Around four in the morning I shuffled back down the hallway and towards a large staircase, careful to stay as far away from the walls and cabinets as possible. My eyes burned from lack of sleep, my muscles hurt from being strained repeatedly and I dreaded having to go upstairs to the library and spend the next while reading as Wong had instructed. Though my first official training hadn't gone as successfully as I'd hoped, I was eager to try again until I was at least near Wong's magical level of expertise if I had any chance of protecting the Time Stone around my neck.

"Alex, is that you?" A voice hissed from the other side of the door I was just passing by. My feet dragged themselves to a stop, and I cleared my throat before responding.

"Yeah."

The doorknob twisted slowly and Dan's pale, tired face emerged from the cracked doorway. He took in my disheveled appearance for a moment before scrunching his face up in confusion.

"What happened to you? Not sleep well?" He asked thumbing over his shoulder. "Because my room is amazing, I went right to sleep. It's like staying in a castle or something in this place! Minus the hole in the roof out there." Dan rambled excitedly, despite having just been disturbed from his sleep by my walking down the hall.

"Well, I didn't really get to sleep at all…" I started, scratching the back of my head. "So Wong decided to take the time to train me a little bit."

"Awesome!" Dan said with a lazy grin. "When do I get a turn?"

"Um…I don't know." I said honestly, looking down the hall toward my room longingly. "But he told me I needed to read up on ways to help me concentrate and I'm on my way to the library upstairs now. He's already laid out some books for me to read. How he managed to do that without even leaving the room, I'll never know. Well, I mean, I guess he'll teach me that kinda stuff eventually but, you know."

I rolled my eyes and stifled a yawn as I shuffled nervously, edging away from Dan's door. The sooner I got to the library and skimmed over the scrolls and books that Wong ordered me to read, the sooner I might be able to get some rest.

"You're not going to tell me how your training went? Can you do the…?" Dan waved his hands in spastic motions in front of him. My shoulders already slumped from exhaustion, I shook my head dejectedly. Dan raised his eyebrows and straightened himself awkwardly.

"No…I don't really feel like I accomplished much." I said, my tired voice coming out like a sigh. "He tried to teach me some illusions, but all I managed to create was a ping-pong ball."

"A ping-pong ball?" Dan asked laughingly.

"You would've had to be there. Wong conjured up the table and paddles first and the next thing I thought about was the ball. So after about thirty minutes, I finally 'conjured' up a ball. And by that, I mean it blinked into existence for all of ten seconds before disappearing in a puff of smoke." I rolled my eyes. Dan nodded and gave me what I'm sure he thought was a supportive smirk.

"That's okay. Surely the aliens will give us all a little time to prepare before coming back to attack the city again." He shrugged, his nonchalance dripping with sarcasm. He opened his bedroom door wider and stepped out into the hallway to place a hand on my shoulder. "Maybe I'll have a little more luck with my training."

"Wong didn't say that he was gonna…"

Dan was already walking past me and down the hallway where I had come, and, knowing that he wouldn't listen to me, I decided to save my weary voice. I rolled my eyes in his direction and turned back to head down the hall past my door and finally towards the stairs that would lead me to the library.

The room was small for a library, sure, but too large to be considered a sitting room by any means. I took a moment to take in the hundreds, no thousands of books that neatly lined the shelves adjourning the walls of the room. I left the wooden door open a crack behind me, the room bathed in a warm glow of light from the decorative wall lamps in between shelves randomly. I rounded one shelf that jutted out in an 'L' shape from the wall, and found what looked to be where Doctor Strange spent a lot of his time pouring over his reading material. Two chairs sat facing each other with a small side table between them. Stacked neatly on the tabletop were about a dozen books, and at least as many ancient-looking scrolls. The leftover space on the table was taken up by a tiny tea-tray with a steaming cup of what I assumed was some of the same tea Wong had 'not' drugged me with along with a tiny plate with a powdered homemade doughnut sugar bowl. The tiniest little spoon rested in the sugar bowl and I picked it up and scooped three huge spoonfuls of sugar into the teacup as I collapsed into the nearest armchair with a weary huff.

I reached to my left and grabbed the first book off the top of the stack, shaking my head in awed disbelief at the dozens of pages that were marked with brightly colored sticky notes covered with Wong's scribblings.

"How the hell did you have the time to do all of this?" I muttered, taking a quick peek at the other stacked books. Just as I'd suspected, they each had their share of sticky notes poking out from between the pages. I shook my head again and flipped the book in my lap to its first sticky note and took the cup of hot tea in my hand as I stifled yet another yawn.

I was nearly an hour and a half into my reading and halfway through the stack of books Wong had assigned to me when I started to nod off to sleep.

The first dream I found myself in was fast paced, with people running hurriedly past me, as if something was chasing them. I squinted through random bursts of colorful light, even raising my hand up to shield my eyes for a better view.

A large, muscular figure strode smugly after the retreating figures, shadowed from a bright light that shone from behind it. I took the battle-ready stance that Wong had persisted to teach me to fall into when faced with any threat. If anything from my few hours of training this morning had stuck with me, it was that my muscles quickly adapted to that position.

Clenching my fists in front of my chest and willing the golden glow that Wong and Strange had been able to so easily conjure, I forced myself to stay grounded to whatever or whoever was approaching. Not to my surprise, there was no shimmering glow around my hands, but nevertheless I shakily made myself stand motionless.

"You're not ready…"

I slowly turned to see that Doctor Strange had moved to my side, his fists glowing with that unwavering golden glow. I noticed that my upraised arms shook with the strained muscles I was forcing through my shoulders and forearms.

"I'm…I'm trying…" I insisted through gritted teeth. The man slowly shook his head, a pained expression on his gaunt face. He gestured toward the steadily approaching figure ahead of us.

"And I'm telling you, there's no time for trying. You need to act."

"To be fair…I just had my first lesson from Wong like…an hour ago, so…" I said, my voice cracking under the stress. Doctor Strange continued to shake his head and he motioned with his fists and the golden mandalas began to spin dizzyingly. He turned to me and tossed one to me, and I jerked forward to catch it.

"Will it to stay solid, Alexander!" Strange called quickly as the mandala spun in midair like a disc towards my outstretched arms. I was suddenly blinded by the colorful flash of colors and the mandala sizzled out of existence as it touched my fingers in sparks of golden light. The ground rumbled beneath my feet and I hurriedly glanced up to see that Strange was gone. With another flash of colors, I was blown off my feet.

"Dude, it's just a dream! Just a dream, man!"

I reflexively grabbed the nearest thing to me which happened to be the open book still in my lap. I hastily threw my makeshift weapon at what I thought was the threat, my mind foggy from the unexpected nap I had taken in the middle of my reading.

"Woah man, it's me! It's Daniel!"

I forced myself out of the adrenaline caused by my very realistic nightmare to focus on Dan who stood by the door clutching the book I had thrown at his face. Feeling a cold sweat soaking through my t-shirt and my heart racing, I slumped back against the cushiony back of the chair behind me.

"Dan…" I gasped, running over my forehead where my hair was stuck to it with sweat. "I need to train some more. A lot more."

"Yeah, that's what Wong said too." Dan said slowly. He gently tossed the book back to me and sat in the other chair across from me with a dejected sigh. I glanced at him quizzically.

"Did your lesson not go very well either?" I asked hopefully after a moment. Dan shook his head and shrugged.

"I don't think I'd call it a lesson, really. Wong just explained the possible scenarios that we might be facing in the near future and that unless you get your act together, how they'll all lead to our certain deaths. And seeing as how you've been sleeping instead of reading up on this stuff like you're supposed to be doing…" He said bitterly. He flashed a look at me and I knew right then what his problem was. He was jealous.

I frowned at my friend deeply, once more catching myself with my hand over the necklace resting on my chest. I stood up hastily and walked to the door, Dan's challenging eyes following me the entire time.

"What did I say?" He asked innocently, picking up a sticky-note marked book and opening it casually. I hesitated in the doorway before I glanced back at him with a guarded look, his jealousy only slightly masked by a look of fake apology.

"You know…I didn't ask for this. At any time, I'm completely willing to hand this over to you and have you try and figure out a way to protect it." I said sharply. I left the room with Dan still sitting in the armchair, a scowl on his face as he forced his gaze into the open book in his lap.

My mind was both equal parts anger and desperation as I burst into the wide training room where I knew Wong would still be waiting. As I felt the door slowly swing closed behind me, I shook my head to focus on the empty room before me. Scanning the few shelves and furniture pushed against the walls, I squinted through the wide empty space in the center of the room.

"…Wong? Are you there?" I asked after a moment, feeling slightly stupid talking to thin air. When there was no response, I cleared my throat and raised my hands to the space in front of me, unsure of what exactly I was planning to do. I flexed my fingers outward toward the space in my own rendition of one of the Mirror Dimension summoning ways I had read about before I had dozed off. I slowly turned my wrist and felt a bead of sweat slide annoyingly down my temple.

"Alexander. What are you doing back so soon? It hasn't even been two hours, hardly enough time to tackle your reading."

I froze where I was, my frustrated concentration suddenly broken by Wong's voice over my shoulder. I glanced back and could see that the man had a steaming coffee cup in his hand, along with a half-eaten Pop-Tart that he was chewing amusedly as he waited for my answer.

"I…well I thought you were…there…" I stammered, pointing to the empty space in the middle of the room. Wong's eyes twinkled with humor and he shook his head as he took another bite from his breakfast pastry.

"I never leave the Mirror Dimension open to trainees. Too risky."

"I thought you said that the Mirror Dimension was a place that wouldn't affect the regular world?"

"True, I did say that. But in the off-chance that the person entering it was in fact, not one of the trainees, it's wise to shut it down when not in use." Wong explained as he finished his Pop-Tart. "What are you doing back so soon? I thought I told you read up on beginning techniques until you felt that you could concentrate better."

"That's just it…I kinda had this dream where Doctor Strange told me I needed to keep at it. No time for trying, I need to be perfect now." I insisted. Wong's expression was suddenly hard again and he brushed down the front of his robes to get rid of the Pop-Tart crumbs. He set his half-empty coffee cup down on a table by the wall and moved to my side.

"Fair enough. Let's do this then. And no complaining this time about the difficulty."

The room shimmered around us with Wong's quick hand gesture and I followed him through into the Mirror Dimension, looking around at the distracting shimmer that the room now had.

Wong stopped in front of me and whirled around, startling me so much that I nearly fell off balance. I caught myself quickly and fell into my defense-ready pose with my fists raised up front of my chest and towards Wong where he waited patiently. His face was a mask of concentration induced hardness and with a precise movement of his fists, the familiar defensive golden mandalas flashed into appearance over his arms like shields. I took a second to glance down at my own fists, forcing them not to shake with my nerves.

"Will them into existence, Alex." Wong muttered simply, as he watched me. I stiffened involuntarily and clenched my fists even tighter as I flicked my hands just as Wong had done. Gritting my teeth I tried once more, my arms getting tighter and tighter with each attempt.

"Come on…" I hissed under my breath, trying to center myself and visualize the golden glow over my own fists. After a moment, Wong dissolved his own mandalas and gripped my arm to turn it the way that it should go.

"It's not about physical strength. There's no need to strain yourself." Wong said in as gentle of a voice he could muster. I looked up at him hesitantly and forced myself to relax, letting out the breath that had built up in my chest with my frustration. Wong released his grip on my arm and stepped back once more, and flicked his hands forward quickly, calling the golden shields into existence.

I took a deep breath and made my body go still, no tight arm muscles, just my fists hovering in the air about a foot out in front of me. I felt the warmth of the Time Stone resting against my chest underneath my shirt and clenched my jaw worriedly as I thought about how the thing seemed to be relying on me to protect it. I raised my gaze up to Wong who was watching my fists guardedly. I listened to my breath as I inhaled and exhaled slowly, and then I flicked my hands quickly with the copied precision that I had just witnessed Wong perform. As soon as I did so, Wong's mask of hardened composure was replaced by a look of disbelief before quickly returning to his usual stiffness.

"Well done." He said simply. I chanced a glance away from his face and my heart skipped a beat as I noticed the considerably brighter glow of gold emanating from in front of us both.

"Oh…Oh my God, I did it!" I said breathlessly. The mandalas shielding my fists flickered briefly and I quickly had to center myself, staring intensely at the magical discs I had somehow managed to conjure. "I actually did it!"

Wong couldn't hide his amused smirk as I lifted my right fist and twisted it back and forth to watch how the mandala turned along with my own movements. After a moment, Wong dissolved his own shields and conjured up another glowing object, this one looking oddly like a large machete. My eyes widened and my excited grin melted in surprise as he lunged forward with an excited twinkle in his eyes.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, taken completely off-guard. I gasped as the golden machete phased right through the edge of my right shield and I backed away quickly before Wong pulled back for another strike.

"They look nice, but are they effective?" Wong called, moving quickly to land his next blow. I crouched to my knees and held my fists over my head.

"Stay solid, stay solid, stay solid!" I squeaked through gritted teeth, bracing myself. In front of me, I saw Wong's feet leave the ground and milliseconds later I was knocked further onto my shins by the strong impact above me. I squeezed my eyes shut as I felt yet another blow hit above me and I chanced a quick glance at my crossed wrists shaking over my head.

The two mandalas that had appeared over each of my fists had merged to form one giant golden shield, seemingly impenetrable to Wong's frantic attacks. After a moment Wong stepped back, but I stayed where I was on the floor, crouched underneath my magical shield in case he decided to take me off-guard again.

"You can get up now Alex." He said breathlessly after a few seconds. I hesitantly climbed to my feet, separating my wrists from each other and watching as the giant mandala split into two once more. Wong no longer held his glowing machete, but he now wore an impressed smirk on his face. He stepped toward me, his eyes narrowed with thought.

"Did…did I do it right?" I asked, staring down at my still-glowing shields.

"Remarkably. I honestly didn't think you would get this far so quickly. But, the situation does however call for fast and desperate measures, so I suppose it's no surprise that Strange is pushing you so." He said. I nodded knowingly, my small victory over managing to conjure the first spell now feeling even smaller compared to what more was expected of me. I looked down at the golden shields and shook them slightly, trying to get them to phase out as easily as Wong's had. Finally I looked up to meet Wong's even more amused expression.

"How do you get these to switch off?" I asked dumbly, with a frustrated smile. Wong merely held his hand up in front of himself and flexed his fingers outward from his fist. Feeling heat flooding through my face, I copied his movement and slowly opened both of my fists. The golden glow vanished, and I was left standing in the center of the room in the mirror dimension, Wong silently laughing at me.

"Now that we have the most basic defensive technique down, what do you say we more on to some offensive spells?" Wong said, suddenly back in teacher mode. I shook my arms to loosen up and, adrenaline flooding through me, I nodded excitedly.

"On one condition…I want to learn how to conjure up a glowing machete too."