The moon was full over Kamar-Taj, but the sky above the inner sanctum pulsed with shifting hues—violet, indigo, and gold—as if reality itself had grown thin.
Mark stood beside Wong at the edge of the floating dais. Below them, the courtyard shimmered beneath a massive dimensional rift, an illusion woven to reveal the space between realms without tearing it.
In the center of the platform stood the Ancient One, her robes untouched by the mountain wind, her eyes focused on infinity.
"You're ready," she said simply.
Neither of them replied. They knew what was being offered.
Not a lesson.
A glimpse into what lies beneath the fabric of this reality.
The Lesson Begins
"Dimensional magic," the Ancient One said, "is not just a branch of the mystic arts. It is the scaffold that holds reality together. Everything else you've learned—constructs, portals, mental shields—these are local manipulations. Tricks in a locked room."
She lifted a hand. Space around her bent inward, folding like a book.
"This… is the lock itself."
A breathless silence fell over them.
Wong whispered, "This is the raw veil?"
Mark felt it too—a pressure behind his eyes. Like staring at something his brain was not evolved to process.
The Ancient One nodded. "Every dimension has its own laws. Rules that can't be broken—only negotiated. Mirror realms, dark planes, higher realities. All exist simultaneously… yet independently."
She stepped back and gestured. The air opened, like water parting.
A shimmering plane emerged—the Mirror Dimension, but deeper than they had ever seen. Fractal cities turned inside out. Skies where time ran backwards. Roads that looped infinitely.
"You've seen the mirror surface," she said. "But this is the deep mirror. The place where reflections become selves."
Mark took a shaky breath. "If this is the Mirror Dimension… what's beneath that?"
Wong was the one to answer. "The pocket realms. Time loops. Then… the foundational layers."
The Ancient One nodded. "Exactly. And past those... the Multiverse."
The First Truth
Mark couldn't help it. The question had to come.
"How real is it? The Multiverse, I mean. Is it stable? Do we… connect to other versions of ourselves?"
The Ancient One turned slowly to face them.
"The Multiverse is not stable," she said. "It is fragile. Fractured. And largely untended. Until recently."
"Because of the TVA?" Wong asked.
She gave a faint smile. "The TVA was an idea. A reaction to a threat. But ideas break down. Especially when placed in the hands of gods pretending to be bureaucrats."
Mark felt the pull of memory. The Loki he had watched in the original timeline. The Sacred Timeline concept. The collapsing branches. He remembered it all.
"But it's different now," he said. "Isn't it?"
The Ancient One's gaze sharpened.
"Now, the multiverse is free. That means possibility. But also chaos. Some branches are healing. Others… are already lost."
"Lost?" Wong echoed.
"To incursions. Paradoxes. Consumption by rogue entities. There are timelines where Earth was devoured before it evolved life. Others where gods rule openly. Others still… where you never existed."
Mark's pulse quickened.
"Could I meet another me?"
The Ancient One paused.
"You already have," she said cryptically. "Just not in ways you understand."
The Lesson Ends (For Now)
The mirror collapsed in on itself, folding down into a single glowing rune that spun in the air.
"You have taken your first step," she said. "In the coming days, we'll enter dimensional folds. Learn how to navigate pocket realities and seal rifts. But remember—every spell you cast from this point forward does not happen in isolation."
Mark and Wong bowed low.
"Every action you take," she said softly, "reverberates through infinite selves."