Little

Chapter 20

Upon walking back to where he left Kaecilius chained up in the metal framework, he realized that he'd broken free and was gone.

"Strange! You're okay," someone said. Turning around, he saw the Ancient One and Mordo.

"A relative term, but yeah, I'm okay," Stephen said. The stab wound was still practically killing him (it almost had), but he didn't let that show.

"The Cloak of Levitation," Mordo said, pointing to the Cloak. So that's what it's name was. "It came to you."

"No minor feat," the Ancient One said. "It's a fickle thing."

Stephen tried to get on topic. "He's escaped," he said, talking about Kaecilius.

"Kaecilius?" the Ancient One asked.

"Yeah," Stephen said. "He can fold space and matter at will."

"He folds matter outside the mirror dimension?" the Ancient One said with shock.  "In the real world?"

"Yeah," Stephen said. He and Peter had seen it first-hand, though he doubted Peter understood what happened.

"How many more?" the Ancient One asked.

"Two," Stephen replied. "I stranded one in the desert."

"And the other?" Mordo asked.

"His body is in the hall," Stephen said, regretfully.  "Master Drumm is in the foyer."

Mordo nodded with solemnity. "He's been taken back to Kamar-Taj."

"The London Sanctum has fallen," the Ancient One."Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the Dark Dimension."

"You defended the New York Sanctum from attack," she continued. "With its Master gone, it needs another. Master Strange."

Stephen took a moment to process what she had said. She wanted him to become a full-blown master of a Sanctum. But there was a something bothering him more than the notion of guarding the Sanctum.

"No, It is Doctor Strange," Stephen said. "Not Master Strange, not Mister Strange, Doctor Strange!"

"When I became a doctor," he continued. "I swore an oath to do no harm. And I have just killed a man! I'm not doing that again. I became a doctor to save lives, not take them."

"You become a doctor to save one life above all others," the Ancient One said, with a knowing look.  "Your own."

Stephen sighed. "Still seeing through me, aren't you?" he said.

"I see what I've always seen," the Ancient One said, with a hint of a sneer. "Your over-inflated ego. You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything, even death, which no one can control. Not even the great Doctor Stephen Strange."

"Not even Dormammu?" Stephen tried. The Ancient One quickly quieted. "He offers immortality."

"It's our fear of death that gives Dormammu life," the Ancient One said. "He feeds off it."

"Like you feed on him?" Stephen sneered. "You talk to me about controlling death. Well, I know how you do it. I've seen the missing rituals from the Book of Cagliostro."

The Ancient One gave him a hard, cold look. "Measure your next words very carefully, doctor," she said.

"Because you might not like them?" Stephen retorted.

"Because you may not know of what you speak," the Ancient One corrected.

"What is he talking about?" Mordo asked, completely confused.

"I'm talking about her long life, the source of her immortality," Stephen said. "She draws power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive."

"That's not true," Mordo said, chuckling. 

"I've seen the rituals and worked them out," Stephen said. "I know how you do it."

The Ancient One chose to ignore that comment. "Once they regroup, the Zealots will be back," she said. "You'll need reinforcements." Then she left Stephen and Mordo and Peter alone, heading off to who knows where.

"She is not who you think she is," Stephen said.

"You don't have the right to say that," Mordo said, getting angry. "You have no idea of the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders."

"No, and I don't want to know," Stephen said. How many arguments was he supposed to get into?

"You're a coward," Mordo shot back.

"Because I'm not a killer?" Stephen asked, shocked.

"These Zealots will snuff us all out," Mordo said. "And you can muster the strength to snuff them out first?"

"What do you think I just did?" Stephen said, his voice loud. He'd killed a man. Wasn't that good enough for Mordo?

"You saved your own life!" Mordo said, shouting. Again, Peter held his hands over his ears because of the loud shouting but didn't complain. "And then whined about it like a wounded dog," Mordo added.

"When you would have done it so easily?" Stephen asked. Anyone who went around killing people calling it "easy" was more than a murderer.

"You have no idea the things I've done," Mordo said. "And the answer is yes," he added, in response to Stephen's question. "Without hesitation."

"Even if there's another way?" Stephen said.

"There is no other way," Mordo said.

"You lack imagination," Stephen retorted.

"No, Stephen," Mordo said, coldly. "You. Lack. A spine."

Before Stephen could say something snarky in response to that, they heard a rumbling from downstairs. And now Stephen associated rumbling with the fact that bad things were about the happen.

Peter whimpered and hid behind Stephen. Mordo confirmed Stephen's fear.

 "They're back."