"Damn it! We were too distracted and one of the sanctuaries was left undefended. Caecilius took advantage of this and now London is under attack." The king exclaimed.

Without saying anything, the group summoned a portal to the sanctuary's connection and jumped in.

"Go ahead." Mordo commanded the entire team. "I will stay with the others. The Ancient One is undoubtedly here, so she will need help to maintain order.

“Mordo,” Celeste said, clearly unsure of this.

"I'll be fine." He said, already turning and running away. "Help the king, protect the sanctuary.

They watched Mordo leave, and heard the King shout -

"Caecilius!"

They then jumped into the portal and saw the open doorway to the London Temple.

There is a dead master before the entrance, and in the hall leading to the temple, Caecilius and his followers are summoning a sphere of pure energy.

"No!" Wang yelled in vain as Caecilius smashed the ball to the floor, unleashing a magical explosion that undoubtedly destroyed the London Temple.

It also unleashed a powerful shockwave that was sent directly towards the group, and in an instant, Bucky leapt in front of his lover, arms raised.

"careful!"

*Bang*

Bucky, standing in front of the Jedi, barely protected her from the powerful blast that sent all five of them flying back.

Strange, Celeste, and Robbie go through one door, while Bucky and Wong go through another.

The three of them hit the ground hard, looking up in time to see that the gate to Kamar-Taj had collapsed, with multiple rocks blocking their way.

"Bucky!" Celeste shouted, her face filled with worry. "King!"

"Damn it," Robbie said, standing up and walking over to the rock and debris that now lay before them.

The Jedi Shadow shook her head and raised her hands, preparing to summon a portal when she noticed something was missing from her left hand.

"My ring!" she said in horror, patting herself down a moment later, visibly frozen. "No... I lost it.

Hearing her say this, Strange checked his hand and cursed himself mentally. He hadn't brought it with him when he was in the library at Kamar-Taj, and now he was trapped here.

No matter which sanctuary this is.

Either New York or Hong Kong.

“We need to get back there,” Celeste almost yelled. “They need our help.”

"Wait a minute." Strange began, making the two men who had walked through the Sanctuary entrance with him look at him. "What did the King say before all that crazy shit? About these Sanctuaries? This is the Sanctuary we just entered, right?

The Jedi Knight and the Wanderer looked at each other with a slight contradiction, and then the former sighed helplessly.

Celeste nodded in response. "Then we just need to figure out which one."

The trio stumbled out of their current room and eventually came to the foyer of the temple. There was a large flight of stairs in the middle that split temporarily near the top, reaching either end of the next level. The lighting was severely dimmed, with only a more prominent light coming from the skylight above.

Seeing the entrance at the end of the corridor, they walked towards it. Opening the door, Strange and Celeste were greeted by the cool afternoon air and the happenings in the city.

Stephen turned around and saw the address of the sanctuary they had just come out of: 177A Bleecker Street.

The two magicians noticed a few people staring at them curiously before they continued on their way, the two returning to the temple moments later.

"So where are we in New York?" Robbie asked as he sat at the foot of the stairs, knowing they were not in Hong Kong at the moment.

“New York,” the former surgeon said. “I know this street. I pass by here sometimes on my way to work.

Robbie rolled his eyes at that. "I mean where in New York.

Strange gave Reyes a flat look. "Manhattan."

"Thank you. Is it that hard to get to the point?"

"Well, now's not the time to argue," Celeste quickly cut in. "Kamar-Taj is fighting the Rakki, and the London Temple was just attacked."

"So what should we do?" Robbie asked, looking at Morn and Strange.

"We need to find a way to get in touch with the others," Celeste said immediately. "Or at least find a space ring somewhere here."

So the three of them began to explore the New York Sanctuary. They went up the stairs and through the top floor.

"Hello? Is anyone there?" Strange shouted.

"The protectors of this place were probably at Kamar-Taj when the attack happened," Celeste pointed out, since no one responded to them.

"Your guess should be right." Robbie commented.

"Do you know who it could be?" Strange asked, looking at Celeste in deep thought.

"Uh... maybe, I'm not sure. The Jedi pondered, rubbing his chin in thought. "Maybe Master Drumm, but I'm not sure."

They soon came across a long hallway that led to a somewhat familiar design or appearance.

The room was slightly circular in shape, with three large windows, each opening to another place on Earth.

Kind of like the hub room in Kamar-Taj.

"Wow," Celeste muttered, walking over to the center window.

One is a tropical forest, another is a frozen tundra, and the last is a beautiful mountain range.

Gazing at a circular dome that flanked each window, Strange carefully placed his hand on one and discovered that it could be rotated.

Stephen turned it so that the mountains turned into deserts. Celeste used tundra to shift to oceans.

"Think about it, maybe this is a way back to Kamar-Taj?" Robbie asked, checking the windows in all corners.

Instead of vocalizing a response, Celeste and Strange decide to test the theory and cycle through a series of circumstances, none of which lead back to Kamar-Taj.

"Oh, for Cliff's sake, really?"

"I think it's a security measure," Stephen speculated. "Why is there another way to get there near the door near the foyer?"

"This is a bullshit security measure," Robbie said in annoyance.

"Forget it, it's better not to dwell on this." Strange sighed and left the three windows.

They went up to the top floor of what seemed to be the temple and saw a large collection of antiques and artifacts.

The objects are either hung on the wall, placed in display cases behind glass, have their own pedestals, or simply sit on shelves.

Helmets, masks, cloth, weapons, tools, and various other items that cannot be fully identified.

“There must be a space ring here,” Celeste exclaimed, walking among the many ancient magical relics.

Strange and Robbie didn't respond, momentarily preoccupied with the various objects around them.

The latter stared at the two axes hanging on the wall, which looked like they could chop through almost anything.

He nodded in agreement, and from the brief response he got from the Spirit of Vengeance, he seemed to share the sentiment.

"Found anything useful?" Celeste asked, coming to stand next to him.

Robbie nodded forward, a small smile forming as he saw the Jedi's shoulders drop dramatically as he noticed what he was looking at.

"really?"

"Hey," Robbie argued. "This might be useful."

Celeste simply rolled her eyes and did nothing to stop the young man who had casually taken down an axe from the wall and strapped it to his back.

"Strange." The Jedi Shadow said loudly, his voice echoing off the walls. "Did you find anything useful? Any space ring?

She didn't hear a response and she got a little worried.

"Strange," she cried again nervously. "You are--"

"Huh?" the wayward doctor replied, and Celeste breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry, sorry, didn't find anything else except... this floating cloak.

"The floating cloak," Celeste repeated, glancing down at the blue kwakaras draped over her shoulders. "And...?"

"what?"

"Anything else? Any space ring?

"No, I don't have anything here."

Celeste sighed helplessly, feeling increasingly irritated and anxious.

She wants to return to Kamar-Taj immediately, as it is under attack by the Rakki, but she has also just learned from the King about the importance of these sanctuaries.

One was just destroyed.

If the other two were attacked as well, it would obviously be the end of the world.

So here she was, reluctant as she might be, in a sanctuary that apparently stood between earth and eternal torment.

As a Jedi Knight, she had to deal with many things such as galactic conflicts and wars, with many planets being ravaged by both.

Yet, somehow, these suddenly made her feel insignificant in the grand scheme of things as she realized what she had gotten herself into.

She is now part of an order that operates not in one universe but in a multiverse. Other universes, dimensions, realities, whatever one wants to call it.

She should now be keeping at least one sanctuary safe from the Zealots who worship a cosmic entity from another universe that has been attempting to invade other universes and worlds.

Celeste was fairly certain that this wasn't in any Jedi or Sith material or code.

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