Starchild

Books, Stones, and Cooking Odes

—What did we tell you? —

Oh no. I cannot help but flinch at Strange's voice, the Cloak keeping me from walking away. Strange crosses his arms, and I sigh. —You should have known what to expect. —

He smirks, —Oh, we knew you would sneak in. We placed bets. Wong won, now I owe him twenty dollars. Why couldn't you do this earlier? —he walks past me, grabbing the necklace. The Cloak places itself on his shoulders, as he puts the artefact on. —Next time I should put a line of salt at the door. —

When he turns back to me, I point at the necklace. —What is that? —

—The Eye of Agamotto. —he moves his hands in a cross shape, some green circles appearing around his arms. The pendant's centre opens, showing the green glowing stone inside. —And that's the Time Stone. Allows me to manipulate time. Have you heard of the Infinity Stones? —

At the beginning of everything, six stones were created, tied to the main aspects of the universe. Time, space, mind, reality, power, and soul. Back in Asgard's vault we have one - the Space Stone, inside of the Tesseract. Father tried to use it in his failed attempt to take over Midgard, but when he was taken to the kingdom as a prisoner, the Tesseract was brought with him. In the end, he did get to own it, even though it is not useful for him anymore.

Now, apparently, Strange has another stone.

—Yes. I have seen one before. —while I am looking at it, he closes the pendant. —What exactly can you do with it? —

He takes off the necklace, —Maybe I'll show you someday. Don't touch it until then. —he puts it back to the stand,

—Is there anything magic related you could show me today? —

Strange looks at me for a few seconds. Then, he slyly smiles. —There is. —

Before I can do anything, he hits my chest with two of his fingers, and my body immediately feels different. The blow makes me fly back, and after some metres, I stay floating. I look at my hands, and they are translucid - I look in front of me and find my body slowly falling to the floor. Strange, in front of it, looks at me with a grin. Did he kick my soul out of my body?

—Astral projection. —he says, —You can do it by yourself but it's funnier when you do it to others. Your soul looks different than your body, though. Shapeshifting? —

—Something like that. —

I do not need a mirror to know what my soul looks like. Red irises, blonde hair, shorter height and skinnier complex. Like Her. Fortunately, some factions look more similar to Father's. Still, I rather shift into my preferred appearance.

To go back into my body, I simply phase into it. It is not the best feeling ever. I stand on my feet, looking at Strange, —How can I do this myself? —

He shrugs. —Meditation. —

I nod. Then, I point at the Cloak, —Is it alive? —

—Yeah, —he looks at it, and it caresses his cheek with its collar, —Kind of. I told it to keep you out but we both knew it wouldn't. —he starts walking away, making me follow him, —It's very annoying, but you might've noticed. —the Cloak now slaps him in the cheek, making him chuckle. Confused, I giggle. He looks at me, —You wanna come help Wong make dinner? I'm not allowed to do anything in the kitchen. —

Jogging, I reach his side. —Sure. —I frown, —Why aren't you allowed? —

Strange puts one of his hands up for me to see. It is shaking a lot. When I look at his other hand, it's no different. He appears to have a problem with tremors. How did I not notice before? —I've broken more than three plates thanks to this. —he puts his hand down, —Magic only stops it from being visible, I still haven't found a way to actually heal it. —