Marvel: The Awakened One

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Within the majestic, radiant expanse of the Phoenix Universe.

Countless stars shimmered with absolute brilliance.

The spectral silhouette of the Phoenix loomed large against the backdrop of infinity. Its eyes—one the Mind Stone, pulsing with a deep, ethereal yellow light—constantly aided Hawk in deepening his comprehension of the Seventh Sense.

With every new layer of understanding, his inner cosmos expanded.

And with every expansion, he drew closer to the ultimate threshold: the Eighth Sense.

The other eye of the Phoenix—the Reality Stone, blazing with a profound crimson glow—worked tirelessly to manifest the sheer power of his growing Cosmo into the physical realm.

High above this celestial display flowed the River of Time—a shimmering, galactic ribbon formed when Hawk had collapsed his own timeline.

Hawk hovered effortlessly above it, looking down at the current of his own existence, trying to unravel the chaos that had just occurred.

His timeline ran parallel to the timeline of the primary universe he currently inhabited. It was separate from the past, but it had begun to diverge at the ”present.”

At first, Hawk had assumed it was simply a minor timeline fluctuation.

But...

His own timeline hadn’t changed at all.

What had changed was the River of Time for the entire universe.

It had fractured.

Yes—

Fractured.

If the universal timeline had previously been a straight line moving relentlessly forward, it now looked like a wildly erratic EKG monitor, spiking violently upward before plunging straight down.

Hawk traced the fluctuation back to its source.

Judging by the temporal coordinates, the massive spike aligned exactly with the moment Doctor Strange had reversed time to restore the devastated city of Hong Kong.

But...

While the fluctuation happened at the exact moment Strange used the spell, it wasn’t caused by the spell itself.

It was caused by Kamar-Taj.

To be precise, in the split second before Doctor Strange restored time, the Hong Kong Sanctum had been completely annihilated.

Even though Strange had immediately ”rewound” the damage, the destruction of the Sanctum had, for a brief moment, become a fixed point in the past.

In simple terms:

The Hong Kong Sanctum had been destroyed. And although Doctor Strange had reversed the event with blinding speed...

The fact remained that the Sanctum had been destroyed. And in that crucial, unprotected fraction of a second, a massive temporal shockwave had been unleashed.

”Hiss. It wasn’t the time reversal that caused it?”

”Of course not!”

”...”

Hawk heard a voice echo near his ear. He turned his head toward the sound.

And then...

He was nearly blinded by a flash of brilliant golden light.

Hawk stared at the figure that had just materialized before him, his jaw dropping slightly.

”The Sorcerer Supreme?”

”Not anymore.”

The Ancient One, clad in a magnificent suit of Gold Armor, hovered before him. She appeared as a projection, seemingly cast backward from the future itself. Her voice was as serene as ever. ”The Sorcerer Supreme died three hours ago. The Ancient One who stands before you now is the Guardian of the Sixth House of the Zodiac.”

The corner of Hawk’s mouth twitched.

”I distinctly remember offering you the position of God of Time.”

”You did.”

The Ancient One, her Virgo Gold Cloth gleaming, offered a slight shrug. ”But in my timeline, it seems you forgot to relieve me of my duties guarding the Zodiac. I strongly suspect you intend to make me work two jobs—primarily, teaching your children how to be proper Gold Saints. For free, I might add.”

Hawk’s expression instantly became a mask of solemn sincerity. ”Ancient One, I have nothing but the utmost respect for you. I would never dream of exploiting your labor.”

Having said that.

He immediately changed the subject.

”What the hell is going on here?”

”I assumed you had already figured it out.”

The Ancient One drifted closer, stopping beside him. She looked down at his River of Time, her gaze locking onto the distant ”future” section—the same section that had been flashing like a cheap neon sign, desperately trying to seduce Hawk into taking a peek.

”That is a temporal trap.”

”I know.”

Hawk followed her gaze and let out a cold scoff. ”If I look, my timeline gets anchored to the primary universe. I lose my transcendence.”

If he allowed himself to see the future the primary Marvel Universe had scripted for him, his life and death would no longer be in his own hands!

The Ancient One nodded. ”The three Sanctums of Kamar-Taj were built to anchor and stabilize Earth’s timeline, keeping it safely tucked within the primary temporal flow of this universe. But the moment the Hong Kong Sanctum was destroyed, Earth’s timeline was violently forcefully merged with the universal flow...”

Hawk raised a hand, stopping her.

”Wait. Wasn’t Earth’s timeline already part of the primary universe’s timeline?”

”In your hands, no. But now? Yes.”

The Ancient One’s voice remained perfectly level. Even clad in the armor of a Gold Saint, her demeanor was identical to when she had been the Sorcerer Supreme. ”While it was under my protection, Earth’s past was absolute and unchangeable. Why do you think Doctor Strange was able to reverse time so easily?”

Hawk raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

The Ancient One smiled faintly. She waved her right hand gracefully through the air, and a holographic projection of a massive River of Time materialized before them.

”In the primary universe, Earth is known as Terra. But before that, it was called Midgard.”

”And Midgard belonged to the parallel cosmos of Yggdrasil, the World Tree.”

”When Odin united the Nine Realms, the temporal traps of the primary universe set their sights on him. And Odin fell for it.”

”Midgard didn’t just ’fall’ from the World Tree on its own.”

”Odin, desperate for a glimpse of the future, made a pact with Time. And what Time showed him was the future it had meticulously prepared for him: Ragnarok.”

”Odin realized he had been tricked, but it was too late.”

”He had witnessed Ragnarok, and by observing it, he made that future an unavoidable, destined past.”

”Ragnarok will officially begin the moment Midgard’s timeline fully merges into the primary universe’s timeline.”

”The instant that merger is complete, the gears of the Ragnarok that Time prepared for Odin will begin to turn.”

”Once Ragnarok occurs and Asgard is destroyed, the timeline of the entire Yggdrasil cosmos will be consumed, becoming just another strand within the primary multiverse.”

”So, Odin did everything in his power to delay Ragnarok.”

”He tried to prevent Midgard’s timeline from merging with the primary universe.”

”The moment Midgard fell, while its timeline was still tethered to the World Tree, Odin—as the Chief God and the All-Father—used the last of his influence to birth the Elder Gods on Midgard.”

”The Omnipotent Oshtur, the All-Seeing Agamotto, and the Hoary Hoggoth. The trinity known as the Vishanti were born.”

”The Vishanti built the three Sanctums of Kamar-Taj on Earth. Using themselves as the catalyst, they established a law: As long as the three Sanctums stand, Earth’s timeline will exist within the primary universe, but remain entirely independent of its flow.”

”From that day forward, every Sorcerer Supreme took on the duty of safeguarding that timeline.”

”And they established the two absolute rules: The past cannot be changed. The future must not be seen.”

”But...”

”Kulan Gath, the third Sorcerer Supreme, was a dark and wicked mage. He murdered his predecessor and, seduced by the whispers of Time, broke the absolute rule. He looked into the future. And he saw the exact moment the three Sanctums of Kamar-Taj would be destroyed.”

”And then...”

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

As the Ancient One spoke, she gently tapped the holographic projection. The three Sanctums shattered instantly, and Earth’s independent timeline was violently sucked into the raging current of the primary universe’s time stream.

The next image in the projection showed Doctor Strange wielding the Time Stone, desperately rewinding the destruction.

”How do you think the infinite realities of the multiverse were created?”

”Every time a choice is made at a critical juncture, a new, divergent future is born.”

”So...”

”The absolute rule—’The past cannot be changed’—was completely voided the moment Earth’s timeline merged with the primary universe.”

”...”

Hawk listened to the Ancient One’s ’Temporal Mechanics 101’ lecture. He opened his mouth, stared at her, and finally said, ”Can you just give me the bottom line?”

He hated dealing with time travel bullshit.

It was another reason why, compared to knowing a fixed future, he vastly preferred the chaotic unknown.

The reason was simple.

You didn’t have to overthink it. You just had to punch your way through.

What was that old saying?

Ignorance is bliss.

Hawk had always just wanted a simple, happy life. But fate, it seemed, had other plans, constantly forcing his hand, driving him to become stronger.

Again.

If his sister hadn’t died that day, he wouldn’t have been consumed by grief, that lost system wouldn’t have been able to lock onto him, and he never would have received the Cosmo training method.

So...

The Ancient One smiled warmly. She watched as the holographic projection showed Earth’s timeline fully integrating into the primary universe, then turned her gaze back to Hawk.

”You believe that changing the past merely creates a branching path, a new alternate timeline?”

”Doesn’t it?”

”That is not how Time operates.”

”When Earth’s timeline merged with the primary universe, it didn’t just create a new future. It simultaneously created a new past.”

”A new future.”

”A new past.”

”And in this newly created past... Peter Parker does not exist.”

”Or at the very least, the Peter Parker you know does not exist.”

”...”

Hawk listened to the Ancient One’s theory of a ’New Future, New Past.’ He was already frowning, but her last sentence made his eyebrow shoot up.

”What do you mean, the Peter Parker I know doesn’t exist?”

”My time is up.” The Ancient One smiled gently. ”Time is demanding my departure.”

Hawk frowned deeper.

”Your timeline should belong to the Phoenix Universe now. And you’re the God of Time. So who exactly is demanding you leave? Time itself? Did it develop a consciousness?”

”No. I did. It is a rule I established to prevent the New Gods from recklessly playing with the timeline.”

”New Gods...”

Hawk’s frown turned into a scowl.

”That’s ridiculous. Who gave them the right to treat the timeline like a toy? Why would I ever elevate a bunch of undisciplined brats to the status of New Gods? Damn it, what was I thinking? Gods who abuse time should be...”

”They are your and Gwen’s children.”

The Ancient One’s voice was soft, laced with amusement.

Hawk’s eyebrow twitched violently. The righteous indignation on his face vanished in an instant. He let out a weak ”Oh,” and awkwardly rubbed his nose. He looked exactly like a parent who had just been called into the principal’s office, unable to meet the teacher’s eyes.

”They’re that unruly? What about Gwen? Doesn’t she discipline them when they act out?”

”She tried.”

”And?”

”You told her that children are supposed to be mischievous, and that it didn’t matter if they tangled the timeline because the God of Time was there to fix it anyway.”

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