So I did a re-watch of Doctor Strange for the dialogues between Mordo x Stephen and Stephen x Ancient One, but after that taking two hours.. I want you all to know that I'm not doing it again 😂
Plus there's the fact that I personally get bored when I already know what's happening in fanfics, so after this chapter, I'll be writing my own versions of the scenes (speaking and action wise)
aLSO, because of where Alaria has jumped on this bandwagon, Kaecilius is only a minute beginning for her.. and this book.
There are big things ahead 😈
SO without further ado,
read on
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Stephen Strange - I recognized him by the gray streaks that lined the sides of his otherwise black hair. And his clothes; although they didn't seem to look so odd as he stood beside two others: a dark-skinned man and a pale bald woman, their eyes keen on watching me. I opened my mouth to respond but stopped when I saw how battered the two men appeared to be.
Jonathan, open the portal back up, please.
"This is Alaria Taipan," the bald woman dressed in a yellow cloak seemed to smile slightly, stepping forward with her hands folded beneath each other in their sleeves. "I expected you a few days ago.. but this is will do as well." she said, beginning to walk away as her two followers pursued.
"What?" Strange sounded frustrated, the blood that streaked his face causing me to stare in what probably was rude to the man. "Why is she here?"
"If you could open a portal to New York.. I'll just go home." I suggested, trotting behind the three.
"My dear," the woman laughed slightly, her head tilting upward as she stepped into a large, open room- "We are going to New York right now, Kaecilius will be attacking again very soon."
Who's that?
I stopped walking as they moved through a large stone doorframe- watching as they stepped into what looked to be gel- the fluidity of their movements encouraging me to follow. Inside, I found that we had entered into a large foyer- wooden and classical appearing compared to the modern society outside. I noticed as I passed through a silver symbol split in half on either piece of the two-sided door, "We are in the New York Sanctum." the woman said, stepping into a room with several shattered glass cases. "I will explain everything later on, as for you," she turned to Strange. "You defended this Sanctum from attack. Without its master, it needs another.. Master Strange."
"Doctor, Strange." he spoke slowly, articulating even his breaths, "It is Doctor Strange. I didn't sign up for this." He sounded like my thoughts, only a bit more extreme, I assumed, due to the blood that had dried in spots on his chiseled face. "When I became a doctor, 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." His voice shook with emotion of something I didn't know about. There was something about his past that seeped through the cracks in his voice.
"You became a doctor to save one life above all others," the Ancient One said calmly, her head tilted upward in superiority. "Your own."
Strange seemed amused. "Still seeing through me, are you?"
"I see what I've always seen," she reasoned, "Your over-inflated ego." For a moment I felt as though I were in Jersey Shore with these insults. "You want to go back to the delusion that you can control anything.. even death, which no one can control." she paused, "Not even the great Doctor Stephen Strange."
"Not even Dormammu?" he asked, stepping forward as he spoke threatening words. "He offers immortality."
The Ancient One appeared to have a delicate smile placed on her otherwise bare expression. "It's our fear of death that gives Dormammu life, he feeds off it."
"And you feed off him," Strange said, glancing at the other man for a moment. "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."
It kind of sounded like a pasta.
The woman tilted her head even farther, her stoic expression setting me on edge. "Measure your next words very carefully, Doctor Strange."
"Because you might not like them." his response was quick, I could almost hear the frustration of his thoughts through his words.
"Because you may not know of what you speak."
"What is he talking about?" the unspoken man asked, glancing between the two.
"I'm talking about her long life, Mordo, the source of her immortality." His hand lifted to point at the Ancient One, and I noticed that it oddly shook. The nerve damage, I thought. "She draws power from the dark dimension to stay alive."
I wasn't sure what they were talking about, but I suddenly held a strong fear of this woman swimming in the pit of my stomach. Her eyes seemed glazed, still calm, as though Strange's accusations had not yet breached her mindset.
"That's not true." I could tell that the man, Mordo, had wanted to sound stern in his denial of the suggestion- but it sounded instead as though he were a man just stripped of a part of his life.
"I've seen the rituals work them out. I know how you do it." Strange continued to attack, his face shimmering in the dull light with the sweat of whatever had previously happened here.
The Ancient One collected herself further, pushing her shoulders backward and showing that small smile again. "Once they regroup, the zealots will be back- you'll need reinforcements." and she walked away, back into the foyer we had come from.
Neither Strange nor Mordo followed, so I didn't either. I felt as though I was a teenager again, still trying to figure out my own place in the social standards set by High-school.. only now, it seemed I had no idea who to follow; If I was supposed to follow any of them at all. "She's not who you think she is," Strange was saying, pacing around the side of the room.
"You have no right to say that," Mordo snapped roughly, his voice taut with stress. "You have no idea the responsibilities that rest upon her shoulders."
"No, and I don't want to." he said. I was surprised at how brutally honest this Doctor was, but more-over, confusion was clouding my thoughts of truly analyzing my surroundings.
"You are a coward," Mordo said slowly.
"Because I'm not a killer?" Strange furrowed his brows, questioning the name.
"These zealots will snuff us all out and you can't muster the strength to snuff them first?!"
"What do you think I just did?" shouted Strange, causing me to flinch at the abrupt volume. What would happen if they began fighting? Would I have to watch?
"You saved your own life!" Mordo joined in his yells. "And then, then whined about it like a wounded dog!"
"And you would have done it so easy," Strange mocked, drawing rapid breaths at the tension within himself.
"You've no idea the things I've done." Mordo paused, "And yes, without.. hesitation."
"Even if there's another way."
"There is- no other way."
Strange stepped forward, "You lack imagination."
Mordo mimicked, "No Stephen, you lack.. a spine." Just then, a continuous noise of moving pieces of wood could be heard from the foyer, and Mordo turned away. "They're back," he said, running towards the sound.
They? My heart clenched. Who's they? The Zealots? Kaecilius? I was sure I didn't want to run into the man who drew power from Dormammu- now identified as the lord of the Dark Dimension, which didn't sound fun at all.
Stephen Strange remained standing for a moment, I assumed allowing time for his nerves to calm. He looked over to me, possibly for the first time, without anger or hostility- despite what I had just witnessed. His gaze rested on the floor for a moment before lifting to meet mine. "I don't know what you're capable of." he said, "But fight if you can." He glanced to the snake still beneath my feet before moving away in quick pursuit of Mordo.
I decided that now might be a prime time to regather my wits. My eyes fell to the creature below me, watching it move as though through a quiet river. Kaecilius and his zealots were drawing power from Dormammu, the Supreme of the Dark Dimension. I was aware that I knew nothing of the capabilities they held- but as Stephen had sounded so passionate about how bad it was for the Ancient One to be doing the same, I could assume.
Now, I ran after the two of them. Luckily I had decided on jeans and a t-shirt to visit Jonathan, so there was nothing in attire that could hinder my fighting, or if I had to run.
I stopped moving at that moment. Fighting? I didn't know how to fight. I didn't even know how to use the Taipan that now held its head in a striking position beside me. And yet- the Ancient One had expected me? Perhaps I should place my faith in that fact.. maybe I was capable of more than I thought.
My opportunity never came. I entered the foyer with as much confidence as my stuttering heart would allow, fear gripping and squeezing my lungs as though smoke had replaced the air. "The mirror dimension," Strange said, his voice filled with power as I saw the back of him.. floating? "You can't affect the real world in here. Who's laughing now, asshole?"
The grey-haired man down below looked up, his eyes surrounded by a deep purple that lightened into gray and dripped down his cheeks. "I am." he said, and he raised his hands into the air- the building immediately beginning to move. Strange quickly turned around, his eyes frantically scanning the platform above the first floor in search of something.
Then he saw me and his body seemed to tilt, making the cloak move as though in wind, and he flew directly at me. My immediate thought was that he was attacking me, mistaking me for a zealot.
The Taipan snapped upward, reaching with its widened jaws for Strange's neck. The red fabric against his back, in return, slammed the animal onto the ground, allowing the man closer. Instead of hurting me, however, I felt my feet lift off of the quickly disappearing ground, I hadn't realized it, but I had shut my eyes in preparation for the pain of a blow. Upon reopening them, I was outside, my feet just beginning to touch the cement of the sidewalk. "I- I got his Sling Ring," Strange said as Mordo and he watched the building move. "They can't escape, right?"
All Mordo had time to do was give the man a panicked look, "Run!" he said, just as the three figures began to immerge. The two men began before me- I was suddenly extremely thankful that exercising was a large part of my life's routine, not that I had much of one.
The three of us ran down the center of the street- the corners beginning to move and break away, it seemed. For a moment at a time, I felt ill with confusion, my eyesight blacking in and out as the snake coiled itself tightly around my arm. At least its smooth scales were calming- I could feel its strong muscles moving beneath its skin. "Their connection to the dark dimension makes them more powerful in the mirror dimension," Mordo said, both of their faces looking frantic and maybe just as confused as mine. "They can't affect the real world, but they can still kill us. This wasn't clever," he said, sounding defeated in the failed attempt Strange had made. "It's suicide!"
They began to run again, but now, reason had stiffened my muscles. My body turned a different way- and my feet carried me, sprinting across the street and into an office building. I stopped to observe what they were doing outside, and I wish I hadn't, because I could see the taller of the three, continuing on the path to Mordo and Strange, while the two other zealots headed my way, their eyes also matted with the dark colors.
I turned my back, sprinting through the lobby and swinging around a corner to find the door to the stairs. I hoped that in some way, I was more in shape than those chasing me and that climbing the elevation would tire them.
For a long while, all I heard was the echo of my short breaths as my feet slammed against the metal staircase. Up and up it went, a flat platform separating every few steps with a break for those unfit when the elevator was broken.
After several flights, I halted and glanced over the edge of the banister, searching for movement. To my horror, the two heads were directly below me, clambering upward at an alarming pace.
I felt already defeated- dead while still breathing. They were climbing faster than me. Progression would be futile.
I took the last few free moments to gather myself, as much I could, and take control of the creature wrapped around me. Its body slowly slid to the floor, its head lifted and its upper half swaying back and forth in a dance of danger. I could taste the air that surrounded us, see the sharp details of the people now approaching.
I could see their experience in martial arts the way they stood, offensively, with their balance evenly distributed on their spread feet.
Suddenly, in the midst of waiting for my demise, I had an idea. With a quick movement of my hands, the golden sparks seemed to surround my Taipan, and for a moment, there was only a long moving stream of light. I halted whatever I was doing and split my hands away from each other, watching with hope as the orb became two- now two snakes under my control. Their long sleek backs were identical to each other, and I wasted no more time as the two zealots stared.
If I saw amusement within their eyes, the feeling of confidence within me from what I had just done, showing myself what I could be capable of, was about to snuff that out.
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Yay for some action *finally*
The next update will be on 11/16/16 at approximately 7 a.m.
Thanks for reading!!
xx A.