The Ancient One smiled faintly, as if she had seen right through Leo's inner thoughts.
But she didn't linger on the topic. With a smooth shift in tone, she redirected the conversation. "Since you know so much about these demons... I imagine you're from another world as well?"
Leo nodded slowly. "Yeah."
Lifting the porcelain teacup to his lips, he blew gently over the steam, his eyes cast downward, seemingly casual. "So what now? Are Earth's mystical guardians going to wipe out this interdimensional visitor for trespassing?"
"If that were our intention, you wouldn't have lived past your first night in Manhattan," Mordo snapped, unable to hide the annoyance in his tone.
Leo's mercenary attitude earlier—asking for payment in exchange for information—had clearly rubbed him the wrong way. But even so, Mordo didn't let personal irritation cloud his judgment. That, at least, was commendable.
"We at Kamar-Taj exist to defend Earth from interdimensional threats," Mordo continued. "But the multiverse is vast, infinitely strange. Not every outsider is an invader. Accidental crossings happen all the time. If we acted on prejudice alone, we'd be no different than tyrants."
"Mordo," the Ancient One interjected, her calm voice halting his speech. "To see oneself as a protector can lead to arrogance. Let not your emotions open doors to darkness."
"Yes, Master," Mordo said with a respectful bow, instantly sobering up.
The Ancient One turned her gaze back to Leo. "We aren't 'guardians' in the way you think. We simply want to preserve the world we call home. Nothing more."
Leo raised an eyebrow but didn't push the point. If anything, that made her more of a guardian than most people could ever hope to be.
Instead, he cut to the chase. "You're clearly powerful. People like you don't come all the way down from their sanctums just to deal with minor threats like demons. What are you really after?"
The Ancient One leaned forward, her expression sharpening. "Those demons may not be on the same level as the Elder Gods, but they're far from harmless. And you... I didn't pay much attention when you first arrived in this universe. But now, after fifteen such beings appeared out of nowhere... I can't locate their origins in any timeline of the multiverse. You, either."
Leo tensed slightly.
That confirmed it—she'd been watching. Or rather, trying to watch. And failed.
When Leo had first crossed into this world, the Ancient One had sensed the temporal anomaly. She noted his presence but deemed him a harmless anomaly—just another traveler between realities.
Until the demons showed up.
That's when she looked deeper.
But despite her vast knowledge, and her ability to observe time and space, she found... nothing.
Nothing in the past, nothing in the parallel universes. Only a sudden appearance in the future.
No warning. No history.
Just Leo Vance.
Just demons.
Leo took another slow sip of tea, letting the silence linger.
She wasn't concerned about the social damage the demons caused—murders, disappearances, fear. No, to someone like her, that was background noise. She only stepped in when the threat reached a cosmic scale.
The real danger was what Leo represented—an anomaly outside her sight, possibly the beginning of a larger wave of otherworldly incursions.
She'd seen this before.
Godzilla tearing through New York, smashing the Avengers and supervillains alike.
Colossal titans devouring civilians in a hellish future.
Comic book gods becoming real and engaging in apocalyptic war with the pantheon of Marvel's cosmos.
Viruses that infected worlds, turning utopias into nightmares.
She had seen it all.
And the one thing all those events had in common? They started with just one anomaly.
Now there was Leo. And fifteen more.
That made twenty ticking time bombs.
"I don't think you came here to give me a lecture," Leo finally said. "You're not scared of me, and you're clearly not impressed either. So what do you actually want?"
The Ancient One remained composed. "I want to understand. What is happening to the multiverse? And what else is coming through?"
Leo set his teacup down. "I'll be honest—I know about the demons. But I'm not from their world."
"What?" Mordo's eyes widened.
Even the Ancient One narrowed her eyes slightly in thought.
Leo shrugged with a faint smile. "You heard me. I'm not from the same place as them."
He let the words hang in the air for a moment before continuing. "You see, just like how you can observe other timelines and realities... I have certain ways of learning about other worlds too."
"That explains it," the Ancient One murmured, more to herself than anyone else. "I always felt something off when I looked at you and the demons. Your energies carry different... temporal echoes. Different epochs. Different origins."
Leo's smile didn't waver. "Exactly. We're not cut from the same cloth."
"And you say more are coming?" the Ancient One asked, voice level but laced with underlying concern.
Leo nodded slowly. "The multiverse is shifting. Something's happening. I don't know what caused it, but... yeah. There'll be more travelers like me. Some harmless. Some... not so much."
Mordo turned toward his master, eyes asking the question he didn't voice.
"Can you tell who will cross over?" the Ancient One asked.
Leo shook his head. "Nope. If I could, I wouldn't be drinking tea in a conjured English parlor."
He leaned back. "But here's the good news—stronger beings seem to have a harder time crossing over."
Or in system terms: high-tier summons have garbage pull rates.
"So the really dangerous ones probably won't get through anytime soon."
"That is... a relief," the Ancient One said with a soft sigh. "The world still has a protective instinct. It resists intrusion. If something too powerful tries to force its way in, the universe fights back. Through fate. Through heroes. Through balance."
Leo nodded. He had heard of the Five Abstracts—Infinity, Eternity, Oblivion, Death, and Galactus.
They weren't just cosmic beings. They were concepts. The bones and blood of the universe.
If someone or something broke the rules, these entities didn't negotiate. They rebalanced the scales.
And if that didn't work? The universe summoned champions. Sometimes cosmic. Sometimes human. But always... timely.
Leo hadn't read all the Marvel comics, but he'd seen enough videos to know the formula:
[Crisis Brews ➝ Random Hero Gets Power Boost ➝ Universe Saved ➝ Roll Credits.]
Self-correcting system. Beautiful in a terrifying way.
But that didn't mean he was off the hook.
Leo glanced down at his palm, remembering the day he first arrived.
He wasn't supposed to be here.
And the demons?
They were just the beginning.