Clea was unable to reply, more and more the shadows were causing her intolerable pain. She hit the wall hard, and let a yelp of pain escape her lips. “Let….me….go…” she pleaded. She had no means to defend herself. She couldn’t even grasp for the shadows, because her whole body was paralyzed, she was not master over it, it felt like being held down while being tossed around. Maybe something cracked she wasn’t sure. She closed her eyes, she felt life getting away from her. She thought of Stephen, what would he find shall he come too late. “Please….don’t….this.” she begged this time, she was not strong, just giving up to someone stronger than her. The ring was heating up, glowing again, sign that she was in danger.
Reading, Strange dropped his page at the moment when his ring started to glow, heating up, burning. He froze but didn’t wait to teleport himself. “East green saloon.” He only said before disappearing in front of Wong. Strange knew before even arriving how bad and serious it was, the ring wasn’t lying, it couldn’t. Shadows, darkness, he almost took a second to see what his magic was telling him. He saw Nessa but not his wife, not instantly. “Where.” It wasn’t a question but an order. “Should I remind you where you are Nessa? Should I?” He questioned but again didn’t wait for any answers to act. A whining stole his attention and this last drop of self-control. The sorcerer didn’t move, if dark magic was a natural response for anger, Strange didn’t call it, oh no, oh he called for something stronger and somehow more destructive than what people could think. His ring continued to glow up, his eyes followed, losing his sight for pure light. Threads of pure and bright magic escaped for his ring, slowing wrapping along his wrist. His blinding eyes slowly moved to Nessa, staring at her while one bright thread joined the floor, filling his own shadow, making it disappear. “Last warning Nessa, stay away from my wife.” He warned, deadly serious when something started to happen behind him. Two giant hands, made of light raised from the floor like a deadman will do from his tomb, a head followed, dazzling, faceless, bigger than any being. It wasn’t human, it wasn’t a basic invocation but it was definitively there, under Strange’s commands. Filling the space with pure and burning light, Strange let his golem raise and create a halo behind him, his head brushing the ceiling while he was resting on his elbows, the room being too small to allow this thing to completely reach this realm without destroying everything. The shadows were already dying and like the sun it surely became impossible to stare at him without being blinded.
Wong was simply cleaning the shelves, as he did twice a week, when Stephen suddenly rose from his chair, only indicated a location. A precise room in the house, which had nothing special and yet he knew just be Stephen teleporting so quickly that something was up. He ran in the corridors, worried, and he had every right to be. When he arrived, Stephen was starting to cast his spell, and Wong started to be blinded by it. He conjured sunglasses, no way he was losing his eyesight today. Since Stephen seemed to have the protect Clea part under control, Wong grabbed Nessa’s arm. “Nessa, please, stop what you’re doing. I don’t know why you’re attacking Clea, but surely it can’t be something that can’t be settled by a calm talk.”
nessa thought she would have more time before strange might find her. she had a plan on how to deal with him but his sudden interruption, while she was still working, was not what she expecting. she could hold on for a few more seconds. he spoke to her but she ignored him focusing only on her shadows and their consumption of clea's being. she just needed a little more time.
but all at once the room filled with a blinding light. it cut into her shadows, into her power and therefore into her very being. still she just tried to ignore the pain. ignore the creatures of light growing behind strange. ignore the sorcerer supreme. "strange please you don't understand!" she screamed at him.
for a moment she thought that maybe this would be how it would end. that she would end here trying to get some sort of answer or revenge from clea. she didn't know if she was ready for any of that. then through the blinding light, she heard another voice and felt his hand on her arm. her head finally turned to look towards wong."you don't know...you don't know what she tried to do."
the look in her eyes had a clear desperation to be believed. the stories that had been planted were real and true in her mind and just needed someone to believe her. but wong's grip on her arm, and his words started chipping away at the strength she was trying to hold up in that moment. she turned her head to look back at her cousin and look back at the destruction she had just caused. her eyes softened again. she loved her still. despite all that she thought was true she loved her. "i'm sorry." her voice barely over a whisper as she finally let go of the final power holding onto clea. the light and the power coming from strange hitting her in its full potential. she grabbed onto wong, to stabilize herself.
