So, a little disclaimer. In case ya'll haven't noticed, I am using information from both the movies AND the comics. So some of the relics and whatnot are coming from some of the comics I've read. If anyone can guess what else I've pulled from the comics, leave me a review or send me a message and I'll let you know if you're right! Enjoy :D
Once I had gotten cleaned up and settled into the guest room to try and rest, I found that I couldn't. My nerves were alive with worry and fear and leftover adrenaline from the events of the long day. I was also afraid of what dreams I might have if I even found that I was able to sleep. So after about thirty or so minutes of lying perfectly still and staring up at the darkened ceiling of the extravagant guest room, I threw my covers off and headed quietly down the hall. I found my way around the mansion easily and headed up the staircase toward the library in search of some reading material that I could study in my sleepless state.
As I came upon the closed door of the library, I stopped myself in remembrance of the submerged room. I took a brief moment to get down on my knees and feel underneath the door to see if it was still filled with the magically conjured water. When my fingers brushed against the dry wooden floor on the other side of the door, I climbed back to my feet and slowly opened the door into the library.
Just as Wong had said, he had taken care of everything. The shelves and furniture were all in their designated spaces, and even the books that I had assumed were ruined from the water damage were neatly stacked and lined up back on the numerous shelves around the room. I continued my slow shuffle around the shelves and came upon the small sitting area where Dan and I had attempted our studying and wasn't surprised to see that our stack of reading material had returned to its original place as if nothing had ever happened.
"Weirder and weirder…" I muttered to myself as I stopped at the stack of books and picked through them until I found something that I thought would be useful to learn for combat. I grabbed a book that had sticky notes marked on pages referencing ancient magical uprisings and other dimensions that the sorcerers had traveled to over the years. I peered through another few books and found the one that Dan had been reading about the ancient relics. I took both of them and headed back out of the library and down the stairs to see if I could get some quick studying in before my exhaustion would finally and hopefully take over me.
Heading back down the staircase in the darkened mansion, the calming silence unsettled me. I looked around at the dark, shadowy corners as I descended the stairs with my books tucked underneath my injured right arm so that my good left arm was free. The lamps and warm lights were still glowing around the mansion, but they were toned down oddly to create a sleepy atmosphere. When I reached the last step of the grand staircase and prepared to step onto the ground floor, I heard a sound like murmuring voices down the hall and toward the kitchen.
I rounded the banister in the opposite direction of the hallway where mine and Dan's rooms were housed and peered down the dark hallway toward the kitchen, listening intently for what I thought was my imagination. When the low voices echoed down the hall once more, I took a further step in that direction.
"Wong? Is that you?" I called hesitantly. The voices hushed almost as soon as the first syllable left my mouth and I suddenly grew worried. If Wong had been speaking with someone important, I probably shouldn't have interrupted. If my guess had been wrong, and I had just spoken out to some unknown, unwanted visitors…I had very obviously announced my presence to them.
When nothing happened for the next several seconds, my nerves shot into terror mode once more. Part of me wanted to go and investigate the source of the voices down the hall, but the other part was torn and wanted to go back upstairs or to my room where it was safe. I gently set the two books I had collected down on the bottom step of the staircase and let curiosity get the better of me.
"Hello?" I called out again, shifting my hands into nervous fists in preparation of some unknown foe.
The further I inched down the darkened hallway, the tighter the air felt. I consciously made myself breathe silently, trying to make as little sound as I possibly could. I passed by the quiet, looming cabinets of artifacts and fancy sorcerer stuff, keeping my eyes straight ahead and scanning for anything or anyone. As I approached a closed door past the kitchen and toward the end of the hallway, I noticed there was a tightness in my head now like the beginnings of a migraine. I stopped at the doorway, spotting a dim but definitely present glow from the underside of the door.
"If anybody is in there…" I started to say softly and warningly. Again, as soon as the first sound emanated from my throat, whatever was behind the door made a sound like a cannon firing and then the glow from the door vanished. I visibly jumped about a foot in the air and clenched a hand over my startled heart. I conjured up a bright golden shield over my remaining hand and then cleared my throat to center myself before I took my hand from my chest and placed it on the door handle.
"What are you doing?"
I jumped again as a voice sounded from right behind me and I whirled around with my mandala shield and threw it instinctively at the shape a few yards behind me. Another shield flashed into view, shattering mine, and in the glow, I recognized Wong's amused expression.
"Wong! Oh my God…what was that?! Were you in there talking to someone?!" I exploded as soon as I'd caught my breath. Wong stepped forward, seemed to examine the door and then shook his head.
"I wasn't," He said slowly as he reached past me and took the door handle in his own hand to twist it open. "But that's because…"
He flicked the door open to reveal an ordinary broom closet. Literally half a dozen or so brooms and mops were stacked and leaning against the opposite wall of the closet and a worn bucket or too was wheeled alongside them. There didn't even appear to be a lightbulb to light the closet because it was so small. I studied the closet unenthusiastically then turned an accusing glance to the sorcerer beside me.
"It's a broom closet." I finished for him. He smirked triumphantly before firmly clicking the door shut again. "But it's not just a broom closet, is it?"
"Oh, it is." Wong said simply, turning to walk back down the hallway, expecting me to follow him. I looked back at the door and opened it once more to confirm what he said. The brooms, buckets and spare cleaning supplies remained where they had been seconds before. I frowned and re-closed the door before finally turning back around to follow Wong who was moving slowly back down the hall. He glanced side to side at each of the silent cabinets lining the hallway as if checking order over them.
"You sure there aren't any more of those 'portals to Hell' around here? You said the fridge is one…"
"It would take you a hundred lifetimes to hunt up all of the secrets hidden in this house." Wong said darkly. I frowned deeply after him and then jumped as another sound like cannon fire echoed from the other side of the house. Wong stopped at the end of the hall and watched me as I looked wildly in the direction of the sound.
"That was what was in that closet just a second ago. It moved." I guessed fearfully. Wong gave me a brief, slow nod in confirmation and I brushed by him to walk past the staircase towards another great room that branched off into another hallway. Sensing Wong following casually behind me, I noticed that I could also hear the hushed voices again.
"Following us…"
"Stupid boy…"
"What do they think they're doing?"
I stopped about halfway down the hall where a door to my right was left slightly ajar into what looked like it could be a parlor or some fancy sitting room. That dull glow peeked out from the small inch that the door was open and I glanced back to Wong who was still watching me in calm amusement, his arms crossed over his chest. I clenched my jaw playfully and placed my hand on the doorknob, listening carefully to the voices on the other side of the door.
"Alright…you've got my curiosity perked, now show yourselves!" I said loudly as I jerked the door open. Another blast of cannon fire rang in my ears, followed by a bright flash that blinded me. What felt like a blast of frigid air hit me as something or 'somethings' rushed past me, unseen. My hand released the doorknob so quickly it was like I'd been electrocuted and my mouth was open wide as I looked in the direction that the rush of air had gone. Wong stepped aside as the voices disappeared around the corner of the hall to find another place to hide. I stood frozen to the spot, blinking away the intense glow that had temporarily blinded me.
"What…was that?!" I exclaimed, my voice rising considerably in confusion and almost terror. Wong chuckled and patted my uninjured shoulder reassuringly before he turned and headed away from me.
"Some things are better off left to pointlessness."
I awoke a few hours later to a jolt of adrenaline which caused me to sit upright in half a second, pain shooting up my injured right arm in the process. I looked around hurriedly for some kind of threat in my room, listening intently for the thing that had caused me to wake up so suddenly. I glanced down at the few books scattered on top of the bed's comforter from where I'd been reading and studying them. The lamp by my side on the nightstand still cast the guest room in a warm glow, while the shades covering the wall on my other side remained pulled closed over the window.
I reached quickly for my phone where it rested on the nightstand and I checked the time, seeing that I had only been asleep for a little over two hours at the most. I stood up from the bed and crossed over to the door, my phone still in my hand as I carefully opened the door a few inches and then stuck my head out into the hallway to peer outside my room.
"…Hello?" I called out softly, my voice barely audible for fear that something or someone would come rushing down the hall towards me. When I looked in the other direction, I noticed a figure standing quietly in the middle of the hall, gazing into one of the glass cabinets lining the wall. I edged my door open a little wider and squinted down the hallway to see who it was.
"It's just me." Dan's voice called to me quietly after a few seconds. I headed down the hall towards my best friend, sensing his tension in the early hours of the morning.
"What's wrong, man?" I asked in confused worry when I reached his side. He scratched at his light colored hair, not tearing his gaze away from the cabinet in front of him.
"I had a nightmare a little bit ago and couldn't go back to sleep so I've been texting my mom. She's worried sick about us and wants to know where we are. Following Wong's advice, I just told her I was safe but that I can't come home right now…"
He wouldn't look at me as he spoke and for good reason. I pressed a hand to my forehead and mimicked his heavy sigh. I shook my head when he finally finished speaking.
"Dan…why? You knew you'd get put into this situation. I haven't been texting anyone. I haven't had the mental power to even think about anything else other than –"
"I know, I know!" Dan said, his voice rising unsteadily. He ran another hand through his hair and kicked lightly at the wall next the cabinet. "I just…I can't take this…"
I studied his worry-creased face for a second then looked into the silent cabinet along with him. Neither of us said anything else for a long time, each lost in our own thoughts and fears. Finally I put my hand on his shoulder supportively.
"We're gonna do this, Dan. Strange told me that whatever happens…it'll be according to the path he set us on. This thing here…" I gestured at the Time Stone resting against my chest. "This is what we're protecting. Just one of the many Stones that hold our lives in the balance."
Dan looked from the Time Stone to my face and his worry didn't seem to fade. My supportive façade fell and I looked away from him, my jaw clenched and my stomach twisting.
"This whole thing is bigger than we know, Dan. It's like we're just a couple of pawns in the chaos going on around us." I said slowly, blinking in realization as my own words hit me. "If the other Stones get taken, then they're gonna come for this one. And it'll all be down to us."
"And you're okay with this?" Dan posed it more as a statement, knowing from my betraying facial features that for probably the tenth time since yesterday I was having second thoughts.
"Course not." I said, joking drily. He raised his eyebrows and nodded as he looked back at the glass cabinet. Silence hung over us for a moment before he nodded for me to look into the case.
"It's going to happen tomorrow." Dan murmured quietly. I looked from his grim expression to the cabinet in front of us confusedly.
"…What?"
"The thing we're dreading. The final battle." He said, his voice low with what sounded like dark realization. I peered into the cabinet and noticed that, in addition to the dark staff that had turned into a snake just the day before, there was a small glowing sphere on a pedestal beside it.
"How do you know that?" I asked warily, looking between my friend and the glowing sphere. I squinted and did a double take at the object beside the staff. "Is that a crystal ball?"
"It's called the Orb of Agamotto…that's how I saw what's going to happen." Dan said heavily. I forced myself to look away as my head started to spin with the milky glow inside the ball. Dan tore his own gaze away from the orb to glance at the Time Stone around my neck. "It's kind of like a larger version of that."
"Oh…" I said, taking another quick glance at the glowing sphere in the case. "And it showed you…what exactly?"
Dan didn't answer me right away and his face was suddenly scared as he recounted what the Orb had shown him. When he finally did attempt to speak, it was after fumbling for several seconds to try and form a response.
"Why don't you look? See what it shows you." He suggested quickly. I could tell that he was really unnerved, and I felt suddenly nervous myself as I shrugged slowly and turned to look into the cabinet.
The swirling glow from the Orb seemed to pull me towards it the longer my gaze lingered on it. I tried to focus on standing still in my physical body but felt the pull of the powerful magic reaching out for me. My breath hitched in my throat as I tried to fight my way against it and my vision went black for a moment. My last conscious thought was that my chest was burning once again from the Time Stone around my neck.