Sabrina wasn’t sure what she had expected when they had stepped through the golden ring. It was Vallo, but it wasn’t. The buildings that were around the Sanctum stretched oddly into the sky, twisting in a way that had her craning her neck to try and get a better look at them and make out what wasn’t quite right. The colors were off too, reminding her a little of looking through a window into the rain.
She’d come here for guidance on an aspect of her magic. There were pieces of it that she hadn’t tapped into much, some that she only ever brought out when absolutely necessary. No one liked when someone could persuade them into doing anything they wanted just by speaking, but it had been a skill she’d worked on with Allison and Lucifer last year, wanting to be able to control it so she didn’t unconsciously slip into using it any longer.
And now there was this. She didn’t even really know what to call it or refer to it as. Willing stuff was the closest she could come up with, but that didn’t seem exactly correct.
“Does it always reflect the area that you’re in?” she asked as she glanced over at Dr. Strange. It seemed to be right up against the world she knew, reminding her a little of moving through the astral plane, but that had more of a heaviness to it than this one did.
The Mirror Dimension was a popular hot-spot these days - sort of, anyway. Stephen had started taking Wanda here so she could learn more about chaos magic and get more of a feel for it as well - along with other magic users who needed the space to practice. He brought Kady here a few times as well, but anyone could step through the shower of circular sparks and see for themselves what the Mirror Dimension was like - it didn’t require innate magic to do so, just (most of the time) required a sling ring to create the portal that would lead you here.
To a dimension that was all patterns, fractals and spiraling buildings, perfect geometrical shapes (rectangles, squares, colors that blurred like marbles) and the freedom to do just about anything to the cracked mirror reflection of these buildings; turning a stapler into an offensive weapon, maybe? Sure, why not. Twisting a bridge into a knot? Okay, can do. The zealots who worshipped Dormammu and drew upon the energy from the Dark Dimension to fuel their magic had a dangerous amount of control over the Mirror Dimension.
“It does,” he said, the portal closing behind them - he still had the sling ring on, so he’d open another portal when it was time for them to leave. “It’s always right up against the Material Plane, of whatever world you happen to be in.” This and the Astral Plane, which he visited frequently too - his mind hardly rested, and he knew he needed to get better about that. But there was so much to study and a part of him was eager to figure out how to make up the difference for the lack of infinity stone - for eons, the Masters of the Mystic Arts kept the glowing green rock contained within the Eye of Agamotto, to gaze into the mists of time and identify threats and changes. Without that, Stephen didn’t feel like he could ever step into the role of Sorcerer Supreme. Not on his own - he wasn’t enough, he grimly thought.
Maybe the Ancient One was wrong - she saw the outcome she was so sure of, him following in her footsteps. But that was only one.
Regardless, it wasn’t his focus now anyway. His main goal was to help Sabrina. “You can build and create here without anything affecting the Material Plane too. So you say the magic you want to tap into and explore - it lets you do that? Spontaneous creation? Of sentient beings, not simply objects?”
Interesting. She wondered if they had something similar back home, considering the places she’d gone and things she’d seen. It sort of reminded her of her dollhouse. It mimicked the mortuary exactly and if she entered through the yellow room, a small pocket dimension Ambrose and her manipulated as seen fit, outside of space and time. They’d used it to hide the twins and the Eldritch egg once upon a time. She’d met with Sabrina Morningstar to chat and plan things--a nice loophole from the two not supposed to meet one another on Earth or in Hell--and she’d locked the Uninvited inside of it. Thankfully he wasn’t in the version currently inside of her house.
She turned her attention toward Stephen and nodded at his question. “I can manipulate Pandemonium into being what I want but I don’t know if that’s just limited to Hell. I’ve like...willed blankets and pillows into being when I want them in the forest.” Those weren’t living things though. She’d manipulated Mr. Constantine’s cells into becoming normal instead of cancerous last year but that wasn’t always a guarantee. She hadn’t been able to help with Anders’ troubles.
“I can manipulate my yellow room into whatever I want it to be so like I guess its not just, but I don’t know if all I can create is going to be like...Hellish things?” Because that was the realm that she was attached to. Though her blood was celestial, tainted for vampires in her world which did sort of connect her to Heaven.
A lot of this sounded like reality warping - chaos magic, the kind he was working on with Wanda. Where he came from, most of those who practiced the mystic arts abided by the Second Law of Thermodynamics - energy was neither created nor destroyed; that energy was drawn from other dimensions of the multiverse. But those who were capable of spontaneous creation defied that.
It wasn’t good or bad, it just was. And happened to be a different sect of magic. Rare, but still one to be studied and respected.
“I know each world is different - but in mine those who pull energy from, say, the Dark Dimension don’t have to be tied to it necessarily to use it as a resource for magic,” Stephen replied. “So my guess it’s not going to necessarily be Hellish things. We could try it here though? Maybe start with flora, work up to small fauna. Are there any plants or flowers that are exclusive to your world’s Hell that you could will into existence? And then see if you can do the same with a standard rose or something similar.”
He was glad they were attempting it in the Mirror Dimension - people got tetchy about reality warping on the Material Plane, and he didn’t want a thousand messages from ‘concerned’ denizens or locals wondering what felt off and why.
She hoped it wasn’t localised to Hellish things. It was enough to be looking for souls and things in the Forest of Torment and receive hellhounds and hell-salamanders as gifts from Vallo. She didn’t really want to be bringing about Hellish pieces into Vallo if she could help it.
There was a flower that she could think of though that was exclusive to Hell. She didn’t know if it only grew in her version of Hell. She hadn’t researched that many other ones since being in Vallo and hadn’t asked her dad about the flora of his own one. Dorian had needed it to cure his ailmants or at least had thought it would do so.
“There is one, les fluer de mal,” Sabrina told him, though she wasn’t too sure about creating that. “But it’s kind of a dangerous flower that sings and if it pricks your skin then you’ll fall asleep and never wake up from it.” Would that still happen in the Mirror Dimension?
“Starting off with a bang, right?” Stephen smirked. Willing a singing sleep coma flower into existence - why not. “Here..”
He didn’t think anything ending in their doom would occur, but it was always good to be prepared. So, just in case, he flexed his fingers and crossed his hands - the movements were almost like telling a story (he’d be great at itsy bitsy spider), elegant and flowing water; what followed was the creation of Mandala shields, which glowed bright orange. Eldritch magic, light and warmth - that was the kind Stephen knew best, but he always loved to learn more and expand his mind (like what the Ancient One had tried him to get him to do at first and he was too stubborn - but he’d come around, in his own time).
“I won’t let either of us get pricked, if you want to try it.” And he could always shred it with a shield as well, taking it out of the picture, so he wasn’t too concerned.
Sabrina wrinkled her nose at the magic. There was something about it that left her feeling unsettled, a reminder of home but she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was exactly. She shrugged it off and focused on the area in front of her, working to remember what it had looked like. Roz and her had located it in the Forest of Torment but Sabrina knew there wasn’t one there any longer. She’d made sure to check for it when the place had turned up, not wanting anyone to accidentally stumble into it when they were helping her ward the place.
She held her hands out in front of her, working to bring it forth. It wasn’t quite right. The color not the exact green that it should have been and the thing wasn’t singing but it was still swaying side to side like it had done for Roz and her when they had stumbled upon it.
“It’s sort of like that.”
Huh. Well, that was interesting - no one got it right the first try, anyway. If Sabrina had pulled a perfect fleur du mal from the ether, Stephen would have been surprised. “That was good,” he encouraged and even if fleur du mal was French for ‘flower of evil,’ he was still impressed to see a beginning version of it (and he wondered if this was inspiration for Baudelaire’s book of poetry as well).
“How did it feel?” he asked, keeping the shields up just in case. Though he let them expand so they covered more ground; it was like playing a game of cat’s cradle, with the way he wove his fingers. They’d be protected either way. “And - maybe try a rose next. Or tulips, something simple. See if you can compare the feel of both.”
Magic and science were so intertwined - that was why he also had Wanda studying probability and mathematics as well, chaos being its own sect in that arena. A lot of perfecting the nuances of both involved experimentation and testing theories.
How did it feel? She hadn’t really been paying attention to her body or emotional response when working to create the flower. So she took a moment and closed her eyes, trying to think back on the seconds before, to relive the moment and see how it had affected her. “Hot. It felt hot.”
A steady build up of it under her skin as she’d worked to complete the task. Nothing damaging, more like being out in the middle of the day under the sun during the heat of summer. Without the nuisance of humidity around to cause her clothes to stick to her skin. Not at all unpleasant.
Sabrina chose lavender as her next plant to try for. It was something used often enough at the mortuary, usually a sprig of it placed under her bed at night for pleasant dreams. The plant that appeared before her wasn’t one she’d created though and she scrunched her nose up in frustration at that. She was pretty sure it had come from her aunt’s greenhouse.
“That’s definitely not right.”
“But you did it,” Stephen pointed out, as the Cloak of Levitation fluttered excitedly at Sabrina - dear old ‘Levi’ (if it had a name, that was probably it) was always more friendly, and also a lot more accommodating, to people Stephen liked. Perhaps because the cloak had chosen him as its partner and they were bonded - so Stephen’s people were also the cloak’s people, something akin to that.
He hovered in the air thanks to the cloak as well, legs bent and ankles crossed - how he often sat, when he was reading or on the precipice of a meditation session. Who needed chairs, when you had a cloak? “So it’s not just limited to things from Hell.”
But he could tell Sabrina was frustrated, thus he aimed to be encouraging. “It might not even be right the next time, or the time after that - but you’ll work on it, and perfect it gradually. Did it feel easier creating something from Hell, or creating the other plant?” The first one resembled the actual plant in question whereas the second didn’t seem to be what Sabrina was going for.
The fluttering of the cloak was almost amusing, reminding her a bit of Shadow whenever the little pup got excited about something. She knew Stephen was right though. It would have been pretty crazy if she’d managed to get it right the first time or the second or even the twentieth. Magic like this felt different than a lot of her other magic, more intense and even a little worrisome.
His question about which was easier to create sent her into a bit of an unconscious tailspin, not liking the answer she knew all too well. She’d known it would be that answer before they had even tried it. Hell was her birthright, it was part of her no matter how much she’d tried to distance herself from the place. Even if it was celestial blood that ran through her veins, connecting her to Heaven as well, Hell was the place she’d been born to eventually lead.
Even if she hadn’t chosen that path. It didn’t lessen her connection to it. Vallo had been proof enough of that. “The one from Hell.”
That made sense. He knew of Sabrina’s parentage and that she was tied directly to her world’s version of Hell - she knew all of it too, and no doubt she’d fought it kicking and screaming. But Stephen didn’t need to go into how that never worked - that lesson had been etched in stone for the both of them by now. The more you tried to push something like that away, the more you resisted - the more problems popped up, like little plastic whack-a-mole animatronics.
“And you know what? That’s fine,” he said smoothly - and it didn’t mean anything bad about her. It just...was. “You can work on it like you worked on other parts of your magic - because it is your magic. It doesn’t control you, you control it.”
The cloak fluttered at her again, something of a wave in a ripple of crimson - talkative thing, wasn’t it? “You’re always welcome to come back here too, if you want to practice away from the Material Plane. Just in case,” Stephen added, since he had a feeling that was what the cloak was trying to say anyway.
It helped to hear that it was fine. She needed to hammer it into her head that she controlled it and it didn’t control her. So many people had told her that, including herself, but it was still the hardest thing to make stick. Being part of Hell didn’t make her evil, didn’t mean she was inherently one thing or another. Her own choices did that.
“I’d like that, yeah.” Because the idea of trying this out on the Material Plane where things could go wrong and hurt anyone around her or Vallo itself didn’t seem like a good idea. She smiled at the cloak again, waving her fingers at it.
“Do you have any tips for getting a handle on it though?” Because Sabrina would take whatever tips Stephen could offer.
“It’s - almost a risque kind of magic,” Stephen mused. “Rare, I should say. In my world, a lot of people don’t even believe it exists.” Maybe because they didn’t want to face it - reality warping could do a lot of damage, could rewrite the programming and structure of the entire cosmos. Reconstructing the fabric of existence was no small feat - but it wasn’t like right here and now, Sabrina wanted to do that.
She was just a girl who wished to further understand her magic, to get a hold of it, to take control. There would be mishaps, mistakes made, and maybe even some instances where she didn’t always use it for the right thing either - but the most important part was that she had room to make those mistakes and learn from them. “Because this sect of magic is so raw and wild, a lot of it depends on your state of health - mental and physical,” he said. “I think the biggest thing that will help you get a handle on it is taking care of yourself. Practicing too, yes, building in increments - but if you’re tired, rest. If you’re hungry, eat. Don’t neglect the basic needs. Ask for help if you need it, and don’t forget to do the things you love too.”
Maybe it seemed simple, but you’d be surprised how often people brushed aside those very important tenants.
So don’t try doing it when she was exhausted or furious or a mess of any sort. That did make sense. Sabrina could only imagine the sorts of trouble she might manage to cause if she tried using it when she was in any of those states. She also knew better than to let this become her whole focus. She had a life here, her family, her friends, Nick. And all of that mattered a lot more to her than figuring out this branch of magic in a hurry. It was just nice to know that she had somewhere to go and someone to ask for help when she would need it.
“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not going to turn this into my sole purpose in life or anything.” There were souls to save. Dates to go on. Family dinners to eat. Tea parties to attend. The things that made life worth living.
“But thanks. It really helps to know I can work on it here and ask for help when I need it.” Because she would need help at times. Just like she had when her persuasion powers had started blossoming.
The Cloak of Levitation bunched up, nodnodnod, bobbing up and down as if agreeing with that point. Yes, whatever - this thing was such a pain in the ass sometimes but it was a welcomed one in Stephen’s life. For awhile, it had been the only thing there - he went through a lot of changes after the accident and then as he came into his own as a reluctant hero, a bumpy journey. He still hadn’t completely ‘arrived’ yet, unwilling to see that he could be the Sorcerer Supreme even without the time stone - but perhaps he’d get there. And the cloak was with him, drying his tears and giving him pats on the back when necessary.
“Of course,” he nodded - lo and behold, his face did not crack when he smiled. It was small, but genuine. “We’ll head back for now - “
He used the sling ring to open a portal that shimmered into view, fractals and prisms and a shower of sparks - beyond it, lay the interior of his home. “But you’re always welcome at the Sanctum.”
“Thanks for that but I think I should leave that place for Roz to go.” Sabrina knew how important it was to have some places to call one’s own and her best friend seemed to enjoy her part time job there. The last thing she wanted to do was encroach on it. She had enough other places in the city that were hers to be welcomed into.
Sabrina stepped out into the home though, turning toward Stephen once she was through. “I’ll let you know when I’m up for practicing again though.”
“Well, just to visit if that’s what you want - but sure, it’s nice having Roz here,” he admitted, though it was no big confession. Stephen was pretty fond of her. Fond enough to try baking a cake for her birthday - an actual cake, and he’d actually browsed recipes and started practicing.
Besides, a lot of teenagers seemed to show up in Vallo without a parent or guardian - younger kids luckily came as a package deal with people to look after them, in most cases, but older ones were simply tossed into the fray. Like the universe decided they could look after themselves - and he wasn’t sure if he agreed with that (okay, he didn’t agree with that). And look, he’d never have kids - ever. Spawning wasn’t in the cards for him. But if Roz needed an adult signature on something he’d do it for her - whatever that meant.
He knew Sabrina could teleport or use the waypoints, and he wouldn’t keep her if she had other things to do. “Do you want, uh - cake for the road? I tried to make double chocolate. It came out pretty good.”
It was nice to see that Roz had some looking out for her. Sabrina was grateful every day for the fact that Dan had taken on that role for her and then Allison as well. And the version of her father in Vallo as well. Plus her aunt and cousin. Though Sabrina wasn’t even sure if they would stick around. Dan, Allison and Lucifer were the constants.
It helped to have someone older to turn to when everything was going crappy beyond her ability to handle. Friends were good for that, but sometimes an actual adult was needed. “I’m good on the sweets front, but I’m sure it came out great.”
Plus she was a little spoiled in eating Dan’s cakes. Even if he did try to sneak vegetables in them. “Thanks again and I’ll see you around.” She offered up a smile before teleporting off.