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Constantine materialized back in his office with all the grace of a drunk falling down stairs. He crashed into his desk, sending papers flying, and landed hard on the floor where he immediately vomited.
Time travel, he decided, was absolutely dreadful for the constitution.
"John!" Strange materialized through a portal, concern evident. "Are you what happened? The timeline just shifted. I felt the change ripple through reality itself."
Constantine groaned, spitting bile. "Stopped a demon prince from manifesting in 1994 Harlem. Met a teenage Spider-Man. Possibly gave him a pep talk that influences his entire heroic career. The usual Tuesday."
"You spoke to Peter Parker?" Strange's voice rose. "John, that's a massive temporal intervention! You could have "
"Could have what? Not stopped Baalzebul from turning the East Coast into Hell on Earth?" Constantine dragged himself upright, clutching his ribs. Everything hurt. "I did what needed doing. Same as always."
Strange waved his hands, mystical energy flowing over Constantine. The pain receded slightly as healing magic knitted cracked ribs and internal bruising. "You don't understand. By interacting with Peter at such a formative moment in his career, you've created a resonance point. A moment where the timeline branched but then reconverged, leaving a scar in the causal fabric."
"Speak English, doc."
"You've attracted attention." Strange moved to the window, looking out at the New York skyline with obvious worry. "Entities that monitor timelines will have noticed the disruption. If we're unlucky, they'll simply observe and catalog. If we're extremely unlucky "
An alarm blared through the Sanctum. Not a mundane sound, but a mystical warning that made Constantine's teeth ache.
"What's that?" Constantine asked, though he suspected he didn't want to know.
"Temporal incursion detected." Strange's hands began moving through defensive gestures. "Something someone is forcing their way through the timestream into this exact moment. Someone powerful enough to breach the Sanctum's defenses."
"Bollocks."
The air in Constantine's office tore open. Not a portal, but a wound in time itself, edges crackling with blue-white energy. A figure stepped through tall, imposing, dressed in purple and blue armor that looked equal parts ancient and futuristic. His face was weathered, eyes sharp with intelligence and barely controlled rage.
"Well," the figure said, voice carrying absolute authority. "This is an unexpected complication."
Strange stepped between the intruder and Constantine. "Kang. What brings the Conqueror to my Sanctum?"
Constantine's blood ran cold. Kang the Conqueror. He'd heard the name time-traveling warlord, master of temporal technology, one of the most dangerous beings in the multiverse. And judging by the way Kang was staring at Constantine with something between curiosity and murder, this visit was directly related to his little trip to 1994.
"What brings me?" Kang's laugh was bitter. "Your pet magician just created a temporal paradox that's threatening to unravel a dozen carefully maintained timelines. That brings me, Sorcerer Supreme."
"I stopped a demon invasion," Constantine said, lighting a cigarette with shaking hands. "How is that a problem?"
Kang turned his full attention to Constantine. "Because in the original timeline the one you just erased Baalzebul's summoning succeeded. It was a catastrophe that killed thousands and reshaped the eastern seaboard. But that catastrophe was necessary. It created the conditions for several crucial events: the formation of the Midnight Sons, the exposure of a HYDRA cell operating within SHIELD, and most importantly, it created the circumstances that led to a young medical student named Christine Palmer choosing to pursue mystical studies instead of surgery."
"Christine..." Strange's voice was strangled. "No. That's impossible."
"Christine Palmer becomes one of your most important allies in multiple timelines," Kang continued mercilessly. "Without the Harlem incident, she never pursues magic. She never meets you. The events that lead to your mastery of the mystic arts are fundamentally altered. Congratulations, Constantine. You may have just erased the Sorcerer Supreme from existence."
Constantine felt like he'd been punched in the gut. "I... I was following instructions from my future self. He sent me back. That means "
"That means your future self is from a different branch of the timeline than mine," Kang said. "Time is not linear. It branches, merges, diverges again. What seems like 'the' future is only one possible future. And by choosing that branch over this one, you've created instability."
Strange swayed slightly, golden light beginning to emanate from his hands as he fought to maintain his existence against the changing timeline. "How... how long do I have?"
"Hours. Maybe days if you're lucky." Kang studied Strange dispassionately. "The timeline is attempting to reconcile the paradox. Either you'll fade from existence as reality adjusts to a version where you never became Sorcerer Supreme, or the paradox will cascade into a full temporal collapse that unravels this entire reality."
"There has to be a fix," Constantine said desperately. "Some way to undo the damage."
"There is." Kang smiled, and it was not a pleasant expression. "You go back. Further back. To the moment before the Harlem ritual was even planned. You find whoever organized it and ensure they never attempt the summoning in the first place. That way, the catastrophe doesn't occur, but neither do you prevent it. The timeline reconverges without the paradox."
"But that's " Constantine did the math. "The ritual would have taken weeks to plan. Months, maybe. I'd have to go back to early 1994. Spend months tracking down cultists, infiltrating their organization, all while the timeline's inertia tries to force me back to the present."
"Yes." Kang's expression was pitiless. "It will be excruciating. You'll likely experience temporal fragmentation, your consciousness existing in multiple time periods simultaneously. Most beings go mad from the experience. But if you succeed, the paradox resolves and Strange remains anchored in this timeline."
Constantine looked at Strange, who was flickering now, his form becoming translucent as reality tried to decide if he should exist.
"John, you don't have to " Strange started.
"Yes, I do." Constantine stubbed out his cigarette. "This is my cock-up. I fix it. How do I get back there?"
Kang pulled a device from his armor a disc covered in incomprehensible technology. "This is a temporal beacon. It will anchor you in early 1994 and maintain your existence against the timestream's pull. You'll have approximately three months before the strain becomes fatal. Find the cult, stop the ritual from ever being planned, and return to the present."
"And if I fail?"
"Then Strange ceases to exist, the timeline collapses, and this reality folds in on itself. Billions die." Kang handed him the beacon. "No pressure."
Constantine took the device. It was cold, humming with barely contained power. "Why are you helping? You're a conqueror. What do you care if this reality survives?"
"Because I have interests here," Kang said flatly. "Events in this timeline affect others I'm... invested in protecting. Your mistake threatens those interests. Consider this enlightened self-interest."
"Right." Constantine activated the beacon. "Strange? When I get back if I get back we're having a serious talk about the ethics of time travel."
Strange, now barely visible, smiled. "I look forward to it."
The beacon pulled Constantine backwards through time, faster and more violently than the chronometric anchor. He felt himself being stretched across months, his consciousness fragmenting, pieces of him existing in February, March, April, all the way to October simultaneously.
This was going to be absolutely miserable.
He landed hard in January 1994, in an alley that smelled like frozen urine and despair. Snow fell in lazy flakes. His entire body felt wrong, like he was wearing a suit two sizes too small while simultaneously being stretched on a rack.
Temporal fragmentation. Wonderful.
Constantine pulled himself together literally, forcing his fractured consciousness to consolidate in this specific moment and assessed his situation. Three months to find a demon cult, infiltrate it, and prevent a ritual that wouldn't be attempted for nine more months.
He needed information. Resources. Most importantly, he needed allies who could operate in 1994 without creating more paradoxes.
Constantine thought of the teenage Spider-Man he'd met, then dismissed it. Peter was too young, too inexperienced. But there were other heroes operating in this time period. Heroes who might help if approached correctly.
He needed to find them.
Before the timeline decided his existence was too paradoxical to maintain.
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đ If you'd like to support me or read EARLY ACCESS Chapters, you can find me on Patreon đ
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