"How is this not about my hands?" Stephen questioned.

"Master Hamir," the Ancient One called, allowing him to stand between them.

Hamir pulled back his left sleeve to reveal a stump instead of a hand. Swirling his arms around, he formed a transmutation pattern in front of them.

"You cannot beat a river into submission. You'll have to surrender to its current and use its power as your own."

"I control it by surrendering? That doesn't make any sense," Stephen retorted.

"Not everything does. Not everything has to. Your intellect has taken you far in life, but it will take you no further. Surrender, Stephen. Silence your ego." The Ancient One held her left hand up and formed a portal. "Then, your power will rise. Come with me."

It was snowy and incredibly cold inside the destination beyond the portal.

"Wait, is this - "

"Everest."

"This is beautiful!" Stephen breathed in the air with a smile.

She nodded in agreement. "You're right."

Stephen wrapped his arms around himself. "Beautiful. It's freezing, but...beautiful."

"At this temperature, a person can last thirty minutes before suffering from permanent loss of function. They'll likely go into shock."

"Great."

"But you will likely go into shock within the first two," she added.

"What?" he asked.

Stephen turned around to see the Ancient One pass through the portal. "Surrender, Stephen."

"Wait, no!"

He jumped toward it, but landed in the snow. Back at Kamar-Taj, the Ancient One stood patiently with Aries and Mordo

"How is our new recruit?" Mordo asked.

"We shall see," she responded. "Any second now..."

"Oh - no, not again," Mordo muttered, reaching for his ring. "Maybe I should - "

The Ancient One held a hand out to him, stopping him. Aries nervously nibbled in her fingernails.

"Come on, Stephen," she whispered. "Dawn will rise, dawn will rise."

Suddenly, an outline of a ring showed up and a portal grew in front of them. Stephen fell through the portal, smacking onto the ground of Kamar-Taj. Aries rushed forward and helped him up, keeping her body close to his to get him as warm as possible.