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Chapter 5 – Where Time Fractured

A cold silence accompanied them in the high peaks of Tibet, where snow lay on the ground like a cracked breath and the wind carried echoes of the past. As the ancient gates of Kamar-Taj opened before them, time itself seemed to pause for a fleeting moment. Wanda’s steps were hesitant, cautious like someone burdened by the weight of memory; Wong walked silent and steady, an unshakable pillar; and Stephen… he was still struggling to fill the void that had formed in his mind. V’s presence no longer felt like emptiness—it was more akin to an ancient wound carved into the heart of the universe.

The inner courtyard of Kamar-Taj greeted them with a serenity that defied time. This place was a sanctuary, a haven for souls fleeing the noise of the cosmos. Yet this time, they were not seekers of refuge, but agitators of time itself. And that distinction echoed as unease through every stone, every lantern, every breath.

Wanda whispered without lifting her gaze from the ground,

“Something here… is different. The air feels… heavy.”

Strange closed his eyes.

“Time senses before we do. It knows you, Wanda. And it knows what breaks it.”

V’s name was not spoken. Neither Wong nor Strange wanted to stain their lips with it. For a name summoned power—and a being like V never answered such calls in silence.

The Ancient One did not greet them this time. Her presence no longer lingered here. Wong pointed to the stone steps leading further inside.

“We’re going to the Chamber of Time. Perhaps for the first time, even it is afraid to respond.”

They entered the circular room in silence. At the center, the temporal gear still turned, but something was missing. The colors were dull, the vibrations faint. And the Time Stone… in Strange’s fingers, that ancient gem had never felt this cold before.

“I’m ready,” he said softly. But neither Wanda nor Wong replied. They simply surrendered to the silence.

Strange assumed the meditative position, the stone poised at his fingertips. Even with his eyes closed, the weight of the responsibility he carried tore at his soul. And finally, he began to pierce through time. What was, what would be, and what should never be unraveled before him. Each future a star glimmering in a sea of infinite possibilities—some at peace, others drowning in war… but some…

In one vision, V didn’t exist at all. As if he had never been born.

In another, Wanda’s eyes had succumbed to total darkness, her hands bloodied as she tore the sky apart.

And in one… there was only silence. A world so still, so lifeless, that Strange couldn’t even be sure what he was seeing. But within that image, something pulsed. A… calling.

He focused on that moment. It was as if the universe had chosen to show him this scene. The vibration of the stone suddenly changed. Behind closed eyelids, thousands of stars extinguished. And then, the wind…

Strange’s eyes flew open with a jolt. But he was no longer there.

The Chamber of Time had vanished. Kamar-Taj, Tibet, Earth… all left behind. In their place stretched a realm without time, without color, without definition. An endless expanse oscillating between grey and blue. And that silence… it was the kind that only accompanies the collapse of reality itself.

Then he saw it.

At the heart of time’s fragile plane, a figure emerged. Not a shadow—an entity. So dense he could feel it not just with his eyes, but with his soul.

V.

He stood upright, head slightly tilted, eyes glowing with the dark gleam of a moonless night. His cloak seemed woven from shadows. Behind him, the fabric of space appeared to collapse—his mere existence too vast for the universe to contain.

Strange instinctively took a step back.

“This… this place… what is it?”

V smiled. But it wasn’t a warm smile. It was the smirk of a god amused by something beneath his notice.

“Beyond time. The very place you pushed the stone to reach. A fractured echo of a future that dared to answer you.”

Strange scanned the surroundings with wary eyes.

“You… you did this…”

“Yes,” V said, his voice echoing as if from an endless abyss. “But not just to stop you. To show you.”

Stephen couldn’t hide the fear on his face.

“To show me what? A possibility?”

V’s voice reverberated in the darkness, each word etching into Stephen’s skin like an incantation.

“No, Strange. An inevitability.”

When he joined his fingers, time bent once more. The void tore like a veil, revealing a vision before them. The universe—unrecognizable. In ashes. The sky, once adorned with stars, was now fractured, black, and broken. The gods… had fallen one by one. Thor’s hammer lay shattered at the base of a volcano. Captain Marvel’s body burned in the vacuum of space. Hulk’s chest lay torn apart…

But the most devastating image was Wanda.

She lay collapsed at V’s feet. Her body wasn’t torn, but she was nearly dead. Her face bloodied, eyes empty, hands trembling. The once-mighty woman who ruled chaos… now lost in the silence of pain.

V spoke without turning to her.

“This is the truth you ignore. They fall. Your gods, your heroes, your sages… all of them. They all decay.”

Stephen’s voice trembled.

“You… you want this to happen.”

V turned, locking eyes with him.

“No, Strange. I simply allow it to happen.”

Then came another voice—one that echoed both within and without, hissing yet comprehensible:

“Command them. They do not understand you. They cannot stop you.”

Stephen backed away, spells rising to the edges of his consciousness.

“This… this is arrogance. The corruption of power.”

V stepped closer. With every step, reality cracked further around them.

“No. This is the rise of truth. The order you believe in is a rotting temple. I am what fills the void they leave behind. This is not arrogance, Strange… it is deserved.”

Stephen clenched his teeth, stepping forward with fractured resolve.

“If you caused this, then you can stop it.”

V slowly turned. His eyes no longer held just darkness—they now gleamed with an arrogance as vast as eternity. And then came the second voice again, the one he once tried to suppress:

“Tell him. Tell him how weak they are. How even their souls cower in the shadow of power.”

V sighed, like a teacher addressing a slow pupil.

“You don’t understand, Strange. They were born to fall. Every hero, every god, every sorcerer… in the end, they all dig the grave of their own ideals. I am the one who rises from the void they leave behind.”

Stephen shook his head.

“This isn’t divine right. This is destruction. You worship only yourself.”

“And why shouldn’t I?” V stepped forward again.

“I was born from the ashes of your sacred order. The sword of justice is rusted. The voice of wisdom is silent. The words of gods no longer echo. But I remain. I speak. I rule.”

Then he raised his arm. The sky cracked. The void once again swallowed V’s darkness. And in that moment, Strange understood. This being had not merely bent time—he had warped fate itself. V was no longer just a threat. He had become an alternative to order.

“You are our end,” Stephen said, swallowing the knot in his throat.

V inclined his head slightly, his voice a whisper that thundered through the sky:

“I am… your truth.”

Then, darkness cracked. Time began to rotate on its axis once more—not as a blessing, but as punishment. V, twisting time within his palm, hurled Stephen’s being into a spiral. The universe darkened once again before his eyes. Wanda slowly opened hers… but no, this was a different sliver of time. Life still flowed through her veins. So this… had not happened yet. Not yet.

Strange’s voice reached V as it was pulled into the vortex.

“Why… did you show me this?”

V’s voice echoed one last time from the void:

“Because I do not fear you. But you… must learn to fear me.”

The vortex sealed.

Silence.

Emptiness.

Then… the Time Stone pulsed again in the Chamber of Time. When Stephen opened his eyes, his body was drenched in cold sweat. He gasped for breath—pulling not just air into his lungs, but awakening itself.

Wanda knelt beside him in concern.

“Stephen! Your eyes… they changed. What did you see?”

Wong remained silent. But his eyes spoke—he was not seeking an answer, only an acknowledgment.

Strange couldn’t speak at first. His lips trembled. His mind was still heavy under the weight of that infinite darkness. V’s eyes, his voice, his power… it wasn’t what he showed that burned—it was what he made him feel.

Finally, words spilled from his lips. His voice was the echo of a nightmare lived.

“We’ve reached far, far beyond what we were ever meant to touch.”

Wanda’s eyes widened. She wanted to ask something, but remained silent. In that moment, silence spoke louder than any word.

The Chamber of Time inhaled like a dark breath. And for the briefest instant, the universe trembled.

Because when a sorcerer, a time stone, and a prophecy come together, fate ceases to be destiny—it becomes a threat.

And that threat’s name could no longer be spoken.

Not even in whispers.