Kaecilius sat cross-legged in the abandoned cathedral where he and his followers had taken refuge.
Only six zealots remained, and he'd made certain they kept a low profile. He couldn't risk being discovered by his former master—the one he'd betrayed.
"How long are you going to hide here, cowering like a coward?"
Kaecilius, his expression remaining impassive, turned another page of the tome he'd stolen from the Book of Cagliostro.
"As long as necessary, Muur," he said quietly.
"Bah! You're just like every other Jedi I've slaughtered over the centuries."
"And yet they drove you back, didn't they?"
"You're being deliberately obstinate!" Muur roared, glaring hatefully at the sorcerer.
"Your reaction speaks volumes," Kaecilius replied coolly, shaking his head.
Muur's expression turned murderous for a split second before he finally relented. His spectral form dropped to the floor, legs crossing beneath him.
"What are you doing?" Muur couldn't help but ask.
"Determining how we're going to reclaim what's been taken from us."
Muur snorted derisively. "Let me guess—the source of power you were perfectly aware of but explicitly forbidden from learning to wield yourself?"
The former Master of the Mystic Arts froze, slowly looking up at the malevolent spirit.
The ancient Sith Lord appeared smug, arms crossed, looking down at him with unimpressed disdain.
"I suspect this is familiar territory for you," Kaecilius said slowly.
Muur remained silent for a moment before laughing bitterly at the sorcerer.
"You fail to realize you're trapped here indefinitely," Kaecilius said, his voice taking on a threatening edge. "If you refuse to cooperate, we know methods to harm spirits. Just a reminder, in case you'd forgotten."
Kaecilius felt considerable satisfaction seeing the rage flash across Muur's features.
"So what do you propose?"
Muur gritted his teeth, forcibly controlling his anger.
"Where I come from, I was once part of the Jedi Order," Muur began, an ancient weariness entering his tone. "We were all practitioners of the Force, observing it through our Order's teachings. Once, we were brothers and sisters."
"But that didn't last, did it?"
Muur hummed dismissively. "For centuries, our Order studied both aspects of the Force—until the Dark Side became too frightening for most. Such knowledge and practice were banned entirely. Naturally, some wished to understand why this was forbidden."
Kaecilius didn't respond, allowing the Sith spirit to continue.
"Eventually, the Order fractured. I followed others into exile—one of whom was Ajunta Pall, a former Jedi Master who became the first Dark Lord of the Sith. My fellow Dark Jedi and I were revered as gods on distant worlds. We were free to pursue power without restraint."
"How unfortunate for you," Kaecilius said flatly.
"You fool," Muur muttered. "I chose this path. Through my own sorcery and mastery of the Force, I achieved an immortality not even the greatest Sith Lords ever obtained. For thousands of years, I have endured."
However, this failed to impress Kaecilius, who replied sarcastically, "Yet you remain powerless before someone like the Ancient One."
"Only because she wields power I don't yet comprehend," Muur shot back. "Once I understand that power, I will rise again—far more formidable than any Sith before or after me."
Kaecilius simply hummed thoughtfully and returned his attention to the stolen pages.
This blatant disregard ignited the Sith Lord's fury. He began expanding in size, shooting his spectral claws toward the sorcerer.
Without even looking up, Kaecilius raised his hands. A shimmering defensive dome materialized around him.
Muur's hand struck the barrier and he recoiled violently, his entire spirit convulsing with pain.
"You're petty and easily provoked," Kaecilius stated flatly. "Are all Sith like this? If so, no wonder you lost your war against your former Jedi brothers."
The Sith ghost snarled at Kaecilius with impotent rage.
"Master Kaecilius."
The man looked up from his reading and glanced over as one of his zealots returned.
"What did you recover?"
"Books and scrolls," a female zealot said, lowering her bag and extracting something heavy, placing it in his hands. "The Ancient One draws power from the Dark Dimension. Perhaps if we employ similar methods through our own approach, we'll stand a better chance of defeating her."
Kaecilius remained silent, contemplating the intelligence his follower had gathered.
Muur retreated into the shadows, glaring at the leader of this small faction of renegade mystics. His eyes began drifting among the zealots gathered nearby.
He scrutinized them individually until pinpointing one particular zealot who appeared notably more nervous than the rest of the group.
A sinister smile played across his lips as the Sith ghost formulated a plan.
Stephen Strange observed Celeste Morn sparring with her lover, Bucky Barnes.
He wielded a staff, both ends glowing with golden mystical energy, while Celeste held her ignited lightsaber—the brilliant yellow blade humming through the air.
They'd apparently been training for some time, given how profusely they were both sweating.
Honestly, from an outside perspective, Stephen thought it looked like intensely aggressive foreplay, and they'd probably reconcile passionately later.
The bout ended with Morn's blade hovering against Barnes' throat in a decidedly provocative manner.
It all seemed impossibly complicated.
A guy from World War II who'd been brainwashed by the death cult HYDRA and survived through decades of cryogenic suspension, now romantically involved with an alien warrior-mystic from some distant Jedi Order, while befriending a young Hispanic man who served as a vessel for an otherworldly entity that dispensed "vengeance" on criminals—known as the Ghost Rider.
That single sentence was enough to make anyone's head spin trying to process it all.
Yet when Strange stepped back and considered the world he now inhabited, Thor existed. Thor was a genuine being whose existence validated all the mystical and magical phenomena that had been dismissed as myth for centuries.
So really, it was best not to overthink things.
Earth was pretty weird right now.