Ch. 7. The lost time we did this.
Wong walked into a room, filled with sorcerers of his brethren. They were at New York’s Sanctum Sanctorum. Everyone’s eyes were on Wong as he walked into the middle of the room with the Book of Cagliostro in his hands.
“My fellow masters.” Wong began to speak.
“We are about to try a daring spell. This is a new ritual, created solely for this purpose. It comes close to that forbidden magic which we have sworn never to use. And it is also most certainly dangerous.”
One of the sorcerers next to Wong nudged the book he was holding.
“Knowledge from the Book of Cagliostro, Master Wong?”
“Yes and no.” Wong answered.
“When Kaecilius and his zealots contacted Dormammu, they used a ritual from this book to reach the Dark Dimension, beyond time. But we now seek the opposite. We are looking at the lost time stone.”
Wong stopped for a moment; everyone’s tension was on him. This was a dangerous topic.
“Me and a few other masters have sought the way to reverse the ritual from the Book of Cagliostro. Instead of reaching into the Dark Dimension beyond time, we are going to reach into the flow of time itself.”
The sorcerers around the room were looking at one another with unease. This was dangerous sounding knowledge. Close to a borderline heresy. Wong noticed the uneasiness in the room.
“I know that this is an uncanny territory we’re dealing with. But we are looking at dangers to the entire creation.”
He stepped in the middle of the room, surrounded by the other masters.
“If we do not bring back the time stone, then someone else eventually will. And that would mean us abandoning our order’s sacred duty of keeping and protecting the time stone.”
That seemed to bring some confidence to the sorcerers. Wong knew it was the best he could hope for now.
“Now, everyone, prepare. We are launching the ritual at twilight.”
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As the night began to make its presence known, the sorcerers were gathered into a formation in a large room. Wong was standing in the middle, ready to take charge of the ritual.
Shedding the last piece of doubt in his mind, Wong cleared his mind and tapped into the interdimensional energies that sorcerers used to conjure their spells. He started to move his hands, drawing the patterns in the air. Once the required spell forms were finished, Wong brought his hands together. The other sorcerers followed suit and they all began to chant the spell.
Slowly but surely Wong could feel the effect taking place. It was like the physics of the room were starting to glitch. Wong could hear his own voice saying words he had already once said, while another echo of his voice was saying words he hadn’t yet even spoken out. Wong could feel the effect. It was like something was closing in on him.
Suddenly, Wong felt like the room was flipping upside down. His astral body was blasted out of his physical body with a force. Wong realized that he was blasting through magical dimensions. Fast and slow. Shooting up and falling. Finally, he stopped, floating in an environment he had never seen before.
Wong didn’t panic. He was an experienced sorcerer and had known to expect something like this. The problem was that he was alone. It seemed that none of the others in the ritual were affected. Wong saw no other astral forms in this strange place. It was a problem because he needed another sorcerer to complete the ritual. And this might be the only change they would have.
“So, kind of painted yourself in the corner with this one.”
Wong was startled by the voice. Mostly because he recognized it, but it couldn’t be possible. As he turned around, Wong saw in a green light an impossibility.
“Stephen?”
Glowing in an emerald shade of green, the astral form of Stephen Strange floated in front of Wong.
“Stephen, how is this…”
“Hate to cut our usual chitchat, Wong, but we’re on schedule here. I’m not really here you see.”
That silenced Wong as the green glowing Strange continued.
“Before facing Thanos in the battle, I used the time stone to see different possible outcomes of the future. I saw multiple possible futures, including this very moment. And I saw that you would help in order for this to succeed. So, I created this, an astral message using the time stone.”
Wong felt amazed. He had always known that Stephen Strange was a prodigy in the mystic arts, but this felt like a whole new level.
“This is essentially like a prerecorded message. It will serve its purpose and then vanish. But what’s important is that with it, I can help you to finish the ritual.”
With no further warning, Stephen placed hands together, causing Wong to quickly do the same. They began to repeat the final part of the chant. Wong felt again the world around him rattle. Suddenly, as they reached the key words, his astral body was flying again. On a last glimpse, Wong saw Strange’s astral message fade away.
Wong realized he was being pushed back into his physical body. That didn’t make the feeling of free-falling and hitting the floor any lighter though. Wong opened his eyes and gasped for air as he was back in the physical world. Lying on the floor with few of the sorcerers gathered around him.
“What happened?”
“We were hoping you could tell us, master Wong.”
“We were doing the ritual and then there was a blast of green light. Next thing we know you were waking up on the ground.”
Wong stood up. It seemed that more time had passed on him than for the others.
“Master Wong, did it work? Were we successful?”
Wong looked down at the medallion he had placed on his neck beforehand. The Eye of Agamotto.
“We shall see.”
Wong moved his hands, doing the sequence that opened the eye. During the first tries a while back, he had noticed it had been another thing that Stephen Strange had made look so damn easy.
Slowly the lid of the golden eye slipped open, revealing a green glow. The Eye of Agamotto had gotten its vision back. Time stone had been restored.