"Mordo! Wong!" You and Strange shouted as you two run towards the doorway you came through. But before you could go through it, the door turns into a stone wall. You let out a frustrated sigh as Strange runs his hands over the stone wall, hoping to find a secret button of some kind.
Not finding anything, Strange looks back over at you as you look around the building. "Are you alright?" He asked. "Yeah. You?" You asked him. "Never better. What the hell happened back there?" Strange asked you.
"Well, if I saw what I think I saw, Kaecilius just destroyed the London Sanctum." You replied.
"Damn." Strange said, exasperated.
He looks around the room the two of you are in and all you see is hundreds of artifacts in glass cases, displayed all around. "Where are we?" He asked. "I'm not sure.......hang on." You said as you start to walk down the hallway. You walk up to the end of the hall and come upon the stairwell. You look out at the foyer and see the front door of the building.
Suddenly, in your mind, you flashback to when you were eleven, walking up to this very building. You put your hand over your eyes and take in a deep breath as Strange comes up to you and places his hands on your shoulder. "(Y/N)? What's wrong?" He asked with concern. You move your hands away from your eyes and look at him in the eyes.
"I know where we are. We're in the New York Sanctum." You said.
Strange looks at you confused then he runs down the stairs and outside, You follow him as the two of you walk out into the streets of New York. Strange stares around in shock as he sees the familiar streets of New York.
You look around as well since it has been a longtime you've been here, besides for a few new buildings here and there it still looked the way you remembered. Both of you turn around and look at the plaque on the building that said: 177A Bleecker Street. Then you look up at the three-story brown stone building and see the familiar symbol of the Vishanti.
You and Strange run back inside the Sanctum and shut the door behind you. Strange walks up the stairs with you following close behind. "Hello?" Strange called out. No response. "Hello?" Again, no response. "That's weird, Master Drumm should be here." You said as you two make it over to a large circular room, a rotunda.
Inside were three enormous panoramic paintings; or should you say, windows. One window looked over a misty forest, trees as far as yours and Strange's eyes could see, another opened onto a spectacular view of a tempest-tossed ocean, these as roiling in anger. The last window bore witness to isolated, snowcapped mountains.
Strange walks over to the middle window, the one with the ocean view, and opens it. He felt a spray of cool salt water and could hear the sound of the crashing waves and the wind.
"That's not even the best part." You said as you see Strange cracking up a smile. You made a gesture for him to back up, he does and you walk over to the control panel by the window. You place your hand on it and turned the dial and the view of the ocean disappeared, replaced by the view of a vast, arid desert. Strange chuckles in amusement as you smile at him.
The two of you continue on with your exploration of the Sanctum and you ended up back into the room with all the artifacts and relics. Swords, daggers, helmets, amulets of all shapes, chalices and cauldrons of varying sizes were displayed all around you two.
Then Strange walks up to a tall case that held a red cloak with a high collar. As he walks up to it, the cloak floats up on its own as if in interest of the newcomer. "The Cloak of Levitation." You whispered with a smile.
Then a sound rung out in the building and the two of you look around then to each other as the two of you run back towards the stairs.
The front door of the Sanctum appeared to shudder, then move, slightly inside, toward the foyer and in comes Kaecilius and two of his people, Daniel Drumm standing in front of them. You gasped as you and Strange stand back and watch. What happened to his eyes? You thought as you see Kaecilius enter the Sanctum and said to Daniel.
"Daniel. I see they made you Master of the Sanctum." His eyes looked like two black eyes but you knew that it had something to do with the Dark Dimension.
"Do you know what that means?" Daniel asked him.
"That you'll die protecting it." Kaecilius replied and his two followers glided their hands together to make a shard of crackling energy, like a long blade.
Daniel stands his ground as he begins to fight the two and for a moment he is able to hold his own until they over power him and the two followers have Daniel on his knees and Kaecilius starts to move his hand to form the energy blade until you decided you had enough and walk out on top of the stairs.
"(Y/N), what are you doing?" Strange asked you.
"Kaecilius, stop!!" You shouted. Kaecilius pauses, looks up and sees you at the top of the stairs. "(Y/N)?" He said as Strange walks up next to you. Kaecilius looks at Strange and asked. "New friend?" You nod at him as Kaecilius turns and walks towards Strange.
"How long have you been at Karmar-Taj, Mister...?"
"Doctor." Strange replied.
Kaecilius stops then looks at him confused. "Mister Doctor?" He asked. Strange shakes his head and said. "It's Strange."
"Maybe. But who am I to judge?" Kaecilius said, shrugging.
Then he turns to one of his followers and they stab Daniel in the chest. "NO!!" You shouted as Kaecilius's comrades run across the foyer and come to attack you and Strange.
You wave your hand around and summoned some shields as Strange makes some hand gestures and made a luminous whip appear as the two followers begin to run up the walls.
One of them, a male, runs up the walls towards you and throws the blade-like energy towards you but you wave your shielded hands, knocking the energy blade out of the way.
The other one, a woman, runs towards Strange, who cracks the whip at her and it wraps around her legs and flicked the whip sending her flying. You and Strange then run down the hallway as Strange flicked his whip once more, snaring a large vase, and then hurled it at the male Zealot.
The female Zealot comes at Strange throws another energy blade at him and he flicks his whip and knocks it away as you throw your energy shields at the Zealots, knocking them back.
Kaecilius starts to chase after you two and Strange takes ahold of your hand and run down the hallway. Upon seeing this, Kaecilius becomes very angry when he sees another man touching you as you and Strange run down the hallway towards the rotunda, with the window portals.
Kaecilius moves his hands out in front of him causing the hallway to move farther and farther away from you two. You and Strange look back at him then you realize you are not getting closer to the rotunda and look down at the floor, seeing it twisting under your feet. You and Strange stop and the both of you turn around to face Kaecilius and begin to cleave the air around you two with your hands, forming shields of energy.
Both of you get into a stance, ready for battle, when one of Strange's shield flicker then disappears. He looks down at his hand and snapped his arm to get the shield back up but nothing happens. "If we make it out of this, we need to work on that." You muttered as the Zealots run up the walls and attacks the both of you.
You and Strange were able to block some of the blows until Kaecilius moved his hands again and made the hallway spin, making you and Strange lose your balance and get flung around like ragdolls, hitting the walls or ceilings.
Finally, you raise up your arms and made the hallway stop moving but you felt like something heavy was on your shoulder as you try to fight off Kaecilius's power, who was still trying to control the hallway. You glare at your former friend as Strange summons the whip again and fights off the two Zealots. You look down at your medallion and mutter a spell to activate it and a beam of energy comes out and hits Kaecilius, who flies backward, you feel the weight disappear and settled the hallway back to its proper place.
After the hallway straightens up, the female Zealot runs at you and you turn around and was about to punch her when the hallway begins to incline and everyone begins to lose their balance. Strange grabs onto a curtain on the wall and reaches out towards you, as you fall, and grabs your hand.
You look up at Strange and give him a concerned look as you see he has cuts on his face, blood dripping down from it. He nods at you, stating that he is fine and you look down towards the bottom and see the rotunda. You look back up at Strange and mouthed 'the gateways' to him. He looks down as well and sees the rotunda. He takes a deep breath and looks into your eyes, pleading for permission on his next move. You nod at him and he lets go of the curtains and the two of you begin to fall toward the rotunda, towards the female Zealot.
You slammed into her, feet first, and the impact knocked her off-balance and she fell into the rotunda and you and her fell through the gateway to the desert while Strange lands right in the side of the gateway and the male Zealot attacks him. You get up and run across the desert towards the gateway, the female zealot right behind you.
Afraid you weren't going to make it, you whispered the incantation to activate the flight on your medallion. It works and you begin to fly towards the gateway and make it inside. You move your hands towards the control panel and spun the dial, changing the gateway from desert to a lush green forest.
The male zealot hurdled himself at Strange, who used his opponents momentum against him and flipped the man into the rain forest gateway and you hurry over and place your hand on the panel and changed it to a vast, rocky canyon view.
You let out a sigh as Kaecilius charges after you two. Strange sees a nearby vase and kicks his leg out, sending the vase toward Kaecilius, which knocks him off-balance. You grab Strange's hand and the two of you run down the hallway and back towards the relic room. Kaecilius recovers and chases after you and Strange.
You turn around as Kaecilius comes at you and conjure up a luminous whip and start use it on him but, somehow, he was able to grab the whip by his hands and jerk it towards him, causing you to fly towards him and he grabs you by the neck.
"(Y/N)!" Strange shouts as Kaecilius looks at you with such anger.
"I see that you've replaced me. Very well, if I can't have you.....no one will." Kaecilius growled at you as you try to gasp for air as he squeezes your neck tighter.
Strange looks around and grabs an object and faces the man, who looks at the object and jumps back. Kaecilius smirks and said to Strange. "You don't know how to use that, do you?" Strange looks down at the object, thinking for a moment, then throws the object at Kaecilius, causing him to let go of your neck.
You fall on your back and gasp for air as Kaecilius charges at Strange. You get up as you see the two men fight amongst each other and you run over to Kaecilius to do a surprise attack on him but, unfortunately, it didn't work.
Kaecilius turns around and raises his hand towards you, and you felt a powerful force stopping you. You couldn't move until Kaecilius waved his hand, sending you flying backwards towards a wall. The last thing you knew your head hit something hard and you black out as you crumble down to the floor.
"NO!" Strange shouts as Kaecilius turns to face him.
Full of anger, Strange begins to fight back but in his blinded rage, Kaecilius gets the upper hand and kicks Strange across the room, knocking into the glass cases. Before Strange could recover, Kaecilius throws him against another glass case, the one that was holding the Cloak of Levitation, and he begins to punch Strange in the face a couple of times then he summons the blade and was about to strike Strange's chest with it until the cloak blocks it.
Confused, Kaecilius goes to stab Strange again and again but the cloak keeps blocking it. Having enough, Kaecilius throws Strange away from the cloak and Strange gets up on his feet and summons the whip again and starts to attack Kaecilius with it but Kaecilius was able to dodge his attacks. Kaecilius kicks Strange across the chest, causing him to stumble back against the stair rails and fall backwards. The cloak follows after him.
Kaecilius slowly approaches the stair rails when Stephen Strange rises up, slowly, from the stair rails and summons the whip again and flings it at Kaecilius, knocking him back a few feet away as Strange lands back on the landing.
Suddenly the cloak pulls Strange backwards towards the wall that you hit. Strange looks down at you and noticed that you were breathing. Thank God! He thought as he looks around and on the other side of the room was an axe, hanging on the wall. Strange runs towards it but the cloak pulls him back.
Strange stops in his tracks then looks over at the cloak then starts to run towards the axe again but once again the cloak pulls him again.
Strange let's out a frustrated growl as he tries to get to the axe but the cloak pulls and spins him around and points at an artifact hanging on the wall. Kaecilius gets up and starts to attack Strange but Strange dodges him and runs over to the artifact and throws it at Kaecilius.
Quickly, the artifact wrapped itself around Kaecilius, shackling his arms, his waist, his body, and his mouth--binding him to the floor. Strange let's out an exasperated sigh as he walks over to you and checks to see if there was any sort of damage on you.
Luckily, you weren't badly hurt just some cuts and bruises. He looks over your face, stroking your cheek when he hears Kaecilius saying something but it was muffled. "What?" He asked as he gently lays your head back down the floor and walks over to the madman. He walks over to Kaecilius and takes the shackle off of his mouth and he continues to chant.
"Oh, stop it." Strange commanded but Kaecilius continues. "I said stop it!" Strange commanded again.
"You cannot stop this, Mister Doctor." Kaecilius sneered.
"Why....look, I don't even know what 'this' is." said Strange.
"It's the end and the beginning. The many becoming the few, becoming the One." Kaecilius said.
"Look, if you're not going to start making sense, I'm just going to have to put this thing back on." Strange said, gesturing to the mouth shackle.
"Tell me, Mister Doctor." Kaecilius started to say but Strange stops him.
"Alright, look. My name is Doctor Stephen Strange." He said, clearly.
"You are a doctor?" Kaecilius asked.
"Yes."
"A scientist. You understand the laws of nature. All things age. All things die. In the end, our sun burns out, our universe grows cold and perishes. But the Dark Dimension...." Kaecilius said and he starts to look off in wonder as he continues. "It's a place beyond time."
"That's it. I'm putting this thing back on." Strange said as he starts to walk closer to the madman.
"This world doesn't have to die, Doctor. This world can take its rightful place among so many others, as part of the One. The great and beautiful One. And we can all live forever." said Kaecilius.
"Really? What do you have to gain out of this New Age dimensional utopia?" Strange asked him.
"The same as you. The same as everyone. Life. Eternal life. People think in terms of good and evil, but really, time is the true enemy of us all. Time kills everything." replied Kaecilius.
"What about the people you killed?" Strange asked.
"Tiny, momentary specks within an indifferent universe." Kaecilius replies and Strange bites his lips as he remembers when he said the same thing to The Ancient One.
"Yes. You see, what we're doing? The world is not what it ought to be. Humanity longs for the eternal, for a world beyond time, because time is what enslaves us. Time is an insult. Death is an insult." Kaecilius said as tears fall down on his face. "Doctor....we don't seek to rule this world. We seek to save it, to hand it over to Dormammu, who is the intent of all evolution, the Why of all existence. The Sorcerer Supreme defends existence. What was it that brought you to Karmar-Taj, Doctor? Was it enlightenment? Power?" Kaecilius asked.
Strange stands there and stares at the man as his hands begin to tremble. "You came to be healed, as did we all. Karmar-Taj is a place that collects broken things. We all come with the promise of being healed, but instead, the Ancient One gives us parlor tricks. The real magic she keeps for herself. Have you ever wondered how she managed to live this long?" The madman asked Strange.
"I....I saw the rituals in The Book of Cagliostro." Strange replied as he looks down at the floor.
"So, you know. The ritual gives me the power to overthrow the Ancient One and tear her Sanctums down, to let the Dark Dimension in. Because what the Ancient One hoards, Dormammu gives freely. Life, everlasting. He is not the destroyer of worlds, Doctor, he is the savior of worlds." said Kaecilius.
Strange looks up at him in disbelief and scoffs. "No. I mean, come on. Look at your face. Dormammu made you a murderer. He killed (y/n)'s parents. Just how good can his kingdom be?" Strange asked and Kaecilius begins to chuckle.
"You think that's funny?" Strange asked, angrily.
"No. No, Doctor. What's funny is that you've lost your sling ring." Kaecilius replied. Strange puts his hand on his belt and feels around and finds no sling ring. He turns around and an energy blade hits him in the chest.
He gasped in pain as the male Zealot comes up the stairs and grabs Strange's shoulder and throws him down the stairs. Strange rolls down the stairs and stops as he makes it on the floor. He begins to crawl then gets up on his feet and starts to drag his feet down the hallway but he falls again and he crawls away.
The Zealot comes up behind him and is about to strike when a luminous whip grabs his wrist. The Zealot looks behind him and sees you, glaring at him. Strange looks up and sighs with relief that you're okay as you jerk the whip, pulling the Zealot towards you.
Once the Zealot gets close to you, you punch him across the face. The man looks up at you and punches you across the face and you knee him in the stomach. He doubles over and you uppercut him. He stumbles back but regains his balance and was about to charge at you when the cloak flies up and wraps itself around the Zealot's head and begins to drag him around and slamming him against walls then the floor.
You run over to Strange and help him up. "Stephen, are you......oh my God!" You exclaimed as you see blood pouring out of his wound. "We have to get me to the hospital." Strange said in between gasps of pain. You nod and place his arm around your shoulder and walk him down the hallway.
You hand him your sling ring and he begins to gesture for the portal to open. The portal appears and from the other side it looks like the inside of the broom closet. You raise your eyebrows at him and he nods. You shrug and carry him through the portal.