Always watching the sacred timeline.

Chapter 28

Loki's pov

"I understand your moral objections to what the TVA does. And my methods are deceptive. But the mission, it never was. Without me, without the TVA..." he trails off for a moment "Everything burns." He shrugs like it's no big deal.

"Then what are you so afraid of?" I ask him.

He stops for a moment, thinking, and raising his eyebrows every once in a while. "Me." He finally says.

"And just who are you?" Sylive asks.

"Oh, I've been dubbed many names by many people." He gets up from sitting on the table. "A ruler. A conqueror. He Who Remains. A jerk-" He sits on the chair behind his desk- "But it's.... it's not as simple as a name." He plays around with a watch on his wrist, turning, and twisting it, then aims something on the table, and flicks it with his fingers, making it land on the table. It forms into him, as a small figure.

"Eons ago, before the TVA, a Variant of myself lived on Earth in the 31st century. He was a scientist-" It made a portal right in front of him- "And he discovered that there were universes stacked on top of his own-" Two other portals formed, one on top of the first one, then another on the bottom "At the same time, other versions of us were learning the same thing." He smiled, proud of himself "Naturally, they made contact. And for a while, there was peace-" The man is now facing the other way, seeing another man going through a portal, shaking hands, and making peace "Narcissist, self-congratulatory peace. 'I love your shoes.' 'I love your hair' 'Oh, man, nice nose.' 'Thanks man.' Et cetera. They shared technology and knowledge-" The two men, are now standing at a table, something in one of the men's hands, showing it to him. "Using the best of their universes to improve the others. However-" He grabs his apple biting into it "not every version of me was so... so pure of heart. To some of us, new worlds meant only one thing-" It showed now a man holding the world in his hand- "New land has to be conquered. The peace between realities-" He makes an explosion with his hands "Boom! Erupted into all-out war, each Variant-" It formed to five people fighting others, with weapons in their hands- "Fighting to preserve their universe and annihilate the others. This is almost the end... ladies and gentlemen, of everything and everyone."

"And then the Time-Keepers came along and saved us all." Sylive said.

"Amen." He singed.

"No." He laughed "No. Nope, this is where we diverge from the dogma. That first Variant encountered a creature-" It formed to make him holding a lantern- "created from all the tears in reality, capable of consuming time and space itself. A creature you both know."

"Alioth." I answered when he paused for us to answer.

"Bingo! I harnessed the beasts power-" It now shows him standing next to Alioth- "and began experimenting on it. I weaponized Alioth, and I ended, I ended the Multiversal War. Once I isolated our timeline-" It shows him in a ring, floating- "all I had to do was manage the flow of time and prevent any further branches. Hence, the TVA. Hence, the Time-Keepers and a highly efficient bureaucracy-" he stands up from his seat, getting on the table "and ages of cosmic harmony. Hence... you're welcome." He squats on the table. He taps something on his watch, making the sculpture of him, disappear. "You came to kill the devil, right?" He jumps from the table, and onto the other side. "Well, guess what? I keep you safe. And if you think I'm evil, well, just wait till you meet my Variants."

I and Sylive looked at each other, furrowing our brows, confused.

"And that's the gambit! Stifling order or cataclysmic chaos. You may hate the dictator, but something-" He walks back over to his seat "far worse is gonna fill that void if you depose of him. I've lived a million lifetimes. I've gone through every scenario. This is the only way. The TVA, it works." He said.