Time
Stephen strange had lived for many years as the sorcerer supreme. The decades pass like any other year. His proper name had been long forgotten, only mentions of his name were Doctor Strange. No one remembers his full name any more...
As the years passed many of the people he knew lived and died. He had to see so many of his friends' funeral. He had also seen some of their/'s child birth.
He had seen so many things in his long life time, and he's tired. He's so very tired.
Years passed, civilization grew. He had seen it. He had seen the newest generation, the new avengers, the new kids in kamar-taj.
He wants to rest.
So, when the time came for him, he accepted it.
His successor is strong enough to lead the next generation of the people in kamar-taj. They don't need him anymore (although if you ask anyone in kamar-taj, they'd beg the differ) , they'll be fine.
As it struck him, the final cold unforgiving blow he felt a flare of pain all over his body like his body was burning and torn apart. His soul felt like it was ripped from him.
Than nothing, it was the final thing. Nothingness.
He felt a Drift in a void and could finally rest.
...
...
Than he woke up once more.
Why did he wake up again?
His time was supposed to be up.
He could feel heavy bandages covering his body, he could feel the heavy bandages on his arms and hands.. it feels so familiar.. like a memory long forgotten.
He forces his heavy eye lids to open and was greeted by the sight of a hospital room.. his arms were hanging infront of him and was heavily bandaged. There were pins on his hands.. this scene.. it feels so familiar...
Than in struck him, it was the same scene that happened to him after the car accident - he could never forget that - but how?
He was supposed to be dead.. what spell had been used on him? He was sure that his body was dead, so why was his soul here? In the past?
He took in the familiar surroundings and spots a familiar figure that was long dead.
"Christine.." he spoke in a weak, raspy voice, barely audible. But it was enough for get the others' attention.
"Stephen!" She exclaimed while whispering as to not bother the other patients in the corridor.
"Your awake, thank god." Relief flew through her as she sees him.
"Ch-" as he was about to talk once more, christine stopped him giving him a glass of water to drink. To ease his raspy throat.
"Here drink this first, you've been unconscious a week." She explained.
He knew of course. He remembered this whole event clearly - how could he not? It was this event that changed his whole life.
After he finishes the whole glass, he asked, "what date?" His voice still raspy and weak.
"Its January, 27 of 2011." She awnsered her voice still shaky from the times she mourns for her friend's accident.
Stephen was shock. What happened? He was pretty sure his car accident happened in 2016. What changed? What happened to make the event 5 years early?
He was unsure as to what to make of it.
So he waits, he waits, he rest, he gathered his thoughts.
He doesn't know what changed it, but he do know that both his hands are useless once more.
When it had happened, he had pushed the person that cared about him away and wasted tons of money on operations to get his hands back.
This time he wasn't about to waste his time, nor would he waste the money that could have been used for more important things than his unfixable hands. In a nother time in the future, his hands might have been fixable thanks to all the technology advancement, but his scared hands were already used to its condition to be able to be fix in said future.
He looked at the door that christine had left through and knew that he could not involve her like he did before. He had mad her suffer so much, he can't possibly let that anymore.
It would be for the best if he disappears.
And so he had decided. He would disappear. He'll disappear from the world untill the time is right for him to show his cards once more/until he gets bored...
It would be best that he is forgotten from the world.
So he waits, he waits as the days , weeks passed untill his body recovers enough that he could move for long distances alone. He sped the process of his recovery using magic. The doctors had been surprised when he had recovered (minus his hands) in a month. He tried being as subtle as possible but, he was supposed to be there for another 2 month or 3.
his body was finally ready, he was going to disappear from the world, not telling a soul.
So In the cover the night, he left. With the help of magic it was rather easy to leave undetected from both the guards and the cameras - he doesn't have a sling ring and using other method of teleportation spell would attract to much attention.
He left to the one place he knew would be safe from the sight of people. He left the place he knew he would be accepted, even if he is a man out of time. He left for a place that might hold the awnsere on why he was here.
So he went to nepal, in search of kamar-taj, the place where the ancient one still lives.
He stood in front of the gates of kamar-taj. he remembered when he first arrived here he just thought it looks like a shabby old place, but he had been desperate to fix his hands. He hadn't thought of anything els about the doors.
But now. Now that he had learn of the mystic arts, he could sense it. The wars of kamar-taj.
He doesn't doubt that the wards would have been suspicious and protective and also possibly hostile towards him had this been his first time here, but.. the wards seems to recognize him - not his body perhaps, but his soul, his magic.
The wards welcomed it's master even though it was from another time. As he entered the range of it's spell he could feel it welcoming him home, comforting him, healing his exhausted body, recovering his still drained magic storage.
Stephen smiled fondly as he recognized the feelings, the one thing that had never change as everything around him had. He was glad that at least even now - out of time - he still able to have something familiar.
He knocked on the door softly, but loud enough to be heard by the people he knew are stationed close by.
A few minutes later the door creeked open and a familiar figure stood in front of the door.
"And who might you be?" Asked the man.
"Master Kaecilius -" this was the man that had caused the incident for him, dormamu. The man that had killed his teacher. He grit his teeth "i am here to meet the ancient one"
He knew it was unfair of him to blame this Kaecilius. As the man that was currently infront of him was just another broken man that had came to kamar-taj in search of healing. The Kaecilius of the future had not been created.
Kaecilius narrowed his eyes in clear suspicion - in Kaecilius defense, a man he had never seen nor heard(probably) before had just called out his name. So Stephen sighed, he wasn't gonna be trusted this way, so..
"I heard that this place might be able to fix it" he said lifting his scared hand, it was shaking more violently than in the previous time line since it had not received the same operation it did.
Kaecilius still looked suspicious, but not as suspicious as before. So he related and stood to the side letting Stephen inside.
They walked down the familiar path to same place that he had fist met the ancient one in His own time.
And just like in the previous time line the ancient one was once more, in the middle of preparing some tea.
He walked to her to greet her - he wasn't going to the same mistake he did in the previous time line. He wasn't gonna admit it to anyone but it had been incredibly embarrassing - although since anyone that had been there was dead now anyway no one would've known.
"Ancient one." He said in greetings and gave her a bow of respect.
If the ancient one had been surprised at seeing him called her name - and possibly 5 years early - she wasn't showing it.
He briefly wondered if the ancient one knew that he was a man out of time.
His thoughts instantly vanished as she looked up holding a cup of tea on her hand. Her expression was that of a mother soft, kind, comforting, familiar. But the soft smile on her face seemed more sad than happy. Her eyes shines with untold knowledge and at that moment Stephen knew that she had known as well.
He supposed he should have known he could hide anything from his teacher.
"Has it been that long?" She asked, wistful and soft and to anyone but Stephen the question would've seemed strange - no pun intended - and really if it hadn't been the clear sadness in her smile and the knowledge in her eyes Stephen would have been confused for a little while.
Stephen wasn't sure what to say so he merely nodded. She passed the tea to him giving an indication for him to drink.
"You can rest now. No one would force you into the mantel. This place would be your home no matter when or where you are" she said softly.
Someone had shown him the room where he could stay for now, since he couldn't stay at the new york Centrum. It was occupied but it's current guardian.
Once he finally settled in, he decided to explore the kamar-taj of this time period.
He could see people training on the training ground, using their sling rings and sparing against one another. He looks at them fondly as he remembered his student from a future far from now.
It was than that he saw another familiar face. Mordo. He was still a student in training. Stephen vaguely remember that for others they had to train for a couple of years to gain their Master title. He had forgotten it, as the mystic arts had come naturally to him and he hadn't thought that his student didn't took long - although it was probably what happened when you have as long as he had, long time for normal human life span would feel short for him.
He grimace. Mordo was another thing he had to deal with other than Kaecilius. In the future after learning of the ancient one's 'betrayal' of trust he had gone of the steep end and went on sorcerer hunting for anyone who had not been using their powers to protect the dimension.
He shook his head. That was a problem for later, for now he was doing a tour... Sort of.
He next went to the library to see if wong is there. He didn't know what to expect, but he should have known that it wasn't wong's time yet.
He entered the library to see a person he had never seen before, it must have been wong's predecessors. He distantly Wondered what happened to the guy in the next 5 years before he had went to kamar-taj.
The library had welcomed him like the other parts of kamar-taj had. They knew he was the sorcerer supreme of the future and treated him respect fully and great fully for taking care of it in the future.
The current librarian looked at him with a wary expression. It was probably because of his robes. He had been able to get his old - or is it new now? - one back. In other situation it wouldn't have been weird, but for a sorcerer with a master's robe that the librarian had never seen before would be suspicious.
But Stephen wasn't here to interact with the other sorcerer, so he merely nodded and walked deeper in the library.
He wasn't sure what he was searching for since wong currently wasn't the librarian, and he had memorized pretty much most of the book in kamar-taj, thanks to his 'extra' time in the future and his eidetic memory.
He'd probably read more since he still had said free time and now there were new books, books that had been lost in the future before he had a chance to read them.
He walked through the corridors of books to what he knew to be an open space with table and chairs for people who wanted to read in the library. It was usually empty as people prefer to read in their rooms.
But he was surprised and at the same time not surprised to find a younger version of the wong he knew sitting on the table reading a book he can't quite make out.
He smiled fondly at the memory of his old friend. He knew that he may have know the wong of his time line, and that the person sitting infront of him was not the same person.
They both may be wong, but his wong even before meeting him had experience that this wong didn't. That though saddened him as his fond smile grew into that of a small sad smile.
And perhaps he had known a version of wong's future, but this wong does not known him at all.
He knew that the only reason he and wong understood each other was because of the hardship that they had went through together.
He shook his head, focusing on the now.
He took a random book from the nearest shelf and took a sit on the empty chair in front of the other sorcerer. He was simply staring at the pages blankly, since it didn't quite matter whether he read it or not right now - he probably already read it anyway - he was here to talk to wong and get his attention.
After a couple of minutes wong finally looked up at him, face still as stoic as ever.
"What do you want?" He said tone as blank as possible, but Stephen could see the irritation and curiosity in his eyes.
Seems like this wong it's quite that good at hiding his emotion yet.
Stephen really isn't sure how to make friends of start conversation, but he'll try anyway.
[Translation: the author sucks at talking to people and is going to wing this whole conversation.]
"Nice to meet you.. erm.." he trailed pretending to not know the name of the man infront of him.
"Wong" the man said blankly.
"Nice to meet you master wong. I was simply wondering why you chose to read here. Other people would have chosen to borrow the books they want to read and went to their rooms, if they did not want to get disturbed." He was honestly curious, since he himself had read on his room.
It seems there was another thing that was different from the future wong, he was less guarded and talk more freely than his future counter part.
"I found that reading and studying around the books more comfortable than the dorms and it's rather calming nature." He awnsered, but than asked his own question "and who might you be?"
"Oh, yes. My name is Doctor Stephen Strange." Stephen awnsered, he couldn't believe he forgot to introduced himself.
Wong narrowed his eyes, but looked back down on his book.
[Translation: the author has given up, human conversation is hard.]
Stephen went out to the more secluded training ground he knew in kamar-taj.
It was late afternoon or he supposed nigh. The sun was no longer visible and the training ground, dark and empty.
He cast a spell to light the training ground enough for him to see properly, but not enough to draw anyone's attention.
He took a deep steady breath and started to do some simple kata since his current body wasn't prepared for the training regiments he had before in the.. Future..
He needed to get his body in top shape giving him more stamina incase a battle happened - he wasn't going to search for fights, he was tired. But he knew that he would be a fool if he thought the battle wouldn't come to him.
Sure he had the knowledge and the ability to cast the spell he could or knew from all his future knowledge, but the body was just as important.
As he Finishes the kata he went to training his muscle and stamina once more.
By the time he had Finnish with his body and wanted to test out the spells knew of from a distant future, it had became rather late and he was panting hard, his muscle ache from the strain that it wasn't used to.
Before he was able to properly get hold of his breathing, a figure came in to view.
"Do you really need to push your self that hard? Your body is still recovering." a Concerned voice said.
He looked to the source of the voice to find the ancient one staring at him with sad eyes.
He straitened up and looked at her taking deep breath, no longer panting.
"You once said to me that you couldn't see my future, you could only ever see my possibilities." Stephen stoped for a moment, trying to see if he was out of line or wrong and trying to figure out the next word that he should say.
Than he continued, "if that was still indeed true even untill now, than i would like to think that even if i changed more of the future from what i know of. It would be accepted, since it was within the realms of my possibilities and it had not contradict the natural law of the universe."
He awnsered, but he knew the ancient one knew he was going to say that even before he even thought of it.
Her eyes still shows sadness, but it also shows proudness. She was proud at the man he had become. She knew what he was like when he had first came to kamar-taj in search of healing and he had come a very long way.
Her proud smile was that of a mother seeing her son grew up into a wiser man.
She nodded in understanding to him and Stephen gave a small smile in return.
He turned back around to try casting a spell to test his theories. Moving his trembling - it had gotten worse with no extra treatment and the ruff training added the cold air - hands and made a few signs.
Just like before and the previous time line the mandala glowed a soft but strong green. Stephen furrowed his eyebrows.
"It seems the effects of the time stone had come back with you as well. It also might be possible that it was the reason that you were sent to the past instead of being killed." The ancient one said softly from beside him.
He nodded. it was the closest to an explanation as it can get as to why he was sent back and the familiar green glow from his spells.
It was the reason he had lived so long in the previous time line. Unlike the ancient one who drew power from the dark dimension to live as long as she had, Stephen got it from the time stone. Or more specifically, the radiation of the time stone.
Similarly to maximoff and captain marvel, he had some how gained the powers of the time stone to a degree.
It hadn't been his intentions and he hadn't even noticed it before wong pointed it out. It was years after the battle with thanos, his friends had gotten older and yet his body had remained the same, it was when wong pointed it out and theorized that it was the time stone that caused it. And it was indeed proven that he had radiated a similar wavelength as maximoff and captain marvel, it was weak, but it was there.
It was a slow build up, but it was slowly getting stronger and stronger Within him. With time his spells colors had slowly started turning green. And now that he had known what was going on with him he had trained himself to be able to wield the new power within him, with the help of wong and the others.
But time passes cruelly and eventually wong died.. along the rest of the friends he managed to make.
He shook his thoughts away before it got to much for him - he was already starting to have nightmares being back in the past.
He sighed in exhaustion. The ancient one put her hand on his shoulder supportively.
"If you truly want to continue this path, than you may need this."
He turned around confused at the ancient one's word and that was when he found being attacked or snuggled to death by a cloak.
In an instant he knew what was going on and calmed the cloak.
He slowly rubbed his trembling hand on the fabric, "hey there buddy, missed you too. Yes, I'm fine don't worry."
When the cloak finally decided to let him go, Stephen was able got a better look at it. He was a little surprised to see it's form.
"I see you came back with me too, huh, buddy?" He smiled fondly at his old companion.
The cloak of levitation had changed its form from its usual simple red one. He found out that as time passes the cloak would grow in its strength for as long as it is wielded and would look different as it needed a place to contain it's new strength.
It now had a dark purple color on its insides with Designs in the inside and black color on the out side Covered with the same designs as the inside. Its edges were gold color and was more sharp shaped than it had been originally.
[author doesn't know how to put images in this app so just search up doctor strange supreme cloak of levitation or doctor Strange from the 'what if..' series]
He was happy to find another thing similar from his future other than the wards.
It seems he was not as lost as he had thought he was.