~III~

"Mr. Strange," the Master greeted as Stephen entered the library, stack of books in hand.

"Oh, 'Stephen' please."

"Hi Stephen!" Kat peeked around one of the many shelves.

"Hi Kat." He turned back to the other Master. "And you are?"

"Wong."

"Wong. Just Wong? Like Adele? Or Aristotle? Drake, Bono. Eminem..."

They could hear Kat snickering behind the shelves.

Wong didn't answer, or play along, just assessed the stack of books Stephen placed before him. "You finished all of these?"

"Yup," said Stephen, popping the 'P'.

"Come with me." Wong led him away from the desk and into the far back area of the already vast library. "This section is for Masters only, but at my discretion, others may use it."

"Welcome to the club!" cried Kat. Had she followed them? She was now in this section of the library as well.

"Thanks..."

"How's your Sanskrit?" Wong asked, handing him a heavy volume.

"Well I'm fluent in Google Translate."

"I'll help you," Kat offered.

"Thanks, appreciate it." The books along the far wall caught his eye. That, and the chains wrapped around them locking them in place on the shelves. "What are those?"

"The Ancient One's private collection."

"So they're forbidden?"

"No knowledge in Kamar-Taj is forbidden. Only certain practices. Those books are far too advanced for anyone other than the Sorcerer Supreme."

Stephen reached out towards one of said books - the cover seemed to glow as he reached for it. "What are you reading?" He nodded to the book in Kat's hands, a thick, weathered volume, runes carved into the faded leather cover.

"My favorite: The Original Works of Agamotto, founder of the Mystic Arts here on Earth. My great, great, great ancestor."

Stephen chuckled. Then his smile fell when she did not react in the same way. "Oh, I'm sorry, I thought you were joking."

"You're not the first to think so. But it's true, Agamotto and I are related, just many, many, many generations ago. One of these days, I'll write out our entire family tree - it will just take a very long time!"

"Yeah - so all this stuff goes way back huh?"

"Oh yes, way, way back. It's been surrounding all of us for far longer than we know." She winked and left them, disappearing back behind the shelves.

Stephen turned back to Wong. "She always like this?" When the other man didn't reply, Stephen turned back to the Ancient One's bools. He undid the chains and lowered one from the shelf. "This one's got pages missing."

"That's The Book of Cagliostro. A study of time. One of the rituals was stolen by a former Master."

"You can become a former Master? Like getting your license revoked?"

"You can isolate yourself away from the practice. The Zealot, Kaecilius, did just that. Just after he strung up the former librarian, and relieved him of his head. I am now the guardian of these books, so if a volume from this collection should be stolen again, I'd know it, and you'd be dead before you ever even left the compound." With that, Wong snatched the book from Stephen's hands and promptly returned it to its rightful place chained up on the shelf.

"Wong's really very sweet once you get to know him, right Wong," came Kat's voice calling from deep within the library. Wong didn't answer.

"What if it's just overdue? Any late fees I should know about? Maiming perhaps?" Stephen tried. "You know, people used to think that I was funny."

"Did they work for you?"

"All right, well it's been lovely meeting with and talking to you. Thank you for the books and the horrifying story, and for the threat upon my life." With that, he quickly left the library.

"Think I was too hard on him?" Wong asked.

Kat chuckled. "I think you got your point across."

I'm SO excited for Multiverse of Madness! I can't wait!

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed! :)