Chapter 5 – The Golden Guardian
Location: Queen Maeve Children's Hospital, New York
Time: 11:00 AM
Perspective: Third Person
A man named Shawn stood beside his daughter's hospital bed, completely hollowed by grief.
His wife had died during childbirth. Now, he was losing his only child.
Sarah, once a bright-eyed nine-year-old full of energy and dreams, lay motionless beneath thin white sheets. Just three weeks ago, she had been running through the park, playing superheroes, talking about The Seven and their latest movie. Now, her body looked skeletal, her hair gone, her skin pale.
An unknown illness had ravaged her. No doctor had seen anything like it. Treatments only made it worse.
Sarah hadn't opened her eyes in a week.
Her doctors had given up. The final countdown had begun.
> "She'll pass by noon," they'd said.
"There's nothing more we can do."
Shawn hadn't left her side in days. He hadn't eaten, barely slept. He held her hand, too frail to squeeze back, and stared at the clock.
The last hour had begun.
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Shawn's POV
It's over.
I've lost everything.
My wife. Now… my daughter.
I tried everything. I begged every doctor, every specialist. I'd give anything to save her—but nothing worked. The disease didn't even have a name.
She was fine three weeks ago. Running. Laughing. Dreaming.
Now she's barely breathing.
> "Please," I whisper. "I don't pray, I never have… but if someone's out there—anyone—please… help her."
> "Hello."
A voice, soft but impossibly clear.
I look up.
A man—no, a being—made of golden light floats above my daughter's bed, as if gravity itself cannot touch him. Radiance surrounds him. I blink, unsure if I'm hallucinating from exhaustion.
But I see it.
Sarah's chest begins to rise. Her breathing steadies. Color returns to her skin. Her hair begins to grow back, strand by strand.
She's healing.
> "What… how?" I choke out, falling to my knees in disbelief. "How is this possible?"
But it is. I watch her weight return. Her body, once frail, grows strong again.
> "Sarah…" I whisper, grasping her hand. It no longer feels like fragile porcelain. It feels alive.
> "Sarah, sweetie, it's Daddy. Can you hear me?"
The golden man finally speaks.
> "She's fine. Let her rest. She'll wake up within the hour."
His voice is calm. Deep. Certain.
> "You look like you could use some sleep yourself."
He's right. But how can I rest when—?
He steps down. The light dims slightly, and now I can truly see him. A towering man—at least 6'8". Glowing gold eyes. Long blonde hair. A beard like a god from legend. He wears a golden suit with a radiant "S" on his belt, and a flowing blue cape.
He looks at me. And I know… this being is no supe.
He's something more.
> "You're going to be stubborn," he says with a sigh. "I understand."
He waves his hand.
Suddenly, I feel… alive. As if every sleepless night, every anxious heartbeat, every moment of despair has been wiped clean. My exhaustion vanishes. My mind clears. My stomach no longer aches with hunger.
I feel whole.
> "I'll leave you alone now," he says, turning toward the window. "Others still need me."
> "Wait—who are you?"
He pauses.
> "Call me… Sentry. The Golden Guardian."
And with a flash of light, he's gone.
But I have no time to wonder. A soft voice breaks the silence.
> "Daddy? Why are you crying?"
My knees buckle. I collapse forward, clutching my daughter to my chest, sobbing freely.
> "No reason, sweetie," I whisper, voice shaking. "Everything's fine now. The Sentry saved you."
She blinks up at me, confused but curious.
> "Who's that?"
> "The greatest superhero in the world."
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Third Person POV
That day, the Sentry appeared in hospitals across the world.
He healed children. Adults. The dying. The forgotten. He cured diseases never diagnosed and reversed conditions thought irreversible.
He stopped minor crimes—muggings, robberies, assaults—before they began.
He diverted a natural disaster from destroying a village in the Philippines.
And then he disappeared, like a whisper on the wind.
But the world would not forget.
The Golden Guardian had arrived.
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