The old man's voice grew compassionate. "I said you could not stand up to him alone. But this is my mountain, my home. No matter what dark paths you have chosen to follow, you were once my student, and that makes you as much of a son to me as any blood tie. No one harms my children in my home. I am not as young as I once was, but my powers have not waned. I am far more powerful today than when you came to me all those years ago. You will not stand alone when Mercury arrives."