“Do you see now, how much things have changed?” I asked, as Strange regained his consciousness. “How things are different after you left?”
“I have to go back,” Stephen said. “I… I… left too much behind. Too much unfinished business. I…”
I sighed. “Even when faced with a new reality you still try to return to something normal.”
“Do you have a way back down?” Stephen asked. “I’ll… I’ll need some money and…”
“Well, the world is anything but normal,” I said. “Some might say the world is even… Strange.”
“Shut up with your cryptic bullshit,” Stephen snapped. “None of this would’ve happened if you’d just healed my hands like you were supposed to. None of this would have happened if you just let me have what I wanted without any of this… this…”
Stephen grumbled. “Ugh. Can you just let me go home, please? Adam’s in danger and Christine… Christine…”
“Even after everything your worldview is still so small,” I said. “Such a disappointment.”
“I don’t care about my world view being small,” Stephen said. “Or this… this third eye bullshit. I just want to go home.”
I walked over to Stephen. “Just one last attempt.”
“Attempt?” Stephen said, taken aback. “I told you I don’t care about this I just want to…”
I placed a thumb on Stephen’s forehead and for once in his life, Stephen Strange saw…
He saw a Deadman in a lively circus like a castaway in a sea of smiles, eyes focused on the bright colours and sweets. Bodies walking through him as if he was invisible. Through the white eyes of the spirit, the Deadman saw the people he loved move past him as he wasn’t there, smiling and laughing with the rest of the circus.
In the vast desert he saw a lone figure walk and walk and walk, cursed to wander endlessly. He didn’t leave a footprint in the sand; he didn’t leave a trace except to a special few. And even to those special few, he was nothing but a Phantom Stranger.
A vast Spectre loomed over earth. Forced to carry out justice by a power unknown and only after justice was carried out would this Spectre know peace. But the blacks and whites of justice was almost never carried out in a world so grey.
He saw the stones at the beginning of time, the scythe at the end of it. He saw a green paradise, light years away from a black fiery hell. He saw Gods, he saw Demons. He saw beings made from the stars. He saw a silver herald and the planets he warned being consumed.
He saw the spectrum. The fiery reds, the consuming orange, the cool blues of hope, the purple and pink of compassion and love. The bright yellow blinded him but the strong green guided him and the beginning he saw white and at the end black.
He was just but a tiny speck in the endlessly sprawling rows of universes, of earths that stretched out endlessly beneath him.
Stephen Strange’s eyes snapped open.
“What was…” he met my eyes and when he did, he finally understood.
Stephen Strange was born again.
…
(“That bastard Mordo,” Wong spat. “He has tainted this Sanctuary with his sins and now…”
“Let’s not get our panties in a twist now Wong,” Doctor Strange said. “The Ancient One preached patience. Let us be patient and wait for leads from our sorcerers.”
Wong nodded. “You’re right. Haste and anger don’t serve any purpose but to hinder us.” He sighed. “But still, the Ancient One’s absence is felt.”
Doctor Strange nodded in sad agreement. “I know, Wong. I know. It was in this very chamber where she taught me to…”
Stephen noticed something glinting in the corner of the room. “What’s that?”
Wong raised an eyebrow. “What’s what?”
“Nothing just…”
Stephen flicked his fingers and wrapped in a bubble was a watch. The glass surface was cracked but Stephen recognised the watch. He smiled.
“Are you done?” Wong asked.
“What was that?” Stephen muttered.
“I asked if you’re done,” Wong said. “We have to move. We don’t know where Mordo will strike next.”
“Yeah you’re right,” Stephen said. “Let’s return to the Sanctum. I’m starving. The pizzaman must be waiting.”
“You ordered margherita, right?”
”Course I did,” Stephen said. “What do you take me for Wong?”
“Good,” Wong said. “I love margherita.”
Strange placed the watch on the table. A bright orange light shone and soon the room was empty save for a broken watch ticking on and on, never stopping.
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