---
Location: Blue Nile Basin, Sudan – 35km from Khartoum
The sun was barely above the horizon when Hann, Azari, and Naledi emerged from the battered pickup they'd bartered in Uganda. Dust clouds curled around their boots. The land here was brittle—sparse trees, heat-cracked soil, and villages that had long since been abandoned.
But Hann could feel it.
A pull beneath the earth. The ring-call. One of his father's hidden caches was near.
---
"Local intel says the Ten Rings left this region fifteen years ago," Naledi murmured, scrolling on her satellite tablet. "But we've seen some weird residual readings—energy signatures in the ultraviolet band."
Azari cracked her knuckles, the air warming slightly. "Could be a trap."
"Could be a lead." Hann stepped forward, staff across his back. "Let's find out."
---
They reached a stone ruin.
Half-buried under sand, it looked like an old Sufi shrine, long desecrated. Hann paused. One of the Heavenbreaker rings vibrated faintly, its markings glowing.
"This is it."
He pressed the ring against a slab. A hum rose—ancient, low, powerful.
The slab shifted, revealing a staircase descending into darkness.
Azari raised a fireball. "Into the abyss we go."
---
Underground Chamber
The descent was silent. Old murals lined the walls—painted scenes of warriors with rings around their arms, defending cities from shadows. Hann stopped before one panel.
A warrior held a black staff, surrounded by glowing rings, fighting back a serpent made of stars.
Naledi whispered, "That's you. The artist didn't know it, but that's you."
Hann's heart pounded.
"I think this isn't the first time the rings chose someone."
---
They reached a vaulted chamber, dust-filled but intact. In the center: a pedestal. Upon it rested an ornate gauntlet—not unlike the Infinity Gauntlet, but sleeker, designed to house five rings along the forearm.
Hann stepped forward.
As his fingers brushed the gauntlet, a blast of blue energy surged outward.
The chamber groaned.
Then he heard it—whispers in Mandarin, Zulu, and a tongue older than both. His vision flashed:
—Soldiers swearing loyalty
—Rings split into factions
—A betrayal in Hong Kong
—A child taken—
---
Gunfire shattered the trance.
From the shadows, ten men in tactical gear burst in—faces masked, armed with high-tech rifles. But what drew Hann's attention wasn't the weapons. It was the symbol on their shoulders:
The Ten Rings.
Azari reacted instantly, fire dancing along her arms.
"Wait!" Hann shouted. "They're not here to kill us."
He stepped forward, raising his hand. "Wǒ shì Wēnwǔ de érzi."
("I am the son of Wenwu.")
One of the soldiers halted. "...Wén Hǎolún?"
Hann froze.
That was his birth name.
"Y-you know me?"
The leader removed his mask—an older Chinese-African man with a long scar down his cheek.
"I was there the day your mother hid you. I've served the Rings since before your father vanished."
---
Emotions clashed in Hann's chest.
"You were one of his men?"
"I still am," the soldier said. "But we've lost purpose. The factions fight. The rings are scattered. Some follow your sister. Some defected to the Hand. Some… vanish into myth."
Azari narrowed her eyes. "Why now?"
"Because he told us to wait for a sign," the soldier said. "The rings lighting up across the globe? The staff of storms? That's no coincidence."
He dropped to one knee.
And so did the others.
"We answer to the legacy. And the legacy has returned."
---
Elsewhere — Wakandan Border Outpost
A figure watched from a hill, cloaked in vibrating black.
"Ukubuyiselwa kwemivimbo yakudala."
(The return of the ancient marks.)
A young Wakandan tech operative beside him squinted. "Who is he?"
The warrior stepped forward, mask reflecting moonlight.
"He's trouble… or salvation."
Then he vanished.
---
Return to Sudan
Around a crackling campfire, Hann sat with the ring-bearers, listening to stories of old campaigns, lost comrades, and hidden vaults. Every tale revealed a map point, a treasure, a test.
One soldier offered him a scroll, sealed in crimson wax.
Hann opened it—and found his father's personal symbol burned into the parchment.
A message.
> "If you live to read this, it means your mother was right.
The world is not yet yours to shape—but soon it will need you.
The rings respond to instinct. But instinct must be sharpened.
Seek the Ember Vault in Mongolia. There… you'll find what I couldn't control."
---
Hann's fingers tightened.
More rings. More secrets. And now… the weight of a militia waiting to follow.
Azari leaned in. "What now, boss?"
"I'm not a boss," Hann said.
Naledi smirked. "You keep saying that, but you keep gathering people who think otherwise."
He stood.
"We go to Mongolia."
---
Far Above Earth — Black Order Warship
Corvus Glaive knelt beside a starmap projection. "The boy gathers power."
Proxima Midnight's voice echoed, laced with venom. "So let him. He'll lead us to the relics."
Behind them, a massive screen lit up with Kang's signature.
An hourglass made of galaxies.
A rift opened in the center.
From it, a voice whispered:
> "He'll face me in time… when his mind transcends time."
---
Post-Credit Scene – Ta Lo
Shang-Chi stood before the golden waterfall, staring at a flickering ring in his palm. He frowned.
"Strange…"
Behind him, his aunt approached.
"It's calling to someone else."
He turned. "Who?"
Her eyes glinted.
"Your brother."
---
End of Chapter 5