Strange Adventures

Chapter 5

America, meanwhile, in the other universe, was not having a fun time.

For the past ten minutes, she had been trying and trying again to open a portal back to 616--to no avail. It was as if her portal-opening abilities had failed, and she was left unable to open portals on command.

Cold wind whipped at her face, and with no trees in the barren landscape, that meant there was nothing to stop the wind. Hell, she left her jacket at the Sanctum, and she was even colder.

Scanning her surroundings, there was no sign of life. The landscape was gray and rocky, with only mosses dotting the land, and sparsely. The green of the mosses was tinted with a sickly hue. Mountains, covered in snow, were in the distance. The sky was dull and cloudy, with a misty rain falling.

She wished she was home.

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

Back in 616, Wong and Stephen were in the library, furiously searching for the book that contained the spell they needed. Stephen wished that they had the Book of Vishanti--it would give him whatever he needed to find America. But, like America, the book was gone, destroyed by Wanda.

He clutched America's jacket in his arm as he methodically checked every shelf, one book after another. He flipped through the Book of Cagliostro--not that there would be anything useful for him in the book. It was a book about time manipulation, after all, and it didn't have anything to do with the multiverse.

"Stephen!" Wong called out. "Found it."

Stephen hurried over to Wong's side, looking at the page that the book was open to. He'd never heard of the spell before--probably because it had been left unnamed. And for good reason. Skipping to the warnings section (the warnings came after the spells), page upon page spelled out the possible doom that occur if even one thing went wrong with the spell.

"Well," Stephen said, trying to swallow his fear. "It's our only shot."

Wong nodded. "For America."

They went to a separate room--one they had designated for spell-casting ever since they rebuilt Kamar-Taj. Wong advised the students and other masters to stay clear of the room.

Laying the book on the ground, Stephen prepared to follow the instructions to cast the spell, but Wong stopped him. "Let me handle this," he said.

Stephen sighed. "Do you not trust me?" he said.

"Well," Wong said, pushing him off to the side. "Let's just say that ever since that incident with Spider-Man, I don't trust your spellcasting skills."

Stephen looked down, defeated. He only remembered Spider-Man accidentally screwing up the spell--The Runes of Kauf-Kaul. He forgot why he had cast it in the first place, but because of that one screwup, he'd suffered many other problems.

Wong began to cast the spell, various sigils and symbols floating around in the air as he did so. Orange magic swirled around the room, and eventually, the sigils came to rest, circling around Wong as he finished the first half of the spell. The second part of the spell Stephen knew to be more dangerous--the seeking part.

In this part, the spellcaster would have to retain a clear mind--not affected by distractions or anything from the outside world--as they (guided by the spell) searched for the soul they were looking for. Furthermore, it only worked well if the spellcaster had a special bond with the one they searched for--connected souls were more likely to find their way back to each other.

Everything seemed to be going fine as Wong came out of the trance-like state he was in. He was slowly opening a portal, but instead of being orange, the spell had turned it purple. Slowly and shakily, the gray landscape that America had fallen into appeared on the other side of the portal. Stephen couldn't see her, but no matter. They would find her in the vast expanse of land, even if it took them more than a day.

Suddenly, a noise from outside penetrated the thin walls. Wong froze solid, clearly distracted by that noise. Not good.

Stephen looked outside, and the source was a shout from one of the students. Two of them were practice fighting, while others were cheering them on. But that was the least of their concerns.

Because Wong had lost concentration, the portal started to close, the circle shakily falling apart. Naturally, Stephen made a spilt-second and cocky decision.

"Run!" he shouted, grabbing Wong's hand and pulling him towards the portal. It seemed like they were going to make it, but the second Stephen stepped through, the portal had almost closed. He pulled Wong through, not wanting him to get hurt by the closing portal, but unfortunately, there was no destination waiting for them on the other side.

They were falling.

Falling between the gap in realities, a massive void, and they kept falling.

Falling all the way until they landed in a completely different universe.

Worlds away from America, and unable to save her.