Chapter 11

Almost at the same moment, Illyana and I ran out of the hotel. Through a portal, we arrived at the center of New York's Sanctum Sanctorum. Within seconds, we were out of the Stark Companies' luxury hotel and onto 177 Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village.

The place was now full of wizards, most of them wearing the monastery's typical garb. It was easy to spot the new faces; several wizards from other regions of the world were distributed around the main hall of that ancient building.

In the middle of the crowd, I was startled by what I saw. Wong was talking to Karl Mordo and Strange. 

"I thought he was still just a disciple," I said, a little surprised. A shiver ran through my body, down my back. 

"Who is that man with the cape?" Illyana asked, after hearing what I had said.

"I saw him a few years ago, he was just a novice at the monastery. But in three years he already seems to be on a completely different level, isn't that the Cloak of Levitation?" I commented.

Illyana nodded, "Yes, I thought she didn't think anyone was worthy"

Behind both of us, a very familiar voice emerged: "He's a special case, your eyes are quite shrewd, Dante" 

Turning around, I bowed to the old woman.

"Anyway, we need to get ready," she said.

The old woman was using her spiritual form, walking between different planes to pass on information in all regions at the same time. During this period of danger, it was essential that she remained in Kamar-Taj.

Crossing my arms, I began to dissociate a little from the moment as I watched Strange and Mordo. The two of them seemed very close, like what had happened in the movies.

In the comics, Mordo was a bald white man with a long beard. Here, he had the appearance of the movies, being a black man with dreadlocks. That in itself was a bad sign, since Strange's presence signaled the possibility of the old woman's death.

Even though it was a different reality, it was clear that there were canonical events in this world. Just the fact that Steve Rogers had been frozen and Tony Stark had been kidnapped by terrorists already signaled to me that I needed to pay attention to these dangerous people.

"What do you think? I don't know if this distribution will be efficient," said Illyana, poking me.

Shaking my head, I returned my senses to what was happening now "What did you say? I'm sorry, my mind was elsewhere"

The old woman looked at both of us with her dangerous eyes. Lowering my head, I let her continue talking.

We weren't the only ones whispering, but as one of the elder's closest disciples, I felt it was my duty to pay attention. Yeah, my bad baldie.

The old woman again created a holographic representation of the monastery, then the building shrank until it became a drawing of New York City. Then several red dots appeared around the city, gradually forming a circle. When the circle was complete, four lines emerged from within the circle, forming the symbol that represented Kamar-Taj.

"When the Sanctum Sanctorum was created, I took advantage of these energy points to create protection on top of the monastery. During the attack on the London Sanctuary, Victor Von Doom used this same system to infiltrate the monastery's defenses"

Then footage showing Victor's attack began to play. He had created a kind of gap similar to the heat that comes from using a Sling Ring. Curiously, I hadn't yet observed a sorcerer using this type of device.

"Because of this, we have divided you up to take care of the power points in New York City. A warning will be given in the event of an attack, and when one occurs, the wizards in the support network will be sent to take care of it. That's all for now," she said, then disappeared.

Wong was the first to raise his voice, finishing his explanation "We're going to distribute the teams around the city" by moving his hands, he created a spell that caused a small sphere to appear above the heads of all the people present.

The spheres were colored green, blue and red. Illyana and I got the blue color, which meant that we were in the reserve group that had to stay in New York. Those with the green and red colors would be distributed to take care of the hotspots.

Luckily, the color blue meant that I could explore a bit more of the city before having to worry about Kamar-Taj's activities. Even with the worry of the events that were unfolding, I was quite excited 

Wong's voice brought me back to the present, snapping me out of my thoughts. "Dante Ridder and Illyana Rasputin, I'd like you both to meet Strange and Mordo. The two of you have been away for the last few years, researching the astral planes" 

Illyana bowed briefly, and it took me a while to understand what I was supposed to do. "It's a pleasure," she said.

I repeated the gesture, "I hope to be able to understand more about the astral dimension with your studies" 

Strange laughed at what I said, "I don't think our studies will help you that much, Wong commented on how you are one of the most prominent disciples of this generation"

Approaching me, he touched my arm, causing a mental connection to form between the two of us.

Stephen Strange's voice echoed in my head, "I need to talk to you tonight. The old woman told me that you would already know about Mordo's intentions."

"Do you know when Mordo will act? Is he connected with Doom?" I replied mentally.

Stephen turned around, walking while talking to Wong and Mordo. Even as he spoke, his mind kept talking to me.

"We don't know yet, but there is information linking the two. I won't be able to tell you everything now, meet me here in your astral form tonight." 

"Understood," I replied, mentally.

Illyana was silent, looking at the crowd. "They're pretty excited for someone who's prepared to fight"

Sighing, I put my hand on her shoulder "You need to de-stress too, do you want to practice a bit more with me?"

She looked at me with a flushed and slightly irritated face "You shouldn't say that kind of thing in public"

Then we slowly walked to a portal that led back to the Stark Hotel.

...

[ To be Continued in MCRS #12 ]

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