Two weeks had passed since the Battle of New York. Inside the Tower of Fate, Stevan had settled into a routine. Wake up, read dusty magical books, practice spells until his bones ached, eat frozen food, and sleep.
He was getting much stronger. He could now summon golden shields without even thinking about it. He could fly around the giant library without crashing into the floating bookcases. But there was one problem his magic could not easily fix.
Stevan was standing on top of the giant, floating hourglass in the center of the room. He was holding the black Stark smartphone high above his head, waving it around like a crazy person.
"Come on," Stevan muttered, staring at the screen. "Just one bar. Just give me one bar of signal."
"What are you doing, Stevan?" Nabu's voice echoed from the helmet resting on the table below. "Are you practicing a new form of physical meditation? It looks ridiculous."
"I am trying to connect to the invisible web of human knowledge," Stevan called down. "The internet. Tony Stark gave me this phone, but the magical walls of this Tower are blocking the cell service. I haven't watched a movie or checked the news in days. I am bored, Nabu."
"You have the combined knowledge of ten thousand galaxies in this room," Nabu said, sounding offended. "You can read the true history of the universe. Why do you need a mortal machine?"
"Because the history of the universe doesn't have funny cat videos," Stevan sighed, jumping down from the hourglass. He landed softly on the stone floor. "I need a break from ancient Atlantean history."
Stevan looked at the phone. Then he looked at his glowing golden hands.
"Wait a minute," Stevan smiled. "Magic can do anything, right? Can it boost a Wi-Fi signal?"
"Using the power of the Lords of Order to catch a radio wave is an insult to the magic," Nabu grumbled.
"I'll take that as a yes," Stevan grinned.
He placed the phone on the floating wooden table. He closed his eyes and summoned a tiny bit of magic. He drew a small, glowing yellow rune, the rune of 'Connection', in the air right above the phone. He carefully pushed the glowing symbol into the black metal of the phone.
The screen flashed bright gold for a second. Then, the little signal bars in the corner of the screen jumped from zero to full.
"Yes!" Stevan cheered.
Suddenly, the phone started ringing loudly. The caller ID said Stark, Tony.
Stevan picked it up. "Hello?"
"Goldie! Finally!" Tony Stark's voice came through the speaker loud and clear. "I've been trying to call you for three days. Where are you? The moon? Did you go back to Narnia?"
"I'm around," Stevan said, sitting back in the leather chair. "I just moved into a new place. The walls are very thick."
"Right, right. The mysterious wizard routine," Tony said. "Listen, I just wanted to check in. Things are quiet here. The government is still mad at me, but what else is new? How are you doing? Need any money? Or a new cape?"
"I'm good, Tony. Thanks," Stevan smiled. It was nice to hear a friendly voice. "But I am running low on real food. My new place doesn't have a grocery store nearby."
"Say no more," Tony replied instantly. "I'm pinging your phone's GPS right now. Whoa. Massachusetts? You're hiding in the woods in Salem? That's a little cliché for a magic guy, isn't it?"
"It has good leylines," Stevan said defensively.
"Whatever that means. Look, I'm sending a stealth Stark drone your way. It should be there in about an hour. It's packed with the good stuff. Cheeseburgers, fresh shawarma, and a coffee maker. Don't let the squirrels steal it."
"You're a lifesaver, Tony."
"I know. Talk later, Stevan."
The call ended. Stevan looked at the Helmet of Fate. "See, Nabu? The phone is useful. Now we get cheeseburgers."
__________________
Halfway across the world, in Kathmandu, Nepal, the sun was shining brightly over the ancient, hidden temple of Kamar-Taj.
This was the home of the Masters of the Mystic Arts. The sorcerers here had secretly protected Earth from magical and dimensional threats for thousands of years.
Inside a quiet, incense-filled room, a woman with a completely bald head and bright, piercing eyes stood over a large wooden table. She wore simple yellow monk robes. She was the Ancient One, the Sorcerer Supreme of Earth.
Next to her stood Master Mordo, a serious, strong sorcerer dressed in green.
On the table in front of them, a magical, glowing map of the Earth hovered in the air. The map showed the magical leylines of the planet—rivers of golden energy that crisscrossed across the continents.
Usually, the lines flowed smoothly. But today, the Ancient One was frowning.
She pointed a finger at the map. In the northeastern part of the United States, right over Massachusetts, the golden lines were doing something impossible. They were being pulled together, wrapping tightly around a single, massive point of light. It looked like a giant glowing anchor had been dropped into the river of magic.
"What is that, Master?" Mordo asked, looking at the bright spot. "Is it a dimensional breach? Is Dormammu trying to break through?"
"No," the Ancient One said softly. Her voice was calm, but her eyes showed deep concern. "A dimensional breach feels like a tear. A wound. This... this feels like a mountain has been dropped onto the Earth. The magic there is perfectly ordered. It is too perfect. It is heavy, ancient, and incredibly powerful."
"Who could wield such power?" Mordo asked, his hand resting on the magical relic at his belt. "No sorcerer of Kamar-Taj lives there. Salem is a place of old, wild magic."
"The news broadcasts from New York spoke of a man in gold. They called him Doctor Fate," the Ancient One said. She waved her hand over the map. The image zoomed in on the snowy woods of Salem. "He used magic to close the Chitauri portal. But his magic... it is not drawn from other dimensions, like ours. It comes from somewhere else. Somewhere very old."
"Is he a threat?" Mordo asked firmly. "Should we assemble the Masters?"
The Ancient One shook her head slowly. "Do not jump to violence, Mordo. We do not know his intentions. If he truly possesses this level of power, a fight could destroy the entire eastern coast."
She turned away from the map and picked up a simple wooden fan.
"I will go alone," the Ancient One decided. "I must meet this Doctor Fate. I must know if he is a protector of this reality... or its newest conqueror."
She raised her hand. Wearing a silver sling ring on two fingers, she drew a glowing circle of orange sparks in the air. The circle opened, showing a snowy, pine-filled forest on the other side.
The Sorcerer Supreme stepped through the portal and vanished.
___________________
Stevan was outside the Tower.
He was wearing his gray hoodie and a winter coat he had magically created. The Stark Industries stealth drone had just dropped a large metal crate into the snowy field before zooming silently back into the clouds.
Stevan was pulling boxes of cheeseburgers and bags of coffee beans out of the crate, feeling very happy.
Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The air around him felt heavy, like the moment right before a thunderstorm.
"Stevan," Nabu's voice warned sharply from the back of his mind. Even without the helmet on, Nabu could sense it. "Another magic user has entered our territory. A powerful one."
Stevan dropped the box of coffee. He quickly turned around.
Standing in the snow, about thirty feet away, was a bald woman in yellow robes. She had her hands folded neatly behind her back. She looked completely calm, but Stevan could feel the massive aura of magic radiating off her.
The Ancient One, Stevan thought, his heart beating fast. Oh boy. The boss of Earth's magic is here.
Stevan knew he couldn't face her in his sweatpants. He needed Nabu.
He closed his eyes and reached his hand out.
Inside the Tower, the golden Helmet of Fate floated off the table. It turn into gold dust and vanished. In the outside the helmet appeared and landed perfectly in Stevan's waiting hand.
With one smooth motion, Stevan slid the helmet over his head.
The gray hoodie dissolved into the bright blue and gold armor. The Cloak of Destiny flared out behind him, catching the cold wind. He floated two inches off the snow, his glowing white eyes locking onto the Ancient One.
"You have traveled far from Kamar-Taj, Sorcerer," Stevan's deep, double-voice echoed across the snowy field.
The Ancient One raised an eyebrow. She was slightly surprised that he knew where she came from.
"And you have set up a very heavy anchor in my world, Doctor Fate," the Ancient One replied smoothly. "I am the Ancient One. I am the Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension. It is my duty to protect Earth from mystical threats."
"I am not a threat to this Earth," Stevan said, floating slightly closer. "I helped save it from the Chitauri."
"So I saw," the Ancient One nodded gently. "But you wield magic that does not belong here. It is old. Older than the Vishanti. Older than the stars of this universe. You have built a fortress that bends the leylines of the planet. I cannot simply ignore you."
"She speaks with arrogance," Nabu hissed in Stevan's mind. "She calls herself 'Supreme'. Show her the true power of Order. Break her illusions."
No, Nabu! Stevan yelled back in his head. We are not fighting the Ancient One! She's good!.
Stevan held his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "I am here to protect the balance. Just like you. I do not wish to interfere with your work, Sorcerer."
"I would like to believe you," the Ancient One said. Her face was perfectly calm. "But words are easily spoken by tricksters. Let us see what kind of magic you truly command."
The Ancient One suddenly pushed both of her hands forward.
__________________
The world shattered.
It didn't explode; it just broke like a giant piece of glass. The snowy field, the pine trees, and the sky all fractured into a million geometric shapes. Everything flipped upside down and sideways.
Stevan felt himself falling, but gravity was suddenly pulling him sideways into a wall of snow that was now a ceiling.
"Whoa!" Stevan yelled, using the Cloak of Destiny to stop his fall and hover in the crazy, spinning world.
He looked around. The world looked like a giant kaleidoscope. The trees were bending at impossible angles. The sky was broken into moving pieces of glass.
"The Mirror Dimension," Stevan said, recognizing it from the movies.
"Yes," the Ancient One said. She was standing perfectly upside down on a floating piece of rock, looking completely relaxed. "Here, we are separated from the real world. Nothing we do here affects the physical Earth. It is a place for training... and for testing."
She drew her hands back. Glowing orange sparks formed into two long, fiery whips in her hands.
"Defend yourself, Doctor Fate," she said.
She whipped her arms forward. The glowing orange whips stretched across the broken space, flying straight at Stevan.
"A parlor trick," Nabu's voice boomed, completely unimpressed. "She folds space like a child folding paper. Show her what true Order is."
Stevan didn't dodge. He stood his ground in the floating air. He raised his right hand and drew the symbol of the Ankh.
The bright golden cross-and-loop appeared. The orange magical whips hit the golden shield and sparked wildly, but they could not break through.
Stevan pushed his hand forward. "My turn."
He fired three golden energy discs from his gloves. They zoomed across the weird, spinning space toward the Ancient One.
The Ancient One quickly waved her hands. The space around her folded. The floating rock she was standing on suddenly flipped, blocking the golden discs. They exploded against the rock in a shower of gold sparks.
The Ancient One jumped off the rock. She seemed to fly through the broken glass of the dimension. She landed near Stevan and struck at him with a glowing orange fan made of Eldritch magic.
Stevan blocked it with his golden gauntlet. *
CLANG! The magic sparked brightly between them.
She was fast. She was an expert martial artist who had trained for centuries. Stevan was just a kid who had read a lot of books in a magic tower for a few weeks.
She hit him with a blast of force that sent him flying backward into a wall of mirrored ice.
"Your power is immense," the Ancient One said, folding the Mirror Dimension so the wall of ice wrapped around Stevan, trapping him. "But your technique is raw. You fight like a scholar, not a warrior."
Stevan groaned, trapped inside the magical ice.
"Enough," Nabu commanded. The god was tired of playing games. "Anchor the reality."
Stevan stopped struggling against the ice. He closed his eyes. He stopped fighting the Ancient One's magic, and instead, he focused on the very center of the universe. He focused on absolute, unbreakable Order.
"Order does not bend," Stevan's dual-voice echoed, so loud it shook the shattered pieces of the dimension.
Stevan threw both of his arms out wide.
A massive wave of pure, blinding golden light exploded from his body.
The golden light hit the Ancient One's magical ice and instantly melted it. But the light didn't stop there. It washed over the entire Mirror Dimension.
Where the golden light touched the broken, spinning pieces of space, the space stopped spinning. The upside-down trees slammed back into the ground right-side up. The shattered sky fused back together into a smooth, seamless blue.
Stevan's magic wasn't breaking her dimension; it was fixing it. It was forcing the chaotic, folded space to become straight, normal, and perfectly ordered again.
The Ancient One stumbled as the ground flattened out beneath her feet. She looked around in total shock.
In seconds, the crazy, spinning Mirror Dimension was gone. They were back in the normal, quiet, snowy field in Salem.
The Ancient One dropped her glowing orange fans. They fizzled out. She stared at Stevan, her eyes wide.
"You un-folded the Mirror Dimension," she whispered, sounding amazed. "No sorcerer can do that. Not without the Time Stone."
"I told you," Stevan said, floating down to the snow. "My magic is different. I don't draw power from other dimensions. I draw power from the Order of the cosmos itself."
The Ancient One looked at the golden wizard. She saw no evil in him. She saw no dark magic, no desire to conquer. She just saw a massive, ancient power acting as a shield.
She bowed her head slightly. It was a sign of deep respect.
"I apologize for attacking you, Doctor Fate," the Ancient One said sincerely. "It is my duty to test unknown powers. I see now that you are not a threat to this world. You are an anchor for it."
Stevan let out a long breath. The tension in his shoulders disappeared. He had passed the test.
"Apology accepted," Stevan said kindly.
He reached up and pulled the golden helmet off his head. The bright suit melted back into his normal gray hoodie and sweatpants. He ran a hand through his messy hair and smiled.
"I'm Stevan, by the way," he said.
The Ancient One blinked in surprise at his youth, just like Natasha had. But her wise eyes quickly understood. The human was just the vessel; the helmet was the ancient master.
"It is an honor to meet you, Stevan," she smiled warmly.
"Since you came all this way from Nepal," Stevan said, pointing his thumb behind him at the invisible Tower. "Do you want to come inside? I have some tea. And Tony Stark just sent me a box of cheeseburgers."
The Ancient One laughed softly. It was a pleasant sound. "I would very much like a cup of tea, Stevan."
________________
Stevan opened the golden door to the Tower of Fate.
When the Ancient One stepped inside, she did not freeze or pull out a weapon like Natasha had. Instead, she looked at the floating candles, the upside-down stairs, and the endless bookshelves with a look of pure, joyful wonder.
"Fascinating," she whispered, touching one of the glowing books as it floated past her. "The architecture of this space... it exists on three different planes of reality at once. It is beautiful."
"Thanks," Stevan said proudly. "Nabu designed it. I just put the mini-fridge in the bedroom."
They sat on the floating golden cushions. Stevan poured two cups of hot tea. He didn't offer her a cheeseburger, figuring a monk probably didn't want greasy fast food.
"So," Stevan said, taking a sip of his tea. "Now that we know we aren't going to destroy each other... what happens next?"
The Ancient One looked at him over the rim of her teacup.
"Earth has always had two shields," she explained quietly. "The Avengers protect the world from physical threats. The Masters of the Mystic Arts protect the world from magical threats. But the universe is changing, Stevan. The attack on New York was just the beginning."
Stevan nodded. He knew she was talking about Thanos, even if she didn't know his name yet.
"There are threats coming from the stars," Stevan said carefully, not wanting to reveal that he knew the future. "Things that will require more power than S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers have."
"Yes," the Ancient One agreed. "And that is why I am glad you are here. Kamar-Taj cannot fight every battle. The Sorcerer Supreme cannot be everywhere at once."
She placed her teacup on the table.
"I propose an alliance, Doctor Fate," she said seriously. "If a threat arises that Kamar-Taj cannot handle, we will call upon you. And if you ever require the knowledge of the Masters, our doors are open to you."
Stevan smiled brightly. He was a fan of the MCU, and now he was officially making an alliance with the Ancient One. It was the coolest day of his life.
"I accept your alliance," Stevan said. "But let's keep it a secret from Nick Fury for now. He's already having a stressful month."
The Ancient One chuckled. "Agreed. Nick Fury has enough secrets to worry about."
She stood up and bowed again. Stevan stood and bowed back.
She raised her hand with the sling ring and opened a sparkling orange portal. Through it, Stevan could see the courtyard of Kamar-Taj in Nepal.
"Study well, Stevan," the Ancient One said as she stepped toward the portal. "You have great power, but power without wisdom is dangerous."
"I will," Stevan promised.
The Ancient One stepped through, and the portal sparked out of existence.
Stevan was alone in the giant magical library again. But for the first time since he arrived in this universe, he didn't feel lonely. He had the Avengers in New York, he had Tony sending him food, and he had the Sorcerer Supreme as an ally.
He looked at the golden helmet resting on the table.
"Did you hear that, Nabu?" Stevan asked. "We made a friend."
"She is acceptable for a mortal," Nabu's voice grudgingly admitted. "Her tea manners were much better than the spy's. Now, put the helmet back on. You still have magical bees to catch."
Stevan groaned, grabbed a cold cheeseburger from the box, and reached for the Helmet of Fate. His training was far from over.