THE SERPENT'S TOOTH, Part 18

Illyana had teleported us to Nyack. We were standing just across the street from the Sanctum Sanctorum itself.

Nobody looked twice at us as we appeared out of Illyana's circles of light. After all, the unusual was the usual in that particular part of Nyack.

There was some light traffic out in the street - the usual pedestrians, people on horseback, and wagons. However, a man seated cross-legged on a floating red and green carpet was dodging his way past his slower fellow travelers.

At a nearby tavern, a scatter of patrons were sitting at some street-side tables. Two older men were playing the ancient version of the modern game of castle - what the Folk have always called 'chess'. The game-board was a large and translucent white-and-black grid that hovered in midair between their tables. The pieces were animated representations of warriors, nobles, and fortifications. As I watched, a pair of animate samurai-pawns extended their claws and began dueling viciously for mastery of a square. In my judgement, red would win the game in five moves.

The remaining customers were mostly students. Piles of books and scrolls characterized the tables at which they sat. The students were almost all Folk, but a painfully young Blood ronin was puzzling over a scroll as he tried to project a small rainbow of light onto the wall next to his table. He seemed to be having a problem getting the colors right. I silently wished him luck. The Blood just don't seem to have the same talent for magic as the Folk.

On a nearby street-corner, an elegantly dressed mistress-mage was carrying on a conversation with a wizened street-vendor. He was trying to sell her some herbs from his small wagon. The mage was leading a naked and spectacularly beautiful fire elemental by a chain-leash. The elemental had her arms crossed over her breasts, and was standing with most of her weight on one foot as she impatiently tapped her other foot. She was obviously bored and impatient.

Then a scruffy-looking Folk boy came sprinting around a corner and dashed down the street. Pursuing him was an angry-looking Folk girl.

"Dammit, Liam! I told you to keep away from my sister!" the girl yelled. Then she launched a fizzling bolt of mystical energy at the boy. It was almost certainly not strong enough to do serious injury, but when it struck the street just behind the boy, there was a loud bang and a burst of bright light. The boy yelped, skipped a step, and then dodged into a nearby alleyway. The girl continued after him, her hands glowing as she tried to summon another mystical bolt.

A few of the people on the street laughed, but most simply ignored the boy and his pursuer.

"Wow," Samantha said in breathless awe as she took in the scene around us. Beside her, Sophie looked similarly amazed.

On the other hand, Sigmund didn't seem particularly impressed. But then, he was a quiet boy - though not as quiet as Sophie.

Benjamin smiled down at the children. "Welcome to the magical quarter of Nyack. They say that Grenich has the largest population of mages in the world."

"Wow," Samantha repeated. She was turning her head back-and-forth as she tried to see everything.

Jessica was gazing at the alley down which the boy and girl had vanished. Another bang - this time accompanied by a squeal of pain - echoed out of it.

"My lord, should we intervene?" she asked.

"I have the impression that the young lady's actions are warranted," I answered.

"The girl's magic isn't really very powerful," Illyana reassured Jessica.

Jessica nodded uncertainly.

Actually, I was paying more attention to the Sanctum Sanctorum. It was located just across the street from where we'd appeared. I was particularly examining the circular window in the Sanctum's roof. My memory had been correct, the window did indeed match Sophie's drawing in every particular. The once-home of Stephen Strange is a peculiar structure. The style of its construction is ancient - dating back to a time even before the Folk-Wilder war. There are more than a few such remnants scattered throughout Nyack and the other cities and towns on the shore of the Lant ocean. However, the Sanctum Sanctorum is unusually well-preserved.

I could sense the magical energy that surrounded and permeated the building. It seemed to almost hum with power.

"Let's go," I said as I began crossing the street. The others followed.

Before I could knock, the front door of the Sanctum Sanctorum opened. The creature that opened the door was just as I'd last seen him - in a tattered pair of denim pants, with a roughly-forged iron collar around his neck, and nothing more. He had dark-red hair and a lantern jaw, and his leanly muscled body was carved with a network of new and old scars. His face was unremarkable, but his red-brown eyes seemed to stare out at the world from some deep abyss. There was a long length of heavy, roughly-forged, iron chain looped around his shoulders.

"Hello, Jimmy," the demon said with a smile that revealed a yellowed mouthful of jagged and broken teeth.

"Shit," Illyana and Benjamin muttered in unison.

Benjamin drew his weapons, and immediately handed one of his short-swords to Jessica. She accepted it without looking and shifted off to the side. Gant shifted his massive club into a two-handed stance. Meanwhile, Samantha and Sophie promptly hid behind behind him. That left Sigmund standing stock-still on the sidewalk as he stared at the demon. With a frustrated hiss, Samantha leaned out, grabbed Sigmund, and dragged him behind Gant.

I didn't react. The demon's presence wasn't a complete surprise to me. I'd caught his hot, flame-like, scent just before he opened the door.

"Hello, Blaze," I replied evenly. "We're here to see Cyrus."

The demon of vengeance - apparently now in servitude to House Strange - silently examined us one-by-one.

His gaze settled on Illyana. I couldn't quite understand the expression on his face. It seemed almost... gentle.

"Hello, Illyana," Blaze said to my aunt. "It's been a while."

His voice - normally deep and coarse - was oddly mild.

"About a century," Illyana responded after a brief pause. She had the air of someone trying their best to be civil in an uncertain circumstance.

"That was down in Norla, right?" Blaze said.

Illyana nodded. "Yes. It was that business in the bayou. Madam Simione's cult was summoning demons, but doing a bad job of binding them. Innocent people were dying. We stopped that."

"We worked pretty well together," Blaze added quietly.

"We did," Illyana replied calmly. There was something almost wistful in her voice.

Then there was a long and awkward pause as both Blaze and Illyana seemed to grope for words.

"I don't hold what you did against you," Blaze said suddenly - finally broke the silence.

Illyana took a deep breath. "I thought it was necessary," she replied. "but I... I did regret it."

Blaze just nodded silently.

"How long did it take you to return to Earth?" Illyana asked.

"Not long. About twenty years. Humanity calls to my kind. It always does."

There was yet another awkward pause. I ended it by clearing my throat.

Tearing his attention away from Illyana, Blaze gave me an impatient look. Then he stepped back and held the door open.

"Enter freely and of your own will," he announced in obvious amusement.

Illyana snorted.

Everyone entered except, of course, Gant. This time, he looked particularly frustrated at having to stay outside.


I've been in the Sanctum Sanctorum more than a few times. The foyer just inside the front door is fairly stable, but once you enter the depths of the building, the architecture can become very flexible. Rooms, hallways, and decorations often vary wildly from visit to visit. Stephen once mentioned to me that even he didn't always understand the rules by which his home adjusted itself.

Blaze left us in a waiting room that I vaguely remembered from one of my earliest visits. There were steaming hot cups of tea - one for each of us - waiting on a table. There was no sign of whoever had prepared the tea and left it for us.

"I'll let Cyrus know you're here," Blaze told us. Then he turned and walked away. The scars on his bare back were even worse than on his front. Someone had whipped him so badly that that the skin had reformed as a single mat of glossy scar tissue.

I tried not to notice how Illyana's eyes trailed up and down Blaze's form as he left the room.

"Your boyfriend is kinda scary," Samantha said to Illyana. Her voice was shaking. She and the other children were clustered in the far corner of the waiting room. Sophie had her arms protectively around Sigmund. He didn't seem to mind the familiarity. In fact, he was hanging onto Sophie's forearms with his hands.

Illyana just shrugged. "Don't be scared. His bite is worse than his bark."

Samantha frowned. "Shouldn't that be the other way around?"

Illyana just smiled.

Then Cyrus entered the room.


Cyrus looked terrible. When I'd last seen him, he was a vigorous man in his early-middle years. However, the years since then had obviously been hard for him. There was a great deal more gray in Cyrus' hair, his face was drawn and worn, and he was using a cane as he limped his way into the waiting room. He smelled of weakness and exhaustion.

The first thought that crossed my mind was that Cyrus didn't have much longer to live.

I also noticed that he didn't acknowledge the presence of either Sigmund or Illyana. That was disturbing in itself.

"James," he said to me. "What brings you here?"

I wordlessly gestured towards Sigmund. No particular expression came over Cyrus' face when he seemed to finally notice the boy. The acting Sorcerer Supreme just seemed too weary to really care.

"Ah," Cyrus responded soberly, "but this is too soon. Years too soon. Perhaps decades."

"We've run out of time," I told him.

Cyrus smiled bleakly. "I should have suspected that something like this would happen. I sensed an incursion from the Dark Dimension yesterday. And then it ended when someone cast a spell of forbiddance."

"That was me, Cyrus," Sigmund said. The voice speaking was not that of a boy.

Alarmed by the sudden change in Sigmund, Sophie let go of him and stepped back.

Cyrus limped towards Sigmund, and then painfully crouched down until he was on eye-level with the boy.

"It's still too soon, Stephen," Cyrus said quietly.

Sigmund looked at Sophie. Then he held out his hand. Sophie considered that for a split-second, and then took his hand in hers.

Then Sigmund looked back at the Cyrus and nodded. "James is right. Our choices are limited. However, Dormammu knows about me. It's time to fully awaken me."

Cyrus seemed to consider his options for a moment. Then he nodded in agreement.