I was fuming. I had no idea what was happening with the battle against Thanos, no idea why Wong thought it was a good idea to keep me here babysitting the Time Stone while he and the others put their lives on the line to delay the inevitable, and absolutely no other feelings in my body aside from guilt and rage. On the bright side, however, the earthquake from earlier had seemed to cease for the most part. I could still hear Thanos' angered protests, but as to the whereabouts of any of the Avengers or Wong, I heard nothing for several long minutes. Knowing that it most likely wouldn't work, I raised both of my hands to attempt taking down the summoned Mirror Dimension. Having been able to conjure the entrance up so easily before in the kitchen with Wong, I assumed that removing the spell should be the same. But of course, Wong had thought way ahead of me and had locked the presence of the Mirror Dimension away from me, leaving me unable to get away from the blindingly twinkling lights that floated in midair and distorting the reality. I paced the small path from one wall of the hidden library to the other, murmuring in a mad craze.
"I didn't ask for this…I said that several times…" I said with one hand pressed firmly against my forehead. I ran my fingers through my unkempt curls and felt the dull pain in my shoulder burn with the frazzled movement. "Now my best friend is dead and so are probably the whole rest of the Avengers…"
I felt my chest grow tighter and tighter as my anxiety continued to work on overload. My voice broke off into a sob that I clenched my fists against. I stopped for a brief moment and closed my eyes, centering myself so that the tears would not come despite the overwhelming sense of entrapment that had settled over me. When I opened my eyes again, I scrambled frantically towards the nearest shelf searchingly.
"There has to be a Sling Ring in here…surely…" I begged quietly, fumbling along each shelf in pursuit of even an ancient-looking Ring that would help me to be able to conjure myself out of the small library. I shoved books and knick-knacks aside, carefully but quickly so as to not accidentally unleash some terrible forbidden magic from the objects concealed in this secret room. Being in the Mirror Dimension where I couldn't exactly affect the outside world only slightly diminished my worry that I would blow something up, but I was still very much against pointlessly killing myself before I had another shot at Thanos. I opened drawers and compartments for several exasperating moments, getting more and more panicky as the clock ticked onward with no sign of the Sling Ring I was searching for.
The one thing that caused me to halt my search was an odd-looking glowing sphere held up by a thin, metal stand. Upon closer examination, I found a tiny pack of wolves running along an orbiting wire that magically circled around what was supposed to be a glowing miniature full moon. I leaned closer to peer down at the tiny wolf pack as they rounded back to the side of the sphere where I stood. The wolves' tiny snarls suddenly grew louder the closer they ran to me and I could see the miniature muscles of their legs pumping as they noticed me standing over them and they began rushing to try and confront me.
"Oh my God, they're real!" I exclaimed under my breath, stepping back hesitantly in slight amazement. A second later, the pack's leader halted on the metal equator and I could see the glint of its tiny eyes as it glared up at me demandingly. It snarled loudly and the pack behind it moved and shifted defensively around the leader. Curious, I slowly reached my hand closer to the surface of the glowing sphere, watching as the pack immediately leapt into action, running for my taunting fingers. I jerked my hand back to my body at the last second, smirking as the tiny wolf pack slid to a stop on the smooth metal wire circling the sphere. The leader barked up to me in what I assume it thought to be a threatening way, but the tiny sound that emanated from its miniscule muzzle didn't even make it to the sound level of a Chihuahua's yapping. The others of the pack began to take up their leader's protests and I scoffed at even the idea of why Doctor Strange would've stored the glowing sphere in this secret library.
That was when I noticed the small clasp near the south pole of the globe. I squinted thoughtfully and then something in my mind clicked as I realized that the glowing moon was actually a container of sorts. Unthinkingly, I reached directly for the clasp with the intention of opening the globe to examine its contents to resume my search for a Sling Ring or other way out of the hidden room. Before my hand could meet the surface of the globe however, I felt a sharp stab of pain like numerous pinpricks striking at my wrist. I jerked my hand back in surprise and could see that the mini wolf pack had made their way hurriedly to where they knew I was reaching.
"Ah…" I breathed thoughtfully, wiping at the small dots of blood that had risen to the surface of my skin from the tiny wolf bites. "So that's why you guys are here. You're guarding something."
I studied the threatening wolf pack where they had gathered near the clasp, wondering if it was really worth trying to fight against them to reach whatever was hidden inside of the glowing moon. I stared at the tiny wolves for a long moment until I noticed that the pack was starting to get a little restless and then my hand shot forward like lightning toward the clasp once more.
I felt tiny pinpricks stab into my palm and my fingers closed over the nearest wolf on the globe beneath my hand. I heard its small growls emanating from my fist as it found that it was suddenly unable to move and I raised my hand up and away from the globe, feeling the wolf's small paws and body as it tried to wriggle free from my palm. I slowly opened my palm to reveal the tiny wolf, realizing that the poor animal had to be less than an inch in size. Large enough to cause a potential thief irritation and probably eventual disinterest in the reason they may attempt to get into the globe's lockbox, but also small enough to be unable to do much damage alone. The tiny wolf nipped at my fingers as I curled them back towards my palm and before it could lunge forward to bury its needle-like teeth into the meat of my fingers, I hurriedly placed my hand back towards the glowing sphere. I watched curiously as the tiny wolf leapt back for its rightful place, throwing a fearful look over its shoulder before rushing back to the rest of his miniature pack.
I stood back up straight, noticing that the whole pack of tiny wolves watched me distrustfully. I then conjured up a tiny ball of golden energy, watching as the mandala symbols hovered in a bubble around my fist. I carefully reached for the clasp again, hearing the mini barks and protests from the wolves as they rebounded off of my shielded fist. My fingers locked onto the small metal clasp and I flicked it open effortlessly, lifting the top of the globe off slowly. The wolves backed up hesitantly as their ground shifted beneath their tiny paws, but they remained on the surface of the globe by the small bit of gravity tying them to the globe.
I opened the miniature moon to reveal a single luminescent bar, realizing that this object was what gave the moon its glow. I stared at it for a moment, finally deciding not to touch it as my mind instantly compared it to the radioactive glow sticks from many of the science fiction movies Dan and I had watched over the years. I slowly lowered the top of the globe and flipped the clasp closed, stepping back from the glowing moon as the wolves congregated around the clasp once more.
The fractals of light that existed in the Mirror Dimension twinkled brightly as if trying to taunt me and my failing search. I then resumed walking through the exhibited objects and artifacts and checking for secret hatches and lockboxes to no avail. Frustrated that I was seemingly forced to give up my hope of finding my own way out of the concealed library, I ran back across the room and aimed another furious kick at the blindingly bright entrance. The light from the door seemed to grow even brighter as my slippered foot collided with its unseen wood and I watched the light dull back to its former brightness as the sting in my foot ebbed away from the kick.
"You leave me here as the last defense…how exactly did you factor that into our favor?!" I shouted at the door, knowing for a fact that no one could hear me through the Mirror Dimension.
I squeezed my right hand into a tight fist and flicked my wrist downward, conjuring up my golden mandala shield over it, making sure to add the sharp dagger-like point at the end of it. I pulled back and slammed my protected fist against the door, unsurprisingly to no effect. Angrily, I repeated the strikes a few more times and whirled around to the nearest bookcase. The few ancient looking books that had rested on that shelf for decades covered in dust all at once flew from their places on the shelf and collided with other stacks and shelves, littering the once-neat secret library with clumps of dust and scattered books. I kicked at the nearest book where it had landed facedown by my foot and watched as a dim purple glow puffed up from its pages before the cover slammed itself shut again. I blinked away the surprise and slight worry from the unexpected magic that had almost been released and then resumed my rampage against the sparkling entrance to the room.
After several moments of conjuring up weapons and shields and bashing against the doorway, I stepped away huffing and breathless as my anger peaked. I reached my hand into the pocket of my robes and produced the Eye pendant that housed the Time Stone, glaring down at it furiously.
"Lotta fun we've had, huh?" I said to the necklace sarcastically. I clenched the bronze Eye tightly within my palm, watching as Doctor Strange's cheaply conjured decoy of a necklace seemed to warp just slightly under my anger-induced strength.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you…"
I jumped as a feminine voice spoke up from across the room. I whirled around, still squeezing the pendant in my fist while my hand throbbed from the tightness with which I held the Stone. I didn't respond to the voice, knowing that the only magical artifacts that Wong had acknowledged in this room had been dangerous ones that I probably shouldn't try to mess with. I continued to stand frozen from my stance by the glowing door, listening for the voice again. When nothing happened for several long seconds, I glanced back down at the Eye in my hand, noticing that my whole fist had turned white from the reflexive amount of strength I still used to grip the bronze Eye.
"My, you're an edgy one, aren't you?" The voice spoke up again. I lowered my fist to my side, easing up my death grip on the pendant only a tiny bit.
"What would you know about that? What do you want?" I asked sharply, staying still where I stood and letting my gaze scan the small library suspiciously. I slowly started to move forward, glancing quickly over at each stack of books and straggling cabinets as I cautiously made my way on my worn path through the room.
"To help." The voice said simply. I rolled my eyes as I could almost hear the woman's shrug in her response.
"Right." I said sarcastically, choosing to ignore the voice like I'd originally planned. I lifted the Time Stone to my chest and clasped it between both of my hands as I continued pacing the room and gazing quizzically at each of the items adjoining my path. "I'm pretty sure I shouldn't believe that. I've kinda had enough of listening to disembodied voices, thanks."
"Perhaps I would have a body if you'd let me out of this glass prison." The voice retorted smartly.
My eyes widened only slightly in realization and I turned back to where I knew Wong had been standing earlier over the Enchantress' skull. I tried to keep my voice even and disinterested as I chanced another reply.
"You're uh…Karen Vanilla, then?" I asked, clearly getting the name wrong on purpose to see what the skull's response would be. If the voice turned instantly hostile, I would know that I should immediately not go any further into conversation with it. I was not at all expecting the light giggle that I received.
"…Sure. Such insight you have to guess my full name on your first try." She said jokingly. I inched closer towards the display case, seeing only the back of the ancient-looking skull and the flecks of black that swam randomly over its surface. I titled my head to the side, keeping my gaze trained on the glass box, fearing that something would happen if I didn't.
"Okay, Karnilla. Why are you suddenly so eager to help?" I asked skeptically. I frowned at the back of the skull hesitantly. "…Do you even know about what's going on?"
"Of course I do. Your friend Wong just relayed everything to me."
"Did he?" I repeated, warning bells sounding in the back of my mind. I stopped just a few feet from the back of the display case, not wanting to peek around to feed my curiosity but still intrigued enough to keep the conversation going since it looked like it would be a while before I would have my chance against Thanos.
"You saw our conversation, I'm sure. Very one-sided if you ask me. That Wong is a rude one, you know. Never lets me get a word in edge-wise."
"Do you…talk often?" I asked her awkwardly, looking around at the small library for anything else that may or may not possess the ability to talk. "Surely you've got some other magical objects in here that keep you company?"
"No. That Doctor Strange has kept me locked up nice and snug for the past few years with nothing and no one else to talk to…" Karnilla answered slowly with a sigh.
"That's too bad…" I said absently, once more pocketing the Time Stone for safe keeping in my robes as I paced the small space behind the display case.
"You don't care, do you?" Karnilla's voice said accusingly after a moment of silence. I turned back towards the case and could see that the pulsing glow of black on the skull had stopped in the direct center of the back of the magical relic.
"Uh…like I said before…I've kinda been struggling with my trust issues here over the past few days…" I admitted lightly, rubbing my mess of curls off of my forehead.
"That's fair." She responded quietly. I rocked back and forth on my heels impatiently, glancing towards the glowing entrance of the secret library and desiring to be using what little bit of magical talents I had to do something to aid in preventing Thanos from achieving his goal.
"Yeah…um…well, I'm sorry to leave you just chilling there…but I really need to find a way out of here and it's not helping me in any way whatsoever to be your chatty buddy…" I said as I edged around the case and towards the glowing entrance that Wong had previously led me through. I glanced at the skull for only a brief second as I moved past it and noticed that the pulsing black glow followed my movement around the side of the display case.
"I can help you find a way out of here…" Karnilla's voice turned hopeful. I closed my eyes and sighed heavily.
"Of course you can." I said under my breath. I paused on my return to the doorway but didn't turn around as I opened my eyes. "Let me guess…I have to let you out, right?"
"Well…yes. Isn't that always the deal in these situations?" Her voice laughed knowingly.
"Seems to be." I mumbled lightly. I placed a hand over my pocket to ensure that the Time Stone still remained there and slowly turned back around towards the glass display case. I kept my gaze trained on the taxidermy animals along the opposite wall as I relented to entertain the Enchantress' idea of her release. "Alright…what makes you think I'll trust you enough to let you out?"
"You don't know that you can trust me at all…that's the game." She said tauntingly. From the bottom corner of my vision, I could see that the dark spot had spread along the skull's teeth into a haunting sneer-like expression. I blinked before my eyes could be pulled fully in that direction to get a better look at Karnilla's skull and I heard her ghostly laugh from all around me.
"Stop." I said evenly, forcing my eyes to stay closed. Her laugh drifted away after another few seconds but the vision of the eerie smile I had seen on the skull stayed embedded on the backs of my eyelids. I pressed both of my palms into my eyes and cringed as I heard her taunting whisper.
"Look, we're short on time, I'm told. You lost a friend, yes? Surely you don't want to make him die in vain…" She pressed on eagerly. I shook my head and removed my hands from my eyes, finally opening them again to stare blankly at the wall with the shelves.
"How 'bout no? You'll play nice until I finally let you out and then you'll put on some magical light show and reincarnate or something and then you'll side with Thanos and try to take over the world. Nice try." I said crossly, starting up my pacing once more. Karnilla's voice laughed chidingly but I ignored it as I rounded one of the symmetrical stacks of books.
"WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS HE?!"
Thanos' voice wasn't shouting, but it still rumbled throughout the room for the first time in several minutes and I paused with my arms straddling the stack of books nearest me so that they wouldn't topple over. I looked up at the ceiling above me for the area that the villain's voice had emanated from and prepared for the earthquake to return. When it didn't, I relaxed a bit and threw my glance back towards Karnilla's skull which I could now see in profile. The black glow hovered lazily down from the jawbone and up to the temple of the skull and I could distantly hear her unaffected hum coming from the display case.
That was when I felt the burn of the Time Stone in my pocket. It started as the usual powerful radiance that I had encountered before, but then it steadily grew white hot like an iron rising to full power.
"Ow!" I exclaimed, fumbling to reach for the pocket and retrieve the pendant. As soon as my fingers reached into the pocket and grazed the chain that the Time Stone was attached to, I jerked my hand away again from the intense burn.
"You seem to be having some trouble with controlling your Infinity Stone, dear." Karnilla's voice drifted over to me quietly. I rolled my eyes in aggravation as I danced frantically from one foot to the other, not being able to get the Time Stone off of my person and cringing as the burn slowly crept its way through the fabric of my robes.
"Shut up…" I said forcefully to her, reaching once more for my pocket. "Are you doing this?!"
"How could I have anything to do with that little old thing? I've been stuck in this glass prison for almost two years unable to cast my wonderful influences anywhere but in here." She protested lightly. I threw another disbelieving glance at the case, catching the black glow on the skull where it flickered in a small circle on the side of the jawbone.
Wincing as I felt the white-hot pendant burning through my robes with the Eye nearly touching the skin by my side, I threw my hand into the pocket and somehow managed to wrap my fingers around the pendant. I immediately shouted out a curse and yanked the Stone from my pocket, flinging the necklace into the shelf to my right. There was the tinkle of metal striking dull wood and I waved my hand frantically in the air as my palm seared with the pain from the burn.
"You need to be more careful, boy." Karnilla's voice warned threateningly. I clasped my other hand around the wrist of my throbbing palm wincing as I quickly glanced to where the necklace had landed on the polished wood floor next to one of the shelves housing the taxidermy animals. "Magic has a way of choosing its own ways of defense when it feels threatened..."
"What are you talking about?!" I exclaimed, squinting down at the pendant where it was clearly glowing with a dull green essence. The wood around the bronze Eye grew to a charred black color in a small circle directly around it and a few tendrils of smoke rose up from the burning floor.
"I WILL FIND IT…THERE IS NO STOPPING WHAT I HAVE SET IN MOTION."
I heard Thanos' eerily calm voice break through the Mirror Dimension, with a few diminishing shouts from whomever else still remained upstairs fighting against him. I clenched my burnt palm into a fist, ignoring the pain that radiated from the already-present blisters there. I quickly moved over the Eye where it rested on the ground, the wood floor glowing beneath its heat. I positioned my hands above it, somehow barely managing to center myself enough to perform the unlocking process of the Eye. I watched as the bronze pieces twisted with a small metallic click, and barely had time to register that the glowing green bracelet formed over my wrist before a beam of green light shot straight out from the center of the pendant. I dove downwards, hearing the deafening sound of the splintering wood and ceiling above me where the energy blast had struck. I curled myself into a ball just beside of the open Time Stone, my golden mandalas hovering over my head. After a moment, I realized that the ceiling had not caved in like I'd expected it to.
"What – ?" I muttered as I stood back up from my hunched position on the floor. I glanced up towards the ceiling where the green blast of energy had hit, and noticed just a charring of black in the wood of the ceiling as if it had been painted that way. Upon further examination, the wood did look slightly warped from the scorching energy, but not at all close to the amount of damage that the Time Stone should have done. I looked hastily back down to the necklace where it still lay on the ground and watched as the pendant slowly closed automatically before my eyes, the green glow ebbing away as quickly as it had built up. "Right…things happen differently here."
"Interesting, isn't it?" Karnilla's voice spoke up for the first time in several moments. I didn't look back in the direction of her display case as I inched closer to where the necklace still lay on the ground, and I carefully tapped at the surface of the pendant to test and see if the burn had diminished as well.
"What did you do?!" I called over my shoulder to her accusingly. Finding the pendant greatly cooler than it had been seconds before, I hesitantly lifted it to my uninjured palm and stood back up.
"I did nothing." The skull's feminine voice said serenely.
"I don't believe you." I said stiffly, turning the Eye around and around in my hands as I examined it. "I don't like you, I don't trust you and I am not letting you out of that box."
"You will." She said simply, though surprisingly not in a threatening way. I glanced over the Eye and to the skull where the black glow slowly crept around to the other side of the case.
"What would you do if I didn't let you out?" I asked her testily, looking back down at the pendant skeptically.
"Nothing." She replied simply. "The Stone was communicating, probably with its sisters upstairs. Besides…what exactly can I do trapped in a display case?"
"Good point. Just making sure." I said lightly, still playing like the dumb teenager she presumably thought I was.
"YOU THINK DELAYING ME WILL CHANGE YOUR FATE? THIS UNIVERSE IS NOT AS PERFECT AS YOU BELIEVE…" Thanos' calm but clearly heard threats reverberated throughout the small library, warped by the barrier of the Mirror Dimension.
"He's got some possession issues, doesn't he?" Karnilla commented casually. I whirled on the display case and noticed that the small bit of black glow that had disappeared from my view only moments ago, had returned, inching around the back of the skull curiously as if to see my reaction. I tapped my foot impatiently and wrung my hands as I turned to face the back wall where the shelves of taxidermy animals were placed.
"Okay…so…I don't know what to do…" I muttered to myself under my breath in a whisper, trying to ignore Karnilla's seemingly casual input. I stepped over a fallen book, taking care not to accidentally flip it over in case some random and destructive spell exploded outward from the open pages.
"That's clearly evident."
"Would you be quiet and let me think, please…?!" I threw over my shoulder to the display case where I knew Karnilla watched me eagerly. She seemed to follow my snide pleading and fell into a moment of observant silence as I made my way slowly towards the opposite side of the library. I found myself ignoring her as I listened for any other signs of Thanos or the defending heroes, hearing only a low rumbling from somewhere on the second floor above me. That hopefully meant that Thanos was still preoccupied with the remaining Avengers up in the hallway and hadn't made his way to Groot, Natasha and Bruce where the opening of the Mirror Dimension lay.
"If the door is still open to you, that is."
I froze misstep and paused at the blank wall where the illusion of Wong had stood several minutes ago between the two shelves of animals. An icy chill ran directly down my spine and I kept my hands clenched into fists to still them from the shiver that ran through me at her knowing comment.
"Get out of my head, Karnilla." I hissed, forcing myself not to turn around. She grew obediently quiet once more, and I sensed that her lighthearted demeanor had changed into something else. I found myself continuing to stare at the wall between the shelves, something mentally pulling me there.
"…Third Eye." Karnilla whispered faintly from across the room. I blinked at the fraction of her comment that I had been able to hear and slowly reached for the necklace still in my pocket.
"A third eye?" I repeated under my breath, glancing down to look at the pendant as I wound the chain loosely through my fingers. I could hear Karnilla's frustrated sigh from behind me and I turned back in that direction, where I could see the black glow pulsing on the back of the skull in the glass case.
"No, not that one." She said, slightly agitated. "Think of what that Doctor Strange has given you."
I frowned at the display case across the room as I slowly pushed the necklace back into the pocket of my robes. I tried to hide the fact that the few abilities and thoughts I had been bestowed with upon Strange's abduction had proven only slightly useful over the course of the past few days, mainly leaving me with more questions than even Wong had been able to make sense of.
"He's given you a part of himself. A link between the two of you. All sorcerers across space and time have been able to do the same. It's rather odd why he thought that you would be a likely candidate for him, however, but that's no matter of importance now, I suppose." She said, her voice drifting over to me lazily yet urgently.
"You're telling me information that I've already figured out. But he's dead now, so that link is broken…" I said, shaking my head and crossing my arms across my chest. The dull pain in my shoulder stung for a moment but I ignored it. "We had a few chats before, but he decided to keep things from me and in the end didn't really help me out at all."
"He was still new at the game. I can't really chide him for his inexperience." Karnilla said with an invisible smirk. I stared blankly at the back of the skull where the black glow rested, and I knew that she was studying me carefully. "But that magical link is far from broken. Even by his demise."
"Alright…" I hesitantly complied with her. "Then you're saying that I should know my own way out of here because his memories and experiences will make me subconsciously know?"
"Not exactly, but close." The Enchantress said softly. "You need to focus tremendously on tapping into whatever abilities he left you with and the quickest way to find an escape from here will be attempting to open your Third Eye."
"I don't want a Third Eye." I said hesitantly, imagining that a literal eye would appear from my forehead. I raised my hand to the space above my eyebrows and beneath my mass of unruly hair falling into my sweat-stained face. The black glow swirled on the back of the skull, clearly irritated.
"Look kid…I'm trying to help you. You're just not catching on to what I'm trying to tell you to do…"
"No, you look…" I retorted smartly, lowering my arm back to my side. "I've told you that I don't trust you, so why do I need to follow what you tell me to do? You could be putting me in even more danger, whether I get you out of that box or not. People like you do that for laughs, I'm not falling for it!"
There was a sudden chill in the atmosphere and a tiny spark of red winked in the midst of the dark glow resting unmoving on the back of the skull. I knit my eyebrows together in confusion as the spark ignited a few more times again, and I took a step back as the black glow spread around the skull, almost forming into a cloud that hovered in the display case like a poisonous vapor.
"I take it that means you're mad?" I chanced when the skull was almost completely obscured from my view. The black glow took up nearly the entirety of the glass box, sparks of tiny flames winking in and out of existence in the inky darkness. Karnilla's voice remained silent which I took as an affirmative answer to my question.
I whirled around as a low rumble shook the shelves on either side of me, the earthquakes starting back up all at once. Thanos' voice made no snide comment like before but I got the funny sensation that he had neared the end of his confrontation with the Avengers upstairs. The symmetrical stacks of books that towered throughout the room wobbled and fell to the ground, causing me to reflexively conjure up my mandala shields when small explosions and bursts of energy shot from the overturned books nearest to me.
When the worst of the spontaneous blasts had ceased for a moment, I lowered one of my shields and waved my hand over the open books, watching in relief as they closed upon my influence. I lowered my other golden shield as well, the trembling of the earth beneath my feet causing me brace my legs a good width apart so that I wouldn't lose my balance. I raised both my hands palm upwards, and gestured for the books to float together to one corner of the room between two of the largest bookshelves. The books glowed slightly with my conjured energy and I forced myself to focus solely on keeping each of the ancient, powerful texts level so that the pages wouldn't accidentally release the magic kept contained inside them.
Once they'd all congregated in the spot I had moved them to, I motioned for the books to stack in adjoining towers filling in the small space between the large bookshelves. When the books seemed to be all safely secured amidst the shaking floor and walls, I flicked both of my wrists forward and sealed the perimeter of the bookshelves with a protective golden shield, making sure that the outrageously powerful books wouldn't be apt to topple over and level what remained of the Sanctum.
My knees nearly gave out beneath me, both from the trembling of the small room around me and from the enormous amount of energy I had used to relocate the hundreds of ancient books. I caught myself before I could fall, and I turned curiously back in the direction of Karnilla's glass display case. Finding that the inky dark cloud still swirled around the skull in the small space, I raised an eyebrow sarcastically and then shook my head as I tore my gaze away once more and looked towards the wall where the taxidermy animals still somehow remained on their respective shelves.
Just as I was preparing to line the two shelves with a protective screen of golden energy just as I'd done with the bookshelves, I noticed that something about the animals seemed slightly different than they had moments before.
The glassy, once-dead eyes of the animals were moving and blinking wildly.
I froze as I watched first as the black cat gave a sudden shiver and leapt down from its spot on the shelf, yowling as it tried to stabilize itself on the lurching floor, followed by the iguana which clung tightly to the edge of the polished shelf on its venture down to the floor, its long tail flicking behind it. I stepped back as the two chickens on the bottom shelf clucked fearfully and flapped themselves across the room wildly, terrified beyond belief. I then looked up worriedly at the large horsehead that was mounted into the back of the shelf, surprised that, despite being just a head, it too seemed to have come to life. It whinnied fearfully and threw its massive nose from one side to the other as if trying to pull itself free, its long mane swishing every which way as the poor animal fought to escape as well. My heart leapt into my throat as I suddenly remembered the remaining animal that had formerly been placed on the top of one of the shelves.
"Behind you, dear."
I whirled around as Karnilla's voice spoke up for the first time in several minutes, to warn me of the giant tarantula crawling its way over to me from an unexpected direction. I summoned up my golden mandala shield and swatted towards it when it reared up defensively upon realizing it had lost the element of surprise on me, its intended prey.
"This is insane!" I exclaimed as I darted forward with my shield, shooting a blast of energy that caused the huge spider to thankfully scamper away in irritation. Before I could relax from the tarantula's retreat, there was a crack of splintering wood from behind me and I was shoved to the ground by a violent force. I rolled quickly out of the way when I heard thundering hoof beats on the polished wooden floor, curling myself into a protective ball beneath my shield. I watched in disbelief as four huge horse's hooves galloped around me once before rushing away towards the entrance of the library.
I rolled back to my feet hurriedly, watching in amazement and fearful wonder as the complete form of a horse, body and all, skidded by me wildly on the polished wooden floor. I glanced only momentarily back towards the now empty shelves, seeing a gigantic hole from where the horse's body had exploded from the wall. I then rushed after the horse with the intention of calming the beast before it could knock over any valuable or dangerous books or artifacts throughout the room. I threw myself after a wobbling stand that held up a small pedestal with a moldy-looking globe resting on top of it. The horse's tail whacked me in the face as I tried to still the pedestal and then I hurried to follow after the panicking animal before it could overturn the glowing sphere that housed the tiny pack of wolves.
The horse reared up as it reached the blindingly bright entrance to the library upon finding that there was no escape from the stifling room it was trapped in. I watched fearfully as the massive animal's hooves pounded at the twinkling air before slamming downward, adding to the ground's shaking. There was a shrill mewling from directly behind me and I turned to find the black cat poking its head out from beneath Karnilla's display case. I caught my gaze rising up from the legs of the case and up to the dark cloudy space that still swam inside of the glass.
"Finally!" Karnilla's voice exclaimed breathlessly. The black glow that had covered the interior of the case instantly melted away to reveal the face of the ancient looking skull. I tried to pull my gaze away but found that I was suddenly unable to move, frozen to the spot as a musical laugh rang from inside my head.
The skull's dark eye sockets seemed to bore through my own and I felt my mouth open in slow motion to proclaim my shout of horror as the black glow poured like water-falling tears from the gaping sockets. The darkness spread along to skull's perfect teeth in that wicked grin once more, and seeing it fully before my eyes was infinitely worse than it had been when I had seen it merely from the corner of my vision before.
"You're going to release me, Alexander. You know it's going to happen either way…" Karnilla's voice echoed from inside my own mind. I blinked slowly, my eyelids heavy and my whole body suddenly felt weighted down from the stress and weariness that had been pushed aside and replaced with the adrenaline I needed to survive the last few days.
"Released…either way…" I repeated, clearly under whatever control she had placed over me.
"Yes…" Her voice hissed eagerly. The library around me melted away into nothingness as my gaze remained frozen on the skull waiting patiently before me. I slowly saw my right hand reach up longingly towards the display case and my eyes widened in disbelief as I realized what I was doing without being in my own control. I internally tried to shake myself out of the daze that Karnilla had obviously placed upon me, but I kept moving forward despite my struggles.
"Stop…" I muttered angrily, anger rising in me at not being able to fight the Enchantress' spell, even through the glass of the display case. As I stared unwillingly at the skull, I could see the odd sparking flames where they flickered deep within the dark eye sockets. My hand was nearly an inch away from the side of the case by this point and i could feel my chest clenching in anticipation for what would happen next.
"Don't fight me, Alexander…it's pointless…" Karnilla said to me lightly when I managed to make my hand hesitate just over the glass. I allowed myself to finally give in to her hold and I felt the slightest of changes in the hold over me as she realized that I had relented out of my weariness.
"No-" I said suddenly, leaping backwards and holding up my golden mandala shield between me and the display case. "You're not going to–"
The skull's eyes were entirely made of flames over the mandala I held and I could visibly see Karnilla's fury radiating throughout the small display case. As I stood my ground against her glaring skull, I was completely unaware when the panicking horse galloped once more in my direction with the latest earth tremor.
My golden shield fell instantly as the giant animal collided into my back, and as I fell to the ground in surprise, I felt the horse's hooves graze my already injured shoulder upon its passing. I heard it make its way in a zigzagging path across the room as it continued looking for a way out of the chaos going on in the room. I clutched at my newly-bleeding shoulder, uttering a curse word or two as I forced myself to roll over when I heard a crash ring out from somewhere closer to the shelves along the back wall.
"Stop!" I cried out, reaching my blood-stained hand towards the wild animal. I flipped my palm in a spiral, for the moment forgetting that I still didn't have a Sling Ring to portal the horse out of danger. I noticed that the large globe that housed the miniature wolves had been knocked over, and I could barely see the tiny paperclip-sized animals running wildly to escape the larger animals scattered about the room. The slow-moving iguana was the closest to the tiny wolves and I could see the large reptile leering down at them suspiciously before the black cat dove after one of them, thinking it was a mouse. The poor chickens were flocked together, their wings beating at the twinkling lights in the air as they clucked and shrieked in fear at the uproar occurring within the library.
I pulled myself up hurriedly, pressing my hand against my forehead as I thought about what to do. Even in the Mirror Dimension the room was getting destroyed, something which Wong had explained to me should not have been able to happen. I suddenly felt an eerie shiver run through me from my ankle and I glanced down to find that the oversized tarantula had found me once again. I kicked at it and shot a blast of golden energy at the terrifying beast in the hopes that it would turn away like it had before. When it reared up into its defense position this time, however, I noticed a small figure shrouded in gobs of web hanging from its underside. In the brief glimpse that I got of the small entrapped bulge, I finally put together that unfortunately the rat that had formerly been housed on one of the shelves along the back wall had fallen victim to the huge spider.
"Alright, since you won't scare off this time…" I said through gritted teeth as I flicked my fist into the golden machete Wong had taught me to conjure. I swung downward forcefully and nearly gagged as the giant tarantula was sliced perfectly down the center of its body, blood and whatever bodily fluids it housed shooting in every which direction, including down the front of my borrowed apprentice robes.
The sound of the crazed horse trampling back across the room followed by the ear-piercing sound of breaking glass forced me back to my senses and my heart hitched as I whirled around to confirm my growing dread.
Karnilla's glass display case had been shattered upon the horse's most recent lap around the library and the dark glowing cloud of her magical influence was rising into the surrounding air and seeming to spread like a poisonous vapor. The skull was nowhere to be found on the ground where the shards of the case had fallen, and for a heartbeat of a moment, the once-taxidermied animals fell silent. The dark cloud slowly settled into a humanoid shape in a long flowing dress and the dim sparks of flames that had previously rested in the skull's eyes sockets now shone from about the halfway point by the slender figure in front of me. As the darkness evaporated and Karnilla's true form was revealed, I noticed that she held the skull in her palm nonchalantly, the dark eye sockets still glowing wickedly. Long, flowing dark hair billowed down her back to what appeared to be her waist, and her dark eyes shone with a clearly irritated but triumphant gleam. She lifted one corner of her bright red lips into a half-smirk before tossing the skull to the ground where it disintegrated to dust at her feet.
"Now, we'll see if you decide to listen to reason."