The Ancient One only smiled.
"I don't know what my future self was thinking. You should ask her," she said.
"Then why didn't you at least give us some clue? Since your future self already knew what would happen, we could've been more careful," Morgan asked.
The Ancient One calmly took another sip of her tea before answering.
"Every person has a path they must walk. If I interfered with every event I foresaw, I would become the one deciding humanity's future. Besides..." She looked at Morgan. "Just as you wouldn't reveal the future to people of the past, neither should I."
Morgan fell silent for a few moments before letting the matter go. She knew the Ancient One wasn't truly responsible, and she couldn't argue with that reasoning.
"What about my mom and dad?" Emma asked hurriedly.
The Ancient One looked at her with a gentle smile.
"You will meet them again."
"They're safe?" Emma asked quickly.
"They are."
Hearing those two simple words, Emma finally let out a sigh of relief.
Emma scratched her head.
"You guys keep talking about all this time travel stuff, and honestly, I don't understand half of it." She looked at the Ancient One. "But I think I understand one thing. Big events aren't easy to change, but small things can, right? That's what you told Dad before. The timeline isn't weak. It'll fix itself."
The Ancient One simply smiled without confirming or denying Emma's conclusion.
Morgan already understood that much. If everything was truly predetermined, none of their choices would matter. But changing the timeline always came with a price. What that price was, she didn't know, but she could tell it was never a small one.
"You may stay here as guests for as long as you need," the Ancient One said, handing them a file. "These identification papers will help you move around this era without attracting unnecessary attention."
Morgan accepted the file before looking back at the Ancient One.
"What about the scientist from the future? What are you going to do?"
The Ancient One smiled.
"Didn't my future self already entrust that task to your Jack Walker? It is his path to walk."
Morgan lowered her gaze. She understood what the Ancient One meant. She wasn't going to interfere.
"But why?" Emma asked. "With your power, you could easily catch him now that he's in the military."
The Ancient One looked at Emma calmly.
"If I were to stop him now, many friendships would never be formed, and many precious memories would never exist. That would be a pity."
Emma blinked.
"So... you're saying all of this has to happen?"
The Ancient One simply smiled, neither confirming nor denying her question.
"I have matters that require my attention," she said as she stood up. "If you need anything during your stay, ask the sorcerer who brought you here."
With those words, she quietly left the room.
Emma stared at the closed door.
"I really hate people who speak in riddles."
Without thinking, she picked up the tea and took a sip.
"...Ugh." Her face immediately twisted. "It's still bitter."
Morgan couldn't help but smile as the two of them left the room to look around Kamar-Taj.
"This place is really nice. Very peaceful," Emma said as she looked around.
The two slowly walked through Kamar-Taj's courtyard. Around them, disciples practiced hand-to-hand combat while others trained with swords, staffs, and other weapons. The sound of wooden staffs colliding echoed through the mountain air.
"So... they're really not going to help us fight the scientist? Are we doing this solo?" Emma asked.
"That's even a question?" Morgan replied. "Of course we are. Since it was Uncle Jack's mission, it's our mission too."
She lightly tapped the file in her hand.
"At least these ID papers will make things much easier. We can move around this era without drawing too much attention."
Emma sighed.
"If Mom hadn't confiscated my disguise mask that changes my face and height, along with all my other gadgets, this would've been so much easier."
"Who told you to keep using them for pranks?" Morgan smirked. "Now suffer."
"You!!" Emma puffed her cheeks. "Don't forget you still owe me after losing the race. Don't even think about backing out."
Morgan simply laughed and walked away. Emma immediately chased after her.
As they continued through the training grounds, they watched disciples sparring with one another while others practiced with different weapons.
"These guys don't look like the mages we see in video games," Emma commented. "They look more like barbarians."
A nearby trainee happened to overhear her.
"Kid, what do you know?" he said with a grin. "A weak body can't support powerful magic. It takes a strong body to master the mystic arts."
Emma scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Sorry."
The trainee simply laughed and returned to his training.
Emma and Morgan continued walking.
After leaving the training grounds, Morgan's expression gradually became serious.
"We already know Mercer is planning something dangerous. Maybe he's already started. Whatever he's planning, we have to stop him before it changes the timeline. And if he has people helping him, we'll stop them too."
Emma nodded.
"I still think one of his goals is to stop Steve from becoming Captain America."
Morgan nodded in agreement.
"Then our first step is simple. We gather every piece of information we can find about him."
Emma grinned.
"Got it."
A few moments later, a sorcerer opened a portal for them. Emma couldn't help but stare at the glowing ring of light.
"These portals are amazing. We should ask if they'll let us keep one of those Sling Rings... or maybe build a teleportation device using technology that works like this. It looks so cool."
Morgan chuckled.
"You're already thinking about copying their ideas?"
"It's called being inspired," Emma replied with a proud grin.
The two stepped through the portal. A moment later, they arrived in New York.
The familiar streets of New York stretched before them.
They didn't know what would happen if history was changed. And they didn't want to find out.
Whatever Mercer was planning, they had to stop him before it was too late.
A/N: The Patreon version is already updated with 20 advanced chapters. If you'd like to read ahead of the public release schedule, you can join here:
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