The wind whistled through my hair as I fell. Time seemed to slow.

With luck, the fall would force me to conjure a portal that would take me back to Kamar-Taj. If I didn't...

I chose not to think about that.

Suddenly, I realized that technically, I was in Zeus's domain.

There was a boom in front of me as lightning arched out of the sky. You finally realized, didn't you? said Zeus in my head. Strangely, he sounded amused.

I'm guessing that he wanted to beat me up for being Poseidon's son, because he did.

The winds accelerated until they stopped my fall altogether, tossing me around. More than once I started falling head first, which was terrifying, only to have the winds catch me again and send me rocketing up, until I was above Mount Everest. Then I would fall again. Then the winds would lift me again. Get the idea?

On the positive side, the winds gave me even more incentive to get out of that place and teleport back to Kamar-Taj. There was only one small thing: I was being tossed up and down, and that sort of made it hard to concentrate.

Suddenly, the winds stopped, and I began falling, head-first. I guess Zeus finally got bored.

Forcing myself to breath evenly and concentrate, I pointed my hands forward, aka downward since I was falling. I intentionally unfocused my eyes so I wouldn't see the bottom. Somewhere about a hundred feet below where I had jumped, I finally managed to make a portal.

I curled up into a ball and rolled to disperse the impact, stumbling in front of a shocked Mordo and an amused Ancient One.

"Percy," asked Mordo. "Why is the portal... facing the ground?"

"I jumped."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Ancient One suppress a smile.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU JUMPED?" yelled Mordo.

I scratched the back of my head. "The cold wasn't really forcing me to make a portal. So I jumped after Strange left. And in doing so, I forced myself to make a portal since I didn't want to die."

"Percy," said Strange. "You could have come back through my portal."

"And risk being extensively lectured? No. Besides, I had to learn one day. And I'm still alive despite the fall" I said.

"How much did you fall?" asked Mordo.

"Oh, about a hundred feet. I still didn't die!"

Strange just sighed.

"Falling a hundred feet isn't anymore dangerous than the cold! You could still die!" I exclaimed.

-two days later-

Strange got caught stealing books from the library for both of us to use. Although it was interesting to see Wong's face, we got in trouble. We had been practicing our magic, but the Ancient One came to lecture us. Therefore, Strange was currently arguing with her.

"Once, in this room, you begged me to let you learn. Now I'm told you question every lesson, preferring to teach yourself," said the Ancient One

"Once, in this room, you told me to open my eyes. Now I'm being told to blindly accept rules that make no sense," Strange shot back.

"Like the rule against conjuring a gateway in the library?"

"Wong told on me?"

The Ancient One sighed. "Both of you are advancing quickly with your sorcery skills," she said "and you need a safe place to practice your spells."

Suddenly the room we were in seemed to shatter. "You are now inside the Mirror Dimension. Ever present but undetected. The real world isn't affected by what happens here. We use the Mirror Dimension to train, surveil, and sometimes to contain threats. You don't want to be stuck in here without your sling ring."

"Hold on. Sorry, what do you mean, threats?" said Strange, slightly nervous.

"Learning of an infinite multiverse included learning of infinite dangers. And if I told you everything else that you don't already know, you'd run from here in terror," said the Ancient One. On that happy note, she left.

-three days later-

We were training in the courtyard of Kamar-Taj. Strange was about to spar with Mordo. I was standing to the side, slightly in shadow, watching them as they chatted about the Ancient One.

"So, just how ancient is she?" asked Strange.

"No one knows the age of the Sorcerer Supreme. Only that she is Celtic and never talks about her past," replied Mordo mysteriously.

"You follow her even though you don't know?"

"I know that she's steadfast, but unpredictable. Merciless, yet kind. She made me what I am," said Mordo cautiously. "Trust your teacher. And don't lose your way."

"Like Kaecilius?"

"That's right."

"You knew him."

"When he first came to us, he'd lost everyone he ever loved. He was a grieving and broken man, searching for answers in the mystic arts. A brilliant student, but he was proud, headstrong," described Mordo. "Questioned the Ancient One, rejected our teaching."

I listened carefully to Mordo. Sooner or later, Kaecilius would probably attack. And I preferred to know who my enemy was.

Mordo continued his description.

"He left Kamar-Taj. His disciples followed him like sheep seduced by false doctrine."

"He stole the forbidden ritual, right?"

"Yeah."

"What did it do?"

Mordo seems to get more jumpy with each question Strange asked, I mused. I can't blame him, though. The ritual was probably forbidden for a reason. And Strange might be making him uneasy, with all the questions about the Ancient One.

"No more questions," said Mordo firmly. He did not seem pleased.

Mordo brought out a staff.

"What's that?"

"That's a question," said Mordo, but he explained nevertheless. "This is a relic. Some magic is too powerful to sustain, so we imbue objects with it. Allowing them to take the strain we can not. This is the Staff of the Living Tribunal. There are many relics. The Wand of Watoomb. The Bolting Boots of Voltor."

"They just roll of the tongue, don't they?" said Strange. "When do I get my relic?"

"When you're ready," said Mordo.

"I think I'm ready," said Strange arrogantly.

"You're ready when the relic decides you're ready. For now, conjure a weapon."

To me, that sounded like Harry Potter. The wand chooses the wizard. Sound familiar?

As the two of them sparred, I assessed them. Strange was a beginner, definitely. His stance was uneven, and he did not move quickly enough. Mordo was a bit better, but I bet three-quarters of camp could defeat him in single combat.

"Fight! Fight like your life depended on it!" urged Mordo. Soon, he overcame Strange.

"Because one day, it may."

AN

Hi people,

sorry I haven't updated for a while in all stories. That is because:

1. for "Persephone Jackson and Batman" I have a bit of writer's block, even though I have a rough idea how to continue.

2. for "the rising storm" I have really severe writers block. IDK where to take it.

3. I can only write on weekends for 0-2 hours. There's not much I can get done in that time.

This story will probably be the most frequently updated.
I'm going to ask: does anyone have an idea of what to call this? I feel like the current name is... not fitting, but I don't know what to change it to.

Thanks for reading.

- Owl of the Blue Mountain