Little

Chapter 13

Stephen walked back into the room, sighing. Wong had denied his request for books on astral projection. He decided that he'd have to improvise. 

Later that night, once Peter had fallen asleep, he opened a portal to the library. Thankfully, Wong was distracted, listening to...oh no. Beyoncé. Didn't he have better things to listen to? Like Pink Floyd?

Whatever. He quickly snagged a book from one shelf and closed the portal just as Wong turned around.

He opened another portal to the other shelf, and snagged another book. Wong turned around again. Apparently, he didn't see Stephen steal the book.

He snagged the last book, which was in front of Wong, when he wasn't looking. Finally, he'd gotten the books. And without being noticed. Or at least he thought. 

The next morning, he had been called to see the Ancient One. Since it was a weekend, he decided to bring Peter along with him. Peter happily agreed, holding Stephen's hand and walking with him. 

"Once, in this room, you begged me to let you learn," the Ancient One said to him. "Now I'm told you question every lesson, preferring to teach yourself."

"Once, in this room, you told me to open my eyes," Stephen retorted back. "Now I'm being told to blindly accept rules that make no sense."

"Like the rule against conjuring a gateway in the library?" the Ancient One said, all-knowingly.

He'd been caught.

"Wong told on me?" Stephen said, surprised. He thought Wong hadn't seen him. Well. He would need to work on that.

Peter giggled. "You're in trouble," he said through the laughter.

"You're advancing quickly with your sorcery skills," the Ancient One said. "You need a safe space to practice your spells."

She made a gesture with her hand. Suddenly, the air in front of them...shattered? The Ancient One walked through. Peter, not even afraid, let go of Stephen's hand and ran through. Stephen slowly followed.

"You are now inside the Mirror Dimension," she said, her voice echoing. "Ever present but undetected. The real world isn't affected by what happens here."

Nobody in the room seemed to notice them. They truly were in another dimension.

"We use the Mirror Dimension to train, surveil, and sometimes to contain threats," the Ancient One continued. "You don't want to be stuck in here without your sling ring."

"Hold on, sorry," Stephen stopped her. "What do you mean, threats?"

The Ancient One made another hand gesture. Suddenly, the floor flipped inside out and expanded. Peter shrieked and ran back to Stephen, clinging to his leg. For once, Stephen agreed that this was a good reason to be scared.

"Learning of an infinite multiverse includes learning of infinite dangers," she said. "And if I told you everything else that you don't already know, you'd run from here in terror."

Peter might have run away, but Stephen didn't get terrified that easily.

He'd stand his ground.

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"So, just how ancient is she?" he asked Mordo. They were in the courtyard, preparing to train. By training, basically fighting each other.

"No one knows anything about the Sorcerer Supreme," Mordo replied. "Only that she is Celtic and never talks about her past."

 "You follow her even though you don't know?" Stephen said.

"I know that she's steadfast, but unpredictable," he replied. "Merciless, yet kind. She made me what I am. Trust your teacher. And don't lose your way." He dropped into a fighting stance.

"Like Kaecilius?" Stephen asked, also dropping into a fighting stance.

"That's right," Mordo said. He lunged towards Stephen, grabbing him in a chokehold.

"You knew him," Stephen said. He broke free of the chokehold, by jabbing Mordo in the stomach.

 "When he first came to us, he'd lost everyone he ever loved," Mordo said. "He was a grieving and broken man, searching for answers in the mystic arts. A brilliant student, but he was proud, headstrong," he said, emphasizing the last bit.

"Questioned the Ancient One, rejected our teaching," Mordo continued. "He left Kamar-Taj. His disciples followed him like sheep, seduced by false doctrine."

"He stole the forbidden ritual, right?" Stephen confirmed.

"Yeah," Mordo said.

"What did it do?"

Mordo gave him an exasperated smile. "No more questions," he told Stephen.  He grabbed a stick-like object.

"What's that?" Stephen asked, for fun.

Mordo sighed, but had a smile on his face. "That's a question." Stephen chuckled, knowing he'd intentionally done that.

"This is a relic," Mordo explained. "Some magic is too powerful to sustain, so we imbue objects with it, allowing them to take the strain we can not."

He held the staff up. "This is the Staff of the Living Tribunal."

He swung it, and it crackled with orange energy, like a whip. It also did a fine job of scaring the living daylights out of Stephen. 

"There are many relics," Mordo continued. "The Wand of Watoomb, the Vaulting Boots of  Valtor." As he said the last one, he tapped his boots together. Orange sparks appeared.

"They just roll of the tongue, don't they?" Stephen said. Mordo chuckled. "When do I get my relic?" he asked.

"When you're ready," Mordo said.

"I think I'm ready," Stephen replied.

"You're ready, when the relic decides you're ready," Mordo said. "For now, conjure a weapon."

They'd been so distracted talking, they hadn't even fought each other yet. "Alright," Stephen said. He put his hands together, and, with some effort, proceeded to create a column of energy. Without warning, Mordo attacked.

"Fight!" he shouted. "Fight like your life depended on it!"

Using the boots, he jumped over Stephen. Stephen could only stare in shock at how he did it, which was perfect. For Mordo, at least, because he knocked Stephen to the ground without being noticed.

Stephen groaned. That had been a hard hit to the shoulder. "Because one day, it may," Mordo finished, as he finally sat up.

==================

Later that evening, for the...9th time? 10th time? It didn't matter. All his emails sent to Christine were never responded to. 

He was trying to figure out a way to make his emails be noticed, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Peter.

"Mr. Strange," he started.

"No, not Mr. Strange," Stephen said. He hated whenever someone called him "Mister". But it didn't seem exactly right for Peter to call him Doctor Strange either.

"Just...just call me by my name, okay?" he told Peter.

Peter slowly nodded, like he was translating the instructions into Peter-language. "Um, can I have help with my homework?" he said, pointing to his Ipad.

Stephen agreed to help Peter.  Soon, the homework was finished, and dinner too. Peter was put to bed, but Stephen couldn't sleep. He read the books he'd snatched from the library, and then decided to go put them back. 

But that wasn't the only reason he was heading back to the library.