Walt Disney, clad in a slightly archaic black tailcoat, a black tie reminiscent of gentlemanly Mickey, a tall top hat, and holding a cane etched with vine motifs, was slightly comical in his gestures and expressions, much like a wealthy figure in a cartoon.
He picked up a cup of tea from the small yellow round table beside him, plunked himself on the sofa bending one leg, and then looked up at Shiller saying, "You're here."
Shiller's frown was fleeting before he composed himself. Turning to the three with him, he mentioned, "I wish to speak privately to Mr. Disney. Is that alright?"
No words were passed, and the three just turned and left. Outside the cabin, Nick gave a shrug, Strange and Loki each drew out a green Franklin and handed it to him.
"I did say that him hurrying to find Disney means that there has to be something else. What do you think they'll discuss?"
"Hard to predict, but surely more secretive than we think." Loki blinked, twirling his magic wand and stated, "Shiller has many secrets, but not all of them need to be understood."
In the semicircular house, Shiller slumped into the sofa next to the round table, lost in thoughts. Walt's voice echoed in his ears again, "Aren't you going to ask something?"
Intrigued, Shiller turned his gaze to Walt, "I guess things aren't as simple as I think, are they?"
"That depends on what you imagine." Walt took a sip of tea, "Whose story do you want to hear first?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"Then let me begin by telling mine." Walt sighed softly, "This is a long story..."
"Then keep it short." Shiller turned to him, "Clearly, I'm not too interested in this. I just need to know you're here."
Then he looked down at his teacup. Walt got the hint and knew which part of the story he wanted to hear.
"Before that, I must introduce you to someone." Walt turned his look towards the back, joined by Shiller. That's when they saw an emerald figure approaching from the backdoor of the strange cartoon cabin.
It was Loki, an older Loki.
Shiller's eyes widened in surprise. It appeared as if something dawned upon him, he gazed at the Loki, "God of Stories?"
"Not the one you usually see." The old man settled onto another sofa facing them, put his magic wand down and picked up a cup of tea from the table.
With a satisfying sip, he fiddled with the cup lid and looked at Shiller, "It's been three thousand years since I became the God of Stories."
Shiller's eyes widened again. He looked at the elderly Loki, "So, you're the God of Stories in his old age?"
The old Loki nodded, "I have reached the end of the story."
Shiller leaned forward, "And what lies there?"
Aging Loki shook his head and started to tell his tale.
"After becoming the God of Stories, I recorded diverse narratives across various universes. A few hundred years later, my storybook was quite rich. After a thousand years, they filled every space on nearly every page. Two thousand years later, the storybook got massive and I started to get tired."
"There's no unending story in this world, nor is there a forever fresh story. The intelligent life forms that create yarns are always repeating themselves. The items I spent two thousand years recording are nothing more than countless identical tributaries in a long river."
"This deeply puzzled me. I couldn't grasp why every universe was such similar, why people always did the same under same circumstances, why they couldn't break away."
"Fed up with this monotonous repetition, I started to probe, to seek the truth behind these stories."
Shiller was listening attentively; therefore, when elderly Loki pauses, he instinctively queries, "And what did you find?"
"I found nothing, but someone found me."
Aging Loki mildly shook his head, "In the process of seeking the truth, I tried all sorts of means. I kept going back in time, meddling with the story, influencing the protagonists in them, hoping that they would make some changes."
"I wandered throughout countless universes, making countless attempts until I realized that my effect was only temporary and the universe would eventually return to the same path."
"At that time, a mysterious figure found me. I hadn't witnessed his existence, but I suspected he was the Supreme God of this world."
Shiller knitted his brows; this elderly Loki had probably faced OAA. Still, he couldn't understand why the God of Stories would attract the attention of such a supreme entity.
It's indeed surprising that he traveled between multiple universes to rewrite the storyline. However, it's not unusual in the Marvel universe, or even Shiller, who was doing similar things. Although Shiller's scope wasn't as wide, the depth of influence was almost the same.
So far, OAA hasn't bothered Shiller, and one might even say that he indulged him. Therefore, if OAA sought out the God of Stories, there must be another purpose.
As expected, Old Loki said: "He told me not to do meaningless things, I didn't understand, so I asked him why, and all he said was 'creating stories is better than recording them'."
Old Loki opened his palm in front of him, and a faintly glowing feather pen appeared in his palm. He then said: "We made a deal, I no longer interfere with existing stories, and in exchange, he gave me the right to create new stories in the cosmos."
Shiller had a vague premonition, so he looked at Walt Disney, who just smiled and said: "And the first story he created was the life experience of Walt Disney."
Shiller paused his actions again, because he remembered the voice that told the story of Walt Disney's childhood after igniting the first statue of Walt Disney.
The voice sounded rather aged and Shiller knew that Walt Disney had already died in his 60s. The voice didn't sound like Walt, but was more like old Loki who just began to speak.
So, the origin story of Walt Disney in this cosmos was made up by the God of Stories?
This couldn't be a coincidence. The story created by the God of Stories was something he could never know as a comic book character. The only possibility was that OAA told him the story. This was one of their trade conditions.
One piece of favorable evidence is that Marvel has infinitely many individual universes. However much the God of Stories sabotages and interferes, the big boss doesn't need to step in to stop him.
OAA's power is infinite. Even if he wanted to stop someone, he wouldn't need to make a trade. He could just erase them.
So, this trade might just be a blindsight, giving the God of Stories a feather pen with the ability to create stories in the Marvel Universe, and having him create an origin story of Walt Disney in the cartoon world, is likely the purpose for OAA to seek out the God of Stories.
Since it comes to creating Walt Disney's origin story, Walt must have instructed it, or at least he cannot disassociate himself from it.
Shiller thought carefully again, the time he learned about Walt Disney's death in his past life should have been in 1966, and Disney's acquisition of Marvel was in 2009. There was a 30-plus year time difference. Could it be possible that Walt was able to foresee that Disney would acquire Marvel in the future?
Wait a second, Shiller was shocked. It wasn't that Walt Disney foresaw Disney acquiring Marvel in the future and made such an arrangement. It was because he made this arrangement that Disney chose to acquire Marvel.
Then Shiller thought of another key figure, Stan Lee, known as the father of Marvel superheroes.
After quickly reviewing Stan Lee's life in his mind, Shiller got the key point.
In the late 1950s, the DC comics company began to dabble in the superhero comic field. At that time, Stan Lee, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, was asked by his superiors to create a new superhero comic series.
In 1961, the Fantastic Four was born.
In the following days, famous superhero comics such as Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, X-Men, and others, were created one after another.
It has been mentioned before that Walt Disney had been working hard until his death and did not rest due to illness, nor did he stop contacting the outside world. In other words, a few years before his death, he might have read Marvel comics.
In fact, Walt Disney and Stan Lee were contemporaries. Although one lived a shorter life and the other longer, it seemed as if they belonged to different eras. However, their trajectories of life did overlap to some extent.
To add to this, both of their fields of work shared some similarities. When Stan Lee was working at Marvel Comics, Walt Disney was releasing popular animations worldwide and won the Oscar several times. Whether Walt had made contact with Stan Lee or not, Stan Lee must have heard about this famous animation director.
At that time, Walt Disney, whose image as Mickey went viral and even dominated the global animation field for many years, was the idol of every artist in the industry. Stan Lee must be no exception.
So had they made contact? Shiller speculated in his heart. However, in most people's perception, Marvel's supreme god, OAA, is the embodiment of the creator. In other words, before 2000, OAA was Stan Lee.
The inference seemed to be clearer and clearer. During the heyday of Walt Disney, he made contact with Stan Lee, the father of Marvel superheroes.
They might have made some sort of deal, or just discussed comic plotlines together and gained inspiration from it. In any case, Stan Lee planned to include Walt Disney in the comics.
But Walt Disney's company was named after him, and without his authorization, Marvel Comics would not allow their editors to draw a superhero named after the founder of this company. This was a serious infringement.
But this problem ceased to exist after Disney acquired Marvel. Shiller speculated that Walt Disney may have made some arrangements that led to Disney's acquisition of Marvel and the removal of copyright barriers. His story then appeared in the comics.
So only the last question remains unanswered, which universe did all the entanglement between Walt Disney and Stan Lee, and Disney and Marvel happen in?
Or to put it more bluntly, did it happen inside the fourth wall or outside?
Shiller pondered this question while lifting the teacup before him, taking a sip of the scalding hot tea.
The next second, he froze.
The taste was unbelievably familiar, it was his favorite Biluochun tea from his previous life.