Once again I found myself in Strange's parlour. He poured me a cup of tea and we sat down facing each other. Strange sipped his drink and looked at me. "So...what do you know about magic?"
"Honestly? Nothing," I shrugged. "I understand it's supposed to involve power in various different forms, but nothing beyond that."
Strange nodded. "Yes — that's all right, I suppose. Magic, you see, is the manipulation of foreign energies through spells and incantations. If you wish, you may think of them as programming codes that alter the system you inhabit."
I raised an eyebrow. "So like the Matrix?"
Strange blinked. "Huh...well, yes. I suppose that would be a fitting example. Essentially every sorcerer is a version of Neo and can rewrite the code of the world through will and technique. That is magic, in essence."
I groaned. "You mentioned something about power earlier. Where does it come from? Is it from inside me? Like bioelectricity?"
Strange nodded. "Certain magical spells do draw on your own biological energy, yes. Spells such as the ones you used against Kylokeous fall into that category. Also, when you use your life force to interact with the electrical fields around you — pushing your spiritual form outward — you may achieve a state of release, obtaining your astral form."
"So magic isn't something arcane and foreign. It's just a form of manipulated science," I narrowed my eyes in thought.
Strange smiled. "I have been saying the same to the greatest minds in this dimension for years. I'm glad someone finally understands. Yes, Peter — magic is simply another way we can understand the world, albeit a far more complex and indirect one."
I nodded. "I see..." Then a thought surfaced that had been gnawing at me for a while. How did Doom become a sorcerer? How? Did it have something to do with the dimension we sent him to? How?
"What's troubling you, Peter?" Strange asked.
I looked at him. "I...it's..." I considered lying, but figured that if he was going through all the trouble of teaching me, I could at least be honest with him. "I was thinking about a villain from my world. Doom. I assume you know him?"
Strange's expression hardened. "Yes — I know Victor Von Doom."
I sighed. "Well, he's the man who nearly killed me." Strange's surprise made me continue. "When Doom tried to destroy my Baxter Building, Reed and I sent him through a dimensional portal into the same dimension where my version of the Fantastic Four gained their powers. He remained there for over a year before escaping — and when he did, he could somehow wield magic."
"How? Are you certain it was magic?"
"He had glowing green circles spinning around his head."
"Could he use it before?"
"If he could, he would have used it against us long before then," I replied.
"Then...you must have sent him to a dimension of power, which would also explain how your FF gained their abilities," Strange said, stroking his beard thoughtfully.
I blinked. "I'm sorry?"
Strange surfaced from his thoughts. "Oh, apologies. Well, you see — a dimension of power is a world unlike any dimension you or I are ordinarily aware of. The universe as we know it exists under very specific conditions: the exact number of particles within an atom, the precise spin of a quark, the exact speed of light. Each of these conditions is balanced on the tip of a sword — hundreds upon hundreds of swords. If even one falls, the entire universe becomes unable to support life.
"But these unstable dimensions still exist — and the resulting laws of physics are altered to such a drastic degree that the universe becomes almost unrecognizable. For example, gravity could be inverted, pushing matter away rather than drawing it in."
"Okay — but what does that have to do with magic?" I asked. Not that this quantum mechanics tangent wasn't fascinating, but I needed him to get to the point.
"These dimensions are unstable. They constantly press against our own. And if they somehow interact with our dimension and are subject to our rules, it can produce extraordinary effects." He snapped his fingers, summoning a glowing magical circle over his palm. "Such as allowing me to do this."
My eyes widened. "How? How can a human do this?"
"Our minds are quantum machines, Peter — meaning they operate differently from the rest of our bodies. The network of electrical signals functions like a kind of receiver, allowing us to connect to other dimensions and draw their energies into our own, then manipulate them. There are thousands upon thousands of such worlds, each offering a different kind of power: dark dimensions, such as Dormammu's realm, Mephisto's domain, and countless more. As such, you must be careful when using magic — it can quite literally kill you."
I groaned and nodded. "So...Doom was trapped in one of these dimensions and learned to control its magic...all by himself?"
Strange nodded. "That man is one of the greatest minds in any dimension. It is a shame he is almost invariably a narcissistic megalomaniac."
I smiled. "Right...when do I begin, Doctor?"
Stephen sighed. "If we are to do this, I insist you call me Master Strange, as you are my apprentice."
"Right," I nodded, finishing my tea. "Master Strange."
Stephen nodded. "Very well, then, Apprentice Parker — follow me." He rose and I followed him out of the room.
"There's just one more thing, Master Strange," I called out as we walked down a long corridor.
"And what's that?"
"Why do you want to teach me magic?" I asked. Strange raised an eyebrow as he glanced back at me over his shoulder. "I'm not an idiot. I know there are limits to professional curiosity. You know I'll eventually return to my own world, so it's of no benefit to your dimension to train me. So why?"
Strange smiled. "You have a very perceptive mind, Peter. That is good — most magical beings are tricksters by nature. You will need to be constantly on your guard."
"You still haven't answered the question, Master Strange," I smiled.
Strange chuckled. "Yes, yes...you are correct. I do have a reason to train you. But I cannot reveal it to you."
"Why not?"
"Have you read Harry Potter?"
I blinked. "Yeah...why?"
"In the second book, Harry had to fight a sixty-foot snake in the dungeons. Do you think that if he had known that before he even started at Hogwarts, he would ever have wanted to go?"
"No — he'd have been terrified and run the other way," I replied. "But I'm not Harry Potter. I face monsters on a regular basis. So what's my equivalent of a sixty-foot basilisk?"
Strange simply replied, "you will see."
I sighed. I hoped I would become as composed and enigmatic as him one day. Strange said nothing further as I followed him through the winding corridors. Now I was truly curious — just why was he doing this? Whatever the reason, one problem at a time.
We walked into his library. Strange floated upward into the rows of shelving and used his powers to select a large number of books. They all began to float gently downward, settling on a table and slowly forming stacks nearly ten books high.
"Before learning magic, you must first learn language," Strange explained. "As I said — spells are like a program you use to alter reality itself. As such, you must first learn the programming language."
I picked up a text and looked it over. "So...Sanskrit, Hindi, and...Arabic?"
Strange nodded. "You will need to learn them all — their culture, history, mythology, everything."
"There must be over a hundred books in here," I looked at the towering stacks.
"Yes. Good luck, Apprentice Parker," Strange said — and left the library, leaving me alone with the books and the silence. I sighed, cracked my knuckles, and got to work.
---
By two in the morning I was half asleep. I found myself re-reading entire pages simply because I hadn't retained a word the first time. I sighed, leaned back, and stretched, looking at the ten books I had managed to finish. I wasn't fluent in Sanskrit, but I now knew a handful of words — and a great deal of Hindu mythology. Did you know there are over three hundred and thirty million gods in the Hindu pantheon?
Either way, I was done for the night. I got up and walked out — and promptly realized I had no idea how to leave. Strange had led me through so many winding passages that I'd lost track entirely, and my mind had been otherwise occupied at the time.
I was very glad Nat was in another world. She would kick my ass if she found out I hadn't been paying attention to my surroundings.
So with a sigh I called out, "Strange! Master Strange! A little help, please!" I waited — but no one came. So with another sigh I decided to take my chances, turning right and hoping I would reach somewhere recognizable.
The hallways all began to blur together. The layout made no sense whatsoever. I passed a painting of a man dancing with a hippopotamus three times. And each time I could have sworn the man in the painting was someone different.
Then I reached the end of a corridor. I stood before a door — plain, non-threatening in appearance, with a faint line of light visible under the gap. Maybe it was an exit.
I touched the handle — and my spider-sense screamed. I let go and jumped back, but the door exploded inward and I was sucked through like air rushing into a vacuum.
I went flying through skies of purple and yellow before landing hard on a staircase suspended in the middle of nowhere.
I rubbed my sore head. "What on earth..." I looked around — and found myself inside a maze of staircases going every which way: left, right, upside down, sideways, at impossible angles.
"Hello?!" I cried out. My own voice echoed back at me.
Panic began to set in, but I forced it down. I was already in enough trouble. I looked around — the door had to be somewhere nearby. I had come from the left, so logically I needed to go that way.
I fired a web line and began swinging through the vast empty space, which was already playing havoc with my sense of direction.
I shot out a new web line, releasing from the arc of the last one, when suddenly the staircase I was targeting moved. It actually moved. What the hell?!
I screamed as I found myself plummeting into the abyss below, the vast empty expanse of purple and yellow all around me.
I twisted in midair and shot out web line after web line, praying one would be long enough to reach another staircase. None were.
"FUUUU—" I screamed. I needed something to grab, fast. I watched as the vast nothingness below rushed up toward me, faster and faster. I screamed louder, but I knew no one was coming.
Slowly I felt my senses go numb. It was as if everything about my body was shutting down. There was nothing to smell but myself. Nothing to see but purple and yellow. Nothing to touch — no rushing air, no gravity — yet somehow I knew I was still falling.
I closed my eyes and prayed. I prayed for something to save me, for something to happen.
And then — I felt it.
As every other sense went numb, I turned inward, and I felt it. A resonance — like the vibration of a thread in a spider's web.
It was as if it had always existed inside me, but only now, with everything else stripped away, could I finally hear it. That sound — growing louder than my heartbeat, louder than every other sensation in my body, louder even than my thoughts.
Twang.
Twang!
And suddenly my body slowed — and then was launched back upward. I opened my eyes.
A giant golden web, shaped like a road, stretched out directly before me. I fell back onto it and bounced like a trampoline, gradually coming to a stop. I got to my feet and looked around. The golden web-road extended far beyond anything I could see — no visible end, no visible beginning. I looked up. The staircases were so far above me I could barely make them out. I needed a way back up.
And then, as if the web had heard me, it reacted.
It exploded outward — each thread suddenly shooting upward, thousands upon thousands of new strands weaving themselves together, forming a vast web wall that stretched all the way to the staircases above.
I gaped. "What are you?" I waited for an answer — and genuinely half expected one. But none came. I didn't know how long this would last, so I moved. I used the web wall to climb, muscles aching with the effort, but I didn't care.
I hauled myself up onto a staircase and slumped there, gasping, all traces of sleepiness gone. I looked down. From this height I could see so much more of the web — it extended to the very edge of the purple and yellow clouds. And near the far horizon I could see another great road of web converging with it, like the outermost edges of a spiral meeting their anchor point.
"Oh, I am so in trouble," I sighed.
"Indeed you are," came Strange's voice. I turned to see the man descending toward me, seated cross-legged in the air. "Your first day here and you have already gotten into so much trouble."
"In my defence, you forgot to tell me how I'm supposed to navigate your house of horrors!" I snapped back.
Strange simply smiled. "Perhaps next time you will learn to wait."
I grumbled. I looked away from him and back at the web-road below. "What is this place? What is that?"
"This place?" Strange smiled. "This is the space between worlds — a pocket dimension that connects to various other points in this world. A means of traveling far more quickly than by ordinary methods."
"And that?" I asked, pointing at the golden web-road.
Strange looked down — and his expression shifted. He stared for a long moment as if turning something over in his mind, then sighed. "That...is why I decided to train you."
"I'm sorry? How is that a basilisk-level threat?" I asked.
"It is not the danger I was concerned about — it is the magnitude." Strange snapped his fingers and the purple and yellow clouds began to slowly dissolve, revealing a field of stars just behind them. "This dimension connects various locations within my own world. But that web-road connects to something far greater."
Suddenly the world around me began to shrink. I found myself staring at the golden web-road as it was slowly revealed to be part of something incomprehensibly larger.
The sky and ground became clusters of stars. Whole galaxies were strung before Strange and me. It was like gazing at an image of the entire universe — except the universe itself was but a single pixel in the image I was now looking at.
And within that image there was one structure that dwarfed everything else. Whole galaxies seemed small beside it. The golden web-road I had been standing on — large enough to fill a city block — was but a single atomic thread in the vast web strung across the entire multiverse before us.
"It's called the Web of Life," Strange informed me. "No one knows its origin — it has existed since before time itself. Many believe it was left behind from the multiverse that preceded ours. I, however, hold a different theory."
He turned to me. "In every universe there are beings with extraordinary powers. And almost without exception, one of those beings is a totem of the Spider."
My eyes went wide. "A Spider-powered hero." It wasn't a question.
Strange nodded. "Yes. They are the reason the Web of Life exists. They generate it with every breath they take, with every action they take. It binds the whole of the multiverse together — a source of power so immense that no sorcerer has ever been able to channel even a fraction of it. To attempt it would be like reaching into the sun itself, only a thousand times more intense.
"But there is an exception." He turned to me. "Only a Spider may access the full capabilities of the Web. Only a Spider — no one else. And in the whole of the multiverse, not one Spider has ever tried. Until you."
I turned to Strange. "You want me to use this power? Are you out of your mind?! One wrong move and I could kill hundreds!"
"And you could save billions," he shot back. "I'm no fool, Peter. I know what you are capable of. I understand your powers better than you understand them yourself. I know what you can do."
"But why?! Why do I need to do this?! What's out there that requires me to wield the power of the entire multiverse?!"
Strange looked at me and whispered, "the doom of all life." Six bright lights flared above his head — red, blue, green, purple, orange, and yellow — and together they formed the shape of a gauntlet. "Thanos is coming. And he will destroy everything."
I stared at Strange, unable to speak. "How?"
"I have seen it. As a Spider grows stronger, so does their connection to the Web of Life. And your connection is the strongest I have witnessed in a very long time." Strange looked over his shoulder as suddenly one thread-point began to glow brighter than all the others — positioned dangerously close to the very center of the web. I understood at once: if that point were destroyed, it would pull every other thread down with it.
"I...I can destroy the multiverse?" I asked in horror.
"Yes," Strange nodded. "Your death at the hands of Thanos wielding the Infinity Stones can cause it all to unravel."
"B-but that's not possible! I'm nothing! How can one Spider bring it all down?!"
"It is not only you — the world you come from is also located close to the heart of the Universe." Strange looked toward the web as the notch near the center glowed brightly. "It all converges."
"This can't be possible! I'm not even—!" I stopped. I had been about to give away my deepest secret. I caught myself just in time.
But then Strange continued. "You're not what? The real Peter Parker?" He didn't look surprised — if anything, he looked relieved. "I know."
"W-what? What do you mean, you know?!"
"I know you are not really Peter Parker," Strange replied. "And I know that to you, all our worlds are nothing but stories. But that changes nothing. The moment you put on that mask and built those web shooters, you became Spider-Man — a hero. It doesn't matter that you weren't born to it. You chose this path and have walked it like any other who ever has."
I stared at him, my throat going dry. "I can't."
"You can, and you will. You may not be Peter Parker — but you understand the price of power and the responsibility it carries. You understand what it means to be Spider-Man more than anyone else ever has. That is why you will become the Sorcerer of the Web, Protector of Life itself. That is your destiny. It always has been."