As Wanda followed the unknown sorceress into the place, she was greeted by the archaic architecture of Kamar Taj with the walls filled with murals and certain areas being separated by criss-cross patterned walls, "Yeah, this interior seems more like what I expected when I came here..." She commented while looking around.
"Please don't be disrespectful, Miss Avenger." The sorceress said her first conversational words to Wanda since their initial meeting.
"Oh, you do know. I was wondering about that..." Wanda didn't seem surprised that her identity was known. All of the Avengers were very high profile, "I hope you aren't going to call the authorities..." She said nonchalantly and unthreateningly. She wouldn't care if they did tell on her, she would be gone before they realized it.
"We would rather not have foreign invaders inside Kamar Taj." The sorceress said as she stopped in front of a door, "Inside, you will meet the master of Kamar Taj." She didn't show any sign of entering and gestured for Wanda to enter.
Wanda shrugged and pushed open the door. As she walked in, she saw a bald relatively chubby man sitting on what seemed like a tatami mat while drinking tea, "Hello there..." Wanda felt a little awkward disturbing the master's tea break.
"Miss Maximoff." The man said.
"Master..." Wanda trailed off, hoping that the man would give her his name.
"I am Wong. You can refer to me as Master Wong. I am a Master of the Mystic Arts. Please, do tell, what brings you to our humble abode?" Wong asked as he put down the tea and stood up.
"Well, this may sound weird, but my power led me here..." Wanda trailed off while feeling awkward, "I felt like many of my questions would be answered if I came here..." She said seriously while ignoring Alex who was laughing in her head.
"Well, I can't say you are the first one to come here seeking answers." Wong shrugged, "I'm already aware of your potential with magic, so I'm going to skip the testing phase and just accept you in. I'll call in one of the disciples and they'll take you to your dorm where you can settle in." He informed her before calling someone in.
...
"This is the wifi password." The man handed Wanda a piece of paper and said, "Please be up at 8 tomorrow morning, Master Wong will be introducing you to the Sorcerer Supreme along with your mentor." He told her before hesitating for a moment.
"What is it?" Wanda noticed that man's hesitation.
"I don't know if it's appropriate but, can I get your autograph? I'm a big fan..." He said with some embarrassment.
"Oh..." Wanda almost laughed at the man's embarrassment and said, "It's no problem. Do you have something for me to sign?" She asked.
He handed her a card that had what was presumably a fanart of her fighting some of Ultron's robots, "This is so nice..." She gushed as she noticed that it was hand-drawn. Conjuring a pen to sign the card, she handed it back to him.
The guy who was just about to hand her a pen stopped in the middle of his actions, "Thank you." He happily took back the card.
"It's no problem," Wanda smiled dismissively.
"I won't take up much more of your time..." He said before stepping out of the dorm.
"He was so nice..." Wanda said with an edge to her tone.
[Then why don't you bond with him then...] Alex grumbled.
[Is my Alex jealous.] Wanda said with a teasing tone as she fell down on the bed with one of her legs hanging from the side and touching the ground.
[Not really. I'm just satisfying your attempt to make me jealous. Empathetic bond, remember?] He said with a laugh.
[No fun...] Wanda pouted before saying, [This was surprisingly easy...]
[I know, right? It felt a bit too easy, honesty.] Alex agreed with her.
[It's good enough really. As long as they can give us access to the library, I think it will be more than enough.] Wanda told him as she sat up and pulled her laptop out. She wanted to browse some movies to watch. She wouldn't be having her initiation until tomorrow and since Alex couldn't come out, she didn't have anything better to do.
...
The next morning, "Miss Wanda Maximoff." Wanda was greeted by a tall man with a goatee.
"You must be the Sorcerer Supreme." Wanda greeted Dr. Strange with a little smile as the man gave her an apprehensive look. It was as if he could feel her limitless energy and potential.
"May I know why you are here?" He was still polite to her.
"As I told Wong yesterday. My powers led me to this place and I felt that I may be able to get some answers about myself and my powers. I call it a journey of self-discovery and that's the truth." Wanda told them the half-truth. She just needed to hide Alex's presence.
"I can't tell if you're lying or not." Strange thought for a moment, "Fine, you will be assigned a master who will give you some of your basic training. You will also have access to the library which will allow you to take your knowledge beyond what your master will be teaching you." He sighed.
"I appreciate your trust." Wanda nodded.
"Don't make me regret it," He said, "Your power... It's something I cannot currently fathom... I don't think you'll ever need to siphon energy off of dimensions to cast spells. I hope you can use them for good." Strange looked at her with an imploring look.
"Of course. I'm an Avenger. The team might be going through a rough patch, but that doesn't mean I've suddenly become a mass murderer." She said.
"Good." He nodded, "Try not to make a mess. I'd rather not have to take care of you." Strange said with a deep tone before casting a portal and walking through it.n0VELusB.C0m
"He's new, isn't he?" Wanda asked Wong with an amused smile. She'd dealt with extremely talented leaders like Fury and Steve who have literal decades of experience. Strange's inexperience in leadership was easily visible to her.
"It's just been a month or so." Wong nodded with a flat expression.
"Called it..." Wanda was happy that she was able to gauge it, "Can we get started with training?" She asked Wong.
"I won't be teaching you. You will be taught by her," Wong moved to the side and revealed a figure that was clad in similar robes as him, "Meet Master Lily. She will be teaching you the basics." He said.
"Hello." Wanda waved in greeting.
"Please follow me, Miss Maximoff." She said and turned around.
"She doesn't speak much," Wong told Wanda before leaving too. Wanda hurriedly followed Lily.
She tried to make some conversation, "So how long have you been here?"
Receiving no response, Wanda also went quiet.
"Almost 40 years," Lily answered after quite a while. By then they had reached some sort of storage area by what Wanda could deduce, "Wait here." Lily went inside, leaving Wanda outside.
[She's weird...] Alex commented.
[I think she just didn't answer till the last moment because she didn't want to talk, but then she told me because she didn't want to come off as rude...] Wanda thought amusedly.
[When did you start analyzing people so deeply? First, it was the Sorcerer Supreme and now it's this Lily chick?] Alex asked curiously.
[I don't know. I can roughly feel the emotions...wafting off of people. If that makes any sense.] She told him.
[So you're like an empathetic dog?] Alex asked with a suppressed laugh.
[I'll show you an empathetic dog.] Wanda threatened with a twitchy expression on her face.
Before Alex could reply, "Is everything okay?" Lily had come out and noticed Wanda's expression.
"Nothing, I was just feeling something..." Wanda said as she looked at the two-finger ring in Lily's hand, indicating that the ring was the reason for her weird expression.
[Smooth...] Alex complimented.
"Impressive..." Lily nodded while handing the ring to Wanda, "This is a sling ring. It allows us to travel through the multiverse, wherever we want." She told Wanda with a serious expression. Wanda ignored Alex's derisive snort about overestimating the ring's capabilities as she listened to Lily, "This is just a temporary trial piece for you. Your personal Sling Ring will be crafted in a day or so." She told Wanda who had put the ring on and was looking at it curiously.
"It goes on the middle and ring fingers of your left hand." She informed her.
Wanda promptly changed its location on her hand while keeping her gaze fixed on the ring and said, "I can feel that it has a connection to something..."
Lily looked at her with surprise, "You can feel that..." She thought for a few moments and said, "You're right. The Sling Ring can allow you to travel anywhere you want as long as you can imagine the place. This ability is provided by the Transport Dimension that directly overlaps the material universe."
"Like Asgard's Bifrost Bridge?" Wanda blurted out.
Lily looked at her with surprise and narrowed her eyes, "Close. The Bifrost Bridge is exactly that, a bridge that allows them to travel anywhere. Unlike the Bifrost which works on a different principle, our method is true teleportation." She said, "Though I'm surprised you are aware of these things."
"Thor likes telling stories when he gets drunk..." Wanda said embarrassedly.
"Ah, I see." Lily nodded with her everpresent flat expression, "Follow me, Miss Avenger. I'll teach you how to harness the power of the sling ring."
Wanda followed Lily as her training in the mystic arts finally commenced.
***
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