By the riverbank of the Iwi village, Hawk stood side by side with Peter. They chatted idly while waiting for Felicia, who was speaking with the village's high priest.
Once Felicia finished her talk with him, they would finally be able to leave.
Hawk had considered speaking to the priest himself—
But…
He didn't know how to bring it up. And since Peter was just as reserved as he was, the task had fallen naturally to Felicia.
One way or another, the high priest had been open with them, and Hawk had indeed found adamantium by following the clues he'd been given.
Even so, Hawk doubted the current Iwi could ever return to their so-called ancestral land.
Without Kong's protection, and after generations of regression into mere island natives, if they tried to go back, it wouldn't be long before the creatures lurking there devoured them whole.
But Hawk wasn't the one to decide their fate—nor did he want to be.
Respecting the destiny of others was important.
So when they returned, Hawk told Peter and Felicia everything about the Iwi's origins. Then the three of them held a vote—two to one—that Felicia would be the one to tell the high priest.
Democracy at work.
Peter frowned, whispering, "I still can't understand why their ancestor—Ikaris, like you said—would kill his own descendants."
Hawk shrugged. "Maybe he didn't want his bloodline to suffer."
Based on what he'd seen in the lost world and what he remembered from the story of the Eternals, Hawk had pieced together the reasoning.
The Eternals were created by the Celestials to wipe out Deviants and safeguard the process of Emergence. After each Emergence, their memories were wiped, and they were sent to a new world for the cycle to repeat.
They knew they were meant to kill Deviants and then wait for a new Celestial's birth.
What they didn't know—was the true cost.
A planet's destruction.
By the time they learned it, it was already too late, because their memories would soon be erased.
All except for Ajak.
As the Prime Eternal, her memories remained intact across cycles. She always knew Emergence meant annihilation of a world.
For millions of years, Ajak had carried out her mission faithfully. But when she came to Earth… she fell in love with it.
And that love made her hesitate. She began to question her mission.
She confided in Ikaris, telling him the truth of the Emergence.
After all, she had chosen him to be her successor.
She wanted him to see as she did—to abandon duty, to protect Earth.
But Ikaris refused. He chastised her for wavering.
So Ajak erased his memory of the truth. But she still hoped, as he lived among humans, he might come to a different choice.
He and Sersi later settled in the hidden world beneath Skull Island.
And then—
His memory returned.
He chose duty.
The Celestials had made him for this purpose. He would not betray it.
But that choice tore him apart.
He loved Sersi. He loved their descendants. He knew the Emergence meant destroying everything she cared for.
So he disappeared without a word.
Just as the Iwi murals had shown.
Love was his greatest weakness.
Even later, in London, when he could have killed Sersi to ensure the Emergence, he didn't.
But all that lay in the future.
For now, in this timeline, he had chosen his duty.
And that meant removing every obstacle.
Including his own descendants.
He had found a way—through Deviants.
He planned to use them to kill Ajak.
The problem was, all the Deviants had already been wiped out.
Until he found two dormant eggs buried in Antarctica. Lifeless—but he remembered a place overflowing with life energy.
The hidden world.
There, he hatched them anew.
And with his children, the Iwi, as his first pawns… his hand was set.
Better that he bury them himself than watch them die in the Emergence.
All this, Hawk had pieced together.
Peter's eyes widened.
"So there really is a Celestial sleeping inside Earth. And one day, when it's born, it'll destroy our planet?"
"Pretty much."
Peter sucked in a sharp breath. "Hawk, we have to stop it!"
Hawk smiled at Peter's earnestness. "Sure. But how? Tiamut lies at Earth's core. And there is a way to stop him."
Peter perked up. "What way?"
"Destroy the Earth."
"What?"
"Cut off his life energy before he emerges. But the only way to do that is to destroy the planet ourselves. Same way Ikaris buried his children."
"No way."
Peter shook his head furiously. "No. We can't. There has to be another way!"
Hawk looked at him. The boy was still the same Peter—limited power, limitless responsibility.
"There is another way," Hawk said at last.
"What is it?"
"Trust in the wisdom of those who come after us."
Peter blinked. "That's not an answer."
Hawk smirked as he caught sight of Felicia approaching. "Then let me change it. Do you trust me?"
"Of course." Peter answered without hesitation.
"Then it's fine. Don't worry. I'm not worried—why should you be?"
"…Fair enough." Peter breathed easier.
Felicia arrived just then, and Peter asked quickly, "So? Will they go back?"
"No."
Felicia shook her head, glancing toward the high priest walking slowly toward the temple. "He knows they can't. I think he just wanted to hear the truth for his people, after all these generations."
Hawk also looked toward the priest's bent figure. "He must have suspected. That's why the first high priest never left, and died sitting in that temple."
The first child of Ikaris and Sersi.
He must have known the truth—yet sat there, waiting for his father to end his life.
My life was yours to give. If you take it back, then let it be by your hand.
Hawk gave the man silent respect.
He would never have chosen that path himself. He would have run, bided his time, and struck back years later.
But he could not deny it—
The man had guts.
Shaking off the thought, Hawk turned to Peter and Felicia. "All right. This is done. Ready to leave?"
They nodded.
"Ready."
"How do we—"
Felicia's words broke off in a scream as Hawk suddenly wrapped them both in telekinesis and shot skyward.
Boom!
A sonic boom ripped the sky above Skull Island as Hawk rocketed them straight into the colossal storm wall.
Lightning lashed in every color—red bolts, blue spheres, black forks—but Hawk's shield held.
In seconds, they burst through.
The world returned.
The Pacific roared below, rain and thunder pulling them fully back to reality.
Hawk didn't slow. He flew straight toward Oscorp's ocean platform.
The base blazed with light in the storm, repaired and restored after the damage from before.
Thud!
Hawk landed firmly, setting Peter and Felicia gently on their feet.
Immediately, ten armed guards rushed out, rifles trained on them.
"Hold your fire!" a voice cried.
A young woman ran forward. Felicia's assistant.
She threw her arms around her boss, weeping with relief.
The guards lowered their weapons.
Inside, Hawk raised an eyebrow as he heard her speak.
"Seventeen days?"
She nodded. Peter explained, "Time runs differently. We were gone just over a month here, but in there… I lived a year."
Hawk chuckled. "Then maybe you should worry about telling Aunt May she'll be a great-aunt in six months."
Peter froze in horror. Hawk laughed.
Then his face grew serious as he asked Felicia's assistant, "Anything unusual in New York?"
She thought, then shook her head. "Nothing major."
But when Felicia returned from calling her butler, Hawk borrowed the satellite phone.
He tried to call Gwen.
The line was dead.
His brows furrowed sharply.
…
(End of Chapter)
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