Traffic slowly began to move.
Jack waved goodbye to the crowd gathered around the impromptu baseball game. Some laughed. Some clapped. He gave a tired smile, then slipped back into the car.
"Alright," Jack muttered, adjusting his seat. "Back on the road."
Strange floated beside him, arms crossed, looking unimpressed. "This was the weirdest detour I've ever seen."
Jack smirked. "Welcome to Earth's version of road rage therapy."
He turned the key, and the car roared back to life.
They were barely a few minutes down the highway when everything went black.
Sudden. Silent. Absolute.
Jack stood still. No car. No Strange. No road. Just endless darkness that felt like thick, cold water pressing against his skin.
He blinked rapidly. "What the hell...? I was just driving. How did I get here?"
Then — footsteps.
Slow. Heavy. Echoing unnaturally in the void.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
His skin was pitch black, like living obsidian, and his eyes were pure white, hollow of emotion or life. Upon his head sat a jagged crown — ancient, regal, wrong.
Jack's throat dried up. "Who… who are you?"
The figure stopped just a few feet from him. His voice was deep, smooth, and chilling.
"I am Eternal Black."
Jack felt the temperature drop around him. His breath fogged. His heartbeat pounded in his ears.
"You're… you're the one Strange warned me about," Jack whispered.
Eternal Black tilted his crowned head, almost amused.
"You are the one who touched him," he said slowly. "You carry his stain. You carry… the link."
Jack stepped back, his fear turning to panic. "What do you want from me?"
Eternal Black raised a hand, fingers wrapped in swirling black mist. "Not from you. I want your world."
His eyes glowed.
"This universe... will be mine."
And in that moment, the darkness rippled like liquid, swallowing Jack whole.
Jack gasped, eyes flying open.
The car was moving. The same song still played softly from the speakers. The exact same cars were on the road. The sun hadn't shifted a single degree.
Time hadn't moved.
He looked at the clock. It was frozen.
No… not broken. Stopped.
His hands trembled on the wheel.
Strange noticed. "What happened?"
Jack shook his head slowly, struggling to find words. "I… I saw him."
Strange straightened. "Who?"
"Eternal Black."
The Sorcerer's expression darkened instantly. "What did he say to you?"
Jack's voice cracked. "He said, 'Your world is mine.' And when I was with him, time— time didn't move. Everything stopped."
Strange fell silent. His usually calm face was now grave.
Jack added, "It felt like I was trapped inside something. Like he pulled me out of time."
Strange muttered under his breath, pacing slightly in the air. "That's not possible… The Time Stone was destroyed in this universe…"
"I'm telling you, Strange. Time stopped. Like completely. Like it didn't exist anymore."
Strange looked at him, eyes troubled. "Then we're in more danger than I thought. He's not just feeding on souls… he's manipulating time. And without the Time Stone, that means he's using something else."
Jack's hands gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Something worse?"
Strange nodded.
"Much worse."
As Jack stared at the dashboard clock, it finally ticked forward.
12:01
He leaned in closer. "Strange… look."
Strange floated over and narrowed his eyes at the display.
"It moved," Jack whispered. "Exactly one minute… after I came back. It was frozen before. Now it's catching up."
Strange's face tightened. "A delay in time. That's not just temporal disruption — that's possession of the moment itself."
Jack looked at him, confused and afraid. "What does that even mean?"
Strange folded his arms, staring at nothing in particular — like trying to see through dimensions. "It means he didn't just stop time for you, Jack. He isolated you outside of time. Pulled you into a space where cause and effect don't exist."
Jack shivered, gripping the wheel harder.
"I don't know what Eternal Black is," Strange muttered. "No one does. I don't know when he was born, or even what he really is. But if he can stop time without the Time Stone…"
He trailed off.
Jack looked at him. "That's bad, right?"
Strange's eyes were dark. "That's worse than bad. That's apocalyptic."
There was a long silence.
Jack broke it. "So what do we do?"
Strange turned to him, firm. "We start training. Soon. The kind of training that can prepare you for what's coming."
Jack nodded slowly. "Okay, Strange… Let's do it."
Strange smirked faintly. "Good. Because if you don't learn fast… this world won't get another minute."