"Can I trust you?"
The Ancient One looked at Ryan standing before her. His expression was earnest, and after a moment, she nodded.
There was a promise in that nod, one that made him want to believe her.
Even though the man before her was still bare-chested, the Ancient One pointed a finger at the device holding the Time Stone against her chest.
The mechanism shifted, and a green stone floated out, coming to rest between her fingers.
The sky had cleared, bright with sunshine once more. The Ancient One said, "All this time, I've stood watch over this planet's history and prevented countless disasters. The future lay before me like a road beneath my feet. I only had to take a step for it to appear. But you... I can't see your future."
As she spoke, the Time Stone floated from her fingertips toward Ryan. He held out his hand, and it settled in his palm.
The stone glimmered like a point of green light in his hand. The Ancient One smiled as gently as she had when they first met. "For a very long time, Sorcerers have guarded the Blue Planet and the Time Stone."
"I know." Ryan's reply carried a longing for the past.
He still remembered his days practicing Magic at Kamar-Taj.
The snow sweeping across the Himalayas, Mordo's Jumping Shoes, the shelves of spellbooks filling the Spell House.
Those were his memories. Now the Ancient One studied Ryan as though committing his face to memory. "Since the future I've seen is no longer the one where Strange saves the world, Ryan, you will be the next Sorcerer Supreme. Live through the years ahead in my place and protect this planet."
"I..."
"Why the hesitation? That's the price of possessing the Time Stone." The Ancient One