T.A.O view part 2
T.A.O: Thank you, Masters. (To Mordo) You think I’m wrong to cast him out?
Mordo: 5 hours later, he’s still on your doorstep. There’s a strength to him.
T.A.O: Stubbornness, arrogance, ambition…I’ve seen it all before.
Mordo: He reminds you of Kaecilius? [Well, yes. But sorry Mordo, I just pretend to cast him out]
T.A.O: I can not lead another gifted student to power, only to lose him to the darkness. [Gosh, I feel so fake saying this]
Mordo: You didn’t lose me. I wanted the power to defeat my enemies. You gave me the power to defeat my demons. And to live within the natural law. [Mordo, I really want to tell you that you have quite a lot “red flags” with forcing your worldview on others and you would probably got offended by my words then left Kmar-Taj but all sorcerers of Kmar-Taj included me need you to stay by our later so… let just say: (her words on the next sentence)]
T.A.O: We never lose our demons, Mordo. We only learn to live above them.
Mordo: Kaecilius still has the stolen pages. If he deciphers them, he could bring ruin upon us all. There may be dark days ahead. Perhaps Kamar-Taj could use a man like Strange.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Uh yeah, you really want to help that man, don’t you? Saying that he “might be useful” just for me keep him]
Dr. Strange: Don’t shut me out. I’ve nowhere else to go. (To Mordo) Thank you.
…
T.A.O: The language of the mystic arts is as old as civilization. The sorcerers of antiquity called the use of this language "spells". But if that word offends your modern sensibilities, you can call it "program". The source code that shapes reality. We harness energy drawn from other dimensions of the multiverse, to cast spells, conjure shields and weapons to make magic.
Dr. Strange: But… even if my fingers could do that, My hands would just be waving in the air. I mean, how do I get from here to there?
T.A.O: How did you get to reattach severed nerves, and put a human spine back together bone by bone?
Dr. Strange: Study and practice. Years of it.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Yes, that’s how]
…
_*T.A.O secretly spying on Strange activities_
Wong: Mr Strange.
Dr. Strange: Uh… Stephen, please. And you are?
Wong: Wong.
Dr. Strange: Wong. Just Wong? Like… Adele? Or… Aristotle. Drake. Bono. Eminem.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Hah, a friendship is about to start here. So cute]
Wong: The Book of the Invisible Sun, Astronomia Nova, Codex Imperium, Key of Solomon. You finished all of this?
Dr. Strange: Yup.
Wong: Come with me.
Dr. Strange: Alright.
Wong: This section is for Masters only. But at my discretion, others may use it. We should start with Maxim’s Primer. How is your Sanskrit?
Dr. Strange: I’m fluent in Google Translate
_T.A.O thoughts: [Hah, you can just say you don’t know that language, Strange]
Wong: Read it. Classical Sanskrit.
Dr. Strange: What are those?
Wong: T.A.O’s private collection.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Lots of books, right? You must be impressed on the inside]
Dr. Strange: So they’re forbidden?
_T.A.O thoughts: [No man, I don’t *gatekeep* knowledge]
Wong: No knowledge in Kamar-Taj is forbidden. Only certain practices. Those books are far too advanced for anyone other than the Sorcerer Supreme.
Dr. Strange: This one’s got pages missing.
Wong: That’s the book of Cagliostro. The study of time. One of the rituals was stolen by a former Master. A zealot called Kaecilius. Just after he strung up the former librarian, and relieved him of his head. I’m now the guardian of these books. So if a volume from this collection should be stolen again, I’d know it. And you’d be dead before you ever left the compound.
Dr. Strange: What if it’s just overdue?
_T.A.O thoughts: [Nah Stephen, you won’t be charge for overdue here]
Dr. Strange: You know? Any… late fees I should know about? Maybe, perhaps, uhm…Uh, you know, people used to think that I was funny.
Wong: Did they work for you?
Dr. Strange: Alright. Well, it’s been lovely talking to you, thank you for the books and for the horrifying story and for the threat upon my life.
...
Mordo: Mastery of the sling ring is essential to the mystic arts. They allow us to travel throughout the multiverse. All you need to do is focus. Visualize...
_T.A.O thoughts: [He still can not open the potral. Seems like he still distrust his own ability to learn magic]
Mordo: ...See the destination in your mind. Look beyond the world in front of you. Imagine every detail. The clearer the picture, the quicker, and easier, the gateway will come. And stop.
T.A.O: I’d like a moment alone with Mr. Strange.
Mordo: Of course.
Dr. Strange: My hands.
T.A.O: It’s not about your hands.
Dr. Strange: How is this not about my hands?
T.A.O: Master Hamir. Thank you, Master Hamir. You cannot beat a river into submission. You have to surrender to its current, and use its power as your own.
Dr. Strange: I… I control it by surrendering control? That doesn’t make any sense.
T.A.O: Not everything does. Not everything has to. Your intellect has taken you far in life. But it will take you no further. Surrender, Stephen. Silence your ego and your power will rise. Come with me.
Dr. Strange: Wait. Is this…
T.A.O: Everest. It’s beautiful. [Yeah yeah, I love snow]
Dr. Strange: Yeah, you’re right. Beautiful. It’s freezing, but… beautiful.
T.A.O: At this temperature, a person can last for 13 minutes before suffering permanent loss of function.
Dr. Strange: Great.
T.A.O: But you will likely go into shock within the first 2 minutes.
Dr. Strange: What?
T.A.O: Surrender, Stephen.
Dr. Strange: No, no!!! Don’t!
Mordo: How is our new recruit?
T.A.O: We shall see. Any second now.
Mordo: No, not again. Maybe I should…
_T.A.O thoughts: [No Mordo, let him overcome this challenge by himself...Ah hah, I knew it, you’re back!]
...
Wong: Stephen.
Dr. Strange: Wong.
Wong: What do you want, Strange?
Dr. Strange: Books on astral projection.
Wong: You’re not ready for that.
Dr. Strange: Try me, Beyonce. Come on. You’ve heard of her. She’s a huge star, right? Do you ever laugh? Oh come on, just give me the book, huh?
Wong: No.
...
_T.A.O spying on Dr Strange and see him “stealing” books from library at night to learn.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Ah yeah, right. Very ambitious, you’re clearly goal-orientated…Oh my, looks like Wong found out and he was pissed off]
...
T.A.O: Once, in this room, you begged me to let you learn. Now I’m told you question every lesson, preferring to teach yourself.
Dr. Strange: Once, in this room, you told me to open my eyes. Now I’m being told to blindly accept rules that make no sense.
T.A.O: Like the rule against conjuring a gateway in the library?
Dr. Strange: Wong told on me?
T.A.O: You’re advancing quickly with your sorcery skills. You need a safe space to practice your spells… You are now inside the Mirror Dimension. Ever present but undetected. The real world isn’t affected by what happens here. We use the Mirror Dimension to train, surveil, and sometimes to contain threats. You don’t want to be stuck in here without your sling ring.
Dr. Strange: Hold on. Sorry, what do you mean, threats?
T.A.O: Learning of an infinite multiverse included learning of infinite dangers. And if I told you everything else that you don’t already know, you’d run from here in terror.
…
Dr. Strange: So, just how ancient is she?
Mordo: No one knows the age of the Sorcerer Supreme. Only that she is Celtic and never talks about her past.
_T.A.O thoughts: […with you and some certain people only, Mordo. You’re a good “co-worker” in our “sorcery” job but I feel like you’re the type of person who shouldn’t have any of my personal information]
Dr. Strange: You follow her even though you don’t know?
_T.A.O thoughts: [Yeah Strange, good you notice that “red flag”. Mordo is somewhat “too obey” to any kinds of rule and I really not want to see you fall in the same case]
Mordo: I know that she’s steadfast, but unpredictable. Merciless, yet kind. She made me what I am. Trust your teacher. And don’t lose your way.
Dr. Strange: Like Kaecilius?
Mordo: That’s right.
Dr. Strange: You knew him.
Mordo: When he first came to us, he’d lost everyone he ever loved. He was a grieving and broken man, searching for answers in the mystic arts. A brilliant student, but he was proud, headstrong.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Well, it’s more complicate than that. I knew he would go on that dark path from the very beginning, but I ignored “the signs” because of… what I saw from time magic…]
Mordo: Questioned T.A.O, rejected our teaching. He left Kamar-Taj. His disciples followed him like sheep, seduced by false doctrine.
Dr. Strange: He stole the forbidden ritual, right?
Mordo: Yeah.
Dr. Strange: What did it do?
Mordo: No more questions.
Dr. Strange: What’s that?
Mordo: That’s a question. This is a relic. Some magic is too powerful to sustain, so we imbue objects with it, allowing them to take the strain we can not. This is the Staff of the Living Tribunal. There are many relics: the Wand of Watoomb, the Bolting Boots of Voltor.
Dr. Strange: They just roll of the tongue, don’t they? When do I get my relic?
Mordo: When you’re ready.
Dr. Strange: I think I’m ready.
Mordo: You’re ready when the relic decides you’re ready. For now, conjure a weapon.
Yeah.
Mordo: Fight! Fight like your life depended on it! Because one day, it may.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Yeah, it *will* for sure. But seriously, he still unaware of us being a “mystic army” against dangerous mystic forces and what you did might have had exposed us]
…
_T.A.O left the time stone there in the library for Strange to do some experiment with it
…
Dr. Strange: Wong? ...Okay. First, open the Eye of Agamotto. All right. Oh my… Dormammu… The Dark Dimension… Eternal life?
[After Strange has been caught reading the text Kaecilius stole and learning to bend time with the mystical Eye of Agamotto]
Mordo: Stop!!!
Tampering with the continuum of probability is forbidden!
Dr. Strange: I… I wa… I was just doing exactly what it said in the book!
And what did the book say about the dangers of performing that ritual?
Dr. Strange: Yeah, I don’t know. I hadn’t gotten to that part yet.
Temporal manipulations can create branches in time. Unstable dimensional openings. Spacious paradoxes! Time loops!!!
Mordo: You want to get stuck reliving the same moment over, and over, forever, or never having existed at all?
Dr. Strange: They really should put the warnings before that stuff.
__T.A.O thoughts file watching them from far away: [He got a good point, actually]
Your curiosity could have gotten you killed.
You weren’t manipulating the space-time continuum; you were wrecking it.
We do not tamper with natural law. We defend it.
How did you learn to do that?
Where did you learn the litany of spells required to even understand it?
Dr. Strange: I’ve got a photographic memory. It’s how I got my M.D. and Ph.D. at the same time.
Mordo: What you just did takes more than a good memory. You were born for the mystic arts.
Dr. Strange: And yet, my hands still shake.
- For now, yes.
Dr. Strange: Not forever?
Mordo: We’re not prophets.
Dr. Strange: When do you start telling me what we are?
While heroes like the Avengers protect the world from physical dangers, we sorcerers safeguard it against more mystical threats.
T.A.O is the latest in a long line of Sorcerers Supreme, going back thousands of years
to the father of the mystic arts, the mighty Agamotto.
The same sorcerer who created the eye you so recklessly borrowed.
Agamotto built 3 Sanctums in places of power, where great cities now stand.
That door leads to the Hong Kong Sanctum, that door to the New York Sanctum. That one, to the London Sanctum.
Together, the Sanctums generate a protective shield around our world.
Mordo: The Sanctums protect the world, and we sorcerers protect the Sanctums.
Dr. Strange: From what?
Other-dimensional beings that threaten our universe.
Dr. Strange: Like Dormammu?
Where did you learn that name?
Dr. Strange: I just read it in The Book of Cagliostro. Why?
Dormammu dwells in the Dark Dimension, beyond time.
He is the cosmic conqueror, the destroyer of worlds.
A being of infinite power and endless hunger, on a quest to invade every universe and bring all worlds into his Dark Dimension.
And he hungers for Earth most of all.
The pages that Kaecilius stole.
A ritual to contact Dormammu and draw power from the Dark Dimension.
Dr. Strange: Uuuh… okay. Okay. I… time-out. I… I came here to heal my hands, not to fight in some mystical war.
_*London*_
Kaecilius!
No!!!
Dr. Strange: Wong? Mordo?
_177A Bleecker Street_
Dr. Strange: Hello? Hello?
Kaecilius: Daniel. I see they made you Master of the Sanctum.
Master: Do you know what that means?
Kaecilius: That you’ll die protecting it.
Dr. Strange: Stop!
Kaecilius: How long have you been at Kamar-Taj, Mister…?
Dr. Strange: Doctor.
Kaecilius: Mister Doctor?
Dr. Strange: It’s Strange.
Kaecilius: Maybe. Who am I to judge? You don’t know how to use that, do you?
What?
You’ll die here.
Dr. Strange: Oh, stop it. I said, stop it!
Kaecilius: You cannot stop this, Mr. Doctor.
Dr. Strange: Why…look, I don’t even know what "this" is.
Kaecilius: It’s the end and the beginning. The many becoming the few, becoming the One.
Dr. Strange: Look, if you’re not going to start making sense, I’m just going to have to put this thing back on.
Kaecilius: Tell me, Mr. Doctor.
Dr. Strange: Alright, look. My name is Dr. Strange.
Kaecilius: You are a doctor?
Dr. Strange: Yes.
Kaecilius: 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… it’s a place beyond time.
_ T.A.O mumble to herself while watching them from far away: You felt on that “magical” mindset so badly…
Dr. Strange: That’s it. I’m putting this thing back on.
Kaecilius: 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.
__T.A.O thoughts file watching them from far away: [It’s not that simple… If people became one with the Dark Dimension, they would be turn into some sort of “living puppets” of Dormammu, I told you that! And not everyone wants to be immortal!]
Dr. Strange: Really? What do you have to gain out of this New Age dimensional utopia?
Kaecilius: 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.
_T.A.O mumble to herself while watching them from far away: [He really should know. First: time have nothing to do with “dead”, it’s the cycle of life start and end everything. Second, Death is not our enemy, she is the natural order of all things.]
Dr. Strange: What about the people you killed?
Kaecilius: Tiny, momentary specks within an indifferent universe. Yes. You see, 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. 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.
Dr. Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme defends existence.
Kaecilius: What was it that brought you to Kamar-Taj, Doctor? Was it enlightenment? Power? You came to be healed, as did we all. Kamar-Taj is a place that collects broken things. We all come with the promise of being healed, but instead, T.A.O gives us parlor tricks. The real magic she keeps for herself. Have you ever wondered how she managed to live this long?
Dr. Strange: I… I saw the rituals in the book of Cagliostro.
Kaecilius: So, you know. The ritual gives me the power to overthrow T.A.O and tear her Sanctums down, to let the Dark Dimension in. Because what T.A.O hoards, Dormammu gives freely: life, everlasting. He is not the destroyer of worlds, Doctor, he is the savior of worlds.
Dr. Strange: No. I mean, come on. Look at your face. Dormammu made you a murderer. Just how good can his kingdom be? You think that’s funny?
Kaecilius: No. No, Doctor. What’s funny is that you’ve lost your sling ring.
(The fight between Strange and Kaecilius happened and Strange was “adoptend” by the Cloak of Levitation)
…
_Strange struggled with getting rid of Zealots and saving himself from dying
….
Mordo: Strange! You’re okay.
Dr. Strange: A relative term, but yeah, I’m okay.
Mordo: The Cloak of Levitation. It came to you.
T.A.O: No minor feat. It’s a fickle thing.
Dr. Strange: He’s escaped.
- Kaecilius?
Dr. Strange: Yeah. He can fold space and matter at will.
T.A.O: He folds matter outside the mirror dimension? In the real world?
Dr. Strange: Yeah.
T.A.O: How many more?
Dr. Strange: Two. I stranded one in the desert.
T.A.O: And the other?
Dr. Strange: His body was in the hall. Master Drumm was in the foyer.
Mordo: He’s been taken back to Kamar-Taj. The London Sanctum has fallen. Only New York and Hong Kong remain now to shield us from the Dark Dimension.
T.A.O: You defended the New York Sanctum from attack. With its Master gone, it needs another, Master Strange.
Dr. Strange: No. It is Dr. Strange. Not Master Strange, not Mr. Strange, Doctor Strange. 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.
T.A.O: You become a doctor to save one life above all others: your own.
Dr. Strange: Still seeing through me, are you?
T.A.O: I see what I’ve always seen: 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.
Dr. Strange: Not even Dormammu? He offers immortality.
T.A.O: It’s our fear of death that gives Dormammu life. He feeds off it.
Dr. Strange: Like you feed on him? 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.
T.A.O: [Oh no, it’s happening] Measure your next words very carefully, doctor.
Dr. Strange: Because you might not like them?
T.A.O: Because you may not know of what you speak.
Mordo: What is he talking about?
Dr. Strange: I’m talking about her long life, the source of her immortality. She draws power from the Dark Dimension to stay alive.
Mordo: That’s not true.
Dr. Strange: I’ve seen the rituals and worked them out. I know how you do it.
T.A.O: Once they re-group, the zealots will be back. You’ll need reinforcements.
…
_T.A.O watching them from far_
Dr. Strange: She is not who you think she is.
Mordo: You don’t have the right to say that. You have no idea of the responsibility that rests upon her shoulders.
Dr. Strange: No, and I don’t want to know.
Mordo: You’re a coward.
Dr. Strange: Because I’m not a killer?
Mordo: These zealots will snuff us all out, and you can muster the strength to snuff them out first?
Dr. Strange: What do you think I just did?
Mordo: You saved your own life! And then whined about it like a wounded dog.
Dr. Strange: When would you have done it so easily?
Mordo: You have no idea the things I’ve done…And the answer is yes. Without hesitation.
Dr. Strange: Even if there’s another way?
Mordo: There is no other way.
Dr. Strange: You lack imagination.
Mordo: No, Stephen. You lack a spine. They’re back. We have to end this. Now! Strange! Get down here and fight!
Dr. Strange: The Mirror Dimension. You can’t affect the real world in here. Who’s laughing now, asshole?
Kaecilius: I am.
Dr. Strange: They’ve got no sling ring. I mean, they can’t escape, right?
Run!
Mordo: Their connection to the Dark Dimension makes them more powerful in the Mirror Dimension. They can’t affect the real world, but they can still kill us. This wasn’t clever. This was suicide!
Dr. Strange: This was a mistake.
_Strange run away, trying to escape and saved by T.A.O
_T.A.O thoughts: [I need to keep myself far away from Mordo]
Mordo: It’s true. She does draw power from the Dark Dimension.
T.A.O: Kaecilius.
Kaecilius: I came to you broken, lost, bleeding. I trusted you to be my teacher, and you fed me lies.
T.A.O: I tried to protect you.
Kaecilius: From the truth?
T.A.O: From yourself. [You’re not gonna change your mind, don’t you?]
Kaecilius: I have a new teacher now.
T.A.O: Dormammu deceives you You have no idea of what he truly is. His eternal life is not paradise, but torment.
Kaecilius: Liar.
_T.A.O stabbed by Kaecilius and throw down the building
….
_T.A.O thoughts: [Mordo… Strange… I have never injured so heavily like this… It’s so hard to breath… Oh, The Death…
Dr. Strange: Christine!!!
Christine: Are you kidding me? Oh my god.
Dr. Strange: No fibrillation…
Christine: It’s neurogenic?
Dr. Strange: Yes. Nick? We need to relieve the pressure on her brain.
She still drops.
We’re losing her!
_T.A.O thoughts: The Death…
- You need to increase her oxygen!
I need a crash cart!
- Her pupils are dilated!
No reflexes.
I’m not reading any brain activity.
_*Astral projection*_
T.A.O to Death: I’ll be right back.
Lady Death: Whatever, you’ve made a deal with me about this moment before.
_ T.A.O flying far away from The Death, ensuring he can not see her standing right there._
Dr. Strange: What are you doing? You’re dying! You have to return to your body now. You don’t have time.
T.A.O: Time is relative. Your body hasn’t even hit the floor yet. I’ve spent so many years peering through time, looking at this exact moment. But I can’t see past it. I’ve prevented countless terrible futures. And after each one, there’s always another. And they all lead here, but never further.
Dr. Strange: You think this is where you die.
T.A.O: Do you wonder what I see in your future?
Dr. Strange: No. Yes.
T.A.O: I never saw your future, only its possibilities. You have such a capacity for goodness. You always excelled, but not because you crave success, but because of your fear of failure.
Dr. Strange: It’s what made me a great doctor.
T.A.O: It’s precisely what kept you from greatness. Arrogance and fear still keep you from learning the simplest and most significant lesson of all.
Dr. Strange: Which is?
T.A.O: It’s not about you. When you first came to me, you asked me how I was able to heal Jonathan Pangborn. I didn’t. He channels dimensional energy directly into his own body.
Dr. Strange: He uses magic to walk.
T.A.O: Constantly. He had a choice: to return to to his own life, or to serve something greater than himself.
Dr. Strange: So, I could have my hands back again? My old life?
T.A.O: You could. And the world would be all the lesser for it. I’ve hated drawing power from the Dark Dimension, but as you well know, sometimes one must break the rules in order to serve the greater good.
Dr. Strange: Mordo won’t see it that way.
T.A.O: Mordo’s soul is rigid and unmovable, forged by the fires of his youth. He needs your flexibility, just as you need his strength. Only together do you stand a chance of stopping Dormammu.
Dr. Strange: I’m not ready.
T.A.O: No one ever is. We don’t get to choose our time. Death is what gives life meaning. To know your days are numbered, your time is short. You’d think after all this time I’d be ready. But look at me: stretching one moment out into a thousand, just so I can watch the snow.
_T.A.O thoughts: [Ah, I need to comeback to my body as my deal with The Death right now!]