Chapter 88: Change

After Mephisto left, the atmosphere became tense and quiet.

"You shouldn't have done that," said the Ancient One to Jack as she appeared from the portal, her expression both helpless and curious.

"Mephisto is the Lord of Hell. Even though his power is greatly reduced due to the weakening of the physical universe and the suppression of the Shield of the Seraphim, he is still strong. What you did could easily have backfired on you."

Jack shrugged. He knew the risks, but he felt invincible with a powerful ally like the Ancient One at his side.

"I can't keep track of every corner of Earth," the Ancient One continued. "There are places where I simply cannot afford to intervene, such as your own arrival."

Jack nodded in understanding. He looked over at the sleeping Johnny Blaze, and the Ancient One gestured to him before hitting him with a wave of her hand.

With a loud snap, the Ghost Rider was transformed back into Johnny Blaze, his flames vanished.

"Come with me," said the Ancient One, turning to enter the portal once more. Jack followed her, leaving behind a peaceful and quiet room.

"Wouldn't he catch a cold sleeping here like this?" asked Jack

.....

Jack and the Ancient One sat facing each other with a small table between them with an antique tea set.

Jack sat cross-legged on the ground, looking somewhat uncomfortable, while the Ancient One knelt calmly and played with the tea set in front of him.

Before long, a steaming cup of green tea was placed in front of Jack.

"Sss~ slurp."

Jack lifted the tea cup and took a small sip, raising an eyebrow.

'Hmm, surprisingly, it tastes pretty good.'

"I have been monitoring the changes of the Shield of the Seraphim to prevent other-dimensional demons from invading Earth," said the Ancient One as he put down the teapot, looking at Jack calmly. "Do you know what I wanted to do when I found you?"

"Exile me?" Jack asked

"Eliminate you!" Ancient One answered

Jack swallowed hard, his mouth dry and cold sweat streaming down his face.

When he first crossed over, he was a newcomer. If the Ancient One had targeted him, he had no choice but to lie down and wait for death.

"You are very unique," said the Ancient One, smiling at him. "In fact, I didn't notice you at first. It's generally difficult for someone outside of time to be discovered unless they expose themselves."

"Someone outside of time?" Jack pondered curiously. "I've heard someone say I'm outside of time."

"That's not entirely wrong," said the Ancient One, silently filling up Jack's tea. "Even with the Time Stone, I couldn't find your existence in any timeline. But your appearance caused a great change in the timeline!"

"Timeline?" When Jack heard this word, his heart skipped a beat for some reason. He seemed to remember some images flashing before his eyes, but when he tried to recall them carefully, he couldn't seem to remember.

It was as if there was a mysterious force interfering with his memories.

"Feels familiar?" asked Ancient One

Jack's changing facial expression didn't escape the notice of the Ancient One, who said as if he had expected it: "Actually, it was because of that timeline it changed, then I noticed your existence!"

"Timeline changed?" Jack was stunned for a few seconds but quickly asked respectfully: "May I ask, what kind of timeline has been changed?"

"I think you've already guessed it. Yes, it was the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes!" Ancient One answered

"Oh, my god." With the confirmation, Jack rubbed his forehead with a headache. It was just as he had suspected.

In fact, after saving Bucky on the train, he had thought about whether it would affect the next plot and change it the way it was, but he didn't think too much about it at the time. He just didn't want to see his comrade in danger.

Now it seems that the original timeline has changed because Bucky didn't fall off the cliff.

However, there was a question that Jack was curious about.

"Timeline should not be fixed, right?"

Jack recalled the plot of Avengers 4. The Avengers traveled through time and space, but in fact, they only went to another timeline.

From this, it can be seen that the timeline is like a tree, with countless branches. The One he is in is just one of them. Even if this branch is broken, other branches will not be affected.

"I know what you want to say, but unfortunately, things are not as simple as you think." The Ancient One shook her head slowly. "In fact, how time runs, whether timelines can exist, all of these are managed by someone!"

"!!!"

This sentence really surprised him. Jack had never heard of anyone other than the Ancient One who could interfere with the running of the timeline.

"Wait, did you just say that someone is interfering with the running of time?"

Jack realized the meaning behind the Ancient One's words and, combined with what happened to Bucky, instantly came to a conclusion.

"So, because Bucky didn't fall off the cliff as originally planned, violating the designs of those people, the timeline has been changed and even affected other timelines?"

"Strictly speaking, that's correct," replied the Ancient One, and Jack finally understood.

In simple terms, if the timeline were a game, there would certainly be players, and the game would run in the hands of those players. Bucky becoming the Winter Soldier was just the player's choice.

So, the question is, what happens when a player realizes their choice is invalid or their selection button doesn't work?

They delete and reinstall the game, start a new save file, or even switch to a new computer. Regardless of which option is chosen, it will seriously impact the timeline. A wrong move could even erase the entire timeline.

However, there is still one question remaining.

"But...why haven't they come to find me?"

Jack looked at the Ancient One, full of confusion. "It's all because of my existence, so Bucky didn't fall off the cliff. If they wanted to find someone, shouldn't they come to find me?"

He couldn't understand why they were going after Bucky, the victim, instead of him, the culprit who caused the timeline to change. What was going on?

"First of all," replied the Ancient One, "as I said before, you are someone who exists outside of fate or time. Even those people cannot monitor your actions, so they did not originally realize your existence."

After taking a sip of hot tea, the Ancient One looked at Jack with a meaningful smile and said, "Also, how do you know that those people haven't come to you?"

"If they had, I would definitely know about it. But I have no memory of anyone coming to me."

Jack racked his brain but couldn't think of anyone who had come to him for help. He turned to the Ancient One for guidance, only to see a knowing smile on the Ancient One's face. Suddenly, a flash of insight hit Jack.

He realized what was going on.

.....

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