**Chapter 2: The Shattered Timeline**

I stood frozen, my mind reeling as I watched Jia and Marcus share a kiss. The world around me seemed to crumble, and I felt like I was trapped in a nightmare. How could Marcus do this? How could he alter the course of history, changing the very fabric of our reality? As I stumbled backward, Marcus's eyes locked onto mine, filled with a mix of triumph and a hint of sadness. He knew what he had done, and he knew the consequences. Jia, still oblivious to the changes that had taken place, turned to me with a confused expression. "Alex, what's wrong?" she asked, her voice laced with concern. But I couldn't speak. I couldn't find the words to express the emotions that were swirling inside me. I felt like I was losing everything – my wife, my life, my sense of reality. Marcus, now holding Jia's hand, took a step forward. "Alex, my friend," he said, his voice dripping with condescension, "you need to understand that this is the way it's meant to be. This is the way history was always supposed to unfold." I shook my head, trying to clear the fog that had settled over me. "No, Marcus, this isn't right. You can't just change the past. You can't alter the course of our lives like this." Marcus chuckled, a cold, mirthless sound. "You don't understand, Alex. With this artifact, I have the power to reshape reality. And I've chosen to use it to change the one thing that has always bothered me – the fact that Jia fell in love with you instead of me." Jia's eyes narrowed, a hint of confusion still lingering in her expression. "Marcus, what are you talking about? You and I... we've never been anything more than friends." Marcus's smile faltered for a moment, and I saw a flash of pain in his eyes. But then, he regained his composure, and his expression hardened. "No, Jia. We've been more than friends. We've been meant to be together. And now, we will be." As Marcus pulled Jia closer, I felt a surge of desperation. I had to do something, but I didn't know what. I couldn't just stand by and watch as Marcus destroyed our lives, our marriage, and our reality. I took a step forward, my heart pounding in my chest. "Marcus, stop this. You're playing with forces you don't understand. You're risking everything – our lives, our sanity, our very existence." But Marcus just laughed, his eyes glinting with a manic energy. "You're too late, Alex. The timeline has been altered. And there's nothing you can do to change it." As he spoke, the room around us began to distort and ripple, like the surface of a pond. I felt a strange sensation, as if I was being pulled apart and put back together again. And when my vision cleared, I saw that everything had changed. Jia was now standing beside Marcus, her eyes filled with a love and adoration that was once directed at me. I stumbled backward, my mind reeling with the implications of what had happened. I was no longer the husband, no longer the one Jia loved. I was a stranger, a ghost from a past that no longer existed. And as I turned to flee, I realized that I had to find a way to restore the original timeline, to reclaim my life and my marriage. But how? And at what cost?