THE APPRENTICE (DOCTOR STRANGE STORY)

20

It's been about 6 hours since Stephen has left the sanctum, leaving Hazel alone with her own thoughts. She was scared; of course she was. Her staff was missing, and someone was after her.

Clinging sounds echoed around the sanctum, making her shoot up from her bed alertly. Getting up to the floor, she slowly got in her robes, locking the door in the process.

She looked at herself in the mirror and inhaled deeply, pondering whether she should check the sound out or not.

Mustering up some courage, and summoning the shields of mandala, she slowly opened up the door, and tiptoed around the sanctum to see what the commotion was about.

There was no one in the first or second floor, and there was no one in the rooms. Before she could consider it safe, however, she found a golden ring of light leading to somewhere dark beside the stairs.

She sighed at this; it's probably Gyor. She didn't want to disobey Strange, and she knew that walking in there was literally walking into her assassination. Hazel didn't know if she should go; if she did, then she might die (not to mention that Gyor would think he won), but if not, then she just wasted her opportunity to possibly save lives.

Impulsively, she slowly walked inside, her eyes scanning the place. It was dark, and the temperature of the place was scorching; it literally looked like hell.

"I knew you'd show up," Gyor started, walking in front of her with his hands behind his back "I'm glad you came"

"Oh well, that's great to hear!" She chirped sarcastically, putting on a fake smile "why'd you bring me here- oh wait, you're here to kill me," she hummed "Better yet, what are you planning to do with the staff?"

"What am I planning to do?" He let out a humourless laugh and shook his head in disbelief "Everything! Do you know how powerful that staff is? I can rule the world in just a spell, or make an army just by the sight of me having it! That's why you don't deserve it"

"Yeah," she inhaled sharply "I really don't. Gosh- wouldn't it be crazy if my face was on the page, and if I was the one in the prophecy?"

"You're too confident." He shook his head "in reality, you're weak. You act strong, but really, you won't amount to anything. You're just a burden to him. You're a burden to everyone."

Hazel was left speechless at his comment; she didn't have any witty comebacks for that. She knew in her mind that she shouldn't believe him, but there was a little part of her that did.

"So are we gonna start, or not?" She simply croaked out and got into a defensive position "because I don't have all day, and it's really hot in here."

"Oh, pardon me, it's the beast." He waved his hand, a huge smile creeping up on his face, as a deafening roar sounded all throughout the place

"Wait, What?"
Her eyes landed on a huge creature, its head reaching the sky. It had a torso of a person, with pitch black skin. It's arms and legs however, were made out of snakes that made different beastly sounds, and behind its back was a huge pair of wings. Its eyes were red and glowing, fire spewed out of its mouth.

Hazel's mouth flew open, her skin boiling, her nerves pumping, and her heart furiously beating out of her chest. Her first instinct was to run behind a rock and hide; did he hate her that much?

She was interrupted from her thoughts when a ball of fire spat out of its mouth and onto the rock, leaving it in flames. It looked down at her, and she looked up at it, immediately turning around and running for her life.

Her legs were moving the fastest they've ever have, the feeling of adrenaline in her veins took over her, and her face throbbed with fear.

"What the shit!" She yelled as she was stopped by a sorcerer, who whipped a golden lasso across her face and sent her flying towards its feet.

A pang of pain creeped itself into her as one of the snakes snapped its teeth on her leg, making the rest coil around her limbs. Stinging pain circled around her whole body, from her neck to her ankles, until she used the shields to slice them off , doing the same to the other leg.

The beast stumbled, but depended on its wings for transportation. Hazel ducked as a familiar, transparent shard flew beside her head, watching Gyor and his men distract her.

She rolled her eyes, but immediately ran to her feet when she saw the staff at her side. Running to the right, she reached out her hand, but saw a rope wrap around it, her skin sizzling with heat.

Gyor threw a flying kick at her, and proceeded to throw punches across her face, getting on top of her. She used her strength to drag them to the staff, her face bloodied and swollen.

After what felt like forever, her hand finally wrapped itself around it, making his eyes widen

"That's right. You should run, now." A smirk crept up in her face as she made a ring of light appear in the sanctum for Strange to use.

Her eyes glowed green as soon as her skin made contact with the item, taking a while for her eyes to return back to normal. A round, detailed circle appeared under her feet as she started to cast the spell, shooting it at the beast, leaving a hole at its torso.

In return, a ball of fire shot at her shoulder, piercing through her skin, leaving a white and hot pain around her whole body.

A tear fell from her eye as she tried to get over the pain, once more, shooting at the beast's shoulder, making it cry out loudly.

"Hazel!"