177B Bleecker Street

Chapter Two

'Excuse me?' Stephen blurted out, a confused shake of his head, 'What are you talking about, 'Sanctum Alternatus' ?'

'It means 'Alternate Sanctuary',' Glynn chuckled, in a conspiratorial tone, leaning in, with a wink.

'I know what it means, I understand Latin,' Stephen snorted, irritably, and she laughed, her green eyes sparkling... no, wait, blue eyes...uh, brown?

Stephen blinked, sharply, shook his head, again, wondering if his vision was still being distorted from exposure to the brilliance of her sword.

He looked back to her, squinting.

She simply sheathed the weapon, and waited, quietly, for him to finish trying to figure out what was going on.

She wasn't tall, perhaps five foot five, with shoulder length steel grey hair.

That was blonde.

Or, black.

Dark brown, maybe?

Hold on.

Hadn't she been wearing white, when she first confronted him? Now, her tunic was emerald green...

Utterly confused, Stephen took a step away, fell into a defensive stance.

Spinning up a Compel Truth aura, he growled,

'I'll have the truth, from you,' and threw the purple ring at her.

Faster than he could see, she drew her sword.

With a casual swipe of the blade, she shattered the aura, returned the sword to its sheath.

Stunned, Stephens mouth dropped open, but, before he could decide what he should do next, Glynn apologized, with a rapid wave of her hand, shake of her head,

'Oh, sorry, sorry. A reflex. My bad.

'Recast, and I will not resist, Master Strange. I have nothing to hide.'

Stephen didn't hesitate, and the violet ring dropped, encircled her.

'What are you?' he insisted, knowing there could be no deceptions spoken under the influence of the arc.

'No different than you,' she replied, with a shrug, clearly unconcerned by the aura, as her appearance continued to swirl, alter.

'Once, a student at Kamar-Taj, now appointed Master, defender of this Sanctum.'

She pointed, directing his attention toward a wall sized mirror to his right.

Stephen looked, at what should have been his reflection, but wasn't, quite.

His hair color swirled, black, auburn, blonde, white.

His beard came, and went.

His tunic, style and color, varied from moment to moment.

Watching, Cloak threw its edges around Stephens chest, absolutely baffled, and rather frightened.

But, Cloak never changed.

No matter what shift in appearance its Chosen made, Cloak was the one constant.

It was always Cloak.

After watching a minute, Stephen lowered his hands, looked back to her, features twisted in confusion.

'It's not me,' she said, anticipating his next question, 'It's the building.

'It's situated on a Reality Overlap. We're actually shifting between the fringes of multiple realities. That's why our appearances keep changing.

'It's disconcerting, at first, but you get used to it.'

'Why doesn't my Cloak change?' Stephen wondered, and Glynn paused, head tilted, as she considered.

'I have no idea,' she admitted, offering,

'May I show you?'

Stephen considered her, a few moments longer, then, dissipated the Aura, freeing her.

She turned, headed across the foyer, obviously expecting Stephen to follow, so he did.

Cloak clung to Stephen, afraid it might loose him, its collar curled under as if to prevent it seeing the constant changes to its Chosen.

Glynn headed to an open door on the far end of the foyer.

She hesitated, briefly, in the doorway, then stepped aside, inviting him to precede her into what would be a sitting room, in his building.

This one was crammed full with surveillance monitors, computers, and all sorts of other equipment whose purpose Stephen couldn't even guess

He recognized camera views of Bleecker Street on one screen, but there were dozens of other panoramas; from where, he had no idea.

'The random reality shifts, at this location, make it a great invasion point for a wide variety of dangerous beings.

'Thats why these buildings were built here, why they're adjacent. A dual defense, for earth.

'You defend your one reality, we deal with multiple ones.'

Stephen quirked an eyebrow, keeping his glance toward her brief, noted,

'We?'

'Myself, and Conner. He's around, somewhere. I'm sure you'll meet him, eventually. There's just too much going on for any one Master to keep track of.'

Hands on hips, she considered him a moment, before commenting,

'I'm actually surprised you haven't been here, sooner.

'I heard you've dealt with a couple dangerous beings that we could've interred, rather than risk holding them in your reality.'

She grinned, added,

'This is a great prison.'

'I have no idea what you're talking about, since I clearly found you by accident,' Stephen shot back, frustrated,

Glynn shook her head, a judgmental tone,

'The Ancient One should have made you aware of this location, when she named you Master of New York. Knowledge of its existence is proprietary to the Sorcerer Supreme, the Master of the Sanctum, and no one else.

'You really do need to know, about this place.'

Stephen made a disgusted face, said,

'There are a lot of things I wasn't told about this job.'

Stephen sighed, felt compelled to elaborate,

'There wasn't much time for a briefing. Master Drumm had been slain, and we were preoccupied with stopping Kaecilius, and Dormammu.

'Then, she was killed.'

Glynn nodded, thoughtfully, added,

'Well, I'm pleased you found us, at any rate.'

A sudden realization hit Stephen, and he insisted,

'Hold on. If you've heard about me, why did you challenge me, when I came? You didn't recognize me?'

'Ah, heard of is different than met,' she shook a disciplinary finger, 'I've not seen you, before today. Besides, the resident Master doesn't commonly come in the front door.'

With a hint of amusement, added,

'Or, trip Wards.'

Stephen gave a groan of frustration,

'How does he come in, then?'

'There's a concealed door, in your Relic Room. Just left of the window. Brings you straight to my main foyer.'

Stephen closed his eyes, brows knotted, in confusion. Cloak was clinging to him so tightly it was difficult to move, and attempting to look at Glynn, long enough to engage in meaningful conversation, with her constantly scrambling appearance, gave him a headache.

This was a lot to take in, for certain.

He took a deep breath, held it, briefly, exhaled,

'I have to say, of all the bizarre things I've experienced since becoming a Master, this is pretty close to the weirdest.'

She laughed, as she led the way across the foyer,

'This place is 'bizarre', indeed, but never boring.'

As they paused before the ethereal door back to his Sanctum, she suggested, an edge of loneliness in her tone,

'Perhaps, you'll visit, one day, on purpose.'

'Doors open from both sides,' Stephen reminded, with a guarded smile.

'So they do,' she agreed, green eyes studying him, closely, her hair nearly the same steel grey color as her tunic.

As he met her eyes, he realized her appearance had stopped changing, and he could see what she really looked like.

Noticing his confusion, she explained,

'We're at the far edge of the influence of the reality shifts, which allows our appearance to remain fairly constant.'

After a moment, she smiled,

'Now, if we ever cross paths when we're out getting groceries, we'll at least recognize each other.'

Stephen grinned, nodded,

'Indeed,' and his attention dropped to the blade she carried.

'That's quite a sword,' he noted, and she chuckled,

'I was wondering when you'd ask.'

His eyes narrowed, cannily, he remarked,

'It is rather unique.'

'I have a unique job,' she reminded.

She drew it, and the steel sang as it flew free.

She laid it across her palms, so he could have a good look.

It was unnaturally bright, radiating light from within the blade, and the edge looked sharp as a razor.

The hilt, black wrapped, glittered with embedded silver tracery, which matched her wrist bracers.

'It's a Seula Blade. No one can wield it, except me. It can Scatter any spell. And, slice just about anything I swing it at.'

'I don't doubt that,' Stephen admitted, with raised brows, 'I imagine its quite useful, in our line of work.'

'Do I sense a little envy?' Glynn wondered, a tilt of an eyebrow, as she sheathed the weapon.

'It's a Relic?'

'No.'

'So, you can have one made?' Stephen wondered, hopefully.

Glynn smiled, slowly,

'You can't. The Master who crafts them, chooses. If he decides you require one, he will make it.'

Seeing his disappointment, Glynn laughed, noted,

'You have the Cloak Of Levitation, Master Strange. There have been many who would gladly have accepted its service. I can't imagine a sword having anything close to the advantages of such a companion.'

Her compliment enticed Cloak to unwrap from around Stephen, twitching its collar in pride as it squared its shoulders, billowed out to its full glory.

'Show off,' Stephen rolled his eyes, but added a wink as she giggled, amused.

'Master Glynn, I thank you for a most enlightening tour. If I can ever be of assistance, well, you know where I live.'