July 21, 2021

Arcadia Oaks: Sacred Timeline

"What if it wasn't the Titans this thing was meant to make right?" Jim asked as he observed a glowing green gemstone. This was known as a time stone, it had come from a relic called the kronosphere.

"What do you mean?" Claire asked in confusion.

"Time unfolds differently, like a flower." Jim said, quoting their late friend before turning to face his friends.

"Only the trollhunter will know!" Claire said as she realized what Jim was referring to.

"Know what?" Krel asked.

"What really happened, of I go back things will happen differently." Jim explained with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Yeah but maybe it'll be worse." Douxie said seriously, as if trying to warn the trollhunter. "We barely saved the world this time."

"But at the cost of so many we hold dear." A troll known as Blinky said, looking down in sadness as he remembered those they have lost. "Numara, Strickler, Nari. . .Tobias."

"But if things can happen differently, Jim can save them all." Aja said in realization before giving a smile of approval.

"Master Jim, of you do this, you alone will be burdened with what could've been." Blinky warned as he walked up to his long time student who was like a son to him.

"Shouldering burdens is what heroes do." Jim smiled. "You taught me that."

After a moment of tearful goodbyes, Jim placed the time stone into the amulet and activated it. "Whatever happens next, I'll make sure this isn't goodbye." Jim said as the magical armor formed around his body. While looking out at his friends, he locked eyes with Claire, his girlfriend of 2 years, and smiled. "I promise."

With that said, Jim disappeared leaving the rest of the team alone. "Okay, so, what will happen now?" Claire asked, whipping tears from her eyes as she turned to the black haired wizard. "Doux?"

Everyone turned to look at Douxie, who was caught off guard as he didn't expect everyone to now turn to him for answers. "Uh, I. . .I don't know." He said honestly. "But I seriously have a bad feeling about Jim's decision."

Years went by and sure enough, no matter how hard he tried, the same things happened. . .only they happened differently just as Nari had said. All their friends have died once more, only this time. . .Toby was spared.

"Tobes! You're okay?!" Jim asked in shock and relief.

"Yeah, just in pain is all." Toby said as he looked down at his legs. "I can't feel them. . .Jim."

Despite his best friend being alive he was still extremely hurt and he couldn't live with that. So once again he turned back time, only this time he only went back to a few months before the war. However, this was much more different. . .the first thing he noticed was that Douxie was no where to be found.

"Uh, guys. . . where's Douxie?" Jim asked as he looked around the round table. This made everyone look at him in confusion.

"That's precisely what we're discussing, Master Jim." Blinky said as a matter of factly. "Did you forget?"

Jim was confused as he didn't understand what was going on. Claire noticed the look on her boyfriend's face and looked at him in concern. "Jim, are you sure you're feeling up for this?"

"Of course I am. . .but we need Douxie to help us stop the Arcane Order." Jim said seriously. "Where is he? What happened to him?"

Everyone looked at each other with worried looks before Claire sighed. "Jim, you don't remember?" She asked. "Doux. . . he's the reason for all of this."

"Wait. . .what?!"

"Yeah, after losing Merlin and Nari Douxie couldn't handle it anymore." Claire explained, trying to hold back tears in her eyes. "Poor guy has gone through so much. . .and we couldn't help him."

"Wait, Merlin and Nari?!" Jim asked. "What happened to Nari? What happened to Douxie?!"

"Jim. . .Douxie. . ." Claire tried to explained, but her tears were too hard to keep back. She burst out crying as she told Jim the truth. "Douxie is the person we're trying to to plot against."

Jim's eyes widened in horror as he immediately realized what his girlfriend had meant. "N-no. . .no that can't be right!" He cried out as tears fell from his eyes. "Blink?"

"Master Jim. . ." Blinky said with regret in his voice as he walked over to the boy and embraced him. "I'm so sorry. I know how much he meant to you, how much he meant to all of us."

"How did this happen?" Jim asked, crying on the troll's shoulder. "Why did this happen?"

"You don't remember?" Toby asked as he walked up to his friend.

"N-no, I guess not." Jim sniffed as he turned away from the troll and started to leave.

"We're are you going?" Aja asked as she watched the brown haired boy leave.

"I. . .I don't know." Jim said honestly. "But this has got to be the worst timeline yet."

Before anyone could say or do anything else, Jim was out the door and tried to use the time stone once again. However, nothing worked. "What the hell? Work you damn thing!"

"I'm afraid that won't work, young one." A mysterious voice said which startled Jim for a moment. "For you no longer have control over the time stone. You have missed the honor."

When Jim looked around, he saw a man with black hair with hints of gray on the sides, brown eyes, and was wearing a blue robe looking top tied together by brown leather belts, blue pants, a dark red cloak, and brown boots. He also wears a special neck piece that holds the cloak in place, and it also holds the sacred infinity stone known as the time stone.

"Who are you?" Jim asked, slightly intimidated by the man.

"You can call me, Dr. Strange." The man said seriously as he held out his hand. "Come with me, I need to show you something."

Jim thought for a moment before looking back in the direction of his friends. "But what about them?"

"I'll handle that." The man known as Dr. Strange said before waving his hands around and shooting a magic blast at Jim. At the same time, he opened a portal to take the boy to a whole new dimension. And luckily, the magic blast didn't hurt Jim, just burned his clothes a little bit.

"What was that for?!" Jim asked in anger.

"I've split your timelines so that there is a version of you in each one." Dr. Strange explained honestly. "Now for the real issue at hand. Do you have any idea what you've done?"

"I've been trying to save my friends but every time I go back in time things are worse and worse!" Jim explained as tears of frustration poored sound his face like a waterfall. "I should've listened to Douxie, he warned me that things could be worse! But I didn't listen!"

"Hey, kid, it's okay, you can still return to your timeline." Dr. Strange said as he put his hand on the boys shoulder for comfort. "All the timelines you've seen are only alternate universes."

"Alternate universes?"

"Yes, I just came here to send you back to your universe and everything will completely reset." Dr. Strange said seriously as he looked into Jim's eyes. "However, you won't remember any of this or the other 'timelines'. That way everything will play out as it should. Do you understand, James Lake Jr.?"

Jim took a deep breath to calm himself down before giving a nod. "Okay then, let's get you home now." Dr. Strange smiled as he prepared to send Jim back. "You ready, kid?"

Again, Jim only nodded as he watched the wizard create a portal leading right to his house in Arcadia. "Good luck, kid." Dr. Strange smiled.

"Thank you." Jim smiled back before taking a deep breath and walked through the portal.

"Perfect, everything is back to normal here." Dr. Strange said with a sigh in relief before creating another portal to bring him back to his universe. However, he was instead met by none other than the evil version of Douxie who knocked him out right away.

"I'll take that, thank you very much." Evil Douxie said with an evil smirk as he picked up a book that glowed a bright red. "The Dark Hold. At last. . . revenge will be mine."

To be continued. . .

Tales Of Arcadia belongs to DreamWorks

Dr. Strange belongs to Marvel

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