The rest is just packaging
“What? Why not?”
Stephen asked with teary eyes.
“Because you can only teach yourself. What if I told you that- your body could heal itself in all sorts of ways. You can only do this yourself. We live in a world full of magic and unfathomable phenomena.”
“This doesn’t make any sense.”
“Not everything does. Not everything has to. You just hugged your sister who died ages ago. You felt her, you felt her on the out- and inside. It was not a dream. It was not a trick. Some things are just beyond our understanding of the world. Of our perception of life and our environment. The life you live is just the history of things you pay attention to. The rest is just packaging. But it is there. You just can’t fathom it. Therefore you don’t see it. You see things. Impossible things. But you tell yourself it is some kind of unexplored scientific theory. Or if you are religious, you say it is God who does these things. You lot all see but you don’t observe. That’s the tragedy in your life.”
Stephen frowned.
“So- What do you want me to do?”
“Nothing. I don’t want you to do things. You want to improve. The question is what your goal is.”
“I want my hands back. I want my life back! I want all of this back!”
She fixed Stephen’s eyes on her.
“No. You don’t. What do you want, Stephen? What is it, that you truly desire. What is it that you desire more than anything else in the world?”
He bit his lip and thought. He thought for a few minutes. Then she saw it in his eyes and nodded.
“Yeah. That.”
And Stephen? He didn’t have a choice. He had no choice but staying and practicing.
After a few days, the ancient one put her arm around Stephen and led him to the outside area of Kamar-Taj.
“Stephen, this is Karl Mordo. He found you after your- accident.”
Mordo shook Stephen’s hand.
“It’s good to see you on your feet again.”
Stephen smiled at him.
“Thank you. For- everything.”
“He is one of the most gifted teachers at Kamar-Taj. I send students to him that in my eyes have great potential and I want you to learn everything we can teach you.”
Stephen looked at her a bit confused.
“What? Why? I am- not the best at this thing.”
“It is absolutely adorable how you still hesitate to call this thing sorcery. And yes, Stephen, you are. You are a gifted sorcerer. You were also a gifted surgeon and doctor.”
“I- I am a very good doctor. But- I am not a wizard. I’m not Merlin. I’m not Dumbledore. I never got my letter from Hogwarts and I’ve never waited for it.”
“How did you become a good doctor?”
“Study and practice. Years of it.”
The ancient one shrugged and smiled at him.
“I’ll leave you two to it then.”
Mordo and Stephen watcher her turn around and walk back inside.
“So, Stephen. I want you to understand the responsibilities we as sorcerers have. What burden lays on the shoulders of all of us. We have to have the ability to fight. To be warriors. To get the upper hand. Magic is an underestimated weapon by any rational thinking human but when it is a battle between dark magic and our magic- I want you to be able to dominate any battle.”
The doctor frowned.
“How would magic dominate against magic. Magic is magic. It’s an equation, right? If I have one magic and my enemy has one magic, then it should be equal and nothing should happen.”
Mordo raised a brow.
“What?”
“I mean- Physics. And…science. And-“
“Mate, even in physics that kinda didn’t make sense.”
Stephen shrugged.
“Not everything does. Not everything has to.”
Karl looked at him with a smile that soon turned into a laugh.
“Fair.“
“See? That is what I was trying to say. You have one nonsensical thing said to me which lowered my coolness and now I threw one nonsensical thing at you and it heightened my coolness again. It’s an equation. I’m where I was before.”
Mordo lifted his hands.
“Okay. Your perception of coolness is very special. Because let me tell you, what you just said wasn’t only confusing as anything, it was also a lot of crap. I’ll blame it on your concussion. For both our sakes.”
Stephen nodded. It had taken him a bit but he could control his hands better. And with his work not being his main focus anymore, it was manageable to find some meaning beyond the damage.
“Cast a weapon”, Mordo said and Stephen did.
The teacher did the same and immediately attacked Stephen with it. He tried getting the upper hand but he didn’t even stand a chance at first. Mordo got him from behind and pulled him towards himself. And that one thing was enough to give Stephen flashbacks to that day. When he tried struggling out of the steady grips of his rapists. When he heard Donna screaming as one of them lifted her up and pulled her out of the dirty shithole.
“Fight!”
He heard Mordo somewhere from the real world as hands fixated him.
“Fight like your life depended on it!”
Within a split second Stephen was back and twisted out of his teacher’s grip with all the strength he had inside of himself, making him stumble on his feet. As soon as he felt Mordo being unsteady, Stephen kicked his foot just enough for the other to fall and immediately after, the doctor put his knee onto Karl’s chest to keep him where he was.
“Because one day it will. I know. I read a few books.”
He got up and reached out to Mordo to help him up. As Stephen turned again, he saw one of the other guys here stand in the area. He smiled at the other but he just turned around and went back inside. Mordo looked after him as well.
“Oh god. Now I can listen to Wong telling me how bad it must feel to be defeated by a student again.”
He shook his head.
“Hey, Stephen- That was- Amazing. You have an unbelievable amount of menatal power inside of you.”
Stephen nodded.
“Yeah, thanks. That’s all the trauma and bullying and crimes inflicted on me and loneliness and unhealthy tendencies. My very special tactic. Excuse me please.”
He nodded at Mordo and followed Wong inside quickly.