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Within the majestic, radiant expanse of the Phoenix Universe.
Countless stars shimred with absolute brilliance.
The spectral silhouette of the Phoenix lood 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 Ti—a shimring, galactic ribbon ford when Hawk had collapsed his own tiline.
Hawk hovered effortlessly above it, looking down at the current of his own existence, trying to unravel the chaos that had just occurred.
His tiline ran parallel to the tiline 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 assud it was simply a minor tiline fluctuation.
But...
His own tiline hadn't changed at all.
What had changed was the River of Ti for the entire universe.
It had fractured.
Yes—
Fractured.
If the universal tiline 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 mont Doctor Strange had reversed ti to restore the devastated city of Hong Kong.
But...
While the fluctuation happened at the exact mont 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 ti, the Hong Kong Sanctum had been completely annihilated.
Even though Strange had imdiately "rewound" the damage, the destruction of the Sanctum had, for a brief mont, beco 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 ti 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 Supre?"
"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 Supre 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 rember offering you the position of God of Ti."
"You did."
The Ancient One, her Virgo Gold Cloth gleaming, offered a slight shrug. "But in my tiline, it seems you forgot to relieve of my duties guarding the Zodiac. I strongly suspect you intend to make work two jobs—primarily, teaching your children how to be proper Gold Saints. For free, I might add."
Hawk's expression instantly beca 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 imdiately changed the subject.
"What the hell is going on here?"
"I assud you had already figured it out."
The Ancient One drifted closer, stopping beside him. She looked down at his River of Ti, her gaze locking onto the distant "future" section—the sa 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 tiline 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 tiline, keeping it safely tucked within the primary temporal flow of this universe. But the mont the Hong Kong Sanctum was destroyed, Earth's tiline was violently forcefully rged with the universal flow..."
Hawk raised a hand, stopping her.
"Wait. Wasn't Earth's tiline already part of the primary universe's tiline?"
"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 deanor was identical to when she had been the Sorcerer Supre. "While it was under my protection, Earth's past was absolute and unchangeable. Why do you think Doctor Strange was able to reverse ti 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 Ti 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 Ti. And what Ti showed him was the future it had ticulously 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 mont Midgard's tiline fully rges into the primary universe's tiline."
"The instant that rger is complete, the gears of the Ragnarok that Ti prepared for Odin will begin to turn."
"Once Ragnarok occurs and Asgard is destroyed, the tiline of the entire Yggdrasil cosmos will be consud, becoming just another strand within the primary multiverse."
"So, Odin did everything in his power to delay Ragnarok."
"He tried to prevent Midgard's tiline from rging with the primary universe."
"The mont Midgard fell, while its tiline 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 tiline will exist within the primary universe, but remain entirely independent of its flow."
"From that day forward, every Sorcerer Supre took on the duty of safeguarding that tiline."
"And they established the two absolute rules: The past cannot be changed. The future must not be seen."
"But..."
"Kulan Gath, the third Sorcerer Supre, was a dark and wicked mage. He murdered his predecessor and, seduced by the whispers of Ti, broke the absolute rule. He looked into the future. And he saw the exact mont 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 tiline was violently sucked into the raging current of the primary universe's ti stream.
The next image in the projection showed Doctor Strange wielding the Ti Stone, desperately rewinding the destruction.
"How do you think the infinite realities of the multiverse were created?"
"Every ti 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 mont Earth's tiline rged with the primary universe."
"..."
Hawk listened to the Ancient One's 'Temporal chanics 101' lecture. He opened his mouth, stared at her, and finally said, "Can you just give the bottom line?"
He hated dealing with ti 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 seed, had other plans, constantly forcing his hand, driving him to beco stronger.
Again.
If his sister hadn't died that day, he wouldn't have been consud by grief, that lost system wouldn't have been able to lock onto him, and he never would have received the Cosmo training thod.
So...
The Ancient One smiled warmly. She watched as the holographic projection showed Earth's tiline fully integrating into the primary universe, then turned her gaze back to Hawk.
"You believe that changing the past rely creates a branching path, a new alternate tiline?"
"Doesn't it?"
"That is not how Ti operates."
"When Earth's tiline rged 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 an, the Peter Parker I know doesn't exist?"
"My ti is up." The Ancient One smiled gently. "Ti is demanding my departure."
Hawk frowned deeper.
"Your tiline should belong to the Phoenix Universe now. And you're the God of Ti. So who exactly is demanding you leave? Ti 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 tiline."
"New Gods..."
Hawk's frown turned into a scowl.
"That's ridiculous. Who gave them the right to treat the tiline 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 ti should be..."
"They are your and Gwen's children."
The Ancient One's voice was soft, laced with amusent.
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 et 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 tiline because the God of Ti was there to fix it anyway."
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