Strange Nights ( Dr Strange #1)

Chapter 18 : Kamar Taj

"Try your blood," Loki said, disdainfully, more disappointed as the witches had fallen short of the standard they were expected. The silver locket, irrevocably sealed against all the opening spells, lay pensively on the oak table.

There was a flash of green, and then a silver dagger in Y/N's palm. With a shaky breath, she pierced her skin, letting dark scarlet drops taint the turquoise surface of the rock. A shimmering golden light outlined the edges of the silver metal, cracking the locket open, that held a ring wedged tightly around the portrait of her father.

Wanda's glowing fingers hovered over the cut, sealing it close. It was then Y/N noticed her crumpled nose. The mysterious locket that had been anything but an ordinary souvenir for so many years after her mother's death had held up from being careful about spilling her blood.

"Vetus te'revis," Stephen murmured, his finger tracing the outline of Jane's portrait where once had lay another ring. "What does that mean?" she asked him, watching as a flicker of excitement crossed his tired, sleepy face.

"It's a dark ritual to walk through a dead person's memories. The things we use in our daily life, objects that possess our sentimental value carry a part of ourselves with them. They even hold secrets that we haven't shared with the world. The burnt objects in your room had been used in the ritual. And we can't ever know what they wanted from Jean," Wanda explained.

"Anna wanted to know about her." Stephen's statement made no sense to her, and probably the rest of them. From trying to find a reliable fact from intangible memories which had nothing common other than being strangled, to guess it must be the locket that the attacker must have wanted and trying to break it open had exhausted her to a point where she would be happy if someone dragged her to the bed. Sorcery didn't seem as much interesting as she had fantasised. A bit of concentration and mind penetration from Wanda had taken its toll on her. She couldn't make any sense of where Anna came from in all of this. "Anna?"

"She is involved in this with many others." The wild attacks weren't wild after all. The hybrid creatures and attacks had been deliberately staged to keep them occupied. "Nothing is making sense. Don't you all be Sherlock Holmes," Y/N wearily chastised.

"She had planned to do it on Halloween Night. Mathew and I were occupied with victims, but Jean had placed old but a bit strong protective spells. She managed to break them sometime later but I was already there by then, she didn't have the ring, you had it but were with me. The next day she got it from you, coincidentally Wanda and I happened to cross by the accidental site and she didn't have enough time to either plant proper memories on you or break the new protection spells. Worried that you might recover the memory, she tried to blend into your life and get the proper opportunity to do what she wanted."

"I wish they had just told me the truth," her voice a whisper over the howling winds that ravaged the ruined city. The place had been so close to the nuclear attack, she could hardly believe any old building would have survived it.

"Sometimes our elders try to protect us, not knowing what they are protecting us from." Through the ivied fog, he could make out the remodelled building of Kamar Taj, thinking back to the way he had journeyed here in search of hope. And it didn't take too long for a familiar face to emerge from behind the towering stone walls. He looked disbelievingly more at him than his accomplice.

"Sensed you coming," Wong said after they closed in.

"Of course you did."

She peered nervously around as she followed the men. They had been talking about the west wing; some supposed sorcerers and the reason behind their arrival. She could hear a few voices from across the courtyard, except which the castle, sanctum she corrected, seemed to be empty. The names, she focused, sounded oddly familiar. She had overheard her parents using the title Master frequently when they were strenuously searching for a man few months before her mother died. She hadn't taken it seriously until after her death. But every time she asked Charles about it, he would either avert the conversation or avoid Y/N like a plague.

Her heart gave a jolt when they reached the west wing. It was a miniature version of the courtyard and its building except it was more dark, cold, and absolutely desolated. Warned that magic was going to extract a heavy physical price from her, she had hoped her mental strength didn't diminish and also hoped for some better place for training when Stephen had told her that his manor was not the perfect place to practice.

"Y/N", she sighed with defeat at the sound of his voice. Whatever was going to happen, however, it was happening, acceptance seemed the only way out. She weakly nodded at Stephen's instructions and resigned herself to the indicated room on the second floor.

"Stephen," Wong said tensely, "why are you protecting her from other sorcerers?"

"She doesn't seem to recognise her own powers. Hell, I don't understand much of it either!" He seemed suddenly, disconcertingly vulnerable. "Some of them are after her, neither of us knows why. I can't let any - "

"She isn't...," he didn't need to complete the question. The apparent tension in his body was enough of an answer. He wasn't surprised much to find Stephen in this odd situation. With his bag of luck, he always managed to get himself in dicey situations.

"The first time I met her, I had go far away from her. I didn't want her involved with me in any way. But as I watched her, a part of me craved for something normal- I wanted to be with someone who didn't remind me of those years. But all that happened is I got sucked into this chaos once again."

"There is a saying - one often meets his destiny on the road he takes to avoid it. You won't able to ever give up this," Wong gestured around, "one way or the other you'll find yourself here." He sighed and kept staring at the mountains lining the horizon with jagged peaks.

"The Council doesn't know about her," Stephen said after some time. Wong mulled over it for a few minutes. "You are giving them another reason to detest you. You won't stay invincible forever-"

"I never wanted to be ever. Everything I'm doing is for her safety. Jean hadn't informed of her presence to anyone, I can't dare to do it unless I know why."

"Nobody here will question you but if Mordo - you know what will happen then." He nodded. He knew very well - two witches with Chaos magic at his side will be enough to get all the sorcerers against him and they won't stop even if they destroy everything in the process. "I know very well that you won't stop unless you finish what you have started, what you believe is for the best. But a friendly piece of advice, don't get attached to her. In the end, you'll always lose her," he said softly, slowly waking away from him.