THE MOMENT
It was impossible for the Archmage to lay blame on anyone else except himself. He knew that and made peace with it, but he never felt at ease with his decisions. He was an extremely powerful chronomancer who protected the timeline from personal misuse. He stopped people from saving their loved ones while also ensuring pre-determined tragedies happened, however they were supposed to. He condemned millions to die while deciding others were too important to sacrifice. He often wished he didn't have to. It was a heavy burden on his heart, but someone had to do it, and he was the only one powerful enough.
Archmage Langdon reaffirmed his commitment to the responsibilities of his power that morning the same as he'd done every morning for years. He was meditating at dawn at the top of his tower when he suddenly sensed he was no longer alone. He felt an intrusive, violent aura flare before him, but he was also experienced enough to sense how restrained it was. His visitor was dangerous, but apparently not there to attack by surprise. The Archmage slowly opened his eyes to spot an attractive woman in a black suit with long white hair and orange eyes. She wasn't smiling, but she seemed intent on presenting some sort of professional expression as she nodded at him.
"Hello, my name is Minuette and I represent a corporation named Void Holdings," she said. The Archmage was rising to his feet as she spoke, and he froze, fully upright, once she explained why she was there. "I'm obligated to formally request that you cease your chronological manipulations," she said. "Please," she injected it with a frigid tone, as if she wanted to make it clear it wasn't her word.
"Who are you?" the Archmage asked as he appraised her. She was powerful beyond him, he could tell that much. When he worked with time magic, he'd conceptualized it as a slippery, wet feeling that was hard to wrap his mind around. It helped keep him focused on whatever he was trying to accomplish, but Minuette was something different entirely. If manipulating time had a 'wet' sensation, Minuette was the water all around him. She sighed at his question.
"Minuette," she said. "I'm from Void Holdings. If none of that was familiar to you the first time I introduced myself, what did you think would change if I repeated it?"
"What do you mean stop manipulating time?" he asked.
"You've been making changes to time. Stop it," she said. Her orange eyes seemed to burn with raging impatience.
"But, I have to!" he said. "I'm not the only one able to travel through time! I'm the one stopping people from changing things!"
"Why?" Minuette asked.
"Someone has to do it!" he answered. There were countless days he wished he could've just dismissed the worry from his mind.
"Why?" This time, her cold expression warmed into a playful smile. And, she asked in the tone of a curious child.
"Because if I don't, some grieving idiot is going to break reality because they can't let go."
"As opposed to some dense idiot throwing off our logistics because they can't let go," she giggled. "You're silly."
"I'm keeping the universe safe and all you care about is your company?!" he said.
"Are you, though?" Minuette asked. "I mean, was it in terrible danger before you were born? How about before you first mastered temporal magics? It's pretty impressive that the universe survived so long before you were powerful enough to keep it safe. I'd be comfortable betting on it doing okay once you're gone too," she added.
"Clearly you don't understand how dangerous paradoxes are," the Archmage replied. He needed her to see how important his work was.
"Alright, that was almost fun for a second, but you're getting dumber," Minuette shook her head. "You're not keeping anything safe, you're only making more work for yourself. The reality of the multiverse isn't so fragile that a thought experiment is going to derail it."
"Multiverse..?" he'd sensed other realities, but it was enough work staying focused on his own.
"Yeah," she nodded. "Alternate universes, each with their own distinct timelines. Hundreds of billions of alternate realities lived and died before you were even born, and they got along okay without a guardian."
"But-," he wanted to object purely to object. But, he was also realizing this might've been the chance to quit that he'd always wanted.
"But, what?" Minuette asked. "If you were really that important to keeping time safe... why did time exist before you were born?"