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[Daughter of the Red Skull]

As a prominent figure in the American medical community, Stephen Strange excelled in both practical and theoretical knowledge, possessing a deep understanding of modern medicine and the entire scientific system. Despite market rumors, he never believed in so-called magic, viewing it at most as a phenomenon that science could not yet explain.

In his view, the scientific spirit was one of the few ideas in the world that could be unequivocally affirmed, even more legitimate than justice. Believing in the correctness of the scientific spirit was like believing that meteorites always fall in craters.

But now, Stephen had no time to debate these issues; his only pursuit was to heal his hands.

So, despite the increasingly ominous implications, he decided to give it a try and went to the "mysterious Kamar - Taj," Nepal, near the Himalayas, the land of Buddha.

What happened next turned Stephen's life upside down even more.

He found the legendary organization of magicians, the Supreme Sanctuary, and joined as a magician. In the first few months, he did not show superhuman talent in most magic. He even almost froze to death in the Himalayas trying to master the portal spell.

He gradually learnt how to use his heart and spirit to drive magic and not let his scientific brain disrupt it .

The he made great leaps of progress in all kings of magic.

Then on a fated day he came in contact with time magic.

When he first learned about time magic, Stephen was deeply attracted to it and began collecting knowledge about it. He started practicing it soon after and later realized that playing with time magic was more dangerous than driving recklessly. In theory, time magic had the potential to disrupt the functioning of the entire universe, causing the reality to crumble like a clod run over by a wheel.

Thanks to his extraordinary talent, he successfully harnessed the power of the magical Eye of Agamotto in the Holy Sanctuary during his first practice without causing any dire consequences. He was eventually reprimanded by other mages and invited to tea by his teacher, the Ancient One, who was said to be seven hundred years old.

To Stephen's surprise, the Ancient One didn't mean to criticize him at all and just talked to him casually.

"...When you touched the Eye of Agamotto, did you see anything?" the Ancient One said lightly, taking a sip of tea.

"It seems so," Stephen frowned. "I seem to have seen a scene from the past."

"What scene?"

Stephen said, "The day you sent me to the Himalayas, it seemed that a hammer fell from the sky and landed in the nearby snow-capped mountains. I didn't find it at the time, but in the Eye of Agamotto, I looked back on that day and saw the hammer... What is it?"

The Ancient One took a sip of tea and then said slowly and meaningfully, "That is the fate that came quietly."

Stephen blinked.

The Ancient One continued, "It's like you came to Kathmandu and became a magician."

"You mean, these are all arranged by fate?" Stephen asked, somewhat disbelieving.

"These have nothing to do with you for the time being," the Ancient One didn't continue talking and put down the teacup. "You have a greater responsibility. For you, the first task now is to study hard."

...

Himalayas, snowy plateau.

The ice and snow shrouded the area, the landscape a blinding white. The cold and oxygen-deficient environment made it a place almost no one wanted to visit except climbers. Even climbers were reluctant to come here as it was not a famous mountain, just an unremarkable spot on the snowy plateau.

Today, it had a visitor.

Accompanied by the howling cold wind, a helicopter slowly landed in the snow, and then a humanoid figure descended.

From an outsider's perspective, it was hard to say she was human.

She had blood-red skin that looked like it had been peeled off, her head resembling a skeleton, bald, without a single hair. Her dry skin seemed directly attached to her skull, and her nose was missing its cartilage part. Judging by her curves, she appeared to be a woman; men generally did not have such exaggerated pectoral muscles.

"That's right, it's here," she stepped out of the helicopter, looked at the surrounding snowy scene, and murmured excitedly, her voice hoarse.

Her name was Cynthia Schmidt.

Today, with Hydra almost completely destroyed, not many people knew her, but everyone knew her father, the infamous Red Skull John Schmidt, Hitler's assistant during World War II. Schmidt had been injected with a super soldier serum similar to Captain America's. This serum gave him far more physical strength than ordinary people but made him lose his human appearance, turning him into the Red Skull.

The transformation of the serum was complete and permanent. As the daughter of the Red Skull, Cynthia inherited her father's genes perfectly. She looked like a red skull with a chest.

Cynthia came to the Himalayas not for mountain climbing or anything. This did not challenge her. Her purpose here was to pursue a dream.

In the same dream, repeated over and over, something destined to belong to her was near.

"Let's go," Cynthia said and set off with a few followers.

She walked in the white snow.

There was no terrain that conveniently identified the location, but she seemed to feel some kind of guidance and moved in one direction with almost no twists and turns.

"Schmidt, what exactly are you looking for?" the entourage asked.

"Fate," Cynthia replied, "you'll know soon enough."

Ten minutes later, Cynthia stopped and looked down at her feet.

It seemed to be just plain snow, but she saw the treasure beneath. Without hesitation, she leaned over to push the ice and snow away, her eyes eager.

Randomly pushing aside the snow and ice, a warhammer appeared before her eyes, with a striking and mysterious symbol engraved on it. She seemed to have seen it in a mural about Norse mythology.

"I finally found it," Cynthia smiled.

"A hammer?" The accompanying people reached out and tried to lift the warhammer out of the snow, but were surprised to find that they couldn't carry it at all. He immediately put his hands together and exerted all his strength, but he still couldn't move the warhammer: "Why can't I hold it?"

"Because it doesn't belong to you," Cynthia said. "Get out of the way and let me try."

She held the handle of the hammer, and the scene that followed had been played out countless times in her dreams—she lifted the hammer with ease.

"Boom--"

With a roar, powerful energy poured out from the warhammer, merging into her body, instantly changing her appearance. The biggest change was that she now had hair, which she weaved into a long Nordic braid.

"Now, I'm Skadi!"