Chapter 9
Yao, for that was what she called herself, studied the globe in front of her. It remained dark, which was expected. Kaecilius wouldn't have hidden in this dimension after all. Most likely, he and his followers were hiding in the Mirror Dimension. They'd be difficult to track there, but it was still possible.
But had they already started drawing on the Dark Dimension? If they had, tracking them would become more difficult. Her viewings of the future had shown that it would take them until June to gather the materials for the ritual to summon Dormammu. It was March; they had some time.... if the future hadn't changed that is.
The method of Stephen's arrival in this universe and his delay in coming to Kamar-Taj had already changed things. The when, where, and how of her death was uncertain now. She was looking forward to discovering the answers. A bit of morbid curiosity on her part.
She couldn't use the Eye now and not just because Time would rather remain with him than her. No, Time had refused to show her potential futures.
You have spent too long looking at the future, it had said. You have forgotten what lies in front of you.
So, the Eye was unavailable to her. Time had been right. She hadn't even talked to the other masters since the Time Stones had fused. She'd been too worried about what it could mean for the Order, for the planet. They'd been more than patient with her, but it was time to talk. She owed them answers.
She'd seen the worried glances, Master Yama constantly checking on the wards, Master Mordo increasing his combat classes...They all knew something was coming. The fusing of the Time Stones was only the second major spike of power they'd felt within the last few months.
There had been another spike in January, an incursion of another universe into theirs. It had ended quickly. Their universe had absorbed the power of the other universe and had become stronger for it. The masters were worried, as they rightly should be.
She'd have to talk to them soon, but first Kaecilius.
She picked up the mirror on the desk. It was made of brass and large enough to see the entire reflection of her face within it. It would hold the tracking spell easily.
Contrary to common belief, not all mirrors in the Mirror Dimension were made of glass. The dimension was based on reflection and anything reflective was a gateway into it. Unfortunately, Kamar-Taj had a lot of reflective surfaces. They had to adjust the wards to prevent entry from the dimension after Kaecilius and his followers had used it to enter the library unnoticed.
She had just finished drawing the symbols on the brass when the door at the other end of the room opened. She looked away from the mirror to see Master Mordo, clearly looking for her.
She'd given him the name Kiera when he'd first come to them and he'd called her that for a few months before comparing notes with the other initiates. He'd started to call her Master afterwards, like everyone else. It was a long life. She had to get her amusements somehow and she hadn't had to start reusing names yet. Surprisingly, he'd trusted her after that. But would he trust her now? Time had shown her that he'd walked away from the Order after her death and Stephen's creativity in stopping Dormammu. Time had shown her what had happened then too, though only a sliver of it.
She sat with the unease that thought brought and let herself feel the fear before breathing it out. Stephen was healing now and that situation was unlikely to happen again.
"Master," Karl said as he spotted her partially hidden behind the shelves.
"Yes, Master Mordo?"
"The other masters and I would like a word."
Oh, it was time already. She wasn't entire ready for this meeting, though she had some idea of what she wanted to say. She had wanted to prepare and call it on her terms. But it seems the other masters had gotten impatient and had sent Karl to summon her.
"When?" She asked not moving from her chair.
"Now, if possible." Karl said, still polite even though he knew she hadn't been doing anything important. Kaecilius and his followers would show up sooner or later. She'd already cast the Mirror Dimension tracking spell and there was nothing to do but wait.
"Very well," she rose from the chair, "lead the way, Master Mordo."
Karl let her to the usual meeting room. It was a little too dark for her tastes as it was located further inside the temple. It also looked more modern now. She missed the days when they'd had cushions on the floor and had talked over a low table. They still had a table, but it was higher now and chairs had replaced the cushions. There had been plants too once, back when Master Reddy had enchanted a skylight to let the light in. Those were gone too now.
As they neared the room, she could see Stephen and Wong standing outside of it.
"But none of them know me," Stephen was saying as she came to stand beside him.
He still looked pale and was leaning, very slightly, on Wong. Already Wong was taking her words to heart. He had never liked people touching him, though he tolerated the excited hugs the apprentices gave him when he had found them the perfect book for their needs.
Karl raised an eyebrow at the sight. "I didn't realize you two knew each other."
Both Stephen and Wong stilled, a sudden alertness coming over them. She'd seen it in Stephen when she'd first come to fetch him and then again on the balcony when Karl had found him. It had barely suppressed terror then. It was doing the same now.
She hadn't seen that alertness in Wong until now, but unlike Stephen it remained at alertness. Whatever had made Stephen terrified of Karl wasn't a memory Wong shared. It must have been Karl's rigidity. Her alternate, from what Time had shown her, had hoped that Karl's rigidity would balance out Stephen's tendency to ignore rules when it suited him and that Karl would talk him into looking for other solutions first. It had not and she'd have to see about loosening that rigidity. It had hurt Karl and everyone around him in the end.
"Master Strange, Master Wong, shall we?" She gestured towards the door, breaking the tension.
"Yes," Wong said and held the door open for Karl to step through. Karl gave them all a look, scrutiny and suspicion rolled into one, and stepped through the door. Wong followed.
Stephen lingered beside her, holding the Eye in his hands. It was shut and one of his thumbs was stroking the aperture.
"I don't know why Wong said I should attend this," he said. "None of them know me. "
She thought she knew Wong's reasons and they were good ones. Introducing Stephen to the other masters would show them he belonged here. Their Order was a tight one and once someone was accepted, they would be folded into the ranks and treated as family. Stephen needed that.
"You should wear this." Stephen held the Eye out to her and looked relieved as she took it. She raised an eyebrow in silent question.
"It keeps laughing at me." He looked confused and a little worried.
"Oh?" She said, slipping the chain of the Eye over her head. She didn't know exactly why Time kept laughing at him, but she could make a very educated guess. The Eye settled against her chest, a weight. It was not as familiar as she expected.
"How much will you tell them?" Stephen's voice was stripped of all feeling. She had used that same tone in the beginning after her Master had passed the title of Supreme to her. She had been young then, untested, hadn't wanted to influence other's decisions, and, most of all, hadn't wanted to show her own emotions.
"How much do you want them to know?" She replied. He had been involved in the key incidents and as much as it pained her to admit, knew what was coming more than she did. Part of her mourned the loss of the Eye, of the certainty of knowing she'd made the right decisions by looking at the future. But, Time had been right. She wasn't as involved in the present as she should have been. That had to change.
He looked at her, silent, something knowing in his eyes. It wasn't a reaction she would have expected from her observations, but all of her observations were wrong for this version of Stephen Strange. She was finding herself more and more surprised by the day. It was somewhat of a novel feeling. She generally tended to know what was coming and people's actions mostly didn't surprise her anymore. The only people who did now were children as they tended to be unpredictable even to those who knew them well. She was looking forward to more surprises.
"You're the one in charge here. It's your decision."
She laughed, feeling something lift away from her. She'd analyze it later. They had a world to upend.
"That it is. Come Master Strange, let's introduce you."
Yao held out her arm and he took it, looping his own around her elbow, and together they walked through the door.
Inside stood the masters, clustered together in groups, whispering. They looked up at the sound of the door opening and she barely held back her laugh at the looks on their faces. Master Oben was gaping and Master Arzhel looked intrigued as she always did when meeting someone new. She didn't think she'd ever seen Master Yama look so confused before. Master Amr was frowning, most likely trying to place her companion. He did have a sister who worked as a surgeon in America. Perhaps Stephen's name had come up.
"Hello everyone," she said as they started to take their seats. "This is Master Strange."
Master Akrom opened her mouth. At her side, Stephen sighed.
"It's nice to meet you all. Yes, that is my actual name."
Master Akrom closed her mouth and sat back in her chair. Yao tightened her grip on Stephen's arm. He looked at her curiously and she grinned back. The other masters started to look alarmed.
"Master Strange is permanently displaced from his home universe and time. He'll be joining us from now on."
The shock on the masters' faces was understandable. The shock on Stephen's was not. She raised an eyebrow at him.
"I didn't think you'd tell them outright. Your alternate kept a lot of things to herself."
"She did." Yao unlinked her arm from Stephen's and took a seat. Though Stephen sat next to her, she didn't miss the slight disappointment as he noticed the full seats around Wong.
"Time has shown me what that did to the Order," she continued. "I am taking a different path."
His gaze went distant, unfocused, as if he was looking at something beyond visible sight. There was a weight in the air, something unfathomable. Suddenly, she was very aware of time moving, each second ticking by. Then, the weight was gone.
Stephen blinked, looking unsettled.
"Master?" Karl said after the silence had gone on for too long.
"You remember that incursion in January, yes?" She asked, receiving nods in return. "That was Master Strange's universe being absorbed into ours."
"Absorbed?" Master Akrom echoed. She looked intrigued, but Dani had always been fascinated by the layers of the multiverse. She'd been trying to study it without breaking any of the walls that separated the universes from each other and the incursion had given her valuable data.
"Is that why our universal barriers seem so strong?" Dani asked. "They weren't this strong last year."
Yao knew the look on her face. Dani had always wanted to go continue her research immediately after learning something new irregardless of what else was happening at the time.
"We are not done, Dani."
"So why is he here?" Master Oben leaned forward, looking intently at them.
"I fell through a gap in reality," Stephen said. "And this universe had place for me."
"But not everyone else?" Master Arzhel's tone had an edge of anger. "It sounds like you disrupted the order of your universe Mister Strange. Just as you are disrupting ours. Incursions destroy both universes."
The rest of the masters shifted uneasily at her words. Some of them looked like they agreed with her. Across from her, Wong was starting to look upset and she could feel the tension radiating from Stephen.
"I do believe we are thinking about it in the wrong way." Her voice cut through the tension and everyone turned to look at her. "It wasn't an incursion, but an absorption. One could say our universe ate his."
"Universes don't work that way!" Dani had pulled out a notepad and was flipping through it furiously. "That goes against all we know!"
"We know so little, Dani." Master Yama said. "You are the only one who studies this and cannot verify any of your claims."
There were many moments in Yao's life where she'd gotten the feeling that the world was about to change quite dramatically. The very first of which had been when she had been handed the Eye of Agamotto by her master and was charged with leading the Order. The second had been when she'd looked into the future and realized how long she would have to be Sorcerer Supreme. Another had been when she'd cast the ritual to permanently connect herself to the Dark Dimension. She had gotten the same feeling when Wong had walked into the temple when he was six and when Karl had come to them at twenty. She was getting the same feeling now as Stephen sighed and placed something on the table with a clack.
"We can," he said and she felt his weariness as if it was her own. "Reality would like a word."
He withdrew his shaking hand and the others gasped at the sight of a small, red, glowing stone on the table.
Your leader is correct, Reality said. Your universe ate ours and we allowed it.
Master Yama's mouth dropped open and across from him, Dani had started to scribble rapidly on her notepad. Next to Wong, Master Hamir quickly grabbed the table to regain his balance. Wong, himself, looked surprised. He was however, she was pleased to note, much calmer than the others. Unlike the others, Wong had always found it easier to go with the flow of things.
"I believe you will need to elaborate," Yao said when it was clear that no one else would say anything.
Infinity was scattered and our universe was falling apart. Reality said. Its voice rattled her bones and made the hair on her arms rise.
There was, Reality continued, an attempt to reforge us to stop the destruction, but our universe was too weak. We fell into yours and since we were unable to fulfil our end of the bargain, worked with our counterparts to integrate Doctor Strange into your universe. It proved easy enough as his counterpart had just died.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Stephen shrink as everyone turned to look at him.
"What was I supposed to do? Let my universe die?"
Reality's glow brightened.
It would have worked if the fabric of the universe hadn't weakened to the extent that it did. He tried which is more than anyone else did at that time.
Yao watched the room. Most of the masters seemed to be in shock, afraid. They needed a break to compose themselves and digest the information they had just been given.
"Let's stop for tea." She said, standing up.
Reality glowed brighter. We were not done.
"We are for now," she said, sharply. "You have given us a lot of information that we must consider. We need the time."
The weight of the universe sunk into her. There was an awareness of everything, of all things suddenly made visible. The silencing wards on the room glowed and the stone floor felt incredibly solid beneath her feet. She could see the layers of the dimensions around them overlapping. The familiar feeling of being very small in a very large world came over her.
She let it pass through her. She'd felt it before. One of the Sorcerer Supreme's duties was to protect the universe, or at least their part of it. The job involved negotiating with entities far older and far more powerful than her. She was used to feeling small, but this was her Order, her people. She knew them best and knew they needed the break.
"We need the time," she repeated.
There was a very long silence. Then, eventually, Reality conceded.
Very well. Let us continue after tea.