Chapter Text
"Come on, Pal!" She groaned whilst struggling with one of her many relics, Pallium Draconus, Latin for the Dragons' Cloak. It is black, hooded, and has a mind of its own, much like the Cloak of Levitation that currently resides on display in the New York Sanctum. Pal, as she has shortened it to, is much more impressive.
Yes, it flies and can lift one off the ground, but it also possesses special runes written in the blood of a very powerful dragon, giving it several powers and attributes of a dragon. It's burnproof as though it's made purely of dragon scales and, when it flies, it weaves effortlessly against oncoming winds no matter how fierce the gust.
This wasn't her only relic; she had received five others. She had more relics than anyone in the history of the Mystic Arts.
There were the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak that looped around both of her wrists, posing as intricately designed golden cuffs, red garnet gems gleaming in the centre of each of them.
The Sphere of Evanescence sat comfortably in her pocket; if she turned its northern hemisphere left, it created a bubble and anyone remaining on the outside couldn’t see or hear anything happening inside, however, if she turned it in the opposite direction, it was only her who became invisible to everyone else.
A sword sat in its sheath at her waist, the Dragonfang Blade. It had a thin but indestructible blade carved out of a fang from the Queen of Dragons, yet another mighty dragon, its hilt shaped as outspread dragon wings. The sword’s existence was in complete contradiction to Pal and the cloak kept its distance from the weapon whenever possible.
There were two other relics that she had left behind in her room: The Black Ring of the Krai and the Staff of the Living Tribunal.
The Black Ring of the Krai summoned a demonic entity, the Dreaded Krai. She wasn’t entirely sure why the relic found its way to her. She’d woken up one morning and it had been sitting on her windowsill. She’d slipped it on, and chaos ensued, she hasn’t called upon the creature since. She often had nightmares of the day she spent trying not to be mauled by the pale, distorted creature.
She left the Staff of the Living Tribunal mounted on her wall, promising herself she wouldn’t use it for at least three days as a mark of respect for its previous owner who had died only two days prior.
Just moments ago, her feet almost flew out from under her as she walked the halls. Pal had wrapped itself around the doorknob of Master Mordo's room.
"He's dead," she said quietly, hoping to soothe the cloak. "He's not coming back, come on, Master Kahn needs to move in here today and you’ll throw my entire schedule off."
Pal didn't budge, instead it detached from her and constricted firmly around the knob in a crushing embrace.
"You know, I wonder if the Dragonfang Blade could cut through you," she mused. She hated threatening the beloved cloak but sometimes it was the only way to break it out of the fits of passion it was prone to.
The cloak ruffled in shock and shot to her shoulders, trembling as it sat there.
"Don't worry, I didn't really mean it," she gently assured the cloak, chuckling. "Come on, Mordo's rounds aren't going to do themselves."
And with that, she walked through Kamar-Taj and exited into the bustling streets of Kathmandu.
After an hour of making sure the protective runes that surrounded Kamar-Taj were working fine she turned back and began the returning trek. Whilst wading through the crowds, she overheard a man asking strangers about the exact place she was headed. His hair was scruffy and unkempt, and his hands shook violently as he tried to communicate with people who spoke little English. She followed behind him, curious.
After a few minutes, he took a wrong turn, and she was about to redirect him when a trio of men cornered him in a side street. With an inwards sigh, she extracted the Sphere of Evanescence from her pocket and, turning the northern hemisphere to the right, vanished. She slipped into the side street, standing guard, assessing the situation. It was no shock to her seeing a criminal act such as mugging foreigners, it happened all the time.
As the group of men closed in on him, the scruffy man addressed them, "Look, guys, I don’t have any money. I’m just trying to find Kamar-Taj, maybe you’ve seen it?”
The men ignored him and eyed him up maliciously, one man snickered at the name, she recognised him. With a sneer, he said, "Your watch."
"No, please," the scruffy man begged. "It's all I have left."
"Your watch."
That was all he got in return.
The scruffy man looked at the ground.
She predicted his next move and within seconds, she had deactivated the Sphere of Evanescence and moved to the scruffy man's side. The scruffy man was swinging his arm around to strike the man demanding his watch. She grabbed him by the wrist and his eyes, wide with shock, flicked to her, wondering where she came from.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She warned, as if talking to an unruly child. He stared, gobsmacked, but she ignored his stricken expression and focused on his hand. It was scarred and shakey, and as his right hand trembled in her grasp, her eyes traced the incisions that ran right over the bones. Some still had stitches in them. "Not so soon after surgery." The man gaped at the smirk that was visible under her hood. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it wordlessly. She let go of his wrist and he held it to his chest with another shaking and scarred hand. You turned to the man making the demands and said, "Picking on the tourists now, are we, Kalu?"
"What's it to you?" Kalu's lips curled back in distaste, either he was failing at an evil grin or he was... baring his teeth at her? Ew. "Eris," he added, his tone was… threatening? All it achieved was a bored yawn.
"That’s my name. Please, don’t ever say it again.” She rolled her eyes. “How many times do I have to beat you and your friends up before you stop stealing from others and get an honest job? Perhaps one at your fathers business?" She asked, hands resting on her hips, she knew he hated it. He once claimed doing so made her look snobby. She’s not entirely sure why he thought his opinion mattered to her.
"You know these guys?" The scruffy man asked.
"Yes," Kalu drawled, and his tone gave it all away, there were a few sniggers and the man with the scarred hands let out a quiet 'oh'. "We used to have a lovely time too."
"Emphasis on the used to,” Eris snapped. “Good God, you must be taking the piss, are you still bitchy about that?" This man has serious issues. "Didn't I tell you last time? It was a mistake, I was 18, I had been here for three years, and you were the first half-decent guy that walked into the bar. Get over it already."
"I am over it!" Kalu insisted. She just looked at him silently, shaking her head in pity. this made him seethe. "I hate you."
Her eyebrow raises. "Sure, you do. And is that also why when you saw me trailing this guy, you decided to corner him?"
"I-I, no." He hesitantly denied. You hummed in agreement as if his answer had been an affirmative.
"You were following me? Are you a spy? Is that what the hood is for?" The scruffy man reached up for her hood and she didn't even turn her head in his direction before catching his wrist again, avoiding his mutilated hands.
"Do me a favour,” she said sharply, finally moving her glare away from Kalu to pierce the scruffy man. “Put a sock in it. Don't say or do anything. Don't. Interfere." Her tone was calm, deadly calm.
"Why should I?" He challenged. Bloody self-absorbed sod, she thought, hoping that maybe he’d read the irritation in her eyes and shut up.
"Arrogant one, aren't you?" She looked him up and down. "What's your name?"
"Doctor Stephen Strange." He held himself a little bit higher when he gave his title. Though the name did sound familiar.
"Proud too. Here, Strange, let me put it this way: I could leave you here to be beaten and robbed by these punks. Or… I could save your ass and take you to Kamar-Taj and you'd be none the wiser to the pain these guys could inflict upon your sorry soul." She pulled her hood off, revealing long black hair that tumbled down to form curtains around her face. She dropped his wrist once more and pulled her hair back, twisting it into a bun at the base of her neck. Strange's eyes were wide as he took her features in. "Any questions?" He shook his head placidly. "Piece of cake. Now, Kalu, here's the thing, I'm late for class and as much as I'd love to kick your ass again, I have to dash."
"Still learning that cultish crap?" Kalu taunted and she scoffed.
"No, of course not." She said like he was ridiculous. "I'm teaching it."
"Oh, forgive me, Master Eris." Kalu gave a sarcastic bow. She’d probably find him funny if he wasn’t so goddamn annoying. "I guess your students will just have to wait until you can walk again."
What an excellent idea.
"Have it your way," she smirked, her fingertips brushed the hilt of her sword. "A lot has happened since we last got together, I’ve been chosen by a few more ‘cult’ relics, and this one…" she drawled whilst unsheathing the Dragonfang Blade. "I have just been itching to try out."
None of the men around her were armed and one of them nudged the man next to him. Both fled. Now it was just you, Strange, and Kalu.
Kalu tried to look like he wasn’t shitting his pants. "You won't use it, you’re bluffing."
"Your right. I won't." She said as she dropped the sword in the dirt. Kalu grinned, as if he’d already won the fight. "I don’t need to,” she added, and his face fell. “Don't worry, I'll be nice and I won't use magic."
She tapped the corner of her cloak, it slipped out from under her fingers and lifted off her shoulders to hover next to Strange, hood up as if she were still in it and standing next to him. She internally chuckled to herself as Strange poked it and it turned to him in question. Amusing, she thought.
As she watched Strange and Pal, Kalu decided to seize his chance to gain the upper hand. With a sudden thump, he took her off her feet and slammed her to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Strange rush forward to help. Even though Kalu had her pinned and she was severely winded, she clicked her tongue, and the cloak stopped him. Pal held him back as Strange struggled against it. Upon landing, a large portion of Kalu’s weight fell on her shoulders and there came a worrying series of cracks.
Agony, unlike anything she’d ever felt before, seared through her chest like lightning, making all the muscles in her back tense into knots. Her leg gave an involuntary kick, a violent spasm in reaction to the pain. The doctor winced at the sound the bone made and struggled even harder to break free of the cloak. But, aside from a worried grimace, she refused to show Kalu any other sign of feeling the broken bone, she just gritted her teeth until the stars disappeared from her vision. If she did not releave the pressure on her collarbones soon, whatever has been broken could become severely displaced. So, she drove her knee up in between his legs and pushed him off her as best she could. She got to her feet, the movement making her head pound.
“You have at least improved since last time… Also, I may have lied when I said I wouldn’t use magic." She snarled, angered more by the fact she sounded breathless than that the pathetic man ate her feet had broken one of her bones. She called Pal over, and Strange fell forward onto his knees. "Dislocate his ankles." She ordered and Pal wrapped itself around one of Kalu’s feet. One by one they both dislocated with a pop. Kalu cried out in agony and writhed only to find writhing caused more waves of pain.
"Now," she started, ignoring the white-hot shard of concentrated starfire searing through her shoulder, she crouched down beside Kalu who was trying to clutch his feet and crotch at the same time. "You'll live… but you'll likely be robbed of everything on you whilst crawling home. Let this be a reminder to stop trying to get my attention. Next time, if you are dumb enough to come after me again, I will gut you like a fish." Leaving Kalu crippled on the ground, she turned to Strange as her cloak returned to your shoulders, instinctively hovering just above the one that was already beginning to swell. "Let's go.”
"How did you-?" Strange looked at the space above her head, looking for wires and when he found none, he started again. "How is this possible?"
"Enough questions." She pressed the fingers of her right hand against her forehead as her left arm hung limply at her side. This guy is going to give me a headache, she thought, oh wait, I already have one. I need to get this bone checked out. "Follow me and try to keep up. Cheerio!" She added, calling over her shoulder to Kalu.
Strange looked at her with concern in his eyes as she slowly and carefully bent down and picked her sword up off the ground. “Are you alright?”
"That's a question." She began the trek back to Kamar-Taj, trying her best to ignore Strange who had a tidal wave of queries flowing from his mouth, and not bump into anyone too hard. When they were five minutes away from Kamar-Taj, she couldn't take it any more. "Look," she snapped, turning her head and glaring at him, the pain blazing from her collar bone only fuelling her vexation. "I don't run Kamar-Taj. My teacher, the Ancient One, will answer all your questions."
The doctor scoffed, "The Ancient One? What's his real name."
"Strange, I have been doing this a long time, I know what you're here for. You want a miracle, so, we’ll give you a miracle, but I'll also give you some advice. Forget everything you think you know." She said and he watched her carefully as they kept walking. "I knew a man. He too was disrespectful. Most of them were, to be honest-"
Strange interrupted her. "And you weren't?"
"No." She retorted harshly, her tone like burning acid. "I knew what I was getting into, and I risked my life to get to where I am now. Everyone comes here looking for the surface stuff, the miracles, and then when they see deeper, they stop, take their miracle, and settle down. Broken people come here, Strange, broken people with nothing to lose. I gave it all up to be here, my family, my friends, what I used to call reality. At a young age, too."
Strange trudged beside her in silence until she turned down the street to one of the entrances to Kamar-Taj. "Here we are." She stopped in front of the doors.
Strange looked around and at the door, "Really? Are you sure you got the right place?" He asked.
"Of course I did, you'd think a teacher would know where her classroom is." He stared blankly.
"It's just that... that one looks a little more... Kamar-Taj-y." She gave him a look that said, 'Really?', because he had just pointed to a place where a few beggars were squatting outside the door, definitely-incense smoke pouring out the windows. "Right, sorry… forget what I know and all that..."
"That was very insulting." She said, over-seriously, giving him a look of exaggerated anger. "Is that what you expect us at Kamar-Taj to be like?”
Strange’s expression turned horrified. "No, I didn't mean-"
"It's fine." She said before he could start grovelling, "But Kamar-Taj is my home, and the Masters my family. It would do you well not to insult it."
"I'm sorry." She peered at Strange for a long second and then opened the door to Kamar-Taj.
Eris led him through the entrance hallway, which wasn't all that impressive, to the room the where Ancient One usually greeted newcomers and potential students. When they arrived, Master Hamir was sitting on a chair reading a book, a low table bearing tea and books at his knees. Her eyes met Master Hamir’s and then his gaze flickered down to her shoulder. She followed his gaze and briefly acknowledged that it had swelled considerably. She expertly pushed away any surprise she felt, if her shoulder aspired to win the biggest pumpkin contest, so be it. “It's fine,” she mouthed.
Strange thanked him and she made no effort to tell him that one of the people taking his battered coat was the Ancient One. "Oh, so that's a thing," He muttered and looked back to Master Hamir, "Thank you for..." but he trailed off as one of the students, Jasmina, gave him a ceramic cup. "Hello, thank you. And thank you." Strange said as the Ancient One started pouring tea into the cup he had been given. "Thank you..." He raised his voice, but Master Hamir got up and closed his book, throwing Eris a concerned glance before walking out of the room. "Ancient One, for seeing me…" Strange trailed off, clearly confused.
"You are very welcome." The Ancient One said after pouring his tea. Strange looked at her with a startled expression and then looked at Eris, then back to The Ancient One again. Eris couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice as she introduced him to the Ancient One, the look on his face was pure gold. "Thank you, Master Knight. Thank you, Master Hamir." Eris went to stand by the door until the Ancient One might have use of her as Master Hamir disappeared through the doorway. "Mr Strange." The Ancient One greeted, but he interrupted.
"Doctor, actually."
Eris couldn’t suppress an eyeroll. Strange took a sip of tea as the Ancient One said, "No, not anymore, surely." Strange choked slightly on his tea and politely tried to play it off. "Isn't that why you're here?" He lowered the cup and looked hurt. "You've undergone many procedures. Seven, right?" The Ancient One moved away to put the brass teapot down.
"Yeah," Strange confirmed absent-mindedly as she placed the teapot on the table. "It's good tea."
"Yes." She said simply, Strange glanced at Eris for a second. Eris could smell the conversational winds about to change.
"Did you heal a man by the name of Pangborn?" He inquired as the Ancient One went behind the table and began to assemble a cup of tea for Eris. "A paralysed man?"
"In a way." The Ancient One said as she worked.
"You helped him to walk again." He continued.
"Yes." She affirmed, pouring steaming tea from a clay pot.
"How did you correct a C7-C8 spinal cord injury?"
Mr Brainy, Eris thought.
"I didn't correct it." The Ancient One said simply as if talking to a child. "He couldn't walk. I convinced him he could."
"You're not suggesting it was psychosomatic?" Strange asked, his tone verging on appalled.
"No." She said as she stirred the tea. "Tell me, Mr Strange, when you reattach a severed nerve, is it you who heals it back together or the body?"
"It's the cells." Strange said, bringing technicality into the conversation.
The Ancient One nodded, "The cells are only programmed to put themselves back together in very specific ways."
"Right." Strange coaxed, unhappy with the rate at which she was revealing the information he sought.
"What if I told you, your own body can be convinced to put itself together in all sorts of ways?" She proposed, using her spoon to animate what she was saying.
Strange moved closer, now just on the other side of the table. "You're talking about cellular regeneration." He breathed, "That's bleeding edge medical technology." He followed as the Ancient One walked over to Eris and handed her the cup of tea. She mouthed 'thank you' with a bow of her head and wasted no time extracting paracetamol tablets from her pocket, popping a few into her mouth and guzzling her tea until all the pills went down. She briefly wondered if mixing the medicine with tea would have any negative effects, but the pain had been festering on the journey. "Is that why you're out here, working without a governing medical board? Just how experimental is your treatment?"
The Ancient One turned to Strange with a "Quite."
"So, you've figured out a way to reprogram nerve cells to self-heal?"
"No, Mr Strange." She said and took a step closer; Eris had finished her tea and went to place it down on the table, lingering there as her mentor continued. "I know how to reorient the spirit to better heal the body."
"The spirit to heal the body?" Strange said blankly.
"That's right." She affirmed.
"No. Alright," Strange said, Eris could see the wheels turning in his head, see how hard it was for him to not dismiss what she was saying as fantasy. "How do we do that? Where do we start?"
Desperate, she thought, he doesn't believe but he wants his miracle so very bad.
The Ancient One motioned for Eris to fetch the book that contained the body maps. This will go down well. But she grabbed it off the table anyways and opened it to the page that displayed the Chakra map. Eris stood in front of him, the Ancient One hovering nearby, and grinned at the face he made when she turned the book around and he saw the map.
"Don't like that map." Eris said over the book.
"Oh, no." Strange said, "It's really good... It's just, I've seen it before... in gift shops."
Eris laughed and moved to his side turning the page. "And what about this one?" The Ancient One asked, standing on Strange’s other side. The next page was a map that showed different pressure points on the body.
"Acupuncture," he said, his voice flat. "Great."
"Yeah?" Eris hummed. "What about that one?" She flipped the page over to the map with a black background and a body in white.
"Showing me an MRI scan." He turned his back to Eris and faced the Ancient One. "I don't believe this." He walked away and started pacing the room as Eris put the book back in its original spot and slumped in the chair Master Hamir had occupied earlier. Her shoulder was killing her.
The Ancient One folded her hands behind her back. "Each of those maps were drawn up by someone who could see in part, but not the whole."
Strange, stopped pacing, his hands behind his head, still trembling. "I spent my last dollar getting here, a one-way ticket. And you're talking to me about healing through belief?"
Eris shook her head; she knew he wouldn't understand. The Ancient One just looked at him.
"You are a man looking at the world through a keyhole." She said and Strange scoffed but she continued mercilessly. "You have spent your whole life trying to widen that keyhole... To see more, to know more. But now upon hearing that it can be widened, in ways you never imagined, you reject the possibility.”
"No," Strange interjected, temper flaring. "I reject it because I do not believe in fairytales, about chakras or energy, or the power of belief. There is no such thing as spirit! We are made of matter and nothing more. You're just another tiny, momentary speck within an indifferent universe."
"You think too little of yourself." The Ancient One objected.
"Oh, you think you see through me, do you? Well, you don't." He said moving in closer to the Ancient One. She looked over at Eris and gave her a slight nod that went straight over Strange's head.
Yes! Eris thought, standing, I love this part! It was enough for her to momentarily forget about her shoulder pain.
"I don't know what kind of acrobatic tricks you teach your student here or how you get the wires to look invisible and the projections look real. But I see through you!" Strange poked a finger at the Ancient One and Pal raised Eris, lifting her effortlessly across the room. She landed gracefully and silently behind Strange, Pal ruffling slightly with pride as it tended to do. The Ancient One grabbed the wrist of the hand that had jabbed at her and pushed hard on his chest. Strange's body would have fallen back and hit the floor had Eris not caught it with her uninjured arm and righted it before his astral form returned to his body.
With a jolt, Strange gasped as if he hadn't been breathing for the past five minutes. "What did you do to me?"
Eris gripped his shoulder with one hand to make sure he didn't pass out and hit his head. It's happened before.
"She pushed your astral form out of your physical form." She told him.
Strange was breathing heavily and she squeezed his shoulder, trying to keep him conscious. He was looking around the room, still looking for carnival tricks and hidden mirrors, maybe waiting for someone to jump out and say he was being punked. "What's in that tea?" He asked shakily. "Psilocybin? LSD?"
"It's just tea..." The Ancient One replied, and then added. "With a little bit of honey."
"What just happened?" Strange exhaled a rush of air and looked over his shoulder, probably half expecting his astral form to still be there.
"For a moment, you entered the astral dimension." The Ancient One explained, regaining Stephen's attention.
"The what?"
"A place where the soul exists apart from the body." Eris answered. He looked at her as if just realising she was there, his expression dazed and confused. Perhaps he really was going to pass out.
"How did you-?" He began, thought better of it, then started again. "Why are you doing this to me?"
"To show you just how much you don't know." The Ancient One said. Strange turned to her and she pressed her thumb to his forehead. "Open your eye." Eris summoned the chair to her hand and positioned it beneath him as he fell backwards. His body twitched and convulsed sporadically so she pulled his sleeve back and pressed two fingers to the pulse under his wrist, her other hand snaked under his shirt to rest above his heart. Eris monitored both.
"His heart rate is getting dangerously high," she informed the Ancient One.
The Ancient One pulled him back to consciousness. Stephen's eyes snapped open and he looked at the two women, alarmed. "He seems alright to me." Eris backed off because this time when he was pushed back into unconsciousness, his body lifted off the ground. The Ancient One's voice echoed around the room when she spoke next.
"You think you know how the world works? Do you think that this material universe is all there is? What is real? What mysteries lie beyond the reach of your senses? At the root of existence mind and matter meet. Thoughts shape reality. This universe is only one of an infinite number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and life-giving. Others filled with malice and hunger. A dark place where powers older than time lie ravenous and waiting. Who are you in this vast multiverse, Mr Strange?"
Everything went quiet and then, suddenly, Stephen's body fell and he landed on his hands and knees, knocking the chair to the floor.
"Have you seen that before in a gift shop?" The Ancient One asked.
Steven sat back on his heels slowly and shaking, chest heaving. He didn't answer her but said, "Teach me."
"No."
***
The Ancient One had just finished up a meeting with the Masters of the London, New York, and Hong Kong Sanctum when Eris walked in through the library. Wong spotted her and waved before disappearing through the doors to the Hong Kong Sanctum.
"You think I was wrong to cast him out?" The Ancient One asked but it sounded like more of a statement.
Eris shrugs in response, finally able to move her shoulder without pain after a visit to the medical wing. "Five hours later, he's still on your doorstep," she says and forces herself to say the next part. "There's a... strength to him."
"Don't worry, you're still the most gifted student I've ever had. Mordo must have thought so too." Eris knew what she meant, sometimes relics can carry out the last wish of their previous owner. Mordo must have wanted her to have it. "He believed in you, Eris."
"Thank you."
"Stubbornness, arrogance, ambition. I've seen it all before."
"He reminds you of Kaecilius?" Eris asked incredulously. "I knew Kaecilius was weird the moment I met him."
"Yes," The Ancient One murmured, turning a Rune Plate beneath the Eye of Agamotto, she had her head tilted right back, looking up at the Orb of Agamotto. "You were quite the prophet with that one."
"Exactly," Eris said making her point."With Kaecilius I had a gut feeling. This time I have a gut feeling, a better one."
The Ancient One sighed as she studied the stability of the mystical shields. "And you're sure those are not just butterflies?" A smile played on her lips.
"Very funny." Eris dismissed the concept. "Well, the rules say you can't date a student, so that's not going to happen."
"Do you want it to happen?" The Ancient One always knew what questions to ask.
"No." She denied, but her stomach did flips at the simple lie.
The Ancient One sighed again. "I cannot lead another gifted student to power only to lose him to the darkness."
"You didn't lose me. Or Mordo. He wanted the power to defeat his enemies, you gave him the power to defeat his demons and to live within the natural law."
"We never lose our demons, Eris, we simply learn to live above them."
"Kaecilius still has the stolen pages. If he deciphers them he could bring ruin upon us all. There could be dark days ahead. Not that a woman like me couldn't take down Kaecilius, but perhaps Kamar-Taj could use a man like Strange."
"Alright... just don't get distracted. I need to get some sleep." she said, looking exhausted. "Go fetch Strange and get him settled into an unused room."
"Rest well, Anne."
"You too, Eris." The Ancient One walked out and Eris couldn't help but do a little dance before heading to the foyer to let Stephen in.
When she opened the door, Stephen fell inside and Pal considerately stopped him from smacking his head on the floor. "Thanks." Stephen mutters.
"Come on, you lucky sod, let's get you to Uncle Ned." She said, bending down and helping him up by his elbows. His skin was cold from the evening chill that usually caught first-time visitors off-guard.
"Who's Uncle Ned?" Eris grinned at his intrigue and explained that it was an English expression for bed.
Stephen gave an involuntary shiver. "Don't be alarmed," she warned. "My cloak is going to warm you up, it's brass monkeys out there." Stephen looked at her blankly. "It's, uh, really cold." On her whistle, Pal wrapped itself around Stephen. He sighed contentedly as tendrils of steam curled out from underneath the cloak. Eris had to admit, he looked awfully like a happy puppy as he shuffled behind her, leaving a trail of steam in his wake. She led him through the foyer and to the east wing of Kamar-Taj, where the students sleep.
"How is this possible?" Stephen asked as she guided him through the hallways.
"Pallium Draconus, Pal for short." She began as she turned a corner. This was her favourite story to tell. "Latin for 'The Dragon's Cloak'. There's a universe, a great distance from us, where dragons reign supreme. Generations ago, the great Dragon King Yvam fell in love with a human, a powerful sorceress from this Earth. She visited, travelling throughout the multiverse to see him. Sadly, King Yvam was already married to a fierce dragoness, Queen Azodi, and the Sorceress was forcibly engaged to another sorcerer, so they kept their love secret.
"One unfortunate day, she forgot to close the portal she had used to get to King Yvam's universe and her fiance came home and followed her through it. He saw the affair and was outraged. He sought out Queen Azodi and told her of the King's deception. The sorcerer desired revenge and Queen Azodi had wanted the throne for herself for hundreds of years, so when the sorcerer suggested they killed King Yvam she agreed.
"Queen Azodi gave him one of her teeth and the sorcerer carved it into the Dragonfang blade, a sword that could slice through anything, even the tough scales of a dragon. The sorcerer took the Dragonfang blade and that night, whilst the Dragon King slept, drove it into his heart, and fled. As Yvam lay there dying, sword still protruding out of him, the sorceress came to say a last goodbye before she left for home.
"Her heart broke upon seeing the sight of her lover, the life ebbing away from him. She wept and Yvam held her close, in his last minutes, Yvam took her cloak and embued the last of his power and soul in it, she named it Pallium Draconus. It can regulate heat, fly against the strongest of winds, lift you off the ground," Pal lifted Stephen and touched him back down earning it a 'Woah'.
"It is fireproof and if you tried to run any blade that wasn't the Dragonfang Blade through it, you'd find that it is as indestructible as dragon scales. It also has a mind of its own and some say it has the personality of King Yvam himself. But anyways... here we are."
The two of them had rounded a corner into a hallway lined with doors. "The east wing. The students quarter."
"Hold on," Stephen says, trudging alongside her as she tried to figure out a way to know which room was free without having to knock on each door and disturb the students' sleep or meditation. "Students quarters?"
"You are a student, are you not?"
"I suppose, but I'm not a child." Stephen all but pouted.
"I'll take the cloak back."
Stephen whined and recoiled from you, not unlike a little boy. Eris chuckled at his reaction and he straightened, "Fair game."
"You've been through a lot recently, it is perfectly natural for you to act like a child." She comforted. "I should know; when I was in your position I was a child. Anyways, you're not a master, so you have to sleep here." She led him to the end of the hallway. She opened the last door hoping no one was in there. Thankfully, it was empty. She exhaled only just realising she'd been holding her breath. She pushed the door open wider so Stephen, still wrapped in Pal, could pass through into the room.
It was small and only had enough space for a single bed, which was pressed up in the back corner, a study table squeezed in the space between the end of the bed and the wall. There was a window on the left wall, above the desk and bed. Across the room, the right wall held two doors the one further back leading to a bathroom and the closest one leading to a small closet. The bed was stripped, just a bare mattress.
Stephen stood in the middle of the room and looked around. He didn't look impressed. Eris whistled to Pal and the cloak unravelled itself from Stephen and stood to attention, leaving Stephen dazed and tottering after being suddenly spun around. "Go get some fresh sheets from the laundry and warm them up on the way, thanks." She instructed Pal, it ruffled and hurtled down the hallway taking the corner at an unnatural speed. Stephen emerged from the closet holding a small slip of paper. She recognised it instantly, some of the ink had bled through the page, showing a rough outline of the word written on the other side. 'Şhค๓๖คllค.'
"What's this? My mantra?" Stephen said, voice riddled with sarcasm.
Eris laughed, a snort escaping her. The corners of Stephen's lips twitched upwards. "That's the wifi password," she replied, fighting to stop herself from losing it. "We're not savages."
Pal returned, curled around a fresh set of sheets, warming them. It went to work, attempting to tuck in the fitted sheets all by itself. Eris got up to help and Stephen couldn't tear his eyes away from the cloak. "That is so weird." Pal ruffled in disdain as if to say, 'Deal with it.'
Eris smiled as she tucked the corner of the covers in. Stephen dumped his backpack onto his desk chair. "You'll get used to it. There you go," she said and straightened up. She raised her left hand, snapped her fingers, and opened her palm again. Stephen's eyes widened as a box of matches materialised in her hand. Eris slipped a match out of the box and struck it against the side of the box, she used it to light a stick of incense. The sweet scent of the smoke filled her nostrils and she let a tendril curl around her finger. It danced up her hand, winding around her wrist.
Playfully, she sent it towards Stephen, who'd been gazing at her hands, a mystified glint in his eye. He raised a quivering finger and her mind guided the incense smoke to his outstretched hand. The smoke coiled around his finger for a second before it densified and took the form of a man with a skateboard. The miniature smoke man was on Stephen's fingernail, he put his tiny skateboard down and rode it towards the raised surgical scar that ran down his finger. The small man jumped and rode down the scar as if it were a rail, throwing his arms out to keep his balance.
"Ha, ha," Stephen said, sarcastically, "Very funny." He carefully and gently shook his hand and the smoke man dispersed, Eris secretly willed the smoke to blow up into his face. Stephen's nose crinkled as the smoke drifted up and wafted across his features. However, the smoke went rouge and gathered behind Stephen's head, forming hearts. She glared at the smoke, "What-?" Stephen turned to look over his shoulder, but she willed the smoke to disperse before he could get a good look at it.
"Bathe. Rest." Eris continued, somewhat casually, drawing his attention back to her. She gave a quick whistle and Pal rested on her shoulders again as she headed for the door. "Meditate, if you even know how to," she teased. "I'll come for you in the morning to show you around and start on your lessons."
She'd only just turned the doorknob when Stephen said, "Eris?"
She opened the door, but turned and lent against the door frame. "Yes?"
"Thank you," he said, looking at her like she was a solid rock in the middle of a stormy sea, a small smile creeping across his features. Pal ruffled again. "And, uh, thank you, too." Stephen awkwardly added to the cloak.
Eris mirrored his smile, "You're welcome," she said, voice softer than she would have preferred. "Now," she redirected her voice back to normal. "I'm off to Bedfordshire." A pause. "Bed." You corrected and Stephen nodded quietly, "I suggest you get some rest. You don't become a Master of the Mystic Arts by skiving off." Another confused look, you sighed. "Being lazy."
Stephen chuckled, mentally making notes of her strange British vocabulary, "Goodnight, Eris."
"Night, Strange." Eris suppressed a smile but couldn't hide it from her tone. Pal quivered its goodbye and she closed the door, chuckling.
Eris went in the direction of the library. All was silent when she arrived.
"Wong?" She called, but there was no answer, he must still be in the Hong Kong sanctum.
Great. No witnesses.