Kamar-Taj, Sanctum Sanctorum.
Stephen Strange, Doctor Strange, stood at the center of a massive circular observation platform.
Before him floated a real-time global dimensional energy monitoring map, woven from countless golden threads of light.
His cloak hovered behind him like a loyal companion.
For the past week, his intuition had been sounding alarms.
Extremely subtle, elusive anomalous energy fluctuations had appeared sporadically across the globe, then swiftly vanished.
He had sent people to investigate several locations, but they had found nothing, as if they were merely random disturbances in the natural energy field.
But as the heir to the Sorcerer Supreme, he knew that the most dangerous enemies often lurked beneath the most inconspicuous details.
"Wong!" he called toward the area beneath the observation platform.
A bald, solidly built man in yellow monk's robes poked his head out from the library section.
It was Wong, Kamar-Taj's librarian and Strange's most trusted comrade.
"What is it, Strange?"
"Look here." Strange enlarged several of the most suspicious points on the monitoring map with a wave of his hand, then connected them. At once, a curved arc faintly emerged.
"South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East... These locations display a peculiar periodic resonance on the energy fluctuation map.
It is weak, but the synchronization rate is extremely high. This doesn't look like a natural phenomenon."
Wong floated up and stared at the points of light for a long while, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper. "You're right... This looks more like... the energy foundation of some large-scale ritual. Someone is setting up an array!"
"An array?" Strange's heart tightened. "What kind? And for what purpose?"
"I don't know." Wong shook his head. "But for whoever set it up to hide it this well beneath our surveillance, their power... is likely far beyond yours