Chronicle XII: Stephen Strange

As the boy talked to Justino and Sophia inside his mind, time continued smoothly outside as he lay unconscious. His body was face up on the grass, and in front of him, Johnny Blaze thought with a complicated and confused face.

It was very strange. The boy had slaughtered Blackheart and shattered Leviathan with minimal effort.And to top it off, he unleashed that overwhelming power reflected in those red flames. He had never heard of them being able to generate such flames. The Ghost Riders kept many secrets, he was not surprised that sooner or later, it was the boy or anyone else who would demonstrate such brutal power. The main unknown was that crimson fire.

Within his knowledge of the supernatural, in relation to angels and demons, only one person could manifest such fire. However, Satan was dead a long, long time ago, and his realm, the Underworld, was sealed and blotted out from all mentions that all biblical documents could possibly have. As far as he knew, it was impossible to access that place even if it resurfaced, as it was said that it actually became extinct in the middle of the war between God and Devil.

The Underworld was not the same as Hell. Johnny Blaze did not know much, only that he was in the depths, at the bottom of the Nine Circles of Hell.

A noise like a bolt opening pulled him out of his thoughts. A golden circle appeared out of nowhere, Showing a library with thousands of books. From it emerged a man with black hair and some gray hair, dressed in blue monk's clothes and a red cape. What stood out most of all this was the strange necklace that hung around his neck.

- Stephen-revealed Johnny with surprise-. What are you doing here?

- It's been a while, old friend- Strange returned the greeting-. But we can save the formalities for later... I think you know why I'm here.

The biker's gaze strayed to the unconscious teenager resting on the grass.

- The kid... What happened?

- As you asked me a long time ago, I was attentive to every resurgence of a Ghost Rider, but I didn't find anyone apart from Danny Ketch or Robbie Reyes... Until a while ago.

Doctor Strange related to his friend the phenomenon that occurred at the same time that Dante battled Leviathan.

- You see, with the help of Wong, I was looking for new signs of some anomaly that has to do with Mephisto. Your old boss is planning something, and it's not a good thing. However, the Eye of Agamotto shone like he had never seen it before. While searching for the reason for this, I found you and the boy... And I've seen what he's capable of, Johnny. The kid may be related to a small problem I have in the Sancta Sanctorum.

- What kind of problem? - Asked the blond, surprised.

- I think you'd better see for yourself-Strange replied, stepping across the circle as his cloak gathered up Daniel-. I apologize for the mess.

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The Sanctum Sanctorum was a relatively old building, as well as being the home and lair of the Sorcerer Supreme.

It housed millions of secrets, ancient spells, relics and magical artifacts. However, the most remarkable thing about the building was the pages that flew between the rooms, one after another following a pattern.

The Sorcerer Supreme had brought Johnny up to date on the situation. At the same time that he discovered the location of the battle, the Book of Vishanti went berserk and its pages surrounded the entire library. A worrying development, since the book never acted in such a way.

- Wong, did you find a way to stop this mess?- Strange asked.

- Not at all... Every time I seem to have succeeded, their speed increases and they break free from my spells. It's very irritating!- Wong complained. In that, notice Johnny- Oh, greetings, Ghost Rider.

- Hello, Wong. It's been a while.

Sthepen approaches his partner to discuss a way to reassemble Vishanti's book, while Blaze explores the place. The cloak places Dante on the ground and walks away, but is stopped by the sudden huge blue and red glow that arose. from the pages of Vishanti.

The three adults notice this and head towards the boy, who is surrounded by the papers, lifting him off the ground and making him float in an instant.

Finally the pages stopped their march, staying like a sphere around the teenager, overlapping each other in the shape of a cross. With another shine, they became strange signs and letters, some blue and others red like blood. After this, they resumed their march on the sphere, this time with more speed; even causing a somewhat violent breeze.

- Stephen, what the hell is going on?!- Blaze exclaimed.

- I have no idea! The Book of Vishanti only contains white magic spells, this has never happened before!

The pages glowed brighter.

- Maybe he's trying to tell us something, Strange!- Wong clarified.

- It's worth trying...- Strange murmurs, raising his hands in which magic circles appeared- 𝘌𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘮 𝘰𝘮𝘯𝘪𝘴 𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘶𝘴, 𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘳𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘷𝘪𝘢 𝘢𝘥 𝘮𝘦, 𝘦𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘪𝘩𝘪 𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘮 𝘢𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳𝘶𝘮!

To the rhythm of the song, the symbols of the sphere were acquiring more brightness, until covering everything around them. After a few seconds, the light dimmed, revealing the new place where they were.

Surrounded by rubble and rocks, it could be deduced that it was a battlefield. Corpses and pieces of armor were scattered all over the place, being observed by the three men who advanced alert to anything.

- What happened here?- Wong commented incredulously, trying to make sense of what he was seeing.

- A war... A really bloody one... -observed Strange-. But I never saw one with these characteristics...

- That's because it's not a normal war -said Johnny, transforming into Ghost Rider-. 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙡𝙨 𝙘𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙚...

Having said that, two angels impact near them already lifeless, wounded and with few feathers on their wings. Doctor Strange tried to approach them, but stopped a few meters away, confused. He touched the air in front of his face, discovering an invisible wall that prevented his passage.

From his position, he examined the bodies for as long as he could. From what he could deduce, they were brutally beaten, without any mercy or pause. Then, both deceased angels were covered by a glow and turned into particles of light, which rose to heaven along with a thousand equal to them.

- They died... It seems that at this time, they became one with Heaven-commented the Sorcerer.

- 𝙄 𝙛𝙚𝙚𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨- says the Rider, observing the lights-. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙨𝙪𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙧. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥... 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙖𝙨𝙠 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙧𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙚.

Shifting his gaze forward, Blaze walks forward, heading into the midst of the conflagration with his flames burning fiercely.

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Daniel opened his eyes. He was up in a blink, totally confused. He looked around, looking for Sophia, but he found no one. He muttered a few words, mainly to ask himself where he was, until he turned and found himself face to face with the Ghost Rider's skull.

Involuntarily, he cursed in surprise, taking a couple of steps back.

-Sophia?

- 𝐈'𝐦 𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐲, 𝐤𝐢𝐝, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞...- the voice clarified, different from that of Justino and the Archangel.

Dante narrowed his eyes as he kept his gaze fixed on him, and opened them in extreme surprise when he deduced who was in front of him.

- Zarathos? -he asked, receiving a confirming nod.

- 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞, 𝐤𝐢𝐝.

- The time? Daniel repeated, even more confused.

- 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐈 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐢𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥. 𝐀 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐆𝐡𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐑𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫...