Plate 123: The Time Gem

That evening, Stephen Strange sat before his laptop, intending to email Christine Palmer but finding himself at a loss for words. Ever since he had driven her away, he had maintained no contact, and his messages had gone unanswered. He typed and deleted, typed and deleted, ultimately unable to commit to sending anything.

Staring at his shattered watch, Stephen felt a wave of profound regret. He should never have broken the heart of the person who had been kindest to him. He closed the laptop, deciding once again that he would not send the email today.

Taking the magical texts he had finished reading, Stephen headed toward the library. A heavy rain was falling outside, but he braved the downpour only to find the library empty. Wong was nowhere to be seen, but his absence was convenient. Stephen had been fascinated by the book with the missing page, the one whose ritual Mordo had refused to explain.

He pulled the Book of Cagliostro from the shelf. Picking up an apple from the table, he took a bite and opened the tome. As he idly flipped through the pages, he suddenly spotted a familiar pattern: an illustration of an amulet that looked like an eye—the very same artifact resting on the pedestal in the center of the room.

Stephen looked up at the octagonal bronze pedestal in the middle of the library. Sure enough, the artifact sat on a stand in the center. He glanced around; the library was still deserted, and there was no telling when Wong would return. He decided to take it and experiment for a while.

He retrieved the relic from the pedestal. It was a pendant on a red cord, which he placed around his neck. Following the instructions in the Book of Cagliostro, he recited the incantation and performed the gestures. The Eye of Agamotto opened successfully, revealing the glowing green gem within.

"Okay, that was simple enough," Stephen remarked, proud of his intuitive grasp of sorcery.

He continued to follow the steps in the book, successfully summoning a magical sigil with his right hand. The second step was a success. He directed his right hand toward the apple he had bitten, gently rotating the sigil clockwise. A miraculous thing happened: the flesh of the bitten apple began to vanish bit by bit, eventually reverting to a whole, unbitten fruit.

Stephen then rotated the sigil counter-clockwise, and the apple withered into a core before, with another shift, returning to its original state.

"My god!" Stephen realized what the Eye of Agamotto truly was: an instrument capable of manipulating the flow of time within a localized space.

He rotated the sigil again, watching the apple rot and wither, then reversed it to restore the fruit. A thought struck him. He set the apple aside, placed the Book of Cagliostro before him, and turned to the torn-out page. He rotated the sigil, and the two missing pages materialized back into the book.

"Dormammu, ritual for eternal life in the Dark Dimension..." Stephen read the content aloud.

*Crackle...*

Suddenly, the space before him shattered, and a mirror dimension manifested.

"No! Tampering with the continuity of possibilities is forbidden!" Mordo and Wong strode in, Mordo shouting a reprimand at Stephen. Stephen immediately ceased his spell, and the mirror dimension vanished.

"I was just doing what was written in the book," Stephen explained.

"And did you read the rest of the book? Did you see the dangers of performing such a ritual?" Wong demanded.

"No, I hadn't reached that part yet."

"Time manipulation creates new branching timelines, which can result in unstable dimensional tears! Spatial paradoxes, time loops! Do you want to be trapped in the same moment forever? Do you want an eternal cycle of repetition?" Mordo scolded him.

"They really should put the warnings before the incantations," Stephen muttered, feeling somewhat defensive.

"Your curiosity will be the death of you! You aren't controlling the time continuum; you are destroying it! We do not interfere with natural law; we defend it," Wong said as he took the Book of Cagliostro from Stephen.

"How did you even do it? How did you understand and learn such a long, complex incantation?" Mordo asked, staring at him.

"I have a photographic memory. That’s how I earned dual doctorates in medicine and research," Stephen said proudly.

"What you just did requires more than just a good memory," Mordo noted.

"You were born for magic!" Wong agreed. Only the Sorcerer Supreme was supposed to be able to use the Eye of Agamotto, yet Stephen had succeeded on his first attempt. He was a genius among geniuses.

"And yet, my hands still tremble," Stephen said, looking at his shaking fingers.

"They are trembling now," Wong observed.

"Won't they tremble like this forever?" Stephen asked.

"We are not prophets; we do not know what the future holds," Mordo replied.

"When will you tell me what we truly are?" Stephen asked.

Mordo and Wong exchanged a look. They decided it was time to share the secrets of Kamar-Taj with him; he had the potential to become a great sorcerer. Wong led Stephen to the center of the library, where three doors, a pedestal, and a celestial globe hanging above stood.

"Superheroes like the Avengers, such as Arthur or Wanda, protect the world from physical threats. We, the masters of the mystic arts, protect the world from magical ones." Wong rotated the bronze pedestal, and the globe above lit up, countless points of light shimmering across its surface.

"There have been many Sorcerers Supreme throughout history, and the Ancient One is the current one. If you trace it back thousands of years, there was a father of magic, the great Agamotto—the very sorcerer who created the gem you so recklessly borrowed," Wong said, looking at Stephen.

Stephen looked down at the Eye of Agamotto around his neck, feeling embarrassed at being caught in the act.

"Agamotto established three sanctuaries in places of great magical power, all located in bustling metropolises," Wong continued. He pointed to a red door in the west. "That door leads to the Hong Kong Sanctum." He pointed to a silver door in the south. "That leads to the New York Sanctum." Finally, he pointed to a golden door. "And that leads to the London Sanctum."

"Together, these sanctuaries form a protective shield for our world." As Wong spoke, he rotated the pedestal, and the globe above was encased in three golden magical sigils.

"The sanctuaries protect the world, and we, the masters, protect the sanctuaries," Mordo added.

"Against what kind of enemy?" Stephen asked.

"Beings from other dimensions who threaten our universe," Wong said.

"Like Dormammu?" Stephen asked.

"Where did you hear that name?" Mordo asked, startled.

"I just read it in the Book of Cagliostro. What’s the matter?" Stephen was puzzled by Mordo's intense reaction.

"Dormammu resides in the Dark Dimension, beyond time. He is a conqueror of universes, a destroyer of worlds! A being of infinite power and infinite desire. He seeks to invade every universe, attempting to absorb all worlds into his Dark Dimension. And what he craves most is Earth." Wong used the globe to demonstrate the nature of the Dark Dimension to Stephen.

"And the page Kaecilius stole?" Stephen asked.

"It contained instructions on how to contact Dormammu! And the ritual to draw power from the Dark Dimension!" Wong finished.