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Wong had read about it for years, fascinated by the topic of soulmates but had never truly seen a pair before in person. Most people haven’t. The existence of soulmates has always been a debated topic amongst top scholars and romantics alike. The concept that there was potentially someone that you connected with so perfectly that the sheer act of meeting them transformed the pair forever was the thing of fairy tales.
Wong could concede that they truly were the thing of fairy tales. The High Seely court were the ones that bestowed the gift onto a decent sized portion of society for their reverence and respect towards the Fae millennium ago as a chance to be even remotely like the beautiful and dangerous society they were. At least, that is what the sorcerers determined to be the story after a few first person accounts by sorcerers who had been blessed themselves in the event.
The premise was simple: if you happened to be descended from one of those lucky people and happened to meet the person who magic determined to be your ‘other half’, the pair would undergo a transformation into a type of Fae. What type of Fae, that much Wong was not sure of and the texts did not specify. From what humans had observed, however, was that the pair would transform into animals. Always the same type best suited to their personalities and they would remain that way for at least a week. From there, the couple would do whatever they wished to do. Most disappeared from the public eye as they were never quite the same as they were before. In the rare event that a magic user had a soulmate, their transformations were not of the normal sort. Instead of a regular animal one would find in the wild, sorcerers were written to have turned into things like unicorns, phoenixs, and other mythological creatures.
Considering most of the world didn’t realize it was magic, science had been trying for centuries to explain the concept and matching of couples in the best way they could. It was the type of thing young girls would spend all night giggling about at sleepovers and hopeless romantics would write books about. The fact that only about ten percent of the population were estimated to have a soulmate and about two percent actually met theirs made it a big deal when such an event popped up.
That was why Wong was utterly unprepared and yet the most knowledgeable about the topic when he and Stephen went to help the Avengers with a magical threat that had hit downtown New York City. Normally the Avengers didn’t respond to such low level threats like some refugees from another dimension landing in Central Park by accident but they were in town for some talks with the UN and enough people had panicked that they had been called in. The sorcerers had shown up quick enough for no actual fighting to commence as it had been entirely a misunderstanding but the Order had finally shown up on the superhero radar much to Wong’s chagrin.
He had turned his back for about thirty seconds to monitor the portal he had opened for the refugees when he heard screeching and shouting. After herding the last of the refugees into the Sanctum to await further help, Wong found himself dumbfounded at the scene in front of him. Captain America, the Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Thor were all armed and ready to fire at two griffons that both seemed panicked. A quick look at the ground to find red and gold armor shredded to bits at the foot of one griffon while a red cloak floated above the other told him everything he needed to know.
“Stop!” He shouted and formed a shield around the two creatures, for that was what they were now for better or worse, “They are not a threat unless you attack them.”
“What the fuck just happened and what happened to Tony?” Hawkeye shouted, bow still drawn despite the mandala. It was Thor who realized the situation first.
“Ah yes! I forgot Midgardians still had soulmates! What a blessed union between Tony and the earth sorcerer!”
“This looks nothing like the soulmate bondings I’ve heard about.” The Black Widow said calmly, slowly lowering her gun as she took in the mangled Iron Man armor.
“Now is not the time.” Wong interrupted, slowly inching closer towards the two griffons who still seemed to be panicking. The problem was that one hit from one of those claws could prove to be fatal if this was approached in the wrong way. He motioned for the Avengers to put their weapons away and back up which they did slowly. Wong approached the shield.
“Stephen, it is time to calm down. Meditate and recenter yourself.”
His friend stared at him for a moment before bobbing his head and closing his eyes. It took a few moments before Stephen visibly started to calm. It was during this that Wong got to observe the two closer. Despite his long history with magical and mundane creatures through the everyday antics that sorcerers were privy to, this was the first time he had encountered griffins before.
Stephen was colored in a black, almost navy blue hue of feathers and fur. He stood at about eight feet tall and looked just as majestic as the creature had always been rumored to be. His beak was a dark gold that matched his equally sharp claws. Stephen’s eagle-like head was triple the size of any human and Wong planned to tease his friend about the adorable looking feather ears on the crest of his head. His plumage was similar to a raven’s if only it were quadruple the size. Where the feathers ended, black fur began leaving the haunches of what looked like, in this coloring, a panther.
Where Stephen was night, Tony Stark seemed to be like the day.
The billionaire’s coloring was much more of a reddish ginger and gold, something the man would appreciate after the panic had settled. It wasn’t as glaring as the armor the man wore, but a more natural reddish hue that adorned all of his feathers. Instead of a panther, the lower half of Stark seemed to be more traditionally of a lion. Unlike Stephen, Stark’s golden eyes were widened in alarm and didn’t seem to have a shred of recognition in them.
A short chirp interrupted Wong’s observation and the sorcerer found grey eyes staring at him with amusement. It seemed his friend had recovered quicker than anticipated. The sorcerer turned griffon turned to his soulmate and seemed to chirp and chitter at the other, calming him down from an understandably shocked state. Stark seemed to relax as time passed however he did not move from his position. Wong let the shield drop and was pleased when Stephen merely huffed in laughter. With that, Wong turned to the rest of the Avengers.
“I suppose I should take these two somewhere safe to bond as this is likely to be a media storm the likes the world has never seen. I would recommend you take Stark’s armor back to his tower in the meantime.”
Stephen chirped at him and Wong merely attempted to shove the giant Eagle Panther as he walked by. It was not as successful as when he was human.He opened a portal to Kamar Taj and it took some gentle nudging from Stephen to get Stark through, but Wong tried not to laugh as he heard some apprentices shouting in excitement on the other side. Offering a quick bow to the superheroes, he turned and entered Kamar Taj letting the portal close behind him.
Yes, fate was a mysterious mistress however she did seem to have a great sense of humor.