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The chalice was a bitch. He wanted to brush it off and say he wasn't scared by the possibility of change, of the opportunity to do real wizardry and rewrite time. But that would be another lie. Another facade.
The truth was he was desperate to know what was behind the static in his memories. There was so much of it. Something had been taken from him and he wanted to know what it was. He wanted to get it back. He knew in his soul that it was important. But he would have to stay strong and get it back another way.
He felt guilty about the explosion that wiped out a town. Barry, and many others that he didn't know by name but who didn't deserve the date that befell them. He wished he could stop that. But even seeing another angle on the destruction, he didn't think he could stop it given another shot, everything has happened too fast.
The chalice tried to strike at his greatest source of guilt. Back when he had a stage show and have cooking demonstrations. He had thought he knew what went wrong and why everyone had died. It was his greatest shame and had stopped him having fun in the kitchen for years, even when it was just him. But then he saw the truth and it wasn't his fault at all.
So yes, the chalice was a manipulative bitch for even showing him the things he could try, but the past was in the past and his present was better for the experiences which had shaped him. He didn't need what the temporal chalice offered him.