Chapter 121 0121: Kathmandu
They both took a plane to Nepal and started looking around for Kamar Taj. Alex could\'ve easily cheated and used his clones to search for the place, but he was more interested in enjoying his time with Wanda as they explored Kathmandu. And he didn\'t really want to risk there being some obscure ancient magic that would discover and attack him if he acted aggressively and searched through people\'s memories while looking for the sorcerer\'s sanctuary.
"So why didn\'t we go to one of the Sanctums? I\'m pretty sure that they are much easier to locate by what you\'ve told me. Considering that they are supposed to be extremely prominent locations in those cities." Wanda asked Alex as they stood in the middle of the street in front of a dumpling stall. The dish was somewhat different from the typical dumplings, but not too different. He showed her a finger to signify her to wait as he chewed the dumpling that was inside his mouth. Wanda also grabbed a dumpling from the disposable paper plate in Alex\'s hand. She dipped it in the garlic sauce that they got with it before eating it.
"Pretty good, right?" He asked her after finishing as Wanda nodded. "And to answer your question, the sanctums are Earth\'s defensive bastions from extra-dimensional threats. And if you haven\'t realized it yet, you are also someone who has the potential to be an extra-dimensional threat." Alex dropped a bomb on Wanda as she looked at him with widened panicky eyes.
"Finish your food first," Alex said sternly as he stopped her from saying anything. He went deep in thought for a moment as he decided to reveal a part of how Wanda\'s power works he\'d examined her enough to understand that the working of her power was similar to the Scarlet Witch from 616, \'I\'m pretty sure her power also comes from the Cthon of the MCU, but the origin might be somewhat different…\' Alex was thinking of how much he was going to reveal.
Wanda looked at him worriedly after swallowing the half-chewed dumpling, "Please explain…" She asked him worriedly. She didn\'t want to hurt anyone.
"Come here," Alex pulled her in for a hug after putting the paper plate at the side, "You are no threat to anyone. At most, you are a harmless kitten who might bite her owner every once in a while." He chuckled.
"Alex…" She whined, wanting a serious answer from him.
Alex sighed a little before saying, "Have you ever wondered where you get so much Chaos energy from?" He said making Wanda\'s eyes widen in realization.
"You\'re saying that I\'m drawing my power from another dimension?" She asked him with a frown.
"Sort of, it\'s complicated. I need more concrete information before giving you any actual answer, but yes. In theory, you are an anchor that connects the Chaos \'dimension\' to the main material dimension. You channel the power of that dimension to bring about the effects of that dimension. That\'s why I can\'t use any of your Chaos powers without siphoning energy off of you. I don\'t have any connection to that dimension and can only use the Chaos energy that you have if I want to use Chaos magic." He told her, "Again. This is not a concrete answer and I might be wrong, but that\'s what I\'ve gleaned from what I know so far."
"Will I lose control?" She asked worriedly as she pulled away from the hug and looked at him.
"No. You won\'t. I\'ll make sure of it." Alex\'s words finally put Wanda at ease and she sighed in relief before sneakily grabbing the last dumpling from the plate that Alex had placed at the side for himself.
"Hey," Alex tried to grab it from Wanda, but she\'d already put it in her mouth. Alex gave her a narrow eyes threatening look as Wanda just cheekily smiled while eating it.
As they walked to the next stall to get the next street food, Wanda asked, "You didn\'t answer my question, why not the Sanctums?"
"Because, sensing your anchor to the Chaos \'dimension\', they will go into full alert and start fighting you without even asking questions. The sanctums are the defensive bastions while Kamar Taj is like the school. They will probably be much more acceptable to your presence." Alex said nonchalantly.
"Probably?!" Wanda gave him a dry look.
"Don\'t sweat it. We can deal with it." Alex said with a shrug. He wasn\'t afraid of Dr. Strange, at least in his current situation. Even though the man was the current Sorcerer Supreme, his knowledge was still lacking and he needed some time to get his shit together.
\'I just hope that the Ancient One doesn\'t randomly pop out of nowhere in a canon-breaking event…\' Alex thought without much worry. He\'d already seen the actions of an external correcting force that made sure that the original storyline was maintained in the MCU and even Earth-65 to some extent. The others, not so much. But considering that both Research and Farm Earths were ones with finished stories, they didn\'t exactly have a \'canon\' to follow. And Alex wasn\'t aware of the story of Laura\'s Earth. It was the same with The Mighty Thor who was currently fighting Beta Ray Bill for some reason that Alex hadn\'t been able to find out about. He didn\'t know about her canon storyline either since she was very different from the Jane Foster of 616.
Alex shook his head as he brought himself away from his meta-knowledge hole. All thinking about it did was confuse the fuck out of him whenever he thought about it. His current situation was unbelievably confusing and he still hadn\'t figured out what was exactly happening. In the end, all he could do was try to live his life to the fullest while having fun and getting stronger with his girls.
"Alex?" Wanda asked him as she shook his hand that she had been holding for a while. She\'d noticed his absent-minded state.
"It\'s nothing." He said before giving Wanda a smile as they continued their date.
…
The duo spent the next few days going through the streets of Kathmandu searching for clues that would lead them to Kamar Taj. It wasn\'t as much as it was searching as they were going on dates while exploring the place.
At some point, Alex\'s ‹True Sixth Sense› finally detected the presence of a sorcerer. He promptly disappeared before the sorcerer could notice Wanda and asked her, [You see that robed woman?]
[Mhm…] Wanda nodded while sadly looking at the spot where Alex was supposed to be. She wanted to hang out more with Alex.
[You\'re not even looking at her.] He said with amusement.
[I can still sense her.] She said as she turned to look at the woman who was already looking at Wanda.
[All right, whatever. Go talk to her, go nuts. Try not to threaten her, I would very much like to access the library at Kamar Taj.] Alex finished as Wanda started walking and approached the sorceress who was wearing the typical brown Kamar Taj robes.
"Hi!" Wanda greeted the woman in a bubbly manner with a bright smile on her face.
"Hello…" She frowned as she examined Wanda, "Do you need something?" She asked.
"Yes, do you have any idea where Kamar Taj is?" Wanda asked the woman with a smile.
"Kamar-Taj?" She seemed surprised for a moment as her eyes looked at Wanda with scrutiny.
"Yes. I\'m on a journey of self-discovery and enlightenment which led me here…" Wanda smiled as she heard Alex snort in her head, [Right… self-discovery… sure] He said while suppressing a laugh.
[Shut up.] Wanda didn\'t want to laugh in the sorceress\'s face and chided Alex.
After a few seconds of silence, the woman said, "Follow me." She turned around and started walking without looking back.
Wanda shrugged and started walking behind the sorceress.
She was led through multiple different streets when the sorceress finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous door.
"This is the place?" Wanda asked with a skeptical frown.
"Yes. Come in." She said as she pushed open the door and walked in.
[I\'m almost disappointed that we can\'t go on any more dates…] Wanda said to Alex as she examined the open door.
[Woman, we have spent the last week on a constant nonstop date. And we spent the week before that having nonstop sex. How insatiable are you.] Alex said in a mock frustrated tone.
[You have no idea yet.] Wanda\'s thoughts were full of love and desire for Alex.
[Be cautious, don\'t trust them easily. They do not have the strength to contain you, but luring you into a trap is completely feasible for them.] He warned Wanda as she walked to the entrance.
[Don\'t worry.] Wanda was both confident in her abilities and cautious as she kept her senses open for any magical signs of a trap.
***
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