Taipan // Doctor Strange

Chapter 7

"What?" I asked, surprised.

"You saw how the zealots fought?" he asked. I nodded, and he waved his hand at my feet- signaling to make the pose.

Placing my right foot behind my left, I bent my knees slightly and lifted my fists to cover my face. It felt as though I was about to wrestle in a ring, and if I was being honest, it felt a little ridiculous. The posture felt unnatural, I knew that I would trip up with this position. "Are you right handed or left handed?" he asked, his monotonous voice a dull reminder that this was all real.

"Left?" I said, unsure myself.

"Then put your right leg first." and I switched my feet- it felt a bit more comfortable.

Suddenly, his fist was flying towards the side of my head, my instinct saved me as I ducked quickly, feeling the wind of the potential blow cast over the top of my hair. When I stood up again, an immediate second move met my chest, and I stumbled backward with a gasp as the air was taken from me. "What's that eye necklace all about?" I asked, half choking.

Luckily, I didn't fall, and I saw him approaching again, his right leg lifting off the ground for a kick that I could block. "The Eye of Agamotto," he said; I was able to avoid his move, but the power within his momentum shook the forearm that stopped it, breaking the block immediately as the kick retreated. "Stop trying to analyze it," he said, unable to set a few more strokes against my aching body as I blocked or moved.

I felt kind of foolish with how little I knew, I didn't want to look like a wimp in front of this man. With the next punch he threw, I tried to remember the three years of karate I had done in middle-school. My hands closed around his wrist as I, as quickly as I could, swung around behind him, pinning it against his back and pulling upward. "What does it do?"

For a moment- it seemed that his stiff offense broke and he hunched slightly. "It controls time." his voice was echoing off of the far wall and back to me. As a moment of pause passed, if that even existed when the time was stopped, with one smooth movement his body stood straight again, the arm I had pinned removing itself from there even with my force, and turned me around to face the frozen people surrounding us. I found myself pinned against his chest, my wrists still clenching the forearm that was now pressed firmly against my neck- cutting off my air supply. "Stop trying to predict," he said, holding me there for awhile longer. His voice came from right above my ear- and I suddenly felt very small.

I could feel the steady lift of his breath with my back pressed against him; wonder struck me when I compared the stuttering lungs within my own body to it. "Use your instincts." and he moved his arm, pushing me away from him.

I held myself still for a moment, hunched over and trying to catch my breath- which he thankfully allowed. "And how do I do that?"

I saw a moment of hesitation linger over Stephen's face- he didn't know! How was I supposed to learn anything if he didn't know himself! "I'm not sure," he said. At least he was honest. "Try to focus on allowing your movements to be a result of, instead of preparation for."

I scrunched my eyebrows together. "That doesn't make any sense," I said.

"I know." his frustrated expression diminished as he ran his hands over his face. "Ok, hold off on fighting." I knew that this was not a comment to me, but rather a mental note he was making for future reference. It felt reassuring to know that I was not going to be thrown into the normal world again without a better understanding of what I had been introduced to. And in honesty, it was all because of the man before me- this tall, slim man with gray streaks that ran along the sides of his black hair; a goatee like design set in scruff around his mouth. "Alright, we'll try this." and he cupped his hands together before pulling them apart, creating a strip of gold that crackled every second. "I've seen you conjure the snake- make a different weapon."