The Bifrost spat him out like a rubber band snapping back into place.
One second he was tumbling through starlight—
the next, his boots touched soft grass.
Levi stood steady, not a wrinkle on him.
Beside him, Quill fared far worse. He hit the ground face-first, plowed a shallow trench through the dirt, rolled twice, and lay there gagging.
"Ugh—where the hell are we? Where's my ship?!" Quill croaked, staring at the quiet forest and distant New York skyline.
"Earth. Upstate New York," Levi replied calmly. "As for your ship—it's probably drifting through space. Maybe a scavenger will get lucky."
He pulled out an old Nokia-looking phone and dialed Fury's encrypted line.
One ring.
"It's me."
Silence.
"You've been gone nearly a year," Fury said at last.
"Dropped by Asgard. Took out some cosmic trash. Brought back Peter Quill. Grandson of an old friend of yours."
Ten seconds of silence.
"…Location?"
Levi sent the coordinates. "Send a team. And maybe a therapist."
He hung up.
Fifteen minutes later, black SUVs rolled in. Maria Hill stepped out with a tactical unit.
She froze briefly at the sight of him.
"Mr. Chen. Director Fury would like—"
"Delivery's complete." Levi pointed at Quill and turned to leave.
"SHIELD would like to know where you've been this past—"
He glanced at her.
No killing intent. No pressure.
Yet Hill felt as if she were staring into deep space.
"Tell Fury my movements weren't part of the deal," Levi said evenly. "Four words in the report: Chen is back."
He vanished.
---
He didn't return to Stark Tower.
Ego's energy and Odin's knowledge churned inside him like converging tides. He needed precision.
He appeared in Kathmandu.
Incense. Dust. Prayer.
He suppressed his presence and walked through narrow streets to an old wooden door hidden in an alley.
He pushed it open.
In the courtyard, beneath a withered tree, stood a bald woman in yellow robes.
"You have arrived," the Ancient One's voice echoed directly in his mind. "Carrying troubles that do not belong to this dimension."
"You knew I would."
She turned.
Her eyes reflected not his body—but the tangled laws woven through his soul.
"Odin's bargain. The Celestial evolution. Space. Force. The Cube's residual energy…" she said softly. "You are a glass filled with different liquors. One more drop—and you shatter."
"I need tools," Levi said plainly. "Asgard gave me blueprints. Kamar-Taj has technique."
She did not immediately agree.
"I have seen your futures," she said instead.
"What did you see?"
"I saw you torn apart by conflicting laws. I saw you erased from time entirely. I saw the Mad Titan crush your skull. I saw you become something worse than Dormammu."
She paused.
"But I also saw an unlikely future. You, standing amid ruins. Wearing a gauntlet studded with stones. Snapping your fingers."
Levi's gaze did not waver.
"You are an anomaly," she said. "Even time cannot fully bind you."
She extended a hand.
"Kamar-Taj's knowledge—for your protection of it when I am gone."
"Agreed."
---
He stayed one month.
He absorbed dimensional theory like a starving mind.
Unlike Kamar-Taj sorcerers, he did not borrow from the Vishanti. Like Odin and Loki, his magic drew from within.
He engraved Asgardian thunder runes into magical constructs—creating a Storm Aegis capable of absorbing and reflecting energy.
He fused spatial severance into portals—turning them into dimensional blades capable of slicing mountains in the Mirror Dimension.
Week one: he destabilized half of Mirror New York.
Week two: he compressed twin-law energy into a needle, carving microscopic engravings into Mirror London's clocktower.
By week four, he could separate and reconstruct water molecules within a glass—rebuilding them into flawless crystal ice.
Skyfather conversion: 75%.
---
On his final day, he stood once more in the library.
The Eye of Agamotto hung at the Ancient One's chest.
The Time Stone glowed faint green.
"I would like to feel its power," Levi said.
She did not refuse.
He reached out.
Copy.
An indescribable higher-dimensional torrent slammed into his consciousness.
He held.
Barely.
[Detected: Manifestation of Supreme Universal Law — Time Stone.]
[Forcibly confirming… Copying…]
[Copy complete.]
[Acquired: Law of Time (Core abilities locked before Skyfather-tier).]
[Acquired: Time Stone Energy Source (SSS-tier).]
It wasn't full knowledge.
More like a table of contents without the pages.
But within him now burned a quiet, inexhaustible green star.
He looked up.
The Ancient One was watching him with a faint smile.
She had known.
"Thank you," Levi said sincerely.
"Go," she replied, adjusting his collar unexpectedly, almost maternally. "Your journey has only begun."
She stepped back.
"And remember—do not casually wield the time you now carry."
Her eyes sharpened slightly.
"When you gaze into the abyss of time… time gazes back."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For 20 advanced chapters, visit my Patreon:
Patreon - Twilight_scribe1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~