Sorcerer in the Marvel Universe

The moment Evenson picked up the black stone, both Malick and Stephanie felt their hearts tighten.

This was the real reason Gideon Malick had invited him.

That black stone was tied not only to the origins of the Malick family, but to the true origins of Hydra itself.

Malick was a veteran Hydra power broker and a longtime member of the World Security Council. He had spent decades learning how to keep his emotions off his face.

So despite the fact that his heart was pounding, his expression remained perfectly composed.

"That stone..." he said casually. "I acquired it quite by accident, under rather unusual circumstances. Does it... possess any magical properties?"

His first instinct was self-preservation.

Distance himself from the stone.

Make it clear that he had nothing to do with it.

Evenson didn’t even look up.

"Acquired by accident? So it’s not yours?"

"No."

Malick answered immediately.

He glanced at Stephanie.

She understood the cue.

"It’s not part of our family’s possessions," she said. "I’ve never seen it before."

"Oh."

Evenson finally looked up at the pair.

"That explains it."

He smiled.

"Because this stone originally belonged to me. I lost it under similarly unfortunate circumstances. What a coincidence that you’ve found it and returned it to its rightful owner."

Silence.

Malick stared at him.

For several long seconds, he seriously considered telling his daughter to summon whatever passed for divine artillery in their family and vaporize this shameless bastard.

Sweetheart, go fetch the Gatling Gun Saint. Father needs to be put out of his misery.

"I’m kidding."

Evenson grinned at Malick’s increasingly red face and placed the stone back on the table.

"Of course."

Malick and Stephanie laughed along.

Their eyes met.

They reached the same conclusion without saying a word.

This man has to be insane.

Evenson’s smile faded slightly.

"But, Mr. Malick..."

He tapped the stone.

"Are you sure you don’t want to reconsider? You’re absolutely certain this stone isn’t yours?"

"Of course not..."

Malick began.

Then stopped.

Stephanie gasped and instinctively covered her mouth as she took a step backward.

Evenson had placed his left hand against the glass case.

The black stone inside suddenly collapsed.

With a wet, fluid motion, it transformed into a pool of black liquid that churned inside the container.

That alone shouldn’t have shocked them.

Their family had guarded this stone since ancient Egypt.

The piece in front of them wasn’t even the original.

It was merely a sample cut from a much larger mass.

They knew the material periodically underwent strange transformations, liquefying before eventually returning to its solid state.

But this was different.

The black liquid was responding to Evenson’s fingers.

It moved at his command.

A pyramid rose from the surface.

Then an apple.

Then the Arc de Triomphe.

The liquid reshaped itself again and again beneath his touch.

Evenson glanced at the father and daughter with a faintly amused smile.

"Would you like me to make the Eiffel Tower next?"

He tilted his head.

"Still want to claim this isn’t your stone?"

Malick didn’t answer immediately.

For once, he couldn’t.

He rubbed the side of his nose while carefully considering his next words.

This wasn’t how the evening was supposed to go.

His original plan had been simple.

First, Evenson would examine the various artifacts on the table.

Then Malick would generously present the valuable ones as gifts, regardless of whether they possessed magical properties.

Finally, he would appear to remember something.

"Oh, by the way..."

He would bring out the black stone and explain that he’d acquired it by pure chance.

Then he’d ask Evenson to examine it.

A perfectly controlled conversation.

A carefully prepared test.

Instead, Evenson had ignored the entire script, opened the cabinet himself, and gone straight for the stone.

Worse, the man couldn’t even distinguish Mayan design from African tribal art.

Yet somehow he seemed to know far more about this obscure artifact than Malick himself.

"You can control it?"

The question finally escaped him.

His voice was strained.

His heart hammered against his ribs.

This was the only answer that mattered.

If Evenson could control the stone, everything else could be negotiated.

"Of course."

Evenson’s eyes gleamed.

"In fact, this is one of the things I’m best at."

A portal.

A gateway to another world.

Manipulating a doorway between worlds.

Was there any profession better suited to that than a Warlock?

Malick exhaled sharply.

Relief flooded through him.

He exchanged a glance with Stephanie.

For the first time in centuries, the Malick family’s ancient mission seemed to have a path forward.

The weight of that realization was enough to break through even Gideon’s practiced composure.

A genuine smile appeared on his face.

"That’s wonderful..."

He nearly revealed everything.

Then he caught Evenson’s faintly amused expression.

Malick’s instincts snapped back into place.

His momentary excitement had nearly betrayed him.

He swallowed the words that had been about to leave his mouth and replaced them with a much safer question.

"You know where this stone came from?"

"Of course."

Evenson nodded.

"I know."

"How much do you know?"

Malick’s expression became serious.

Evenson gave a quiet laugh.

He looked from Malick to Stephanie.

"Everything."

Malick slowly lowered himself into the chair behind him.

His face remained calm.

His fingers did not.

They trembled slightly against the armrest.

"Everything?"

"Everything."

"Are you certain?"

Evenson shook his head, as though Malick’s doubt had become tiresome.

Then his voice changed.

It became deeper, almost ancient.

He began to recite.

"Egypt beneath the desert sun.

An Inhuman legacy, ancient and long forgotten.

Despair spread across the land.

Terror descended upon mankind.

Then a blue angel came from beyond the stars.

A strange obelisk awakened an ancient evil.

Its name was Hive.

King of the Inhumans."

Malick froze.

Evenson paused.

He looked at him.

Malick’s fingers were trembling now.

The muscles around his mouth twitched.

Evenson continued.

"Like a swarm of insects, they spread across the earth.

The land withered beneath their advance.

Power without limit.

A will that refused to bow.

The tyrant offered his promises, and none could escape.

Palaces and mighty cities rose toward the heavens.

His authority reached in every direction.

Yet the laborers suffered in chains."

Malick’s breathing grew shallow.

"Then came the soldiers.

The tyrant could not escape.

The dynasty fell like smoke before the wind.

Hive was cast out, exiled to a distant mountain."

Malick reached up and wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.

He knew.

Evenson knew everything.

That was impossible.

As far as Malick knew, only a handful of people still possessed fragments of this ancient history.

Even among Hydra’s highest-ranking members, most knew little more than fragments.

Malick himself had told Stephanie almost nothing.

And yet this outsider had just recited their hidden history as though he’d been studying it for centuries.

Not only did he know.

He knew it well enough to turn it into poetry.

But Evenson wasn’t finished.

His eyes locked directly onto Malick’s.

His voice became almost a chant.

"Guard the gateway, my brothers.

Let the blood of Hydra be his offering.

Let the voice of Hydra call him home.

Let the world hear the ancient horn.

The King of the Inhumans will come.

The King of the Inhumans will come."

Crash!

Stephanie’s wineglass slipped from her hand and shattered across the floor.

Unlike her father, she had never mastered the art of hiding her emotions.

Her face had gone pale.

Their deepest secret had just been dragged into the light.

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