Chapter 5

After Doctor Strange started to ascend on the left grand staircase, the cloak that hung around his neck peeled off from his shoulders and flew down to me, with a mind of its own. I waited on the platform above the first grand staircase I walked up with Strange, until it was floating next to me. Letting the cloak take the lead, I followed it up the right grand staircase and into a hallway with a long railing on my right.

If you went up to that railing and looked down, you could see the first floor. Most of the rooms we passed were offices and lounging rooms. Halfway down the hall, the cloak and I approached a closed wooden door with two pillars on either side. I glanced at it before grabbing the doorknob and twisted it. Inside, the room was massive; About 28 by 26 feet. It had its own fancy furniture, including a long dresser with tall mirrors, a few lounging chairs, some shelves, a walk-in closet and two nightstands on both sides of the queen-sized bed.

"Wow, I've never stayed in a room this big before" I said, walking around.

 "Thank you for letting me- ".

 I turned around to thank the cloak of levitation, but it was no longer hovering at the bedroom doorway.

I shrugged my shoulders, closed the bedroom door and walked over to the walk-in closet, setting down my briefcase on the shiny tile floor before opening it up. Stepping inside, I looked through all the clothes that were hung up hangers. 

Why is there so many robes and tunics in here?

Does Dr. Strange own any modern-day outfits, like a sweater and jeans? 

After searching the closet, I decided to just pick a tunic, since Dr. Strange could be waiting for me. I changed into a deep red and black tunic, with a matching cardigan on top. I closed the closet doors and walked over towards a wall mirror by the bedroom door. 

This tunic looks like a dress, except that it's longer than the dresses I wear, and it's made with a heavier material, I thought as I looked down and noticed that the bottom of the tunic hangs past my knees.

"Oof, I think I better put on some shoes" I said, glancing down at my dull white socks. 

I walked back, realizing that I should've got a pair after I had picked out my outfit. I was about to grab the handles on the closet doors when Dr. Strange suddenly appeared right in front of me. 

"OH, GOSH!!".

 I quickly pulled my hands away, realizing that my hands were almost around his waist. 

"I see you found my stash of robes and tunics".

"Yeah, that's why I took so long picking one out; You've got too many to choose from". 

"Are you ready to start your training?". 

"I'm training right here? But we're- ". 

I stopped myself and glanced around the room, just noticing that now I'm on the third floor of the Sanctum Sanctorum, standing by the giant circular window. I shrugged my shoulders before replying. 

"Sure". 

As I knelt down to the ground, a pair of black slip-on shoes appeared next to me.

"You might want to put those on," suggested Dr. Strange, as the cloak of levitation floated off him before he sat down on his shins, just a couple of feet away from me. 

I slipped on the pair of shoes before tucking my feet underneath my bottom. 

"Where do we start?". 

"You began by listening" commented Dr. Strange, putting his shaky hands together in his lap.

 "The universe is a lot more complicated than you think. We live in one of an infinite number of universes, called the multiverse. In Kamar- ".

"Multiple universes? But how is that possible?" I asked, interrupting him. 

Dr. Strange frowned at me. 

"Sorry, please continue". 

Dr. Strange cleared his throat. 

"As I was saying, in Kamar-Taj, we use magic from the multiverse- ". 

He started making a bright orange outline of a square filled with circles with his hands. 

"-To create spells, weapons, and shields". 

Dr. Strange snapped his fingers and instantly the layers of shapes he created popped out making it 3-D like. As quick as he created it, the magic vanished right before my eyes.

"Wow" I mumbled, watching the last few sparks of the magic die in the air. 

"Magic really does exist". "

You don't believe in magic?" asked Dr. Strange, raising an eyebrow at me. 

"No, I-I don't" I laughed hysterically. 

"Tell me Vanessa, what was your favorite subject in high school?". 

"I loved my science classes". 

"So, you believe that everyone and everything in this world is made up of matter" he asked, getting back up to his feet. 

"Well, yeah".

 I rose up to my feet as well. 

"Forget everything you were taught in those science classes; All of that useless information won't help you learn," said Dr. Strange, leaning his face closer to mine.

"What do you mean that science won't help me learn magic?". 

Suddenly he shot his hand hard into my chest and then the weirdest thing happened; I felt as light as air. I glanced down at my hands-plus my entire body-and noticed that they were translucent. 

"Oh my goodness, I'm dead??????" I said, watching my lifeless body fall backwards, towards the ground. 

"No, you're not dead" replied Stephen, looking past my body's left shoulder, directly at my ghost form. 

With a wave of his hand, my body and my ghost form joined back together again. 

"What was that?" I asked, as I regained my balance on my feet again.

"For a few moments, you were in the astral dimension, a place where the soul exists outside the body". 

"But how is that possible? It doesn't make sense how we can just leave your body and not die".

 Dr. Strange let out a loud sigh. 

"Not everything has to. The laws of science doesn't apply in the mystic arts. There is something else I want to show you". 

Stephen waved his hand again and a wall mirror with tons of cracks in it appeared to my left.

Then he went up to it and disappeared though the other side. I slowly approached the mirror and hesitated for a moment, before I finally stepped through it. On the other side, was not that much different. Me and Dr. Strange were still in the Sanctum Sanctorum, in front of a staircase that leads back to the main level. 

"This is the Mirror Dimension; You can't affect the real world, but you don't want to get stuck in here" explained Stephen, as his words echoed around him and I. 

"Why not?" It doesn't look like a bad place to be in" I replied, raising an eyebrow as I looked around the room.

"It may seem like that at first, but when I do this...".

 Dr. Strange waved his hands and the building interior started to change. The staircase was split into two and then produced more; The wooden boards on the floor were moving me closer to Stephen and the roof was getting lower with multiple squares coming out of one another. 

"Things start to get complicated. Right now, I can control what happens here".

"Can anyone else control the mirror dimension?" I asked, as Dr. Strange opened a portal back to reality. I followed him through it, waiting for an answer. "Only the ones who are more powerful than me can" he replied, as he slowly turned to face me. I swallowed hard.

"But don't worry, you're in good hands. Go get something to eat and rest; Tomorrow, I'll teach you some simple spells that have saved my life countless times". 

Stephen gave me a wink before he left to go back downstairs to the main floor.

After going back to the guest room, I got a snack out of the small refrigerator (which was not in my room before) and changed back into my pyjamas, before sliding under the thick heavy covers of my bed and turned off my lamp.

 Why did Dr. Strange get me when he could have gone to other, more powerful beings and help him?

I let my heavy eyelids close. 

I wonder if.... 

Before I could finish my thought, I fell asleep in the comfy queen-sized bed.