Punch.
Punch.
Another punch.
Standing beneath the torrent, Hawk let his bare body endure the crushing weight of the waterfall, fists lashing forward again and again. Each strike split the current for the briefest instant—only for the water to immediately surge back into place.
Not enough.
It wasn't enough to pause the water.
He wanted the entire waterfall to tremble before his fists… to reverse its flow.
This wasn't Mount Lu's grand cascade. Compared to that, this waterfall wasn't even a tenth as majestic. Demanding it to bow before him wasn't too much.
But the waterfall seemed to disagree.
As though provoked, its flow raged harder, as if to say—
Who do you think you are? Poseidon himself couldn't command me.
The current roared with fury, hammering harder against his body. Hawk's face stayed cold. Yet inside his cosmos, the Phoenix constellation flared brighter, a firebird's silhouette rising with wings spread wide.
He had already decided.
Until this waterfall reversed, he would not leave.
The new semester was only days away, but who cared? He was an orphan—no one would notice if he showed up late. No one cared for him, and he cared for no one. That was fine. That gave him freedom.
His eyes blazed.
"Come!"
The waterfall raged louder, as if answering his challenge. Thunder rolled across the forest.
"Thunder?"
Far away at the edge of Cunningham Falls State Park, Gwen paused. Hiking stick in hand, she glanced upward. The thick canopy blocked the sky, leaving only scattered beams of sunlight, dappling the forest floor like shifting patterns on a stage.
She looked back down at her phone. A glowing map showed two points on the screen.
One was her own location.
The other… was his.
She tightened her grip on the hiking stick, her breath unsteady.
At first, she had thought Hawk's phone had been stolen. She hadn't cared much. She was busy with her own summer job. But when Dr. Connors asked if she had delivered his gift to Hawk—and when she found the envelope untouched on Hawk's sofa—her heart clenched with unease.
Her father, Captain George Stacy, had tried to check through police channels. But Hawk was a ghost—no family, no friends, no records worth tracing. To the NYPD, he was a shadow. To everyone else, he was invisible.
Everyone, except her.
That was why, when her phone account had pinged with an unfamiliar location login—precisely tracked this time—she had dropped everything and come here. To Maryland. To a waterfall.
Her clothes were soaked with sweat, her legs sore from the climb, but her spirit blazed brighter with every step closer.
And ahead, beneath the waterfall—
Hawk threw his final blows.
Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-eight.
Nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine.
And then—
Ten thousand.
With the last punch, the Phoenix erupted behind him, blazing wings spreading in fiery glory.
The waterfall screamed.
"Reverse!"
The torrent convulsed.
For one impossible moment, the waterfall reared upward like a dragon twisting toward the heavens. The river defied gravity, reversing in a violent surge, as if the entire sky had flipped.
Time itself seemed to halt.
And then—
A voice.
Clear. Trembling. Cutting through the roar.
"Hawk!!"
…
(End of Chapter)
[Check Out My P@treon For +20 Extra Chapters On All My Fanfics!!][[email protected]/euridome]
[Thank You For Your Support!]