Chapter 13: Chapter 12
October 23, 2015
The next day, I found myself at the address Dr Strange mentioned. 177A Bleeker Street. It was a somewhat old looking building that was not particular eye-catching. It was the kind of building most people would overlook while walking down the street. I walked up to the front door where I found an old fashioned door knocker in place which I promptly used to well.... knock on the door three times.
I then waited for a few moments before lifting my arm to knock once more only for the door to open by itself. The open door revealed a large hall with a large staircase and before I knew it I found myself inside, with the doors rapidly closing behind me.
"Ah good. You have arrived." I heard Strange speak and turned to see him atop the staircase. He then walked towards one of the doors after gesturing for me to follow, which I complied. He took me through a small corridor before stopping at another door before opening it.
I then found myself in a completely different place. Large mountain ranges could be seen in the distance and the air was noticeably colder than before. I was surrounded by buildings which had the architectural designs located in countries near the Himalayas and I knew where I was. Kamar Taj. What I saw next served as confirmation as I saw a group of people from various ages and ethnicities training spells similar to Strange's. The man in question meanwhile, continued walking without breaking his stride and I walked after him briskly so as to catch up to him, all the while losing myself in the scenary from time to time. The clear air, unfamiliar terrain and various robed diciples either training or walking around was unfamiliar to me.
Eventually he stopped infront of an ornate door before motioning me to enter. I opened it and almost immediately, a strong medicinal smell overwhelmed my senses causing me to cough. I looked at Strange from the corner of my eyes and saw him with a small smirk. Yep he did that on purpose. Eventually, I managed to get my coughs under control and entered the room after giving Strange a hard look which the latter simply ignored before following me inside.
We were inside what looked like combination of a laboratory and an infirmary. An elderly woman with half of her face covered could be seen fiddling with a few herbs and laboratory apparatuses. Honestly, it surprised me just how modern lab equipment looked. I was half expecting them to still be preparing the medicine by hand. Or maybe that's because of the influence of western media I grew up on.
Any further thoughts had to be put on hold as when the elderly woman turned around and removed her mask, letting me seeher face. It was Madam Han who was currently wearing similar robes as the rest of the monks. I opened my mouth to greet her only to see her glaring at me angrily. At that point I knew that I was in for a world of trouble. You see, I may have neglected to tell her about my injuries as Strange had offered to treat it and I did not want her to worry.
The woman in question briskly walked up to us, her eyes never leaving mine. She then stopped infront of me with her arms crossed like she was about to scold a child and I felt myself shrink due to the murderous aura eminating from her.
"Oh hey Ms Han. What brings you here?" I spoke nervously clinging to the slight hope that maybe she was here for something else.
"Well let see. Apparently a certain, someone who shall remain nameless, tried to fight off a shadebeast with a sword while being almost without mana and got her self infected with its miasma then went ahead and helped to close the fissure which was summoning the shadebeasts without a care for his or her wellbeing. " She spoke while making sure enunciate the pronouns in her words referring to me.
"Would it help if that certain someone was sorry and that he or she didn't want to worry his or her kind compassionate and beautiful teacher?" I asked bashfully only to be slapped on the back of my head in response. I could swear I heard Strange snort at our exchange.
Madam Han then pointed at one of the beds behind her and spoke curtly. " Go and lie down there." before turning around and walking towards a table. I complied without resistance as I walked towards the bed.
As I lay down on my back, I saw Madam Han concoct a liquid in a beaker before puring it into a small cup. She walked upto me and handed it then left once more without saying a word. I actually felt quite guilty as she seemed pretty upset that I had kept my potentially fatal injury hidden from her. She probably heard about it from Strange. I drank it then waited for her to return. Which she did with a large tray filled with water which she promptly placed next to me then grabbed my infected arm, rolled the sleeve and submerged it in one swift motion.
"Keep it soaked until I say so." she muttered.
I sighed before speaking. "Look. I really am sorry."
Madam Han sighed as well. "Look, just.... Be careful. As a sorcerer, our weakness is our dependency on mana. Without it, most of us are no different than regular people. That's why we place such importance on enchantments and potions.
So, from now on, you are not to leave anywhere without a potion in hand. I know that you got in trouble because a teacher found one of them and mistook it for drugs. But it's for your own good. Do you understand? " she looked straight into my eyes as she finished speaking.
I nodded dumbly but was soon distracted by a sharp sensation in my submerged arm. I looked down to see black liquid oozing out of my arm. This continued on for a few minutes before stopping. Madam Han then told me to remove my arm before taking the tray away.
I followed after her until she stopped at an empty table. I looked around to find no one else within hearing range before I started speaking.
"Seriously though, why are you here? Did they force you to join them in exchange for curing me?" I asked softly. It wasn't that I didn't trust the Masters of the Mystic arts but from what she had told me, she had remained neutral through out the years.
She glanced at me with a teasing smile while giggling." Oh. You're worried about me. That's so sweet." she continued giggling for a few seconds before turning serious. "I promise. I joined them on my own free will. This was actually something I had been considering for a while. The world is changing. The surgence of mutants has given rise to conflict and several factions in the magical community are coming out of hiding in midst of the chaos. And they have been aggressively trying bolster their numbers by hiring, threatening and even brainwashing sorcerers of neutral standings. It was only a matter of time before they would have sent someone for me as well.
And besides, after last night's debacle, I think it's clear you need an actual teacher. I am first and foremost, an alchemist. Not exactly the best tutor in terms of the mystic arts."
She then faced me with an even bigger smile."Let's talk later. It seems Strange is expecting you." she said glancing at the man in question. I reluctantly nodded before following him once more.
"So, where are we going?". I asked after a while. "To meet your teacher. He wanted to assess your skills himself."
"Who is going to be teaching me?"
"Master Wong. He the librarian at Kamar Taj. Do be patient with him. He's a really stick in the mud. Don't tell him I said that." Strange chuckled.
This exchange made me a lot more confident about communicating with Strange and I began asking about the rooms and yards wee had passed on the way. Strange answered my question to best of his abilities until he suddenly stopped in place making me bump into his back as I was distracted by something.
"Looks like I'll have to cut this tour short." he muttered before taking out the ring from last night and creating portal infront of him.
"This will lead you to the library. Wong should still be there." he gestured at the portal.
"Is there something wrong?" I asked and he shook his head with a stiff smile.
"No. I just have to go meet a friend" he said before gesturing towards the portal once more.
I sighed before walking infront of the portal before turning to Strange once more. "One of these days you have to teach me how to make one of these." I spoke before stepping into the portal. I swear I almost heard him chuckle before I made it to the other side. The portal disappeared not long after that.
I looked around and found myself inside a large room with rows of shelves on either side filled with books. And infront of me was a man who seemed to be engrossed in reading at a large desk. I walked up to opened my mouth to speak before I was interrupted when the man in question let out a sigh.
"I have lost count of how many times I had told Steven not to open portal to the library. The wind makes a mess every single time." he muttered.
After hearing his words, I looked around and sure enough, there were several papers now lying on the floor. I giggled sheepishly even though it wasn't technically my fault.
This prompted the man to finally take a look at me only for his eyes to widen in recognition as he looked at me like he was seeing a ghost. His expression only lasted a few seconds before his expression became stoic once more. I guess he wasn't expecting a stranger.
"May I help you?" he asked in an emotionless tone.
"I..I... was asked meet you. Strange said you were going to teach me." I found myself stammering. The man stood up then walked over to me.
" I'm guessing that Strange had something better to do." he asked and I nodded in response. He sighed once more before motioning me to follow. More silence followed as he escorted me through the halls before entering an enclosed room that resembled an arena.
"Leave your things there. " he said motioning at a table in the corner. I complied as i left both the book and my bag on it before walking up to Wong who was waiting for me at the center of the arena. He then began chanting while moving his arm in a circular motion over his head. Not long after that, I sudddenly felt the world shift around me. The walls of the room seemingly vanished while the arena began expanding by itself. By the end of it, the arena was 5 times bigger than it originally was.
"Is this an illusion?" I couldn't help but ask.
"No. We are currently inside the mirror dimension. A parallel world separate from the real one. We will able to train your skills here safely without affecting the real world." he said before taking a stance.
"Now then, let's see how you fare against an actual sorcerer ." he added before a pair of magical circular shields manifested in his hands. Upon noticing his intent, I began chanting, donning my armour and staff. Wong examined my new attire from head to toe before giving me a nod signalling for me to begin. The two of us stood in place the next few minutes, waiting for the other to make the first move. And finally I did.
I started by launching 3 fireballs at Wong, two of them curved left and right while the third stayed true. My plan was to keep him concentrated on the oncoming attacks while I prepared another one to flank him from his blindspot. As the fireballs were almost onto I began chanting, creating a small spell circle right behind Wong. My whole plan hinged on him trying to block the fireballs so what he did next came as bit of a shock to me.
Wong threw one of the circular constructs like a Frisbee which in turn curved through the air, hitting all of the fireballs before spinning towards his back, destroying my ongoing spell circle. I felt a sharp pain in my head, a blow back from the sudden interruption of my spell circle.
I chanted once more turning myself faster before charging at him. No I wasn't delusional or anything. I knew the chances of me actually winning against him were close to zero. This was a test and I was aiming to impress. I switched my staff onto my left arm before chanting another fireball. I then launched it straight at Wong who like last time, threw the circular disk at it. However, just as it was about to collide with my fireball, I used my telekinesis on the fireball, causing it to crash onto the ground creating a small explosion. The resulting smoke and debris gave me ample cover as I diverted from my charge then ran to the side, intenting to flank him.
Yet at that moment, another one of the disks emerged from the smoke aimed at me. They wasnt enough time for me to evade it even with my enhanced speed so I had no choice but to stop before evoking a barrier. The disk impacted my barrier, the sheer force almost making me lose my footing but it was enough to block the disk which faded not long after.
By this point, the smoke had cleared and I saw Wong still standing in the exact spot he had been before. There was no sign of smugness nor ridicule in his expression yet the fact that he was pushing me this much despite being on the defensive frustrated me. And so, I threw caution to the wind and began chanting the largest AOE spell I knew.
It was a spell I had modified from a spell called [Arcane Bolt]. [Arcane Bolt] is originally a spell that compresses pure mana then fires it at a high velocity. It cost more mana than its elemental counterparts as the pure mana only becomes tangible at a high concentration if its not imbued with any elements. Moreover, it also take more time to ready spells of this nature as the caster has to actively compress the mana.
On the other hand however, spells made with pure mana is stronger and the projectile is faster than its elemental variants. They also do not have any weakness to a particular element unlike the elemental versions, ie fire to ice, water to rocks etc...
Which brings us back to my modified spell. While the [Arcane Bolt] was designed to fire a single projectile, the variant I made was designed to prepare multiple smaller versions of it which I named [Arcane Barrage]. One might say that I got the inspiration from a certain Servant whose name rhymes with Pilgamesh but I digress.
As I finished my chant, several magical circles began forming infront of me. And soon afterwards, it began to shoot blue translucent bolts of energy at Wong even faster than my fireballs. And sure enough, instead of destroying them like the fireballs, Wong began using the disks to block the projectiles while trying get out of its range. Seeing him struggle made me smile not even accounting the possibility that he was holding back. I redirected the spells towards whichever way he moves and this continued on for several minutes, so much so that I failed to noticed just how low my mana was dropping.
And then suddenly, I felt something wrap around my leg. I looked down and saw a golden rope wrapped around my leg. My eyes followed along the rope to find it emerging from a smaller portal similar to the ones Strange used. A hand clad in a familiar robe can be seen poking out of it, holding the rope.
My gaze then turned to Wong who was still blocking my attacks. He held one of the disks with his right arm while his other arm was hidden from view. It finally clicked on me what was happening and at that moment, I felt a large force pull my leg from behind causing me to faceplant on the floor of the arena.
I attempted to get up only find several glowing chains emerging from the ground around me and wrap themselves around me before yanking me back onto the ground.
"Do you yeild?" I heard the emotionless voice of Wong infront of me. I craned my head as much as I could with the chain binding me, and found the man in question looking down at me. Not even a speck of dust could be seen on him. Seeing as there was no point in resisting any further, I nodded stiffly and almost immediately, I felt the chains disappear.
As I got up, Wong began talking. "Do you know what your biggest mistake was?" he asked. But I remained silent as I could already had an idea about what he was talking about.
"Lack of patient. Your initial attacks weren't effective against me so you tried to brute force your way out. Not only did you use a spell with such a high mana consumption against a single target which is inefficient to say the least, you kept using it while neglecting your mana. A skilled enough enemy would only need to wait for you to tire yourself out before defeating you.
Furthermore, you need to be more aware of your surroundings even when it seems as if your enemy is at a disadvantage. Most of our kind rely on deception. Be it illusions, hypnosis and even Summons. Do your understand? " he said
I nodded my head as I replayed the bout in my head, trying to see how I could have done better.
Wong's tone then suddenly turned serious. Well, more serious as he spoke in clear and concise words which actually sounded more like he was signing my death sentence at that moment. "Good. Now, Madam Han also told us to prohibit you from studying magic for a week as punishment for keeping your wound a secret from her and seeing as you lack a lot in the physical aspects of the training, I except to see you in the main yard at dawn. And don't even try to skip it. Madam Han took it upon herself to wake you up personally. Are we clear?"
I involuntarily gulped before nodding hurriedly. His mere tone was a clear omen that I was going to suffer even more than I had at the hands of madam Han.
(An: Sorry this took so long. Lots of writes and rewrites. So there maybe some grammatical errors or continuity errors. Please bear with it and inform if there is any)
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