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BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The ever-flowing river of time froze in an instant.
The next second.
Like a depth charge detonating beneath the surface, water exploded upward. Hawk—who had been sitting cross-legged on the riverbed—now stood once again atop the temporal stream.
Hawk gazed down at his personal timeline, now that the loop had closed.
A single timeline flowed from the present, merged upstream into the past, and fused into one—forming a complete temporal loop.
He had traveled from the present to the past and met his daughter Jean.
After he left, Jean had gone to New York City and found him.
From Jean, he learned that his future self had visited her, had spent time with her.
Then he came to Kamar-Taj, used the Time Stone, entered his own timeline, and returned to the past to meet Jean.
And so!
The time loop was complete. No gaps remained.
Next.
"Contract!"
Hawk's will surged. His right hand opened, then clenched toward the river of time.
The next second.
WHOOOOSH!
His timeline—that silver thread of time—burst from the river like a dragon leaping from the sea.
Scales and claws flashing!
But—
These were all temporal vulnerabilities. Like computer viruses. The entire purpose of contracting his timeline was to eliminate these gaps, to achieve complete temporal fixation and impermeability. Otherwise, someday, someone could hack into his timeline like a cyber-criminal exploiting security holes.
Hawk surveyed his vulnerability-riddled timeline. The corner of his mouth twitched. Once again, he sat cross-legged in midair above the river of time. The phoenix phantom materialized behind him.
As the phantom unfurled, streams of phoenix power flowed outward like tributaries, each one targeting a different vulnerability in his timeline.
As the phoenix power merged with each gap, the temporal vulnerabilities began mending at visible speed.
And with each repair, Hawk's perception of time grew clearer. More transparent.
Within his Cosmo.
Golden radiance spread outward. The phoenix's eyes grew ever brighter. The Reality Stone—which Hawk had previously split in two for aesthetic purposes—now reunited into a single gem.
But the phoenix didn't become one-eyed.
Because the Mind Stone had become the phoenix's new eye.
Left eye: Mind.
Right eye: Reality.
The phoenix's mismatched eyes—one yellow, one red—merged their light into aureate brilliance. Under the phoenix power's influence, that brilliance transformed into the golden radiance of a Gold Saint, painting Hawk's silver universe with color.
RUMBLE!
The moment golden light fully saturated his silver universe, it didn't stop. It began expanding outward—conquering new territory.
As thunder rolled at the universe's edge—
Hawk's Cosmo seemed to finally push open a door that had been sealed for eons. Golden light flooded through the opening.
At that moment.
Sitting cross-legged above the river of time, Hawk sensed something. His eyes opened. He gazed along the temporal current.
In the future, at a certain junction, a timeline node blazed with incomparable radiance—as if beckoning Hawk to come investigate.
"Tch."
"You think I'm stupid?"
"The future must not be viewed."
"Besides..."
"I hate spoilers."
Hawk's thoughts churned. He snorted dismissively. No matter how that future junction tried to seduce him like some shameless temptress, he simply closed his eyes.
'What the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.'
He wasn't crossing this river by feeling for stones in the dark.
He was crossing by standing on the shoulders of Odin and the Ancient One. Their mistakes were lessons he would never repeat.
He preferred to hold the future in his own hands.
The future—
He would create it himself. That way, whatever path he chose, he could face it with a clear conscience.
Hawk's mind achieved clarity. He stopped perceiving that seductive future node. The instant his consciousness unified completely, his aura exploded exponentially.
CLANG! CLANG!
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Five more days at Kamar-Taj.
Just like before, during the apprentices' morning exercises, Gwen stood in the corridor admiring the sorcerers' practice. When the phoenix cry reached her ears, she instinctively looked up toward the library.
What she saw—
A fire phoenix soaring skyward, its reflection blazing across the library's ceiling. It spread its flaming wings, its mismatched eyes—one yellow, one red—radiating a golden divinity beneath the crimson flames.
Wait.
Divine?
Gwen's eyebrow rose. Something occurred to her. She was about to seek out the Sorcerer Supreme when she noticed the white-robed figure had already appeared beside her. Her eyes lit up.
"Master, did Hawk succeed?"
"More or less."
The Ancient One also watched the golden-tinged fire phoenix reflected above the library, offering an ambiguous answer.
Gwen blinked at the response.
But at that moment—
The phoenix came fast and vanished faster. In the blink of an eye, it had completely disappeared from the sky above the library.
As if everything had been an illusion.
Gwen looked at the Ancient One.
The Sorcerer Supreme smiled gently.
"Tea?"
"..."
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When Hawk opened his eyes again, he found himself in that modest but warmly decorated house.
This was where he and his sister had been born.
Located in Brooklyn, three blocks from Steve Rogers' childhood home—an unremarkable American building from the outside.
But this was also the only remaining vulnerability in his timeline that phoenix power couldn't automatically repair. He would have to fix this one manually.
Hawk surveyed his surroundings. Hearing voices from the bedroom, his eyes flashed with x-ray vision for an instant. Then he phased through the door.
The blonde woman and the bearded man were propped up in bed, talking.
Mostly the bearded man was talking. The blonde woman gently stroked her very pregnant belly, listening with a soft smile.
The conversation was essentially the bearded man painting pictures of the future.
In simple terms: once the children were born, he would work even harder. Eventually, they'd move from Brooklyn to Manhattan. They'd have a big house with a front lawn, a backyard garden, maybe even a pool. Someday, they could take the kids swimming in the backyard, invite friends and family over for barbecues.
The bearded man described these future scenes with vivid enthusiasm.
The blonde woman watched him with a tender smile, expressing her belief in him—her certainty that he would lead their family out of poverty.
She stroked her belly.
"Son, did you hear that? Your daddy can't wait to take you swimming when you're older."
The bearded man carefully placed his calloused hands on the woman's belly. His deep voice carried a sense of responsibility.
"Son, when you're grown, I'll take you drinking and hunting."
Then—
He looked at the woman.
"I found a new job. At the shipping container yard on the docks. Unloading cargo. Pays twice what the last one did."
The blonde woman paused, studying him.
"The container yard... isn't that supposed to be connected to some kind of gang—"
"I'm just a worker. I just unload my cargo and go home."
The bearded man grinned.
"Yeah, it's harder than the last job. But the pay's better too. I did the math—the extra money covers formula and your medical bills exactly."
The blonde woman's expression shifted.
"But I don't want you working yourself to death."
"Not as hard as what you're doing."
The bearded man rubbed her belly, gazing at her with tenderness.
"Amy, I promise I'll give us a good life."
Amy Chloe.
That was the blonde woman's name.
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Soon.
Time skipped forward to the day the bearded man died.
Hawk watched Andrew kiss Amy goodbye, then stride out the door in high spirits. He watched the rusted secondhand car drive away. He watched Amy standing in the doorway, cradling infant-him, her eyes following Andrew until he disappeared from view.
Hawk considered for a moment. The instant he turned, he was seated in the back of Andrew's battered car.
Two infant car seats occupied the back seat.
They looked old but had been carefully maintained.
Hawk's gaze fell on several construction-related books on the passenger seat. Beside them lay a borrowing slip from the New York Public Library.
The name on the slip: Andrew Chloe.
The bearded man's name.
Hawk studied Andrew's face—no trace of resentment toward his job, only hopeful anticipation for a better future.
During these past days, Hawk hadn't fast-forwarded through this period. He needed to locate the timeline vulnerability.
So—
He had witnessed his and Anya's birth again. He had seen just how poor this family was—and how warm.
Amy Chloe had been born with the same congenital heart condition as his sister. Abandoned shortly after birth, she'd received only rough, free medical care before adulthood to patch up her heart.
But she couldn't handle strenuous work. Especially after giving birth to him and Anya—she'd grown weaker than before.
The entire family's burden fell on Andrew Chloe's shoulders.
Still—
He remained optimistic.
More than once, Hawk had watched Andrew return from work completely exhausted—only to break into a warm smile the moment he opened the door. He'd walk to the crib, lift infant-Hawk and infant-Anya, and kiss them both.
During those moments, Hawk liked to sit on the couch and watch Andrew and Amy gathered around the crib, laughing and cooing at the babies.
Because scenes like these were exactly what Anya had fantasized about after learning they had no parents.
So—
Hawk finally understood why this particular vulnerability couldn't be repaired.
He followed Andrew silently after work, watching him use this week's paycheck at the convenience store to buy formula, baby clothes, and toys. Then Andrew left the store.
Hawk's gaze settled on the narrow, deserted alley right next to the convenience store.
He knew exactly what was about to happen.
Because this alley was the endpoint of Andrew's timeline.
"..."
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~# 70 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon!
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