"Okay."
"So you're telling me that from today on, I'll only be able to meet people as a soul?"
Inside the New York Sanctum.
Tony Stark, floating with his feet off the ground, pointed to his unconscious body lying on a stretcher. His expression was not happy.
No one would be in a good mood after learning they would likely become a lonely spirit for the rest of their days. He couldn't eat hamburgers, he couldn't touch anyone. If not for Stephen Strange's magic, even his beloved Pepper wouldn't be able to see him.
"Precisely, yes." Strange ignored Tony Stark's sour look. He gestured with his left hand, and a book on basic magic floated into his palm. "You can't stay away from me for too long. Not unless you become a sorcerer, too."
"Me? A sorcerer?" Tony Stark frowned.
"Yes. My teacher specifically prepared this book for you. She said you would be able to achieve something great," Stephen Strange said, offering a reason that left everyone baffled.
"Your teacher?"
"Wait a minute, are you saying your teacher already knew this was going to happen to Tony?" Pepper Potts's mind was racing. If that were true, she had every reason to be suspicious.
"Perhaps," Strange said with a shrug. He didn't want to talk about his teacher, the Ancient One, with this group.
"Why?" Bruce Banner, like Pepper, was skeptical. "We didn't know you or your teacher before today. This makes no sense."
"Because of magic. Do you understand now?" Strange was mentally prepared for their questions and didn't get angry. Ever since he took over for the Ancient One, he had become much more composed. In the past, he wouldn't have given them this many chances to ask questions. He would have simply said, "Believe it or not."
"In any case, the Earth—no, our entire universe, is about to fall into a great crisis. And you, Tony Stark, are a vital part of it."
"So you can't die yet, and you must learn the magic in this book. Is that clear?" Strange held out the book to Tony Stark.
"Sorry, I never accept anything handed to me by others." Even as a powerless soul, Tony Stark was still Tony Stark.
"Regarding that, I've always taken care of it." Though she didn't know what Strange's true plan was, Pepper, having found herself on this strange ship, resumed her secretarial duties and accepted the heavy book with ancient symbols on its cover.
"Can you tell us what this so-called cosmic crisis is?" Tony Stark asked, clearly more interested in the crisis than the book.
"Is it Lothar?"
"No, not Lothar." Strange's tone was calm, but the words he spoke shocked the others to their core. "It's a war of invasion from another universe. I can't pinpoint their exact location, but I am certain that the vanguard has already reached our universe."
"What's this called?" Tony Stark asked after a brief moment of stunned silence. "A Secret Invasion? A cosmic war?"
"I don't know," Strange said, shaking his head. Seeing this much of the future was the Ancient One's limit. Beyond that, everything was a blur, as if every scene had been blurred out.
Strange speculated it was because of the cosmic war to come. And it was precisely because the future was so unclear that he chose to tell Tony Stark the truth.
In the letter the Ancient One left, she gave him two options: two people who might be able to win this war. One was Tony Stark, and the other was Lothar, the Son of Titan. The Ancient One intended for Strange to choose whom to help based on the situation, but Strange had his own idea.
Only children make choices. As a mature adult, I choose... all of them!
....
Meanwhile, in the Centauri galaxy, at the Black Quadrant base.
Lothar's expression was strange as he walked out of the main hall. He found Hela's offer quite puzzling. He was curious to know how she could possibly get her hands on the Time Stone.
After all, every previous owner of the stone was a master of manipulation. They could trap people in a time loop, wearing them down until they broke, even Thanos or Odin.
Was it possible Hela had found the current Sorcerer Supreme's weakness?
Lothar was pondering this when he turned a corner and ran into two familiar figures: Proxima Midnight, wearing a satisfied smile, and Gamora, whose hands were trembling slightly.
"Lothar," Proxima Midnight said, accustomed to making small talk, "Ebony Maw told me you took on two subordinates?"
Lothar's attention, however, was on Gamora. Her mental state was extremely unstable, and her internal energy was in total chaos, as if she had just fought a major battle. Strangely, he couldn't see a single wound on her.
"What happened to her?" Though they hadn't spent much time together, Gamora was still Thanos's daughter, his sister. Her current distraught state was unsettling.
"It's normal. Don't worry about it," Proxima Midnight said. She had no intention of telling Lothar about the "sibling rivalry" between Gamora and Nebula. This was a test given by Thanos, and it had nothing to do with Lothar.
Normal? Lothar frowned. Gamora didn't look normal at all.
"That's all for now. I'll take her back. We'll talk later." Not wanting to elaborate, Proxima Midnight led Gamora away.
A short while later, after Lothar turned another corner, he saw two more familiar faces: her sister, Nebula, and her combat trainer, Corvus Glaive.
Nebula was covered in wounds, while Corvus Glaive was expressionless.
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