The Dark Dimension
***
THE DARK DIMENSION
Molly felt as though she had been sucked into an enormous, whirling kaleidoscope. Her senses were constantly under assault from the nauseating array of bright colours that flickered in and out of existence all around her.
Wherever she was, she sensed that it was very old, ancient, and not in a good way. There was a sickly sweet scent all around her that spoke of decay and disease. Combined with these was the unsettling feelings of unease and fear of an impending violence. She felt menace and dread all around her, it reached out to her, and if it hadn’t been for her abductor, Mordo holing her as securely as he did, Molly was certain that she would have been snatched up and dragged down into unknown, never-ending depths.
Just as she was beginning to wonder if this stomach-churning, chaos-inducing ride she had been unwillingly brought on was ever going to come to an end, a formidable, and gruesome to behold presence made itself known.
***
THE NEW YORK SANCTUM
“There’s only one person who would dare do this,” Stephen noted grimly.
Wong nodded. “Mordo.”
“The question is then, where would he take her?”
The Sanctum had been searched thoroughly, with no sign of Molly, and no clue as to where she had been taken.
Catching Wong’s worried expression the Master of the Mystic Arts quizzed his former teacher. “You know something.”
Again Wong nodded.
“What have you heard?”
“There were rumours going around that not only was Mordo stealing the powers from other sorcerers, but that he was offering himself as an agent to the highest bidder. The word was that his aim was to gain the attention, and favour of Dormammu,” Wong responded.
The irony of this disclosure was not lost on Stephen. “Then I guess I know where to begin my search.”
***
THE DARK DIMENSION
The figure was tall, the upper body alone was head and shoulders taller than Mordo. For this particular encounter he had chosen to appear in humanoid form.
Humanoid but by no means human.
The being possessed a skull-like head, with dark eyes that were barely visible in the deeply sunken eye sockets, while the nose was large but flat, and the lipless mouth though small, was cruel. Instead of hair the head was adorned by a crown of fiery shards that resembled a volcanic eruption.
The torso and arms were muscular, but there was no disguising the skeleton that remained visible through the translucent skin. Fiery spikes, sharp and dangerous, protruded from the upper arms and shoulders. The figure’s skin tone reflected the cloyingly forbidding colour scheme that surrounded them. The head: black, red and yellow. The torso: primarily blue and black with flecks of red and yellow. The arms: primarily blue and red with a hint of yellow.
This was Dormammu, Lord and Supreme Ruler of the Dark Dimension.
***