Thread:Maddog98/@comment-4842541-20150606031801/@comment-4842541-20150610045246

It's tied to Jack. And only Jack.

So long as Jack remembers his real reality, the fake reality can exist. If Jack ever decides that the real reality is the real one, then it can break easily.

Not to mention, Shadow not being affected serves as a minor plotpoint. He normally can't be affected anyways, but this time it's simply because he's more powerful than the rogue.

Then there's Mark, who as the Guardian should be on par with how powerful Shadow is, and Mark even manages to defeat Shadow from time to time through sheer determination and using the power of the Earth against Shadow. Naturally this should've meant that Mark as a Guardian wouldn't be affected.

However in the altered reality, Mark isn't a Guardian, so in turn that meant that he would be affected.

Roy and Ron Fei are also affected because in the real reality, they are no longer Guardians, so even though in Roy's case he's a Guardian in the altered reality, being a non-Guardian in the real reality meant that he would be affected.

The arc comes to a close when Jack decides that while life is better for him in this changed reality, he would never ever want all the horrible things that had happened to ever be real, such as Roy having to fight a very stressful battle in which everyone has figured out he has a weakness and Kya being a slave to the Golem Master.

And at the same time, the Mark of the altered reality becomes Guardian at the exact same time Jack makes that resolution. In turn, because Mark is finally Guardian, he catches up to the real reality and in turn becomes the real Mark and Mark destroys the altered reality by punching the rogue in the face.

And then of course Shadow has to taunt the rogue one last time befor the rogue gets brutally beaten by Mark.