Happy Easter everybody!
I was in darkness. There was no sound, no feeling and no evidence at all that the world still even existed around me. I couldn't even tell if my eyes were open, or whether I was still touching the ground beneath me. Strangely enough, my confusion was overtaken by my weariness and grief at losing everyone who had tried to help me in my quest to protect the Time Stone.
Dan…my best friend who loyally stayed by my side even through the bizarre turn of events that had cast me into this new role of responsibility. The one who, despite being jealous of the attention and skills I was learning, had taken it upon himself and demanded to be taught the secrets and magic as well so that we could remain a team. He had proven himself to be a very useful ally in the battles and trials that we had gone through over the past few days, and had stayed by my side protecting the Time Stone right up until Thanos brought his life to an abrupt halt.
Peter…the boy who had blended in so well at school and who had been able to keep his Spidey secret hidden from everyone despite his very animated personality. The young hero that was ready for anything and everything and always willing to do what he could to help us in the short time that Dan and I had known him. He'd saved my life countless times in just the few hours I'd been in his presence and he'd even allowed me to feel what it would be like to be a real hero with super strength and nearly limitless powers and abilities.
Wong…Doctor Strange's closest ally and the only one who had known for sure what was going on when I'd been hastily thrown into the mess that came when the caped hero had been abducted. He'd patiently taught me enough to help me through my quest and though some of it was fun, he never let me take my eyes off of the seriousness of the coming issues. Along the way, sure, he experienced some jealousy and stress at the defiance I was throwing at him, but we managed to overcome it in the end. A loyal friend and colleague to Doctor Strange and a notable teacher to me and my loyal friend, Dan.
Doctor Strange.
There wasn't much that I could say or think about him, but I certainly held many mixed feelings about the man. For one, he had been the one who had chosen me out of millions of other people in the world to protect the one thing that would prove to be one of the most dangerous objects in the galaxy. For another thing, he had left me nearly clueless about what I should do with the Time Stone once he'd given it to me. Over the past few days the same thought kept recurring in my mind: If the world came down to protecting this one Stone…why leave it with someone so inexperienced? Obviously Strange didn't expect one kid alone to learn enough magic or sorcery in such a short time to be even remotely able to accomplish the goal of keeping it away from the biggest threat in the known and unknown universe.
But then there was the knowledge that I had gathered from the past few days. Magic was real, as were ghosts and teleportation and telekinesis and numerous other things I'd only seen in movies and video games. I had flown, I had conjured up weapons and objects from thin air, I had switched bodies with a super hero for a brief moment, and I had even played with reversing and fast forwarding Time. If only I'd just had more of it…
"Alexander."
A familiar voice spoke out of the darkness, breaking the reflective calm I had been sitting through for who knew how long. My body didn't seem to want to respond when I tried to move toward the voice so I instead just remained wherever I was and waited for them to speak again.
"You can get up kid, the worst is over now." The voice said after a quiet pause. I tried to shake my head in reply as I found that I had no strength to speak either. The voice gave an amused sigh and in a flicker of dim, golden light I was finally able to see.
I stood in the huge library of the Sanctum, where everything remained untouched as it had looked the first day I had entered the place. The elegantly polished shelves filled with books and texts stretched across the length of the large room and I stood in the small sitting area in the midst of them, everything empty and silent in the quiet expanse of the room. I turned slowly to find that the large picture window was sparkling in the late afternoon sunlight, casting fragments of light to reflect on the nearby bookshelves and walls. A wave of calm had washed over the whole room and I almost felt compelled to sit down and relax in one of the plush leather armchairs behind me.
As I took in the sight of the seemingly untouched library, the voice behind me cleared their throat patiently. My reflex was to whirl around with my guard up and conjure up my golden mandala shields to ward off my unknown visitor, but my body somehow knew that there was no point in reacting that way. As I slowly turned, unthreatened to meet the room's other occupant I shook my head with a weary smirk.
"…Where have you been?"
Doctor Strange stood by the armchair opposite me, his velvety cloak billowing around him softly as if it were waving to me around the sorcerer's tall, thin form. I did notice that the large necklace that had originally housed the Time Stone before he'd given it to me no longer hung around his neck. The strings of the necklace still hung draped around Strange's neck, but the intricate pendant was missing, as if it had been torn away from its rightful place. There was a huge gash in the side of the sorcerer's cheekbone where the blood had long since dried. He stared at me levelly, allowing me a moment to process his presence and then took a breath when he realized that in my dreamlike state I really wasn't comprehending anything properly.
"Watching." He responded quietly.
"Oh." I nodded absently in acceptance. When I didn't say anything else for a moment, Strange stepped forward quietly.
"I suppose an explanation is required for what you've gone through these past few days."
Not looking at the sorcerer standing in front of me I raised both of my eyebrows as high as they would go and stared distantly at the perfectly polished library floor. If he only knew what had really happened at the Sanctum after he'd died. Now he was nothing but a ghost in the back of my mind, brought on by the trauma and exhaustion that took up the rest of my thoughts.
"Hell yeah I'd better get an explanation for all of this…" I scoffed under my breath. I looked up as Strange stood patiently across from me, a knowing gleam in his hard eyes. I cleared my throat softly and nodded to the side casually. "I mean…if you feel like giving me one, that is. It's totally fine with me if you want to keep it secret though – I've gotten kinda used to not knowing how things work around here."
Doctor Strange smirked halfheartedly down at me and glanced briefly down where his hands were clasped together in front of him. That's when I noticed the scars lining the backs of his knuckles and the slight but present tremors that seemed to ache them.
"When I gave you the Time Stone…I did it out of curiosity." He started to confess slowly, his voice sounding amplified in the silence of the library. "I knew that the threat was serious, and that I needed to find a safe hiding place for it before it was found and stolen for destructive purposes. But…I admit I probably shouldn't have given it to you just because you were the first person I saw."
"Uh…thanks…" I said slowly, scratching at the back of my head sheepishly. Strange shook his head.
"No, I gave it to you because for some reason you weren't affected by the Time Halt I had cast over the area. So it did mean something, but I knew that entrusting one of the most powerful entities in the universe to a seventeen year old kid was a bit much."
"I'm eighteen." I corrected him quietly. He blinked at me sharply and I fell silent, trying to listen to what he was offering in way of an explanation to me. So I jumped in trying to remind him of the direction the conversation was going to get him back on track. "You did it out of curiosity, right."
"There are many methods of use with the Time Stone." Strange continued, gesturing to the air by his side. He flicked his hands in perfect synchronization and the image of the Eye of Agamotto casually materialized in a golden mist, hovering in midair over the sorcerer's palm. "For instance…when last we spoke, I borrowed it for a brief time, remember that?"
"Yes…I do." I said taking my gaze off of the powerful glow of the Time Stone when he had called for my input suddenly. He nodded, seeing that he had my full attention again.
"I needed to explore all of the possibilities for the conflict involving Thanos. The Time Stone is the one of the only objects that can be used to access that sort of insight." Strange explained.
"That's neat." I said, genuinely interested. "I didn't get to investigate it that far, but that would've been fun."
Strange raised an eyebrow and then gave an almost indistinct wink in my direction. My eyes widened with sudden realization and I snapped my fingers, unable to get my thoughts out quick enough.
"I did encounter something like that! I mean, we did, Dan and me. He found this huge Orb thing in one of the display cases in the hallway downstairs…" I turned and pointed towards where I knew the entrance to the library was behind the rows and rows of shelves. "When Dan looked at it...he was able to see the probable future fight hours before Proxima Midnight or anybody came down here."
"Ah yes, the Orb of Agamotto. Well spotted, and very smart of you to connect the two. Yes, the Eye and the Orb are related in a sense. The Orb does get its power from the Time Stone, so it's very likely that you and Dan were able to peek into the near future just by looking at it since the Time Stone remained in such a close proximity to it." Strange explained lightly.
"Well, that's the thing…I technically didn't get to see anything with it because that was when…"
"When I intervened and took back the Stone to…"
"To do your future seeing thing, yeah." I finished for him, suddenly wanting more of an explanation. "So what all did you see? Did you find a way to beat Thanos? I don't know how long Karnilla can hold him…"
"I did find a way to stop him." Doctor Strange said lowly, turning soundlessly to meet my suddenly frantic gaze at remembering the devastating scene from the hidden room in the center of the Sanctum.
"Then we need to hurry and help her, don't we? I can't believe I…" I stopped and then blinked in confusion. My stare lingered on Strange's serene face before I slowly clutched at the front of my robes, as if trying to feel that I was even still standing there. When my fingers wrung wildly at the fabric, I lowered my hands in front of myself to examine them. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, a warning bell sounded in my head. Thanos had nearly obliterated my left hand what felt like just moments before, crushing it into a useless clump of bone and flesh with the Power Stone. But here both of my hands were, seemingly unscathed. I paused as I tried to let my thoughts catch up. "Wait a minute…it wasn't real…was it?"
"Real?" Strange repeated gently. I stared at the ground past my palms for a moment before looking back up at the sorcerer. Even his velvety cape seemed to pause in its rippling movement, sensing the somber change in the atmosphere.
"The whole thing. It was all just another test, wasn't it? None of it actually happened."
I felt my whole sense of being almost evaporate as the realization struck me. None of the effort I had put in, or the actions I had taken had proven to be useful in the long run at all. The man standing before me had given me a task just to see if I would be able to complete it, no different than the numerous trials and tests that Wong had put me and Dan through in our training.
"…In this possibility, it was absolutely real." Strange answered me after a long moment spent in hopeless silence. I looked back up at him with disbelieving eyes, my hands curling in on themselves and falling back to my sides.
"Then does that mean…" I stopped as my voice cracked. Strange remained still and patient as I tried to formulate the words. "Did he…kill me? Did he win?"
"In this possibility." The sorcerer repeated solemnly. My eyes widened and I lowered my head once more to look down at my hands. I flexed them once more and suddenly found that I couldn't feel the overwhelming pain from my ruined shoulder, and my throat caught as that signified Strange's confirmation.
"And Karnilla…?"
"The Enchantress was able to hold Thanos off for only a short time before he overpowered her. In some possibilities, she led him on a wild goose chase across the galaxy but the Mad Titan still succeeded even then." He shrugged nonchalantly. "In some possibilities, she was never let out of her prison."
I met his chiding gaze and I offered him an apologetic look, remembering how she had been released from the skull in the display case. He waved one of his hands dismissively as if untroubled by my choices in this timeline before he continued.
"And in some…I never gave you the Time Stone at all."
I gaped up at the sorcerer in amazement, trying to wrap my head around the fact that in other timelines unknown to me now, I had never met Stephen Strange, I had never learned magic from Wong, and I hadn't lost Dan to the most dangerous alien in the universe.
"So…does that mean that in some possibilities, you didn't die? And you were able to come back and take care of the Time Stone yourself?"
"Yes, but that too failed eventually." He admitted. I frowned as I considered the fact that the Sorcerer Supreme himself hadn't been able to protect the Time Stone from the Mad Titan. That made me feel only slightly better about myself and my own attempt.
"So what does this mean now? Is it really over?" I asked, looking around uncertainly at the calming scenery of the large and elegant library.
"Yes, it seems for this reality this is how it ends for you." He responded gently. Something suddenly didn't sound right to me and I looked up at the sorcerer with a new defiance.
"If this possibility supposedly wasn't the right one, meaning that Thanos didn't succeed…then why did you continue to let me try to think I could stop him? Why not stop it in the middle of things and shift it to another timeline?"
"I had to be thorough in my viewing of each possibility, Alex. In this particular scenario, you did perish in protecting the Stone. But even after your death, the Enchantress took it upon herself to protect the Time Stone, and used it against Thanos to try and prevent him from obtaining it. She failed to realize that the Titan had learned quickly the extent of each Stone's ability and he was able to outsmart her with his skillful use of them merely ten minutes after she had been in possession of the Time Stone." Strange recited hastily, as if reading the events from the air above my head.
There was a brief moment of coldness that set in me after he concluded that Karnilla had fallen by Thanos' hand too. I didn't know what had caused me to feel any sense of mourning for the Asgardian Enchantress who had seemed to do nothing but taunt me with her ancient witticisms. Strange seemed to notice and he raised an eyebrow in surprising notation.
"You know, it's curious…you were able to get through to her far better than I ever was. When I met her a few years back, the Enchantress that I witnessed was power hungry, bloodthirsty and absolutely vengeful. I never quite understood her whole story, but as I understood from your perspectives in each of the possibilities that I viewed, she seemed to take an interest in you. And she seemed to want to spare you the torment and devastation of holding the Stone against Thanos…that's why in each of the scenarios I witnessed, she made every attempt to take the Stone from you. Not for herself, but almost to protect you…which is very rare for her character."
I narrowed my eyes at the man standing in front of me, only a shred of me wanting to believe what he was telling me. I shook my head and clasped my hands in front of me abruptly.
"I know that you're only trying to find a nice way to tell me that I failed. And you know what…it's okay, really. I'm just sorry that I wasn't good enough for whatever you needed." I said, struggling internally to keep a neutral expression on my face. Strange studied me in silence as I finally tore my gaze away from him to look back throughout the large room that we stood in. I recounted all of the beauty that the Sanctum had once been before the battle against Thanos and his goons had reduced it to rubble and ruin.
"I'm sorry, Alex."
I hesitated for a breath before turning back to Doctor Strange who still held his knowing, serene gaze. His eyes shone with the emotion that his face didn't seem capable to share as he offered me his hand.
"Will you accept an old guy's apology? I'm still relatively new at this game too, you know."
I offered him a weary smirk and thrust my hand into his, shaking it formally. His goatee twitched upward in a half smile as he released my hand and heaved a great sigh.
"After seeing and living through over 14 million possibilities, I've only found one outcome in which Thanos doesn't accomplish his goal. And I regret to inform you…you're not a part of it." He said as gently as he could.
Relief flooded through me as well as disappointment. So he really was telling me that I had gone through all of the events of the previous few days for nothing. I had learned an impossible feat by performing magic and conjuring spells and teleporting throughout a secret mansion without my actions benefiting in the long run at all. Strange seemed to notice my discouragement because he clapped a hand on my shoulder fondly. I winced reflexively but then found that the injuries I had sustained were apparently nonexistent.
"Would it help to ease your mind if I told you that you won't remember any of this?" He offered hopefully. I relaxed only slightly as I realized that had even been an option.
"Um…"
"Like I said, this is only one of millions of outcomes. Of course I'm going to encourage the route of the one that will bring about Thanos' downfall." Strange said obviously.
"Of course," I made myself scoff lightly, as if I hadn't been worried that there would be nothing else for me to face except the reality of my death. Strange smirked halfheartedly down at me and patted my shoulder.
"When this ordeal is actually over though, I just may bring you in about the Enchantress' case. We'll see if she'll still open up to you without the threat of Thanos hanging over everything."
"Cool. And maybe you'll teach me all there is to know about magic yourself if that does ever come up?" I asked hopefully. Strange chuckled and nodded smartly.
"Maybe." He said gently. I took a deep breath and straightened myself in a kind of salute to the sorcerer standing in front of me. It all seemed kind of final and I felt a depressing sadness wash over me. Without thinking I threw myself at Doctor Strange and hugged the man who I'd known only a short time. The man who I had to blame all of my actions and frustrations on. The man who had introduced me into the hero world, allowing me to feel like I had been able to accomplish almost anything. I felt my eyes well up with tears as I recounted all of the stressful situations I had gone through and I felt the man's hand pat me on the back as he uncomfortably tried to console me.
"Thank you…" I said, my voice quiet. "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."
Strange pushed me gently back into an upright stance and offered me his serene smirk.
"Thank you for helping me to see." He retaliated with a slightly ironic smirk. He raised his eyebrows as a thought suddenly sprung to his mind. "Oh…and let me just give you a quick tip…"
"Yeah?" I prompted him, genuinely not knowing what sort of advice he'd be giving me. He swirled his hands in an expertly practiced motion and his palms glowed with warm, golden light as he paused mysteriously.
"Her name is Emma."
I barely had time to screw my face in confusion before Doctor Strange was nothing but a silhouette in the golden glow slowly taking up the entirety of the Sanctum Sanctorum's library. The Cloak of Levitation suddenly lifted him into the air and I saw a flash of green break through the golden light as Strange continued to conjure some kind of spell. I smiled almost sadly as I watched the Doctor disappear and I finally allowed myself to be overwhelmed by the magical glow.