Marvel Magic Case Files.

Chapter 1, Chapter 0: Birth

"Demonic tendencies attract demonic tendencies. He is destined to live a life far removed from ordinary people. He will discover his own abnormality, which is beyond his control." The Sorcerer Supreme gazed at the bright star on the eastern horizon and spoke to his disciples. "His talent far surpasses yours, which may not be a good thing. The strangeness you have never encountered will be encountered by him in his future life. There is no need to envy him, Mordo, Kaecilius. I will impose responsibilities that are not his upon him, and he will suffer."

Jezebel was in excruciating pain – she had been abandoned, or rather, she had abandoned herself.

She had no relatives or friends in this vast city of New York.

When she fled her country for a marriage arranged by her father, she only had a few US dollars with her, but now she had paid them all to the smugglers. If it weren't for the small hammer she found on the ship, she might not have been able to keep her virginity.

But she did not regret it. Even though the cramped space on the smuggling boat was barely enough for everyone to stand, and even excretion was difficult, and people kept getting sick, feverish, and being thrown off the boat, she never regretted escaping that country.

She didn't want to marry the old Korah next door; he was already bald. Ever since she was ten, Jezebel would tremble when the old Korah's sticky gaze swept over her, but when she turned nineteen, the old Korah offered her to her father for 10 new sikhes, and her father agreed without hesitation.

It wasn't just because Jezebel's brother, who had never served in the military, would need a large enough house for his future wedding; her large family of younger siblings also needed enough money. Moreover, a pilgrimage to Jerusalem would require a significant sum of money.

She almost wanted to scream—Haredi families as poor as theirs were rare, but their neighborhood was full of poor people, the men in the family only knew how to nod and chant, the women were the sole breadwinners, and they couldn't afford to send her to study math and science.

Jezebel didn't want her future to resemble those women who stood blankly in the dusty streets, holding their children. She had seen them before; their lives only came alive on the day they received government subsidies. Jezebel could imagine that if she married old Korah, she would become a lifeless puppet, just like those women.

She did try to resist, but all she got in return was beatings from her father and extra work. Her father hoped that she would be a docile wife in the future, or at least... a wife that old Kora would pay for.

During that time, she kept reciting the holy name of Jehovah, hoping that a prophet would lead her away from this place—then one day, the water coming out of the tap turned into blood. This phenomenon continued for seven days, but her father said it was just a rusty pipe and didn't take it seriously.

Jezebel, who had only studied the Pentateuch, was overjoyed. She believed it to be a revelation, just as Moses had persuaded Pharaoh. So, without hesitation, she stole the dollars her mother had earned from her work, ran away, and came to this country that touted democracy and freedom, a country said to flow with milk and honey, hoping for a new life.

However, how could a girl who had only learned basic religious knowledge and knew nothing else find a job? No matter how hard she worked, she couldn't sign any contracts without identification.

Jezebel struggled to survive on a meager daily wage, even having to disguise herself as a pagan and wear a veil to conceal her fair beauty and avoid harassment from street thugs. But one day, she suddenly felt nauseous—a fellow undocumented immigrant who worked with her told her she was pregnant.

She could hardly believe her ears; she was still a young girl!

The more she thought about it, the more panicked she became. After examining her body, she confirmed her virginity. But as her belly grew bigger each day, she dreamed of a person bathed in light who told her, "Born him, and you will be sainted."

This terrified her because it was a god from pagan stories. Even if this god was real, she didn't believe she could receive God's blessings. She wasn't Mary, and Jezebel didn't know whether it was an illusion or the real Holy Spirit.

But she was indeed reluctant; the child was destined to be a fatherless child, and she would not rush into marriage with a Joseph. In any case, the doctrine forbade her from having an abortion, so she gave up seeking help from a doctor.

So Jezebel, burdened by her frail body, worked diligently, but her meager wages were insufficient to support her mother and unborn child. She grew thinner day by day, her limbs weakened, and she found it difficult to work. Losing her job also left her homeless, but fortunately, a priest, after hearing her story, took her in (though he didn't believe it himself, he did so out of compassion). She could survive by wiping benches during the day, earning a meager living on bread and leftover wine from communion. She could also stay in the parking lot behind the church, where the priest provided her with bedding and hot water.

Jezebel was very grateful for the priest's help. As her unborn child grew, she became increasingly unable to move around, but she still forced herself to eat, just so that her child could be born healthy.

She had a premonition that her child would be born on this bright, cold night, but her body was already in terrible shape due to long-term malnutrition, and the child in her womb was like a parasite, constantly and greedily absorbing the nutrients from her body.

When the Ancient One, dressed in yellow robes, appeared before her, she could only weep, barely managing to sit up halfway, and plead in a weak voice with the Sorcerer Supreme to save her child.

"I came following the stars." The Ancient One knelt down beside Yazeb, pointing to the star in the sky. She told Yazeb, "Your child is about to be born, and he will become my disciple."

The Ancient One opened the box in his hand and placed the gold, frankincense, and myrrh inside beside Jezebel, using magic to sustain her life force, which was as fragile as a candle in the wind. When the child was born, the Ancient One saw that the crying infant had ring-shaped wounds on all ten fingers, from which red light flowed, but Jezebel did not see them.

"I can no longer save you; your life during your pregnancy was far too miserable." In the Sorcerer Supreme's eyes, Jezebel was surrounded by a soft white light, which stabilized her body, which should have collapsed. But after the birth of this extraordinary child, this positive energy dissipated, and even the Sorcerer Supreme's magic could not sustain Jezebel's body any longer. In her final moments, she closed her eyes with tears in her eyes.

"Salomon," she said.

"Salomon Damonet, he will be the one to create miracles," said the Ancient One. Jezebel nodded with her last breath.

"Your soul will return to heaven."

Then, a massive beam of white light shot into the sky, and hymns inaudible to mortals resounded throughout the heavens. Jezebel closed her eyes. The Sorcerer Supreme wrapped the child in the red shroud, and the wounds on the infant's fingers immediately healed, leaving only ten ring-shaped marks. His Holiness opened a portal, bringing the lifeless Jezebel and her newborn child back to Kamar-Taj.

When the priest in the church was awakened by the huge beam of light, he came to the parking lot and only saw the gold, frankincense and myrrh left on Jezebel's bed. The young woman was nowhere to be found.

When the Supreme Master returned to Kamar-Taj, his young disciples immediately gathered around him, having already noticed the unusual events in the city. However, the Supreme Master stopped them from asking questions, instead entrusting the child to them, and then buried Jezebel in a tomb near Kamar-Taj.

On the very night Salomon Damonet was born, the number of Abyssal creatures invading Earth suddenly increased. Although they were mostly spontaneous acts by low-level demons, it was enough to keep the wizards of Kamar-Taj busy for a while. In the end, it was only after the Sorcerer Supreme personally went to the Abyss and visited several Abyssal lords that the disturbance was brought to an end.

Regarding the wound on Salomon Damonnet's finger, the Sorcerer Supreme referred to it as a stigmata—the Ancient One used the Shroud of Resurrection to stop the bleeding, and then used magic to promote its healing, after which the stigmata disappeared. Salomon Damonnet himself, however, was deeply mired in a jumble of memories. After being brought back to Kamar-Taj, he was entrusted to the care of several female sorceresses with experience in childcare, but when he opened his eyes, he no longer cried, but instead appeared confused.

He has many different memories in his mind. Sometimes he is a shut-in who stays in his room all day, living an ordinary and boring life; sometimes he is a mage who was favored by the gods, but later went mad due to his paranoia and was turned to ashes by another god. After three hundred years, he became a lich and was finally killed by twelve paladins; sometimes he is the memory of an archmage from Glaryon who became a lackey of the Great Old Ones.

Moreover, as the Sorcerer Supreme departed, the stigmata on his ten fingers emitted an intermittent glow, but before his soul could finally succumb to madness, they all went out.

Salomon Damonet can finally rest in peace.

I wonder if anyone noticed the plot point about the announcement of conception. Tilda Swank, who played the Ancient One, also played Gabriel... It couldn't be more fitting for the Sorcerer Supreme to announce it.

(End of this chapter)