took the seat of honour at the head of the table. 

"Woah..." Shuri muttered. "How did that work? What sort of technology could do that?" She muttered. 

Eli laughed. "I'm not using technology little one. I can promise you that." 

Shuri froze her worldview crumbling, this... was pure magic. 'Yes magic, is magic real? It must be!' 

Fury ran his hand over the table, the sensations were real, 'Is this related to the 0-8-4?' He mused. 

"Will you send us back?" Storm asked carefully. The abilities shown by him worried her, 'A new mutant? Is he working for someone? Perhaps he's like Apocalypse, drunk on power thinking he's a god.' 

"The item that brought me here, can you tell me about it?" Fury asked seriously. 

"Hmm, I normally preach equivalent exchange, but I suppose I can do one for free. Describe it to me." Eli said as he crossed his legs. 

"it had the power to take over the bodies of people in a certain range. Using them as puppets. Their bodies would slow and stiffen and so would their thoughts." Fury explained keeping his eye on any sign of reaction from the unknown man. 

Eli paused for a moment before he started to laugh, a sinister booming thing filled with amusement. "So I was right." He muttered. Fury frowned at this. 

"Let's get something cleared up, I, along with these objects, are from another world. Or universe being more accurate? In my realm, we have individuals called Beyonders – beings who have gained powers vai consuming special potions. Thus granting them extraordinary abilities. These potions correspond to various sequences and pathways. A hierarchical classification where the lower the number the higher the power." 

Storm went to say something but Eli held up a hand and she faltered. "Alongside Beyonders there exist objects of immense power and often danger, called Sealed Artifacts by authorities and Beyonders Items by others. These are items that most often originate from the remnants of Beyonder who have either died or lost control of themselves. They embody potent abilities with drawbacks, some inconsequential like feeling thirsty or like your one. The puppetry ability. They are classified into grades, 0 being the most perilous and 3 being the least." 

"From the sounds of it, yours is a grade 2." Eli monolouged. 

Fury clenched his fists, "My men died fighting each other, you're saying that's a grade 2?" Helplessness washed over him. "You mentioned a Sequence and Pathway. Does this correspond to any if it relates to a dead beyonder?" 

"Yes and no, it is unlikely that this had anything to do with a Beyonder's death, more likely a ritual was involved. But yes it does correspond to a pathway and sequence. There are 9 Sequences and myriad pathways. 9 and 8 are called the Low Sequences, a gun is more than enough to handle someone of these, 7, 6, and 5 are called the Mid sequences. Now for every pathway, there is a qualitative change in abilities around 7 or 6, making them formidable opponents from that point onwards. At 4 you enter a realm called Demi God, and at 2 you become an Angel." Eli explained. 

"So what is his item?" Storm asked curiously despite herself. 

"It has similar powers to the Seer pathways sequence 5 Marionettist, a truly terrifying ability. Able to take control of one Spirit Threads, and when complete control of said Threads is done. The target is under the total domination of the Beyonder, like a marionette." Eli explained. 

Fury grimaced, that aligned with the report. The book used his men to defend itself and attack their comrades. It soon led to a firefight, it took multiple tries to eventually contain the item. 

"Now that I've told you this, my turn to ask. How did you manage to contain it? Each Beyonder Item requires its own unique seal." 

Fury hesitated "Nonreflective box, it had a large eye on the front of the book that moved around. We thought if it couldn't see then its powers wouldn't work. We were right." 

"Fascinating," Eli murmured. "No knowledge of Mysticism and you lucked out on finding it right away." Eli chuckled. 

Fury could only take the jest, feeling a little uneasy in front of this enigmatic foggy man. 'Just who the hell are you?' Fury scowled. 

"Who are you?" Shuri asked helplessly. 

'Yes!' Storm and Fury both thought as the little girl asked. 

"Me? Hmm, you can call me, Mr Fool." Eli smiled. 

Shuri huffed "That's not an answer." 

"Well, I suppose that's it, goodbye and good luck with surviving." Eli smiled and raised a hand. 

Fury and Storm started "WAIT!" Fury yelled, causing Eli's hand to slow and him to tilt his head. 

"Is that it? You come in and drop all that on us and then leave?" Storm asked hurriedly. 

"Will we see you again?" Shuri asked. 

"Would you like me to pull you here again?" Eli asked curiously. 

'Yes, you bastard! You still have so much knowledge I need!' Fury ground his teeth. 

"Ohh, yes!" Shuri nodded excitedly. 

"Fine, but you must not tell anyone of my existence for the time being," Eli instructed. 

Storm frowned, "Mr. Fool, what do you know of this world?" 

Eli leaned back and smiled "If you're talking about abilities like mind reading, I'd be interested to see if that would work. But don't actively go saying anything about me." 

Fury nodded, well-versed in keeping secrets. Shuri hesitated, not keeping anything from her brother, but eventually nodded. 'He would understand.' She affirmed. 

"Fine then, every Monday at 3 pm New York time, I'll summon you here." Eli said tapping the table with his finger. 

"I suppose you don't want to disclose your names to each other so pick a card from the deck." Eli said, conjuring images of a Tarot deck. "Each one represents a Pathway by the way." 

Fury looked at the cards and reached out and tapped one at random. He flipped it over. 

The Emperor. 

"Definitely one of the pathways I'd consider for you." Eli mused out loud. Not knowing the effect this simple thought would have on the spymaster. 

"Consider a pathway? Does he intend to help us grow stronger to help combat threats? And for me? How familiar with me is he?' Thoughts flashed through his mind. 

Storm reached out and tapped a card. It flipped and revealed many bright and dazzling stars in the night sky. 

"Interesting," Eli murmured. 

"Ooh, my turn!" Shuri stood up from her chair so she could lean forward and touch a card. It flipped and the High Priestess was revealed. 

"Now that is the one I would pick for you, a perfect match for you in terms of pathway I believe. While its twin focuses on knowledge of the occult and mystical worlds and turning that into power." Eli tapped the card that was now on the table. 

"This pathway focuses on the physical world and its knowledge, they are brilliant scientists, craftsmen, and inventors. Able to take the remains of Beyonders and create Sealed artifacts, or even mechanical wonders. At sequence 4, when they become a demigod, they can imitate life with their automaton doll creations." Eli smiled at the young girl. 

"Woah! Can you give me the potion!" She exclaimed eagerly. 

Eli chuckled, "It's not that easy little one, this power is not for the faint of heart. Madness and depravity follow Beyonders around, murmurs of hidden knowledge and the remnant traces of the ingredients try not to overwhelm you. If you lose control, which isn't rare, the potion and powers take over and you become a monster. Savage and out of control." Eli explained. 

Shuri sat down, a little scared. "th-that's not guaranteed right?" Her voice was a little shaky, thoughts of how she might hurt the people she cared for filled her mind. Her transformed into a savage beast that wrecked her lab and stormed out of it causing chaos in her country. Her brother, the Black Panther is forced to put her down. Shuri shuddered at the thought. 

"I am here to help, but what is happening to your world, the encroachment of the powers from my world. It is not like anything you have ever seen before. If you would like reading material, I would point you in the direction of H.P Lovecraft's works. The eldritch beings and powers they wield are akin to the strong of my world." 

Fury and Storm frowned, the Cthulu mythos was no joke, Outer Deities with mind-rendering powers littered the stories. 

"Thank you," Storm said genuinely. "It wouldn't have been an easy choice to abandon your old world for a world you have no stake in." 

"My world has others to protect it, yours does not. You are not well versed with anything supernatural. I am here to fix that." Eli said genuinely. "I hope my presence scares the encroachment off." He said simply, leaving a way out for himself if the appearance of the sealed artifact Fury had was simply a once-off. 

"I will not tell you much about the greater details of the encroachment, such knowledge could harm you in your current state," Eli stated. 

'Mainly because this is all guesswork.' He lampooned. 

"Will you give out potions?" Fury asked as he cut to the chase. 

"Ask me next meeting, I have much to think about." Eli said uncaringly. 

'Potions? I only know a few of them! You wanna be a Demoness, Fury? I know that Pathway until Sainthood.' Eli snarked inwardly. 

Fury nodded accepting this for now, 'Traversing worlds probably is no easy feat if what he says is true.' The spymaster thought, ever paranoid. 

"Wonderful, then this meeting of... Well, what should we call this little gathering?" Eli asked with a smile. 

"Ohh I know! How about the Tarot Club!" Shuri suggested. 

Storm smiled at the little girl, "That's fine with me." 

Fury didn't seem to care one way or another. 

"Very well then, the first meeting and founding of the Tarot Club is complete. I'll see you all in a few days." Eli said. 

"Goodbye, Mr. Fool!" Shuri chirped. 

"Farewell." Storm nodded. 

Fury remained silent and in deep thought. Eli nodded and waved his hand and the fog rolled and the figures around him disappeared. 

… 

Back in the laboratory in Wakanda, Shuri opened her eyes and staggered. "Interesting, bodily functions are the same. No side effects." Her mind already diagnosing herself after her trip. 

She turned to look at the crystal orb on the counter, suspended with some Vibranium tech. "Hmm, I never got your secrets." Shuri looked a little annoyed, she could tell it was useless now, the faint red glow inside it was now gone. 

The door to her lab opened and a young man entered, T'Challa, "Little sister, are you having fun?" He teased. 

"Brother!" She exclaimed and ran over and gave him a hug. He was a tall man, so she hugged his stomach. 

"Anything interesting come up?" T'Challa asked interested in his genius little sister's work. 

Shuri hesitated but shook her head a little jerkily. "No nothing." She lied. 'Mr. Fool said, for now, one day I'll tell brother.' 

"Ahh don't be disappointed Shuri, not everything is solvable." He encouraged her, wrongly assuming her shame in her lie was disappointment in failing. 

"It's okay T'Challa." She said with a smile. 

… 

Storm opened her eyes in her classroom and leaned backward in her chair. 'Mr. Fool? A kind god...' A smile played over her lips. 

A knock at her door, a gorgeous redhead was there. "Hey sleepyhead, wanna grab some dinner?" Jean asked. 

Storm smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Sleepyhead?" She queried. 

"Don't bother lying, I can read what you were just doing. Have a deep lil old nap." Jean giggled. 

Storm paled. 'What? Jean can't see what just happened. But how? She's an extraordinarily powerful telepath. Just who is Mr. Fool?' 

Jean tilted her head. "What's wrong?" She asked seeing her friend's face. 

Storm forced a laugh, "Nothing, just tired. Let's go have dinner." Storm said as she rose from her desk and headed out the door. 

… 

SHIELD base, Directors Room, 

Fury opened his eyes and glared at the box next to him like it had killed his parents in front of him. 'Sealed artifacts, Beyonder items. What a pain.' He sighed and pulled out a drawer that was for emergencies, he looked at the pager before leaning down and grabbing the bottle of whisky next to it and the glass. 

He slowly poured himself a drink and took a sip. He reached out and tapped a few buttons, about to call for Coulson and Maria. Two people he trusted, that was a small group. He could count them on one hand with room to spare. 

'Do I want this information on the servers?' He thought. 'Beyonders with a visitor and encroachment from another world. If that's true, but even so, the threat is real.' He glanced at the box containing their first Sealed Artifact. 

He took another gulp of whiskey and leaned back in his chair. 'Let's hold onto these cards for a couple more days until the next meeting. It's Wednesday today, so we only have 5 days. Nothing should happen in 5 days right?' He hoped. 

… 

Back above the swirling grey fog Eli sighed and leaned back. "Fuck~" he was completely out of his depth here, Princess Shuri, Storm of the X-Force, and the spy of all spies Nick Fury. 

He pushed off his chair and stood up to examine his seat, as he turned around the fog swirled and opened. 'Okay...' Eli thought as he followed the gap in the fog with his eyes. It leads to some steps, The Steps, the ones that lead to the room full of cocoons in the original. 

'Guess that's an invitation if anything.' Eli mused and walked over to them, climbing them one at a time till he reached the door at the top. 

'As I suspected, my control over the Sephirah castle is like Klein's at Angel Level, why is that? Was it set from whoever sent me here?' He thought. 

He pressed his hands against the doors and pushed them open slowly, before stepping into the room. 

His eyes scanned into the room that was filled with less fog than the outside, the room was huge, like the size of a warehouse. Along the sides rested various items, pulsating power, Sealed Artifacts, and Beyonder Items. Each was accompanied by a brief note and description. In glass cases, Beyonder ingredients lay preserved and ready to be used in potions. 

At the center of the room stood a huge stone pedestal. Atop it lay a huge slate, Eli could tell in an instant it was only a copy of the original but still wielded great power. A lesser Third Blasphemy Slate. One that contained the knowledge but not so much the power that could whip up the Chaos Sea. More knowledge even, there were all the pathways one could progress upon on here. Much more than the first 22 that were introduced. 

Beside the slate lay a piece of paper with delicate handwriting. It sensed his arrival and zoomed towards Eli in an instant. 

"let's cut to the chase, you have been sent here to protect this world. You're smart, so you likely widely wildly jumped to conclusions and deduced that Outer Deities are indeed encroaching on this world. This world recently awakened in spirituality without the need for an Original Creator, drawing a myriad of gazes from my world. Stop them, if they gain the Sephirots of that world and achieve strength akin to that of a Pillar or more, it would be disastrous."  

"You're special, traversing all three pathways of the Lord of the Mysteries group at once, this will make you powerful. Though in the world you are in that's not saying much. The Uniqueness' of this world will form and you will attract them as you progress to Godhood. You will naturally assimilate them without the need for rituals." 

"There was a limit on what I could do for you upon arrival, a short-term boost in Sequence or all these items. I chose the second, the Sealed Artifacts you can do with as you please, they were hand-selected for being a balance of useful with low negative side effects. The powerful ones obviously don't follow this rule."  

"Be careful with the ingredients, they're meant to supplement growth. Animals and fauna will start to evolve into Beyonder Creatures immediately, so ingredients will start to be born. These are in case your allies are talented and don't want to wait to advance and to get you started. Use them wisely."  

"You will not have to use any potions or rituals to advance, I won't explain why. Trust me or don't, just protect that world from 'Them'. It would be hard for me to deal with 'Them' if they gained greater strength in that world and then came back to mine for even more power. Good luck."  

Eli stared at the paper and once he was done reading it shattered into more grey fog. 'Fuck~' he thought calmly. 

"Never mind, I guess, some things are more important than others." The young man said with a smile.