Chapter Thirty-seven.

~~~Ischyros, Xandar DC~~~

~~~July 1942~~~

"You know this thing I'm about to do may create ramifications in the future, which we don't know if they will be the right ones or not, Mr. Jaesyrian," Ancient One's low, calm voice reached Azrael's ears, having only recently arrived, she was met with the results of the Project Rebirth test.

Azrael nodded, just in time for some servants to enter the room, in possession of silver trays, "Would you like coffee?" he asked, and Ancient One gladly accepted, sitting gracefully in one of the free chairs situated at the large table in the room.

"It's not like your Teas, but I like it, they are grown in Naath, so they have an exotic flavor deeply rooted in that land," Azrael explained, as the servants served coffee in porcelain pots. "As for the future thing, you know as well as I do that the future you claimed to know no longer exists, or at least the vast majority of it."

Ancient One sighed, and her lips pursed, "True, those South American countries that Xandar has begun to trade with have been able to survive the war, their markets have reopened, and the intelligence of the Axis forces are reluctant to approach the shores of the countries near the Panama Canal due to the Xandarian sojourn there and for fear of your dragon."

Azrael smiled modestly at that, and that was because, although not everyone knew of the existence of Xandar, due to the war and that tourism was disabled at the moment, much of the world's population was unaware of the fact that a new world power, the size of Africa had appeared where before it was thousands of miles of Pacific Ocean water.

But that did not mean that the great powers were blind to it, unlike ordinary people, who thought it was American propaganda when they saw the newspapers mentioning the sale of the Panama Canal to a newly exposed kingdom.

The leaders of these nations knew almost everything about what had happened, from the Japanese forces in the Pacific being held back by this new power, the proximity that Xandar had with the United States and some South American countries, as well as images of the mega coastal cities that the enemy planes could film before being intercepted by the Enderman or the Wyvern.

But undoubtedly what most shocked the political and superior world leading the world, were the many images of Endoxes, either destroying the Japanese fleet off the coast of Tharlan, as well as destroying an aircraft carrier after lifting it hundreds of meters in the air.

"The United States has shown a more aggressive front in Europe, which has caused Hydra and German impulses to stall, Japan may be in its last stages of respiration, Dr. Erskine, who should have died, is still alive, and now there are not one, but two Supersoldiers, so you must assume that the future has taken a different turn, and this provides more hidden threats than we are aware of."

"I am aware of it, that's why I called you in the first place, the Supersoldier serum has been created, and together with the joint work of Dr. Erskine and the witches of the Arcane Center, the serum has reached much higher levels ever seen," Azrael began to explain, but not before sipping some of his black drink.

"If my estimates are correct, we can assume that Steve Rogers is now much faster, stronger, agile, and resilient, he will be able to breathe underwater, he will be immune to fire and energy blasts to some extent, he will be able to make jumps of thousands of meters without problems and land in complete control, plus from what I observed, he is bulletproof, that serum is a work of art, and it was only possible after a month of research, imagine what we can achieve by having more time, letting Doctor Erskine die was a waste."

However, Ancient One had bad news, more than anyone else knew the power that serum could bestow since she saw it herself during the test while using the mirror dimension, but she also knew the dangers that those actions meant; "The timeline so provided, and by allowing him to live, you have gotten the TVA interested in him and you, so they will waste no time in getting to Xandar to send the Doctor into the void and correct what has been damaged."

"The TVA?" Azrael asked in confusion, he, as far as he could remember, was only mostly familiar with the Infinity saga, the other series or movies after this saga, he only watched a few, and while he had heard something about the TVA, he didn't quite remember what it was all about.

Ancient One raised her hands, and in a set of light and graceful movements, the environment began to change, showing men in futuristic black tactical uniforms, using staffs that gave off a bright yellow color as if it were the staff of a Jedi.

"The TVA is in charge of monitoring all the timelines in this universe, and correcting all those that deviate from what they believe things need to happen, in our case, Dr. Erskine was supposed to die, which creates a cosmic ramifications event that alters the space-time flow, something that the TVA is determined to prevent, so now, at any moment the TVA could arrive to take the doctor away and thus banish him to the void, a dimension outside this universe where the doctor's presence does not cause alterations in time."

With a simple hand movement, Ancient One erased the image and the environment returned to normal, "although I think the doctor will be safe here in Xandar, as I had told you, Xandar has a huge alteration layer, I don't know what causes it or who, but that makes all of Xandar not in this plane in its entirety, in simple words, it is as if Xandar was in another dimension, where time and space does not affect it, now, to normal eyes, it is another normal and ordinary continent, but for the right eyes, that is another matter."

"The layer of what I call universal alteration causes many things not to work as we believe, it would even make the TVA powerless here in Xandar", at this, Ancient One made a symbol with her hands and, the eye of Agamotto, which hung from her neck, opened, revealing a pale green stone, "this is the gem of time, although I think you already know it, it is my duty to protect it, and at the same time, I protect the Earth with the help of it".

"But this universal alteration affects the gem, so much so, that it is now just a stone without power, do you understand what that implies?"

"If the gems are brought to Xandar and guarded, they cannot be used for malicious motives, nor any specific reason, since they will have no power" Ancient One put the gem back into Agamotto's eye, "but the gems cannot stay here long, their disconnection with the universe could create incursions that would tear this universe apart from within, like popcorn in an oven."

"But I think we strayed from the topic at hand, you said you needed me for something, so I need you to explain what it is and I'll know if I can help you," Ancient One returned to the topic at hand, and why Azrael called her.

"Doctor Erskine," Azrael replied, looking carefully and seriously at Ancient One, "he is still alive, and as I said, the serum is too powerful and important to waste the opportunity to get more supersoldiers, both for Xandar and for Kamar Taj."

"Imagine sorcerers with the power of the serum and the use of the mystic arts, they will be unstoppable, Earth will be in no danger for the foreseeable future if that becomes a reality, Xandar has over forty million inhabitants, and every one of them, from the smallest to the largest, is a soldier, which means that will be forty million supersoldiers protecting Xandar and the world," Azrael stood up, an act that Ancestral followed.

"I have seen more dangers than you can imagine, both internal and external, and we need this, and to get it, I need your help."

"And what help would that be?" Ancient One asked interested, more than anyone wanted to see an Earth protected and safe, and now that the news of Odin's defeat of Earth, and the ending of Asgard's protection of Earth, the universe would respond. Earth was not ready for that yet, at least not for now, and Azrael was providing a measure of protection.

"Show Dr. Erskine, open his third eye, show him the dangers that Earth faces, show him that this war between the countries of the world is nothing compared to what Earth faces, and hopefully, that will cause his focus to change, and even fight with more fervor in creating more serums if it means the salvation of Earth."

"Besides, I have someone to recruit. He can help us in the matter of the celestial Tiamut," Azrael's comment sent a shiver down Ancestral's spine. "You know about him, too?"

"Of course, not only that, Phastos, one of the Eternals sent to Earth is here on Xandar, if we can recruit him, not only will we solve the celestial's seed problem ahead of time without needing to assassinate that celestial, and enter a war we will not win, at the same time we gain a strong ally with enough technology to elevate Xandar and Kamar Taj to levels never before seen."

Ancient One thought for a moment, her gaze lost as she considered the ramifications this would cause, but in the end, she decided to follow the course of the river. "Then come on, we're wasting time".